Crossing the Line

Chapter 4: Nosferatu


\'He\'s not here,\' Severus muttered inwardly, glancing across the teachers\' table for Potter. Granted it was early, but Potter never slept in. Severus himself wasn\'t used to getting up early when he had the option to sleep in, being mostly nocturnal did that to him, but he couldn\'t fight the urge to check up on his latest \'project\'. They\'d made some progress last night, but Severus wasn\'t about to count his chickens before they hatched.

He\'d actually taken the liberty of making plans in case things didn\'t go well again; whether it should be Voldemort, or the fact that Potter simply couldn\'t form the wand. If that ended up being the case again today, Severus was going to drag him out to a Muggle theatre. He\'d honestly never been to such a thing, but as far as his research told him, it was a lot like their moving portraits, only you watched it longer and it supposedly had a plot. Hopefully, that would inspire Potter to be happy and possibly forget about Voldemort for a while. Severus, in fact, intended to drag him out somewhere new every time things didn\'t go well; to try to boost Potter\'s confidence and improve his chances of learning the magic quickly.

Glancing down at his half-eaten muffin, Severus decided he wasn\'t really hungry and left. Once he was back in his dungeons he set about the business of lowering the wards, setting out the incense, clearing away the coffee table, and turning on the music. Glancing at the timepiece on the mantel, he decided he\'d sit by the fire and read until Potter decided to show up. He summoned one of his favourites, from his bookshelf and lay down on his thick rug with the book propped up in his stomach. As per usual it wasn\'t long before he was sucked into the words and completely relaxed. Being so, it was quite easy for him to fall asleep.

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Setting his wards again, Harry walked down the hallway and turned the corner for Severus\' chambers. His big, hunter green hoodie made him feel somewhat warm and relaxed. His stone-washed, dark brown jeans, the colour almost looked like it had been rubbed on by chalk dust, were very comfortable and gave him a lot of movement that his tighter jeans didn\'t. The colours also helped him to calm down somewhat with their neutral tones.

After putting the long ponytail behind him so it was out of the way, Harry finally reached Severus\' doors. Was it just him, or had that seemed to take at least half an hour for a two-minute trip? Shaking his head, the young man knocked lightly. Receiving no answer, he entered and set the wards himself behind him.

Looking around at the room, Harry frowned when he didn\'t see Severus. \"Professor?\" a quiet snore came up from the floor. Biting his lip to keep from laughing, Harry walked further in, and sure enough, where the armchair had been blocking his vision of the floor was Severus, curled up on the floor with his book underneath him. Shaking his head in amusement, Harry placed a bookmark in the open page, and sent the well-worn book back to its proper place. Making his footsteps a bit heavier so as not to sneak up on the man because he definitely didn\'t want to be on the end of a hex this early in the morning since he was still feeling like shit, Harry knelt down beside the dozing professor. Resting a hand on his shoulder, he shook lightly, \"Severus, wake up.\"

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\'Not an enemy,\' Severus mused. He\'d rigged the protection charms around his person to slow his attack reflexes if the person approaching him meant no harm. \'Ah, must be Potter,\' he mused, stretching slightly and opening his black eyes to meet Potter\'s brilliant green ones. \"Potter,\" he mumbled, slowly shifting so that he was sitting beside him.

This was embarrassing, but Severus took it in stride. \"I didn\'t see you at breakfast, are you feeling well?\" he certainly didn\'t look it. He had the same tired, war-beaten look he\'d had before and it was disheartening to see it return so quickly.

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Harry sat back on his bum when Severus moved to sit cross-legged. He shrugged lightly. \"I slept in.\" Not looking away from the obsidian gaze directed at him, a muscle in his jaw twitched. \"So, want to try again?\" he asked, craning his neck to look at the fire again, before moving his gaze back to the other man.

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Severus sighed inwardly, but knew better than to question Potter for it was obvious he wasn\'t telling the whole truth. It was better to be sneaky and underhanded than straightforward and direct; besides, any other course of action would\'ve been decidedly un-Slytherin.

\"Very well,\" Severus began matter-of-factly, \"assume the position, Potter. I\'m going at it with you until we get this right.\"

A few moments later, Potter was facing the fire and leaning comfortably against his back. With a deep breath, Severus began leading Potter through the meditation slowly, with a deep relaxing voice as always. This time he made a note of paying more attention to his power. He\'d done some reading on bonds like Potter\'s to Voldemort and it was quite possible to transfer emotions or curses, so his sadness could possibly not be all his own.

Once Potter began to let out his energies, Severus extended his in an \'I\'m-just-looking\' sort of way. What he found was both good and bad news. He saw no traces of cursing, probably because both parties would have to be in a meditative state for this to take place, but there was profound sadness there and loneliness. Severus decided then he would have to do something about that.

The meditation ended relatively smoothly, with no surprise visits from Voldemort as far as Severus could tell, but that didn\'t tell him anything about Potter\'s ability to form a wand. \"Well?\" he asked quietly.

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He felt somewhat uncomfortable at being so vulnerable after having Severus use his own powers to look into his mind. What was worse, he didn\'t know what the other man had seen.

Thinking back on what he\'d formed, Harry sighed and shook his head. \"It\'s progressed to a sword. I assume that\'s not good since it\'s a hell of a lot bigger then a wand and it doesn\'t even look similar like a dagger does, well, somewhat.\" Merlin, was he ever going to get this right?

