Harry refused to get out of bed. He refused to go through the process of getting ready for breakfast and ultimately go to his first lesson, which happened to be potions.
There were only two possible outcomes to the day. That Severus would repel the bond as much as Harry, or that he would ask Harry out the way Draco asked out Luna. Mcgonagal did say the ministry would have sent Severus a letter last night asking him to come to the mirror also and confirm who he sees. In order to prevent someone saying a false name, should the veritaserum for some reason be faulty or not come into effect.
Harry hadn't even known he was gay. If Snape tried to ask him out he was likely to freeze, faint or run away.
Not to mention his hopes of having a family seemed all but impossible now. He'd wanted kids, eventually of course. Kids to dote all his love and affection to.
He also wanted to travel, he doubted Snape was the kind of man to walk with him from Greek ruin to Greek ruin with a camera hanging around his neck. Harry chuckled softly seeing the photos in his mind. Severus glaring at the camera, still in his black robes with a hat saying 'I love Greece' Harry would have made him wear. Harry laughed to himself shaking his head to clear his mind of the ridiculous image.
That would never happen, most importantly because Snape was also not the kind of man who would leave a stable post like Hogwarts headmaster and part-time potions master just to please a young adult.
Maybe Harry should just go. Why was he feeling guilty about that? It's not like Snape has even asked him out yet.
"Harry come on, you're going to be late." Hermione said frowning down at him. Harry groaned. He considered pretending he was sick but last time it resulted in Hermione dropping ice cold water on him upon realising he was lying.
"Fine." He mumbled getting up to go and shower quickly. Twenty minutes later he was at the breakfast table poking his scrambled eggs, sighing as almost everyone else had paired off. Harry had never seen more house mixing than today. Even the Slytherin table was peppered with yellow, blue and even red trimmed uniforms.
Harry braved one look at the headmaster who seemed to have as much appetite as him. In fact, he seemed to be glaring daggers at his breakfast. Mcgonagal noticed Harry looking and gave both of them worried glances.
Harry looked away before the potions master himself noticed him staring. He tried to eat something, going for some toast with jam. He welcomed the raspberry flavoured sweetness that he downed with tea.
"Come on Harry, are you really not going to tell us who it is?" Ron asked.
Harry didn't know if Severus wanted anyone to know. He just knew that if he told anyone, it would only be a matter of time before Rita Skeeter got her grimy hands on the story.
"Harry… You know the ministry is publishing our soulmates to the Daily Prophet, right?" Hermione said. Harry looked up horrified at this.
"What?" He wanted to shout the question out, but it seemed his lungs had lost their strength at the revelation and merely managed a whisper.
"Woah, Snape made his breakfast catch on fire." Dean whispered. Everyone turned to see that Snape's furious glare had given way to a speck of accidental magic. The reason? He'd seen the morning owls coming before they were within earshot and too many seemed to be carrying a copy of the wretched newspaper.
Snape turned to glance at Harry at that, their eyes making contact. Harry started feeling worried the other would make him catch on fire. So without thinking it twice he stood up and grabbed his things, storming out of there as students got their mail. He was content merely walking away, but when he heard the uproar he ran. He stormed straight past the stairs that led to the dungeons. He went straight for the forbidden forest, a place he'd gotten comfortable with in the last months. It was dangerous but most creatures stayed away from Harry or all together ignored him.
Harry stayed there, refusing to move. In the dark, cold forest it was hard to know when the day finished and the night started. He sat there reading his charms book for god knows how long.
It was Firenze who found him.
"Mr. Potter. You should head back to the school. I'm sure everyone is worried about you." He said gently. Harry looked up from his charms book in surprise.
"Snape is meant to be my soulmate." He blurted out. Firenze looked a little surprised at the confession.
"Well, congratulations Mr. Potter. Severus Snape is a great man." That Harry knew already.
"He's twenty years older than me." He said.
"My mate's a hundred years older than me, what's your point Mr. Potter?" He asked. Harry didn't know how to respond to that.
"W-well…" he tried. "Snape… I know how great he is but… He's old enough to be my dad. In fact he's exactly old enough to be my dad… Not to mention I didn't know I was gay…" He mumbled.
"I'm afraid us centaurs don't abide by such labels Mr. Potter. I wouldn't understand your predicament. Perhaps you should talk to your friends about that. But we do know this. Your soulmate is someone you'll find impossible to stay away from. Once you start learning more about each other, you'll realise you'll want to spend more and more time together. You will complement each other, well, how do I explain this. You're two halves of the same coin." He said. Harry looked up at the other. "Your soulmate will know when you're upset and cheer you up. They'll know when you are angry and calm you down. They'll know when you're lonely and keep you company. They'll know when you're in danger and keep you safe. Sometimes they don't have to do much, just be there. Of course… that means you provide the same comfort to your mate." He said finally. Harry looked back down at his charms book, for the sake of taking some time to register the information.
