Harry Potter and the Night of Hooch

Title: Harry Potter and the Night of Hooch
Author: LadyBrannon
Rating: R (for Language and Suggestive Situations)
Pairing: Harry/Severus
Disclaimer: I do not have any rights to the HP Dynasty. I am not making money from this story. I did, however, have a lot of fun writing it!
Feedback: ladybrannonofraleigh@yahoo.com
Beta(s): Alinora, DementedlyIronic, and Ataraxis.
Archive: Part of the From Dusk till Dawn Severus Snape/Harry Potter Fuh-Q-Fest at http://www.kardasi.com/HPSS/storyindex.htm
Challenge: 39. Hogwarts staff. Spiked punch. Drinking game. (Quoth the Raven)


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Harry Potter returned to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry several years after he completed his schooling.

After leaving there, he had used the first year to defeat the Dark Lord, Voldemort, and the next four years to travel the world to try to and forget the horrors of war and what they could do to a man.

In his travels, he had spent time all over Europe. He had visited Paris; sitting in little cafes, drinking coffee, while watching strugg pai painters. He had visited Italy and taken in all of its glory. He had enjoyed the flair of the Renaissance, which was still visible after hundreds of years and no small amount of turmoil, having seen its own ravages of wars that time and man could not forget.

He then moved on after that to Africa. There he removed himself from society for a while and communed with nature. Nature is a beast. And, for a while, so was Harry. He learned about himself. He be a e a man.

Next, he spent time in Australia and enjoyed all that the vast land had to offer, from the huge waves along its shores to the rugged outback. Harry was there and experienced all he could. In the Americas, he did more of the same. He lived, learned, and found more of himself.

He had grown physically and mentally from his journeys. He was now much taller- 5’ 11\" – and his shoulders had filled out. His hair was still raven, but had lost the perpetual messy look. It was now a bit longer and dusted his shoulders. He was still thin, but his body had become lean and lithe, not overly skinny anymore. His eyes were still an incredible green, but now held a light of experience that hadn’t been there when he had attended school. Of course, part of it may have been due to the fact that his eyes were no longer hidden behind specs.

At Headmaster Dumbledore’s request, Harry had returned to teach Potions as Severus had finally been given his dream job, teaching Defense against the Dark Arts. And, as expected, Severus Snape was irate about Potter replacing him as the Potions Professor, despite the fact that Harry had invented, created, and utilized a new potion to vanquish Lord Voldemort.

Therefore, no one was surprised that when Harry returned, the previous enmity between the two reached an all time high. While the teachers spent the summer preparing; meals, meetings and exchanges in the hallway were noted with grunts, sneers, snarks, and exchanges of nasty name calling between the former potions professor and the current.

\"Bastard!\"

\"Glory seeking twit…\"

\"Greasy git…\"

\"Son of an idiot…\"

\"Pain in the arse…\"

\"The whole arse…\"

On and on it went, for weeks on end…months.

The Saturday night before the students arrived, Dumbledore decided to throw a staff party. Ron and Hermione arrived that evening to wish Harry good luck on his new job and to spend some time with him. They arrived just before dinner to resume their positions as Professors of Arithmancy (Hermione) and Divination (Ron).

Harry, Hermione and Ron sat at the Gryffindor table to reminiscence about old times. They had already begun eating when Severus Snape entered the Great Hall for dinner. As he approached the trio, he gave them a patented death glare and swept on; his robes billowing all the while.

\"Still a git, Harry,\" Ron said, his mouth partially full.

\"Honestly, Ron, Molly taught you better manners. Besides, we all know what Snape went through during the war. Leave him be.\"

Ron’s only response was to roll his eyes. Ron and Hermione, after experiencing a nasty battle during the war, had decided to forego a long engagement and got married on a whim. Dumbledore had married them in wizarding fashion two days afterwards and, for Hermione’s parents, they had a civil ceremony two days after that. Since that time, they had settled into a peaceful, loving marriage.

They had one child, a girl, Erin Marie Weasley. She was three years old and a Weasley in looks. She had bright red hair and freckles dusted across her nose. She was also Harry’s goddaughter. Erin was currently visiting with her paternal grandparents to give her parents time with Harry.

\"Yum! Haven’t had a meal this good in ages!\" Ron exclaimed.

Hermione huffed and folded her arms over her chest.

\"Honestly, Ron, it is amazing that Hermione hasn’t hexed you six ways to Friday,\" Harry said with laughter in his voice. \"You really know how to put that huge foot in your mouth.\"

Ron stuck his tongue out at Harry.