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Humming thoughtfully, Severus turned his head to look at Potter as well as he could. \"Not the best of results. Probably, it would be best to hold off on these meditations for a week and see what other progress we could make.\"

After a moments pause, Severus asked, \"Do you enjoy going to the movies, Potter? There is one theatre not too far from here and I think a field trip would be a good idea to help you relax and not focus so much on past violence.

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The movies? He\'d heard about them, of course, he had lived in the Muggle world for eleven years and scattered summers, but he\'d never actually gone to one and he really couldn\'t see Severus amongst a crowd of Muggles, eating popcorn while watching a movie. In fact, the thought made him laugh.

Tipping his head forward to ease the strain in his back, he replied, \"I\'ve never been, but they sound interesting.\" He had to admit to himself that he did like the idea of going to a dark place and sitting beside Severus, but he was hurt that all this friendliness was coming about because Severus wanted him to win the war, and the only way for him to teach the magic to him, was if Harry had a drive behind it.

He didn\'t think he\'d ever find something to fight for.

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\"Would you like to accompany me then?\" Severus asked, shifting to stand and then helping Potter up. \"Judging from what I know of you,\" he continued while straightening his robes, \"you\'d probably enjoy the movie production of \'Boy meets Boy.\' It\'s one of those romantic comedies Muggles seem so fond of. Am I correct?\" Severus asked, raising a brow. Still sensitive to shifts in Potter\'s energies because of the meditation, he tipped his head to one side and asked, \"Something bothering you, Potter?

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Harry shook his head, rubbing the back of his neck to ease some of the tension there. \"I\'m fine. Just a bit tired.\" He looked down when Severus stared at him. Shit, hadn\'t he just said he\'d slept in?

Putting his hands in the large pocket at the front of his hoodie, Harry resisted the urge to shuffle his feet like he would have done thirteen years ago. He was an adult now; he really should start acting like one.

\"Do you know when it starts?\" he finally asked, taking his hands out of his pockets, feeling like he was a student all over again.

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Severus glanced at the timepiece on his mantel, trying not to think about how disappointing it was to hear Potter spout all these obvious lies about his well being. \"About an hour. Enough time to walk there and get some refreshments should you so desire. We can\'t Apparate out of Hogwarts and flying to a Muggle town would raise a few eyebrows.\"

Severus smirked in Potter\'s general direction as he started to put on his winter cloak. \"And seeing as you haven\'t run screaming from my rooms, I assume the idea sits well with you?\"

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Harry chuckled at the image of him running out of Severus\' rooms, screaming; maybe in the professor\'s rooms and screaming now that idea was entirely plausible. Blushing lightly, Harry stopped that train of thought before it could get too detailed for his libido.

\"I just need to grab my own cloak. There\'s only so much a warming charm can do, after all,\" Harry replied.

Severus nodded as he put on his boots. They walked together to Harry\'s chambers, where he had Severus wait outside the door for him. Grabbing his black winter cloak, which was basically like a trench coat, only it was actually warm, and the down on the inside was incredibly soft. Rubbing his scarred cheek against the ebony fur mixed with strands of white lining the collar, he smiled softly at the sensations. He always had loved the feeling of soft, or silky material against his skin, probably something to do with always being around rough materials as a kid.

Shaking his head to rid himself of those thoughts, he buttoned up and finally left his chambers, seeing a slightly impatient Severus leaning against the wall, he shrugged sheepishly before turning to his wards. He tensed when he noticed the other man paying attention to what exactly were in his wards. \'Damn it, the man can probably read my magic really easily now due to the recent meditation.\' But would he comment on the glamour spells? If anything, he\'d probably think Harry was just being vain, and leave it at that, though for some reason he felt a weird tug at his gut at the thought of Severus thinking so lowly of him. What the hell was wrong with him now?

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As Potter probably suspected, Severus could read the glamour spell quite easily. He was actually surprised that he hadn\'t thought to look into Potter\'s powers before they even started meditating, but he had been rather preoccupied recently and Potter would have felt it, even if he couldn\'t have returned the favour, not knowing Nosferatu magic. He couldn\'t blame him though. Severus, if he had the ability to retain scars at all, would\'ve been covered with them by now and would\'ve wanted to avoid questions. It was strange to wish he\'d take the glamour down, just around him. Severus wanted that kind of trust on Potter\'s part and, at the moment, he really didn\'t know why.

\"Are you going to stare at your own door all day, Potter, or are we going?\" Severus asked, snarky as usual. Potter turned around with a smile and nodded. Severus nodded back and led Potter out of the castle, out of Hogwarts, and onto a charming side road. The village he was leading him to was small, quaint, and rather a relaxing place to visit for someone like Severus who was mostly a recluse. They walked along together, not saying, nor needing to say anything at the moment and Severus was rather enjoying himself, though he\'d never admit it.

Glancing over at Potter he tried to study him discreetly. He knew he was able to relax, that was evident from their romp around the pitch the night before, but to relax to the point where he actually forgot about Voldemort? That would be a problem. Severus sighed mentally and glanced over at Potter again. He was a young, very talented, attractive young man; he shouldn\'t have to deal with things like this. It was almost funny how easy it was to like him once Severus had agreed to put behind the rivalry he\'d so stupidly kept up between them all this time. Oddly enough, Severus found himself wanting Potter to be happy just for the sake of him being happy.

At a sigh from Potter, Severus turned his head to find the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor smiling up into a sudden bit of snow flurries. Without even realizing it, Severus actually smiled - it was small, but it was there - at the charming image before him.

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Blinking several times to rid his lashes of snowflakes, Harry looked over at the other man, his eyes widened at the small smile. He returned it, somewhat hesitantly, still awed and surprised that the other man has smiled, at what though, he didn\'t really know.