A cold breeze passed by and the shiver made him react. "Thankyou Firenze… I should head back." He said putting his book away and turning to head back to the school.
"Don't worry Mr. Potter, you'll be fine." Firenze said as a final note. On the edge of the forest a cold chill settled in Harry's chest when he saw the dark sky and it had nothing to do with the cold. He'd been gone all day. It was seven now. He'd skipped lunch it seemed. He walked silently down the corridors hoping to make it to Gryffindor tower unnoticed.
"Potter!" Harry hadn't heard Snape call to him like that in a very long time. It startled him and he nervously looked back. Snape grabbed him by the wrist and started dragging him off down the corridor. It reminded Harry of the way the other had pulled him along to his first occlumency lesson in his fifth year.
"Professor I-!"
"Don't you dare give me excuses, Potter! You may be the saviour of the wizarding world but you are delusional if you think you can go wherever you like." He said dragging him to his office.
Harry was left standing in front of the headmaster's desk as Severus went to sit down. With a wave of his wand the chair behind Harry slid forward making Harry fall back unceremoniously onto it.
"You skipped no less than six lessons today. Need I mention how unacceptable that is? Considering you're an eighth year?"
"I…"
"You are to serve detention the whole weekend in the library. You will write an essay for each lesson you missed, explaining everything you should have learnt in that class."
"Professor…" Once more the other interrupted him.
"Now if you ever vanish like that again I will make sure that you don't get to graduate. First it's you then it's everybody thinking they can just waltz around the forbidden forest as if it were a flowery meadow." Snape grumbled and looked up to see Harry looking down at his own hands, shivering gently. That just seemed to enrage Snape once more. Only now did Harry realise just how cold it had been in the damp forest.
"For Merlin's sake." He hissed making Harry jump. "You're dismissed. You should start on those essays as soon as possible, if you wish to enjoy any hour of this weekend."
Harry got up without looking at the other, feeling relieved in some sense that the other hadn't even mentioned the soulmate thing. He stopped however at the door.
"I'm sorry professor… I didn't mean to call out your name." He said looking down. Snape's features softened slightly, but Harry couldn't see as his back was turned.
"Then clearly you're worse at Potions than I thought, or did you forget the effects of Veritaserum, Potter?" He asked waving his wand, a force pushing Harry out the door before the door shut. Harry didn't fall, though it was close. He glared at the door and put his shoulder bag on, going off to Gryffindor tower.
"Harry! You're ok!" Hermione exclaimed running to hug him.
"Everyone's been worried sick mate." Ron said from his spot in front of the fire.
"How bad is it?" Harry asked.
"Well, everyone was shocked at first, but Snape had bolted out of there just as soon as you did. He was furious that you skipped his lesson though. Took fifty points from Gryffindor." Hermione said and Harry looked at the copy of the daily prophet. Of course he made front page.
Two heroes, one destiny. By Ritta Skeeter.
"When will this woman disappear?" Harry growled going towards the stairs that led to the dormitories.
"Harry…" Ron said and glanced at Hermione when Harry turned to look at them.
"Harry maybe its best that you try to be with Snape." She said.
"Are you crazy? There's no way I'm…"
"Harry… he's your soulmate… that means that unless you're together, you'll feel like something's missing from your life. You can find someone else to marry but you will always…"
"Ok, stop right there. I am not marrying Snape, no matter what you say." Harry laughed. "I mean… I'm finally free to do whatever I want, whatever I want. And now I'm paired off with someone. No thank you ministry of magic." He said turning to leave.
"Harry, this is a chance for happiness, don't discard it as manipulation! Harry!" Hermione tried but Harry just shut himself in the boy's dormitories. Hermione let out a sigh, stepping back, deciding to leave him alone.
"It's not just Harry you have to convince you know, Snape didn't seem too happy about it either." Ron said.
"They'll come round. Eventually." She said.
Harry went straight to his bed, trying to block out the whole day from memory. Something caught his eye and he saw a cup of hot chocolate there, waiting for him. He frowned wondering who'd left it there for him. He reached for it, taking in the scent. It smelt wonderful, like cinnamon and cloves. It was from the kitchens.
He braved a sip, not having smelt anything else in the drink. He sighed relieved as the chocolate served to relax him instantly. One of the comforts he'd discovered when entering Hogwarts was how soothing hot chocolate could be after being out in the cold.
He had a feeling as to who had told the elves to bring him some, but refused to register the thought properly, just focusing on forgetting everything that had happened these last couple of days.