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Black Roses	By : BlackDawnRose Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Snape Views: 16093 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 2
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters only this plot, no money is being made from this story

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Hi! I know this has taken ages and I'm terribly sorry, moherhood takes up a lot of time. ANyway here's the next chapter, please review, I'd love to hear what you think.
Personal Space
The next few weeks were torture for Severus. Everywhere he went there were students throwing themselves at him and unlike the first few days after the spell first began it didn’t take an hour of exposure to trigger the attraction. With each day the time lessened until finally all it was taking was a few minutes of exposure to have everyone around him falling at his feet.
He tried to keep a watchful eye on the students in his class, to see if perhaps Dumbledore had been correct and it was in fact one of them he was meant to spend his life with. He may not like it but he couldn’t find any other way to end the curse he was currently plagued with. He’d done some more research on the subject and all the spells he could find that had the kinds of effects he was experiencing could only be satisfied one way.
He had to sleep with his soul mate. If that person turned out to be a student there was no way it would be happening.
There was another option for getting the rest of the population to leave him alone; that still involved kissing his soul mate, something he couldn’t do with a student. There was a down side to this option as well. While the rest of the world may stop desiring him his soul mate’s desire for him would increase daily until that desire was fulfilled. It wouldn’t effect Severus only the other person and that was just plain cruel.
Still, none of it mattered if his soul mate turned out to be a student. Relations between a student and a teacher weren’t allowed and for good reason. Of course, even if those rules weren’t there Severus would still have difficulty even looking at a student like that. They were still students after all; even the eldest were barely more than children and despite the physical changes his body had been through in his mind he was still 40 not the 20 years he currently appeared to be.
With each passing week the amount of students and faculty hitting on him increased and their attempts to get his attention became even more forceful. Severus had never been comfortable with other people in his personal space and every day more and more people were forcing themselves inside it against his will. To him it felt like torture of the worst sort and he couldn’t find a way to make it stop. Despite his constant attention to the students and staff around him, he hadn’t seen any signs of who he was supposed to be spending his life with.
There was no light at the end of the tunnel for the potions Master, he could see no escape. Still, he’d managed to keep himself sane for the most part, until one day in potions a student had run up to the front of the class and kissed him without warning. When he’d pushed her off there had been a line behind her trying to do the same thing and it was then that Severus finally realised he couldn’t teach anymore. That was the end for Severus’ sanity. Without his classes to teach every day he really had nothing but his own projects to think about and while they certainly helped, being locked up with them all day because leaving his room was too frightening an idea to comprehend, eventually lead to him losing the plot.
It was a week into the potions master’s self imposed isolation that found Draco running into the man’s office to find out why he could hear such a racket coming from inside. What he found shocked him to the very core.
Severus had completely lost it. He was storming through his office, destroying everything he found. His desk was a pile of wood chip on the office floor as was his chair and several of his bookshelves. The books, which had been until that point contained within those book shelves, were scattered around the room with their pages torn out or burnt. Glass bottles littered the floor, their contents spilling all over the place, often down the walls. The only things currently untouched were the bookcase that contained Severus’ collection of rare books and the glass cupboards containing Severus’ special potions and the ingredients he’d had to do a fair amount of searching to acquire.
The potions master was, at that moment, standing before those cupboards panting from the exertion of what he’d already done. Draco inched closer to him, hoping that maybe the other man had finally worked out all of his anger and was calming down. His hope was all in vain however. Severus raised his wand to destroy the remaining cupboards and Draco rushed forward to stop him, knowing how upset the potions master would be after he calmed down if he destroyed what was in front of him.
“Professor, stop!” Draco called wrapping his arms around the older man from behind, effectively pinning Severus arms to his body. The potions master growled and tried to throw Draco from him. “Professor, no!” he cried holding on tighter.
Eventually Severus managed to throw Draco to the floor dropping his wand in the process. Undeterred, Severus stalked back to the cupboards and reached out to destroy them with his hands instead.
Draco climbed to his feet and ran back over to Severus grabbing his arm. “Severus, stop!” he screamed.
