Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

A Marriage of Convenience	By : NinaSweets Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Snape Views: 158860 -:- Recommendations : 5 -:- Currently Reading : 44
Disclaimer: Harry Potter characters and places all belong to JK Rowling this is a not for profit story.

Chapter List
- 9
- 10
- 11
Thanks for the reviews guys and answering my questions. I confused a few of you with the marshmallow thing, marshmallows are what we Veronica Mars fans call ourselves so with the release of the movie I was very excited to talk to my fellow marshmallows about it. Also most of you were pretty accurate in guessing my age; I’m a very odd 21-year-old and thanks for the music recommendations, I checked a few of them out so thank you for that. Anyway enough chatter, on with the chapter! Nina

Chapter Ten
Harry spent Christmas Eve in the Gryffindor common room exchanging presents with his friends. He knew Hermione would be rushing around tomorrow getting ready for the Ball and wouldn’t have time for proper Christmas fun. Harry didn’t mind, this way he got to hang out with Ron and Hermione and then tomorrow he wouldn’t have to worry if Snape wanted to spend a long time in the Chamber of Secrets.
It was midnight, officially Christmas day when he left the tower and made his way down to the dungeons. He wasn’t at all surprised to find Snape waiting up for him. He was surprised he didn’t get scolded for it.
“Merry Christmas,” Snape said instead and Harry smiled.
“Merry Christmas,” Harry said and then bit his lip. “What did you get me?”
“So impatient, it is polite to offer a present first,” Snape said
“Yours is kind of a show and tell present, it’s a little bit of a walk. So mine first,” Harry said eagerly.
Snape rolled his eyes but stood up and headed over to the corner of the room where a small Christmas tree sat. Harry had begged Snape for a tree even if there weren’t going to be a lot of presents under it. Snape had only relented two days before hand and Harry had spent the day decorating the tree with a few ornaments Tipple had found around. It was a very bare tree but it was a tree none-the-less.
Snape picked up a present, wrapped in grey tissue paper, and handed it to Harry. Harry politely read the card first, one of the generic ones with a little poem inside that Snape had signed. Harry smiled and then sat down on the couch carefully peeling off the paper.
“Pip Peppers Pee-wee Potions Pack?” Harry read off the box, “For ages two and up.”
“I’ve heard your Potions teacher is a bit of a bastard so I thought together we should just start from scratch,” Snape said and Harry laughed
“I love it, thank you,” Harry said and leant over to hug the man. He pulled back and flipped the box over reading it with an amused smile. It was a children’s play set all it did was make delicious tasting cordials based on real potions. The Polyjuice potion boasted a wonderful mixture of flavours depending on which order you added the ingredients in.
“Now where’s my present?” Snape asked and Harry put the box to the side with a cheeky smile.
“Do you trust me?”
“Not in the least,” Snape said bluntly and Harry laughed
“Well you’re going to have to if you want your present,” he sing-songed. “So close your eyes and I’ll lead you to it.”
“Close my eyes? I don’t think so,” Snape said and Harry shook his head.
“Close your eyes and trust me. I’ve trusted you blindly before,”
“So now you’re punishing me by making me do it literally?” Snape asked but he did close his eyes.
Harry smiled and took hold of his hand tugging him up into a standing position. He then began to carefully lead Snape out of their rooms and out into the corridor. He was thankful for the late hour; imagine what rumours would be running around tomorrow if anyone saw them.
“Careful of the stairs,” Harry said walking backwards up them and holding both of Snapes hands with each of his own.
Snape didn’t stumble once, not even on the trick step on the grand staircase. When Harry voiced his amazement Snape just smirked.
“I was a student here Harry, I’ve spent more than twenty-years in this castle I know practically everything about it.”
“But not everything?” Harry asked
“Not even Dumbledore knows all its secrets, anyone to claim such is foolish,” Snape said and Harry smiled.
“Okay, nearly there. Just wait here with your eyes closed I’ll be back in a second,”
“Potter, you don’t really expect me to stand here with my eyes closed do you?”
“Well if you do open them make sure you’re facing this way and don’t peak behind you,” Harry said.