When they reached the medium sized theatre, Harry frowned as he realized that he didn\'t have any Muggle money on him. Looking over at Severus again, he wondered if he had thought to change his wizarding money into Muggle currency. \"Do you have enough money on you?\" he asked instead, glancing briefly at the passing Muggles that were looking at the pair strangely--they were standing in the middle of the entrance way after all.

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\"Of course,\" Severus nodded and promptly paid for their tickets. As they walked along they received a few odd stares, probably for their cloaks, but this was a town with a renaissance exhibit; hence Severus hadn\'t bothered to change into anything more Muggle. Muggles did seem to have a way of convincing themselves that magic didn\'t exist, after all.

After weaving their way through the lobby, Severus paused by the concession stand and asked, \"Do you want anything, Potter?\"

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Eyeing all the Muggle candy that he\'d never been able to have in his childhood, Harry shook his head and glanced away into knowing eyes. Blushing faintly, the young man looked down the dark hallway where a small neon sign read \'5\', which was the theatre showing their movie, Harry replied, \"The movie is probably starting soon.\"

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Severus nodded his head and murmured, \"Very well,\" before leading Potter inside the theatre. It was comfortably small and sparsely occupied, much to Severus\' pleasure. They seated themselves somewhere in the middle and Potter avidly watched the previews, while Severus was more distracted by a couple snogging hot and heavy a few rows behind them. One of the more annoying parts of Muggle theatres to be sure. As luck, or a murmured \'Petrificus Totalus\', would have it, the couple soon became blissfully quiet.

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Harry couldn\'t believe that the screen was so big! The Dursleys had a fairly impressive TV, but definitely not as big as this. When the movie finally started, Harry leaned back in his chair comfortably, watching the images on screen intently. He felt Severus shift beside him and place his arms on the armrest. Biting his lip, he continued to stare ahead; everything in him was tempted to put his arm near the other man\'s, but he suspected it would be rejected, so he involved himself into the movie.

Eventually, he really did lose track of everything else. The characters were surprisingly upbeat, and the romance between the two was kind of sweet. Although he didn\'t think a world where homosexuals and even transvestites were treated equal would ever exist, it was still a nice fantasy.

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The movie was actually rather nice, a little strange and far too upbeat to be realistic, but nice. Kind of like Potter, actually, before he\'d gotten himself into this whole pessimistic streak. How dare he really, that was Severus\' job after all.

Eventually the credits rolled and the lights started to come up. Severus was surprised the time had passed so quickly. As tempted as he was to leave the couple he\'d cursed where they were, he did take pity on them after the lights were up. He couldn\'t help snickering to himself as they scrambled to retrieve half of their clothing.

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Following Severus up the isle, Harry looked at the blushing couple, just now getting their clothes. He stifled a laugh behind his hand. It was blatantly obvious to him who had caused that. \"You really are an evil bastard,\" he muttered, though by the snort in front of him, it was obvious that Severus had heard him.

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Severus chuckled and raised an eyebrow in Potter\'s general direction. \"Really, Potter, if they suddenly found themselves unable to move, is that really my fault?\" he quipped at they exited the theatre. Potter just laughed and shook his head.

The town really did have a homey feel to it, one place Severus, as a notorious recluse, wouldn\'t mind spending his retirement, when he reached 150 that is. They walked slowly down the street, chatting lightly and generally enjoying each other\'s company. They passed a quiet little Italian restaurant and suddenly the idea of going back to the Great Hall for dinner wasn\'t so appealing. It never was, but that was beside the point. Pausing by the entrance, Severus caught Potter\'s eye and tipped his head in the direction of the restaurant. \"Hungry, Potter?\"

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Looking at the quaint little restaurant, Harry smiled softly and met the other man\'s questioning gaze, \"Since you were bragging about your riches, then the meal\'s on you.\" He grinned when Severus snorted and opened the door for him, following close behind when Harry entered.

They entered a small little intersection where the cashier stood and another person was waiting to seat people. Severus asked for two, and they followed the tall, young man to a seat in the corner. He introduced himself as Adrian, and handed them their menus, asking if they wanted anything to drink, to which Severus replied that he\'d prefer the best wine they had, while Harry asked for simple rosemary tea. He didn\'t have a headache, surprisingly enough, but he did like the taste.

Adrian smiled in reply, writing their orders down on the small legal pad. Harry fought the urge to fidget when the man fixed his dark brown gaze on him and smiled brightly, his short brown hair, spiked erratically all over his head in no semblance of order, caught the light and revealed strands of dark red. The emerald eyed man smiled hesitantly, but quickly returned his gaze to the table. The waiter brushed up against him as he left, it appeared deliberate and it made Harry flush lightly.

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\"Don\'t even think about it, Potter,\" Severus hissed irritably from behind his menu. \"Despite what you may think, I\'m not a total recluse; I\'ve been here before. That man is the town\'s bicyclist, if you catch my drift.\" Glancing up, Severus noted the confusion on Potter\'s face and sighed irritably. \"He\'s ridden just about everyone.\"

Seeing defiance set in Potter\'s eyes, Severus leveled him with a glare before he could speak. Why was he even doing this? He shouldn\'t care what Potter did in his personal life. Was it because having a heartbroken Potter to deal with would greatly disrupt their training? Yes, that sounded like a good excuse. \"You don\'t believe me? Watch him. He flirts with anything that moves.\"

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Blushing, both in anger and embarrassment at being read so easily, Harry looked over at the waiter. He frowned when he watched Adrian bend over to pick up a fork, putting his arse in plain view in those tight black jeans, as he bent over in front of an almost salivating man.

