Rating: M

Warnings: Slash, swearing, infidelity, ignores epilogue, probably a bit OOC

Pairings: SS/HP and HP/GW

Genres: Romance, Drama, Angst

Summary: Harry's engaged to Ginny, but then along comes Severus Snape. SLASH, SS/HP, POST DH

Chapter Seven: Dangerous Roads

Harry threw his hands up over his head and ducked behind a parked car just in time; the fiery red beam shot right passed him and blasted a hole in a nearby lamppost. The post groaned and teetered ominously for a few seconds before falling and crashing to the ground with a loud, shattering smash. The screams and cries of the people in the street combined with the whirring sirens of the police cars were enough to drive anyone crazy and for a moment – just for a moment – Harry clamped his hands to his ears and closed his eyes – this was not how he had intended to spend his Sunday afternoon.

He snapped open his eyes and took a deep breath. He gripped his wand tightly in his right hand and peered out from behind the vehicle. A flash of green light shot towards him and he quickly withdrew once more.

Ok, time to think. He looked about the street, his eyes surveying all the possible hiding places. He couldn't stay where he was – for a start, the men who were firing at him had seen him duck down. And cars were highly flammable when filled with petrol. One wrong spell and boom! His only hope was that these men, whoever they were, were ignorant of all things muggle.

Tires screeched to a stop, doors slammed, and the deep, barking voice of a police officer demanded the men to put down their weapons. Harry groaned. This was going to take some serious cleaning up.

Taking aim underneath the car, Harry shot a leg locker curse at one of the men. It worked and he fell to the ground, but a moment later his accomplice had freed him and both were advancing on the surrounding police.

Harry crawled around to the other side of the car, trying to keep the feet of the men in sight beneath the vehicle. He clutched his wand and readied a spell in his head.

"Thank God for Obliviators," he muttered, before jumping out from behind the car and firing a stunning spell. It missed by inches and the two men whirled round just as guns went off. Reacting almost instantly, Harry vanished the bullets, shot another stunning spell, and ducked back down behind the car.

A series of cracks behind him almost made him jump out of his skin and for a heart-pounding split second he was sure it was all over – the police had snuck up on him with orders to kill – but facing him, ducking down behind the car with him, were his Auror colleagues.

"Do you ever go anywhere without causing a scene?" Ron said, grinning.

"Oh, you know me," he answered, "I love all the drama. Cant get enough of it."

"Are there any causalities?" another Auror, Samuel, asked.

"Not yet," Harry replied. "But if we want to bring those men in alive then I suggest we get rid of the police."

"Or at least their guns," said Ron, peering around the corner. "I think I can Accio them from here…"

They never got a chance to find out. The guns went off again, screams were heard, and Harry and the other Aurors had no choice but to leap out from behind their hiding place. Samuel and three others went for the police whilst Harry, Ron, and the other two engaged the men in a duel.

Harry fired spell after spell, jumping out of the way every now and then when one was fired back. For all their brutality, these men didn't have much of an aim and the four of them soon had them disarmed, bound, and ready for arrest.

Over by the police, however, things were a different story. Naturally, the police had refused to cooperate (who would when faced with people who had appeared out of thin air and carried sticks that shot out beams of destructive light?) and all the Aurors efforts were going into defensive spells.

"Lydia, you stay here and make sure these don't escape," Harry said to one of the Aurors. "Ron, Karen, come with me."

Together the three of them raced down the noisy street, each casting shield charms to avoid the bullets that suddenly flew at them. Once they'd reached their colleagues they quickly combined their shields and Harry and Ron disarmed the police, their guns flying through the air towards them. More screams, more guns pulled out from belts to be disarmed once more. A loud, roaring sound could be heard from overhead and an amplified voice told them to surrender and drop their weapons.

"They've got a helichopper," said Ron, looking up as their robes flapped around them.

"I thought it was called a helicopter," said Samuel, also looking up as the men in the flying machine took aim.

"No, no, it's definitely a helichopper. My dad knows his muggle stuff."

"This really isn't the time for this," said Harry, intensifying his shield. He turned to the other Aurors. "Karen, I want you to go back to Lydia and get those men to the Ministry. Then I want you both to come back with a team of Obliviators. The rest of you, on the count of three, I want to Apparate into that park. You see it? We'll be out of the way and can keep on eye on the goings on until everything's sorted. OK? One, two, three!"

"Let me guess – you were ambushed."

Ginny, holding what looked like some sort of pie, looked over at him as he entered the kitchen.

"How'd you know?" he asked.

