A/N: Sorry this took forever to upload! I've been having a busy month and haven't had much time to write. :(

Harry had had a terribly long week, and he felt like he'd been drained of every last bit of energy. He had never imagined how tiring faking smiles and laughs could be, but trying to be buddy-buddy with Dudley was like having another full-time job. The sad and frustrating thing was that he'd barely made any progress. Dudley and his friends were still whispering about things when they thought he wasn't listening and giving vague answers whenever Harry asked what they were working on. At best, he'd have to wait two more weeks before he made any real move.

To be honest, the only thing that had gotten him through the week was the thought of seeing Severus again (and Luna with her ever-present mug of fresh coffee). Yeah, it sounded ridiculous – not to mention cheesy. Harry had hated the older man, sure. But that was before. After having lunch together and going to the movies, he almost felt like they could be friends. "Friends" as in Harry would have sent the man a Facebook friend request if he'd had a profile. ("What is this? A book of faces? What do you take me for, Potter? Some kind of perverted stalker? No, you can keep that in the bookstore thank you very much.")

It was hard to explain, but he was slowly starting to enjoy their back-and-forth barbs. Unlike Dudley, Severus could always be taken at face value. He hid nothing, even if there were things he should have kept to himself. (For example, the whole theater probably didn't need to know that Severus thought Nebraska was "only in black and white as a last ditch gimmick to redeem an abysmal script and a lackluster cast that, when combined, would put an insomniac to sleep.") His brutal honesty was refreshing in a way. In any case, he was almost looking forward to the STA meeting.

When Harry opened the doors to Hog's Head, he thought that the gods were telling him that all of his pain and suffering was for a purpose. Because what else could explain this glorious turn of events? The bottles of beer on the snack table were sweating as they bathed in the metal bucket full of ice, and Harry couldn't remember seeing a more beautiful sight in his life. He wanted to take a picture of it, frame it, and hang it on his living room wall. It was a masterpiece, and he couldn't think of a better reward for playing nice with Dudley and his goons all week.

As he advanced, he distantly heard someone all out.

"Harry, wait!" the familiar voice shouted.

Some part of his brain registered the command, assessed it, and eventually determined it to be irrelevant. As far as he was concerned, the rest of the world was not important. All that mattered was Harry and the beer. "I've been waiting long enough," he mumbled, reaching into the bucket to retrieve his hard-earned prize. In one fluid motion, he twisted off the cap, raised the bottle, and chugged the first taste of Heav- "Bhsacjsedhfedf! What the hell is this?"

Hermione wiped the drops off of her face. "If you had taken a moment to actually listen to me, I would have told you," she said calmly as she examined the golden drops on her hand.

"Told me what? That April Fool's Day came early this year?" He glared at the offensive bottle of not-beer.

His friend sighed as she reached for a napkin. "I decided to start selling beer at these meetings to help bring in more money."

"First of all, this is not beer," he corrected, waving the imposter in the air. Hermione rolled her eyes, and Harry suddenly thought of something. "Hey! Was this the idea you were talking to Severus about?"

"Yes, I thought it would generate more revenue that would help Severus…you know…pay off his debt," she explained, lowering her voice.

Harry groaned. How could he complain about her idea now? "I guess that's smart," he admitted begrudgingly. "We are in a pub after all."

"I'm glad you approve," she said with a smile.

Harry held up a finger. "Wait. I never said that I approved. I can't exactly forgive you for trying to pull off this poison as beer," he teased, ducking as she threw her napkin at his face.

"I will have you know that that is beer, Harry."

"In what alternate universe does that count as beer?"

"In all universes. It's non-alcoholic beer."

Was she being serious right now? Or was Harry the only one that noticed that oxymoron?

"I still don't think people should be intoxicated at these meetings," she continued. "That's why my no alcohol rule is still in place. However, those who want a beer can still have some. Don't you see? It's a win-win."

Harry had to shake his head. For being such a smart girl, Hermione really could be clueless about some things. How could non-alcoholic beer be a win for anyone? To express his thoughts on her logic, he chucked his "beer" in the nearest trashcan, getting a jolt of satisfaction when it clanked to the bottom.

"That would be seven dollars, Potter," a new voice drawled from behind him.

"As if! I think you're the one who owes me seven dollars for ingesting that crap," he countered, turning to smile at the face of his quasi-friend. "I almost died."

"If only we were so lucky," Severus retorted. It wasn't entirely clear whether or not the pub owner was joking, but the whole I-want-to-kill-you/how-could-such-a-stupid-specimen-exist-on-this-planet vibe had diminished a bit, which was enough for Harry.