Quickly going back to looking at the menu that was in his hands, he decided on a chicken salad with extra crispy leaves, and set the menu down. Bending his head down, he undid the tie in his hair and tucked it into his coat pocket, raking his hands through the wavy strands to let it fall behind him then glanced out the window at the few people walking the streets, \"I can take care of myself, professor,\" he finally said, looking back over at the other man.

Feeling the presence behind him due to the charm that Severus had insisted he put on himself during their little Quidditch game, Harry glanced up and once again met the soft brown eyes of their waiter. Instead of looking down, he looked a bit more closely, and finally noticed the spark of lust and mischievousness lurking in that youthful face.

\"Here\'s your orders, sirs.\" He glanced at Severus briefly; no spark of recognition in the gaze, Harry resisted the snort. If Severus did come here, the man probably overlooked him. Which meant he had no taste, and Harry didn\'t really understand why he was going for him, when a perfectly sexy man was sitting right across from him. Albeit, he was glaring at them right now, but even then, he had an intensity about him that made Harry\'s stomach clench.

Accepting the cup of tea with a nod of thanks, he placed his order, to which the young man wrote down and turned to Severus distractingly, awaiting the other order. Not being able to take it anymore, Harry used a minor spell to shift Adrian over a fraction, so his damn hip wasn\'t brushing against Harry\'s shoulder and making him extremely uncomfortable; the waiter didn\'t notice a thing.

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Severus put in his order for pasta and meat sauce, glaring icily at Adrian all the while. The boy wrote it down, taking the time to linger at Potter\'s side. It was only by force of will, that Severus managed not to hex the annoying man into oblivion. Just when it appeared he was about to go to the kitchens with their order, he paused to smile lecherously at Potter and murmur, \"I\'ll get your orders quickly, sirs. And I must say, sir.\" He glanced at Severus once before returning his attentions to a quickly reddening Potter. \"You have a very charming son here.\"

Instead of increasing his glare and possibly cause a second ice age along with the waiter\'s immediate death, Severus\' features shifted into a cruel, malicious smile. \"Yes,\" Severus mused, leaning forward to grasp the strings of Potter\'s hoodie and pull him in to meet him halfway in a surprisingly deep, slow kiss, which Severus would later tell himself was a momentary lapse of sanity combined with the extreme desire to fuck with the waiter\'s mind. Pulling back just an inch or so, Severus kept the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor close long enough to murmur, \"Charming,\" with his characteristic smirk, before releasing him and sitting back again. The waiter, Severus noticed as he watched him scamper away, was rather pale and probably scarred for life. Excellent.

Turning back to Potter, he found the younger man staring at him, mouth a gape. \"What?\" Severus smirked raising an eyebrow. \"You can\'t honestly say he doesn\'t deserve to have his mind buggered with.\"

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With the taste of the other man\'s mouth on his tongue, Harry frowned at the other man; his surprise quickly switching to anger. \"So I deserve to have my mind \'buggered\' with?\" he asked with a scowl, while fixing his hoodie where the strings had bunched it together.

He couldn\'t believe the nerve of that man! Sure he was sexy, but that didn\'t give him the right to just go kissing him like that to fuck with someone else\'s mind.

He wouldn\'t have gone with Adrian anyway. He wasn\'t into one-night stands, well, not anymore anyway. When he was younger he had heavily dabbled in it, but as he\'d grown up he wanted to look for love. Of course, that had all gone out the window when he\'d trusted his partners so much that he let his barriers down, including his glamour spell; they had tucked tail and run. No, he was definitely not into any sort of short-term relationship and while he might have been thinking of trying to up their friendship, which was still somewhat fragile, Harry, for one, didn\'t like heavy public displays of affection, and for another, he didn\'t like being taking advantage of like that.

To him, any sort of touch meant a lot to him, therefore, a kiss meant a lot to him. Even after oral sex with a man\'s arse, he still thought a kiss was the most intimate thing you could do. Sure, it made him look like an old sap, but he believed that a thousand emotions could be expressed through one kiss, but, damn it, he believed in it--romantic notion, or not.

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The anger was something he had expected, but the hurt was surprising. He\'d never taken Potter for the romantic type, but he\'d been wrong. Severus had been that way once himself, but being a Death Eater tended to get that out of your system pretty damn quick. It was actually a shock that Potter still thought that way with his new pessimistic streak. With all the cynicism that he possessed, Severus found it charming, no better word for it. Perhaps, he had let his temper get the best of him.

Tilting his head to the side he murmured, \"I\'m sorry.\" There was no heartfelt emotion in his voice, but anyone who knew his Snapish tendencies, would know he meant it. \"My evil intent was for the waiter. Not you.\"

He held Potter\'s eyes, still studying him curiously. Interesting creature. So hopeless, he couldn\'t think of a good reason to live, yet still a romantic. Severus hadn\'t allowed himself to hold romantic ideals in over twenty years. That was an odd place for his Gryffindor courage to root itself. Not many people shared his opinion, but to him, if you had seen the horrors of the world and were still romantic, you were either very brave, or very stupid, or maybe both. Brave rang truer with Potter, though, since he seemed to have learned a thing or two since his school days.

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Raking a hand through his hair, Harry looked down, an embarrassed flush spreading on his cheeks again. Once again, he\'d overreacted. Now, Severus probably thought he was a fool. \"No need to apologize, I just overreacted.\" He felt the other man\'s disbelieving eyes on him, but he made no comment for which Harry was grateful.