\"Hey, Harry! I meant to tell you! I asked Dumbledore if we could stay in Gryffindor Tower tonight, and he said it would be all right. Ready to head on up?\"

\"Hermione, did you know anything about this?\"

Hermione gave Harry a big smile and nodded her head.

Harry smiled back and said, \"Sure. Let’s go.\"

The trio got up and went to their old Common Room.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Severus Snape sat and watched the Gryffindor trio leave with a hint of sadness. He had never had anything approaching that in his life —a deep friendship that could withstand anything.

Severus Snape, after the war, had become even more of an introvert after the war. Now that he was no longer a Death Eater in society’s eyes, one would have thought he would have found freedom. Unfortunately for Severus Snape, life was never to be easy.

During the war, he had discovered that he had feelings for the Golden Boy of the Wizards, known as Harry Potter. For years, the young twit had been a repetitive stabbing pain in his arse. Then, during a battle in Hogsmeade, Severus had been hurt by a stray numbing curse. He had lost feeling in his entire left side and was unable to support himself back to Hogwarts…back to safety. He had fallen to the ground and accepted his fate. With his eyes closed, he had waited for death to approach.

But before death had come, Harry Potter had arrived. He had pulled Severus to his feet, wrapped an arm around him and supported him all the way back to Hogwarts, all the while dodging curses that came their way. Harry had held Severus up with his right arm; therefore, he was incapable of retaliating. Severus had raised his wand and began uttering several curses in all directions. He had heard several outraged cries, but he’d quickly lost consciousness as the numbing hex had faded and pain flooded his body.

They somehow made it to Hogwarts’ infirmary. Severus woke several days later to the memory of Harry Potter saving his life. At first, he had been furious— furious that another Potter had saved his life. But, after pondering the two situations at great lengthle lle lying in the infirmary, he realized that they weren’t related at all.

The first Potter, James, had saved him to keep his friends out of trouble, nothing more and nothing less.

Harry, however, had not been keeping anyone out of trouble. He had just saved Severus’ life. Harry Potter was not like his father. He did it because it was the right thing to do, not out of some misguided loyalty to friends.

And that was when Severus Snape changed his feelings toward Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived.

From that point on, he watched Harry. He had been there when Harry administered his ingenious potion to Voldemort. He had listened to stories that Harry had sent Albus and Minerva during his travels. Still, he watched him; his feelings continued to change and grow. It began with respect, had grown into attraction, and was now a flaming passion.

His feelings may have changed, but Severus knew he would always be a snarky, surly, suspicious man, which is why he got up from his seat and clandestinely followed the trio to Gryffindor Tower.

Nothing would ever change Severus Snape’s biting personality, but Harry Potter was his one weakness, not that he would ever let the brat know.

Everyone on staff knew that Severus would never attend a staff party, so he would not be missed. Therefore, Severus settled into his hidden position inside the common room to watch and spy on the object of his affection from afar.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Ron could not hide his delight at being in the Gryffindor common room again. Hermione was right behind him and quickly bounced down into what had been her favorite chair when during school.

\"So, what’s the surprise?\" Harry eagerly asked.

\"This!\" Ron said as he Accio’d a small black bag and withdrew a bottle of Ogden’s Old Fire whiskey.

\"Fire whiskey?\"

Before the bottle could be opened, Albus interrupted with some of the staff, sans Snape, \"We decided to move the staff party here. May we join you?\" Not waiting for an answer, he continued on, \"And I must insist that we not drink Fire whiskey, Mr. Weasley. Let\'s try this party punch I found when I ventured briefly into the Muggle world during one of their world wars. It is called \'Hooch.\' It is really quite tasty.\"

\"Very well,\" Ron answered. \"Let’s play the game we used to play when we were seventh years! You know- 101 things that Snape would never do!\"

\"Is that appropriate, Mr. Weasley?\" Professor McGonagall asked.

\"Well,\" said Susan Bones, the Herbology professor, \"You can’t bother to show up; you might get talked about. Explain the rules!\"

Hermione giggled. \"Same rules apply as before. You drink. You make statements. I wave my wand. At the end of the night, it is the man with the best statement. My decision is final! Drink up!\"

Harry smiled. \"Who goes first?\"

\"You do, mate!\" Ron answered seriously. \"It’s for you to have a good time, remember the old times…well, this party is for you to have a good time and to get pissed!\"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Severus Snape jumped when he heard his name. 101 things that Snape would never do? As a drinking game? What in the world is this? And how dare his colleagues make fun of him…

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Harry Potter took his first shot of hooch, closed his eyes, and leaned back in the chair by the fire. His eyes were closed.

