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CHAPTER EIGHTY:

When Severus awoke some time later he found that they had shifted slightly, legs tangled and Harry's head resting on his right shoulder. The sight of a tousled mess of black hair resting on his chest was coming to be comfortingly familiar, but this time it brought a soft smile to Severus's lips that would have shocked his students even more than his public apology had. With a content sigh Severus moved his left hand up to stroke Harry's hair, pausing slightly at the sight of his unblemished left forearm.

Tomorrow marked ten days since the Dark Lord's – no, Voldemort's – death, and the Dark Mark had begun to fade immediately afterwards. A week later the Mark had already faded completely, leaving all Death Eaters with unmarked forearms, but the sight of smooth, unmarked skin was still something Severus wasn't used to.

"It's been over a week now, hasn't it?" Harry asked softly, his voice somewhat sleepy but alert.

"It has," Severus acknowledged just as softly, lowering his hand again to rest it on Harry's back. A thought occurred to him and he asked, "What did you do with the chain Voldemort gave you?"

Harry seemed to consider that for a moment. "Ah, that?" he asked then, clearly having forgotten about it. "It's in the pocket where Snake Face and Nagini are; I keep forgetting to destroy them."

Severus paused disbelievingly. "You still have their bodies?" he asked blankly, and thought he felt Harry grimace.

"Er, yeah. Hold on, I'll go get them." Extricating himself from their entanglement, Harry gave Severus a brief kiss and walked, completely naked, to the coat-hanger next to the door where two of his cloaks hung. "There it is," he said after some rummaging around, walking back over to Severus with a small box in his hand. Severus felt that he would find the sight of Harry walking around naked far more arousing if he didn't have the corpse of a Dark Lord in one hand.

Kneeling beside Severus in front of the fire Harry carefully slid off the lid of the box to check that the contents were still there, grimacing in distaste as he did so. "Yep, still there, and the stasis charms held," he said, grabbing his wand from where it lay to dispel the charms. "Any last words before I destroy this?" Harry asked his lover, part curiously, part humorously.

Severus quirked an eyebrow. "I cannot believe you didn't do this a week ago," he said blandly, and Harry grinned sheepishly.

"Yeah, well…" He shrugged. "Better late than never, right?" With that he tossed the closed box into the fire, both of them watching as it was slowly consumed by the flames. Only once it was completely reduced to ashes Harry sighed deeply and banished the entire contents of the fireplace, flicking new wood into the vacant space and starting a new fire.

The silence continued for a moment longer, then Harry shrugged slightly. "Well, that's dealt with," he declared, setting down his wand and sliding over to lie back down on Severus, both of their bodies reacting to the sudden skin contact. "Mmmh," Harry hummed, leaning down to kiss Severus languidly. "I could get used to this."

"I would not object," Severus replied, smoothing his hands down Harry's sides and over his hip bones, still more prominent than he would like. Nutrient potions, dutifully taken by Harry, were helping, but it was slow going. Not that Severus was one to talk – he was rather bony himself, although that was by choice and not forced rations. At least Harry was slowly putting on some healthy weight.

Deciding that it didn't matter at the moment, Severus tilted his head to kiss Harry again more demandingly.

OoOoO

"Good morning, class," Severus said as he opened the door to let his first class of the day enter the classroom. To his surprise all of the Gryffindors returned his greeting – excepting Patil and Brown who immediately began whispering to each other – though only Hermione replied with a smile. Of the Slytherins only Zabini and Draco echoed the greeting, the others appearing somewhat taken aback at the pleasantry offered in front of Gryffindors.

Once everyone had taken their usual seats Severus closed the door, doing so by hand instead of using the spell he usually did that banged the door shut. To the students' pleased surprise the room was more brightly illuminated than they were used to, which Severus knew would help them in the future when reading instructions and preparing ingredients.

"Today we will be reviewing basic brewing procedures," Severus began, crossing the room and turning to face his students with a flare of his robe, "including the reasons behind the differences in ingredient preparations, number and direction of stirs, and the timing of additions to a potion."

"Finally!" Harry exclaimed quietly, and Severus raised an eyebrow at him.

"Potter," he said simply, and the boy grinned at him.

"Sorry, Professor. But really!"

Severus snorted, feeling the tension in the classroom lighten at the humorous exchange. "Thank you for that enlightening contribution," he said drily, Harry's continued grin taking any offense out of his words. "We will begin by discussing ingredient preparation. Patil, why is the preferred preparation method of sweetroot dicing and not slicing or grinding?" He had quite deliberately chosen her as a student who rarely participated in class but tended to get acceptable grades on the exams.

Parvati blinked. "Because that way it takes longer for the pieces to release all of the moisture in them?" she answered questioningly, and Severus nodded.

"Correct. Five points to Gryffindor." All of the Gryffindors sat up straighter at that, surprise on more than one face. None of them could remember him ever giving Gryffindor points. "Greengrass, how would you prepare poppy seeds and why?"

"It depends, sir," she replied respectfully. "For most potions I would crush the poppy seeds, grinding them into powder, but for the Wit-Sharpening Potion whole poppy seeds are required."

"There are two other potions that take whole poppy seeds," Severus informed her, "the antidote to Veritaserum, and the Memory Potion. Two potions that require crushed poppy seeds are the Forgetfulness Potion and Veritaserum. Thus, what is the obvious difference between adding whole poppy seeds and adding ground poppy seeds to a potion?"

"Whole poppy seeds help strengthen the mind, while ground poppy seeds weaken it," Daphne replied, seeming just as surprised as most of the other students though she hid it better. They had never considered what individual potion ingredients did to affect a potion, only accepted that combining ingredients in a certain way, at certain times, with certain preparations, resulted in a certain potion. Severus merely nodded, seeing that the class was beginning – finally – to see what had attracted him to potions.

"Correct, Miss Greengrass. Ten points to Slytherin." Looking back over at the Gryffindor side of the room, he asked, "What is a squill bulb, how would you obtain one, and how would you prepare it for use in a potion? Mister Longbottom?"

The boy looked taken aback at being called upon, but comprehension dawned on his face. "A squill bulb comes from the Lumbargh tree, which grows only in the northern region of Scotland," the boy began softly, his voice gaining strength as he realized that his professor was nodding encouragement, "and can only be harvested once a year, on Samhain. That's the only time of the year when the bulbs emerge from within the tree, and you need an iron sickle to cut them where the bulb meets the bark of the trunk, making sure to store the bulbs in a dark container once Samhain has passed." The boy licked his lips slightly in thought before continuing, "When preparing a squill bulb for a potion you have to juice it, preferably by pressing it between two iron slabs."

Severus's eyebrows had both risen by now, and he nodded slowly. "Excellent, Mister Longbottom. Do you perchance also know which potion a squill bulb is used in?"

Longbottom blinked once, then his eyes slid down in thought. "Felix Felicis," he replied before long, and unlike Patil's answer his wasn't phrased as a question.

"Correct," Severus confirmed, impressed despite himself and letting it show slightly in his face. "I had heard about your aptitude for Herbology but confess that I had not expected such a detailed response. Have twenty points for Gryffindor."

Turning smoothly back to the Slytherin side of the classroom and ignoring the reactions of his students, particularly the stunned pride of Neville Longbottom, he continued his little question-and-answer session. It however did not escape his notice how Hermione beamed at Longbottom, nor the way the boy sat straighter for it. He thought he understood better now why Longbottom had braved the Potions Master's private quarters despite his fear of the man.