21

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE:

Severus woke feeling warmer than he had in many years, and with a content sigh he borrowed deeper into the warmth. Then he realized that he wasn't alone in his bed, and that the warmth was the heat of another man's body. Severus froze, trying to remember…

"It's just me," came a soft voice, and Severus relaxed slightly when he identified the voice as Harry's. Opening his eyes, he met the green gaze of his bed partner, and was left breathless by the warmth in the other man's gaze.

"You're so cute when you sleep," Harry reached out to gently smooth some of his hair out of his face, and while Severus felt a strange warmth at the words he scowled and informed the man that he was most certainly not 'cute'. Harry just laughed. "Of course not; Slytherins don't do 'cute'."

Something in Harry's smile let him know that he was remembering another Slytherin, and Severus searched the younger man's eyes as he asked softly, "Greengrass?"

Harry simply smiled in confirmation, and Severus felt a pang at the sadness in that smile. "Don't worry," Harry said, reaching out again to touch Severus's cheek. "She'll never be mine again. Hopefully Harry will end up with her, but only time will tell." At Severus's questioning look he smiled wryly. "Yes, I miss her – but I lost her a long time ago. It hurts, knowing that she's here and yet isn't the Daphne I loved – and there's both a sense of sadness and satisfaction that she never will be. And even if she decided one day that she wants me, I wouldn't go back to her – I'm yours now, and I would never cheat on a partner," he said earnestly.

"It would not be cheating if you left me for her," Severus felt obliged to point out, though Harry's words had soothed a fear he had – for Regulus had thought nothing of taking others into his bed, and Severus had feared that Harry would be the same.

"True," Harry chuckled, "but I have absolutely no intention of leaving you." With that he pressed closer to Severus, giving the Potions Master a deep kiss that Severus eagerly returned. He could already feel himself responding to the hard planes of Harry's body pressed up against his when he suddenly realized something, tearing his mouth away from Harry's to ask, "What time is it?"

Harry blinked, then checked his watch. "It's about three thirty," he replied, and Severus buried his face into the pillow with a groan.

"Fucking hell," he cursed. "I missed my class."

Harry burst out laughing. "Just tell them," he gasped through his laughter, "that you missed the class because you were buggering Harry Potter!"

Severus gave him a distinctly unimpressed look, though laughter lurked behind it. "Even though the class I missed was that of Harry Potter?" Harry just laughed harder, and Severus reluctantly untangled himself from the other man and rose.

"There is a half hour of class left; I will go make my excuses. My following class doesn't begin until four pm..." he trailed off, and to his gratification Harry replied, "I'll be here waiting, then," with a smile. Severus nodded, refusing to blush as he pulled on his robes, and left. He could hear Harry's chuckles behind him, and did have to admit that it was funny that the first time he missed a class without notice was to fuck the Golden Boy.

Striding down the hall, he entered his Potions classroom and was somewhat surprised to find his entire class there. "I apologize for the delay; I was detained," he said curtly when they all looked up at his entrance. Some of them were studying, some gossiping and some doing homework for another class, but he was thankful to see that none of them had decided to brew without him present. "Today we would have brewed the Blood-replenishing potion," he said smoothly, moving to stand behind his desk, "but as there is not enough time left in this lesson I am assigning you an essay of at least two feet. There will be an extra period tomorrow evening at seven pm for those who wish to brew it." The look he gave them made it clear that he expected them all to show up. "Dismissed." Not waiting to see the students out the door, Severus turned on his heel and left, heading directly for his quarters. He intended to make the most of the twenty minutes he had left before his next class.

OoOoO

"Wonder what kept him?" Ron mused as he stuffed his notes into his bag. Hermione looked pensive.

"It's not like him not to leave a note," she said slowly, "so it must have been something very short-notice..."

"Think it involved Dumbledore?" The three grabbed their bags and trailed behind the other students. Harry made a strangled noise at Ron's suggestion, and the two others turned to him with questioning looks.

"I really hope it didn't involve Dumbledore," he said, and his face was unusually pale.

Hermione and Ron exchanged a clueless look. "What is it, mate?" Ron asked eventually.

"When Snape walked in..." Harry flushed suddenly. "Well... He smelled like..."

"Yes?" Hermione asked impatiently. "What did he smell like?" And why did you notice the way Professor Snape smells? she wondered.

Harry shot Ron a pleading look, and suddenly the other boy paled. "Oh." he said. "Oh."

"Oh WHAT?" Hermione demanded, frustrated, scowling when the two boys traded helpless looks.

"Well..." Ron temporized, and Harry finally just blurted it out, recognizing that Hermione was nearing the end of her patience. "He smelled like sex."

Hermione gaped at him, and both boys studiously averted their eyes, suddenly finding the walls and floor very interesting. "And how do you know what sex smells like?" she asked in a somewhat strangled voice, and both Ron and Harry blushed bright red.

"Well, not sex, really," Ron mumbled so lowly that she almost didn't catch it, and she looked to Harry for clarification. He blushed even harder, if that was even possible.

"Uh, well..." he looked everywhere but at her as he said, "All guys... well, they... we masturbate," he managed to say, and then it was Hermione's turn to blush.

"Oh," she said faintly. "And Professor Snape..?"

Ron cleared his throat awkwardly. "Let's talk about something else," he said, and Harry nodded enthusiastically.

"Er... so, how are those Chudley Cannons doing?" he asked, and even Hermione accepted the new topic with relief.