.

#alimela8:

You may think what you like about the tattoo and scar, they certainly won't be mentioned for the story :)

#navieblue:

Hehe my bad, and you will see!

#shadowfurie:

I hope you're not too disappointed... I thought it was quite funny :P

It was Thursday morning, and Harry hadn't heard a thing from Severus which he knew was odd but he tried to push it aside. He had thought that morning when he'd woken up from messaging the man that night that he'd taken the bracelet off, but he'd never done that before so Harry chose to ignore that thought.

Hermione and Harry made their way down to the hall that morning and were joined by Blaise. He sidled up to Harry nudged his side giving him a knowing look.

"Don't make me regret telling you." Harry whispered and it made Blaise snort in amusement.

"Tell him what?" Hermione pitched in and Harry rolled his eyes.

"Malfoy's revenge." Harry said completely lying but with secrecy in his voice and this time Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Honestly, Harry. Just be careful will you." She scolded but he shrugged his shoulders at her as if it was no big deal.

Once she put her head into a book she'd brought down with her, Blaise gave Harry a look and he sighed, whispering into his ear. Blaise nodded in understanding and then smirked, Malfoy had been a right jerk to Blaise recently and so he was only too happy to hear that Harry had planned something embarrassing.

"Still not here, Harry?" Ron said sitting next to Hermione.

"No, I don't know what's taking so long. We have practice tonight as well and I need to get myself adjusted to it."

"Your broom?" Blaise said and Harry nodded.

"Odd." He said with Ron and Harry agreeing.

Harry frowned and turned to look at the head table to find Severus speaking with the Headmaster. He looked up when he felt Harry looking at him and he raised an eyebrow. Harry huffed then gripped his wrist, not caring if the others noted that he did so to send Severus a message.

Did you get my new broom sorted?

He waited a minute before he felt the tell tale tingle and looked down.

Harry, I've been so busy. I'm sorry.

Harry was furious.

"What!" He said out loud and the others looked at him after this outburst.

"Harry, wha – "

"Nothing." He snapped at Hermione and he jumped up before storming out of the Great Hall.

He was annoyed, yes. Seething, yes. Above all though, disappointed in Severus for not doing something he had said he would do. Severus however sat at the head table quietly, not reacting to Harry's outburst nor the scorching on his wrist although he felt bad for Harry. He knew what he'd be thinking.

Harry stormed up to the tower and then threw himself onto his bed. What am I going to do? He thought and then started going through his head who in the other houses had a broom he could borrow that wasn't school issue. He came up with nothing, realizing he didn't really have friends in other houses and he was versing Blaise that Saturday.

After having a petulant spat on his bed to himself, he got up and grabbed his bag, rifling through it and trying to find the catalogue that had all the brooms. He was sure if he owled at lunch then he could have it delivered Friday afternoon or Saturday morning, it was a stretch but it was better than nothing.

"Gah, are you serious, where is it?" He said loudly throwing his belongings everywhere.

It was at that moment that Ron walked in and had to stop Harry from throwing a book across the room. He turned, startled when he saw Ron standing there and he went back to searching through his trunk.

"What's gotten into you this morning? What are you looking for?"

"That bloody catalogue. You haven't seen it have you?" Harry asked in a panic and Ron shook his head.

"Shit." Harry continued and stood, kicking his trunk.

"Why do you need it?"

"Cause I have no fucking broom, Ron! We're going to lose to Slytherin on the weekend. Have you seen the broom Malfoy has?" Harry yelled and Ron took a step back.

"But I thought you ord – "

"If it had of been properly, then it would have got here already wouldn't it?" He spat and then grabbed his bag, shoving his Care of Magical Creatures and Transfiguration textbooks into his bag.

"Come on, let's go." He huffed walking past Ron and made his way to class.

He kept clear of speaking to Ron and Hermione for the rest of the day and when it came to lunch time he grabbed some fruit and then left again in favour of going down to the broomstick cupboard to find the best broom he could borrow. He was almost at the point of tears when he heard footsteps coming up behind him and saw that it was Luna with a dreamy look on her face.

"Hey Luna." Harry said putting the broom he had in his hand back and shutting the door.

"Hello, Harry Potter. Such a nice day today." She said looking at him with her sparkling blue eyes and he sighed finally relaxing since the morning.

