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"I will thoroughly enjoy teaching today, Potter," Severus said with a malicious glee he wouldn't have been able to manage as little as a few minutes ago.
Harry chuckled, making him shake up and down with the motion of the chest he was resting against. Severus' potion had done its job. The shaking didn't revive his headache.
"The poor sods. You won't tell them their extra huge homework assignments and detentions are my fault, will you?"
"The first words out of my mouth at every class today will be that they are receiving detention and an extra foot of homework because Professor Potter totally exhausted me in bed last night." His words caused more quaking.
"You know that I really do appreciate what you did for me last night, right?" Harry checked, his arms tightening around him. "Will you let me show you how much tonight?"
Every morning, Harry asked him that same kind of question without fail, making it sound like it were some great gift to be graced with his company. Moved by this man on so many levels, Severus gave a nod and a soft, "Yes." He laid his own hands on top of Harry's and squeezed them between his palms and stomach.
"Did you want to go to breakfast?" Harry asked.
Another nod, and Harry was helping him up out of the bed.
"We won't have time to bathe," Harry said.
Seconds later, Severus felt the familiar tingle of a cleansing charm play across his skin.
"Thank you," Severus said, relieved by Harry's thoughtfulness. He really hadn't been sure if he'd had the energy to do it himself and he couldn't teach class smelling from sex.
Severus saw Harry wordlessly approach his wardrobe and start removing robes, trousers, and a shirt for him to wear today. Harry was moving towards his dresser, where he stored his underwear and socks as Severus made his wobbly way to the loo.
When he was done in the bathroom, he found Harry fully dressed in a blue jumper and black trousers. His own full attire was laid out and waiting for him on the bed.
Harry gave him a smile and took his own turn in the bathroom.
Feeling like a failed Transfiguration assignment, Severus slowly donned the underwear and socks Harry had left for him. He'd barely gotten them on when Harry emerged from the bath. With a mischievous smile, Harry held the shirt out for him to slip his arms into, and then helped him with the rest of his clothes. He should have felt embarrassed or self-conscious at the assistance, but somehow, Harry made it feel like just another intimacy to share. Not quite as arousing as a kiss, but in its own way, equally moving.
He'd never imagined that he'd adjust to having someone share his living space like this after so many years of solitude, but he couldn't help but think how well Harry and he worked around each other. The only experience he'd had living with someone other than his parents had been his schooldays in the dorm. There had always been an uncomfortable amount of bumping into each other while preparing for class in the mornings, but Harry and he seemed to have the same kind of natural rhythm in everything that they did in bed. They flowed around each other, rather than collided.
It was also a unique feeling to have someone around who would do small things to help him without being asked, things like laying out his clothes when he was feeling under the weather. He'd never imagined that a single person could bring so much positive change into his life in such a relatively short period, but Harry had. He'd changed his entire world around. Before, he'd been existing. Now, he was living every moment of every day. While his nights . . . they were without equal. All because of Harry Potter.
Harry Potter . . . whose subconscious seemed to recognize him as his true love.
Wondering if the Head of Slytherin could be expelled from his house for a completely Gryffindor burst of optimistic hope, he followed Harry out the door.
*~*~*
Continue to Part II
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Until Proven - Part II
"How's your head feeling?" Harry asked his lover a few days later as he entered Severus' private chambers a half hour after the daily detentions had ended. Severus had had to rewrite another dream last night.
Severus was sitting on his couch in front of a roaring fire, with a cup of tea and an empty headache draught bottle on the side table. It was rare that he ever visited Severus and didn't find him doing something: grading papers, reading, writing an article for the numerous potions journals to which he regularly contributed. To see him just sitting there before the fire, with his face so pale and drawn and those purplish rings under his eyes ate at Harry's conscience like acid.
Severus looked over at him, his thin mouth twitching upwards at the ends. "Like a quaffle when Marcus Flint was through with it. I'll be fine."
Harry crossed the sitting room and eased down onto the green couch beside Severus. He laid his right arm across the back of the couch, lightly banding his lover's shoulders.
It never ceased to thrill him when Severus would let him casually touch him like this. When he'd considered becoming involved with Severus after that first unbelievable night in the Forbidden Forest, he'd pretty much resigned himself to the fact that Snape wouldn't be a very demonstrative lover, if the man could be a lover at all. But the Severus he'd found hiding behind that standoffish exterior seemed nearly starved for touch. Severus rarely initiated casual physical contact, but he never rejected it or appeared uncomfortable with it. Tonight was no different. The moment he laid his arm across Severus' shoulders, Severus leaned his head back over it with a weary sigh, exposing the vulnerable pale line of his neck.