Harry jumped when a plate was all but thrown in front of him. Looking up, he couldn\'t help but smirk faintly at the pale young man. He mumbled an apology, either for the throwing or assuming anything; Harry couldn\'t tell, but he scampered away quickly enough.

Shaking his head in amusement, Harry ate quietly, trying to rid himself of the Potion master\'s taste. But no matter what he did or how much tea he drank, the man\'s taste clung to his tongue.

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Severus had to bite his tongue not to snicker to himself as the frazzled waiter reappeared again, but somehow he managed. The food was very good, as usual and, after successfully scarring three people for life, Severus was feeling quite pleased with himself. Glancing up at Potter, he smirked and asked, \"So what did you think of the movie, Potter?\"

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\"Considering you\'ve had your tongue in my mouth, I\'m pretty sure it\'s safe for you to call me by my first name, professor,\" he replied. He\'d always hated how his last name sounded. \'Potter.\' It was a name you could spit. All his enemies had referred to him as either \'boy,\' or \'Potter\'; it would be nice if Severus would stop calling him as such.

Harry thought about the man\'s original question, \"I found the movie fairly good, a bit unrealistic, but it would be a nice thought for everyone to treat each other equally, even though we all know it\'s not going to happen any time soon, if ever for that matter.\"

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Severus arched his eyebrow questioningly at Potter\'s statement. It did seem appropriate. They were going to have to work very closely and they had known each other for about 20 years. \"Very well,\" he consented slowly, wondering if he\'d ever actually said Potter\'s first name before, \"Harry.\" He glared when the brat started smirking as if to say, \'There now. That wasn\'t so hard was it?\'

\"While the Muggle world seems a bit backwards in their thinking, it\'s actually not so uncommon in the wizarding world and a great deal more accepted.\" He paused to take a sip of his wine before continuing, \"My great-grandparents on my mother\'s side were both male.\"

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Harry leaned back in his chair, having quickly finished his meal; it wasn\'t that large of a salad after all. \"Growing up in the Muggle world, it was extremely uncommon, especially where I lived. I figured out a I was gay when I was around eleven and I met Draco Malfoy.\" He laughed when Severus spit his wine out in his surprise; he savoured the moment briefly since it wasn\'t often after all that he surprised the Potions master. \"I remember thinking he was the most beautiful boy I\'d ever seen and then he opened his mouth.\" He smiled when the other man snorted in agreement.

\"Of course, having grown up with Muggles, I thought it wasn\'t common, so I kept my mouth shut the whole time. It wasn\'t like Ron or Hermione ever talked to me about stuff like that; I didn\'t know any better. I had a few, well, a lot of affairs with various boys, all in secret, but I never really talked to anyone about what I was feeling. Of course now, I\'m comfortable with it, even though I may not be comfortable with myself in general, as you so kindly pointed out when you said my self-esteem could use some improvement.\"

It was strange to be talking like this with the other man--strange but pleasant. His mood didn\'t even dampen when he thought of Ron and Hermione. They\'d been dead for a few years now, but, until now, he\'d never known he could look back on them with fondness instead of sadness.

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\"Yes, well, we\'re going to work on that aren\'t we?\" Severus asked, sipping the wine again. \"Unless of course you decide to give me a heart attack with more talk of Draco,\" he added with a glare, but Harry only laughed. It was a nice laugh, Severus observed and not in the slightest bit fake. He doubted Pot-Harry did anything halfway.

\"How much do you know about male wizarding couples anyway?\" teaching Harry about some of the more interesting points of wizarding life might be another good way to distract him. It might open up a few new options for him in ways to spend his time.

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About to respond, Harry stopped, thinking. Actually, he didn\'t know anything about it. Once again, it wasn\'t really a subject that was brought up--at least around him it wasn\'t. Rubbing the back of his neck, somewhat embarrassed, though he didn\'t know why, Harry shook his head. \"I don\'t know anything. It\'s not something people talk about and I\'ve been a bit too busy to really get involved in any kind of relationship.\"

During his Auror career, he\'d been too busy with missions and training to actually meet anyone. In his teaching career, the only person he\'d met was Severus and, as he\'d always thought, while it would be nice to get into a long-term relationship with the man, he doubted Severus wouldn\'t want him. He\'d said so himself that his self-esteem was incredibly low. People in general didn\'t date if their self-esteem is next to nothing.

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Having a clean slate was always a good thing to work with. Harry was very attractive and Severus doubted he would have problems settling down when he found the right man. \"Well, you might be interested to know that if you ever do meet Mr. Right and get married, you can have children with him biologically. One of you will have to be pregnant, of course,\" Severus added with a chuckle. \"That will certainly be entertaining on my part should you opt to be the \'mother.\'\"

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Blushing brightly, Harry ducked his head to try to hide his face. When he finally summoned the courage to look back up, his eyes widened when he saw their previous waiter standing not too far away from them, the check in his hand. His face was even whiter then before; damn it, he must have heard the last bit.

\"Y-your bill, si-sirs.\" He stammered, before tossing the paper at them and all but running away. Harry put his head in his hands on top of the table, covering his even redder face.

