Against His Nature

CHAPTER 19

Harry sat at the Gryfindor table idly rolling his quill back and forth across the grain of the wood. He was bored. All of his friends were spending the weekend canoodling with their partners in Hogsmeade and spending time watching the sickening display of love was quite off-putting. Admittedly Ron was still spending the weekend at the castle but the red haired boy was miserable company. Hermione had dropped her bombshell on Wednesday after defense class. Ron’s foul language could be heard all the way to Hagrid’s hut. If that hadn’t been bad enough Ron had sought out Malfoy in the Slytherin dungeons, and there they’d come to blows over Hermione. Punches and curses were thrown wildly until Professor Snape had stepped in to break them up. Ron still sported a nasty burn on his arm and a black eye as testament to his fight. However sorry Harry felt for his best friend the last thing he wanted to do was feel miserable as well. Since word had spread about Harry dropping Ginny all interest in Harry from any of the other girls in school had died. Harry silently wondered what rumors had been spread about him to make him so suddenly ineligible to the other sex. All in all Harry and Ron made a sorry pair playing a slow game of wizard’s chess alone in the great hall.

Harry was just about to make his next move when he heard the creak of the door opening to his left a very familiar tall dark figure stepping through the entrance. Harry tutted and rolled his eyes in exasperation. The last person Harry needed to deal with right now was Severus Snape. With some purpose Snape strode across the hall over to where Harry was pretending to be engrossed in the game of chess. Snape raised a cautious eyebrow as he glanced from Potter to a very forlorn looking Ron and then back to the boy who lived.

“Do you swim Mr. Potter?” Harry looked up abruptly from the chessboard to stare at Snape in mild suspicion. Ron didn’t even acknowledge Snape’s presence the boy merely staring sadly into space.

“Yes, why?” Harry mumbled defensively not trusting anything that Snape said. The wizard had been strangely placid since the incident in the library. Something had changed, his nasty persona in a far calmer façade. Harry was cautious though, Snape knew how to suck someone in with trickery and Harry was determined he wasn’t going to fall for any of Snape’s ploys.

“I thought perhaps you’d enjoy a swim in the hot springs on the far side of the lake.” Harry’s wide eyes instantly gave away his surprise. No one aside from the professors were allowed to cross the lake to use the hot thermal springs. The springs were outside the limitations of the schools wards and were open to attack.

“But won’t Dumbledore…” Harry went to protest still a little suspicious. Snape rolled his eyes an unusual gesture for the usual stern wizard.

“What the headmaster does not know will not hurt him. Gather your things and meet me in the entrance hall in fifteen minutes.” Harry was dubious to say the least about accepting Snape’s offer but curiosity and the thoughts of escaping boredom won out and with a quiet nod he left Ron alone and headed for his dorm to gather his swimming things and a towel.

Fifteen minutes later Harry was waiting in the entrance hall patiently for Snape. The elder wizard arrived a few minutes after Harry carrying a small satchel over his shoulder and wearing his summer weight-teaching robe.

“Come along the weather forecast is blustery for the lake and I don’t wish to be caught in the middle.” Snape took off striding down the path towards the edge of the lake, Harry scurrying along behind him. Reaching the shoreline Harry spotted a small rowboat bobbing up and down in the shallows. It was a similar boat to the one the first years arrived in at the start of every school year. Standing at the edge of the lake Snape gave a flick of his wand at the boat trailed over to them. Snape climbed in first and Harry scrambled into the rocking boat behind him. Sitting low in the boat Harry huddled down in his cloak and jumper as Snape flicked his wand again and the boat took off across the water. Harry officially hated boats and closed his eyes, as the waters got rough towards the middle of the lake. Snape was silent the entire trip merely concentrating on the waters around the boat obviously looking for signs of danger from within the murky depths. Harry knew from the tri-wizard tournament that all sorts of things lurked beneath the surface of the lake. It was a good fifteen-minute trip across the lake before the boat hit the soft sand on the far bank. Snape easily stepped out of the boat, quietly offering back his hand to Harry for aid as the boy struggled to keep standing straight.

Already Harry could smell the slightly sulfurous air as he followed Snape up the winding sand path. They by passed several smaller springs until finally the path widened onto a rock plateau, a large bubbling spring steaming away in the relatively protected cut out in the side of the hill.

“It’s freezing.” Harry grumbled as he huddled down in his cloak as he watched Snape kick off his boots and put his things down by the edge of the spring.