They stayed that way for a long while until Severus sat back up to have another sip of his milky tea.
"There was something I wanted to ask you," Severus said, turning to face him.
"Oh? What's that?" With Severus, Harry never knew from his expression whether the topic would be good or bad.
"Concerning this ridiculous holiday that will fall next week, I was wondering if -" Severus began with palpable awkwardness.
Knowing what Severus was trying to ask him, Harry softly informed, "I already have your Christmas present, but you needn't -"
"I simply wanted to confirm that we were engaging in that particular tradition," Severus stiffly answered.
Harry couldn't tell if Severus were annoyed, put upon, or relieved by his words. Taking a deep breath, he tentatively said, "There are several other traditions I'd like you to be a part of . . . if you'd like, that is?"
"What sort of traditions?" Severus questioned, sounding as though he feared he'd be asked to wear the Father Christmas outfit Poppy and Hermione were making for Hagrid.
"Well, Hermione, Ron, and I usually spend Christmas Day together. We'll be putting up a Christmas tree in their sitting room some time this week and we'll open presents around it Christmas morning. I know it's corny as hell, but . . . I'd like to be there for Christmas morning; I'd like us to be there for that – if you're willing?"
Severus' eyes shifted away from Harry's, his expression tightening from more than a headache.
Harry quickly reassured him, "You wouldn't need to do anything but be there. I just . . . I don't want to spend the day apart from you." When no rejection was immediately voiced, he added, "Both Hermione and Ron asked me to invite you. Will you come?"
Somehow, this felt like almost as important a turning point in their relationship as the night he'd gone down to the dungeons to ask Severus to continue what they'd started in the woods. Everything was so difficult with Severus in some ways. When the issue dealt with simply the two of them, they were usually fine and totally in sync, but the instant interacting with other people came up, they always hit these stumbling blocks.
Severus had been incredibly obliging so far. He'd suffered through that night out with Ron and Hermione without complaint, and several nights a week for the last two weeks, Hermione had joined them in the evenings to play SCRABBLE or simply grade papers with them. She'd also told him that she'd started stopping in to the Potions lab to see Severus during their shared free period. He had no idea what they talked about, but they seemed to be getting on fabulously.
But what he was asking tonight was a little different than those casual interactions. He was requesting that Severus join him in a tradition that he'd hitherto only shared with the two people he considered his immediate family. That Ron had caught him in his loo yesterday morning when he was showering after a night with Severus to let him know that he was welcome to bring Severus along Christmas morning had meant the world to him.
Harry also knew that Severus was solitary in nature, if not downright antisocial. He appreciated how much he was asking of the man. He was trying very hard not to let too much ride on Severus' response, but . . . he didn't really know if he was prepared for a refusal. Severus was filling so many empty places in his world that it was hard for him to remember to grant his lover the space that Severus sometimes needed. Every single day, Severus did something that made Harry love him more, and just as consistently, they would hit these trouble spots that had the potential for blowing everything they'd found to smithereens.
Harry loved a man who couldn't tell him he loved him back, a man who was so emotionally damaged that he couldn't conceive of someone liking him for who and what he was, rather than simply using him. Sometimes he felt like there was no chance for them to ever be happy together, but each and every time he'd hit that low spot, Severus would do something that would demonstrate how much he cared for him, how it was about more than just the sex for him, too. Even so, Harry knew that what he was asking here was a lot for this reserved loner.
When no answer seemed forthcoming, Harry nervously prodded, "Will you come?"
Severus met his gaze again, his tongue giving his lips a nervous swipe before hesitantly answering, "If you wish it."
Relief rushed through him. "Thanks. That's . . . that's brilliant."
"Let's withhold judgment on that, shall we?" Severus requested in an urbane tone, and then questioned, "You said traditions, plural. What else were you considering?"
"On Boxing Day I usually go with Ron and Hermione for dinner to the Burrow, Molly and Arthur Weasley's home. Everyone's there. It's wonderful." Realizing that Severus might be uneasy about his reception, Harry assured, "I owled Molly this week and asked if I could bring you. She said you were always welcome at her table."
"You told Molly Weasley that we were involved?" Severus didn't quite yelp.