Harry turned and headed into the girls bathroom just behind him. It was on the first floor of the castle and the girls never liked coming in here because of the ghost that haunted it. Her name was Moaning Myrtle and she’d been a student when the Chamber had been opened the first time. She had been killed by the Basilisks killing stare and spent the rest of her time sobbing and screaming at anyone who came in here. She seemed to like Harry well enough but only because he was very careful with how he spoke to her, she was very sensitive and the slightest comment would send her into a massive tantrum. She would flood the sinks and scream and shout disturbing anyone who had to pass by.
Unfortunately the opening to the Chamber of Secrets was in this bathroom so he had to see her if he wanted to get inside.
Harry was in luck tonight though, Myrtle was not haunting her usual cubicle, she was nowhere in sight actually. Harry headed over to the sinks and quickly found the sink with the small snake scratched onto the pipe.
“Open,” he hissed at it in Parseltongue. The sink shifted away to reveal a pipe, just large enough for a human to squish through. Now to convince Snape to jump down with his eyes closed.
Harry headed back into the hallway and found Snape had obediently stayed where Harry had left him and had kept his eyes closed.
“Hi,” Harry said softly so he didn’t startle the man.
“I know where we are, can I open my eyes now?” Snape asked
“You know? How did you guess?”
“I looked,”
“Oh,” Harry sounded disappointed and Snape turned to him with a smile.
“I am hoping I am correct in assuming that you’re not just sneaking me into a girl’s bathroom for some awful prank but are actually taking me to see something that only four people ever have before,” Snape said. He sounded breathless which Harry knew was how he talked when he was excited about something. He tended to only get like this when he’d worked out a difficult potion that he’d worked on for days or figured out some kind of shortcut in his work.
Harry bit his lip and gave a small nod in reply to Snape. Snape let out a small gasp before grabbing Harry and kissing him wildly.
“I can’t believe this,” Snape said and then his tongue was back in Harry’s mouth.
They stayed like that for a few good minutes before Harry pulled away,
“Come on,” Harry said and took hold of the man’s hand once more.
He led the way into the girl’s bathroom and Snape immediately headed over to the sinks his eyes wide.
“How...?” Snape stopped and turned to Harry.
“It opens with Parseltongue,” Harry said, “the sink disappears into the ground and this pipe takes you down to the Chamber,”
“Oh... I think every Slytherin secretly dreams of this day. You can’t help but wonder about Salazar, he’s never in a lot of History books due to the bad reputation the house has earned over the years. To actually see a place he spent years creating, somewhere that was solely his own... it’s... simply breathtaking,” Snape said
“I’ll go down first,” Harry offered, “There are rat bones at the bottom so it’s kind of a sharp landing.”
Harry carefully climbed into the pipe at Snapes approving nod. He was stopped however by another passionate kiss from the excited man. Harry smiled and then turned and slid down the pipe. It was a much more relaxing ride this time around, the first time he’d been worried for Ginny’s life and also there was some huge evil creature lurking down there. Now Ginny was safely dreaming in Gryffindor Tower and the evil creature was long dead.
Harry landed with a crash amongst the rat bones and scrambled up from the pile. He stepped to the side and a second later Snape came sliding out of the pipe crashing into the pile as well.
“Not the softest landing,” Harry said helping him up. Snape was staring around in wonder
“If you like this you’ll love what’s up ahead,” Harry told him with an indulgent smile.
Harry pulled out his wand and with a whispered charm the tip had lit up to light the way. They walked together in silence, Snape pausing every so often to examine something with his own lit up wand.
Snape let out a gasp and Harry glanced around. Snape was pointing his wand toward something very big. It was an awful vivid poisonous green and Harry breathed a small sigh of relief.
“The Basilisk?” Snape whispered.
“Just its shed skin, the body is in the Chamber,”
“It’s magnificent,” Snape said and Harry stared at him.
“Are you kidding?”
“Oh come now Harry, I was sure that you of all people would appreciate the magnificence of something so ugly but also so deadly. You did marry me after all.”
“You’re not ugly,” Harry muttered. It was Snape’s turn to stare now; he raised an eyebrow waiting for Harry to continue. “You look distinguished, not ugly”
Snape blinked at him for a few moments before turning back to the Basilisk skin.
