Working in Kind

Author's Note: Back with another chapter!

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter and characters. All rights are reserved to J.K. Rowling and publishers. I am not profiting from this fan fiction.

Warning: Eventually M/M slash and sexual content

Pairing: Severus Snape/Harry Potter

Working in Kind

Chapter Two – Highly Recommended

“Those who know, do. Those that understand, teach.” -Aristotle

-*-*-

Harry held the notebook in which had first been given to him two days prior by one Severus Snape. It was already bended at the seam by his constant attention over the previous days. He scratched a few footnotes of his own on a parchment for his lesson plan. Yes! By the grace of Merlin! Harry tilted back into his chair, throwing his feet up to rest on the topside of his desk, as he ran over the details of his lesson plan for the fourth time.

Bending his arms to cradle the back of his head, he grinned at his brilliance. It was sure to be an interesting, if not informative, first lesson if he did say so himself.

“Lazing about Potter,” a voice from beyond his office door broke through the silence. Harry startled and was thrown back from his tilt to land head to stone, chair toppled over, and with a loud thud as his head nearly cracked upon impact. “I wonder how with your lack of observance did you defeat such a formidable opponent as the Dark Lord.”

Severus was over him, eyes upon him with mere interest. Bloody hell the man was tall. He looked like a tower from his position on the floor. Harry smiled sheepishly. “Hello sir.”

“Do you plan to lay about all day Potter?” Severus scoffed before moving around him, offering no helping hand. Not that he expected Severus Snape to offer any help in the first place. That would be very un-Snape-like.

Harry shuffled from the floor, pulling himself up by the desk and then righting the chair with the flick of his wand. “I was merely celebrating the finished lesson plan.”

Severus peered over him to look at the parchment before snatching it away and reading it briefly.

“Is this chicken scratch decipherable in any form?”

Harry snatched away the parchment from Severus, coughing and setting it back down on the top of the desk. “Some of us cannot be as perfect as you, sir.”

“Perfecting ones script is a duty in which every teacher must take upon themselves in order to make it comprehensible Mister Potter,” Severus said with the crossing of his arms. That, however, was so very...Snape-like. Did the man enjoy listening to the sound of his own voice? Harry surmised he did.

“I shall put my every effort towards it.” Harry retorted dryly.

“No need to be absinthal about it, Potter.”

“Ab—what?”

“Expand your vocabulary and look it up, Potter.”

Harry pouted before sitting back down. “What did you need sir? I assume you are visiting me for a reason and not just to look at my pretty face.”

“How very modest of you,” Severus sneered before continuing. “I require some assistance with a potion I am creating. Your frightening incompetence in potion making rivals that of Longbottom's. However, there is no other in which I may receive aid. Thus, I must ask this service of you.”

“Well when you put it like that,” Harry replied sarcastically. “How could I possibly say no?”

“I will ignore your blatant contempt and deduce that to be your agreement,” Severus leered at Harry. “I shall expect you promptly at six this evening in my laboratory, Mister Potter.”

“I'll be there, sir.” He bowed. That was probably too much but sometimes it felt like he was a mere servant in the man's presence. So much for a colleague-like relationship.

Severus turned on his heels in one fluid movement and was out of the door before Harry could say anymore. Not that he had much else to say. However, there was a part of him that wished the man would stay long enough that it didn't feel like a business as usual. Harry internally berated his thoughts. Of course it was only a business relationship. What else could he be hoping for?

*-*-*

Harry had found that over the past several hours since the request that he was fairly impatient for six o'clock to arrive. He chalked it all up to his wanting to get it over and done with. Denial was the protection from his reality. It had worked wonders back in his days at Hogwarts.

He was the youngest professor at the school but only physically. He felt a good measurable years more so after the war took too many of his loved ones. Harry found that life was fleeting and each relationship he encountered deserve love and attention.

He turned the letter he had received an hour before in his hand and read it once more:

Dear Harry,

I hope you have been well after your arrival at Hogwarts. Ronald and I miss you greatly. It is our hope to see you when holidays come, if even just for a day. Please keep in touch. Ronald and I expect that you will be there for the wedding in the winter? Of course we will give you more details as it nears.

The baby is due in spring. Ron says that if its a boy he wants to name it after you, and I agree wholeheartedly. It would be such an honor for us to have a son bearing your name, Harry.

We love you.

