The Friday Boy

CHAPTER 45

“How are you feeling?” Harry sat numbly staring at the flickering fireplace, quietly aware of the small group gathered in the staff lounge but hardly acknowledging their existence.

“Tired.” Harry whispered not taking his eyes off the flames of the fire to address his godfather, who’d taken up a seat beside him on the small two-seater couch. Since the decision had been made regarding Severus and Bill a week ago the order had been spurred into motion. With Bill’s counter claim on Snape, against Draco’s. The Malfoy, could be taken into the official care of Hogwart’s and thus be protected by Dumbledore while at the same time clearing Snape’s allegiance to Voldemort and without the blonde having to know anything about the Order of the Phoenix and Snape’s true alliance. Today though, was the day they broke the news of Snape’s ‘prior’ engagement to Draco.

“Final year can be tough Harry, but don’t despair. I thought we might go on Holiday to Cornwall for Christmas, give you a bit of relaxation before you sit for your finals.” Sirius smiled mildly at his godson from over the rim of his teacup and Harry managed a weak nod and smile in return as he sat back into the cushions and rested his hand gently on his churning stomach. There was a stale silence that hung between Harry and Sirius before the animagus cleared his throat and continued with his meaningless small talk. “Rumor has it you’re dating Ginny Weasley,” Sirius paused and glanced over his shoulder, where Ginny was sitting with her parents. Harry spared the young red head a look but sharply turned back to face the fire, when Ginny turned around and waved at him. Since the meeting with Dumbledore at the beginning of last week, Harry had avoided Ginny Weasley like an elf with Irish coughing measles. The guilt that ate at Harry every time he looked at the young witch made the cramp already tight in his stomach, increase in intensity. Despite his attempts at avoiding Ginny however, the young witch seemed to be everywhere. Smiling her bright bubbly grin, making doe eyes across him at the table and even sneaking kisses in the hallways between classes. Harry was beginning to feel very trapped, and very much out of his depth, especially when Ron had showed him a list Hermione and Ginny had made about wedding arrangements. “She’s a lovely young lady Harry, I can’t say I’m not happy you’ve chosen her. She’ll make a far better match than your previous experiment.” Harry closed his eyes and sighed deeply at Sirius’ words. Everyone Harry had talked to had seemed ecstatic that he and Snape had broken apart, and it felt to Harry as if the world was singing ‘I told you so’ in tenor forte.

Harry felt sick as he opened his eyes and watched Sirius put another cress and egg finger sandwich into his mouth. “What I do regret though is that he hurt you, and had I been a little more controlled would have carried out my promise to quarter him, if he should have ever have hurt you.” Harry’s gaze darkened, his patience beginning to ware thin as his godfather so flippantly referred to Harry, and Snape’s relationship like it had all been a school joke. “I did warn you though Harry, I told you he wasn’t to be trusted,” Sirius put aside his tea cup and plate, to reach over and place a comforting hand on Harry’s knee, mistaking his godson’s silence for pain. “He was doing those sorts of things at school, I didn’t have the heart to tell you. One poor Ravenclaw nearly bled to death on the bathroom floor after a session with Snape, they went to him especially because they knew he’d do it. He got off on it, on the power he had over other people’s lives.” Sirius squeezed Harry’s knee tightly as the boy shivered involuntarily with the effort it was taking to restrain himself. “and if I was Molly and Arthur,” Sirius lowered his voice so as not to be heard by the others milling around the room. “I’d be seriously concerned about Bill, because if the boy is going into this willingly he probably enjoys that sort of thing too…” Sirius trailed off and sat back in the couch and picked up his teacup again, as Ginny came striding over two pieces of cake on a plate, which she presented to Harry like she was worshiping a god.

“Hello lover boy, thought you might like some cake.” Harry consciously pulled away from Ginny as she leant over the back of the couch to try and give Harry a kiss. Ginny frowned at Harry, but the boy ignored it as Mrs. Weasley came trotting over.

