A/N: Sorry this update was late! Hope this chapter doesn't disappoint. Drop me a review if you like or dislike it. :)
This was exactly what Harry feared would happen one day. This was why he was so upset about being left out at work. This was why people called him a figurehead. Because the fact of the matter was that he had no clue about Severus's issues. He'd been left completely in the dark. Sure, he could kind of figure things out now. Most likely, Severus had been approved for a loan to support his pub. (It would certainly explain why he was desperate enough to agree to host STA meetings.) And if Severus claimed the bank was trying to steal his home, that probably meant that he was deemed a financial risk and had to put up his house for collateral. But the details aren't that important. What really mattered here was that all of the other board members clearly broke company policy that required every single board member to review and (collectively) approve a loan. Yet Harry hadn't heard a single thing about the loan until a moment ago. As far as he was confirmed, this just confirmed his suspicions – he was being left out. And God only knew what other things they'd done behind his back.
"Those bastards," he hissed, unconsciously curling his hands into fists.
"Harry. Harry. Harry! Harry, can you hear me?"
Harry raised his head to look at the person calling him, the rush in his head nearly blocking out every other sound. "Neville?"
What was he doing here? Harry laughed. Oh the irony! He had finally opened up and talked to someone about all the things that were bugging him at work, about he was worried that he was being left out of the loop at work. After first talking to Neville, he'd been relieved as some of the tension from work started to dissipate. In fact, he had started to silently applaud Hermione for thinking up a way to get Harry to loosen up and let out some of his frustrations. But not two minutes after expressing his secret concerns about work and his worst nightmare had come true. His coworkers, people he had once thought of as trustworthy friends (not counting Dudley, of course), were leaving him out, making major decisions without even consulting him, and destroying people's lives along the way. How had he let things get so out of control? He was the CFO, for fuck's sake.
"Harry. What's going on? Your partner just stormed off, and you've been glaring at the wall for the past three minutes. You didn't even hear me when I called your name," Neville explained. "Are you okay?"
Harry made a face. All he had heard was "storm," which seemed like an accurate description for the mess going on inside his head right then. He tried his best to push back the anger and focus on the man in front of him, but he was struggling. "What?"
This time Neville leaned in to examine Harry closer. "Harry, you have to talk to me… Was that the guy who made the flyer? Did you have another fight with him?"
Harry shook his head to try to clear things up, and it helped a bit. Enough of the storm had passed that Harry was slowly getting a bearing of his surrounding. "Neville? Aren't you supposed to be talking to a different partner now?"
Neville sighed. "Yes, but I asked him to wait a second while I talked to a friend. Now can you please tell me what happened? You're starting to worry me."
As he remembered the last few words he and Severus shared, he couldn't help but feel a little resentment towards Hermione. If she had allowed him to have a drink during this whole fiasco, maybe he would actually be able to calm down. At the very least, he could do his best to black out and forget what he'd just heard (just kidding…maybe just drink enough to earn a massive hangover the next morning).
"I found out why Severus hates me," he muttered.
Neville looks surprised. "So what's the reason?"
"My bank is ruining his life, and he blames me for it."
"What? How could you have ruined his life?"
"I don't know. I think the other board members – without my knowledge – approved him for some loan that he's missed payments on. I don't really know." With his elbows on the table, he let his head fall into his hands. "I never even knew that this was happening, Neville. They did everything without me like they've been doing for the past couple of months. This is exactly what I was talking about."
Neville walked over to rub Harry's back in an attempt to comfort the distressed man, but it wasn't doing much good.
"I'm sorry. Am I interrupting your pity party, Potter?" Severus asked, reappearing out of nowhere. Immediately, Neville let his hand drop to his side.
"W-what? You're still here?" Harry had assumed (or rather hoped) that the Severus had run off again like last time. To be completely honest, Harry was in no mood to continue their previous conversation.
Severus snorted. "For all your talk about my poor memory, you should take a moment to acknowledge your own inability to remember my contract. If you think I'd break it over one stupid conversation with you, you're grossly mistaken."
"Then why did you leave?"
"I could see on your face that you wouldn't believe me unless I brought you proof, so here's your evidence." With that said, Severus waved the manila folder he was holding in front of Harry's face before dropping it onto the table.
"What's this?" He looked warily at the folder. It seemed ordinary (it only held a few pieces of paper in it), but Harry knew it was anything but.
"You can open it up and see for yourself…as soon as your knight in shining armor leaves," Severus said, giving Neville a pointed look. The young man started. "Don't worry. I think your damsel in distress can handle the fire-breathing folder."
Severus smirked at the two of them.
