12

12: Snogging and Unforgivables (June 29, 2003 to July 3, 2003)

To Harry's great relief, Draco and Hermione had forgiven him for not owling them. When they recognized there was no way he could, since he'd been in a coma induced healing most of the holidays. Draco was especially forgiving when Harry had handed out his Christmas gifts to them. To his Slytherin mate, he had given him a special potion. That he'd brewed to help Draco with his stressed out nerves during examination time. It would relax him without making him lose focus. In addition to the difficult potion he had made, he had gotten Draco ahandy little notebook that Severus had charmed for him that would make up responses to questions that Draco wrote into it. And if it couldn't answer, it would just say: No bloody answer.

For Hermione, he had given her a special book that was like Hogwarts, A History but on Transfiguration, A History of Transfiguration Through the Ages and had also bought her a companion book, Animagus Principles. It was Severus' gift that was the most difficult for him to find. He had wanted something special for his mentor and his confidant that he'd risked going into the Forbidden Forest to pick some rare herbs that could only be found in there. When he had presented them to Severus already prepared, the Potions Master had been stunned and very angry at him for risking himself like that. Yet he couldn't help but take the ingredients with a grim smile since they were hard to gather and it did take a great deal of time that he didn't have.

Two weeks later into the spring term, Poppy finally deemed Harry healthy enough to attend classes. It took an entire frantic week of studying around the clock to catch up with his pile of work, but he'd managed to do it. The reward of doing so was well worth it for Severus and Poppy had informed him that he'd be having his first extra sessions with them this weekend. He couldn't help but be excited, which meant Draco and Hermione were giving him funny looks. It wasn't like him to be this overly enthusiastic. That was a Gryffindor trait not a Slytherin one.

"Something's up with you," Draco remarked, placing Sebastian's favorite breakfast food on his plate. "Why don't you just tell us instead of grinning like a silly loon?" Draco leaned forward, nearly brushing up against Sebastian, causing Hermione to scowl from across the table. She wasn't jealous, just annoyed at how obvious Draco was becoming when it was so apparent that it made Sebastian uncomfortable. "You know you can't hide anything from us."

Harry sighed and was highly tempted to move away from Draco. Why Draco insisted on keeping up his pursuit of him, Harry didn't know. Why couldn't Draco focus his attentions where they'd be returned, like at Hermione? He snuck a glance at Hermione and was glad that her annoyed gaze wasn't focused on him but at Draco. She was pissed at the platinum blond for him. He sighed again, though this time internally. He really was going to have to do what Severus suggested and just tell Draco he was interested in someone else. Subtle hinting wasn't working. Guess he had to be blatant.

If he was going to talk to Draco, he might as well do it now. He stood up from his seat and pointed looked at Draco. "We need to talk," Harry remarked, glancing past Draco to Hermione apologetically. "We'll see you later, all right?"

Hermione shifted her gaze from Harry to Draco and back to Harry. Harry got this distinct feeling that she knew precisely what was going on, not that she was annoyed with him just Draco. After all, he'd already made it quite clear to her that he didn't see Draco like that and Hermione was free to take Draco from him. "All right," she agreed. "We don't have any classes today, so I guess I'll see you at lunch and dinner."

Harry smiled at her gratefully and grabbed Draco's arm before he could protest, pulling him out of the Great Hall. When they reached a secluded corridor, Harry pushed Draco into one of the many secret passages and rested his head against the wall. Exactly how was he going to say this again? He hadn't the slightest clue, and he doubted Draco was going to make it easy on him. Malfoys didn't take to rejection very well, he remembered from a prior experience in his first year when he'd rejected that Draco's offer of friendship.

"You're awfully eager about something," Draco teased mercilessly, leaning up close against Sebastian's side. "So what did you want to talk to me about, Bast? Something private, I think, something that can't be said in front of other?" His eyebrow made that upward tilt like he knew exactly what the reason was for dragging him outside was. "If you want to say," he whispered sensually into his best friend's ear, "then say it."

Harry took a deep breath, steeling himself against the inevitable. "I..." he began awkwardly, "I don't like you the way that you like me. I mean," he said with desperation creeping into his voice, "I... I only see you as a friend. I'm sorry, Dray."

For a moment, Draco seemed to be too stunned at what Sebastian had been trying to say to actually let the words sink in. When he finally seemed to understand, he was too shocked to make a response. If it had been anything else besides what it was, he would have found it hilarious that the usually witty Sebastian had been so tongue tied. "How can you be sure?" Draco cried out, his hands moving to grip Sebastian's shoulders, pinning him to the wall. "How can you be so sure?"