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Severus managed to only chuckle at the waiter\'s exit and quickly paid. They exited into the brisk evening air and a light snowstorm. It wasn\'t enough to hinder their walking, but enough to be beautiful. Glancing over at Harry, Severus found he was still blushing and couldn\'t help but chuckle a little. \"I don\'t know why you\'re blushing, Harry, you\'d look just fine pregnant. As I said, it\'s not an uncommon thing. Me on the other hand, if I ever lose my mind and get married, I\'ll have to hope my husband would be willing to carry the baby because, quite frankly, the idea doesn\'t appeal to me. I have enough stomach problems as it is.\"

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Blush slowly starting to fade, although his cheeks were still tinted red from the cold wind, Harry looked over at Severus. He was once again reminded of the blood sausage serum that the other man had briefly mentioned. Summoning up his infamous Gryffindor courage, Harry asked, \"Is that one of the reasons you drink that blood sausage serum?\"

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Severus looked over at Harry as they walked with a calm he didn\'t really feel. \"That\'s the whole reason actually. It doesn\'t do much to help, but it\'s better than nothing.\" Severus prayed desperately that Harry wouldn\'t persist to question him about it. He hated who he was and as of his parents death, Dumbledore was the only one who knew.

All this secrecy wasn\'t for the adolescent reasons of fearing not being understood: he\'d never given a damn what the world thought and he never would. For the magic and power he was proud, but the price that it came with, the weakness, even though it wouldn\'t kill him like it did so many others of his family, it was a weakness nonetheless, a potentially dangerous one. He was so weak and vulnerable during the new moon and if he wanted any strength at all he\'d have to rely on someone else and Severus didn\'t like trusting people.

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Harry sighed and faced forward again. He was hurt that Severus didn\'t trust him enough to give him the full reason, but that was just stupid, the other man had only just called a truce that had been long overdue and he generally didn\'t trust anyone, well, except for Dumbledore. Then again, the man knew everything supposedly, so he probably knew about Severus\' \'condition.\'

Maybe if he let one of his barriers down Severus would trust him more? It would be worth a shot and the rest of their relationship--friendship, whatever you want to call it, would be changed, depending on Severus\' reaction. If he was like everyone else, then he would probably avoid, or distance himself once again from Harry. He might just end up staring, as some people who knew of his scars always did.

They walked along in silence, Harry thinking about what he would do, and Severus seemed tense, like he was expecting Harry to interrogate him about the serum. Wanting to put the man at ease, even at the cost of his own uncomfortable feelings, Harry finally broke the silence. \"What do you think of people who use glamour spells to hide imperfections?\"

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\'What\'s this now?\' Severus mused to himself at Potter\'s sudden question. \'Trying to bait me?\' was immediately followed by, \'stop being so cynical. This is Harry. He\'s not that Slytherin.\'

\"Depends on what imperfections they\'re trying to hide,\" Severus drawled slowly. \"If they\'re trying to hide a few extra pounds, I think they\'re being bloody vain.\" Severus paused to glance over at Harry again.

\"But there is such a thing as a good reason. I often use a powerful one on the Dark Mark in the summer to avoid stares. I don\'t really give a damn whether or not they believe I\'m truly sorry for the mistake I made in joining Voldemort, but it makes avoiding questions so much easier and the last thing I want is too feel like I\'m at the Inquisition whenever it gets too warm to wear long sleeves.\" He looked over at Harry again, smiling very slightly at the image of him covered in snowflakes, before tipping his head to one side and asking, \"Why do you want to know, Harry?\"

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Frowning, Harry looked down at the snow-covered grounds, surprised that they\'d made it this far already to Hogwarts and sighed. Why was he even worrying about it? Severus wasn\'t the type to base his feelings on appearances. Hell, he said so himself that he covered up his Dark Mark in order to avoid stares and questions. He would understand why Harry covered his scars.

When he finally looked up, he was surprised to see that they were in the dungeons. He was amazed that Severus hadn\'t questioned him, but left him to think, rather then badgering him like most people would have done. The other man led him to his chambers, where Harry left the door open in silent invitation, to which Severus accepted. Hanging up their outdoor clothes on the rack beside the door and toeing off their boots, they stepped inside. Severus moved to sit on the sofa, while Harry busied himself with making mint tea.

Placing the tray in reach on the coffee table, Harry sat beside the man, facing him while sitting cross-legged. Not being able to meet the other\'s gaze anymore, Harry cast his eyes downward. Not wanting and not having the courage to cast it himself, Harry silently motioned the other man to cast the anti-glamour spell, a simple, \'Finite Incantatum\'.

It took several seconds before Severus faced him fully, his right foot resting on the ground and his left curled before him. Using his wandless magic, he muttered the spell.

Harry winced at the tingle of magic spreading through his skin, as each scar on his body, including the ones Severus couldn\'t see, slowly started to appear. He felt more vulnerable then he\'d ever been in his life, even when he\'d been lying naked on the concrete floor with ten Auror men all around him, watching his progress during the training from behind a look-out in the cell\'s wall that Harry hadn\'t been able to see.

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That, Severus had to admit, took a lot of trust. He\'d didn\'t have to probe Harry\'s energies to know how petrified he was, the man was all but broadcasting it. All the way back he\'d made a point of not questioning Harry after he\'d fallen into a tense silence and now that he knew what he\'d chosen to reveal to Severus, he had to admit he admired him for that. He wasn\'t sure why it meant so much to have this man\'s trust, but Severus knew it was. There weren\'t all that many scars he could see, one on his wrists, one on his cheek, one over his eye; his famous scar of course, but he knew there had to be more with all the things Harry had lived through.

While he sat there studying him, Harry has seemed to shrink in on himself, obviously berating himself for his physical appearance. Stupid Gryffindor. Slowly, so as not to startle him, Severus reached out and grasped Harry\'s chin between his thumb and forefinger, lifting it so that he could see it clearly. Harry\'s eyes were clenched shut and the self-hating monologue was all but running over his forehead.