“He doesn’t need cake Ginny, look at him he’s put on at least a pound since summer. They’ll kick him off the Quidditch team if he gets much bigger.” Molly Weasley’s taunt was the last straw and Harry abruptly stood up from the couch, knocking the plate of cake from Ginny’s hand to the floor and making Sirius spill his tea.

“If you’ll excuse me, I think I forgot to feed Hedwig.” Without a backward glance Harry strode from the staff room, ignoring his godfather’s calls to stay, as Dumbledore had instructed earlier. Harry though couldn’t stand it any longer, and with his stomach cramps getting worse he couldn’t put up with them any more. The door of the staff room closed behind him and Harry hurried down the great hall and out into the front foyer. Harry didn’t stop his stiff hurried steps until he reached the relative safety of the corridor leading out into the assembly courtyard. It was only then that he allowed himself to double over in pain, his teeth grinding together as he fought the waves of agony that swept through his stomach and robbed him of breath. How all of them could be so insensitive to him, so blatantly pleased he and Snape weren’t together, and so smug that they’d predicted Snape’s character so well.

He was going to vomit.

On hands and knees he crawled outside into the cooling afternoon breeze and there amongst the thorny rose bushes, and lavender divulged the meager contents of his stomach with a sputtering sickly cough.

Collapsing in an exhausted heap, Harry crudely wiped his mouth with the back of his hand as he stared up at the gray ominous clouds through the ivy trellis above him. As he sat staring miserably up at the slowly moving clouds he heard footsteps on the flagstone hallway and familiar voices echoing in the silence. Determined not to be discovered Harry pushed himself up behind a moss covered stone bench before quietly watching as the three familiar wizards stepped out into the courtyard.

“He took that remarkably well.” Harry ground his teeth together as he saw Bill Weasley sweep out onto the path, his traditional wizarding robe paired in that irritable way, with jeans and a muggle t-shirt.

“He’s not going to lie down and take this Albus, you saw his reaction as well as I did.” Severus looked tired, withdrawn and pale as he followed Bill out into the courtyard. Harry might not have taken any notice of the potion master, had the man’s hand not been firmly entwined with Bill Weasley’s.

“Indeed I did Severus, but the boy knows he has few other options. He might not be achieving protection through the means he wants to, but he’ll be protected none the less.” Harry watched carefully from his shadowed little hideaway as Snape went to begin pacing, only to find himself yanked back by Bill’s hand still firmly entwined with his own.

“Weasley! Let go of my hand.” Harry smiled with smug satisfaction as he watched Severus snap at Bill, all but prizing his hand out of the eldest Weasley’s grasp.

“You’re going to have to get used to it Sev, we’re lovers now.” Bill reluctantly relinquished his grip on Snape’s hand and folded his arms haughtily across his chest as he watched Snape circle the small courtyard in clear frustration. Harry smiled as he watched the familiar movement of his ex-lover, the glide of Snape’s strides that made the man seem to almost float beneath the swirl of his robes. Harry swallowed his pang of pain as he watched Albus reach out an arm to stop Snape mid pace.

“Bill is right Severus, the visual aspects of your relationship with Bill are as important as the verbal ones, especially around the castle. The ministry will expect to see evidence of your relationship which means behaving like partners should do, if not more so if you wish to convince everyone of your relationship.” Harry bit his lip and wiped a hurt tear from his cheek as he watched Bill approach Snape, the red head casually wrapping his arm around Snape’s waist and pressing a chaste but possessive kiss on Snape’s lips. Snape didn’t respond to the public display of affection but neither did he push the Weasley away. Harry felt completely helpless, and his chest ached as Bill laid his head on Snape’s shoulder and nuzzled his neck.

“It isn’t so hard is it Sev?” Bill crooned sarcastically as he glanced back at Albus who had been watching the scene unfold curiously.

“I believe I have to report back to the order in the staff room, I’ll leave you two alone to iron out your story for the Ministry next week.” Harry didn’t miss the silent exchange between Albus and Snape, but before Harry could work out what the message had been, the headmaster was striding away from the courtyard and disappearing through an arch on the opposite side of the garden. Harry swallowed dryly as he watched Snape finally move out of Bill’s embrace, the potion master consciously putting space between himself and his ex-student.