"Wish I wasn't so preoccupied, then I guess I could enjoy it." He said quietly and she came to sit next to him along the wall.

"It will all work out. Just you wait." She said and he had to smile.

He would have believed her if there was a slight chance that he could snag a fast broom but he knew it was going to be impossible and he didn't want to be the one to let Gryffindor fail. He knew he should be surprised that she knew what he was fretting over, or was that how she did it? Said obscure things and hoped they related to what you were stressing about. He huffed and ran a hand through his hair.

"I hope so. Otherwise Gryffindor are in such shit." He said absentmindedly and she stood after a few minutes.

He looked up at her and she smiled down at him, giving him a reassuring look before turning to leave. He let his head fall back against the wall and counted to twenty in his head to reign in his emotions. It seemed to help, so with that he stood and made his way towards the dungeons seeing as they had that after lunch.

He was surprised that the class hadn't been moved due to Neville blowing it up the day before but then again, it was a magical school. He smacked himself in the forehead, duh, he thought.

He met Hermione and Ron just as they were coming down the stairs of the dungeons and they waited diligently outside the classroom with everyone until they were told to go in. Harry had to roll his eyes when he saw the writing on the board and because Neville wasn't in class today, Severus mentioned that anyone who failed this potion after brewing it a second time would be very sorry.

Harry found himself double checking the board for the instructions and was pleased to note that Severus hadn't stuffed it up and he smirked before getting to work.

It was halfway through the class and Harry hadn't looked up at Severus once, only looking at the board and his cauldron then his ingredients. He could feel a gaze on him and looking at the board again he could see Severus looking at him through his peripheral but he didn't look at the man, he was too annoyed at him. He knew that if he looked over at Severus it would be to scowl and he didn't want to deal with that right now, he didn't think it was completely fair to the man either.

I can see you're trying not to look.

Harry glanced down and read the note then huffed. No shit, Merlin, Harry thought as he added another ingredient as he refused to reply to Severus's message.

You're angry. I understand and I am sorry.

Harry sighed as he read the next message and after quickly glancing at Hermione he sent one back.

One would think you want Gryffindor to lose on Saturday.

He didn't get a reply to that but because he was so close to the front he heard Severus sigh and then the scraping of his chair against the cool stone as he stood to make his rounds. He completely bypassed Harry, not saying a word but then completely slated Hermione as he picked out every little flaw she had. One look at her face told Harry she wasn't happy so he chose to ignore her for the rest of the lesson.

It didn't seem like much longer when the class was over and he was handing his potion over to a stoic looking teacher. He didn't dare hang around though and was out of the classroom like lightening with the intention of heading towards the library.

To his surprise he was joined ten minutes later with an irate Hermione and a flustered looking Blaise as they made their way over to where Harry was sitting.

"I can't believe, him." Hermione hissed as quietly as she could.

Harry looked at her with sympathy before turning towards Blaise and he rolled his eyes. Harry had to snort in amusement because he guessed that Blaise had been subjected to one of Hermione's well known rants.

"He's seriously got it in for us this year." She continued.

Harry closed his eyes and leaned forward, resting his head in his hand that was propped up by his elbow as Blaise started to defend his Head of House because it sent Hermione off on another tangent. She covered everything from McGonagall not being lenient with her house to blatant favoritism on Severus's part.

"Hermione, just let it go. I have a massive headache and you're not helping." He sniffed before closing his book and rubbing his temples.

It effectively shut her up but he was no longer in the mood to be around people.

Harry didn't go to dinner that night. After vowing never to skip meals again he went back on his word, and his word to Severus and stayed in the library. He hadn't even received a message from Severus for his absence and he became a little disheartened. He sighed. It was times like these were he wished he had someone to talk to about this kind of stuff, but considering Severus was the only one, he knew that the perspective would be the same as always.

In his reflection he realized he wanted to be with the man, to have some comfort from him but he was also annoyed and the stress of the upcoming game was at the top of his mind. He growled in frustration and let his head drop onto the table with a thud, he didn't feel like doing anymore work but he didn't really want to go back to the common room and hang around.

Frustrated and giving up, he packed away his things and headed out into the empty corridor. He looked both ways and felt rather lonely, but he tried not to think about it and started to ascend the stairs towards the tower. Once there he ditched his bag and proceeded to pad down the stairs in his Animagus form to camp out in front of the fire for the night.

