He was still mad at Snape, so much so, he borrowed Dean's Defense Against the Dark Art's book and finished most of his past-due homework over the weekend. Turning it in Monday, Snape didn't even look at him. Why? You were getting what you wanted.

Groans rang out as Snape assigned reading again from yet another set of old books that was not their textbook. Hermione reached for her copy, excited for the new material, like if Snape assigned it personally it must be very informative.

Despite Snape was ignoring him, he happily corrected all of his past-due homework right in front of him, making huge quill marks and animated corrections, like he never did something so enjoyable. He then got up and assigned a weeks' worth of work from the book he just gave them, Hermione holding it to her chest- delighted she got to keep it for a while. Snape strode over to him with the pile of homework he just turned in, and dumped the jumbled pile of parchment in front of him.

"Your overdue homework, The Chosen One. I would give you half-marks but I suppose you would like to pass."

Everyone watched as some of the parchment spilled onto the floor, oversized circled red marks of D's and P's clearly visible amongst the few A's. Some people sniggered. One quick look at Draco said that he still wasn't above being delighted at his disgrace. Hermione looked disappointed, seeing all the corrections and notes.

"And you have a week to get me the rest or I'm FAILING you."

Harry dared Snape to read his mind as he passed, picturing a centaur violating him.

Five minutes left in class, he re-sorted his homework back into the neat pile in which he turned it in. He shot a glare at Hermione to mind her own business as her nose got dangerously close to all his poor marks, reading some of the larger scrawled notes that said things like "INCOMPLETE" or "GHASTLY." Harry was positive Snape actually enjoyed failing him. On his request, she went back to her book. But as he sorted his parchment a single "O" caught his eye. This wasn't even his hand writing. This was someone else's homework. Right underneath the grade it said: "No Thursday class. Turn in homework next Thursday."

So… Snape was cancelling this week. That was interesting. Was it because of their… disagreement? Or did he have too much work to do on the castle? Harry felt angry again but held his temper. He didn't know why he was cancelling, maybe there was a reason. If he could guess by Snape's quick stupid little smug smirk, he was positive neither of them wanted to stop at this point. And it's not like he wasn't getting any value from the lessons. If something bad happened and he had to heal a wound, his patient would probably live, even if they were heavily scarred. So… next Thursday it is. He stuffed his corrected homework back into his bag.

Raised voices. Hermione elbowed him to pay attention. Harry looked up.

"There is NO SUCH THING as White Magic, Mr. Thomas!"

"There is so! My great grandmother used it! White Magic, Dark Magic. You can't have Dark Magic without White Magic!" Dean argued.

Snape looked like he was ready to push Dean out of a window. "If you paid attention in class, you would realize there is no 'Dark Magic.' Dark Magic is just a name- a label, magic classified as illegal with the DIE metric: guidelines set by Ministry standards. If you knew anything about international Wizardry, Dark Magic varies heavily by country, each nation deciding what is acceptable. White Magic is a term used to boast one's abilities- used by charlatans. Do not trust anyone who claims they can perform White Magic. There is no such thing. Lies- all."

"Are you calling my great grandmother a liar?" Dean said hotly.

"The Ministry of Magic would call your grandmother a liar. You can peruse the entirety of the library and not find a single word about White Magic, as the qualification does not exist."

"But what about Enigma Magic? You yourself said-"

"POWERFUL magic, both destructive and beautiful, qualify… as… Enigma Magic. And for the THOUSANDTH TIME, Enigma Magic does not exist either. There is GREAT known magic and GREAT unknown magic. That is all." And his patience looked spent.

"I BET DUMBLEDORE knew LOADS OF WHITE MAGIC!" Justin erupted, joining the fight.

"20 POINTS from Hufflepuff." Snape bit at the back talk.

"50 points from Slyffin-puff!" he yelled back at Snape. Before Snape had the chance to register he was supposed to be the Slyffin-puff, Justin yelled again: "And you're the biggest Slyffin-puff of them all! I mean, who kills Dumbledore? Just because he asked!? How thick are you? Everyone knows Dumbledore was a nutter!" The class erupted in laughter.

Snape was momentarily struck dumb.

