Chasing Moonbeams. Ch14.

[pekeleke]

Title: Chasing Moonbeams.
Author: pekeleke
Pairing(s): Severus Snape/Harry Potter
Rating: NC-17, eventually.
Length: 82K+
Warnings: Extremely Slow burn. Pre-slash to slash. Enemies to friends to lovers. Pinning!Harry. Oblivious!Severus. Implied Bottom!Severus. EWE.
Disclaimer: Don't own these characters. I make no profit from writing fanfiction.
Summary: “Really?” Harry beams, green eyes wide and full of wonder. “You’re going to let me snog you to my heart’s content?”

“Of course not.” Severus replies contrarily, curling elegant digits around the brat’s neck and tugging him down low enough for a quick and dirty kiss before the Savior has a chance to protest. “I’m going to let you snog me to my heart’s content, Potter.”

Chapter 14

 

Potter’s bakery is lovely indeed, and their cranberry scones even more so. Severus hasn’t been to a public tea house since the end of the war and, even before that, he’d never been a particular fan of such establishments. It’s strange then how much the experience delights him. He has become fond of things he’d never enjoyed before just because they’re openly denied to him in the postwar world he’s so thoroughly trapped in, alongside with the rest of his Slytherins.

Potter hides a fond smile behind the overly floral patterned teacup he is holding up like a shield, and Severus wonders why the Auror feels the need to put so much effort into trying to hide such innocuous emotion. They’ve been sitting here for about an hour now, having spent the first twenty minutes or so perusing their menus, placing their orders and exchanging a few pleasantries about the weather while they’d waited to be served. The unbearable awkwardness of trying to fill the growing silence with something they both find interesting eased just a tad with the arrival of their beverages and Potter had even laughed at Severus’s shocked expression when he’d first tasted the scones.

“Good. Aren’t they?” Potter had asked, restless fingertips mangling an embossed napkin for no good reason Severus could see. He’d hummed in agreement, too busy chewing to dare answering verbally, and they’d fallen into a different sort of silence. One that felt peaceful instead of suffocating. One that had allowed Severus’s tense shoulders to relax the smallest inch.

Now they’re both on their second cup of tea, scones long gone from the crumb-filled plate between them, and Severus feels the need to break the quiet. They can’t possibly build a friendship out of unvoiced words and wary staring. There must be something they share other than memories of the war, of Hogwarts, of their equally unhappy childhoods. Despite Blaise’s insistence that Potter is looking to get closer to his mother via him, Severus doesn’t feel comfortable bringing up Lily. Not yet. Maybe not ever. Lily is a wound that cut him deeply and, although he can understand Potter’s curiosity about her, Severus doesn’t know if he’ll ever be able to indulge it.

“I’d bet Narcissa Malfoy would love this place,” Potter says suddenly, commanding his attention with an ease that Severus finds mildly disturbing.

“She would. Narcissa is very fond of floral-patterned crockery.”

“Is she now?” Potter laughs, “Somehow I imagined her preferring plain colored cups. The kind with that posh silver rim on them. Andromeda likes those.”

“Mrs. Tonks is a pragmatic woman, while Narcissa has always been fond of flowers. She earned a mastery in Herbology after Hogwarts. The manor’s gardens are famous across Europe for their magnificence.”

“That explains how Malfoy knows everything worth knowing about potion ingredients. I bet his mum planted the lot in those awesome gardens of hers.”

“Not every potion ingredient is plant-based, Potter. Draco had a very strict tutor when he was young.”

“You mean you?” Potter asks dryly and reclines easily against the backrest of his chair even as his relaxed smile dims a bit when Severus inclines his head in confirmation, “Gosh! What a lucky bastard. He learned how to bottle fame, brew glory, and bloody put a stopper in death before he was eleven.”

“None of that knowledge helped save him from the trials he now faces.”

“You mean the disgruntled staring and the insults people throw his way every time he goes out?