Tomorrow could wait.

He woke sometime in the morning, the room pitch black and there was no fire. He stretched the kinks in his back as best he could in his form and looked around the room. He frowned when he realized he had no idea where he was but as his eyes adjusted he could see the outlines of beds and then it dawned on his as his eyes fully adjusted that he was in a dorm. Not just any dorm, and certainly not the boys dorm as he saw the onslaught of pinks and pieces of female clothing.

Turned out that Harry was in the girls dorm and judging by the reds and golds along the walls he was still in Gryffindor tower. He moved from where he was and looked up at the bed he was closest to finding Hermione sound asleep in her bed. He smiled as he realized that she must have brought him there earlier on so he wasn't disturbed. He purred and tried jumping up on the bed but it was no use because he was too short. He huffed at that point and turned to find the exit as he needed to get back to his own bed. Changing back he scuffed his shoes going up the stairs and once in the boys dorm and by his bed he face planted onto it, tired but not sure why.

Ron, a couple of hours later shook him awake and Harry had to calm himself from being disorientated.

"Hey, what the hell happened to you last night?"

"I uh… went for a walk." Harry said frowning and getting his bearings.

"What's the time?" He then said and Ron told him it was breakfast and to be prepared.

Harry rolled his eyes and wanted to crawl into bed and forget about the day. Ron wouldn't let him however and pulled him up before reminding him that they had a prank to play on a certain Slytherin.

As Harry made his way to the showers, it didn't really motivate him to get ready and be excited especially when he realized it was Valentine's Day to top it off. He knew it should be, pranking Malfoy, but considering their Quidditch team was going to lose against the Slytherin's tomorrow due to the fact Harry had no broom made the pranking seem stupid.

"Alright, so when he walks into the hall we'll do it okay?" Ron said eagerly as they approached the hall and Harry nodded mutely, not really listening to him.

Harry walked over to Hermione and slumped down next to her. She gave him a concerned look and he turned to her.

"Thanks for last night." He whispered, conscious of the fact that Ron was within earshot.

"I thought you could do with the anonymity last night." She replied with a small smile, which he returned.

Harry was then interrupted as Blaise came to sit beside him.

"Happy Valentine's Day." Blaise whispered into Harry's ear and he couldn't help but smile at the boy's gesture.

He hadn't been expecting that from him, nor the rose he pulled out from his cloak and Harry blushed, having to look away. Because he had looked away, this gave Blaise the perfect angle and he soon felt a pair of soft lips on his cheek. It gave him a shock, and even more so when he felt a burning on his wrist and he jumped falling backwards onto the floor and throwing a frightened look towards the head table, his back still connected with the hard stone.

"Sorry." Blaise said helping him up but now Harry was shaking and he felt terrible.

He almost felt like he'd cheated on Severus and he pulled back his sleeve to reveal an angry red mark on his wrist.

"Oh my." Hermione said pulling his wrist but he pulled it back and hid it, missing the concerned looks from both Blaise and Hermione.

"Oi, there he is, you ready?" Ron whispered from across the table and Harry turned around to see Malfoy walking into the hall.

He simply couldn't do it.

There was a little voice in the back of his head saying that it would be a bad idea if he went through with this but seeing as Severus was already mad with him he shook his head of all thoughts and pulled out his wand. Trying to, but failing, to conceal his wand as he pointed it at Malfoy he uttered in the incantation, as did Ron before a shriek had the whole school silent.

Ron was the first to burst out laughing along with the rest of Gryffindor, then slowly the laughter spread throughout the rest of the student body. Harry felt no joy though and the eyes that were sending daggers towards him from Malfoy didn't exactly insight confidence in him being able to get away with this. There was going to be retaliation.

There Malfoy stood, just inside the door to the Great Hall not wearing a Slytherin uniform but a Gryffindor one, a female one. To top if off, Ron had spelled the Slytherin's hair bright red with a gold streak running through one side.

Harry was aware that there were catcalls and the like being thrown across the hall until Malfoy, in the end decided to run for it in the mini skirt that he sported with the whole school laughing at him.

"That was brilliant."

"Did you see his face?"

"Oh Merlin, I thought he was starting to cry."

"His father will hear about this."

