Disclaimer: In the famous ords of... myself... I AM NOT J.K. ROWLING!! And I never will be... so do not sue me... please...

Beta: Shadowfax999... and she's leaving me in August!! For, like, a week, but- but-but I need her!! I really really do!! I mean, imagine this fic without her... -shudders- it would be bad, let me tell you... and I know...

Title: The Ties That Bind

Summary/ Warning: Dom/ Sub, HGRW, PPBZ, RLSB, LVBL …and of course HPSS.

Chapter 12: Regaining Control

:Parseltongue:

"Conversational thoughts"

Private thoughts, shared memories

"Well," Harry said jokingly, "I don't see what they have to do with it." Hermione frowned at him.

"They are going through the same things we are. There is no reason for all of us to have to work this out on our own when we can come together and figure this nonsense out all at once."

Harry huffed, sorely wanting to, but not stupid enough, to defy her logic. They all did have to go through the same thing. It was just that stupid urge to keep Severus all to himself coming back into play.

"Well," he allowed grudgingly, "I guess that would be the better thing to do. But there is no way I am going to participate in this if Dumbledore gets involved."

Hermione raised her eyebrow at the scarcely concealed hate in her best friend's voice, but ploughed past the angry statement to reassure the brunette.

"No teacher would get involved- well, other than Snape, of course- unless we needed them. And that would only be with the full approval of everyone involved." Hermione thought for a moment and added, "Besides, we need to be able to count on each other fully. Bringing in outside help will only hinder that trust."

Harry nodded, relieved. Now that all his fears were laid to rest, momentarily anyways, he brought his entire focus to the conversation.

Casting a Silencing Spell to ensure their privacy, he sat back in his chair and regarded Hermione with steady eyes. "So, Draco with Neville. Pansy with Blaise. Nott with Susan. Seamus with Dean, you with Ron and of course Severus and I." He pursed his lips before continuing. "It's going to be rather difficult keeping us all together long enough that we don't kill each other."

"Not really," Hermione interjected. "We all sat in a group while you were talking to Nikita." Harry started shaking his head at her matter-of-fact tone.

"That's not what I meant. What I meant was that with all of us together, the only thing the Doms are going to be thinking is that we have to protect our mates. And that's not really the best atmosphere to have a serious conversation in." Hermione nodded, looking a little down cast as she conceded Harry's point.

"Besides, I'm not ready for anyone to know that Severus is my mate." Harry's eye started twitching at the mere thought, and Hermione snorted as she observed him.

"You're like a puppy with your first bone," she explained at his look, "You don't want anyone to go near it, and you growl every time they try."

"True… very true, I won't deny it." Harry had to laugh a little at himself as he thought over his recent actions and words. "But what are we going to do? Are we going to have to arrange a time for all of us to get together? And how?"

Hermione looked around the almost empty Common Room as she thought. Seamus and Dean were cuddling together on one of the other couches, talking quietly as they held each other, their faces reflecting the joy they felt in being in each other's presence.

Hermione smiled as she watched the shadows from the fire place flickering about their faces, and looked away as Dean smiled and planted his lips on Seamus' forehead, resting them there as he stared into the fire.

Turning back to Harry, she saw that Harry was also watching the other pair, and saw in his eyes a longing to be curled up on a couch before the fire with his own mate. Hermione sighed. She felt that urge too. But they had to work this out, as the self-appointed leaders of the paired students, and called Harry's attention back to her with a little wave.

He gave her a sad smile, but looked away from the clueless pair as they continued holding each other.

Neither Harry nor Hermione needed to acknowledge the feelings that had sprung to life as they watched the other pair, and with the knowledge of those feelings held deep within them, they knew that they would do anything to ensure that they and their friends, old and new, remained happy.

Thus, their planning began in earnest.

The next morning Harry woke Ron, Seamus, Dean, and Neville up at an hour early. He let them take their time getting ready, but got them downstairs and seated on the couches within fifteen minutes.

When Hermione joined them a few minutes later all the boys were seated comfortably, talking amongst each other. Hermione stood before them and cast Silencio, gaining their attention.

"Alright, boys," she began, "We all have some serious thinking to do, and there really isn't that much time." So saying, Hermione began telling the assembled boys the plan she and Harry had hashed out last night.