"It's already been on the wireless," she said, nodding at the little wooden radio that sat in the corner. "But not a whisper of it on the muggle news. Well done."

Harry sighed heavily and dropped into a chair at the kitchen table. It had taken hours to round up all the witnesses and have the Obliviators modify their memories. Even now, Harry was sure some of them had gotten away. The police had been a nightmare and in the end the Obliviators had had to do their job from a safe distance away.

The interrogation of the new men, however, had turned out to be a lot easier than he'd thought it would be. He'd been prepared for the long haul, for asking questions and receiving nothing but sarcasm, for being forced to resort to Veritaserum , but no. It turned out that the men had been Imperiused by none other than Davidson and McCulloch, the two suspects from the Creswell case. It seemed they were getting desperate if they were forcing people to take out the Head Auror. Not that this information helped – they were still none the closer to actually finding these men.

Ginny placed a cup of tea in front of him on the table and Harry smiled at her gratefully. It was only as he watched her head back across the kitchen that he realised something; she was dressed up – she was wearing a long, flowing black dress and her red hair hung in loose curls down to small of her back.

Harry felt his eyes grow wide. They'd had reservations tonight! They were meant to be going out!

"Shit, Gin, I'm so sorry," he said, getting up and following her. "I completely forgot. And I wouldn't have been able to anyway, what with all that stuff going on and…" He ran a hand through his hair, but Ginny just smiled at him, cupped his cheek, and gave him a kiss.

"Don't worry about it," she said softly. "I understand. I'm just glad you're alright."

"But you were really looking forward to it."

"We can have a night in," she replied. "That can be just as good. See? I'm making your favourite."

She turned and lifted her wand. Three bananas flew at her and started slicing themselves up, falling neatly into place on top of the pie she'd placed on top of the kitchen counter. Harry looked over her shoulder.

"Is that Banoffee Pie?" he asked.

"Yep," she said, gathering up the fallen banana skins.

"But Gin, my favourite's –"

"I know," she cut across, "But we had no apples so you're going to have to make do."

Harry laughed and spun her around so that she was facing him. She smiled at him and leaned in for a kiss, soft and unhurried. When they pulled away, Ginny looked up at him, stroking a strand of hair out of his eyes with a soft hand.

"I love you, you know that?" Harry said quietly, holding her close to him.

"Hmm."

They both fell silent for a few minutes, just enjoying the company of the other. Ginny's hands circled his waist and she lay her head against his shoulder with a sigh. Harry kissed her hair and ran a hand down her back.

"Are you OK?" he asked. He felt her grow suddenly tense. "Hey, what's wrong?" he said, pulling out of the hug to look at her.

She bit her lip, considering. She removed her hands from Harry's waist and turned her back.

"It's…it's Snape," she said with an obvious effort.

"Oh, Gin, not again, please," he groaned. "This really is too much."

"No," she said quickly, turning. "No, it's not that. It's…well…" She paused and took a deep breath. "I'm sorry, OK? I'm sorry I said those things about him. I'm sorry about the way I was at the Ball."

It had been a week since the Ball and even though Ginny had threatened that they would be "having words" about the incident, neither of them had mentioned Snape since that night. Harry thought it a lost cause and, well, it really was an argument they could do without having. He hadn't dared broach the matter in case Ginny flew off the rail and he was so fed up of having the same conversation over and over, never getting anywhere.

"What's brought this on?" he asked, leaning against the sideboard, feeling a touch suspicious but doing his best to not let it show.

"Hermione," she said quietly. She lifted her hands and started twirling her hair around her fingers nervously. Harry waited for her to continue. Were they finally about to put this behind them? Talking to Snape was so refreshing and he'd hate to have to give that up to make Ginny happy.

"We had a chat during the week," she went on, "and she made me realise a few things. For a start, I'm 21 years old and I still hold a grudge against Snape for something he didn't even do."

"Finally caught on?"

"Even Ron doesn't hold it against him anymore," she said dismally. "But I lost a brother Harry, a brother I was very close to. You must understand why I felt that way, after everything Snape did."

"You mean like risking his own life?" he said wryly.

"Please don't take that tone with me Harry," said Ginny, looking hurt. "I'm trying to apologise."

Harry flushed a little and folded his arms across his chest.

"Sorry," he muttered. "Go on."

"I…well just don't expect me to become friends with him. And don't expect me to invite him around for dinner either."