The smarter students knew this was a bad thing. After a few moments Snape smiled slowly… so slowly and maliciously, the room's laughter went from raucous to silent. Harry's mouth hung open, worried what would come next.

"50 points to Hufflepuff."

The room went wild.


"Harry, were all of those D's and P's on your homework?"

"NO, I had a couple healthy A's in there too! And a solitary O, surely you saw it."

"I did, but how do you expect to pass your C.H.A.R.M.S. like this?"

"Maybe I don't."

"But Harry!"

"It's fine Hermione, I'm catching up."

"No, you're not!" she raised her voice. "He just threatened to kick you out of the class!"

"Hermione… I'm taking healing lessons."

"What…?"

"Draco…" he threw the lie wildly out there with no time to think about it. "Draco and I… are taking healing lessons with Snape. That's why he's not going to fail me. And besides, the trial, you know. Owes me one, I think."

"Oh… that, well… Draco AND Snape?" The lie must have been too big because she looked at him doubtfully. "Alright Harry… but if you decide to study or learn for once, I'll block out some time to help you."

"You're helping me enough as it is! Please, Hermione… I'm doing better. Can't you see that?"

She gave him a look. "Yes, I think you are."


An entire week and a half later Harry descended to Snape's quarters. Was he still in trouble? But Snape should be in trouble with him. Reading his mind AND forcing Harry to heal him after purposefully injuring himself. I'll let him bleed out next time.

He walked through both sets of doors without knocking, adding the wards again himself. As the usual, Snape was in the kitchen brewing tea. "Sit down," he ordered unceremoniously. He wanted to argue but noticed there was actual study material today. On the coffee table lay a variety of what he sincerely hoped were animal bones and… and a dead rat.

Snape brought over the kettle, placing it amongst the dead things.

"Good evening to you too."

"Oh, were you expecting a red carpet?"

"I don't know what I was expecting. Are those deer bones?" They sat down.

"Is giving my evenings up not good enough for you, Potter?"

"It is," he admitted. "But before we start, I want to lay down a few rules."

Snape raised an eyebrow at his demanding tone.

"One- never read my mind. I don't like it. It's a violation. Two- you said the dead students at Hogwarts were not my fault, but then you forced a major wound on yourself, knowing it was going to upset me. You deliberately tried to hurt me, and going forward, don't do that again either. I will walk out. You don't get to punish me anymore just because you feel like it."

Snape stared at him with a look that asked 'are you done?' He waited to be sure before starting. "You're going to find out very quickly I don't do apologies…" Snape whispered, "and you're the one who's going to have to settle."

And hidden from somewhere, Snape pulled out Harry's Defense Against the Dark Arts book, presenting it to him. Harry's mouth dropped. He took it and opened it. Every page… every empty space… spell after spell, context, potions, curse breaking, step by step… He flipped through it, mouth dropping further. Every space, top to bottom was filled with information… it was... it was….

"When did you have time to do this?" He looked up, amazed.

He didn't answer.

"Thank you… thank you… This is brilliant…" he breathed. The gift was too incredible- to be able to write that much in just two weeks. He must not have slept for days and really skirted on his other duties to give this to him tonight. "Thank you…" he mumbled again, really understanding the lengths to provide him with it tonight. "But... I didn't need this until August 1st…"

"You NEED IT for every class. And where's the rest of your overdue homework?"

"You had my book and you KNEW you had my book!" Harry protested. He wanted to hug him but wasn't sure if that was a good idea- he never hugged Snape before. "Thank you…" he mumbled again, running his fingers over the pages. "I really like it." Pausing, thinking better of the moment, he put his new 'Prince' book away for the real thing. He sat up a little straighter, his 'boundaries' speech evaporated, ready for their new lesson.

If Snape felt moved by Harry's display of sincere gratitude, he didn't show it. Harry was quickly learning he was going to have to read Snape's actions and disregard any of the words that came out of his mouth. He could live with that, he just needed to watch for these acts of service.

Snape picked up two bones from the coffee table and gave him one. Harry received the dried white bone, possibly a femur. Snape weakened the bone with a spell and snapped his cleanly in half. "Mending bones is easy, a first year could do it. We just don't trust them to do it. …Or teachers, now that I think about it." He performed the spell and it instantly mended. "Healing depends where they break. And forget healing if they shatter. When it happens, you'll need to remove the damaged bones completely and use Skele-Gro." Snape broke it again, did the slow wand tap, and the bones immediately fused.