“This could easily be worth a fortune; oh I can only imagine the experiments I could use those scales for,”
“Take some,” Harry said and Snape stared at him in shock, “Go on, I mean no one else will be coming down here for a long while if ever again. There are only two people in the world that can open the pipe anyway. If you don’t want to take them now that’s okay, just let me know and we can come back down here whenever you want,”
Harry found himself being kissed again, Snape got quite generous with his kisses when he was excited apparently. Harry laughed into the kiss and let the man control the pace until he was ready to keep exploring.
They continued on through the stone tunnel until they came to the rock fall blocking their path and turned to Snape.
“This is where Lockhart tried to curse Ron and I, he was using Ron’s broken wand so the curse backfired. He got slammed into that wall there and caused the cave in. I was on the other side, so I went on ahead and Ron cleared some of the rocks away so I could come back through,” Harry said. He turned and climbed the pile of rocks to the top where a gap had been cleared two years ago by Ron. Harry carefully shimmied through the gap; it had seemed a lot bigger when he was twelve. He was worried Snape wouldn’t fit but though tall he was slim and surprising limber as he made his way through the gap. He landed gracefully beside Harry and smiled at him.
Harry continued along winding through the stone tunnel until he stopped in front of a wall with two large serpents entwined together, their emerald eyes sparkling in the wand light.
“This is it isn’t it? The entrance,” Snape guessed correctly. He was breathless again, excited, staring at the door, studying it with wide eyes. He walked forward, running his hands along the snake’s bodies.
“He carved them himself. Not many people know but he was an excellent carver. He made the Head Table in the Great Hall. Back when the school first opened it was the only table they needed as there weren’t nearly as many students as today,” Snape said he was carefully examining one of the snakes glittering eyes.
“Real emeralds, I don’t think anyone will miss-”
“No!” Harry interrupted, “I am not stealing from Salazar Slytherin, that whole house has a big enough grudge against me as it is.”
Snape smirked and took a hold of Harry’s hand, “Let’s go inside,”
Harry smiled and turned back to the door before them, “Open,” he heard the hissing leave his lips, Snape was staring at him in amazement.
“You’ve heard me speak it before,” Harry pointed out.
“It’s a truly marvellous language and we shall have fun with it later,” Snape replied and Harry raised his eyebrows in surprise.
While they had been talking the serpents had split apart and opened the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets. Harry led the way through, tugging Snape forward by their joined hands.
They stood together at the end of the darkened chamber, torches flaring to life as they began to walk forward. Giant stone pillars on either side of them were covered with curved serpents disappeared into the darkness above, Harry still wasn’t sure how high the ceiling went.
Snape let go of his hand and walked over to the nearest stone pillar, he traced his hand reverently over the snake and leant his head against it.
Harry continued on forward, unknowingly recreating his first trip down to the chamber with his hesitant steps. There was nothing to fear this time, the Basilisk was dead. Harry stopped when his wand light caught the bright green scales of its body.
Another wand light shone on it as Snape walked up to Harry and stopped slightly in front of him.
“My God, the thing is monstrous,” Snape said and Harry walked forward to shine his wand light down on the creatures face.
“Fawkes blinded it, he was brilliant,” Harry said with a small smile, “the sorting hat gave me Gryffindors sword and I stabbed it through the roof of its mouth. It bit down though and its fang got my arm. I thought I was dying. I was dying, the world was going dark and I thought how nice it would be to see my parents... but then Fawkes was there. He healed me with his tears...”
Harry turned to Snape who was staring at him, his face was blank but his eyes were alight with anger, anger on Harry’s behalf. Harry took a hold of his hand and they stood like that for good long while just staring down at the dead Basilisk lying in the dried puddle of its own blood.
“There’s a statue of Salazar toward the end of the Chamber. Trust a Slytherin to build a giant homage to himself in his own secret Chamber,” Harry said dryly, Snape smirked and walked on ahead to where Harry indicated.
