Chapter Five: Choices
Two weeks passed without incident. Harry slept in his dorms, and Severus in his quarters. Both had objected strongly to this, but Hermione had asked "what brand of stupid would that be?", and the newlyweds were forced to agree that even if Harry's dormmates were let in on the secret, and agreed to not mention Harry's absance during the night, there was too much a risk that one of the other three boys would slip to someone else, and that someone else could go right to McGonagall, or even Rita Skeeter. God forbid the later.
So far as the bonding tattoos went, Ron was the only person who had seen it aside from Hermione, and so Harry told him that he'd been drunk when he got it, so he'd gone to Madam Pomfrey and had it removed. Both Severus and Harry continued to use glamor charms to hide the rings, though Severus has done some research and found a more powerful charm that would not be deactivated by a simple "revealo".
Harry tried not to look to anxious as Charms came near to the end. Potions was next. It would be the first chance he had to see Severus - his bond-mate - in two days. Harry had owed him this morning, however, to give Severus a heads up on his grand plan to give them some time together.
Severus,
Today in Potions I'm going to do something that might make you mad, don't know what yet. Give me a damn detention, and we can spend some time together. Love, Harry
Harry smiled, thinking about the close to that short note. Love, Harry. Harry had never had cause or desire to close a letter that way before. It was nice. Love, Harry. Flitwick dismissed the class, and Harry nearly jumped out of his chair and bounded towards the door. He was stopped, however, by Hermione's hand grabbing the neck of his robes.
"Slow down Harry," she hissed. "If you keep being this obvious, you'll blow it. You might get off with a slap on the wrist, but he could loose his job, and worse, his teaching permit."
"Who could loose what?" Ron asked, coming up behind them.
"Nothing!" Harry and Hermione both exclaimed.
Ron looked thoughtful. He glanced at Harry, and then back to Hermione. "You two are bloody hiding something from me," he accused in a monotone. He didn't look like he was going to loose his temper, but he was obviously upset about being excluded.
"It's none of your business Ron," Harry snapped, irritated that this conversation was wasting time he'd rather be spending in the dungeons.
"Oh?" Ron said, color now raising in his face. "But it's my girlfriend's business?"
Harry had just crossed a line. Indecision flooding into him about whether to risk exposing Severus and him by telling his friend the truth, or risk his friendship with Ron by refusing.
Harry came to no resolution regarding Ron, but rather had stormed off and let Hermione deal with it. He trusted her not to say anything, regardless of how mad it made her boyfriend. He still arrived in the dungeons well before anyone else. "Severus," he said, walking in the door.
"Careful, Harry. Another student could walk in any moment," Severus rebuked softly. His eyes were soft though, and Harry knew he was glad his mate had arrived early.
Harry walked to the front of the room, and sank into Severus' arms. "I miss you. I can't stand this."
Severus pulled away and held Harry at arms length. "I feel the same, but there's no help for it."
"What the bloody hell?" a voice exclaimed.
Harry winced, Ron must have followed him down. "Close the door behind you, Mr. Weasley," Severus hissed.
Ron did as he was told. "I'm not sure what to think at the moment, so before my mind goes in the wrong direction, how about you tell me what Hermione and you have been hiding from me. I'm guessing it has something to do with Snape. Please tell me you somehow found out Snape's your uncle or something of the sort."
Harry looked at Severus, who nodded. "Ron," Harry said, "Do you remember that night a few weeks ago I didn't come back to the dorms?"
Ron nodded.
"I was in Severus' quarters that night."
"Yea," Ron said. "You had detention."
"I was there all night, Ron."
Severus took Harry's hand and gave it a quick squeeze.
"You're snogging Snape?" Ron's jaw fell. "You're gay?"
"Yes."
To Harry's surprise, Ron got a goofy grin on his face. "Congratulations, Harry."
"What? You're not mad?"
Ron shook his head. "I always suspected you were gay, so I'm not really surprised about that. The Snape part, that's a little weird, but it's not like you went and eloped or...bloody hell."
Harry shifted uncomfortably, saying nothing.
"The tattoo. It was a soul bonding ring, wasn't it. You never had it removed, you're just hiding it with some charm."
"I'm impressed Mr. Weasley," Severus commented. "It wasn't much of a surprise that Miss Granger figured it out, but I didn't expect you to know about soul bonding rings."
Ron looked awkward, but still not upset. "My parents soul bonded during thier fifth year at Hogwarts. They had to hide it till they graduated, I'd just forgotten."
Harry nodded, and Ron turned a little green. "Harry," Ron said, "I am honestly happy for you, but I don't have a gay bone in my body and I have some very bad mental images in my head right now, of you and Snape shagging, so I'm just gunna go now and I'll see you later in the common room. We can talk more if you like. I don't really want details, but on the other hand I'd rather know what's going on than have you and my girlfriend keeping things from me."
"Thanks Ron, please don't tell anyone. Sev could get in alot of trouble if this got out before I graduate." Harry said.
"Sure," Ron said, even greener. "See you later, mate."
Author's note: As per requested, I've continued "Point of Love"...as I was thinking on how to develop this further, I had another bright idea for a HP fan fic, so I've decided to mesh together the two ideas, and I think it'll turn into a rather unique story. I'm telling you this now because in the next chapter, you will start to see the change of direction. I've reworked it a bit so I hope it doesn't seem too abrupt, but please R&R and let me know what you think as the story progresses. THANK YOU EVERYONE!