"That's it?" Harry said, dumbstruck.

"That's it."

Harry shook his head in disbelief of the simplicity. Taking his own bone, he snapped it and repaired it. It worked, but not very well.

"Do it slower," Snape instructed. "Unless it's life for death, doing it slowly, easing your power in, letting it simmer, and easing out is gentler on the body. Remember- you are connecting the building blocks of life. Think of how many millions of cells you are re-connecting and how intricate, how complex, how delicate the human body is. Each cell- alive. Whenever you are working on a living thing, in Transfiguration or in Healing, it's better to use a soft hand and slow magic..." This speech sounded unintentionally very loving.

"Yes sir." Harry tried the broken bone again, going slower. It looked better this time but not by much. Snape came closer to oversee him on the next one.

"Easy… lower your wand slowly to the bone, slowly… slowly… focus imagine a thread, be that precise… and when you pull away… that's it..."

"That looks great!" Harry said, pleased with his work.

"That looks… acceptable. You can see the line where it fused."

"That's my third try!" Harry retorted, taking another bone. Snape snatched it from him and broke it in a less obvious place. Harry frowned. It didn't take him long to realize healing largely depended on the area which the damage occurred. You could heal cleanly in the middle, but fusing bones at the joints or where they connected with cartilage or tissue was much harder. Snape snapped them in angles, in twos and threes, long side, and even split them diagonally.

"That's enough, yeah?" Harry said after the 12th bone. "You've made your point. Heal it only in an emergency, go slow when you do it, but leave it to the professionals."

"Oh, did that sink in?" Snape asked, picking up the dead rat. "Healers take on an extra five years above C.H.A.R.M.S. to become Mediwizards. Imagine being in school for that long."

Squelch

The rat split apart by magic- spine snapping, guts and arteries stretching to break. Snape held a piece of rat in each hand, holding it out for Harry to work on.

"Now, as you realize Potter, if this were a human you would be very foolish to attempt this. Working on the spine and the brain are the two worst things for amateur healers to attempt, and you're not allowed to do it with just the C.H.A.R.M.S. Working on the spine can leave a wizard paralyzed. Working on the brain can be… irreversible…" Snape said this darkly but added a smile. "But for the sake of exercise, mend the spine, connect the arteries, intestines, and nerves. Finish with the muscle tissue and seal the skin over."

With Snape holding the two parts of the rat, Harry connected the spine, intestines, carefully matching all the arteries and nerves… or do the best he could. "Isn't there a potion for this?"

Snape smiled wide, surprised he was finally learning. "There is! Multiple will be needed, and they take weeks to brew. No use for any poor fellow in this condition."

"That makes sense," Harry said, finishing, sealing over the skin, leaving Snape with a rat with hair missing around the middle.

"If you like your colleagues, you will want to get rid of this unsightly scar." He looked up at Harry's forehead. "Or don't."

The scar diminishing spell took forever, the rat slowly being rotated rotisserie style for him.

"Acceptable," Snape decided. "Congratulations- you have a dead rat," and he threw it on the coffee table with a clunk.

"How'd I do overall?"

Snape shrugged. "Everything complicated is a series of small steps. You connected several nerves to the wrong ends, but the technique was fine."

"So, dead rat."

"Dead rat," Snape agreed.

"That was a very useful exercise sir. Am I breaking your bones tonight and healing them?"

"I was thinking we'd do yours," Snape smiled almost genuinely. Almost. "Find some creatures to practice with in your downtime. Remember to use an electrical current when connecting nerves. Cartlidge is tricky as it's not actual bone- so don't try to fuse it. A potion is needed, but Sarcio can at least grow some of it."

"Thank you, sir."

"So… Miss Granger already knows these, correct? You won't be butchering these lessons repeating them to her?"

"No, she uh, I think she already knows them. Ron splinched himself last year."

Snape snorted. "Of course he did."

"Don't make fun of him- it was terrifying." Harry narrowed his eyes.

"Wouldn't dream of it."