Harry stayed by the Basilisk crouching down beside it he gently reached out to touch it. He had never touched a snake before so he was surprised by the smoothness of their scales. The red gouges were its eyes had been seemed to be staring at him accusingly and Harry couldn’t help but feel a little uneasy.
“Sorry for killing you,” he said quietly, still petting it softly, “but to be fair you did give as good as you got.”
Harry sat on the floor his head resting on his knees waiting and watching as Snape studied the statue and its surrounding. He then came over to where Harry was and began to study the Basilisk carefully. Harry watched as he expertly collected venom from the creature’s mouth, he took a few other samples, sealing them carefully in various different vials and pouches.
“I am a Potions Master,” Snape said by way of explanation and then eased himself down onto the stone floor beside Harry.
“Each founder has a very special relic. Rowena Ravenclaw’s is the Diadem; it has been lost for centuries and is believed to be a myth. It’s said that the wearer will be blessed with the infinite wisdom Rowena herself displayed so naturally. Every statue and painting of her has her wearing the diadem. Her daughter is supposed to have stolen it and no one knows what happened to it,” Snape said. “Helga Hufflepuff owned a cup. It is inscribed with her houses motif the Badger, the cup is currently in the possession of a private collector. Rumour is she has a fair few of the Hogwarts founder’s things in her collection but she won’t let anyone have them. Godric Gryffindor had his sword; it was gifted to him, though there are some that say he stole it, shortly after the school opened. Gryffindor was a very gifted duellist and a master of spells so he put a spell upon the sword. Only those truly worthy of it would ever be able to wield it. This is why it tends to come and go as it pleases and there are a lot of empty display cases all over the world from where people have placed it hoping it will stay put. What were you thinking when it appeared?”
“Uh... help... I just wanted help,” Harry said with a nervous smile. “The hat gave it to me, nearly knocking me out in the process”
“The sorting hat? Of course, it is Godric Gryffindors hat,” Snape said and Harry smiled, “Salazar had a locket, it had a serpentine ‘S’ on the front of it, he’s usually wearing it in all his portraits as well as on that statue over there. It’s very odd sitting here with a piece of history, a piece so important to so many. I’m also sitting next to an important piece of modern history as well. The past,” Snape said waving his hand toward Slytherin’s statue, “the present,”
“And both heavily entwined with Voldemort, his past... his future,” Harry indicated the statue then himself.
“Not just his future, his destiny, his demise,” Snape said and Harry glanced at him before looking back across the chamber.
“Has Albus told you why your parents were killed?” Snape asked. Harry looked up sharply and then shook his head.
“I’m sure he knows though. I only asked once, when I woke up after my fight with Quirrell. He said he’d tell me one day. I can’t bring myself to ask again, sometimes I want to know but other times I feel it doesn’t really matter. Knowing won’t bring them back.”
“It will help you understand though,” Snape said and Harry shrugged.
“Has he told you?”
“I...” Snape hesitated and Harry stared at him with a slight frown of confusion, “I told him...” Snape said very quietly. Harry stared at him but Snape was staring at the Basilisk.
“So you know...” Harry trailed off, “Would I... I mean... do you want to tell me?”
“Not at all!”
“But you think I should know,” Harry guessed
“Not from me though.”
“Why?”
“You’ll hate me,” Snape said quietly and Harry turned to him.
“Snape,” Harry said, Snape ignored him, “Snape,” Harry tried again.
“Severus look at me!” he ordered
Snape looked at that but only because he was startled by Harry’s tone.
“You didn’t kill them, I know you weren’t there. I only hear three voices in my head, mum, dad and him. That night plays through my memories on repeat. That blinding green light haunted my nightmares for years. The Dementors force people to relive their worst memories and the worst ones I have I shouldn’t remember. No one remembers things at that age but they’re burned into my brain. Dad tried to stop him at the door, he told mum to take me and run. Voldemort killed him first, quickly. He didn’t care at all. Mum he spoke to, he told her to step aside, she was being silly he said. A silly girl, he’d let her live if she’d only let him kill me. She refused, screamed at him, she died screaming. It just stops... so suddenly and then there’s that light and I feel so alone. Even then I knew how alone I was and there’s a part of me that aches when I think about it. But when I’m with you it doesn’t hurt. That ache disappears and I feel safe. Safer than I’ve ever felt at Hogwarts and I don’t want to lose that feeling. I won’t let you ruin it no matter how you want to. I don’t care. You weren’t there that night and that’s all that matters to me. So I’m not going to think about it and we’re not going to talk about it. Because my parents are the past and Voldemort is in the future. I want to focus on the present” Harry said. He didn’t realise but he was crying it was only as Snape gently kissed away the tears that he noticed they were even there.
