A Matter of Proportions

Epilogue

\"I must say that things did not work out as I expected,\" said Headmaster Dumbledore as he sat before his Potions Master and Gamekeeper, who stood before him impassively.

\"The new Gurg insisted that they march all night in the rain to the new camp. Several fell when they reached the edge of the precipice, then the whole bunch of them walked up to it and looked down to see what had happened. The entire cliff face crumbled beneath all that weight,\" Severus informed him.

He did not mention that Hagrid had been the New Gurg, or that it was the same cliff that the half-giant had fallen over.

Both men had thought long and hard about what to do about the giants, and oddly enough, Hagrid had come up with the idea. \"I ain\'t strong enough to survive a real challenge ter me Gurgship. It\'s us or them,\" Hagrid had said with no regret in his voice. \"I won\' let \'em have yeh, Sev\'rus.\"

\"You are suggesting that we kill them?\"

\"No, not so much. We just let \'em do what giants do.\"

\"Why, I do believe that there is hope for you, Hagrid, I will make a Slytherin of you yet,\" Severus said with a passionate kiss to his lover\'s mouth.

\"Now, there\'s no call ter insult me,\" chided Hagrid with a smile.

They had actually not had to do anything; once the giants literally stumbled over the gorge all of them had just stood at the edge and stared until the wet ground crumbled.

Severus also did not feel the need to mention to Dumbledore that before they could make a hasty exit via the portkey, they had a bit of a run in with a pair of EU wizards who it seemed were in charge of Inhuman Magical Folk disposition in that area.

It was not that they gave a tinker\'s damn about this particular group of giants, who had been causing them nothing but trouble with the local muggles for years, but they were annoyed about the mountain of paperwork that this little incident would cause.

While Hagrid had regaled the junior member of the team with stories of his beasties at home, Severus had found that the slight rearrangement of a few facts kept things in perspective for his partner.

That and a blow-job. The man had all but drooled on the Slytherin from the moment they\'d met, and Snape had to admit that it was nice to know that his legendary tongue was still up to the challenge.

\"Well, not the way that I had hoped things would end, but I suppose that we must accept what comes and move on.\" Dumbledore shrugged as if to dismiss the affair, though something about this mission was definitely off, somehow. It would seem that this was one of those times when he knew that it would probably be best to let the sleeping dragon lie. \"You two have obviously had a rough time of it. You should both take a couple of days to rest and recuperate before returning to teaching.\"

\"Thank yeh sir,\" Hagrid said with a grin as he and Severus turned to leave. Just as they exited the office and obviously thought that they were out of the Headmaster\'s sight, Dumbledore glanced up and, in the surface of a mirror, he saw the reflection of a secret. His gamekeeper placed a large rough hand on the small of Severus\' back. Dumbledore raised a bushy eyebrow, as the usually untouchable Slytherin did not protest this invasion of his personal space.

On the contrary, Severus Snape gazed up at Hagrid with adoring eyes.

It would seem that a bit more had happened out in that forest then the two were willing to tell.

Severus Snape and Rubeus Hagrid were in love? Now that was a difficult concept for him to wrap his mind around.

It was not that he was angry that Severus had obviously found satisfaction in someone else\'s bed and not his. After all, Dumbledore was not a jealous man. Though he\'d really thought that if Severus were to take a lover, besides him of course, it would have been Remus Lupin.

Oh well, perhaps there was some truth to the old adage that opposites attract. That true love conquered all, even the heart of the bitter Potions Master.

That, or Severus was just a size queen.

End