Severus ran his thumb gently down the scar on Harry\'s cheek, causing Harry\'s eyes to snap open in shock. Severus just smiled very slightly and said, \"Much better.\" There was a brief pause before he added a small joke, hoping to put the other professor at ease. \"You looked far too deceptively innocent with that glamour.\"

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Harry closed his left eye when Severus trailed the pad of his thumb over the scar that was most obvious on his face, even clearer then the lightning bolt scar on his forehead. The jagged scar started half way down his forehead and continued until it created a white line in his dark brow, before stopping, and then continuing on just underneath the hollow beneath his eye, and running down so it curved inwards, reaching the length of his nose.

He couldn\'t resist leaning into the caress until the thumb reached the end of its journey on the dark red scar, and left him to go back to its owner, where he folded his hands in his lap. Meeting the other\'s gaze hesitantly, he gave a weak smile at the joke. \"With the amount of scars I have, the idea of me being innocent is laughable.\" He sighed and leaned his head to the side, resting it against the cool back of the ivory coloured chair. \"Most people balk at even seeing the white in my hair.\" Harry looked down briefly. \"Thank you for not - well.\" He shrugged, at a loss for words. Looking back on it now, he didn\'t know how he could have ever thought that the professor would have been disgusted with his scars. Sure, it made his body look less appealing, but he would never base his opinion solely on looks alone.

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\"You\'re welcome,\" Severus said quietly, falling into an interior monologue of his own. Harry obviously trusted him; he was sick to death of keeping this secret and he did trust Harry\'s loyalty. It was almost too easy to trust him and if things didn\'t go well he could always Obliviate him. Fuck it all to bloody hell.

Taking a deep breath, Severus glanced over at Harry before saying, \"I suppose if I could get non magical scars, I\'d have my own little collection by now.\" Harry, naturally started at this and after a mental, \'Well, here goes nothing. Damn Gryffindor is rubbing off on me,\' he continued. \"You see, the branch of magic I\'m trying to teach you comes naturally to humans of a certain type of blood line - they\'re called the Nosferatu. They have their own language, culture, and most live on a magically invisible island in the middle of the Atlantic. This magic comes naturally to them, their children are born knowing how to access it and once they train, they can become some of the most powerful wizards. As you can guess, a wizard with the talent for it, such as yourself, can be taught it, but it comes naturally to Nosferatu. I can teach you because I\'m Nosferatu, 1/32 to be exact.\"

He chanced a glance over at Harry and found him staring back with a look of utter confusion on his face. Severus chuckled without much humor and turned to face him. \"Perhaps it\'s better if I just show you.\"

Concentrating very hard on a spot on the floor, not particularly wanting to see Harry\'s reaction, Severus brought forth his fangs easily and, being fangs, they poked through his lips and gleamed in the firelight. \"In plain English,\" Severus said quietly, \"I guess you could say I\'m a vampire.\"

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Eyes wide, Harry gulped. He\'d never seen anything so dangerous or sexy in his life! From what he could see of his eyes, the usually obsidian gaze, was now, if possible, darker, and the irises almost seemed larger too, taking up more space and the teeth impossibly white and laid over top of a full bottom lip. Biting his own lip, Harry hesitantly reached forward, brushing his thumb along the bottom lip in much the same gentle fashion as Severus had done to his own scar. Those impossibly dark eyes flew up to look at him, but Harry\'s gaze was on the man\'s lips.

Finally shaking off his daze, Harry looked up and met the vampire\'s intense gaze. The man was obviously searching for something. What did he think Harry was going to do?

Ah. \"Obviously since I haven\'t run from the room screaming, I\'m not afraid of the idea of you being a vampire,\" Harry said with a small smile, throwing Severus\' words back at him from earlier in the day. \"Can you tell me some of the history?\" he asked, interested to know what kind of culture Severus had and what language he could speak. The only other languages Harry could speak were Parseltongue and Latin, of course.

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Severus let out a tiny sigh of relief at Harry\'s reaction and a small smile formed on his lips. That, he noted in the back of his mind, was happening entirely too often. Again he wasn\'t sure exactly why, but he was glad to have Harry\'s approval. On top of that, he was actually curious about him. That was something he hadn\'t experienced before.

\"All right,\" he said slowly with a kind of accent unique to Nosferatu. Most people thought it was strange and mysterious, but really it was just easier to pronounce their words around their fangs that way. \"The island, Awen, is where vampires originated. We evolved probably the same way as any other creature, with our own unique differences. All vampires were 100% vampire until they started traveling. They reside mostly in Europe because Europe on it\'s own is a little strange and it\'s easier to fit in unnoticed. There\'s nothing too interesting about our history really, we tend to keep to the shadows to make it easier to survive.

