CHAPTER 32

Harry's expression was perfectly serious when he entered Severus's office at eight o'clock, fifty-eight minutes and thirty-three seconds on Saturday evening. Severus tore his eyes away from the clock on his table, blaming his tiredness after a harrowing day of teaching Potions for his abnormal amount of interest in the timepiece.

"Ah. Mr Potter arrives, sure of his victory," he sneered. He had sent Harry a curt note saying that the Sudoku grids would be delivered to them by a staff member via owl in order to avoid either party seeing the game in advance.

It was, however, not an owl which suddenly appeared in Severus's office with a dazzling flash of gold and red. Fawkes, Dumbledore's phoenix, settled down on Severus's shoulder, holding three pieces of parchment in his beak: two identical Sudoku grids for the contestants, and the solutions.

"You roped Professor Dumbledore into this?" Harry asked, astonished.

Severus shot him a frosty glare and held out a parchment without deigning to respond. Harry took it and patted the phoenix. Fawkes rubbed his head against Harry's hand, accepted a couple of sesame seeds Severus offered him and departed with another flash.

Severus handed Harry an Anti-Cheating quill.

"Thank you, sir." Harry said politely. Severus sat down at his desk and pointed at a small table in a far corner of the office.

"Your allotted seat, Potter."

Harry went over to the table. Severus picked up the clock from his table and flung it in the air. It hovered weightlessly between their tables.

Severus pointed his wand at it.

"We will start as soon as it reaches five past nine. I will give the signal."

"I'm on the qui vive, sir," Harry said dryly.

Severus snorted. He watched the hands of the clock and raised his wand.

"Now."

A shower of green sparks flew out of the tip of his ebony wand.

Harry did not start using his quill immediately. Instead, he scanned his Sudoku grid, searching for patterns and clues. Severus cast a clandestine look at him. The youth's front teeth were gnawing gently at his bottom lip, and Severus found himself thinking that Muggle jeans looked better on Harry than wizarding robes. Harry, as if sensing his gaze, looked up. Their eyes met in a piercing stare. Then Harry dropped his eyes and continued with his Sudoku game. Minutes passed in complete silence. Only the occasional scratching of quills could be heard.

Severus was just completing the last table of nine slots when Harry put down his quill. His parchment emitted a shower of gold sparks to indicate that he had finished his grid first. Severus ground his teeth. The brat may have finished faster, but his solutions were probably wrong. He finished his own grid, which emitted the same shower of gold sparks. Then he rose and walked over to Harry's table, snatching up the grid. He Summoned the solutions sheet and compared the two parchments. They were identical. They stared into each other's eyes. Harry flushed a little.

"I really must insist on a rematch, Potter, to regain my shattered dignity."

Harry looked at him sharply. It sounded as if Severus was joking.

"All right, sir."

"We shall meet here again next Saturday. Same time. And…" he leant forward, his hair brushing Harry's cheek as he breathed into Harry's ear, "I will be faster."

Harry's knees went soft for a moment, then he rallied himself and smiled. Severus drew back, black eyes riveted to Harry's green ones.

"You seem very certain, Professor."

Severus crossed his arms on his chest.

"Of course I am, Potter. I must confess, appalling though it may sound, that I am indebted to you after a frankly stimulating evening."

Stimulating indeed, a roguish voice piped up in the back of Severus's mind. Muggle jeans, Muggle jeans...

Harry laughed.

"Thanks, Professor, I enjoyed myself, too."

"Well, Potter, it is late and time for you to leave," Severus said bluntly.

Harry wished him good night and left. His Sudoku grid was still clutched in Severus's hand. Once the door had closed, Severus tucked it away in his drawer with his own grid and the solutions. He had been too overconfident. He hadn't really practised or prepared himself for the evening. He had underestimated Harry Potter when he should not have done so. Or rather, he had wanted to underestimate Harry. He knew that Harry Potter was a powerful young wizard, modest, fiercely loyal, good-natured and smart when he was willing to put in some effort. Severus blamed the Sudoku competition for a particularly vivid dream he had when he went to bed that night.

He was in his Potions classroom. Harry was moving towards him, dressed in Muggle blue jeans and a t-shirt. When he stood in front of Severus, he merely smiled, inclining his face for a kiss, only to turn his head away as Severus's mouth closed in for a duel of desire. He smiled again. Roguishly. Severus snaked an arm around Harry's waist, determined to capture that elusive kiss. Harry moaned, bumped his hips against Severus's and avoided his burning lips yet again. Severus grabbed Harry's hips with a hiss and crushed them against his groaning groin. Harry flung back his head, exposing his throat as they rubbed against each other.

"You will not defeat me during that Sudoku duel," Severus heard himself say in a growl.

"Don't be so sure," Harry panted. "This is a duel in which we are both winners."