Snape wrestled with Draco for a few minutes before finally a random swing of his free arm connected with the ice prince’s face, sending him sprawling to the floor. Draco landed hard and brought his hand up to gingerly touch the bruise now blooming on his left temple. For a moment there was silence, then…
“Draco?” he heard the professor whisper and he looked up at the other man to find him staring down at Draco, a look of horror in his obsidian eyes. “Draco, oh Merlin, Draco, I’m so sorry, I’m…” he dropped down onto his knees in front of Draco and gently grabbed his face studying the large purple bruise blooming on his temple. “I’m so sorry, I’d never … Merlin, Draco I’d never hurt you, you know I’d…I’d never-”
“I know, it’s okay,” Draco replied reaching forward to gently grasp Severus’ wrists.
Severus let out a breath and hung his head, his hands shaking as they slipped from Draco’s face to his shoulders. Before Draco knew it Severus entire body was shaking with silent sobs and he was pulling his hands away from Draco’s shoulders to cover his own face.
Draco moved to the potion’s master’s side and slipped his arms around the sobbing man. He’d never seen Severus this distraught over anything, but he knew how private the other man was and how hard it must be having the entire school’s attention. He held him for what felt like hours before Severus finally leant into him and reached out an arm to hold him back. They sat there in silence for the longest time before Severus finally spoke.
“I can’t do this anymore,” he barely whispered. “This stupid spell was supposed to be a gift, a gift damn it! But nothing about these last few weeks has been pleasant at all, it’s been an absolute nightmare and I just want it to stop, I want my life back! How the hell could anybody think this was a good idea?! What gives her the right to meddle with my life?” he snarled
Draco was confused. “What are you talking about, Severus? This all came about because of a potions accident didn’t it?” he asked.
Severus laughed humorlessly. “That’s what I thought at first too, but apparently not. The potions accident was just the mode my dead, meddling mother used to deliver the spell that’s supposed to help me find my family and my supposed true love.” Severus shook his head. “This is ridiculous, there’s no way I’ll ever find true love or whatever. It just doesn’t exist, not for me. Besides, I don’t need it, I never have and I certainly don’t want it, all it does is cause people pain in the long run.”
He pulled back and looked at Draco the tears still swimming in his eyes. “You’re all I need; you’re all I’ve ever needed. You’re the only real family I’ve ever had or wanted, what do I need anyone else for?” he asked reaching forward to gently touch the bruise on Draco’s face. “I’m sorry, my child,” he said quietly and Draco could hear the remorse in his voice.
“It doesn’t matter,” Draco replied pulling the potions master back into the comfort of his arms and smiling when Severus rested his head on Draco’s shoulder despite the situation. It was weird, Severus had never allowed himself to appear vulnerable, not even in front of Draco and he had never allowed Draco to hold him. It should have felt strange or alien to Draco, but it didn’t, it just felt comfortable. Then again he’d always loved the other man like a father and wasn’t this what families were supposed to do when one of their own was hurting?
“She sent me a message,” Severus suddenly said breaking Draco’s train of thought.
“Who did?” Draco asked in reply.
“My mother, through professor Trewalney,” Severus explained. He pulled out of Draco’s arms and reached into his robe to retrieve the parchment with the poem written on it. He handed it to Draco who began to read it while Severus surveyed the damage done to his office.
Once Draco reached the end he looked up at Severus with a questioning look. “Do you think this is real?” he asked.
“I was hoping not but I can’t find anything else to explain what’s been happening. Any other spell should have worn off by now, this one’s still going and it’s only getting worse,” Severus replied looking down at his hands.
“I noticed I was mentioned in there,” Draco said softly. “If it helps, that part at least is true. I do love you and I always will.”
“Thank you,” Severus replied in a whisper without looking up. “I’m sorry about earlier, I never wanted you to see me like that.”
“What’s family for,” Draco replied with a soft smile and Severus finally looked up at him returning his smile with a small one of his own. “Besides, you’ve done the same for me enough times over the years.”
Severus nodded and looked down again. They sat in silence for a while once more, only this time it was Draco who broke it.
“Love isn’t always pain you know,” he said softly. My father and mother truly loved each other until the moment they left this world. Their marriage may not have been perfect, but none ever are; it’s just a fact of life. Still, despite everything else they always loved each other and they always loved me. It gave them something to cling to in the last moments of their lives and I don’t think they would ever have wanted to miss out on the experience that love brought them,” he finished looking over at the now only slightly older man. “She’s right, your life hasn’t been easy, don’t you think you deserve to experience real love after everything else you’ve been through? If the person she’s speaking of really loves you like the poem says they won’t hurt you. Really, isn’t it worth a try?”