\"Severus Snape would never learn the Hula.\"

Ron sniggered. Hermione retrieved her wand; she was the charm’s expert for the game, so she made the statements happen rather than participate. She waved her wand, muttered an incantation, and suddenly an image of Severus Snape was clothed in a coconut bra, a neon pink sarong, and a white flower in his greasy hair appeared. His arms moved waist high and the slowly began moving in a wave, while his hips b gen gently thrusting back and forth.

\"Merlin, Harry, that was more than I ever needed to know about Snape. Ugh!\" Ron said, as he grabbed the drink from Harry’s hand.

Minerva McGonagall and Susan Bones, on the other hand, were holding each other up from laughing so hard.

Harry, on the other hand, was incredibly aroused. He was taking in those luscious hips gently swaying back and forth. Severus’ hands deftly moving up and down and side to side.

Harry adjusted himself in his seat and concentrated on the fact that the image of Severus was now gone. He also needed to keep his mind clear. Merlin only knew what would happen if Hermione, Ron, or the rest of the staff learned of his lust for the greasy git...the absolutely sexy, but greasy git. At least, Harry thought he was greasy; however, since he had never had the courage to actually touch the man, it was still just a hypothesis.

Harry was pulled from his musings by an image of Severus walking around the common room doing the funky chicken, something that Ron had learned after he and Harry had met up for a baseball game earlier in the year.

Hermione was practically on the floor she was laughing so hard at watching the image of Severus squat walking around the room, clucking madly.

As the image dissipated, Ron gave the drink to Susan. She took a swig, wiped her mouth with her sleeve, and thought for a moment.

\"Snape would never skip through a field of daisies.\" She said with a knowing smirk.

Hermione gave her wand a flourish and Hogwarts’ ex-potion master was skipping through a field of daisies like a child, his robes billowing behind him…in a non-menacing way of course.

Even Harry was laughing at this child-like image of Snape. Of course, while Ron and Hermione were laughing at the absurdity of the image, Harry was laughing at the thought of a child of his and Severus’ running through a field like this.

Ron gave one last guffaw before the image disappeared.

Harry handed the bottle to McGonagall. She took the punch and a hearty swig.

\"Snape would never bow down and kiss my left foot!\" she said, laughing the whole time.

Hermione, who gave a snort, waved her wand again. This time, Severus Snape was sitting on the floor in front of Ron. He picked up Minerva’s left foot and began giving it loud, smacking kisses.

Hermione, this time, did fall out of her chair laughing.

Harry was actually glad for the change in thought. This was the most un-erotic image of the night. Ugh! Unless of course, Severus was kissing his foot, licking his foot, and sucking on his foot. Harry felt a stab of desire flare in his belly. Oh Merlin, he was aroused again. He moaned.

\"Harry?\"

\"Hmmm…\"

\"Harry? Harry, where are you, mate?\"

\"Sorry, lost in my thoughts!\"

\"Must have been some interesting thoughts, want to share?\" Ron asked, raising his eyebrows suggestively.

\"Umm- no. I don’t think I will. So, where were we?\"

\"Your turn,\" Ron said, handing Harry the bottle.

Harry took the container and dropped his head back. He took a swallow and set the punch on the arm of the chair. He looked pensive for a minute then said, \"Snape would never sing Mary Had a Little Lamb while wearing a Little Bo Peep outfit.\"

\"What’s that?\" Ron asked.

\"Watch, Ron,\" Hermione said, as she waved her wand.

An image of Severus Snape appeared in a white frilly dress, a white shepherd’s staff, and white leggings. His voice, a sweet baritone, was singing Mary Had a Little Lamb.

Harry found himself squirming again. Maybe this game wasn’t fun in the same way anymore…, especially when you were secretly in love with said person and your friends didn’t know. He was staying perpetually hard and was trying to keep it hidden. Not fun, not fun at all.

Harry handed the glass to Ron. Ron took a major swallow, wiped his mouth with his sleeve, and said, \"Snape would never wear pink robes, a pink hat, and carry a pink purse.\"

Hermione flicked her wand. An image of Severus Snape appeared again. This time the image was dressed in pastel pink robes, a large pink hat with a feather, and a shiny pink purse.