“It’s more than that, Potter. Sometimes there are curses involved. He’s ended up in St. Mungo's a time or two, and he is not the only one.”

“That’s rough.”

“It’s worse than ‘rough.’ It’s systematic discrimination. Draco couldn’t find a single British master willing to take him on after Hogwarts. He was forced to pursue higher education abroad. He is the most accomplished curse-breaker of his generation, yet Gringotts refuses to hire him, and the same can be said for the Ministry of Magic. My godson is currently employed by the German version of the DMLE and must travel by port-key across half of Europe daily. His mother is understandably terrified that some strapping foreigner named Ernst or Hans will manage to catch his eye one of these days, and Draco will simply fail to return home.”

“Why don’t they move over there, then? I’m sure they have property in Germany.”

“Why should they move? They were both exonerated, Potter. They’re born and bred British citizens. They have every right to remain here. All of us have, yet that doesn’t count for anything.”

“Hey, I wasn't trying to suggest you all should leave, I was merely wondering why you haven't. It may sound to you like I don't care, but I do. I know what's happening to the Slytherins isn't fair, Snape,” Potter says earnestly. “This is not the world I died to save. Not by a long shot.”

“Then why don’t you change it?”

“Because I can’t. I’m only me. And a one-man army isn’t enough to change the world. Dumbledore would have managed it ages ago if it was possible.”

Severus ruminates on that thought. He’s inclined to agree with it, to embrace it even. But this is Harry Potter they’re talking about. The boy has the sort of appeal among the public that Albus never had. Where Albus was a leader who often demanded blind faith and delivered aid only to the worthy. Potter is merciful across the board. He helps others for the sake of helping them and rarely makes unreasonable demands; that makes him the sort of man others look blindly up to. The type who could change the world single-handedly indeed if he ever bothers to try.

“I didn’t realize Malfoy was DMLE. I thought he’d studied potions. Merlin knows he was a damned good brewer.” Potter offers quietly after a while, signaling the waiter to bring them another pot of tea.

“Draco excels at many things, but his heart was never in potions. He wished to please me by shinning in my field of choice up to a certain point, but the sentimental fool never wanted to surpass me. Now we’ll never know what the world would have looked like if he’d followed in my footsteps. Merlin knows the boy has enough imagination to birth at least one miracle.”

“I’ve never heard you talk like that about anyone before,” Potter says gruffly, and Severus’ gaze shifts from his absentminded contemplation of the floral design so carefully etched onto his delicate cup to the unnervingly intense expression plastered all over the Savior's face.

“I’ve never been particularly impressed by anyone of your acquaintance. You tend to surround yourself with Gryffindors, Potter. It’s not my fault that you’ve got terrible taste.”

The brat laughs easily. He smiles easily too. Genuinely. Warmly. Severus doesn’t know what to make of it, this ease with which Potter accepts him as if there’s nothing on earth Severus could possibly say that would turn him away.

“I think you’re biased. You need to give us, lions, a chance. Who knows? We might surprise you.”

“You might.” Severus smirks, “But I wouldn’t hold my breath if I were you.” Potter snorts inelegantly while Severus serves himself another cup of tea and begins to sip it quietly. He is pleased with their banter. Once upon a time, playful house rivalry had laid the foundation for his current friendship with Minerva, and look how far they’ve both come. Severus may never grow that close to Harry Potter, but he doesn’t have to do so. The savior will move on eventually, become busier as he marries his motherly maniac and raises a gaggle of children, as he climbs up the Ministry ladder. Severus will be perfectly content watching him shine from the sidelines, especially if he has reason to believe he’d have the boy’s ear should the occasion call for it.

“Well. I like you, Snape, so my taste can’t be that bad.”