The lesson was shorter than expected. They ran out of things to say and Snape cleared the table with a flick of his hand. "So, we'll practice cuts and burns, shall we? Just to make sure you've got it." Snape's robes fell off like a curtain dropping, revealing another fresh white shirt.

"Aren't we going to use the rat, sir?" Harry asked innocently as Snape smiled and rolled up his sleeve.

Harry shuffled towards him, getting in close. Snape didn't smell like potion ingredients today and his hair didn't look oily at all- he must have showered right before he came down. Harry touched the top arm to steady it… all the wounds were healed. "Go deeper this time."

Was this for practice or Snape's own personal preference? "Okay," he agreed automatically but paused. "…Is it okay if I don't go deeper sir, or is that what you want?"

"… Did I stutter?"

Harry swallowed. "No… you didn't." The first few lines were normal small sharp incisions, barely breaking the skin. He dared to go deeper on the next few cuts and Snape breathed deeper to match. After several large cuts Harry lost his desire to continue although the blood was minimal. "Is that good, sir?"

"No."

Harry lifted his wand again, and without wasting too much time made a deeper cut, the blood raising to the surface and pooling. Snape's breath caught and released, shuddering.

"Again." And Harry did it again- finishing the set of five, feeling awful. This was not what he wanted.

"Is that good, sir?" Harry asked, uneasy.

"Yes." Snape, for once, sounded very satisfied.

"Now," Snape looked at him thoughtfully, grabbing Harry's wand hand and pointing it to his chest, undoing several of the buttons with his other hand. "The burns this time." Harry watched as part of the shirt was undone. Without too much hesitation, he kneeled on top of the couch to get himself above him to do the burns on the chest. Snape relaxed and settled, looking completely comfortable with this treatment of his body.

The left arm still bleeding, Harry burned near the top of Snape's chest extra slowly, remembering what he said about slowness and intention when dealing with the human body. Snape breathed in, holding his breath with the burns, and letting it out when the wand lifted.

"Again." The red shallow angry welts showed up like cigar burns. After a few, Harry went to heal them but Snape pushed the wand away. Taking the hint, he readjusted even closer, resting his arm directly on Snape's shoulder. Harry pressed his wand directly to his chest, making direct contact this time.

"SSSSsssss…."

Harry's heart quickened.

"There's a good one…"

After about 12 burn marks Harry lost his nerve. Harry went from a kneeling position on the couch back to a sitting one, still very close, and Snape put an arm around his back, bringing him in.

This felt... awkward.

Normally he was the one holding the other person and didn't know about being held. But he stayed, choosing to feel Snape's burn marks with his fingers. Snape watched him simply touch him. It wasn't the intimacy that bothered Harry- it was the newness. Snape, with his long hair, dark pants, white shirt, and burn marks all over his chest- sitting with him in his private chambers at night.

He must be mad for doing this.

"Finished already?"

"No sir." But Harry did not move to burn him again.

Snape grabbed Harry's wand hand and turned it around on him. "Although your colleagues will be looking forward to your shoddy healing spells, the most common use for healing spells is to heal oneself from minor injuries."

"Oh." Harry became flustered. Well… this is what he got himself into, wasn't it? After a pause, stalling for time, Harry undid his robes by hand. Snape watched him intently while he felt around on himself, unsure where to do it. The arm probably would have been fine, but it was not the best area for this... game they were playing. Snape waited patiently for him to pick a place. "Uhhh, is here good?" He pointed to an area below his clavicle.

"Wherever."

Pausing for a third time… he wavered, not wanting to actually hurt himself. "Do… do you want to do it?"

Snape smiled. "If you think that's best." Snape readjusted while Harry undid the rest of his shirt. His muscles from being in the woods last year had mostly atrophied but he still had some definition. Based on Snape's gaze, he noticed too. "Are you ready?" Snape asked softly, wand out.

"Yes."

"Is that why you're shaking?"

"I'm not shaking," Harry protested, raising his voice accidentally.

"Too stiff-" and with a wordless charm Harry was forced to relax, his muscles loosening.

"Oh…" Harry laid back into the couch, feeling most of the tension leave his body. Wand tip glowing softly, Snape moved in and burnt the skin and it singed, but he didn't go deep. "Ah!" It didn't hurt too much after all- a bit of pressure and heat with a definite kick. It wasn't bad.