Even Harry had to snort in laughter at the sight before him. Minerva, however, was rolling on the floor laughing.

\"Here, Bones,\" Ron said, as he handed her the alcohol, \"Your turn.\"

Susan accepted the liquid, took another drink, and said, \"Snape would never wear a bikini.\"

Hermione swished and flicked her wand.

Harry almost fell out of his chair. The image before him was enough to send him over the edge. There was the man of his dreams wearing a very revealing thong bikini. The bikini complimented Severus’ rather sallow complexion. It was crème in color and sat very well on his chest and hips. Harry did fall out of his chair when the image did a catwalk spin and Harry saw that nice, firm arse.

\"Harry,\" Hermione exclaimed, \"Are you all right?\"

\"Yes. Yes, of course. I just slipped from laughing so hard.\"

\"You weren’t laughing, Harry,\" Ron sagely said.

\"Of course, I was.\"

\"Ummm- Harry, is there something you’d like to tell us?\" Hermione inquired.

\"No, why?\"

\"Nothing,\" she responded.

\"Okay. Minerva, it’s your turn.\" Harry said.

Minerva gave Harry an odd smile and threw back a large swallow of the punch. Her face was taken with an evil smirk.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Severus Snape was in shock. There was actually a drinking game about things the students thought he wouldn’t do! And NOW his colleagues were playing! Merlin’s Balls! He didn’t know if he was more horrified or embarrassed…and were he not currently hiding while watching Harry Potter, he would nip this in the bud immediately. As it was, he was feeling completely humiliated. It just confirmed that Harry Potter would never feel anything for him but displeasure. This would probably be the last time that he did thie nee needed to return to his dungeons and finish his life as he had lived it thus far…alone.

He took another deep breath and prepared himself for the rest of the evening. It was going to be a long one, no doubt.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

McGonagall smirked and said, \"Snape would never kiss Harry Potter!\"

Harry felt all the blood leave his face. Hermione with a smirk bigger than Minerva’s, waved her wand and an image of the imposing potions professor was barreling down on Harry. When the image reached Harry, it leaned menacingly over, grabbed Harry’s chin and pulled him close. The image gently nipped at Harry’s bottom lip. Harry, caught in a fantasy, moaned and slightly opened his mouth. The image of Severus took advantage and slid his tongue into Harry’s mouth. Harry felt that he was about to implode with desire.

Harry returned to the real world at a discreet cough. The image had long gone and Hermione and Ron were staring at him. Harry felt his face become red.

\"I thought you had nothing to tell us, Harry,\" Hermione said in her know it all voice.

\"Ummm,\" he elegantly responded.

\"Harry, mate, you have a thing for Snape, don’t you?\" Ron said.

\"Ummm- what?\" Harry dumbly asked, his voice becoming hi.
.

\"Harry, we know,\" Hermione said in a matter of fact tone, \"We know that you have feelings for Snape. We know that those feelings are not platonic. We know that you have had them for quite a while…since the war, we believe. And we think that you need to tell him.\"

\"Ummm…\"

\"Harry, we want you to be happy,\" Ron said while smiling at Harry.

\"Happy?\"

\"Yes, Harry, we want you to be happy. We want you to tell Snape. Tell him that you love him.\" Minerva said in a motherly voice.

\"I can’t.\"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Severus Snape was in shock. Harry Potter was in love with him! Him! The mean, horrible nasty git…he was stuck between revealing himself and kissing Harry senseless or sitting still to listen to the rest of theversversation.

He continued to sit.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

\"Why can’t you, Harry?\" Hermione asked.

Harry snorted in disbelief. \"Hermione, come on. You are hardly thick. That man hates me…HATES ME! He calls me names. He treats me horribly. Why in Merlin’s name would I tell him that I love him? That would just give him more ammunition to attack me!\"

\"Harry, you don’t know until you tell him. Honestly, look how you treat the man and you don’t hate him!\" Hermione said with a hint of exasperation in her voice.

Harry Potter’s mouth dropped. Maybe Hermione was right. Was it possible? Could Severus Snape have feelings for him? If only…

\"Harry? You all right, mate?\" Ron asked the flabbergasted looking Harry.

\"Yeah, just a shock to hear it put that way, you know.\"

\"Imagine watching it.\" Ron countered back, while Hermione smirked.

\"So what should I do?\" Harry asked, his face revealing his inner dilemma of what to do about one Severus Snape.