Severus studied Draco for a moment. “I don’t know. Honestly, it’s been years since I thought about love or anything of the sort outside of my caring for you. It just didn’t seem all that important.”
“Not with the war going on, no, I would say it probably wouldn’t have. But the war’s finally over, Severus, we’re finally free to live our lives as we choose. Maybe it’s time you gave some thought to love and relationships again. They’re not all work and pain you know,” Draco reasoned.
“All of mine have been. Even trying to get time with you over the years has often been difficult. Why should this be any different?” Severus asked quietly.
“Maybe it won’t be; but isn’t it worth a try to find someone outside of myself who will love you unconditionally for the rest of your life? If nothing else at least it’ll get the rest of the school to leave you alone; dealing with one loving person has got to be easier than trying to deal with a whole school full of them, don’t you think?” Draco asked.
Severus didn’t reply so Draco spoke again.
“Isn’t there anyone around you that you feel something for aside from me? Isn’t there a single person alive who you feel at least some attraction too?” he asked.
“No, there’s no one,” Severus replied immediately but Draco could sense the lie behind the words.
“You know I know you’re lying right?” he asked the potions master who immediately looked up at him in shock. “It’s okay, you don’t have to tell me, but if you want to, I promise I’ll listen without making comment about it,” Draco reassured the older man.
Severus just looked at him for several moments as if confused, then as if a light had been switched on he saw the answer dawn on the potions master and his eyes widened in surprise before his expression became one of horror. “Oh, Merlin!” Severus groaned before hiding his face in his hands.
“Finally worked it out did you?” Draco asked with a small smile.
“Oh no, I worked it out a little while ago. I’d just done everything possible to push it out of my mind and pretend it wasn’t there up until now,” Severus explained from behind his hands.
“So, do you want to tell me who it is?” Draco asked pulling gently at Severus’ hands.
Severus sighed. “No,” he replied allowing Draco to pull his hands away. “I don’t even want to think about it myself but…” he trailed off and for a moment Draco didn’t think he’d say anymore. Then Severus looked at him and said. “I need your help to find out if it is him. I can’t observe the people around me while I’m constantly trying to preserve my personal space and retain my sanity.”
“I’ll help any way I can, Sev,” Draco replied honestly.
Severus nodded. “All right then. Tomorrow I will join the rest of the staff and the students in the great hall for breakfast. If the spell is still as strong as it was before I stopped teaching, and experience tells me that if anything it will only be stronger, most of the people around me should start to react within a few minutes, including all of the students. I need you to watch the rest of the students to see if there’s anyone that appears to be unaffected by the spell’s magic and get back to me when breakfast is over,” Severus directed.
“Ok,” Draco agreed. “Is there anyone in particular I should be watching?” Draco asked wanting to be as much help as possible while still wondering who it was his god father had feelings for.
“Yes,” Severus replied and a loud sigh escaped him before he continued. “Keep a close eye on Potter.”
Draco should have been surprised, somehow he wasn’t. That would certainly explain the poem’s description of Severus’ lover being a former enemy. “All right,” he agreed without comment and Severus studied him for a moment before letting out a sigh of relief.
“Thank you,” he said softly.
“You’re welcome,” Draco replied before shuffling over closer to Severus once more and wrapping an arm around the older man. He felt Severus do the same and they sat in silence for the next little while simply enjoying the closeness.
Unbeknownst to them, a young man with ebony hair and bright green eyes sat not two metres from the pair, wrapped up in his invisibility cloak watching the exchange. In fact the same young man had been present since Severus had accidentally hit the young Malfoy and had heard everything that had passed between them since. He should have been shocked by what the potions master had revealed about his feelings, but honestly he wasn’t. In fact after the dreams he’d been having since the end of the war it wasn’t a shock at all. Rather, it felt like the pieces of his life were finally coming together.
The dreams had always seemed so real. Whether Harry was lying in bed with warm arms around him or walking through a meadow with a hand gently holding his own, he’d never been able to see more than the torso or a hand of the person with him and occasionally a flurry of black robes. He’d never seen their face, but somehow he’d always known it was Severus with him, he was the only one Harry had ever felt more than a passing affection for. At first he’d been curious about why he couldn’t see the other man’s face, now he knew why, if he had it would have given away what was going to happen to Severus and obviously he wasn’t meant to know until it did. Now that he thought of it, he hadn’t had one of those dreams since Severus’ potions accident. Maybe now that he knew who the dreams had been about, he’d have another that would show all of the potions master to him.