Worried that Neville might be having flashbacks to his schooldays where he'd been harassed by one caustic teacher too many, Harry tried to look as reassuring as feasibly possible. Given that he'd rather deal with a real dragon than an irate Severus, this was a hard task to accomplish.
"It's okay, Neville," he tried. "Thanks for checking on me, but I'm fine now."
The other young man nodded. "If you say so…Talk to you after the session is over?"
"Sure." Actually, Harry wasn't sure if he'd want to stick around Hog's Head any longer than necessary. Nonetheless, he knew he had to lie to placate Neville enough to return to his waiting partner. Once Neville walked off, he prepared himself for the Tirade of the Century.
"Do you ever feel bad about what you do, Potter?"
There was no good answer to that question, so Harry tried to avoid answering with another question. "Bad about what?"
"About how you deceive your own friends, trick them into believing you're actually a decent human being when you're nothing more than a lying, manipulative thief."
Oh, God. "Listen, Severus. I swear that I had no part in this," Harry explained desperately.
Severus sneered. "You expect me to believe the Chief Financial Officer doesn't know anything about what's going on in his own company?"
The way Severus's lips curled up in disgust just set something off. Who was Severus to judge him?
"Yes, Severus! That's exactly what I'm saying," Harry hollered, on the verge of a major explosion. "I'm the fucking CFO, you're right. But I may as well be the janitor for all my coworkers care. Don't you understand? You're not the only one who has been screwed. I have, too! It's no more their bank than mine, yet they're treating me like I'm some incompetent intern. They have meetings without me. They sign deals without me. They do everything without me. If my parents hadn't started Godric's, I'm not sure if they'd even keep me around. They obviously want to fire me, but since the know the press would go insane if they ever did, they're just ignoring me." By the end of his rant, Harry's chest was heaving and Severus was just watching him.
"Are you quite finished, Potter?" he asked calmly.
Harry rolled his eyes. It figured that Severus would just dismiss his feelings. Had he even bothered listening to him in the first place? "Like you care."
"Oh, no. I care very much. In fact, I'm in charge of casting for The Real Trust Fund Babies of Hollywood, and I think you'd make a wonderful addition to our other simpering brats. How quickly do you think you'd be able to relocate? I think it would be in both our best interests for you to move to California immediately, don't you agree?"
" I'm not a trust fund baby. I work for my money," Harry growled, upset by Severus's accusations.
"But I thought that was the whole issue, Potter? That you were indeed not working for you undoubtedly outrageous salary. Was that not what you've been whining about for the past half an hour?"
Why did he even bother explaining things to Severus? "Forget it," he mumbled, crossing his arms. "My life is more complicated than you could even imagine. You just wouldn't understand."
Severus snorted and a flash of anger passed through his eyes. "No, I guess I wouldn't. Tell me, Potter. Tell me about how miserable your life is. Tell me about how you hate your steady income. Tell me about how you hate your posh, little pent house. Tell me about how you hate knowing that you'll always have a job and a place to live." When Harry was silent, Severus made an impatient gesture with his hands. "I'm listening, Potter."
"Listen, I'm not trying to be ungratef-"
"No, of course not! I wouldn't dare suggest that an entitled whiner such as yourself was ungrateful."
"Fine!" Harry threw his arms up in the air. Severus's sarcasm was really getting on his nerves, so he figured he should at least try to work things out with the other man before things got too out of hand. "I get it. You're upset about your loan. What do you want me to do about it?"
For a moment, Severus looked like he was about to launch into some lecture (The Tirade of the Millennium), but he must have changed his mind because he stubbornly kept his mouth shut. The silence was more than uncomfortable, and Harry could feel himself start to twitch from all the unwarranted attention. Even worse, Harry didn't know how to interpret the frown Severus wore. Finally, Severus huffed.
"I'm not sure if there is anything you can do," he started slowly, as if he no longer had the energy to continue the fight. (Had the Tirade II really ended that early?) "Just…look at these files." His defeated tone was unnerving to the least, and Harry realized he didn't know how to handle a Severus that wasn't being sarcastic or insulting.
Severus pushed the manila folder closer to Harry before moving away. And, as if the man had a perfect internal clock, Hermione's phone alarm went off right as he disappeared from Harry's view.
"That's it for the day," the curly-haired girl announced cheerily.
Tracking Neville's approaching figure out of the corner of his eye, Harry snatched the ominous folder off the table and darted off. No matter what Hermione said, he had a feeling that this day was far from over. It was going to be a very long day…And Harry wasn't to go pass another moment of it sober. He needed a drink. Immediately.