Susan Bones rolled her eyes and spoke very slowly, \"Go to him, Harry, now and tell him how you feel!\"

\"You’re right,\" Harry said as he stood and headed out the door.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Severus Snape was, for the first time in his life, dumbfounded and seriously pissed off. Here he was stuck in the Gryffindor Common Room while Harry was running to the dungeons to tell him that he loved him. What ha don done in a former life to piss off the Magical gods so completely?

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Hermione walked over to Ron and sat down on his lap.

\"Should we put part B of the plan into action?\"

\"Yep,\" Ron said, \"I might not like the greasy git, but our Harry does! Here, put some more of Dumbledore’s special brew into the hooch. I just hope we don’t regret it in the morning….\"

\"Professor Snape, you can come out from your hiding place!\" Hermione said to the hidden man.

<>

Severus Snape froze at the sound of his name. Surely they did not know he was here.

\"Professor Snape, we know you’re here. Please come out,\" said Ron.

Severus got up from his hiding place and walked over to Hermione Granger-Weasley, Ron Weasley, Minerva McGonagall, Susan Bones, and, an unusually quiet, Albus Dumbledore.

\"Sir,\" Hermione began, \"We know how you feel about Harry and we want you to know that we support it.\"

Severus gave Hermione one of his patented death glares, but it did not hold any real malice and everyone in the room knew it. Hermione met Severus’ glare and for the first time, Severus was the first to look away.

Eventually Severus sighed and nodded to them, \"What do you want me to do?\"

\"Here’s the plan,\" and Hermione proceeded to tell Severus everything.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Harry Potter kept taking deep breaths as he walked down the cool, dank corridors of Hogwarts’ dungeons. His stomach was clenched tight in apprehension, but he was determined to finally know if having Severus in his life was even a possibility in his life.

He arrived at the portrait of Morgana the Sorceress the protector of Snape’s rooms and asked if Professor Snape was home.

The red-haired woman gave Harry a dimpled smile and said, \"I’m sorry, Professor Snape is currently not here. Would you like to leave a message?\"

\"No, no, I don’t think I will. Thanks though.\" Harry said.

Harry walked back to the Gryffindor common room trying to keep defeat from setting into his heart. After all, he hadn’t spoken to Severus, maybe he was working in some private laboratory. Or maybe he was out on a date. Harry sighed. Had he waited too long? Had he even had a chance?

The deluge of questions was still bombarding Harry’s thoughts when he arrived back to the common room.

\"You’re back already?\" Ron asked.

\"Yeah, he wasn’t in,\" Harry informed them as he dropped into a chair and sighed.

\"Well, you can try again tomorrow,\" Hermione said, \"Until then, let’s continue the game.\"

\"Mmmm- not sure I feel up to it, guys,\" Harry said.

\"Yes, you do. If you go to bed right now and you’ll fret about Professor Snape all night. Keep your mind occupied and you won’t. So, whose turn is it?\" said Ron.

Harry huffed and agreed.

\"Why don’t you continue, Harry,\" Hermione said as she handed Harry the punch.

Harry, thinking it might be a good idea to forget about his feelings for the rest of the evening, took a whopper of a drink.

\"Snape would never be caught licking a tootsie roll lollipop to see how many licks it takes to get to the center.\"

Hermione flicked her wand and the image of Severus Snape appeared with a tootsie roll lollipop. The image removed the wrapper and began licking the lollipop.

Harry, mesmerized by the scene in front of him, was wondering what in the hell he had been thinking. He was on fire at the image of Severus’ tongue flicking out and licking the hard candy. Harry knew his face was flushed by Hermione’s knowing grin.

A while later, the image of Severus stopped and said, \"568 licks.\"

Harry knew he would never last that long to the center of his tootsie pop.

\"Can I have the container, Harry?\"

\"Huh? Oh, yeah…\" he said as he handed Ron the bottle.

\"And what were you thinking about, Mr. Potter,\" Hermione said with laughter in her voice.

\"N-n-nothing…\" Harry stammered.

\"Sure…nothing,\" Hermione smirked back.

Ron took a long sip and said, \"Snape would never make Harry a Valentine’s day poem.\"

Hermione did her magic and the image once again appeared.

The image cleared his throat, unrolled a parchment and said, \"Roses are Red. Violets are Blue. Harry, my love, this poem is for you! Thank you! Thank you!\" The image bowed several times before disappearing into thin air.