"Because I'm attracted to someone else," Harry confessed ragged, feeling distinctively uncomfortable to be shoved up against the wall so close to Draco. "I'm sorry, Dray."

So that was it, that was why Sebastian had refused every advance of Draco's the last few weeks when he'd been trying so hard. No one had ever evaded him so well. At first, Draco had thought it was because Sebastian didn't want to put their friendship at risk. Now it made entire sense, he just wasn't interested. That stung the Malfoy pride. At this point, Draco didn't care that his best friend was trying his best not to hurt him. He wanted something, wanted to prove that he was desirable to Sebastian anyway that he could.

He crushed his lips against Sebastian's soft petals. He heard Sebastian mew against him desperately, trying to get away from him but he wasn't going to succeed. Draco was more than an equal match against Sebastian in strength, equal in height- equal in everything. He also had the advantage of a wall to assist him in keeping his conquest exactly where he wanted him. The taste of Sebastian was more tangy and spicy than he'd thought it'd be, but indelibly sweet like nectar too.

His ears picked up on a moaning; he realized it was only from himself. The blood was draining from his brain down to his groin where it was getting nicely heated from the activities taking place. He still wanted to dive deeper into the kiss when Sebastian shoved him away hard. "What the bloody hell do you think you're doing, Dray?"

It was then that Draco saw what a foolish, stupid prat he'd been. Oh, Sebastian had tasted delicious but the problem was that he'd failed to recognize that Sebastian hadn't responded to his advances. Sure his best friend was flush, who wouldn't be after a kiss like that? The noticeable lack of desire in the brilliant emerald orbs was enough confirmation to say he had failed to stir him. He really was pathetic. He didn't know if he wanted to cry or drop from the face of the Earth. Was he really that undesirable?

Unbelievably enough, he felt warm around surround him and Sebastian's soft voice reassuring him, "You are so bloody attractive, Dray, it's just I don't see you in that way. And honestly, do you really think a relationship between us will work? We aren't cut out to be lovers, Dray, but we're sodding good best mates."

His comforting voice did Draco a world of good. He didn't feel quite as hellishly bad as he had. He even managed to stop the tears that had been threatening to spill. If his father had seen him, he'd be given the trademark Malfoy glare of incompetence. Malfoys didn't cry; Malfoys didn't fail. At least he hadn't done the former with the latter combined. That'd be something he couldn't take and live down. It also helped that Sebastian sounded so pitifully sorry; he figured that it was all well that he hadn't ruined their friendship. That did mean more.

Draco managed to reign himself in control enough to draw away from Sebastian's warm hug and give his friend a rather pissed off look. "So who has got your bloody affections?" he growled out, pleased with himself that it hadn't come out weakly.

Chuckling lightly, Harry was glad that Draco wasn't going to let the rejection linger. Draco was taking it pretty darn well, he was glad. And he felt that the least he could do was to answer Draco's question. "You're not going to believe it," he began in a confiding whisper. "It's... Professor Snape."

Draco's silver eyes widened with even more shock and he backed up against the other wall. "Snape?" Draco cried out. "Bloody hell, Bast! What in the world do you see in him? Are you trying to make me feel better because you're not... the only one worse is... Weasel!"

Harry made a face that said he wasn't happy with Draco's reaction. "Thanks Dray," he muttered. "Next time I won't bother to be understanding with you."

"Merlin," Draco replied quickly, "you just took me by surprise. You really like him?" Harry nodded dejectedly. "Well," Draco remarked reflectively, "I guess I'll have to help you with snagging him. I suppose if you look past his greasy hair, he does have a rather sexy aura around him. Though, I really don't see how you can prefer him over me."

Harry laughed. "I have no idea either."

"I knew you were mental," Draco mumbled. "And I have to be best friends with a loon."

"You are in a remarkably good mood today," Severus commented when Sebastian basically skipped into his office the next morning. Severus knew for a fact that Sebastian wasn't a morning person, much like himself, but rather a night person. So he was intrigued with what had Sebastian in such good mood. "What's gotten into you?" he asked complainingly. "You know I can't stand good cheer so early in the morning."

"Draco's satisfied with just being my friend," Harry responded with a devastating grin. "He took it really well yesterday morning, sulked the entire time during the classes and was all right by night. I think he's moving on quite well. Told me he's renounced boys forevermore, especially since he's going to have to provide a Malfoy heir. He might as well start looking for someone suitable that can reproduce."

