Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

Vices	By : BurningNebula Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Snape Views: 8682 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 2
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, or any related characters. I do not make any money from the writing of this story

Chapter List
- 3
- 4
- 5
A/N: Another "Thank you" to anyone who has reviewed. If you haven't, then please do.

  The next morning saw Severus bright-eyed and unusually good-natured. He couldn’t seem to be annoyed by his own good mood as he stepped into the shower, and let himself smile and relax under the warm, refreshing water. He cleaned himself lazily and took his time getting dressed. He didn’t want to shatter the feeling he had this morning. He didn’t even think too much on what exactly the feeling was, lest he ruin it for himself.
                He specifically wanted to be comfortable today, and with that thought in mind, pulled a pair of soft grey jeans, a regular white shirt, and his favorite sage green flannel long-sleeve from his drawers. He felt that he never allowed himself things like these, small indulgences that made your day a little better. Not dressing like he was going to court was definitely an indulgence. He tied his hair at the back of his head and donned some slide-on trainers before heading out of the house and down the street to get himself a coffee.
                The coffee was really just a habit. Honestly, Severus felt better and more rested than he had in weeks, without having been plagued by his usual insomnia the night before. The friendly little witch Severus always saw at the newsstand nearly dropped an armful of Witch Weekly magazines in surprise as he passed with a smile on his face and a wave. If he didn’t feel so good, he’d be disgusted with himself for acting so goofy.
                While waiting for his coffee, Severus made up his mind to visit the new library. He vaguely remembered the description of its location from Harry and Luna’s conversation. He thought he might research the finer physiological aspects of a Werewolf’s transformation. Perhaps finding a way to successfully bind a strong enough pain-killing potion to the Wolfsbane potion wasn’t the correct plan of attack. He pulled out his work journal and wrote a note about it. Collecting his coffee, he exited the shop and pointed his direction to stroll down to the library.
                Severus’ mind was on the project as he navigated the streets of Muggle London. For once the sun was bright and the air was not too chill, for October. Spotting the ugly department store façade of St. Mungo’s, Severus smiled in the knowledge that he was heading in the right direction. Recalling a mention that the Library’s main entrance was disguised as the alley door of a shut-down Chinese restaurant, Severus kept a sharp eye out for signs posted in dingy windows.
                After a couple of blocks, he found the restaurant, and glancing to make sure no one noticed, ducked into the alley. The door he supposed to be the right one was a pair of iron double doors set back into a recess in the wall and, stepping into it, he sensed a shivering of magic in the air. From a speaker box on the wall next to the door came a small tinny voice.
                “Please state your name!” A young woman’s voice chirped, startling Severus.
                “Severus Snape?” He responded as he raised an eyebrow. There was a pause for a few seconds and then a pop of static.
                “Come in!” the voice said before a buzzer sounded and the iron doors shimmered and crackled and turned, like liquid, into a set of ornate wooden ones. Pushing them open Severus stepped into the front desk area.
                He barely had any time to look around him, however, when the same chirping voice called to him from behind the desk.
                “Professor!” The young woman said as she rounded the desk. It took him a moment to recognise the witch as Hermione Granger. Her curly hair had been cut short in the back, lengthening to frame her face in a very becoming manner. She wore a set of dark purple robes with a nametag attached to the front. “It’s good to see you! Welcome to the Dumbledore Memorial Library.” She smiled up at him. Severus supposed that if anyone would become a librarian, it would be Hermione Granger.
                “I daresay you needn’t call me Professor anymore, Miss Granger. How long has this been here?” He asked. Instantly, he saw enthusiasm spring into her.
                “About three months! That is after spending about three years trying to get the Ministry to give us grants to open it, of course.” She said, with a roll of her eyes and a shrug. “Also, it’s Mrs. Weasley now.”
                “Oh? Congratulations!” Severus said uncertainly, assuming Ronald was the Weasley she’d married, his eyebrows lifting. “So you had a part in the founding?”
                “Yes! Well, the other board members and I. It took long enough, but here it is!” She said proudly, gesturing broadly to the main room of the library, which was easily the size of a cathedral. It was filled with stacks of books nearly thirty feet high, with a clearing running down the center of the room filled with study desks and chairs. At the far end of the reading area was an arched doorway that was blocked off by a wrought-iron gate. Severus nodded in approval.
                “Impressive.” Severus said, turning back to Granger. She looked a little startled.
