Towards High Ground.

[pekeleke]

Title: Towards High Ground.

Fandom: Harry potter (Snarry)

Characters: Harry Potter, Severus Snape.

Author: pekeleke.

Rating: G.

Word count: 1012.

Disclaimer: Don't own these characters. No money is being made out of this work.

A/N: Unbetaed. Written for the adventdrabbles 2012 Prompt 14: Naughty or nice.

This is the fourteenth part in my Seeking Home series.

Summary: Temptation has green eyes and speaks of love so sweetly...

 

Towards High Ground.

Harry leaned against the doorway of Severus' office and smiled, allowing himself the pleasure of admiring that rail-thin form to his heart's content. Severus was nose-deep in a thick tome that looked as old as Hogwarts. There were hastily scribbled notes all over his desk and he was scowling so hard that his eyebrows had merged into a single line of scornful disapproval. His hand flew across the pages, mercilessly crossing out one sentence after another while mumbling under his breath:
“-The Flat Capped Shetland Mushroom will stabilize the hydrophobic properties of any base combining Arabian fig and Sage...- Preposterous!  Absolutely insane!  It's no wonder he burnt himself to a crisp twenty six times in fifteen years...”

 

Harry couldn't help it and burst out laughing. Severus jerked upright, turning startled dark eyes towards the door.
“Harry... I wasn't expecting you so soon. Didn't you say you'd be shopping with Weasley all afternoon?”

 

“Turns out I didn't need to buy as much as I thought.”

 

“Oh! I'm glad. That means you can save me from Minerva. She's been trying to convince me to have a chat with her since she found out that I'm supposed to be alone for the evening. I was attempting to look busy, in case she decided to floo with a more direct offer.”

 

“You certainly looked engrossed in your work. Watching you just now was so strange... I've read the little notes you scribble on the margin of your books before, but I never seen you write them. It feels like I've finally found the elusive half-blood Prince...”

 

Severus shifted uncomfortably.
“Don't remind me of that ridiculous nickname, please. I was a misfit in my own house back then, buried deep under a ton of bigoted blood-lore. Pure bloods, particularly in those days, were very hard on hybrids like me. I was obsessed with proving that I belonged among them. The Princes are a very old and respected family. One that rejected both my mother and myself long before I ever came to school. My attempt to hold onto their legacy was a childish dismissal of the one decision that turned her into the only Prince who ever walked away. I shouldn't have tried to undo that”

 

Harry sat on the chair in front of Severus' desk. His mind buzzed with the unpleasant realization that this particular tale didn't have a happy ending.
“They didn't want you, did they?”

 

“It's not as tragic as it sounds, Harry. By the time I got to meet Claudius Prince I didn't want them, either. He was a harsh old man who couldn't hold his tongue and I... I was a hotheaded youth with a chip the size of Hogwarts on my shoulder. I didn't react well to his brutal criticism of my mother's choices, you see? Both of us refused to grant the courtesy of... silence... to one another and that lead us down a path of further estrangement.”

 

“There's so much I still don't know about you... I didn't know you have living relatives. I never imagined you to be anything other than the poster-child for the slytherin house until now. I can picture you giving Slughorn a hard time in potion class, but I can't honestly see you quivering under Minerva's stern gaze. I cant' even tell if you were naughty or nice as a schoolboy...”

 

Severus looked scandalized:
“I haven't been naughty in my entire life, Potter!”

 

Shocked silence followed that annoyed declaration as they registered at the same time the unfortunate double meaning that could be attached to the words. Harry laughed with wicked delight and his eyes racked Severus from head to toes:
“You haven't? That's a... tragedy, my love. No one should reach your age without having been at least a little naughty...”

 

Severus blushed adorably and Harry simply melted on the spot.
“Now you're playing ridiculous word-games”

 

“I like playing games with you. I love seeing you flustered. It makes me feel accomplished, you see?  I don't think there are many people who can make you blush, Severus.”

 

“Harry...”

 

“Why don't you come with me to the West tower?. Let me show you the place I go to think about you. Let's watch the sun sink into the lake together, just like I've dreamed... Let me show you the first light of Venus as it rises across the darkening sky. Let's hold hands under the stars and kiss like a pair of teenagers...”

 

“We're not teenagers. We're professors of this institution and Minerva might be calling very soon. I've already told you that she's been trying to get me into her office.”

 

Harry shifted eagerly forwards, green eyes shining like a beacon of temptation:
“So? You don't really want to chat with her. Let's be naughty for one night and escape the Headmistress together. I'm sure she'll understand. This is our vacation, too. We've got every right in the world to enjoy it. Come on, Severus... let me take you up to the tower and show you how Hogwarts unfolds its beauty for the eyes of those willing to see it through rose-tinted spectacles...”

 

“You tempt me, Harry. You tempt me so much... But I've learned the hard way that surrendering to temptation is a weakness I can't afford”

 

Harry smiled softly, reaching out across the cluttered desk to grab Severus' right hand. Their fingers interlocked, clinging to one another's in the building silence, and Harry's voice softened with utter gentleness when he whispered quietly:
“I want to be your weakness, yes. But also your strength, Severus. There's no offer of mine that I'm willing to leave unsatisfied. I want us to be equally lost, my love. Equally unbalanced. I want us to be weak together, strong together. I want us to kiss and cry and laugh and love and be naughty or nice together. I want us to become inseparable, indivisible. I want us to believe that we'll always be like this, exactly like this, until we've been together for so long that neither of us can remember our life without the other...

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