“Potter,” Snape said quietly, “you’re an idiot,”
Harry let out a watery chuckle and pulled away wiping his eyes hastily,
“I know, but you love it,” he joked.
Snape simply offered a small smile in reply and kissed his forehead.

Harry and Snape walked arm in arm up to the Great Hall. The dance would officially be opened by the Triwizard champions so everyone was allowed to go into the hall before them. Snape as a teacher had to be there before all the students and that meant Harry did as well.
The Great Hall had been transformed into a winter wonderland. There were several enormous Christmas trees set up the perfect distance apart from one another. Professor Flitwick had outdone himself in decorating them with a shimmering variety of silver ornaments. The four long house tables had disappeared to be replaced with a hundred or so circular tables all draped with a silvery fabric and a snarly silver table topper ornament that sparkled in the light of the hall. Snow was falling from the enchanted ceiling disappearing just before it landed on their heads. The walls were sparkling silver frost and there were wreaths of holly and mistletoe scattered artfully about the room.
The Professors were all grouped together near the entrance to the hall checking last minute things and fixing up the beautiful decorations.
It was so strange seeing his teachers out of their usual robes. Harry didn’t know there were so many different types but there were. Snape was wearing robes a deep midnight black, there was a swirling silver design embroidered around the hem and his sleeve cuffs. They were so much nicer than his ordinary teaching ones and Harry could tell just from looking at them they probably cost a small fortune.
Professor McGonagall had on tartan robes in a shocking red and had wrapped a wreath of thistles around the brim of her hat. Professor Sinistra was standing with her wearing sparkly purple robes that reminded Harry of the cosmos.
Hagrid was standing off to the side keeping an eye on the large Christmas trees that he chopped down and dragged inside for Flitwick to decorate. He was wearing his awful moleskin suit with the shocking yellow tie and his hair was shiny like he’d tried to grease it back but it hadn’t worked.
Harry gave the man wave and he waved back eagerly smashing an ornament on the tree beside him. Hagrid slowly began to walk away from the scene so Harry turned pretending he hadn’t seen anything.
Dumbledore appeared, seemingly from nowhere wearing robes of green and gold with a matching hat. Karkaroff and Maxime were with him, he led them up to the main table where the Head Table usually sat.
McGonagall left the hall to organise the students while the rest of the staff arranged themselves on the side of the hall.
The doors opened and the students all began to poor into the hall, McGonagall directing them to line up making a clear path in the middle for the champions to walk through up to the head table.
Harry stood beside Snape, glad that the man’s intimidating presence kept anyone from commenting. Harry could tell a few nosy students had definitely wanted to try something but one glare from Snape had them turning around.
Once everyone in the hall had settled into place everyone began to clap and the champions walked in.
Cedric walked in first wearing very fine robes in an eye catching bright blue, his date Marietta was wearing a very odd dress in a shocking shade of pink. Fleur walked in next leading Ravenclaw Quidditch captain Roger Davies in with ease. She appeared the picture of serenity in a flowing silvery silk dress and Roger Davies had opted for some simple dark purple robes. Krum was next, Harry startled at his date, and it was only because of the dress he knew who it was.
“Hermione?” he breathed and then smiled happily. She looked stunning. Her hair had been sleeked back into an elegant knot at the back of her head and her dress was truly perfect on her working well with her lightly tanned skin.
Krum was dressed in robes of red and black and smiling at Hermione, he looked so happy to be there with her Harry was so very glad. He really didn’t want to have to beat up an International Quidditch star for messing with his friend.
They made their way up to the head table and once they were seated the rest of the hall was allowed to move toward the tables and sit to eat.