Severus raised an eyebrow but refused to comment any further for which Harry was grateful. He continued to grin when he thought of the rather interesting gleam that had lit up in Hermione's eyes last night at Draco's dramatic declaration. Hermione wasn't the only one silently cheering; quite a few other Ravenclaw girls had cast their eyes to the beautiful blond Slytherin. It'd seem that Hermione had her work cut out for her if she wanted to stake a claim in Draco.

"You didn't come dressed for the occasion," Severus said snidely, surveying Sebastian's muggle clothing with visible disdain. Inwardly, he had to admire the young man's sense of fashion flair. The clothes he'd chosen showed off his dark good looks to perfection. He wondered if that had something to do with Draco, for the Slytherin Prefect had impeccable tastes. "I'm glad you've dealt with the Draco, maybe then you won't mess up my projects."

Harry sighed; it seemed Severus wasn't in one of his better morning moods. He knew why Severus had insisted on having the Dark Arts session in the morning, the afternoon and evening were reserved for potion-making. Hopefully after lunch, Severus would be in a better mood. He didn't mind Severus being snarky, but he much preferred Severus in a more agreeable mood. It did make it more pleasant to be with him when he was hurling insults at him constantly.

"I apologize," Harry replied automatically. "But Hermione wanted me and Dray to dress like this on the weekend with her. She was tired of the Wizarding attire, I guess she somewhat misses the muggle world."

Severus snorted and threw a heavy tome at him. "Read the chapters on the Imperius and Cruciatus Curse. When you're done let me know, you still need background knowledge on the dark curses before I can begin instructing them to you. Until then, read and I'll grade some of the lackluster papers I've received."

Not given much choice, Harry opened the thick book and found that there was enough reading material to keep him busy for a few hours. So this was background knowledge? It felt like he was reading all the possible theories on Unforgivables, including the best way in which to cast them. This was more information than he wanted to know about the way he'd been tortured, but he knew that it was a good thing for him to learn. The only bad part was that there were no methods given on how to fight an Unforgivable. All the book did was go on and on about how to cast it most effectively.

But for a book this old, it was a pretty decent read. It wasn't boring despite its tendency to be so detailed to the point of almost repetitiveness. It started getting really interesting when he hit the chapter on the Avada Kedavra Curse. He'd never thought that there had to actually be so much focus was needed to cast the Killing Curse. The further he read the more he noted that if a wizard didn't have much power behind the curse, it would hurt the victim, but not kill them. Interesting. He was so enraptured that he didn't even notice how many hours had passed when he was startled by Severus touching his shoulder.

"You should have told me you were done," Severus told him, seeing that Sebastian had gone on and read much further than he had been assigned. "I was really only grading to occupy myself with something until you were through."

Harry smiled sheepishly. "I got wrapped up with what I was reading," he admitted with flushed cheeks, feeling more like his old self than he had in a long time. He'd gotten too use to be the mysterious Slytherin seeker, Sebastian Biggerstaff all the bloody time. Well, except around Severus, Draco, and Hermione- then he was more sarcastically witty than he'd use to be. He supposed hanging around such intellectual people was making his brain sharper. "It's rather interesting material."

"Indeed it is," Severus remarked dryly, quirking an eyebrow out at Sebastian's commentary. Maybe the young man did have what it took to learn the Dark Arts after all. He hadn't been sure, especially when he felt this sweet innocence oozing from the boy despite his rather caustic tongue. If Sebastian took an academic mindset to the whole thing, perhaps it wouldn't spoil his fresh naivety. In many ways, Sebastian was every bit an adult but in other ways he was still like a child. "Do you feel you're capable of performing them?"

Harry nodded his head slowly. He would like to try the theories of casting that he'd read. "I think I could, well except for the Killing Curse." He didn't know if he'd ever be ready for that, that was the curse that had killed his parents.

"I wasn't planning on having you try that one any time soon," Severus responded with wry humor. "Since you're ready, let me explain to you that you will be performing the curses on an animal that I have captured for this purpose. I don't expect you to really cause the creature any pain since you are a novice at this. Most animals can only be held under Cruciatus before being broken, but I doubt that you have enough power to do that. Your Cruciatus at this point will probably make me feel a tingle, a twinge of pain and not much else. It takes a good deal of practice."

After explaining all this to Sebastian, Severus went over to the caged animal that he had placed next to his desk. He reached down into it and withdrew a rather large rat. Severus hadn't really thought that Sebastian could hurt any creature willingly, especially if he was serious about being a mediwizard. But he figured if there was one animal that Sebastian could hurt it would have to be a rodent.