"Hey," he greeted.

Severus raised a black eyebrow. "Hello, Mr. Potter."

"You smell nice," he complimented cheekily, partly to see how the man would react and partly because it was true (as always).

"And your suit is drenched in beer," Severus responded, looking Harry up and down.

Since Harry had attempted to guzzle down most of the bottle in one go, that didn't come as much of a surprise. He so happened to be wearing one of his wool jackets, so the material was thick enough that the "beer" didn't entirely soak through to his chest. But he wasn't too concerned about checking out the damage. The dry cleaners could take care of that. No, what he was more concerned about was Severus's outfit. The older man was clad in a navy blue knit sweater with a shawl collar, dark jeans, and brown leather shoes. It could have been an outfit pulled out of an H&M store catalogue in all honesty.

"It doesn't matter. You look nice enough for the both of us."

(Shit. The mind-controlling aliens were back!)

Severus snorted. "Were you under the false impression that I wanted to be seen in public with you again?"

Harry narrowed his eyes. "Now wait just a minute, Severus. You had a good time, and you know it."

"You can hardly call spending two hours watching that amateur film anything beyond an utter waste of time."

"Maybe you didn't like the movie," Harry conceded, "but you devoured the popcorn." It was true. During the movie previews, they had a full bucket of popcorn. Not ten minutes into the actual movie and there was not a single kernel left.

Severus picked at imaginary lint on his sleeve. "I told you not to put butter on it. If you feel like you didn't get your fair share of snacks, then that's your own fault."

Was Severus really blaming it on him? "Oh, that's really matur-"

"You guys went to a movie together?" Hermione squealed. "Harry! You didn't tell me that!"

Oh, yeah. They'd forgotten Hermione was still there... "Well, would you look at the time." He rolled up his sleeve and taped the face of his Cartier watch.

"Har-"

"Ms. Granger, I do believe your clients are waiting," Severus cut in, waving his hands at the ten odd people in the room. Hermione wavered. "I know how much you pride yourself on being professional."

And those were the golden words that propelled Hermione into motion. She did, however, glare when the pair shared a look of triumph, and it was obvious that the conversation was far from over. Her eyes said that she would get to the bottom of this, and Harry made a silent reminder to himself to talk to Luna about keeping the things they'd talked about a secret.

"Welcome, everyone," Hermione said from her typical spot at the front of the room. "I'm so glad to have you here."

Harry tuned out the rest of the speech. He'd heard it enough times before. Instead, he scanned the room for any more familiar faces. Fortunately, it looked like Jessica was M.I.A., so at least he didn't have to worry about ending up with her again. Even better, he thought he saw Neville standing up in the front. His back was facing Harry, so he couldn't say for sure.

"If everyone is ready to begin, you may now find a table," Hermione instructed. "The timer will start as soon as everyone has paired up."

The banker turned to his right, where Severus had been standing, to ask if the man wanted to pair up. He'd been going back and forth about the whole idea since their lunch date (meeting, he meant meeting). They weren't at the stage of being best friends, but they were starting to get to know each other better. Harry truly wanted to know more about the grumpy bastard, but he also feared that Severus might ask him about his plans to get Severus out of the loan mess. Somehow, he didn't think Severus would appreciate his progress report (0% close to reaching his goal). In the end, he decided that he'd take a risk and partner up with Severus anyways.

His decision didn't matter, though, since Severus had already claimed a table with some blonde partner. In fact, they seemed to already be in the middle of an intense conversation.

"Harry! Harry! Harry!"

"What?" he snapped, jerking his eyes away from the blonde man.

Neville chuckled. "Severus really knows how to push your buttons, doesn't he?" the man asked.

Seeing who it was that interrupted his thoughts, Harry immediately relaxed. "Neville! It's good to see you," he said, shaking hands with him. "Sorry about that. I guess I was distracted. So how have you been?"

"I've been great. Hey, do you want to be partners again this week?"

"Of course!" Harry smiled and led the way to one of the few remaining tables.

Once they finally were situated, Neville was the first to talk. "I promise to keep everything we talk about between the two of us."

Harry nodded. "And I won't share anything we discuss with anybody else, either. Do you want to go first?"

Neville shook his head. "No, you can go first. It looks like you have a lot of stuff you need to get off your chest. What has Severus done to rile you up this time?"

He tried to play it off. "Pssh. He hasn't done anything."

His partner wasn't buying it. "Come on, Harry. You were practically growling at his table."