Snape led the way over to the teachers table which was right next to the champions table. Harry made sure they were sitting near Hermione so Harry could lean back and talk to her. Once they sat down Harry did exactly that, Snape keeping hold of his chair so he didn’t go toppling over.
“Hermione,” Harry said softly capturing her attention. “You look great.”
“Oh thank you Harry,”
“If I didn’t know what your dress looked like I wouldn’t have recognised you,” Harry went on and Hermione giggled waving him away and turning back to Krum who was watching them both carefully.
Harry turned back to his table setting his chair down carefully and gave a smile to Snape who still had his arm across the back of the chair.
There were gold plates set out in front of everyone with a menu placed carefully on top. The teachers all picked up their menus and began to browse the items so Harry did the same. It was odd sitting with his teachers he wasn’t quite sure how to react when he realised that teachers complained about students the same way their students complained about them.
“Did you see what Michael Fitzpatrick was wearing?” Professor Sprout asked Madame Hooch who was sitting next to her. They both snorted into their menus.
“He looks like a plucked peacock!” Hooch chortled and Sprout laughed along.
“I’m not sure whether it’s worth just giving the Weasley twins detentions now and save myself the trouble later,” McGonagall said to Flitwick who raised his eyebrows.
“Innocent until proven guilty Minerva,” he replied.
“I know but I just don’t trust those faces,” McGonagall sighed.
Harry glanced to Snape who was studying the menu ignoring his colleagues so Harry looked down at his own menu.
“Steak, medium well,” Snape ordered. The food appeared before him instantly so Harry followed suit.
“Chicken salad,” he said and the salad appeared before him. He smiled and eagerly stuck his fork in picking up some chicken and lettuce. The chicken was cooked expertly and the lettuce was just the right amount of crispy. It was his third bite before he realised Snape was staring at him.
“Salad?” the man asked and Harry smiled.
“Yes... if I don’t watch my figure you might leave me for someone prettier,” Harry said and Snape rolled his eyes returning to his steak. Harry grinned and continued to eat his salad.
“Is that all your eating Potter?” Hooch asked and Harry raised his eyebrows at her. She was the Quidditch coach and referee for all the matches.
Harry simply nodded unsure how to reply.
“Well no wonder you keep getting thrown off your broom boy, you need some carbs, have some of Severus’ chips,” she insisted. Snape looked up from his steak and its side of chips to glare at her.
“Touch my chips and die,” Snape said to Harry who then made it his mission to pinch some of the man’s chips before the meal was over. He succeeded much to the amusement of his teachers. Professor Flitwick who was on Snape’s other side even acting as a co-conspirator in distracting Snape so Harry could grab some.
When the meal was finished and everyone had stood the tables vanished and there was a stage. A scraggly looking band walked onto the stage and the students went crazy jumping up and down and screaming in excitement.
“Are they famous?” Harry asked Snape. He didn’t know a lot about Muggle music and he knew even less about Wizarding music.
“Just a little,” Snape replied dryly.
The band, The Weird Sisters, began to play a slow mournful tune and the champions headed into the middle of the dance floor. They all danced beautifully and Harry was once again grateful he wasn’t a champion. Harry watched Hermione mostly, she looked to be having so much fun and he couldn’t help grinning at the delighted laugh she let out when Krum twirled her around. Dumbledore took McGonagall’s hand and led her out onto the dance floor, a couple of brave students followed after them. Snape held out his hand to Harry who took it and allowed himself to be dragged onto the dance floor. Snape was an excellent dancer who managed to dance rather smoothly considering it was clumsy awkward Harry he was dancing with.
They danced for several songs before Snape smoothly twirled them off the dance floor and they sat at one of the few tables that remained pushed to the edge of the hall.
“I have to go and patrol to make sure no students are out of bounds,” Snape said
“Don’t be too mean,” Harry ordered.
“I don’t make promises I can’t keep,” Snape smirked and leant down to give Harry a quick kiss on the corner of his mouth before he was walking away.
Ron was suddenly beside him panting softly and glancing around quickly.
“I’m hiding from Pavarti,” Ron explained quickly. Harry raised an eyebrow in amusement.