He knew it was him the poem had been talking about; even if Severus hadn’t mentioned him to Draco, he would have known. His feelings for Severus hadn’t changed with the beginning of the spell. Originally he’d thought it was because he’d already wanted the other man, now he knew it was because they were meant to be. With a happy smile Harry moved silently from the position he’d been occupying and headed out of the room. He made his way swiftly back to his own all the while plotting how he was going to court the potions master without scaring the other man away. He’d need help and he knew who he could get that help from, he just hoped the other boy could put their past behind them and agree.
XX
The following morning found Severus arriving at the head table in the great hall to a rather large surprise. There, sitting in front of his normal spot was a large, white owl he’d seen before but couldn’t quite place. In her beak was a single, long stemmed, black rose. Curious, Severus moved over to the owl and asked. “Is that for me?”
The owl hooted quietly and leant forward, presenting the rose for Severus’ inspection. Severus took it with a quiet thank you and the owl hooted once more before flying away. Severus studied the flower closely. Not a garish gift that a child or someone who had frivolous flights of fancy about him would send to try and gain his attention. This was a simple, elegant gift sent by somebody who obviously knew him well enough to realise that fluff and frills weren’t what he wanted. There was no note attached and Severus knew he should have been annoyed, but he wasn’t. If anything he felt content and happy. With a small smile he brought the rose up to his nose to take in its lovely perfume. If this was from the person he was meant to spend his life with maybe this whole relationship thing wouldn’t be so bad after all.
XX
Draco was heading to the Great Hall for breakfast when a voice called out his name. He turned to find Harry sitting on a nearby ledge, with his owl sitting on his shoulder. As soon as he had Draco’s attention the Gryffindor moved to his side and smiled, almost shyly.
“Hi, how are you?” he asked.
“Fine, how are you?” Draco asked confused by the other boy’s behaviour.
“I’m okay.” He looked away for a moment and just as Draco was about to ask what he wanted Harry spoke once more. “It’s me, you don’t have to watch me I’ll tell you straight up it’s…it’s me,” he admitted blushing bright red and looking down to study his hands.
Draco should have been confused, he wasn’t. He was slightly annoyed however. “Were you spying on us, Potter?” he snarled.
Harry’s head snapped up and he immediately started to shake it. “No, I heard the noise and I came down to see what was going on. I only came into the room because I thought you might need help. It turned out you didn’t, Snape realised it was you and snapped out of his anger, but by then I couldn’t get out without either of you noticing I’d been there and I didn’t want you to think that I was spying on you. I had to wait until you either left or were occupied enough not to hear my footsteps. I was almost gone when Snape started talking about the parchment and well … after that I couldn’t make myself leave,” he admitted looking down once more. “I’m sorry, Draco, I didn’t mean to intrude on your privacy, it was an accident.”
Despite himself Draco believed the boy who lived, and rather than rant and rave about what had happened he simply nodded. “So it’s you huh? Sev thought it might be,” he said.
“Does that bother you?” Harry asked.
“It probably should, but no, it doesn’t,” Draco replied honestly. “You and I have never been friends, Potter, but this isn’t about me, it’s about Sev and he deserves a chance at finally having a life of his own. Everything up until this point has been about the war, or Dumbledore, or his job, he’s never had a chance to just be Sev, you know. It’s about time he did, he deserves that much after everything he’s done for this world, don’t you think so?” he asked.
Harry nodded. “Yeah, I do,” he replied. They were silent for a few moments before Harry asked. “Do you think there’s a chance that you and I could be friends now? The war’s over, there’s really nothing left for us to fight over anymore and it would make Severus’ life a lot easier if we got along, don’t you think?” he asked.
Draco pondered that for a moment before finally nodding. “Yeah, it probably would,” he agreed. Harry was right there really was no reason for them not to get along now, they weren’t on opposite sides of the war anymore and Draco’s parents weren’t around to pass judgment on who he befriended. If he were being honest, any hatred or anger he’d harboured toward the Gryffindor had disappeared since the war ended all those months ago. “I guess this’ll be a new beginning for us then won’t it,” Draco said holding out his hand. “Draco Malfoy,”
Harry took his hand with a chuckle. “Harry Potter,” he replied.