"Now heal it-" Snape demanded.

"What?" Harry blinked through his relaxation charm.

"What are we here for?"

"Oh… right." Harry sat up just enough to heal it. It was difficult to do without a mirror.

"Shit work, Potter. Do it again." Snape burnt the skin, slowly… slowly… and Harry had to catch his breath. Another forced relaxation charm waved over him. Harry's shirt burst all the way open and a conjured pillow found his back. Moving one leg out of the way, Snape scooted in to get closer. "Look at me-" and he burnt another hole, deeper this time. Harry maintained the gaze, his heart beating madly despite the relaxation charm, catching his breath with the burn. The wand lifted, the burn done, but his heart pounded.

"…Heal …it…" Snape ordered, his voice getting softer and darker with every order. Harry craned to see the burn and lifted his wand to heal it. But he wasn't even finished when Snape came down with another burn, both of their wands working. Snape stopped him from healing the next one, letting this one burn and stay. And soon it didn't matter- Snape was healing for him, burning some and leaving others, then burning him deeper just to heal them perfectly, making intense eye contact all the while… the pushing his hair behind his ears absentmindedly before he did another. And then he stopped healing them all together, burn after burn- Harry trying to catch his breath with each new round cinder.

"Ahh.. sssss…" Harry said low.

He felt positively drunk now- his head heavy and buzzing, his whole body warm, disoriented… like he was back in Madam Trelawney's smoky tower room. He breathed hard… welts on his chest and some on his neck. Snape looked relaxed, almost lazy, with a smirk on his face and his wand tip held aloft like it had all the power in the world.

By the time Snape paused Harry was breathing shallow, unable to recover from this attack.

But then his body was pulled upward by an arm, Snape steadying him into a sitting position. Harry settled in next to him.

"Good… it's good…" Harry murmured. "With the relaxation charms. I was afraid to try it." Harry sobered only slightly, looking down at his chest. "Aren't you going to heal them?" He blinked at the damage.

"And why would I heal them?" Snape asked wickedly.

Snape snaked an arm around his back and they sat in silence again, not making a move to progress any further. Harry looked around, blinking, confused why they stopped. Snape was on a roll there- he had him exactly where he wanted, and now they were just sitting here doing nothing.

… Why did they stop? …Now what?

He looked at Snape to why they stopped or for a clue what they would do next, but he wasn't making eye contact with him though held his waist snugly. Harry looked around the room, confused.

Was… Snape waiting for… him to do something...? Was up to Harry if they were going to continue?

Alright then... but...

Continue to… what... exactly?

And he had to really think about this. He felt incredible- full of adrenaline, like he just finished a game. But was he ready for…? Surely, they weren't going to… no. They already spent three nights on wand play, maybe going further didn't have to mean… more clothes getting removed. Yes, no clothes removed, that sounded right. Maybe… just... more of this? Is that what he should ask for?

Snape waited patiently while Harry thought everything through. And he kept waiting… practically ignoring him except for the arm around his waist.

So… Harry had to initiate this time, it seemed. With all the burning and intense wand play, he was unsure how to transition or… make the ask. Perhaps grab a hand and squeeze to get his attention…? Or should he get his attention and lean in to…

…Kiss him?

How to get Snape to kiss him. Oh, this was utter rubbish- absolute madness. 'How to get Snape to kiss you.' The whole thought sounded wrong and completely bonkers. A 'would you rather' gross out game for third years.

So, should he just… ask? 'Hey, kiss me now, yeah? Clothes stay on?' But that sounded stupid and not very smooth.

He squeezed Snape's arm, and that's all he had to do. Snape turned into him, reading his expression, leaned in, but paused right before their faces met, waiting for Harry to tilt his head and close his eyes. They met at the lips, their mouths fit together alright at first and then…

And then…

…Snape was a shit kisser.

…Or he was out of practice. Either way, their faces kept bumping into each other, their angles meeting awkwardly. Harry was trying to kiss slower and Snape faster. Snape's mouth was more open and Harry's mouth was more closed, just trying to do lip stuff. Harry pushed on Snape's chest to break the kiss several times so they could restart at a different pace or angle.