It took a while, but soon everyone had agreed to it. Harry went back up to his room halfway through, already knowing what Hermione was going to say, and sprawled out on his bed.

"Severus?" he called, not bothering to take the time to see what his mate was doing before interrupting him.

A sleepy "What, brat?" was his curt answer and Harry grinned as Severus woke up enough to take part in the conversation.

"Good morning, Sev. Listen, Hermione and I have been plotting-"

"Lovely."

"shhh- and we've come up with this plan. I wanted to get your take on it while Hermione fills in the others."

Severus sighed as he rolled over, covering his eyes with one arm. He could almost taste Harry's anxiety, so he grouched, "Alright, Harry. What ingenious thing have the two of you thought up?"

Harry smiled and started speaking.

"Okay. We are going to start including the other five of us into our circle. So Pansy, Blaise, Theo, Susan, and Draco get to know us better. When they're comfortable around us, we're going to start actually getting to know each other, you know- all the things that made us all hate each other all these years and all that.

If it goes well enough- actually, even if it goes horribly- we're going to begin doing everything together. But we're going to try and do it in moderation so the rest of the school and Voldemort-" Harry ignored Severus' mental wince- "don't get suspicious."

Harry waited a minute, and then asked "What do you think?"

Severus grunted. It was far too early to deal with teenage nonsense, quite literally in his mind, but he was able to see the significance of getting the other teens on their side.

"And are you going to be telling the rest of the brats who your partner is?" Severus was gratified to hear the low snarl that rippled through his mind after that statement. "Huh. I rather thought not. But yes, it's a good idea. I still have another -" Severus cut off his thought to check the time- "forty minutes till I have to get up. So either get down here and be useful, or go bother someone else."

Severus cut off the connection and rolled over; certain that he had at least ten minutes before Harry came strolling into his room.

Harry grinned as he rolled out of bed, shoving his feet into shoes on his way out of the dorm. The grin remained on his face as he walked through the Common Room, Hermione stopping her lecture to raise her eyebrow at him and shake her head. Neville just smiled at Harry as he walked by, Ron smiled as well- but it was a sick little smile (he knew where Harry was going and had not yet gotten accustomed to it) and Seamus and Dean watched him leave the room and disappear into the hallway with questioning expressions on their faces.

Harry started running as soon as he left the Tower. This was one appointment he wasn't going to miss.

The room was silent as the class waited for their Professor. Everyone was there early but for Potter, who hadn't been seen at all the entire morning. Someone started tapping their desk, but after a viciously whispered "Stop that!" no other sound was heard.

The class started as they heard Snape's irritated bark in the corridor. "You had better get into that classroom before I do, Potter!"

A low, sarcastic answer was heard, and Harry slid into the Potion's Classroom with about two seconds to spare, followed closely by the irate form of the Potion's Master. He beat a hasty retreat to his seat, and immediately started acting like he had been there all along.

Snape stared at him sullenly, wanting to assign a detention, but not technically allowed to as Harry hadn't actually been late. He settled with merely saying "Five points from Gryffindor, Mr. Potter, for disrespecting a teacher."

Snape walked to the front of the room with his usual graceful stride, robes billowing out behind him. Harry took the opportunity to turn to Hermione with a grin on his face and chance a quick wink. She shook her head in exasperation, but smiled wryly as she handed him a cold chicken sandwich under the desk. Harry mouthed a 'thank you', and turned around to face the front of the room where Snape was setting up his desk.

Neville saw the exchange and raised an eyebrow at the Golden Boy, waiting until he had Harry's attention before wagging his finger at him and giving him the 'you're asking for trouble' face.

Harry just shrugged and bit off a chunk of the sandwich while Snape's back was towards the class.

The Potion's Master turned towards the class and began the lecture, something about a poisonous plant that could apparently cure leukemia. Harry spaced out, and started when he heard Severus call his name.

"-apparently Mr. Potter thinks he is too good for this class." Severus' voice was poisonous as he spoke, and most of the class flinched back in their seats, including Harry. "It seems spending the night with one of your fan girls was not the brightest idea you've ever had, Potter."

Harry barely managed to keep on his angsty- teenaged- 'I just got in trouble face' when he heard Hermione start choking behind him. Snape frowned, and spun to face the brown haired girl.