                “Oh, there’s much more! Would you like a tour?” She asked brightly. Severus nodded and she began leading him through the forest of desks.
                “This is the main reading area,” She said lowering her voice and speaking over her shoulder. “This is where the all of the books suited for a general audience are kept. But the good stuff’s through here!” She said pointing to the arched doorway. They finished walking across the expanse of carpeted floor, the sight of the hundreds of rows of books going past making his head spin. Approaching the gate, Granger tapped the lock with her wand three times and it swung outwards. She led him through and he was intrigued to see the corridor in which they stood appeared to spiral downwards in a great, slow arc. Torch sconces hung on the wall at intervals, making the shadows dance. Closing the gate behind them, Hermione turned back to him.
                “We can speak more loudly in here. This is what I like to call ‘The Gallery’,” She said as she gestured for him to follow as she started walking down the spiral. “I’ve heard you’re helping Harry with his project. I must say, I’m really grateful you’re helping him. He becomes quite despondent when he hits roadblocks. Is that why you’ve come, to research for it?” Severus wondered how the girl could breathe with the speed of her speech.
                “Yes, in fact. I was hoping to find some in-depth material on Werewolf physiology.” Severus informed her, looking about himself and sipping his coffee as they began passing doors of various shape, material, and size. Hermione nodded.
                “Yes, I thought you might be. I’ve expected you might stop by since he told me you agreed to help him. These rooms contain things that Ronald and I have collected in our travels, as well as many donated magical artifacts and special equipment. Some of it’s quite dangerous and rare. Most of the inventory on Werewolves has come from an American magical archaeologist I met in Canada, loads of really ancient, fascinating stuff.” Hermione eyes became more and more passionate the longer she spoke. Severus was awestruck by the things the aspiring young woman had accomplished since school. It struck such a stark contrast to Harry’s lifestyle, and yet it appeared that they were still close friends.
                “There’s a section on Werewolves farther down. The upper levels are the lesser security sections, generally dark magic spellbooks and harmless historical artifacts and things like that. Farther down the spiral is the dangerous bit, all cursed scrying bowls and mysterious weapons.” She looked positively ecstatic. They continued walking for a long while, Severus wondering just how far this spiraling tunnel went. The constant downward motion was disorienting him. He was starting to think that it was not so much the shape of a constant spiral, but a very, very, long nautilus shape. Finally, they reached a door that was made of dark wood with a wolf’s head carved from dark metal laid into it. Hermione tapped her wand on the door and It swung open inwards an inch or so. She swung it open with her arm and stood aside for Snape to go through.
                Snape was startled by the size of the room, with a tall arched ceiling and walls lined with glass display cases and bookshelves. Upon closer inspection, he supposed it was more accurate to call it a suite, as he noticed three entryways to other rooms.
                “This is incredible!” Severus exclaimed, staring around at the wealth of knowledge. Hermione beamed. “Has Harry been here?” A vague sadness flickered over the girl’s enthusiastic face.
                “He has, but only twice,” She said with a certain thoughtful look. “He’s been… not himself.” She paused and looked at him shrewdly. “You know about what he does for a living?” Severus nodded.
                “Yeah, he always hated it,” Hermione continued as she wandered absentmindedly about the room. “I didn’t mind so much because the constant running and manufacture and exchange of money kept him away from the stuff. In the last several months, though, he’s been slipping back to that place. His demeanor has been a little brighter this last week, since you’ve brought him some hope.” She paused in her speech and turned to look sternly at Severus. He found it unsettling to be on the receiving end of a stare he recalled giving countless students. “I don’t know what brought you two together, but I swear, if you get him started on drugs again, there’ll be hell to pay, Snape.”
                Severus was stunned, to say the least, by the young woman’s proclamation. However, he trusted in his knowledge of the shrewd Gryffindor. He knew that she was astute, and had a slyness befitting a Slytherin, but he also knew that she was loyal to Potter to the bone. He wondered what, specifically, she would do to protect him.
                She continued to stare at him, and Snape began to think this was some sort of test he needed to pass. As if, by meeting her eyes and not looking away, he could prove his sincerity. He stood his ground and returned the look.
                “I assure you, Mrs. Weasley,” Severus said delicately, “That providing a poor influence for Harry is the farthest thought from my mind. In fact, I’m rather hoping that he might be the positive influence I’ve recently realized that I need.”