“Then hurry up and get into the spring then Potter.” Harry nodded and began to undress having already pulled his board shorts on beneath his robe back at the castle. Harry was just pulling his t-shirt over his head when he caught a glimpse of Snape. The man was undressed to his waist, and was already picking a path into the warm spring water. Harry had never seen Snape without his layers and layers of robes and was surprised by how toned the tall thin man was beneath the clothes. Snape wasn’t anything special to look out; he was painfully thin but with good muscle definition where he needed it. His skin was milky white having hardly seen the light of day from beneath his teaching robes. Snape’s chest was smooth and free of hair, and only a light dusting of dark hair led down from his belly button into the waistband of his shorts. Not that Harry was paying much attention to the other man’s body, what had caught his attention was something far more serious. Beyond the milky white skin and toned muscle Harry could see the scars. Hundreds of them littered Snape’s skin like military stripes on a uniform. Some of the scars were raised an ugly no doubt from much deeper wounds but most were flat ghostly pale lines that barely stood out from the professors skin. Among the old scars were fresh ones, angry red lines infected and sore. On top of all the scars however was the dark mark that stood out just as fresh and sore as it had been the day it had been burnt into the professor’s flesh back when he was younger. The mark made Harry wince, the boy unconsciously reaching up to touch his own zigzag scar on his forehead.

“Are you going to stare at me all day Potter or are you going to get in.” Harry shook his head and blushed profusely as he realized he’d been staring in silence for a good five minutes. Snape smiled crookedly as he watched the boy hurriedly remove his t-shirt and scamper into the warm depths of the spring. Snape had already submerged himself beneath the warm water and was perched on a rock ledge beneath the surface. Harry dog paddled across the length of the spring and perched himself beneath a slight overhang out of the wind. There was an uneasy silence that hung between them as Harry nervously watched Snape recline in the water his eyes closed and his lips slightly upturned in relaxation.

“Relax Potter, I can feel your tension from all the way over here.” Harry jumped a little when Snape broke the silence first, the elder wizard opening his eyes to reveal the sky blue gaze and the tips of his incisors just breaching his lips. Harry instinctively went for his wand that he’d foolishly left lying with his clothes on the rocks. “Don’t stress Potter I have no intention of feeding, that is why we have come here.” Harry frowned but tried his best to relax a little more. Despite appearances Snape didn’t seem to be in the same frantic mess he’d been in when Harry had met him in the hallway the few weeks before.

“Why have you brought me here?” Harry whispered his voice getting caught in the wind and drowning out the sound. Snape curled his lip in mild irritation but chose not to reply with his usual biting sarcasm. Just getting Harry here had been a miracle without ruining it with his vicious tongue.

“Because we need to talk.” Snape inwardly rolled his eyes at the cliché reply and was reward with the predictable answer from Harry.

“We could have done that at the castle.” Harry queried suspiciously his gaze nervously seeking out his wand again. Snape sighed and shook his head irritably.

“Potter do you think I’d have brought you all the way out here if I could have done this at the castle?” Snape had lost his patience and the usual sarcastic insulting tone had slipped out automatically. “The salts in the water help my cramps, which I get regularly when I haven’t fed. Further more the sulfur smell from the pool goes someway in masking your own scent, thus allowing me to have a clear head when talking with you.” Snape snapped irritably before sighing and relaxing back into the waters, trying to keep himself under control. A small smile tugged at the corner of Harry’s lips as he stared at the professor.

“My scent scrambles your thoughts does it?” Harry watched as Snape sneered angrily, a sure sign Harry had hit on something raw.

“Don’t flatter yourself Potter, I haven’t smelt randy, hormonal teenagers in nearly ten years so forgive me if your scent upsets me a little.” Harry looked mildly affronted as he watched Snape brush off the comment with his usual disregard.

“I am not randy!” Harry snapped abruptly despite the slight pink colour that was creeping into his cheeks.

“Spare me the dramatics Potter, you’re barely 17 and you’ve just dumped the only possibility you ever had of having sex, that didn’t involve the center fold of Witch Weekly and your right hand. So don’t try and tell me you’re not horney as hell.” Harry was shocked that Snape could say something like that and stared at the professor his mouth agape. Never had Harry heard Snape talk so crudely before, it was almost an entire flip from the professors’ usually dry conversation. There was silence for a moment and Snape instantly regretted bringing Harry to the springs, where he’d unintentionally let his guard down in the soothing waters. “Sorry.” Snape rarely apologized but what he’d said was certainly out of order for a professor to be discussing with a student. Harry shrugged and lowered his gaze to stare darkly at the ripples in the water.

