Blight

CHAPTER THREE

The more defects a man may have, the older he is, the less lovable, the more resounding his success- Marquis de Sade

Snape's whole body froze and he sat unmoving, his hand still lightly grasping his glass. His breathing increased rapidly and he stood suddenly, throwing his glass against the wall. "Bloody fucking hell."

"I don't know what your problem is," Sirius said calmly, "I'm the one that should be angry." But he wasn't . He felt strangely relieved. It felt good to finally tell someone, even if it was Snape.

"My problem, is that now I'll never be rid of you. At least not for a year, and I cannot take this for another year. I cannot," he whispered quietly.

"Take what?"

Snape gestured between them. " This.. this...insidious hatred and lust. It seeps into me and I can't get rid of it, and I can't stand it. I thought maybe the lust at least would be taken care of. But it's only worsened since last night. I can't control it."

"And you can't stand to not be in control of yourself."

"Don't presume some insight into my psyche," he scoffed going to the counter and getting another glass. He filled it to near the top and tossed it back. "Having had your dick inside of me doesn't give you knowledge of my thoughts."

"No, but knowing you for two thirds of your life does." It was odd to think of it that way, excepting Remus and Dumbledore, Snape was the only person that had known him for most of his life. Known him as he'd been before Azkhaban and after.

Snape shook his head, rolling his eyes as he drank another glass. "You've never known me, Black. I am merely a face that you have seen frequently throughout the years. You never knew me when we were boys, you never bothered to."

"Yes your many overtures of friendship make me quite ashamed of my recalcitrance. You were the very soul of congeniality."

"I WAS AN ELEVEN YEAR OLD CHILD WHO KNEW NO ONE!"

"SO WAS I! But somehow I managed to make friends. Not showing bitter disdain and condescension for my fellow classmates probably helped."

"I never did have your ability to make quick superficial attachments to strangers. It fills me with shame, really," he said, his voice dripping with so much sarcasm that Sirius was surprised a puddle hadn't formed at his feet. He took another drink, and pulled his wand out of his pocket, releasing Sirius from his bonds. "Just get out Black. I have the intention of drinking until I can't remember your name or mine, and your presence would make that difficult." He turned his back to him, walking over to stare into the fire.

Sirius sat in the chair for a moment, massaging feeling back into his arms. "They weren't superficial. And if you don't get to know strangers you'd never know anyone. Everyone is a stranger at first, before they become friends."

"Thanks for the tip. You should write a book, How to make friends in ten easy steps. Each step as trite and shallow as the last, Guaranteed. I'm sure it would sell well," Snape said not taking his eyes from the fire.

"You're such a bastard, Snape," Sirius spit out, knocking the chair over as he stood.

"No, that would be Harry."

Sirius took a few calming breaths, he refused to let Snape rile him. Suddenly a thought made his stomach feel as if it had dropped out of his body. "You won't..you won't tell will you?"

"No. I will not. I'm the last person that would tell another's secrets, even yours."

"Give me your oath."

Snape finally lifted his eyes from the fire. "What Black? You don't trust me? And here I was thinking we'd grown closer," he said raising an eyebrow. He returned to watching the fire. "You have my oath as a Wizard. I will tell no one what I have learned today."

"And I won't tell anyone about the veritasserum."

Snape snorted. "Thank you for relieving me of that worry, I was all a-flutter."

Sirius made to leave, walking toward and opening the door. He stopped halfway out, his hand on the knob as he turned back to look at Snape, whose back was still to him. "If it makes any difference, I regret not trying to get to know you when we were young." He started to make excuses. He had been young and desperate for acceptance, he'd joined the others in excluding Snape because he'd been scared to risk losing their friendship. He stopped himself. Snape would not want excuses and they were pitiful cowardly excuses anyway.

"I'm sure, Black." The disbelief in voicvoice would have been clear to the most dense of individuals.

"You may not trust me, but I'd think you'd at least trust in your own potion's making skills," he said quietly, shutting the door.

Snape whipped around quickly, his eyes settling on Sirius empty glass, into which he'd poured Veritasserum less that an hour before, not long enough for it to have worn off. He stared at the glass for a long time, before turning back to gaze into the fire.