Snape's heartbeat was getting faster, visible through his neck. He looked flustered while trying not to be flustered, knowing how badly this was going, but trying to remain calm. Trying not to make it worse, but still made it worse by panicking.

"Slow down," Harry finally mumbled- and he did. Their next long kiss was better, but not by much. On their next attempt, Snape tried using tongue but it felt too early to do that. Harry gently pushed away to break again.

"Let's readjust," Harry offered, and they did. He grabbed his bicep and Snape grabbed his lower back again. "Let's just do lips, okay?"

Snape frowned. Apparently, he did not like being directed. Harry sensed a great deal of embarrassment underneath his steely exterior but Harry leaned in anyway and they both went even slower. It was better… but still wasn't great. Snape's nose poked him in the face a few times and Harry kept saying "Sorry" when it wasn't his fault. When they broke apart, Snape still looked calm but Harry could see his heartbeat through his neck like he was experiencing a full-blown panic attack revealing this embarrassing incompetence.

"So… I think you're over thinking this," Harry tried delicately. "During the last few lessons… you've been calculated and…" How to say this? "… in control. Everything flowed. You're good at holding tension hostage." Yeah, that sounded right. "You possess both timing, subtlety, and cruelty… SO… if you're this 'cruel passionate person…' I think you should…"

Snape stared at him, completely blank.

"Kiss me like you're teaching the Dark Arts."

Snape did not smile. He did not laugh. But he did look thoughtful. And Snape's kissing instantly became 20% better.

Hands were kept above ground. As Harry started to feel warm and things started flowing easier, some moans escaped him but he muffled them quickly. He did not like his voice making those noises.

Clatter. His wand dropped from the couch to the floor. Harry's eyes shot open.

Snape's eyes were wide open.

Harry startled. Was he staring at him this entire time?

"What's wrong?" But Snape knew what was wrong- he was caught.

Disconcerted, Harry bought time by picking his wand off the floor and proceeded to pretend like he didn't catch him being a total creeper. He took a deep breath, not knowing what to do. Well… it would be rude to stop now. Leaning in for another kiss, he grabbed Snape's eyelids with both thumbs and forced them down. He took the hint and they continued. After a few minutes Harry stopped feeling freaked out and relaxed back into it. Now the kissing was 30% better. They moved in unison and Harry forgot how much he liked doing this, how much he missed this.

And soon it was what he wanted- slow and gentle… small pauses in-between to build up tension. Careful… deliberate… soft…

"Thank you for the book..." Harry whispered between a kiss.

"How could I refuse…" A kiss.

A deeper, longer kiss…

He liked moving Snape's hair out of his face, putting it behind his ear for him, and Snape's delicate fingers found his jaw.

When Snape moved his mouth to his neck, Harry finally let out a real moan, wishing he didn't. It sounded embarrassing but Snape responded by holding him tighter and sucking. Delicate fingers became claws, holding him fiercely. Harry made noises he was not very proud of, sounds he never heard from his own mouth before. And now there were bites with the sucking, and soon his ears were getting the same treatment… now replaced by whispering directly into his ear, making him shudder, sending reverberations directly to his spine. "Why won't you shut up when I want you to, but decide to close your mouth now?" He bit his ear, sucking it, and despite the ask Harry muffled himself.

"If I didn't want to hear you, I'd use Muffliato." More sucking and biting. Harry let several embarrassing gasps escape, and he was pulled in even closer, held firmly. A slow burn was added while he sucked on his neck. "Why are you being so difficult?" came a breathy whisper. Harry breathed large shuddering breaths as he was burned and then sucked on as a reward. "I think I'm doing all the work here, Potter," came a very attractive threat in his ear.

"Mmmm." Harry agreed and his fingers found the rest of the buttons on Snape's shirt. They were small and unforgiving and he fumbled with them, fingers not working. Snape stopped and watched this pitiful attempt.

"There's a spell for that."

"What is it?" Harry asked, frustrated.

"Struggle," Snape decided, and continued kissing him. Harry fumbled even worse. "Is that the best you can do?" Snape bit down hard on his ear. Harry gasped. "You are the most incompetent student at this school."

A breathy laugh escaped Harry. "Who else are you snogging?" Harry pulled a chunk of Snape's hair playfully.