“I didn’t agree to this to be fawned over like a pet Weasley, and this situation by no means give you a right to treat me as such.” Snape had his back to Bill, and Harry could see clearly the etch of anger that furrowed deep into Severus’ brow as he glared at nothing. Harry bristled as he watched Bill chuckle, the Weasley swanning over to Snape to grab the man possessively about the waist, his chin coming down to rest on Snape’s shoulder.

“No, it doesn’t but you’ve got to admit you’re enjoying it aren’t you?” Harry ground his teeth together as he watched Bill lick a trail up the side of Snape’s neck, ending it at the man’s ear lobe with a friendly nip. Snape didn’t react and merely continued to glare at nothing, his dark obsidian eyes narrowing dangerously.

“I had the house elves make up the spare room in my chambers, I suggest you remove your stuff from my room. We may be forced into sharing quarters during this farce but I’ll be damned if you share my bed.” With a shrug of his shoulder Snape had brushed off Bill who was smiling smugly and shaking his head in amusement of Snape’s declaration.

“You never told Potter why you did it, did you?” Snape paused mid stride as Bill addressed him an icy bite to his voice that made Harry shiver. “It was a challenge wasn’t it, to take those Friday boy’s innocence and not teach them the lesson that your Dad taught you at the same time. They were practice weren’t they? Practice for Potter? You couldn’t break the boy-who-lived like you’ve broken so many others before him?” Harry swallowed awkwardly as he listened carefully to the conversation, once again learning more about Snape’s life from eavesdropping than he’d ever been told by the man himself. “Pain begets pain Snape, isn’t it about time you got past your Daddy’s lessons, and let someone give you pleasure?” In the blink of an eye Harry watched as Snape spun around the man lunging at Bill, and with his hand wrapped around the Weasley’s neck slammed the younger wizard into the stone pillar holding up the trellis.

“You know nothing about me Bill Weasley,” Snape’s voice was dark and foreboding, his tone icy and although barely above a whisper was so much like a growl Harry might have sworn the man was an animagus. “I know pain because my father taught me it, and yes perhaps I practiced caring intimacy with those boy’s innocence but if you accuse me of never having experienced pleasure without pain again, I’ll make sure you regret ever having been born.” Harry was stunned as Snape dropped Bill, the younger wizard managing to stay on his feet as Snape went to step away. Before Snape could move however Bill had reached out and with a strong yank on the potion masters collar had pulled Snape to his lips and was brutally ravishing the man’s mouth. Harry watched as the pair struggled for a moment before Snape kneed Bill hard in the groin making the boy double over in agony and finally release his hold on Snape’s collar and lips. Wiping his mouth with the sleeve of his robe Snape turned to leave again but before he’d reached the arch back into the castle Bill had recovered himself enough to call out after the elder wizard.

“He’s sleeping with my sister. The two of them have been fucking since you brought him back from that party. Owls have been arriving all week with wedding magazines, and I’m pretty sure it wasn’t a chameleon potion that was sitting on Ginny’s dresser last week.” Harry felt his chest constrict as the meaning of Bill’s words sank in. Forgetting how to breath Harry stared at Snape who had paused to listen to Bill in the shadow of the arch. “Admit it Snape, he doesn’t want you and probably never did. Potter’s too self-conscious of his image to have ever taken anything between you two seriously. You were a phase Snape and Harry got over it pretty quickly. It’ll never matter to me who you are, or what people will think of us. I’m making sacrifices for us Severus….”

“No Bill, your making selfish choices not sacrifices. Don’t ever confuse the two….” Snape didn’t even glance back at Bill as he disappeared back inside the castle leaving Bill to slump back against the stone pillar, his hand still cupping his injured groin. Harry didn’t know what to do as he stared at the red head. A torrent of emotions fought for dominance inside of him and Harry couldn’t decide which one to act upon. Closing his eyes Harry curled himself up into a ball behind the stone bench, and with his hands wrapped around his stomach fell quietly into exhausted darkness.

TBC>>>>>>>>>>>>>