Hermione

He smiled once more before tucking the letter into his desk. Looking toward the clock, he noted that it was now five-thirty. No sense in waiting around longer. He headed toward the dungeons to Severus Snape, who was sure to already be starting.

 

Severus was already in the midst of collecting the many ingredients for the potion. The long table nearest the cauldron had a good many of different looking tools as well as plates in which to hold them. There was a mortar next to a small scale and then several ingredients near those. He walked over, his eyes gazing back and forth.

“Wow.”

“You are early.”

“Uncharacteristic of me, I know. I have learned that making you wait is never a good thing.”

“Well said,” Severus replied, smirking as he had done so often since Harry first came two days ago. It felt natural now to see the man smirking. Severus was clad in his lab coat and dragon-hide gloves in which he used to handle more potent ingredients. The man's hair was pulled backward into a ponytail to keep his hair from his eyes. His broad shoulders were hidden away beneath the coat, but appeared to be much wider than Harry had once remembered. Was Severus bulkier? It appeared as such. Maybe after the war he had had time to focus a bit more on himself.

“Are you going to stand about like an imbecile or do you plan to assist me, Potter?” Ah, how very, very Snape-like. Harry chuckled to himself before standing at the side of the taller man.

“What are we cooking up today?”

“We are not 'cooking up' anything Potter. We are concocting two potions simultaneously in which will need to be bottled together. I will be closely inspecting your work with the ingredients so that there are no mishaps.” Severus came to stand and lean over him, prickling his senses to the closeness, and handed him a pair of dragon-hide gloves. “First, you must wear the appropriate attire. Many of these ingredients are poisonous to touch, so I expect you will handle them with the utmost care.”

“Oh only the utmost,” Harry said as he pulled on the gloves.

“I prefer my assistants to be subservient and quiet, Mister Potter.”

“And here I thought I was being very subservient. I'll have to work on my subservience skills along with my chicken scratch it seems.”

“Sarcasm will only do to get you thrown from my laboratory Potter.”

Harry smirked and eyed Severus with a playful look. “If memory serves, it was you Severus that requested my assistance in the first place. If you would prefer I was not here...” Harry started to remove and place the dragon-hide gloves on the tabletop “...I shall respect your request.”

Severus glared at him heatedly. But instead of arguing like Severus would often do in previous years, the man bent close to him and smirked in his own playful way. Harry's heart startled violently in his chest as the man's face grew near to his. “There are plenty of ways in which I return my debts, Mister Potter. If you should walk from your duty as you have so agreed, I will return the debt tenfold.”

The intimidation in his voice ran over Harry like a ice-cold breeze, and he could merely nod. After the last few days, he had almost forgotten that this man before him use to be a Death Eater. It was probably better that he stray away from upsetting Severus.

“Then we are agreed,” Severus almost whispered. Harry felt the heat flood to his cheeks, but Severus merely turned away and quickly instructed on the steps towards several of the ingredients. Soon, they were both well into their work. He hadn't buggered up any of the ingredients which earned him a nod of approval from Severus before he was adding a few into the cauldron to be stirred several directions in a specified pattern. It was exhausting and tedious. Harry could feel the muscles in his neck and shoulders begin to cramp as he hovered over the cauldron. Good thing he never took to potion-making because it was shite for his neck and back.

An hour in, the cauldron needed to simmer for a good half-an-hour, so he and Severus were allowed a break. It was a much needed break, and he started to rub the sore neck muscles with firm fingers.

“How you do this on a daily basis is beyond me,” Harry said rubbing hard circles and working the knots out.

Severus was jotting a few things down in a dark-leather notebook almost ignoring that Harry was even present. Well not much for chit chat it seems. Harry sat down in a chair and stretched his legs out in front of himself, crossing at the ankles. He tilted his neck backward after taking his spectacles off and setting them on the top of the work table. Letting his body relax, he did his best to give his limbs a break from all the standing and mixing.

When he had taken a few moments, he looked back over to Severus. He had stopped from his note-taking and was watching Harry with an expression he couldn't quite recognize. As if being snapped out of it, Severus turned away to eye the clock at the far end of the room. Harry watched the man carefully. Severus had been watching him? What was with that expression?

“After another few turns clock-wise, we will be able to bottle the final product. You will then be permitted to leave, Mister Potter.”

Harry jolted from his thoughts. He looked towards the mantel holding the clock and noticed it was already close to ten in the evening. Sighing, he pulled himself up and out of the chair and wandered over to the table to help put away some of the many ingredients.

“You may leave them,” Severus said shortly.