Severus felt his body dissolve into molten lava as a jeans-clad thigh slipped between his own thighs…

Severus woke up, sweat-soaked. He got out of bed, removing his pyjamas and underwear. He flung them over the headboard and walked into the bathroom. He clenched his hands at his sides, determined not to touch his screaming erection, remind himself that dreaming of Harry in such a way was disgusting, and that Harry was the son of James, whom he had continued loathing even after James's death. Neither the cold water nor his reflections helped; the heat of his dream continued to burn within him, and in the end, he yielded to its flames, choking back a cry as he came in his hand, the fingers of his other hand splayed against the tiles as he tried to keep his balance. He went back to bed afterwards, sleeping fitfully; it was therefore not surprising that his mood was worse than usual at breakfast time on Sunday morning. Marius Rivers noticed the marked sneer around Severus's mouth as he sat down next to the Potions Master at the staff table. The hint of a smug smile flitted across his sensual features. The students were eating hungrily and chatting like cheerful sparrows. Severus dug viciously at his fried egg.

"Bad night, Snape?" he asked conversationally.

Severus ignored him, transporting a piece of egg to his mouth. Marius shrugged, smiled and helped himself to a couple of sausages. Severus glanced over at the Gryffindor table as he sipped at his mug of hot black tea. Harry seemed absent-minded, staring off into space. Hermione, who was quizzing him and Ron on the class material in order to prepare them for their NEWTS, was in the middle of asking him a question.

"…and animal-to-human transfiguration?"

Harry met Severus's probing gaze and snapped out of his thoughts, averting his gaze to look at Hermione's annoyed face.

"Harry, you are not paying attention!" she scolded him, "and neither are you, Ron! Really, how do you expect to pass at this rate?"

"Relax, honey," Ron murmured.

"Don't 'honey' me, Ronald. This knowledge is important! We need all the knowledge we can get our hands on if we're to defeat Voldemort!"

A chilly cloud seemed to settle around the table.

"I have to defeat him," Harry said flatly, "remember what that damned Prophecy said."

"We're going to do it together," Hermione said stubbornly, "we've told you a hundred times that we're not going to leave you alone, and we've listened to your protests just as many times."

"Thanks, Hermione, but can you let me eat my breakfast in peace?" Harry snapped. Ron shot her an imploring look. She sniffed and returned to eating breakfast and revising simultaneously.

"The habit of reading and eating at the same time is very bad for digestion," Ron said briskly, tugging the book out of her hands and filling her plate with another slice of toast. "You know that you're going to be brilliant, 'Mione."

Hermione blushed.

"One never knows. I don't, in any case," she said.

"But I do. The whole school does, in fact," Ron said. Harry rolled his eyes as they leant towards each other behind his back to exchange a fond kiss. Ginny and Dean decided to imitate them. Harry looked over at the staff table and was fixated by Severus's smouldering gaze again. Three eternal seconds passed, then Harry felt the heat bloom in his face and he hastily lowered his face, passing his hand through his untidy hair nervously. He nibbled at a piece of bacon.

"How is your protégé doing, Snape?" Marius asked nonchalantly.

"If you mean Potter, then kindly refer to him by his name," Severus said curtly.

"I am quite intrigued," Marius said softly.

"By what?" Severus snapped, allowing himself to be drawn into conversation in spite of his reluctance.

"Your interest in the Wizarding Hero."

Severus, used to the harsh discipline his duties as a spy had hammered into him, kept his composure.

"Seeing that I have to tutor him privately, I am forced to be interested in his welfare," he remarked coolly.

"Oh no, no, no, that is not what I mean." Marius leant close to Severus. "I just saw how you were looking at him. You're dying to come inside his ass, aren't you?"

Severus hung on grimly to his control although burning fury scalded his throat.

"Your insinuations are obscene, and you will not talk of any pupil of mine in such a disgusting manner."

"My, my, Sev, besotted with little boys…"

"Your provocative discourse bores me," Severus drawled, "and I am amazed that you perceive an adult as a little boy. Why, Rivers, with views as twisted as yours, I am equally amazed that you are not waiting on the Dark Lord hand and foot."

Marius merely smiled, absorbing the insults with composure.

"Do you think Potter would ever want someone like you, Sev?"

Severus gripped his cutlery tightly as the remark peeled the scab off a never fully healed scar.

"Are you deluding yourself into believing that you can seduce him into your bed, Rivers?" he countered. "The Headmaster will be informed of any plans or rumours which aim to harm Potter."

"How very considerate of you," Marius commented languidly.

Severus's hand flashed out, invisible thanks to the long tablecloth, and cupped Marius's testicles in a vice-like grip. Marius let out a sharp gasp, turning white with pain.

"If you do not stay away from my student, Rivers, I will make sure that you will never ever be able to fuck again."

He tightened his grasp, and Marius hissed through his teeth. Severus let go and continued eating. McGonagall cast an odd look at Marius's blanched face.

"Are you all right?" she asked him curtly.

"Yes, yes – just a twinge of migraine," he lied. Beads of sweat were clustering on his forehead. Severus smirked.

"Excuse me," Marius muttered, getting up. The pain, Severus knew, was excruciating.

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