This caught Harry off guard. "Was I?" Neville must be exaggerating.

"You don't have to pretend with me, Harry. I'm sworn to secrecy, remember? So what has Severus done this time?"

Harry shrugged. "Nothing really. I just thought we'd be partners for the first round. Not that I mind being with you or anything," he rushed to add.

Neville took a step back from the table. "Wait. You wanted to be partners with him?"

"Yeah…I know. I must sound insane right now."

"Well, I am kind of confused. I thought you didn't like him. Isn't that why you skipped last week's meeting?"

So much for a little small talk to get things going. Harry looked down at the tile floor, desperate for any sort of distraction. Couldn't they start of talking about something ordinary before moving on to the deeper stuff? That sounded like a good idea, right?

"Isn't it amazing how clean this tile is? All the bars I typically go to have sticky floors, which is really annoying. You walk out of the bar, and the bottom of your shoes are all disgusting. Bleh. I hate it."

"Harry…"

He rolled his eyes. "Fine! I don't don't like him."

Neville cocked his head to the side. "And what exactly is that supposed to mean?"

"It means…I don't know. That we're not archenemies anymore?"

"I see." Neville considered him for a moment. "When did this change?"

"I guess I had a little revelation last week."

"About what?"

"Well, you know about the whole loan fiasco, right? I guess that talking to Severus made me realize how much people rely on Godric's and that I want to prove to him - them - that they can truly trust me. That they can trust Godric's again. That we really do care about them. That I want and will help him. Them. That I will help them." Harry scratched the back of his neck. He was confusing himself. "I don't know. Does that make any sense?"

Neville gave him a small smile. "Yeah, it does. Your parents would be proud of you, of what you're doing."

Harry returned the smile. "You think so?"

"Of course! So do you have a plan yet?"

Harry filled him in on his idea of gaining Dudley's trust and then tricking him into signing a new contract. He could tell from some of Neville's reactions that he was slightly skeptical about how successful his plan would be, but Neville still expressed his support.

"It seems like a tricky plan, but if anyone can pull it off, I know it's you," Neville said, earning him a quick hug.

"Thanks, Neville! You're the first one I've told about all this, so it's nice to have someone who I can actually talk about this stuff with now."

Who would have thought that these STA meetings would actually be helpful? Hermione might actually be onto something with this whole "sharing your thoughts and emotions" thing. He'd never quite seen the point before. He was an adult. He always thought that meant that he should be able to handle things on his own. He'd been basically living on his own ever since his parents had passed away, which made him fairly independent (and maayybbee adverse to the idea of relying on others for help). Yet he could admit now that he felt a weight off his shoulder every time he talked with Neville.

"You're not alone," Neville reminded him. "I'm here whenever you want to talk. Even outside of these STA meetings. Here, give me your phone."

Harry, pleasantly shocked by how good of a friend Neville was turning out to be, reached into his back pants pocket and handed his iPhone over. Neville punched a few buttons and then handed it back.

"I'm on Facebook, too, if you want to look me up there," he added.

Harry couldn't help laughing. "Okay. Thanks!"

Neville gave him an odd look but didn't question the odd reaction. "So if you skipped last week's meeting, how did you end up talking to Severus?'

Harry sucked in a breath. He wasn't sure if he was ready to start analyzing what happened last week. "Nothing gets by you does it?"

His partner chuckled. "Sore topic?"

Harry grunted. "The short version is that Hermione forced me to have lunch with Severus to make up for skipping the STA meeting, and we ended up having a not horrible time."

"What's the long version?"

"The long version is that there are aliens inside me. I don't know much about them, but I think they lie dormant in my brain until they smell Severus. Then they start doing crazy things like making me ask people out on dates and not complain about having no popcorn left to eat."

Neville blinked. "I'm sorry. What? You have aliens in your head?"

Harry nodded. "Imagine Cupid and the Devil having tiny, wicked babies fated to embarrass me for the rest of my adult life. Yeah, they're living up here." He tapped his forehead for emphasis.

"So, really, the short version is that you haven't quite come to terms with your newly-discovered attraction to Severus?"

Now it was Harry's turn to blink. "Those are completely false accusations," he argued. "You're on the wrong track so badly that a GPS couldn't even help you. That aside, I think you should meet one of my coworkers."

Neville frowned. "I thought you hated the people you work with."

"Not this one," he said mysteriously.

"Time's up," Hermione bellowed.

A/N: I originally planned on only having six more chapters, but now I'm thinking about bringing in more scenes with Neville, which would make it a bit longer. Hmm...