“But-”

“I will put them in their proper place once you have left.” Severus' voice was authoritative and firm. Harry was left no room to argue. Instead, he placed the dragon-hide gloves down on the tabletop and after the exact thirty-minute mark had hit, he turned the ladle a few times clock-wise and helped to bottle the potion with the other. The batch made several, and Severus seemed happy with the results.

“Thank you for your assistance, Mister Potter.”

Harry started, his mouth opening and his eyes transfixed on the other. It was the first time...well ever...that Severus had thanked him. It had him stunned silent and immobile. Severus seemed to catch on quickly and scoffed at Harry's surprise.

“Is it so surprising, Mister Potter, that even I can show gratitude?”

Harry's mouth had gone dry, so he swallowed before being able to reply. “No sir.”

“Well then, stop that horrid impression of a gilly-fish and get out of my laboratory,” Severus said pointedly. Harry took a few moments to gather his wits and took off the apron he had put on when he began stirring.

“Um, right,” he said simply. “Uh, then I'll be seeing you professor.”

“Severus.”

“Yes,” Harry stumbled. “Right then, Severus. I'll, uh, be seeing you.”

Severus watched him before walking the short distance between them to stand just a few inches in front of him. The expression had returned from earlier, and Harry was paralyzed by the way it affected him. His heart had began to stammer about in his chest, and his hands had grown clammy.

“You seem to be under a misconception Mister Potter,” Severus' voice was low and husky. “We are by no means close. Whatever fantasies you have drawn up into your head, you can desist. Our interactions will remain professional despite any delusions you may have otherwise.”

Harry felt the twist of his innards and constriction of his throat. He swallowed as his face flushed with anger. Balling his fists, he pointed a glare at the man opposite him.

“Do not presume to know anything Snape,” he said, his temper boiling and his voice rasping . “You are certainly no star in my fantasies, and I assure you that I have no delusions about our relationship. You have made it clear over the years your distaste of me. I have understood that what you did was only in the debt you felt towards my mother. I admire and respect you for all of your dedication and sacrifice to the war. However, I have not deluded myself into thinking you feel anything other than animosity towards me. You have made it clear that I am nothing more than a bane of your existence.”

He felt like crying. He would not cry. His anger was boiling over, erupting from him like a volcano. He heaved ragged breaths as he refrained from letting his anger lead to tears. Harry was never prone to crying but somehow, the idea that he had started to perceive more to the relationship was making him feel the anguish in the sudden realization that he had been misunderstanding it all.

When it appeared that Snape would not be retorting, Harry fled the laboratory. He fled the lies his brain had started to create in face of Snape's civility. He fled the castle in which harbored all those memories of their previous arguments...their previous persons. Harry fled so far that he was now safely hidden within the darkness of the forbidden forest. It was no longer a threat to him. He was a grown wizard and entirely capable of handling anything in which it may present to him.

Sitting beneath the cover of a large tree, he let himself cry. The burn of tears on his cheeks and the anguish that gripped his heart like a vice was all too much for his recovering heart to bear. It was the first time since he had lost so many of his loved ones in the war that he had allowed himself to cry. Today he cried for himself. He cried for the hope that had been quashed down before it had really taken root.

*-*-*

The next day came with the cover of storm clouds. Much like Harry had felt, the sky was crying, and the sound of rain hitting the window echoed in his quarters. Holding his tea cup to his lips, he watched the flames dance in the hearth. After he had returned the previous evening, he had gotten little sleep. Nightmares plagued him when he had attempted to. It was the first time in a while that a sleepless drought could not keep the nightmares at bay.

Taking another sip of his tea, he settled in for the day. Thankfully, he had gotten his work done for the start of the term and had no obligations to do anything for the day. Deciding it best to stay out of Snape's way, he hid himself within his rooms.

After he finished, he began a return letter to Hermione since it was the first moment he had really found time or the concentration to.

Dear Hermione,

I am settling in nicely. Thankfully, I have been able to get a good amount of work done, and now it is just a waiting game for the students to arrive. I will of course make time to visit during the holidays, and of course I will be attending the wedding. Who else would be able to keep Ron from losing himself on the day?

I miss you guys. I am glad that you are doing well with the baby.

He stopped writing and stared at the page. His hand had started to shake, and he was finding it difficult to write. Putting the quill down, he heaved a sigh and sunk into the chair. There was a great deal of comfort knowing his two closest friends were happy. It was enough, he told himself. That will be enough.