                Hermione sighed and nodded as she turned and ran a hand along the spines of a row of books.
                “I didn’t think you would, intentionally, cause Harry any kind of harm,” She said quietly. “It’s just that his demons haunt him so. Perhaps I’m a little afraid of what will happen to him when he figures out this potion. He’s been working towards it ever since Teddy’s first transformation. Without a goal to strive towards, I fear he may fall into… old habits.”
                Snape considered her confession, admitting to himself that her anxiety was perfectly sensible and justified. He hadn’t even realized it, but ever since Harry had had to give him the detox potion and they had been working together, he’d hardly even considered using drugs again. He shuddered at the memory of the dark maelstrom his life had been becoming previously, and at the fact that he hadn’t even considered what he was going to do after he and Harry finished working together. Suddenly he found himself holding Hermione’s fears for Harry as his own fears for himself.
                He held no delusions about the feelings he had started to have for Harry. He found them impossible to keep at bay and he instead opted to fully acknowledge them to himself. But he also held no delusions about the unlikelihood of those feelings ever being returned. He was not blind to reality. He knew himself as ill-tempered, cantankerous, and prone to bouts of crippling depression. Severus had never considered himself to be desirable company, and had not once entertained the thought that he and Harry might end up together. Hell, he didn’t even know Potter well enough to know if he liked men. He had let himself bask in the glow of his feelings this morning, but it now dawned on him just how much that would be setting himself up for disappointment.
                He did, however, know that he and Harry had developed some kind of functional friendship. Severus hadn’t before considered that it mightn’t last if their work was ever completed.
                Severus realized that Hermione was looking at him steadily as he had been gazing off into the distance. She seemed to realize that he wouldn’t, or couldn’t, tell her the things he was thinking, because she just nodded and moved towards the door.
                “We don’t typically let people borrow things from the Gallery,” She said, pausing in the doorway. “But I’ll allow you to take any books you need with you, given you’re very careful with them. Just… know that I have hope that you will be able to help him where the rest of us failed.” She gave him one more penetrating look before turning to leave.
                Whether she’d been referring to the Wolfsbane potion, or to Harry’s tumultuous emotional state, Severus could only guess.
***

                Five hours later saw Severus elbow-deep in stacks of books and pages upon pages of notes. He had not stopped being awed by the amount of information available since he’d picked up the first hefty tome. Besides written information, there had been ancient weapons, ceremonial tools, and skeletons of various stages of Werewolf transformations in the display cases. His hair was slightly wild from running his hands through it, his ponytail long since undone and the strap tied around one wrist. He’d made some interesting discoveries, but was not sure what to make of them and desired to discuss them with Harry before he made any conclusions as to needed experimentation.
He cast a Tempus and noted he was meant to be at Harry’s in about two hours. As if knowing he had checked the time, his stomach growled like an angry animal and he realized he hadn’t eaten since the day before.
                Packing his notes into a folder and choosing which books he was taking, Severus returned the remaining books to their shelves with a flick of his wand. He tied his hair back once again, and hoisted up his load of books after charming them to be light enough to manage. After making the journey back up the massive spiral tunnel, somehow shorter the second time around, he once again met Hermione. She smiled at him as she had when he’d first arrived; as though they’d never had a serious private conversation at any point that day. She gave him a paper bag that had been charmed to be larger on the inside, and helped him settle the priceless books into it. After folding the top closed, she tapped her wand on the top and cast a spell to weatherproof the outside of the paper.
                Hesitantly, Severus held his hand out, and with a look of mild surprise, Hermione shook it.
                “Thank you for your help, Miss G—Mrs. Weasley,” Severus said smiling as he caught his slip-up. “I know you’re worried about Harry. If he’ll let me, I’ll do whatever I can to help him.” Hermione smiled, and her eyes filled with what Severus could only call tiredness.
                “That’s all any of us can do,” She said quietly. “Goodbye. I hope you’ll visit again soon. Try to bring Harry when you do. He doesn’t get out in the daytime often enough.” Severus nodded and walked away, feeling the young woman’s eyes on his back as he did.
***
                Outside in the alley, Severus felt his good mood of the morning cautiously returning as he made his way down the alley. His thoughts strayed back to his hunger, and he recalled with a shudder the close proximity he bore to the Thieving Magpie, the seedy bar he’d avoided since he’d met Harry there. Some unwanted compulsion urged him to go there and see what he’d find, but the logical part of him warred against it and he wondered how long it had been lurking there. He thought maybe it had been his conversation with Hermione that had triggered the thought, but something told him it had been hiding in the recesses of his mind since the last time he’d used anything.
