Just Always Be Waiting For Me

Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter and I'm not profiting from this.

Harry and Severus had started to fall into bit of a routine together. Severus would wake up at the crack of dawn and make enough breakfast for both of them. Harry would wake up hours later and find the food in the warming box and then he'd do the washing up. Severus would be long gone and Harry would leave for work after breakfast and they wouldn't see each other again until sometime in the evening when Harry finally got in. Even then it was hit and miss sometimes it would be so late that Severus would have already went to bed, leaving dinner waiting on Harry.

He was happy enough working at the pub, but he wasn't too keen on the distance that it seemed to create between Severus and himself. They were meant to be getting married soon, he had an engagement ring to prove it, yet he felt like they didn't know the first thing about each other. They'd fought side by side in the war, and trained together, but little personal information came to light in such trying times. There wasn't time to get to know each other when Voldemort was breathing down your neck. He kind of doubted that Severus would have been up for having a chat about his childhood over a cup of tea with him, but it was the idea that they didn't know the first thing about the other that got to him. They should be creating a bond, because whether they liked it or not they were going to be spending the rest of their lives together.

He decided that the only option for right now would be for him to quit his job working at the Three Broomsticks and to try to build a relationship with the older man. It most likely wouldn't be easy, but he wasn't going to give up on him.

"I quit my job," Harry announced to Severus as he came in and dumbed his bag and coat next to the door.

"Why?" Severus inquired looking up from the lesson plans he was preparing.

"Because we never get to see one another and we're meant to be married. It's not really a glowing foundation for a relationship is it?"

"What do you plan on doing with yourself then?"

"I'm gonna become a fully qualified wizard."

"So you've registered as a first year then? I always did think it was best to completely start over when an endeavor was as hopeless as yours," Severus teased.

"You're a cheeky git," Harry grinned lopsidedly. "I've been asked to be head boy."

"Well, well, we are moving up in the world aren't we?"

"Prat."

"Imbecile."

A few weeks later Harry and Severus were married in a very private and very small ceremony. The entire thing was incredibly stilted and unremarkable. Unless being forced into an arranged marriage with your former Potions professor was unremarkable. They both just wore simple dress robes and equal looks of doubt when they arrived at the altar. If it hadn't been their magic at stake either, or both of them might have made a run for it. Neither would have blamed the other. It was all playing house and putting off the inevitable before now, but now the inevitable was here and there was no way around it or out of it.

Those included were a few members of Hogwarts staff and the Weasley clan. It wasn't as terrible as Harry had thought it might be, the worst part was having to kiss Snape in front of everyone he knew. He wasn't sure how it had slipped him mind, but it had, and if he had had the foresight to see it coming he might have regretted inviting the Weasleys. He wasn't sure he was ever going to be allowed to live this down. He could barely even summon a glare when it came to their cheering him on. He was just happy to know that the entire affair was over and that he'd only have to ever get married to Severus Snape once. He didn't know if he would be able to bare it again. All that seemed to matter now was they were both coming out with their magic still in tact. He wish he could shove his boot up the backside of both of their relatives and anyone else who was involved in such a shit agreement.

Their honeymoon was an incredibly droll affair that consisted of Severus getting plastered and going to bed and he sat up alone all night eating ice cream by himself and watching shit television in his room. Severus had deemed his muggle television useless and brain rotting and that had been the end of any discussion involving it. It wasn't exactly the fairy tale marriage that kids grew up dreaming about but it would do. It could have been a lot worse he had decided early on. He could have been betrothed to a Malfoy or even Crabbe or Goyle. He grimaced at the thought of having to spend the rest of his life in the company of either. No Severus was an intelligent and fair man who had be subjected to a rough life that accounted for his exterior and cold reception to most people. He could only hope after time that the cold exterior might melt away in concerns to him and they could at least be amicable to one another. It was going to be a long life if they couldn't at least develop some form of friendship.

"What were you going to do before I happened to you?" Harry asked the following morning at breakfast.

"I think we happened to each other," the older man replied after a moment.

"Okay, fair enough. What were the plans that you cancelled in order to have this life with me instead?"

"It was a job offer for the Defense post at another school. It doesn't matter now."

"It does matter," Harry said defensively.

"Hardly now, because here I am once again gracing the halls of Hogwarts."

