“Cherry Iced Tea With a Sprig of Mistletoe”
By: SephirothG (Miri-chan)
Genre: Harry Potter (slash)
Pairing: Severus x Harry
Eventual Rating: NC-17
NOTES: Can Severus pull away from his “Scrooge” attitude for Christmas and find the time to fall in love…? YAOI I don’t own these characters. Don’t sue me.
Part 1-Christmas Tea
Winter and Christmas came upon the wizarding world in a flurry of snow and sparkling decorations. In a smattering of brightly colored ribbons, and flashing lights, it fell upon the world as if a fat lady had gotten herself drunk, covered herself in colorful ribbons, and passed out. Snow gathered itself upon the ground, creating slippery walkways and sparkling icicles that bearded themselves from railings. Christmas trees were decorated, glittering balls of magic precariously balanced on frail limbs, and angels placed carefully on pointy, green tops.
Then there were the magical tricks, the floating, iridescent bubbles of glitter floating just in reach over the shops, and the candles that never burnt out.
Cafes were open all the time, visitors retreating to the warm havens with their friends to drink rich coffee and cocoa, resting between a bit of holiday shopping. Glowing windows showed the shadows of wizards laughing and bringing their cups to lips warmed by the words passing them, a particularly poignant show of humanity.
A man slipped through the crowd of people, listening to them chatter as he walked purposefully towards his destination. Black eyes stared at the ground as his boots clicked against the cobblestones, and the chatter around him was annoying.
“…what did you get for your son…Christmas? Oh, it’s very nice…cold, don’t you think?” All of the voices blended together, and he was unable to separate them in his head. Nor did he care. Christmas was a holiday that was empty, a lonely time for ones who didn’t have people to go home to. “…no, no, I definitely think I saw him! He was down there somewhere, wasn’t he? I don’t think so, that’s the color for you…no, I can’t get you those robes. I already got you those books, don’t you…” He gritted his teeth ever so slightly, and reminded himself why he stayed back at Hogwarts.
All he had to do was get that ingredient, and he’d be free of this drivel. He was going to make a potion that would help him to sleep, and pass all this loneliness by. He bitterly watched his boots. That Silovr weed would add the final touches to the sleeping potion, and then he’d be all right. He sighed deeply, and then he crashed abruptly into a youth.
“HEY!” Both of them tripped over each other, and crashed to the cobbled ground with a loud bang. He abruptly looked down, and then the youth looked up at him from the ground. Green eyes…black hair…that dainty, pale face…his mind reeled from shock. “PROFESSOR!?” The youth yelled in shock at him, and he scrambled out from underneath his former teacher. They stared at each other in shock, a long silence between them as the chatter around remained.
“Hello, Potter.” Dark, black eyes met stunningly green ones, and Harry Potter stood up, brushing himself off. He hesitated, and then extended a hand to his former teacher.
“Professor Snape…I didn’t know that you came down here very often…” his voice was soft, tinged with a bit of suspicion, as Severus Snape took his student’s hand and hoisted himself off the ground. “What brings you here?”
“Nothing,” Snape said, abruptly, not wanting to speak of his intentions to his student. There was something from the honesty in Harry’s voice-the softness; the boyishness gone-that drew him to the tall teenager standing before him.
“Really? You look sort of stressed…” Harry shoved his hands into his pockets, and glanced at someone who brushed by him with a crackle of paper bag. “It’s been a while since I saw you.” A flicker going through his green eyes showed that he hadn’t approved of their last meeting, but he was only making polite conversation. Snape knew the feeling from his many years upon the earth-a pensive, short conversation only proving to tell that they had nothing between them in the first place.
The last time they had met was at the graduation at Hogwarts, a short meeting in which all the teachers met the graduating students. Harry had stood in front of Snape, looking at him with a fake smile as he said good-bye. Severus had gazed at him thoughtfully, knowing that he was going to say good-bye to the one person whom resembled one of his best friends-and he hadn’t even tried to get on good terms with him. Harry had stared at him blankly as he hadn’t answered-and finally he just left, and Snape had ended up standing there cursing his inability to say anything.
“Professor?” He was jolted back into the present, and his dark eyes looked back up at Harry.
“Yes?” He brushed back a silken lock of black hair, having washed his hair this morning down in the Prefects’ bath, while there weren’t any students wandering. Ever since Harry’s class had graduated, the school had become as dull as any other wizarding school, quiet and uneventful. Severus almost missed the uproar he and Ron Weasley, along with Draco Malfoy, whom mostly antagonized the two, caused.
“Are you all right?” His soft voice broke through his thoughts again, and Severus nodded a bit. He looked up and saw a smile on Harry’s lips. A chill went down his spine, and he raised an eyebrow.
“So what’ve you doing with yourself lately?” Severus asked, almost pointedly. Harry shifted a bit on his feet, remembering the times of ridicule for his supposed “fame” during class. Snape looked at him for a moment during his silence, and then he shook his head. “It’s different now you’ve graduated. I am not going to tell you that you’re a twit.” Harry adjusted his glasses and smiled a bit, taking the invitation willingly.
“I’ve gotten chosen for the new Quidditch team from England…seeker, again,” he brushed his hair back with his right hand. Severus’ eyes watched his fingertips, analyzing the movement. “Malfoy was chosen to be on another team…” He made a faint attempt to impress his teacher, since Draco Malfoy was his favorite student.
“But what about you?” Severus’ voice was purely, honestly interested in his former student, and Harry glanced at him in surprise, a warm expression creeping into his eyes. Had his former teacher truly changed? He took his hands out of his pockets, a form of defensiveness he had adopted from Ron.
“Ah…well, the team’s great. It’s a lot of fun to play with them.” Harry’s voice went from cool and polite to something more conversational, and Severus’ lip twitched a little in a slight smile. The light victory of getting Harry to talk had been easy-he had thought it to be a challenge, but it was simple to break through his former student’s defensive barriers. “I love learning from them…Oliver really never detailed what he was supposed to teach us. I guess he prepared me well, though.”
A cool wind blew through the alley, and Harry squinted a bit, since the wind got into his eyes. Severus noted the cold, and he gazed at Harry levelly as an idea occurred to him. “Why don’t we go and get a drink? It’s uncomfortable standing out here in the cold.” Snape studied him, staring lightly at the flush on his cheeks. “You look like you’ve been out here for quite a while.” Harry smiled easily and brushed his hair back once again. It was a habit-he did it with the same hand, and especially when he was relaxed. Snape had learned a lot about habits himself by teaching…it was important when one wanted to tell if a student was lying or not. Harry nodded after a moment.
Snape decided, after all, that he didn’t need that plant.