Harry uncrossed his arms and reached out for her hand. "Ginny, that's not what I want. I just don't want you to blame him for Fred's death, that's all. It's perfectly fine with me if you don't want to forgive him for the way he was at school, but when it comes to the Death Eater stuff then –"

"I know," she said again, nodding seriously. "I'm trying, I really am. I won't argue about him anymore, I promise. I love you, Harry. We're getting married. If you want to be friends with Snape then…well, I'm just going to have to accept that aren't I? I don't want him, of all people, to come between us."

He moved closer to her and took hold of her other hand. "He won't," he said softly. "I promise you that. You're the most important thing in my life."

A blush rose in her cheeks and she smiled brightly at him before allowing herself to be pulled into a hug. When she broke away, the smile was still there.

"So," she said, with the very obvious air of changing the subject – not that Harry minded, "How about we just skip dessert and go straight to the bedroom for the main course?"

Harry pulled away with a snicker. "That was really cheesy, Gin."

"Hey," she whined, hitting him on the arm, "It took me all evening to think of that line!"

"I can tell," he laughed. "It's incredible, genius – I've never heard anything like it."

"When you've finished making fun of me," she said, stepping around him, "I'll be in the bedroom, wearing nothing but that black bra you love so much." And on that note, she strolled out of the room.

It was Harry's Monday off work the next day and he spent the entire day lounging around the house with Ginny. They played computer games, watched television, and sang along to the old songs on the radio. They disappeared off to London in the evening and enjoyed a romantic meal under the stars, watched a romantic film in a darkened cinema, and took a romantic stroll down by the river Themes. When they got home, the romance continued in bed.

It was how they'd spent many of their dates after leaving Hogwarts…before Ginny's career, before Harry's promotion. Arguing tended to make Harry forget just how much fun they could have together but he was now sure, more than ever, that he and Ginny were meant to be.

Back to work on Tuesday, and it turned out to be quite an eventful day; two burglaries, five attacks, one kidnap attempt, and a murder, all of which were solved by teatime. Ron had been hit with a nasty hex and would be covered in ugly, green warts for the rest of the month, whilst Harry had had to make a trip to the hospital to get his toes reattached. But that was the sort of thing you expected in this line of work and so Harry had hobbled off home for an evening of relaxation.

Wednesday wasn't as exciting as the day before, but the prospect of watching Ginny in her match against Madrid that evening kept him going all day. It had been so long since he'd seen her play that it was actually quite shameful. Tonight her team would be competing in their first match since they'd qualified for the European Championships and all the family would be there, cheering her on. Harry already had his Harpies hat and scarf stowed away safely in his desk drawer.

After leaving Hogwarts, numerous Quidditch teams had approached him, offering him the place of Seeker. Even if he hadn't had his heart set on being an Auror he still would have declined – Quidditch was a hobby, something he enjoyed with his friends; he loved it but he couldn't imagine playing fulltime. All those strict training programmes, all that publicity – it was too much and it took the joy out of the game.

But Ginny was different. She handled it all so well. And she enjoyed it, which was the main thing. He didn't know what she'd do when they decided to have children.

Children. He looked at his watch. It was 6:15pm and he was sat in his office thinking about children. They hadn't even started planning the wedding yet!

"One thing at a time, Harry," he told himself, "One thing at a time."

He stood up and started to gather together the various files and documents littered on his desk. The only down side about being Head Auror was all the paperwork! If he had to sign another damn form explaining why such-and-such a person couldn't come in to work because they'd sprouted wings, he'd go crazy.

He'd just bent down to retrieve his Quidditch hat and scarf when there was an explosion of voices in the other room. Shouts, heavy boots pounding on the floor, and his door swung open.

It was Jeremy, his assistant, and he looked quite out of breath, pink blotches colouring his pale cheeks.

"Sir!" he said, panting. "Sir, we just got a report – Davidson is in Trafalgar Square. He's rounded all the muggles up and taken them hostage."

"Oh, for the love of…! Right," he said loudly, striding out of his office and into the large room. "Jeremy, alert Kingsley. He's going to have to let the Prime Minister know as soon as possible so we don't have any interference from the police again. Aurors, grab your muggle uniforms and Apparate to Charing Cross. Obliviators, I want you patrolling the crowds, turning away as many people as you can. Where's Robards?"

"He knocked off early," said Ron. "Went to the match."

"The things you can get away with when you're Head of Department," said Samuel, shrugging on a jacket. "He wants bringing down a peg or two."

"And he will be if we finally put an end to this case," said Harry, already thinking of the look on his boss's face. "Right, you all ready? Good. Let's get going."