“Nice to meet you,” Draco said as they shook hands.
“Yeah, you too,” the Gryffindor replied before pulling his hand back. “So, Draco, now that we’re friends and all do you have any idea on how I might win over your god father?” he asked.
“I might, do you have anything in mind so far?” Draco asked in return.
“I have a few thoughts. This morning I had Hedwig take him a long stemmed, black rose without any indication as to who it came from. Do you think he would have liked that?” Harry asked.
Draco smiled. “I think he would have loved that,” he replied. “And the fact that you came up with the idea without any help gives me hope that your relationship might just work after all. What you want to do next is…”
XX
Severus spent the morning and most of the afternoon feeling quite happy and content. Most of the student were out for the day in Hogsmead and it was easy enough to hide from the younger ones. He hadn’t heard from Draco at all since the previous evening, but he knew his god son had been planning on spending the day in Hogsmead, maybe he’d be able to find out more about Severus’ supposed lover while he was out. When dinner time finally rolled around Severus headed once more to the great hall. He arrived to find the same lovely, white owl standing at his place waiting with yet another black rose as perfect as the last.
Severus approached the creature and held out his hand to accept the rose. Just like last time the owl held out her load for inspection and waited for Severus to accept the offering before flying away. This time the rose had a small vial of red liquid attached to the bottom along with a note. The liquid sparkled in the light and Severus recognised it immediately as dragons blood. To say he was shocked would have been a long fall from the truth. Dragon’s blood was beyond expensive, even an amount as tiny as the one Severus now held in his hands was worth more than even the highest paid wizards earned in six months. It was the most prized and valuable potions ingredient in the world, a near priceless gift to a potions master, made all the more valuable by it’s rarity.
After marveling over the small jar and the potions he’d be able to create with its contents, he opened the letter to see what it said.
Dear Severus,
I’m not really sure what to say to you. To be honest I never thought I’d have the guts to do this and I know the end result will probably be you shooting me down in flames but I don’t care; I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I didn’t at least try. This year is my last at Hogwarts, when it’s over I’ll have lost any chance I have to win you over so please forgive my forwardness. I really like you, Severus, I have for a long time and I’d really like to spend some time getting to know you better this year. I know you’ve never particularly liked me and we’ve clashed quite a bit over the years, but I’ve always respected you and I always hoped that deep down you respected me too. I’m not going to tell you who I am, to be honest I think you already know and even if that wasn’t the case I’d hate for this to fall into the wrong hands and get you into trouble. Instead I’m going to offer you a choice. If you want to know for sure who I am and/or you want to get to know me too, or even if you want to just ask me a question simply write it on the piece of paper beneath this one and I’ll see it and write back immediately. The choice is yours, Severus, I hope to hear from you soon.
Love X
Severus finished reading the letter and thought about how he should respond. He definitely wanted to know for sure who was writing to him, but at the same time it could all be a horrible set up, he’d been through more than his fair share of those over the years. Still, he was a lot older and wiser now, he could always obliviate the person involved if it turned out to be a trick. He didn’t want it to be a trick though, as much as he’d never tell anyone this he was really starting to hope that this would lead somewhere good.
Transfiguring one of the knives at his setting into a self inking quill, he wrote a response asking how he was to know that this wasn’t some nasty joke at his expense. The words disappeared into the paper and after a few tense seconds of waiting words started to appear on the page.
You don’t really, but I’d never play a joke like that on you, Severus. Not only would I not be game to (let’s face it you’re downright scary when you want to be) I’m not the kind of person who’d do that to anyone. If it would make you feel better you can choose when and where we talk, or any other provisions you’d like to make to our meeting. I will happily abide by whatever you choose.
Severus read the reply and thought about where they could go. Eventually he settled on the room of requirement at 21:00 that evening and wrote the response back. He got an agreement and was about to put the parchment away when he thought about another question he’d been wanting to ask.
What do you want from me?
He waited and after a few moments a reply came through.
What makes you think I want anything?
Everybody wants something
Okay, I want to make you feel special.
Severus was surprised by the answer, but he didn’t get a chance to reply before the hall started filling up with students and other faculty forcing him to hide the parchments in his robes. After tonight he’d have all the answers he needed.
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Black Roses