Harry snorted, \"I thought I was supposed to be forgetting about my feelings for the evening…\"

\"Yes,\" Ron said, \"You are supposed to be forgetting, so here, have another drink.\"

Susan took a drink and said, \"Snape would never dance the waltz with Harry.\"

Hermione conjured the image of Snape and Harry waited excitedly it it to come and dance with him.

The image offered a hand to him and he accepted. They walked to the center of the rugged floor and waited for the music to begin. The Snape image put one hand on his waist and, with the other hand, held one of his hands. Harry took his free hand and wrapped it around the image’s neck. With the image of Severus leading, they moved around the room, eyes locked on one another. Time, for Harry, seemed to stop as he moved with the man before him, and he was extremely disappointed when the music ended and the image went away.

Harry plopped back into his chair as Minerva took another swallow of the punch.

\"Snape would never return Harry’s feelings.\"

Harry couldn’t believe that his friends could be so cruel. Hermione and Ron were snuggling together snickering as if this was the funniest thing to grace the Earth.

Harry never noticed Severus Snape walking up behind him. Snape leaned over to whisper in his seductively in his ear, \"I want you too, Harry Potter. I was delighted to learn of your feelings.\" Severus gave Harry’s ear a lingering lick and stood back waiting for Harry to give him a winsome smile that lit those gorgeous, green eyes, but it never came.

Harry jumped from his seat and turned to all of his friends…and Severus. His eyes were unnaturally glistening because of unshed tears.

\"How sick are you all? I thought you were my friends. Tell him, you said. Tell him! I’m glad I didn’t. I open up to you and this is how you treat me? You throw my feelings back at me during a stupid game? One can only imagine what he would have done! Fuck you and fuck him,\" he said a ran ran out of the room.

\"Harry, wait…\" Severus yelled as he attempted to follow Harry out of the room, but the Fat Lady, having heard the whole thing and a deep fondness for Harry, decided not to let them through…not even Dumbledore.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Harry ran as if the Hounds of Hell were after him. He had no rhyme or reason to his direction except to get away. He ran and ran until his lungs were literally burning. He stopped and continued trying to breathe with shallow breaths. He bent over; his hands on his knees and his chest savagely gasping for air.

He quickly surmised that he was out in one of the surrounding rose gardens. He walked to the nearest bench and sat down. His mind was numb. There was no crying. There was no self- pity. It was just him and his numbness. He was not sure how long he sat there, but it was long enough to note the shadows changing due to the moon moving in the sky.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

\"Well, I don’t think Harry recognized that it was you, Severus,\" Susan said.

\"Really,\" he sneered back at her, \"Whatever gave you that idea? Was it the hurtful tirade, the tears in his eyes, or the way he left that made you think that?\" It was also followed by a muttering that sounded suspiciously like ‘ignorant bint,’ but…

\"Severus,\" Dumbledore stepped in, \"Let’s worry focus on Harry, okay? You need to find that young man….\"

\"Yes, I do,\" he quietly agreed. He walked to the common room and, for the first time in his life, begged.

It took a while, it took him on his knees, but he eventually was released and he ran down the echoing halls of Hogwarts searching for Harry.

About an hour later, he found Harry sitting on a stone bench. His tears made visible by the moonlight.

\"Harry…\" Severus began, but stopped when he saw that the young man had not seen or heard him arrive.

Harry started. He attempted to covertly and hastily wipe his tears and stood up. \"Good evening, Professor Snape. Lovely night isn’t it? Couldn’t sleep, so I thought I’d sit out here for a while. I’d best be heading off to bed.\" Harry put his hands in his pocket and began walking by Severus.

Before he got very far, Severus reached out and grabbed his arm to stop him.

\"Harry?\"

\"Yes?\"

\"It was me.\"

\"Excuse me?\"

\"In the Gryffindor common room. That was me.\"

\"Oh- umm. Well, see –umm- it –umm-\"

\"Elegant as ever, Potter. Now get over here.\"

\"Get over here?\"

\"Yes, get over here, you idiot. I want to kiss you senseless.\"

Harry grinned. \"Oh, well, I think I’d like that, Professor Snape!\"

Severus growled as he pulled Harry into his arms. \"Don’t call me that! It makes me feel like a dirty, old man!\"

\"But I like dirty, old men, especially those with long noses, dark long hair, and tall slender bodies.\"

\"Well then, I am your man,\" Severus assured.

\"I hope so,\" Harry retorted.

\"I am.\"