                Trying to wrench his mind away from thoughts of temptation, Severus shook his head slightly and Apparated, only slightly disorientated when he arrived in the back the Leaky Cauldron. Tapping his wand on the wall, he entered Diagon Alley, steering his feet with determination. He decided he was simply going to Harry’s early and asking if he cared to get something to eat before they started working; perhaps being alone was not what he needed at the moment. He made his way to Knockturn Alley and, walking with stealth though he was not entirely sure why, made his way to Harry’s apartment. He knocked, and the answer was a surprisingly long time in coming. Just as he was about to knock again, however, the door opened a crack, and Harry’s pale green eyes peered through.
                He looked surprised, pleasantly, to see Severus, and opened the door enough so he could enter, but so it still shielded Harry from view. Curious, Snape stepped inside and turned as he heard the door close. His eyes widened at the sight that greeted him.
                Harry’s hair was dripping, and he was holding a toothbrush in one hand and clutching a towel around his waist with the other. Since they had met again a week ago, Severus had not seen more of the young man’s skin than his head and hands, and he was stunned by Harry’s body. He was lightly toned but not overly muscular and was beautifully pale. The breadth of his shoulders and chest perfectly complimented the shape of his arms and the slimness of his hips. His attractiveness, however, was not what Snape found so entrancing. It was the incredible tattoo that wound down both of his arms and around his shoulders. Severus couldn’t see Harry’s back, but he suspected it covered that as well.
                The tattoo was not like any he’d ever seen in the past. It was stationary in Harry’s skin, but Severus could practically feel the magic emanating from it and could see a faint glow in the ink. Besides its clear magical energy, the artistic style was intense to behold. The tops of his shoulders depicted spiraling geometric shapes and fractals, their structure degrading as they wound down his arms to become flowing shapes and sketch-like lines interspersed with animals and celestial designs done in imitation of watercolour painting. All of the colours used were dark, some areas, like his shoulders, devoid of colour altogether and tattooed in grey shading.
                “You’re early,” Harry said, snapping Severus out of his reverie. He looked up to see a small smile of amusement on Harry’s face.
                “Yes, sorry about that,” Severus said, heat rising in the back of his neck. “I came ‘round to see if you’d like to grab something to eat before working.” He was finding it incredibly difficult not to stare at Harry’s tattoo.
                “Ah, yes! I’m starving,” Harry exclaimed. “Let me just get dressed.” Harry mumbled, as he had stuck his toothbrush back into his mouth.
                As Harry walked away down the short hall, Severus saw that the tattoo did indeed continue down Harry’s back. The shapes on his shoulders again turned into different designs the further down they went, and in the middle of Harry’s shoulder blades, Severus saw depicted the image of a placid face, not unlike Buddha statues he’d seen, but more feminine. Underneath were some kind of symbols he wasn’t familiar with running down the rest of Harry’s spine. Around the face were more colourful paint-like areas, but these resembled galaxies and nebulas and dying stars. Snape was once again entranced, and only Harry turning into his bedroom at the end of the hall brought him back to present.
                After a moment of collecting himself, Severus let himself into the laboratory and deposited his sack of books and papers in an armchair. Looking around, he noticed a multitude of scrolls of parchment and open books and quills littered around the floor in a wide semicircle, as though Harry had been sitting in the middle of the floor working. He moved to stand where Harry must have sat and crouched down to inspect the work.
                Harry’s notes seemed disorganized and barely coherent at first, but then Severus noticed a complex and structured pattern in the apparent chaos. He had obviously developed some kind of system. Severus thought it impressive, but an unusual way of doing things.
                At that moment Harry walked in, his hair only slightly drier and fully covered again, to Severus’ inward dismay. He did notice, however, that Harry’s knuckles appeared to have been bloodied, and there were three parallel scratch marks on the side of his neck.
                “What happened?” Severus asked immediately, standing and moving to look closer at Harry’s neck. Harry sighed and, though Severus did not see it, probably rolled his eyes.
                “Nothing. Really!” He insisted at Severus unbelieving look. “Just hit trouble with some lady having fits. She tried, very poorly, to rob me. Honestly wouldn’t have been a problem but she was a bit crazed and I don’t think her hexes were coming out quite like she expected. In the end I just disarmed her and took her down a notch the Muggle way.” He held up his hands in fists with a smile, and made a joking punching movement towards Severus. Severus just frowned.