A very frayed, very singed, but nonetheless a very pleased looking Harry collapsed into an armchair in the living room. He didn't care that his back felt covered in bruises, he didn't care that his face was marred with scratches – he didn't even care about the faint burning smell that was coming from his hair – he'd done it. They had done it. The Aurors had finally put an end to the Creswell murder case. How? He wasn't entirely sure. He'd passed out and woken up in hospital twenty minutes later. But at least he'd managed to save the hostages before he'd been hit – that definitely had to count for something!

He was so happy, so relieved. But the house was so quiet, and he was on such a high from finally putting those two criminals behind bars. He couldn't wait to hear what Robards had to say in the morning – the Head of Magical Law hadn't stopped breathing down his neck since the case had opened. But now it was done, finished, he'd proved himself worthy of being Head Auror (he'd only been hit because he'd jumped in front of Ron!)…and he had no one to celebrate with. He was here, at home, alone. Wasn't life just typical?

He sighed and reached for the phone, punching in Hermione's mobile number. He supposed it was best to get this out of the way before he decided on anything.

She picked up after five rings. He could hear an almighty noise in the background.

"Hey, it's me," he said into the phone.

"Harry, where've you been?" she shouted over the cheering. "You've missed the match!"

"It's finished already?" Damn. "Is Ginny angry with me?"

"Well, that depends," she said.

"On what?"

"On what your excuse is. Ron didn't show up either."

"Yeah, I know, it was a work thing," he explained. "We finally caught those guys we've been after."

"That's fantastic!"

"Yeah, well, I doubt Ginny will see it that way."

"Oh, I'm sure she'll understand. You had a solid reason. Just make sure you congratulate her when she gets home – they won by 60 points thanks to Ginny catching the snitch!"

"You're not making this any easier, Hermione."

Harry heard her laugh. "I'm sorry," she said, "But it was a really good game. Oh, I'm going to have to let you go now, Ginny wants me. We're going to a party! Isn't that great? I've never been to a Quidditch party before! Are you going to join us?"

"Nah," he said, getting up. "I think I'll just stay here and let these injuries heal."

"I'll see you sometime in the week then?"

"Definitely. See you later."

"Bye Harry!"

He put the phone down. He crossed the room and looked out of the window. He really should stay at home…but Ginny wouldn't be back until morning…and it had been such an evening…

Snape would appreciate the company. He smiled and grabbed his coat.

"I've brought pizza!"

"And wine," Severus noticed with approval. Then his eyes caught sight of the state of the grinning maniac on his doorstep. "What in Merlin's name happened to you?"

"We caught the bad guys!" Harry replied, with far too much enthusiasm. He sidestepped Severus and stood, beaming, by the sofa. Severus shut the door and followed him, taking in Harry's torn jacket, cut cheeks, and missing half-eyebrow.

"Drink?" Harry asked, holding out the bottle of red wine.

"I'll fetch the glasses."

They sat for almost an hour, eating the delicious vegetable pizza and drinking the sweet red wine at a steady pace. Harry talked at length about his heroic save ("and there was this great big whooshing sound and a flash of light and I dived in front of Ron and saved the silly sod – he'd been stood there talking about helichoppers again!"), not so much regaling, but bemusing Severus with his tales of evil men, missing body parts, and the slave driver that was his boss, Gawain Robards.

"Why do I get the feeling you're making it sound a lot more dramatic than it actually was?" Severus said with a slight smirk, reaching for the wine bottle; he refilled both their glasses and settled back down next to Harry. "Weren't you unconscious for most of it, Mr. Head Auror?"

"That's not the point," Harry replied, taking a sip of his drink. He lay his head back against the sofa and looked over at Severus. "Why don't you become an Auror?" he asked.

Severus snorted. Then he saw the look on the other man's face. "You're serious?" he said, disbelievingly.

"Why not?" Harry gave a shrug. "You know all your stuff already and you're an excellent dueller. I doubt Kingsley would mind. He likes you."

Severus shook his head with a small smile. "People like me don't become Aurors, Harry. And besides, I've never really wanted to anyway."

"But I thought everyone wanted to be an Auror at some point. It's like the wizarding equivalent to the muggle 'when I grow up I want to be a fireman or an astronaut.'"

"I've honestly never given it any thought."

Harry gave a great, heaving sigh and brought his legs up onto the sofa. He took another healthy sip of wine and sat back, regarding Severus.

"Would you go back to teaching," he asked after a while, "if given the chance?"

"Minerva already asked me," he replied. "My answer was no."

"S'pose that makes sense. You never did seem to enjoy it."

"The teaching I didn't mind," he told him, "It was the idiot students I couldn't abide."