“It’s not like everyone doesn’t know anyway.” Harry muttered to himself not meeting Snape’s sky blue eyes. “What’s she saying about me?” Harry whispered wondering silently what on earth Ginny had been saying about him around the school. Snape shrugged silently before swimming across the short distance to sit beside Harry on the ledge out of the wind, which had picked up considerably since they’d reached the springs.

“Nothing you should take any notice of Potter, a woman scorned will always be bitter. Besides I have already seen the piles of letters building on Albus’ desk of prospective suitors vying for your hand now that Weasley is out of the way.” Harry sighed heavily, so the attention from the opposite sex hadn’t stopped, Dumbledore was just screening it before passing it on, which didn’t surprise Harry one little bit. Harry glanced up at Snape who was once again reclined in the water, his eyes closed and his breathing steady. Having Snape this close was rather unsettling for Harry, who shifted awkwardly beneath the water.

“So what do you want to talk about?” Harry worried his lip as he watched Snape open his eyes, the deep sapphires turning to stare directly into Harry’s emerald ones.

“I need a donor.” Snape’s gaze never left Harry’s, intent on seeing what the boy’s reaction to the comment was. Harry frowned in confusion and shrugged his shoulders in uselessness. Snape rolled his eyes but tried hard to keep his tone from being accusing and sarcastic. “I require a regular supply of blood Potter, it is what keeps my behavior in check without the influence of the potion.” Harry’s gaze narrowed suspiciously a picture beginning to form in his mind of what Snape was suggesting. “I am not permitted to hunt because of the risks of exposing myself to the ministry, and aside from the other dangers associated with it. If I don’t feed I will become a danger to the students and I leave myself open for abuse from those who’d wish to use my condition to gain the upper hand in this war.” There was no name attached to the last statement but Harry read between the lines. Voldemort would like nothing more than to enslave the Vampire’s to suit his own cause. “If I had a mate I would naturally take it from them but as I do not I need someone who’s willing to donate to my cause.” Snape trailed off and watched carefully as the cogs turned over in Harry’s head, silently working out what was being asked of him. The instant it clicked Snape saw a dramatic change in Harry’s expression, the boy automatically looking horrified.

“There is no way in hell you’re sucking on my neck, why the hell don’t you ask Dumbledore or Malfoy or even Crab and Goyle for all I care!” Snape twitched in irritation at the boy’s irrational argument; Harry’s voice at least an octive higher as his fear began to rise again. It would be possible for Snape to ask any of the people Harry had listed but the truth was it made an excuse for Snape to get closer to Harry without suspicion. Octavia and he, had come up with the plan earlier in the week. Being a donor for a vampire required a certain amount of trust and intimacy, and if Snape could pull it off he’d have Harry by the next cycle of the moon. Snape wasn’t of course going to admit to the truth and instead shook his head easily in reject of Harry’s argument.

“I have considered the options Potter, Dumbledore is too old I need young blood. Malfoy is pre-occupied with his own problems at present, and as for everyone else I need someone who I can trust with my secret.” Harry swallowed nervously his gaze dropping automatically to focus on the tips of the white incisors he could see just beneath Snape’s lips. In his laps in conversation Harry never even noticed as Snape invaded his thoughts easily discovering the boy’s inner struggle and the many questions running around on the tip of his tongue. Snape smiled mildly the boy was so easily broken, it was a wonder Voldemort had not won the war by now with such a feeble opponent.

“It doesn’t hurt Potter, you shouldn’t feel a thing. Perhaps a little lightheadedness afterwards and two pin prick in the side of your neck but nothing noticeable.” It was a partial lie but Snape was trying to convince the boy not turn him away. “Dumbledore won’t need to know, it’ll be our secret.” Surprised by how Snape had managed to answer his question without it being asked, Harry sat back from the elder wizard and climbed out of the spring.

“I’ll think about it.” Harry whispered as he reached for his towel. “Can we go back to the castle now?” Snape nodded and lifted himself from the springs, unsure what Harry’s answer would be. The pair of them weren’t exactly friends, and neither of them trusted the other but Snape hoped Harry’s curiosity won over and drew him to the elder wizard. It was a long shot but Snape was willing to hope…

TBC>>>>>>>

A/N Happy NEW YEAR!!!!! and thanks for all your support over the last 12 months. Drink lots, read fan fic and be totally merry!

Cheers
RIFFRAFF