A wand flashed and Harry had a large welt on his left pectoral. Harry groaned. "Respect Potter, or I'll have to teach you manners."

"Good Luck…" he joked, feeling both impressed at the size of the mark and how little it hurt.

"What's the button spell?" Harry asked again.

Snape didn't respond but put Harry's hands back on the buttons, making him work for it.

"What's the spell?" he repeated, Snape going back to the neck. "Mmm, do the other side," he heard himself say.

"And what, reward you?" Snape whispered directly in his ear. "Come now, you have about two-thirds left to go. At this rate you'll be late for Charms on Monday."

"Do you have my schedule memorized?" He let out another low moan as Snape did decide to suck on the other side of his neck like he asked.

As Harry fumbled desperately with the small buttons, exposing more pale flesh, he felt another burn. He hissed and sunk deeper into his support pillow, losing part of himself. He was getting his neck sucked on, his progress berated in his ear, and the burns added an extra height of euphoria.

"Overwhelmed already?" He worked on his jawline. "Get up." Snape removed all stimulation. He sat back and sneered, half of his shirt undone, a bony body peeking through, wand arm resting lazily over the couch, pointing loftily. "Finish it-" Snape demanded, burning him again.

"That's cruel."

"That's what I'm here for, Potter…" Harry scooted over and gave his undivided attention to the shirt, undoing the buttons one by one while Snape stared at him expectantly.

When the last button was about to be done, Snape reached out with his free hand and pulled the button sideways, releasing it, showing Harry how easy it was all along. Harry shot him an annoyed glance.

"Now..." Snape said, readjusting, surveying him. "What does the 'Savior of the Wizarding World' want?"

In a short span of 30 minutes Harry went from getting slobbered on to having Snape look at him, confidently evil- a Dark Lord Casanova gently tapping a wand patiently, ready to show him magic he wasn't even sure he'd heard of.

"Umm… uhhhh… more of this? Clothes stay on?"

He leaned into him, kissing him again. Harry put a hand in his hair, bringing him in while he leaned back into the couch. Snape was careful not to grind against him, which Harry didn't understand given the circumstances, but he was getting plenty of friction from a leg. Lots of moaning and hands later, Snape's wand danced in a set a complicated tight twirls and Harry felt himself being stroked through his clothes.

"AAAAH!" Harry gasped, shocked and surprised.

Snape also looked caught off guard, if not extremely concerned, by Harry's reaction. He nullified the spell.

"Uhhhhh, yep. Okay. That was different."

"Really Potter? You're in seventh year. None of your horny little friends passed along masturbation spells?"

"Uhhhhh… not that one." They didn't. But they didn't have to- he heard their whispered incantations in the dead of night and copied. Harry was feeling incredibly embarrassed- embarrassed by his reaction to the spell and his lack of spell knowledge in this area. Harry saw the cold tea, dragged it towards him and poured a cup. He drank the cold tea- a lot of it, now unable to make eye contact.

What was he doing here? What was he even doing here?

Although the tension was gone, Snape tried putting an arm around him. Harry squirmed away; he didn't want to be treated like a girl anymore. Snape let him be and they just sat there. Harry felt uncomfortable. He wanted to leave which would probably be rude.

They sat in the silence. He was painfully aware of his own inexperience and awkwardness. His discomfort must have been painfully obvious because Snape was studying his nervous behavior.

"I'm sorry I…" Harry started. "Uhhhh, next week then?"

"Yes…" Snape rubbed his Dark Mark absentmindedly like he did it all the time alone; an itch that kept bothering him. "I will need to start on the castle soon…"

Harry drank the last of his cold tea and proceeded to look for his shirt that went missing somewhere in the last hour. He found it, thinking many thoughts as he put it on and straightened his clothing. Does he thank him? Does he kiss him goodnight? "Uhhh, tonight was good... I'm still kind of embarrassed. Think I'll get over that, though."

"Embarrassment is not to be wasted. It adds another layer."

"Spoken like a Death Eater." He paused. "…Sir?" Harry's voice changed as he pulled his robes on. "I'm not hurting you am I, with these spells? "

"Am I hurting you?" Snape asked back at him.

"No, you weren't… I just… this is all new."