"Hey, I wasn't…" Harry started to say, but Severus shot him one of his looks. "Ok, maybe I was. But I'm not anymore, right?"

Severus took a swallow of his drink and nodded. "True, you are no longer a student."

"I meant no longer an idiot!" he complained, kicking Severus in the thigh.

Severus laughed and downed the rest of his drink.

Even though he wouldn't have admitted it (even under pain of death!) he was glad that Harry had turned up. He immensely enjoyed their meetings on Fridays but sometimes a few hours a week just wasn't enough. For reasons he couldn't quite explain, he found himself rather addicted to Harry's personality. His presence was very much a welcome change and he was bringing out sides to Severus that had long ago been buried.

Sometimes it was hard for him to believe that he'd been so suspicious of Harry a few months ago – he'd felt so sure that he was Potter's new project; befriend an ex-Death Eater and win a lifetime supply of admiration! But Harry had enough admiration to be getting on with and, well, he really was turning out to be a nice person. And as much as Severus' instincts told him to be cautious, he really didn't want to lose another friend. He wasn't a great believer in fate, but if Albus were here he'd be saying, with that damn twinkle in his eye, "My boy, you've been given a second chance."

He turned to look at Harry, who was sipping the last of his wine. He couldn't help but wonder why he was here with Snape when he had a beautiful fiancé at home. Trouble in paradise?

"D'you think one day you could take me flying?" Harry said suddenly, staring into his empty glass.

"You have a broomstick. Use it."

"No, no I meant…you know…with you. Flying. Proper flying." He turned to gaze at Severus, almost shyly.

Severus grunted, but he knew the amusement didn't reach his eyes. The very idea of flying with Harry suddenly seemed quite appealing. He never enjoyed it alone. Maybe sharing it with someone would erase the Dark Lord's stamp on it?

"What?" he said. "Be the Lois to my Superman?"

Harry laughed softly. "Not quite," he smiled. "But something like that, yeah. I've been thinking about it and I don't believe you when you say it's unnatural."

That did amuse Severus. "Why am I not surprised? You never did believe anything that came out of my mouth."

"That's not true!" Harry protested. "I learnt a lot from you."

He gave Harry a sceptical look. "Like?"

"Like…potions and things," he giggled.

"You never paid attention in class and you know it!"

"But I paid attention to the Half Blood Prince," he said. "And tha' was you." He jabbed a finger in Severus' chest.

Severus smirked and took the empty glass from Harry's hand. "I think you've had too much wine, Mr. Potter. You're slurring your words."

"Only half a bottle. That's the same as you."

"No," he said, "You did, in fact, have three quarters."

Harry gave another giggle and Severus couldn't help but find it quite adorable.

"Well that makes sense. I'm celebrating."

"Celebrating what?"

"Catching the bad guys!" he said, eyes lit up. He paused. "You're one of my best friends, you know that?"

"I do now."

"I'm glad I found you."

"Me too."

Harry beamed at him.

And then Severus did something which was both incredibly brave and incredibly stupid. Some time during the conversation, Harry had wriggled closer to him – so close that Severus could smell the alcohol on his breath. Harry felt so warm against his arm, such a comfortable weight.

He closed the gap between them and pressed his lips to Harry's. Slowly, softly, he began to move them and when he felt Harry respond, return the kiss just as lovingly, sweet, long-lost, sensations shot through his body, lighting fire in every nerve.

His hand came up to cup Harry's cheek, his thumb rubbing ever so gently across the newly scarred flesh. He felt Harry's tongue at his lips and he opened them, a moan escaping him, loving the taste of it, the taste of someone, right there, that tongue caressing his…

And then it was over and he found himself staring up at a very red faced, very angry Harry Potter.

"What the hell are you doing?" he shouted, glaring down at Severus with so much loathing in his eyes.

Severus felt a weight drop into his stomach.

"I…don't…we've been drinking…"

"You don't kiss someone because you've been drinking! How dare you!"

"Harry –"

"Just leave me alone!"

The windows rattled as he slammed the door, leaving Severus feeling very much like a fool.

A/N: I'm so sorry! Really I am! It's been a lot longer that usual and I hate myself for it. lol I seem to spend my life apologising! Reasons are on my profile. I hope you all don't hate me too much - it's a long chapter so I hope that makes up for it. You all have permission to throw eggs at me.

Quick question though - "fiancé" - when using it to refer to a girl, does it have one "e" or two? I looked it up and it said two, but I've never seen it used that way before.

Sorry, sorry, sorry!

Review to show I'm forgiven? Please? Love you all!

xx