Despite It All.

[pekeleke]

Title: Despite It All.

Author: pekeleke

Characters: Harry Potter, Severus Snape.

Rating: PG

Warning(s): None.

Word count: 365

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

Written for: hogwarts365 Prompt #3 – Millicent Bulstrode.

Summary: Love doesn't follow rules. It doesn't listen to reason. It takes root wherever it wants to and it blooms despite it all...
 

Despite It All.

 

“Come on, Severus, don't be so shy about it. This is supposed to be fun.”

Severus snorted.
“How can you believe this ridiculous nonsense? Millicent Bulstrode is not an expert in relationships, Harry. She used her father's money to land her job in the Prophet, for Merlin's sake!”

“That doesn't make her advice any less sound. Finding out what kind of things you admire the most about me makes sense, Severus.”

“Millicent's questionnaires are intrusive, unhelpful and positively misleading. Love doesn't follow some ridiculous list of 'steps' and should never be measured by the random rules set forth by the Prophet's self-proclaimed agony-aunt.”

“Now I know you're stalling. What could you possibly like about me that is so embarrassing you'd feel the need to hide it?”

“'I'm not hiding anything, Potter!”

“Prove it, then. Tell me what you like best about me.”

Severus sighed warily before delivering a truly devastating answer with flat-toned brutality:
“I don't like anything about you.”

Harry gasped with shock:
“You must be joking.”

“I'm being perfectly serious.”

“But... we've been together for three years!“

“So? I haven't changed personality in that time and neither have you. I like serious, driven men who enjoy books, potions, the theater... I like calm, methodical people who actually understand the concept of privacy, Harry. You play Quidditch for a living because it's 'fun'. You read nothing but love-questionnaires, confide our private business to every bloody Weasley under the sun and wouldn't enjoy potions even if they tickled you...”

Harry lowered his gaze, looking utterly heartbroken.
“But... I thought you loved me.”

“I do.”

“That can't be true. How can you possibly love me when you don't like anything about me?”

“I don't know. I shouldn't love you, but I do. We've got nothing in common, Harry. Nothing. We're distressingly incompatible in every possible way and yet... I'm drawn to you. I miss you when you are not here. I'd have been bored to tears with a man like myself.”

“You'd have been compatible, though.”

“Compatibility isn't love. It's a number on a paper.”

“So... you love me despite my failings?”

“There are no 'failings' or 'reasons' involved, Harry. I love you because I do."

 

Comments

[saevio_semper]

As soon as "like" was said, I hoped he was making a point regarding love. Of course there are things he likes, but he may also justify leaving them out as he rather loves those things.

It is nice to see someone address why Severus wants Harry. So often his focus is physical and develops into habit or reaction to being liked rather than an actual appreciation for Harry as a person. The intellectual gap in particular never seems to be addressed.

I want to read this making it up to him for his harshness in making his point. Sounds hot. :P

[pekeleke]

Hello there

I must confess that I was shocked, but honestly glad to see you here. I've received your PM's and I'm planning to respond to them as soon as I get the time to sit with them and think properly about your questions. I don't want to offer you a rushed answer, you know? Thank you for contacting me once again. It was thoroughly unexpected but not unwelcome. :)

Now, regarding this comment... I think there must be about a million things that Severus loves about Harry, but I doubt he considers 'liking' them a good enough description for his own emotions. He's a man of strong passions, isn't he?

He probably wanted to acknowledge the strength of his own affection to Harry, hoping to make his lover understand just how difficult love really is to define. Most of us love others just because we do, it's really that simple when we look at it, deep down.

I'm thrilled that you enjoyed this particular drabble. Thanks so much for taking the time to both read and review. Your wonderfully insightful comment was greatly appreciated.

Sincerely
pekeleke