"Let's take this year and build a plan together. I can get my NEWTs and you can apply to other schools, doesn't matter where."

"And what of your life here?" Severus asked quizzically.

"It'll be here when we get back," Harry smiled smartly. "Deal?"

"Deal."

He spent the evening reorganizing the Potions classroom's supply cupboards and restocking things that were low or missing. He couldn't help but wonder how he was meant to be a student in his husband's class. There was surely some sort of rule or regulation against this, but did it really happen often enough to constitute any sort of guideline? It wasn't as if anyone would have to worry that Severus might show him some sort of favor. Severus tended to be extremely fair, if not unfair at points. He didn't think it would be that big of a problem, but he wasn't sure how to field any questions his classmates might throw at him. He would have to ask Severus about how they should handle the situation, because surely the man would get more than one snide remark passed his way about marrying the savior of the wizarding world.

"We should go out to dinner once a week," Harry decided for the pair of them one evening as they continued the strict organization of the man's classroom.

"What for?" Severus asked looking up from inspecting a cauldron.

"To get to know each other. We can't continue to be married and practically be strangers. It would be nice to have a relationship even if it were just a friendship. We need to try."

"If we must," the man sighed and returned to inspecting cauldrons. Completely missing the pleased smile that had spread across the younger wizard's face.

It was still very strange to him that he was now Harry Snape, well technically he had taken the man's name, but they had both decided it would be best for him to continue to use Potter. He just wished that not so many people were aware of their marriage, the name could have come with the benefit of anonymity. Instead he either received scathing looks from people or people congratulating him on his recent nuptials. Not much of a step of from his repertoire with people who supported Voldemort and those who didn't.

Despite it having been months since the end of the war, and bunking off to India, he still wasn't used to being able to walk down the street unaccompanied. In India it was different, very few of them even knew who he was and he had the opportunity to slip by unnoticed. It had been a summer filled with freedom and little expectation from those he surrounded himself with. Here it was though everyone was watching to see what his next move would be. What the great and wonderful Harry Potter would do now that he'd slayed the Dark Lord. Now that he had gone and married Severus Snape.

What had once been a future that was filled with a potential adventure around every corner, was now a web of uncertainty. The only decision he had made in regards to his future was that he was going to finish his final year at Hogwarts and that was about it. He wasn't really sure what came after that himself. He'd made the decision that he wasn't going to live worrying about the future anymore. When Voldemort was still out to kill him, it had been a miracle that he had made it through each day. There was the constant worry of when the man might attack next, and when he would have to go up against him for the final time. Worrying whether he would even have a future at all.

For now he was mostly concerned with graduating and the rest would come after that. It would be interesting to get to have a Voldemort free school year. To see how much he could really put forward in the classroom when he didn't have to worry about saving the entire free world. It would be a normal year and he was thankful for that. Well normal besides his obvious celebrity status, but that would wear off as the school year went on. It mostly the younger students that had taken the time to notice that he was supposedly famous. Especially, the younger girls who liked to ask him out and would giggle when he would walk past, or look at him expectantly when there was any sort of outing or school dance. Some part of him worried that everyone might be too intimidated by his new spouse to even cast him a passing glance or anything more than a hurried hello in the corridor. He was definitely going to have to learn where things stood now that everything was seemingly back to normal.

Madam Malkin seemed surprised to see him when he wandered into her shop so late into the summer. She made sparse comments about how he had certainly left it to the last minute to come in for a fitting. He ignored her and quickly paid for his robes and hurried down the street to collect his textbooks, and that's when he spotted Draco Malfoy. He wasn't sure if he wanted to be seen by the blonde or not, so he hung back and tried not to make any sudden movement or draw any attention to himself, but that was nearly impossible when there was a group of children excitedly whispering about him not that far between them. He nearly cursed them when the blonde looked up at him and arched an eyebrow questioningly and walked away.

He hadn't told anyone this, but before he'd disappeared to India he'd had a drunken one night stand with Draco and they hadn't spoken since. He had just hoped to avoid him forever after that, but that would be increasingly impossible now that he had married the boy's godfather.

A/N: Sorry this took a lifetime. I got caught up in so many other projects, but hopefully updates will come much sooner now that things have settled down a bit. Thanks for reading and reviewing. (Also an update for Here's Something I Can Hold Onto is coming soon for those of you who read that!)