\"Once vampires started breeding with humans, we began to understand how the diluted blood would affect us. Every creature, 1/8th vampire or up, needs blood once a month at the new moon, or they die. For a 1/16th vampire, they only need blood once a year. For a 1/32 vampire, the amount of vampire I have in me, on to the tiniest measurement of vampire blood, we do not need blood to survive, but if we do not feed once a month on the new moon, we suffer from terrible stomach pains, as you have witnessed. The rest of the traits of a vampire never change, no matter how diluted the blood. That is because of the strong magic in the blood. We never retain scars, except the magical type. Our hair and eyes are always dark and our skin is always pale. Our pupils can take over their irises to enable us to see in the dark and, as I\'ve already explained, we have a knack for wandless magic. On the few times it might require speech, we speak in our native tongue, Nosferatu, something very similar to Portuguese.\"

Severus paused here, smirking slightly because Harry\'s gaze had fixed on his fangs again in a fascinated, rather than disgusted, way. \"As for the fangs,\" he continued, \"feeding is not the horrendously painful experience that will turn you into a vampire that common horror stories would want you to believe. On the contrary, being a vampire is genetic, not even a vampire\'s mate picks up the requirement to feed, although they will pick up a few things if they are human. There are chemicals in a vampire\'s saliva, when our fangs are out that is, that affect the nerves in the skin so that it is actually quite pleasurable on the part of the donor when the fangs puncture the skin.\"

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Shifting so he was resting his elbows on his knees and his chin in between his hands, Harry asked, \"What kind of things do vampire\'s mates pick up? And why don\'t you have a donor? I imagine Dumbledore knows, so why can\'t he give you blood so you don\'t have to go through those pains?\" tipping his head to the side as he watched Severus, Harry wondered if he\'d asked too personal of a question. He didn\'t know much, if anything, on vampires, so he didn\'t know what not to pry into.

There\'d always been a joke going around school when he\'d been in it as a student, that Severus was a vampire. Harry had never believed it, but now, seeing the evidence with his very eyes, he didn\'t know how he could have missed it.

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\"Well,\" Severus began slowly, unnerved at how easy it was to tell Harry things no one else knew. Damn Gryffindor was too easy to trust. \"A vampire\'s mate, if they\'re a regular human, picks up several things. Perhaps I should start with how a vampire bonds with a mate. It starts with a bite that leaves each mate with a unique tattoo-like mark on their skin, magically unique to their own. Most people would probably assume they would bite their mate on the neck, but that\'s not true. The neck is just the easiest place to feed from.

\"When a vampire chooses a mate though, they bite them on their left shoulder blade. The location is really for three main reasons: It\'s easy to conceal when in untrustworthy company, it\'s near a nerve that will allow their mate to feel the bite all through their body (again this won\'t be a painful experience at all), and three, it\'s part of a tradition mocking the old belief that vampires are demons.\"

Severus sighed and looked to the floor to a moment; that was the easy, impersonal part. Looking back up at deep, green eyes he continued, \"It\'s no secret that I don\'t trust people Harry. Having a donor requires a great deal of trust on both parts. The reason vampires got such a terrible reputation is that we can make the experience very painful and even fatal when we feed. Another thing is--right before a vampire feeds; it\'s extremely weak and vulnerable. A simple hex could probably land it in the infirmary for a week; it\'s sort of the price to pay for the extra power the rest of the time. I don\'t know how Dumbledore found out since I certainly never told him. In short, I never trusted someone enough to take a donor.\"

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Harry frowned in concern and sympathy. He could understand where Severus was coming from with the whole trust issue. Of course, Harry\'s scars were insignificant to what the other man had to go through. Like they\'d talked about, him hiding his scars was more vain then actually hiding a huge secret like Severus had to.

\"I can see why you wouldn\'t trust Dumbledore all that much,\" he said quietly, looking down. \"When I was younger, he used to be my hero. He was the one who got me away from the Dursleys, even if it was for a few months at a time until summer break, but later I started really thinking about how he let me get into trouble. He supposedly knows everything that goes on in this school, if he does, then why didn\'t he stop me from doing all those things that nearly got me killed?\" he shook his head, thinking about the whole stone incident, and then later the Tournament when Cedric was murdered before his very eyes.

\"I guess in a way it helped, it made me more ready for the war, even if I was only twelve years old at the time, and it taught me that I really hate being manipulated,\" he added with a small grin, looking back up. He did feel somewhat bad about showing the other man his scars, in the hopes of getting the man to trust him and tell him the story behind the blood sausage serum, but in the end, it wasn\'t as bad as some of the things Dumbledore had done to either one of them.

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Severus nodded in understanding. \"Yes. I\'ll admit he does good things, but in an underhanded way. I know he\'s for our side, but it\'s a little unnerving when you think how similar that is to what Voldemort does, manipulate people to do his bidding. I don\'t think anyone wants to be a chess pawn in this.\" Severus paused. \"The fact that you recognize that and refuse to be manipulated is what makes you so different from the others and probably why the powers-that-be chose you to defeat Voldemort.\"

A chiming clock caught Severus\' attention and that\'s when he noticed it was getting on in the evening. \"It\'s late. I shouldn\'t be keeping you.\" Severus observed, rising and withdrawing his fangs as he did so. It made little difference to him having his fangs in or out during non-feeding times, but he generally preferred to keep them in. Looking back over at Harry, he nodded politely. \"Thank you, Harry. For not \'running away screaming\'.\"

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He smiled softly at the man standing beside the door. \"It was no problem, I assure you, but I have to thank you also for taking me out. I really appreciate it. It\'s been awhile,\" more like, \'since seventh year,\' \"since I was able to have fun like that and for once, not think about the war. Even the kiss wasn\'t that bad,\" he added, grinning. Severus chuckled and shook his head.

.

\"I\'ll see you later, Harry,\" Severus replied as he slipped out of Harry\'s quarters with one last glance over his shoulder. It was unnerving how quickly what was supposed to be a meditation session and a distraction turned into an evening out with Harry. He had never expected to find a friend in the man, but he supposed more drastic things could happen when he let go a pointless hatred he\'d harbored for no good reason. He had to admit the man was good company. For the second evening in a row, Severus ended up milling about his rooms with a smile on his lips.