                “Are your occupational dealings usually that hazardous?” Snape muttered as he tried to inspect the scratches on Harry’s neck more closely. Harry just continued smiling and leaned his head over to let Severus look. “You’ve not even put anything on them.”
                “Well I haven’t quite gotten there yet,” Harry said, as though it should be obvious. “I’d only just gotten home before I stepped into the shower.” Severus met Harry’s eyes and realized they were filled with a sort of puzzled amusement. “Why are you so worried anyway? It’s only some scratches.”
                Severus huffed, and stood back, folding his arms over his chest.
                “And if it had been more dangerous?”
                “I’ve dealt with a lot worse, Snape,” Harry sighed and he appeared to have to refrain from rolling his eyes. He moved over to the cabinet where he had pulled the bottle from when he’d cut his finger. He pulled out a clear bottle of a healing ointment Severus recognized. Harry poured some into his palm and delicately spread some along the scratches and his battered knuckles.
                “Hmm. Be that as it may, you ought to be more careful,” Severus said, “Or at least be more selective with your clientele.” Harry looked at him as though he thought Severus was completely daft.
                “I’m a drug dealer,” He stated frankly, like it was something that Severus might not have realized.
                “And?” Snape said as he approached and inspected Harry’s treatment of the wounds. “You can make fancy drugs to sell to rich people, who don’t go about attacking their dealers.” Harry sighed for what Severus swore was the hundredth time.
                “Those types of drug users like to have a certain kind of relationship with their dealer,” Harry said edgily, as though losing his patience. “They want to know who I am, to invite me into their circles. They live in some wonderful fantasy land reserved for wealthy escapists. But I’m not quite that kind of businessman.”
                Severus was baffled to say the least.
                “I don’t understand,” Severus said softly, as he looked into Harry’s sea-coloured eyes.
                “I am selective with my clientele,” Harry began, and had to pause as he thought. “Do you think I would have actually given you Muggle heroin the night you first came to me? Of course not, I knew that you weren’t really a great evil bastard like the students at Hogwarts always thought. I wanted to help you. I don’t want to hurt anyone, or anyone good at least. Some people deserve what they get. What I mean is…” Harry paused as he stared into Severus’ eyes, and absently rubbed his neck where the scratches had been. He seemed to not be able to articulate what he wanted to say, and his face twisted slightly in frustration.
  “Surely, you know what it’s like, to see people lost in desperation,” Harry said finally, seeming to sort out his thoughts. “You’ve seen the things they’ll resort to. You can tell if they’re doing it because they’re good people lost in a horrible world, or because they’re terrible people who just have to find cunning new ways of being terrible. I can tell, anyway. Take your own godson, for example. He wasn’t a terrible person. He was just desperate. It took me a long time to see that, but when I did I realized that no one person does rash things like sell drugs, for fuck’s sake, for the same reason as the next person. Even with me, do you think I want to do this? There are a lot of things that I’ve done in the last six years that I’m still trying like hell to fix. I know you know what that’s like.”
  Severus was stunned, by Harry’s intense speech. Of course, all of it was true, and surely by this point he’d realized Potter capable of grasping these harsh realities of human condition. It was just so much like a slap in the face to be reminded of them so bluntly. His mood of the morning seemed like a distant and childish thing.
                “Of course, I know,” Severus said, trying to seem regretful of his previous words. “I know exactly what you mean. That, sometimes, the things you have to do to make up for your mistakes are not exactly pleasant or harmless to others?” Harry nodded. Severus couldn’t help but feel like there were several critical pieces of Harry’s story he had yet to learn before this all made sense. Then again, his own life probably appeared that way to Harry.
                “I’m sorry,” Severus said, “If I was presumptuous. I was just worried about you, getting hurt.” He felt it a rather lame response to everything Harry had just told him, but he felt that there was not much else he could say. To Snape’s surprise, Harry grinned widely.
                “No worries,” Harry said firmly. They both startled as Snape’s stomach growled for the second time that day. Their eyes met and Severus saw a huge smile sparkling within Harry’s eyes. He felt heat rise to his face.
                “So, how about that dinner?” Harry said, clearly trying not to laugh as he moved to hold the door open for Severus.
- 3
- 4
- 5
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

Vices