As Snape graded papers at his desk, he could clearly hear the shuffling of feet and light breathing, indicating someone was standing infront of him. He continued to act as if he wasn't aware of their presence, he was in no mood to hear whatever pathetic mumbling or idiotic question the student had. Maybe they would just go away, after all many had tried to work up the courage to talk to him and failed. He had just finished teaching the seventh year Gryffindors and Slytherins, so it was presumably one of them. A Slytherin would have already spoken or not at all, which meant it was a Gryffindor, probably gathering that famed bravery. Merlin he really wasn't in the mood for a Gryffindor right now. He'd more than reached his quota in intouseouse relations with them. And every time he looked at Potter the idiot would instinctively reach his hand up to touch the spot where he had bitten him a few days ago. At least the fool had finally healed it like he should have done in the first place. But the reminder of what he'd foolishly done was just another irritation to add to the many others of the day. ing ing irritated waiting for whoever it was to speak, he snapped out," Speak or leave."

He saw the person's body jerk in startlement at the broken silence, out of the corner of his eye as he reached for another paper. He didn't bother looking at up at their face he would no who it was soon enough.

"I..I

Snape's gaze snapped up as he recognized the voice of Harry Potter.

The boy stood there for a moment, not able to resume even his stuttering under Snape's piercing glare.

"Yes, Mr. Potter?" As Harry continued to stare Snape became even more irritated. "Spit it out Potter, I haven't all day."

Harry swallowed and drew on all of his Gryffindor courage. "I..I just wanted you to know that I didn't tell Sirius what happened. He figured it out somehow, but I didn't want you to think that I'd ratted you out."

"Ratted me out? I'm not some school chum of yours, and why would you care if I thought you had"ratted me out" anyway?"

"I just.. I wanted you to know that's all. That I'm not..mad about what happened."

Snape laid his head on the desk growling in frustration. He recognized the look in Potter's eyes and that tone of voice. All though it didn't happen frequently, he had been subject before to schoolboy and schoolgirl crushes. Although he'd never given them any reason to think he might be interested. He'd certainly never made out with them during a drunken trek through the darkened halls.

He looked ud trd tried to put into his voice how serious he was. "Mr. Potter, I apologize for my actions the other night. It was completely inappropriate of me. My only excuse is that I was very very drunk, but that doesn't excuse my behaviour. I will not object if you want to tell the headmaster what happened, but I will not be having any kind of relationship with you outside of teacher and student."

"But I.. why not?"

"Because you are a child and my student."

"I'm not a child. I turned eighteen over the summer."

"Well then, forgive me. That obviously makes you an adult," he said sarcastically. "Regardless, you are still my student, I don't think you can argue the truth of that." Snape rose from his seat hoping his height would make him more imposing. "Now I want you to leave Potter, and I don't want to hear any more of this."

Apparently he wasn't imposing enough, because Harry went on undeterred. "You certainly weren't thinking of me as a student when your tongue was in my mouth, or my hand was trailing down your chest. And I certainly wasn't thinking of you as a teacher. I was thinking of you as completely fuckable. And you were thinking the same thing, maybe I need to jog your memory," he said unbuttoning his robed and letting it fall to the floor as he walked around the desk closing the distance between them.

He had his shirt halfway undone and was a mere foot away, before Snape snapped out of shock. "What the bloody hell do you think you're doing Potter. Get your robes back on and get out of my sight before I hex you into oblivion," he moved his hand to hover near his pocket, to assure Potter that he was absolutely serious.

Harry stopped abruptly as he saw Snape's hand. He'd been sure that Snape was attracted to him, after what had happened in the hall, drunk or not. But Snape's actions made it clear that he was as far from being interested as you could get. He felt his cheeks flush in embarrassment and he was just about to grab his robes and leave when he heard the door open.

Snape heard it to and there was nothing that he could do to make the situation look harmless. He pictured in his head, Lavender Brown the biggest gossip in the school walking in or even worse Dumbledore. But of course it was much worse than that. It was the last person in the world who he wanted to see him standing very close to a half naked Harry Potter. It was none other than Sirius Black, the boy's very overprotective father.


AN: Another cliffy, I am such a bitch.