He picked up the quill and finished the letter before rolling it up and sending it with a messenger owl. Picking up a few things, he tucked in for the day with a good book.

*-*-*

It was well into evening when the knocking came at his door. Setting the book down on the side table, he walked to answer the door. He had to draw back when he opened it. Snape stood looking at him with an unreadable gaze. Tightening his lips and doing his best to remain aloof, he opened the door fully.

“Good evening sir. To what do I owe the pleasure...”

Snape cut him off by striding into the room without invitation. Harry watched with wide eyes before closing the door and turning to look at the man who had already settled onto the couch.

“Why--”

Snape stared at him from across the room and let out a deep sigh. “Sit down, Mister Potter.”

Harry did not move from his spot, just gazed at the man like he had grown another head. But then, he found his anger. “I will not. These are my personal rooms, and I never invited you to come.”

“Stop moping Potter. It is quite unbecoming. Sit,” Snape. hissed with a low voice. Harry hesitated momentarily before walking the short distance to sit in his chair near the couch. He glared at the man and crossed his arms against his chest.

“Well then Snape? Do you have more instruction on how I should carry myself as a professor or did you merely come to ensure that I understood you yesterday?”

Snape held the bridge of his nose. “Must you be so melodramatic Potter.”

“In my own rooms? I can be whatever I wish,” Harry retorted sarcastically. “If it irritates you, then by all means, leave.”

Snape stood from the couch in a quick movement and was upon Harry, his hands clutching the arms of his chair, and his body bent threateningly close. “Stop acting like a petulant child Potter. I was not the only person in which said something regrettable.”

Harry stopped short of retorting. He felt confusion crease his brow, but soon his heart was hammering in his chest as the older man's face was so close to his own. “Okay, can you back off a bit then.” His voice came out a bit more hoarse than he had hoped, but Snape straightened and crossed his arms against his chest.

“I realize that I am a bit lacking when it comes to social interactions,” Severus started before leaning down to capture Harry's gaze with dark depths. “I was not belittling you Potter...”

“Harry.”

“What--”

“It's Harry. I would prefer it if you refrained from calling me Potter. So that leaves Harry.”

Severus seemed surprised that Harry would prefer him to be called so intimately. However, he seemed to understand and merely nodded.

“Harry,” he said slowly. “I did not, in fact, feel indebted to your mother. She was the only true friend I had in all the years I was at Hogwarts. You and Lily share many qualities. I loathe to admit it, but you proved to be quite unlike your father and during the time in which you studied here, I had held you to your father's image. I do not, however, still hold you to that regard or your mother's. I admire many qualities in you which was why I first suggested to Minerva that you be brought on for the position.”

Harry stuttered, “P-pardon?”

“Yes,” Severus said smirking. “It was I who first recommended you.”

“Holy....Merlin's balls!”

Severus made a face of distaste at Harry's exclamation but said nothing.

“Why would you do that?”

“I thought you were well qualified,” Severus said simply. He sat down once more on the couch and regarded Harry with a matter-of-fact demeanor. “Your study in Defense Against the Dark Arts was exceptional and your defeat of the Dark Lord is unrivaled.”

It was the first time Severus had ever paid Harry a compliment. He was stunned silent and breathless. After a moment of allowing it all to sink in, he smiled—more brilliantly than he had smiled in a long time. “Thank you so much sir.”

Severus seemed to lose himself and then recovered after a moment. “Severus. And you are welcome, Harry.” He stood and made his way to the door. It seemed that he deemed the conversation over, but before he could make it all the way out the door, Harry ran over to him.

“Sir, I mean, Severus?”

“Yes?” he replied while turning to look at Harry.

“I know you see our relations as only colleagues, but I hope that one day, you might see me as a friend. I realize that years of dislike aren't exactly going to melt away in a few nights, but as long as I can hope that one day...we might have a sort of friendship.” Harry felt his heart would at any minute break through his chest wall and swallowed to keep it inside.

Severus watched him for minutes without responding. However, he sighed finally and nodded his head. “It may be a possibility in the future” but before he could leave, he leaned in so close his warm breath fell upon Harry's gaping lips, “stranger occurrences have happened, Harry.”

With that, he fled the room leaving Harry paralyzed and watching for a good few minutes after the man was gone from sight. Harry pivoted on his heals and put his hands over his face. Oh bloody hell...Severus Snape was going to drive him right mad.

End Note: Hopefully you guys enjoyed it! Until next time...