Severus hums noncommittally, unable to come up with a reasonable response. Potter studies him intensely for a long time, allowing a strangely charged silence to fill the space between them. Severus can’t figure out why the brat seeks his praise, but it’s patently clear that he does. Potter is out of luck, though. Because Severus may admire a quality of his here and there, but he doesn’t like the boy, and he is not willing to lie about it now that they’ve exposed their cards to one another. He holds his peace and the moment grows heavy, spinning around them with a thousand unsaid things. Eventually, Severus places his teacup back onto its saucer and pushes away from the table. He’s had enough tea for now. It’s time to head back home.


Next.

Back.

 

Comments

[teryarel]

Interesting chapter. I, just like Harry, would have thought that Draco would become a Potions Master - not because I believe it's what he would like to do or be good at, but because I've read so many stories where he did, that it just became 'normal'. It's nice that he would choose a different career in your story. So, if he'd be able to work for the Ministry, would he have become an Auror like Harry? They might even be colleagues. Wow.

Strange that there are no repercussions for hexing Slytherins. Do the Aurors turn their heads the other way, too?

You made my mouth water with those scones and tea, though. And flowery cups! I love those - for me that's somehow typically British.

Once upon a time, playful house rivalry had laid the foundation for his current friendship with Minerva, and look how far they’ve both come. Severus may never grow that close to Harry Potter, but he doesn’t have to do so. The savior will move on eventually, become busier as he marries his motherly maniac and raises a gaggle of children, as he climbs up the Ministry ladder. Severus will be perfectly content watching him shine from the sidelines, especially if he has reason to believe he’d have the boy’s ear should the occasion call for it.
Well, there's Severus going on again. He starts off so good and then it just gets hilariously wrong. I do feel bad for being so mean. After all, I do know where all this will eventually lead to. Poor Severus. :D (Severus, hurry up already! What will it take for you to fall in love?! Yes, yes, be patient, she'll say...)

[pekeleke]

I, too, have read loads of stories where Draco ends up studying potions. He was very good at them during school, so I can see why most fandom authors go with that as his career of choice. Yes, he would definitely be an auror if he was allowed to work in the Ministry. He is an auror in Germany now, so he'd have been one in Britain. I doubt he and Harry would have ended up working together since Draco is a curse breaker and Harry is on neighborhood watch. I can't imagine the Auror department wasting a gifted curse breaker on such a low profile beat. They'd have kept Draco busy with all the dark-magic-related cases. :)

Of course there should be repercussions for hexing Slytherins, at least on paper, but, unfortunately, there is a huge difference between what's legal and what's allowed in societies where discrimination is encouraged at every possible level. There can't ever be justice for the downtrodden if the Aurors don't show up. Or the 'crime' is never reported. Or the people who witnessed it refuse to confirm the victim's version of events.

"He starts off so good and then it just gets hilariously wrong. I do feel bad for being so mean. After all, I do know where all this will eventually lead to. Poor Severus. :D" Oh, don't worry. I had great fun writing all his oblivious little thoughts, and I don't feel bad for that at all. It is hilarious. It's meant to be hilarious. And it's made all the funnier precisely because we know what's coming his way, so go ahead, and give yourself permission to laugh at Severus's silliness. He'll forgive us, I'm sure. Especially once he realizes he can have Harry Potter kissing his ruffled feathers better. :)

" (Severus, hurry up already! What will it take for you to fall in love?! Yes, yes, be patient, she'll say...)" LOL. Yes, BE PATIENT is exactly what she says. :D :D :D

Thanks, as always, for taking the time to both read and review another chapter of this story, teryarel. Your kind and lovely comment left me grinning from ear to ear. :)

[teryarel]

He is an auror in Germany now, so he'd have been one in Britain. I doubt he and Harry would have ended up working together since Draco is a curse breaker and Harry is on neighborhood watch.
Well, what can I say, at least the Germans have good taste. And brains. I mean I could be persuaded to take Draco, after all, even though he is so not my type... Only because of his skills as a curse breaker, of course. ;)

LOL. Yes, BE PATIENT is exactly what she says. :D :D :D
See, I knew it. :P At least you're enjoying yourself.