“It’s not funny Harry! She tried to stick her tongue down my throat. Dancing is one thing but I’m not letting her kiss me,” Ron said, “I have a little pride.”
Harry couldn’t help but laugh and Ron joined in quickly. They were interrupted when a girl from Beauxbatons came over and asked Harry to dance with her. Harry felt bad leaving Ron on his own so the girl waved one of her friends over to dance with Ron.
The entire group of students were constantly swapping partners so after over an hour Harry had danced with nearly everyone. He was twirled by tall Durmstrang boy right into Cedric Diggory’s arms. The boy grinned at him and Harry just shook his head and began to dance with him. The music was more upbeat so Harry just let the rhythm flow through him and went crazy. By the end of the night the music was basically just bass meaning everyone was just jumping up and down screaming along with the lyrics if they knew them. Harry was sandwiched between Ron and Hermione. He held each of their hands in one of his own; they were all holding them high in the air pumping them with the beat.
Harry felt happy. More happy then he could remember being in a very long time. Was this how normal teenagers felt? Was it really so simple as going crazy at a school dance with your very best friends?
At midnight the band finished thanking them for being a lovely audience and the students slowly began to trickle out of the hall.
Hermione let Krum take her away to say goodnight which made Ron turn a very interesting shade of red. The colour was slapped off his face by Pavarti who had then burst into tears and ran off out of the hall.
“Girls,” Ron said quietly and Harry nodded in agreement, walking with his friend to the stairs.
Hermione was standing there; Krum had disappeared with his fellow students, she gave Ron a small sympathetic smile.
“I saw Pavarti,” she offered her hand to Ron.
“Ugh,” Ron groaned taking hold of Hermione’s hand, “It was awful. She was awful. I’m sorry I said all those nasty things.”
Hermione smiled and gave Ron’s hand a small squeeze, “I’ll heal your cheek... she got you pretty good.”
“You know, there will be other dances and I’m sure there will be other girls but there will only ever be one Hermione, who, even though I completely don’t deserve it, will still clean up the mess I make,” Ron said and Hermione smiled brightly.
“Well who else would if not me?” she asked, “Harry?” she joked.
“Definitely not,” Harry said, “She’s all you’ve got.”
“I’m strangely all right with that,” Ron said and Hermione blushed.
“Weasley! Granger! Get up to your common room before I deduct house points!”
Ron and Hermione immediately began to scamper up the stairs, still holding hands. Harry meanwhile turned to his husband.
“I can’t believe you did that! They were about to...” Harry stopped, he wasn’t quite sure what they were about to do but he knew it would be good for the two of them.
“Oh I know exactly what they were about to do and no one needs to see that” Snape snapped and Harry raised his eyebrows.
“Rough night?” he asked heading over to where the man was standing.
Snape turned and headed toward their rooms, walking slowly so Harry could fall into step beside him.
“Awful. I have had enough of catching students in awkward positions a teacher really shouldn’t have to see their students in,” Snape sighed.
“What about this student?” Harry asked cheekily.
“Well Potter you are very much the exception to every rule so I don’t out rightly reject your offer,”
“Can you ever just speak plainly?” Harry asked.
“There wouldn’t be any fun in that, besides I like watching your face scrunch up as you try to decipher what I’ve just said,” Snape replied and then he smirked, “Just like that.”
They entered their rooms and Harry headed straight for bed. The dancing had exhausted him.
He slipped out of his dress robes and carelessly threw on his pyjamas before crawling under the covers.
Surprisingly Snape followed not soon after and flopped down on the bed beside him. Harry quickly closed the space between them much to Snape’s amusement.
“You’re like a leech,” he said and Harry just smiled taking it as a compliment.
Harry had grown accustom to sleeping beside someone, he felt warm and safe. He didn’t want to think about what would happen when the time came to that up. So he didn’t and settled into a peaceful sleep.

My ‘W’ and ‘S’ buttons are really dodgy on my laptop and it’s only getting worse. So if there are some words where they’re missing I apologise and hope you can work out what I meant. Worst chapter to write ever, I kept trying to find ways to avoid using them but then just gave up.
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A Marriage of Convenience