"Is something funny, Ms. Granger?" he asked in an acidic tone.

"No, Professor Snape, I just had something caught in my throat."

Snape sneered, and replied, "Do us all a favour and choke to death before you come to class. Five points from Gryffindor for disturbing the lesson." Snape turned back to Harry and spoke as if to a child. "Let's try this again, Mr. Potter. What is the difference between Lady's Lace and Maiden's Lace?"

Harry thought for a moment, tuning out the sound of Severus' annoyed amusement that was playing in the back of his mind. He knew this, he knew he did.

"Um, Lady's Lace is- a coagulant in it's-" Harry struggled for the information, not letting the sniggering Slytherin's distract him- "powdered form, and Maiden's Lace is a coagulant in its… diced… form?"

Severus was silent for a minute, staring at Harry with a supremely disdainful expression on his face, but just swept away and continued the lesson. Harry smiled in triumph as he heard his mate's slight praise in the back of his mind.

Harry took another bite of the sandwich, and hastily hid the rest of it under the desk as Snape swept through the classroom checking the students and their notes.

"You do realize that I can see the fact that you're eating in my classroom?"

Harry finished his mouthful as Severus' back was turned to him and replied "Um, no? I didn't?" Harry was faintly astonished that Severus could talk out loud about something

and have a whole different conversation about something else inside his mind.

"Well, I can. So unless you're planning on sharing- because I also did not get a chance to eat breakfast- put it away before I have to confiscate it."

"One more mouthful?" Harry begged, stuffing his mouth again. "Please?"

Severus sighed imperceptibly as he made the mistake of looking at Harry and was immediately subjugated to the infamous puppy-dog-eyes. "Fine," he grumped, "But no more."

'It is quite fortunate that I put Harry in the first row, otherwise the students would have seen those soulful green eyes begging me for food' Severus thought to himself, and heard a snort from the class. Turning around to hunt for the perpetrator (and knowing full well it was Harry), Severus scanned the classroom with narrowed eyes as the students worked on their potion's.

Snape moved towards Harry suddenly, and the class froze as they watched their Professor swoop down on the unsuspecting student as he absently bit off a piece of a sandwich.

"Potter!" Snape barked, "Are you eating in my classroom?"

Harry went motionless as soon as Snape said his name and turned towards his teacher with a wide-eyed expression on his face as he tried to swallow his mouthful. Finally succeeding, he managed to say, "Um, sorry?"

"Sorry is not good enough, Mr. Potter. Detention tomorrow night at 8, and a further ten points from Gryffindor."

Snape whipped his wand out and the half-eaten sandwich disappeared, leaving only the disappointed teen.

The rest of the lesson passed uneventfully until Snape said he had to go into his office for a minute and 'there had better be no accidents while I am gone.' Needless to say, when he emerged two minutes later nothing was wrong and most of the students were done with their potions.

Snape, being the prat that he is, kept them until the bell rang and only then did he let them leave. Hermione snagged Harry on the way out and whispered curiously "Why did he take the sandwich away from you?"

Harry merely smiled at her and answered smugly, "He was hungry, too!"

Hermione shook her head at the pair's antics, "Was the detention all part of the ploy then?"

Harry grinned cheekily, "Oh, no Hermione. I'm sure I'll get exactly what I deserve."

Hermione shook her head, exasperated. The boy was turning into a sex fiend, and sometime she just didn't know how to handle him.

Hello, folks! How are you this fine day? Stark raving mad at me for delaying your- Snarry induced bliss by a full day? But that's okay- you should be mad at my mother (b!?&h that she is) for stealing my Herman from me! I am completely free of blame in this ONE instance, so please don't badger me about the late chapter.

And as I have been told, I guess you guys are ready and waiting for some more Snarry-smut? Sorry, but you'll all have to wait until ch15, as it is composed entirely of shmut. Sorry!!

But if you're entirely desperate for the afore mentioned shmut, please look to my other WIP Snarry fic, 'Habits and Hobbies' for lotsa it.

Th-th-th-that's all, folks!

Ta!

Netrixie

P.S.: Remember- A bartender is just a pharmacist with a limited inventory. XD

P.P.S.: I need a Brit-picker for this one-shot I'm writing... just a one-time deal, PM me or add your interest into the review you'll leave... XD! THANKS!