All this chatter was happening around Harry but he didn't take any notice, not even as the owls started flying around the room delivering their Valentine's gifts. Harry didn't know how his father and friends managed to do this on a regular basis to people, it felt awful ruining someone's day like that. He did think however, that Severus had had a bit of an influence on the way he saw the actions of the Marauders so his reaction, if he thought about it wasn't that strange. He had promised not to do these things at the start of the year.

"You're not laughing about this?" Blaise whispered to Harry and he shook his head.

"No." He said and stood, leaving his friends to wonder what in the name of Merlin was on his mind.

To answer the question, Severus was on his mind.

At the other end of the hall, Severus was extremely disappointed in his Gryffindor even though he had to admit the state of dress Malfoy had sported left him in a slightly lighter mood. However, he saw that Harry didn't seem to be relishing in the embarrassment and this was baffling to him. Why do it in the first place? He wondered before he saw Harry get up and leave the hall. His owl seeming to circle round the hall and follow him out when she realized he was no longer there. He sighed to himself and thought back to the broomstick he had hiding in his bedroom. He had intended on giving it to Harry this morning as he was going to do something Valentine's related for him but the danger of his friends and others wondering what was going on had stopped him. Then there was the kiss that the Slytherin, Blaise Zabini had placed on his Harry's cheek. He didn't think Harry would lead him on, perhaps he is being too forward, Severus thought and his realization of why he didn't like Blaise in the first place was justified.

Harry was walking down the corridor when he was assaulted by Hedwig who landed on his shoulder and dropped a large bundle of pink and red Valentine's cards in his hands. He groaned when he saw them and immediately thought of Severus, still not having heard anything from the man and he sighed.

"Thanks, girl." He muttered and stroked the top of her head before she flew off.

He sighed again as he assessed the pile and felt like incinerating the whole thing but thought better of it and chucked them into his bag where he could sort through them later. As he stepped outside into the mild weathered day he took a deep breath. He was experiencing emotions and feelings that were confusing him because he knew he should be feeling the buzz and being excited that it was Valentine's Day as well as the day he pranked Malfoy but it wasn't like that and frustration was starting to build.

I want to see you.

He messaged Severus, not really thinking about it but it was too late to take it back now. He guessed that after everything that had happened during the week that he wanted to be comforted.

After dinner.

His heart did a little flip as he read the words, but it didn't comfort him at all when he realized it meant waiting the whole day to be in the man's presence.

Okay.

Harry replied, not really knowing what to say back.

You seem sad, Harry. What's going on?

Harry snorted, was he being serious? He didn't think the man would be that dense or stubborn for that matter to know why he wasn't feeling the buzz of the festivities.

I am.

Harry replied back and then looked up as he was joined by his friends. Ron patted him on the back and commented about how the school was talking about the incident whilst Hermione watched on with interest as she observed Harry's reactions. She could clearly see that something was bothering him.

He stayed rather somber for the rest of the morning and by the time it was lunch time he was fed up with the day, not having gone like he had wanted and he certainly didn't feel up to facing everyone in the Great Hall as he was still receiving Valentine's tokens throughout the morning. Instead of going to the hall, he instead went down to the Dungeons to wait until class started.

As he descended the stairs, he paused mid step when he saw Severus stalk around a corner and walk towards him, intention obviously to head up for lunch. Severus hesitated for a second when he saw Harry's face and glanced behind him before walking up to him.

"Mr. Potter, you are in the Dungeons because…?" He left if hang as he looked over Harry who was looking up at him sadly.

"Heading to class early, sir." Harry replied, then started to walk away when he heard steps coming from further along the Dungeons.

"See you in class, sir." He continued quietly and put his head down.

What he hadn't expected to happen was that in a few steps he felt a hand on his upper arm pulling him into an alcove. He looked up to find himself pinned into the wall by Severus who was now putting his hands either side of his face, pulling him into a heated but quick kiss. Harry gasped at first in surprise then he moaned as the sensations finally caught up with him and he fisted Severus's black robes.

"I don't want you sad on this day." Severus said very quietly into Harry's ear and when he pulled away Harry was nodding.

"Good. Now, because you haven't eaten properly, I am escorting you upstairs." He continued before pushing Harry into the corridor making him almost trip and the Slytherin that was coming past smirked at Harry.

Since the prank on Malfoy that morning, he didn't know if the Slytherin was smirking at the possible revenge that would be placed on Harry or the current situation. It was rather unsettling indeed.