"First," Severus began, "you will try to cast the Cruciatus Curse, that is probably more difficult to get forceful than the Imperius but we'll be able to tell if you're able to cast even a weak Cruciatus while we can't with Imperius. The Cruciatus will be a good judge on how much I'll need to instruct you. For now, just go with what you read from the book and then I'll correct your technique."

Knowing his notorious luck, Harry would either get this right in a big way or fail miserably. There was usually no in between with him. Thank goodness it had to be a rat he cast the Unforgivable on. That was a lot easier, especially when he could think it was the traitorous Pettigrew. After all, from what the book had said about the Cruciatus Curse, one had to feel anger and desire to truly make the curse work.

Remembering that bit of knowledge, he decided to think of how he'd feel if he was the one that was being betrayed like his parents had been by one of their closest friends. He felt a small surge of anger that only steadily increased as he recalled his own feelings on the matter, that because of someone that should have been trustworthy- that he'd never gotten to know his parents. Pettigrew was the reason, and he was a rat. Harry pointed his wand at the traitor he'd formed in his mind and cried forcefully, "Crucio!"

Whatever Severus had been expecting, it hadn't been for the rat to start shrieking and convulsing. Nor had he really thought that Sebastian had enough of a grip on the curse to actually cause the rat to start seizures to the brink of death. Even though he knew it was useless, he muttered the counter curse, "Finite Incantatum."

No wonder Dumbledore wanted this boy on the Light side. The raw magical ability was there. Severus shivered to think what Sebastian was going to be capable of when he hit his majority. Most wizards hit it in their early 20s, but Severus knew for a fact that very powerful wizards tended to hit the threshold much earlier. Voldemort had done so at the tender age of 16, and so had Dumbledore.

The only question was when Sebastian was going to hit his. Soon, Severus wagered, if he was able to perform the Unforgivables to this degree. He'd looked up Sebastian's records a few weeks ago, when there'd been nothing for him to do with Sebastian stuck up in the hospital wing to see if he could gain anymore knowledge of the young man's past. What little information he gathered was not much more than what he already knew, the only additional bit he'd gain was that he now knew Sebastian's birthday and that he was only 16.

"Severus," Harry began in a hesitant voice, not wanting to disturb his Professor's thoughts. Yet he needed to understand what had happened, why he was feel so lightheaded and dizzy. "I need help," he whispered weakly, reaching for Severus' shoulder. His head was spinning like he'd just had his blood drained like that time when he'd helped the Voldemort in his world come back to life.

Severus caught Sebastian before he fell to the ground, performing a charm that lightened the young man's weight. He swung Sebastian lightly in his arms, careful not to jar him and began to march down the hallway to Poppy's ward. His excited nerves at seeing such power from the boy was remarkably decreased and he grew angry at himself for putting this amount of pressure on Sebastian when it was clear that he wasn't yet up to full strength yet. Severus truly wondered when Sebastian would hit majority since he'd had such a major setback.

It was a well known fact that majority could be delayed if the wizard wasn't at the prime of his health. Majority tended to be painful, even more so the stronger the wizard was. For the more magic in the body the more stress the body was put through to adjust to the changes. His own maturation had been incredibly agonizing. And his had happened at the fairly young age of 20. Most wizards hit it anywhere from 21 to 24 years of age, the weaker ones sometimes not until their late 20s.

"SEVERUS SNAPE!" Poppy exclaimed in the voice of a mediwitch that was not to be messed with. "What in the world have you done with the boy?"

"We were trying a few spells," Severus began coolly; no mediwitch was going to make him lose the terrifying mask he'd maintained since he had begun teaching. "But it seemed that Mr. Biggerstaff wasn't quite up to it and well he felt a bit dizzy. I'm sure a simple Pepper Up potion will restore him to his health."

Poppy glared at him with as much power as one of Severus' own glares, but she also fixated Sebastian with the same look. "I told you to take it easy, Mr. Biggerstaff. But to make sure that you're okay, I'm going to do an examination on you. You do realize that internal injuries to the degree that you suffered aren't to be taken lightly?" Sebastian nodded at her, properly respectful. "Come on, lie down on the bed and you, Severus, can remove yourself from my presence and brew me more potions. I'm sure your student could do with a few Pepper Up potions to help him get through his school days. Goodness knows he's been snatching enough from my personal stores."