He swallowed. From waking up from his relaxation trance everything seemed extremely embarrassing. Snape looked 50% less attractive than he did an hour ago. But that adrenaline… that was… It worried him that he liked very much what was happening, despite feeling completely mad for doing it. Snape was still Snape, and all the bad feelings around him still existed. But he liked the tension, that voice, the pressure, and the feeling of being hurt a little on purpose. He liked all of that, and really enjoyed the false danger aspect. Or was it real danger?

"Sir…" Harry asked, getting up.

"Yes?" Not a trace of bite.

"Do you know any Enigma Magic?"

He stared. Harry waited.

"…Why?"

"I… I think I'd like to learn some." Harry picked up his newly notated Defense Against the Dark Arts book, opening it again- looking at the sheer amount of effort that went into it. Dark Arts counters, all of the first aid healing spells and potions, sometimes a small diagram. One Hundred of the most common Runes. He closed the book and put it in his bag. "So… maybe over the summer then?"

"Maybe…" Snape said, getting up, finishing what was in his teacup, throwing his robes back over his shoulders. He walked him through the classroom and to the hallway door. But before Harry left his wand arm was grabbed.

"Applico-" he whispered, forcing Harry's wand to point at his undone shirt.

"Applico," Harry repeated. The buttons did themselves up. "Oh, that was easy. And to undo them?"

"Undo is next lesson," and he was bodily pushed out the door. He looked back, miffed, at Snape's smirking face as the door slammed.

Doing his solitary walk back to the seventh floor, Harry used this time to think through everything that happened. From Snape's terrible kissing, to getting raked over with constant eye contact to… to….

Harry could feel the burns and the neck sucking, even now. His body tingled. It was good… and the whispering… He really didn't mind getting berated under that context. It was great even.

Arguing voices broke him out of his trance. People were shouting up ahead- someone was upset. He quickened his pace to spy around the corner at two very familiar people. Hermione was angrily shoving Draco into an abandoned classroom. Neither of them looked pleased. The door shut. What was that about?

Harry stood there.

Well, he wasn't the only one with secrets then.

He continued back upstairs, mind flickering between neck sucking and Draco, trying to get his mind off Draco. He succeeded as he stepped up the stairs, getting lost in his imagination.

But what about getting pushed and pulled about? No, he didn't like that at all. And he disliked being held by the waist, and HATED hearing himself moan like some girl. Harry much preferred being the man in the relationship, and Snape kept putting his arm around him, which made him feel emasculated. It was off putting.

But he knows so many spells. …Well, of course he knows a lot of spells, he's older. Ah… but that's not true, Snape's the deputy headmaster at Hogwarts- literally the best school.

In speaking of… he cringed as he remembered Snape's face as he accidentally zoned out and just laid there, too relaxed by charms to continue. What if…. What if he was disappointed by Harry's lack of knowledge in…? Well, this was a new fear he was not prepared for. Did... Snape enjoy anything? Now that he thought about it, Harry didn't even do anything for him at all. He unbuttoned his shirt partially- that was it. Harry just laid there, didn't he? He didn't know the unbuttoning charm and couldn't name any of the wandwork Snape demonstrated on him tonight. Harry was feeling more embarrassed than ever as he stopped to focus on requiring the Room of Requirement. Entering, he worried about his lack of sex knowledge compared to Snape's, throwing his bag down on the floor. It made a loud clunk.

It sounded heavy.

OH, that's right.

Harry retrieved the book, he forgot about it already. Flopping into his big chair, he opened it and started to read. If he could read between the lines literally and figuratively, Snape was willing to sacrifice a lot of time for him. This book was for him and only for him. Perhaps he could do a lot worse than one of the most knowledgeable people he'd ever met outside of Hermione and Dumbledore.

And didn't Snape tell him 'I enjoyed it Immensely?' So… so maybe Harry didn't have to perform some earth-shattering magic for Snape to enjoy his company. Maybe he just liked playing with him.

Although this book was incredible and each new page promised something interesting, he was also very tired. And something else was definitely on the menu. Placing his second Prince book on top of the first, he laid back, thinking about his neck devoured and fresh burns dancing simultaneously.


All of the explicit content has been removed from this chapter to fit FF guidelines. The completed fic in full can be viewed on the AO3 website.