Defending Heart

Chapter 17: Daydreaming Nightmares

Harry wakes up once again to the cold snow outside his window, only this time it's a lot warmer. It's warm because lying in his bed, askew and spread out like a starfish is Severus Snape. He's usually so cold but this morning he's warm and comfortable, if half-falling off the bed because of how much he moves around in his sleep. Honestly his dreams seem disturbed, they woke Harry up multiple times and he was close to waking Severus up too. A subtle shift in sunlight alerts Harry to the time and he stretches to wake himself up. 

"Hmm, good morning dear," Harry leans over Severus and gives him a kiss on the forehead. The student stirs with a groan, eyes opening slowly and tentatively. He stares at Harry for a second and closes them again with a small whine.

"I'm tired, go away," picking up a pillow with one hand he uses all of his energy so smack Harry in the face with it. His hair fluffs against his head. Laughing Harry starts changing in the centre of the room without wearing his glasses. He always has trouble deciding what to wear. Brown slacks and a dark shirt... a robe? No, too formal. Although he does like dressing up.

"Ha-Ha. No. You have classes today, get up," He throws Severus yesterday's clothes at him and waves his wand to start brewing coffee in the tiny kitchenette across his room. He leaves Severus in bed under the clothes, tugging on socks and pulling his jacket across his chest. Harry checks his watch, it's 0830 and he has things to prepare before the first class at 0900. Standing over the dead-to-the-world student he sighs with resignation. "Just... don't be late okay? There's coffee for you. I'm trusting you to get up on time,"

He leaves Severus alone in his bedroom and scales the corridors to the staffroom for his own coffee. Busting in like a hurricane he observes the dead hanging mood in the room. "Ah, good morning everyone!" he grins at the poor turnout of groggy teachers hugging mugs of coffee to their chests and blinking in their somnambulism.

"Harry dear, I know you mean well but please refrain from screaming," Professor McGonnagal is one of the more awake ones at the head desk that stands before antique rose-glass windows. Even she can't stand his enthusiasm at this time of the morning. She's known Harry since he began his own education at Hogwarts and witnessed his evolution from a shy introvert who took himself far too seriously, to a somewhat ornery overly happy adult. It's like his circuits were flooded, the electrical charges interrupted and his AI reduced to a single 'Positivity' mode. It's actually quite disconcerting to be around him, like he's an illusion. 

"My apologies, I'm a morning person," Harry carries his coffee in a flask to his classroom, reviewing the practice exercises for the D.A.D.A exam he's going to hand out today. They're comprised of the most difficult questions from the last few years' papers. Harry is one of those teachers, the ones who force the hardest material upon the students during practice tests to prepare them for any challenges in the real one.

Students enter and in the commotion Harry watches Severus slips in unnoticed by most. He sits at his desk ahead of The Marauders. The lesson begins - a practice exam so there's silence in the hall, the only sound the scratching of feather on parchment. Severus struggles on one of the final questions, a knowledge one that requires some explanation on an area of Dark Magic he doesn't know.

A scrap of crumpled parchment bounces off his head and lands on the table, on his paper. Looking around he sees no eyes on him, nobody standing out from the sea of green and gold. He carefully unravels the paper.

Haha, I found your secret passage! Can't wait to catch you back there Snivellus.

Severus crushes the parchment in his hand, gripping it in a shaky fist. It crinkles and drops to the floor. Now he has no way to get through the castle, how could they have found it?! He bets it was last night when he snuck from the Slytherin commonroom to Harry's quarters. Anger and resentment builds inside him, his own special place that was just his has been stripped away from him. That's it, The Marauders have gone too far to take something special from him. He barely glances at his question paper the rest of the class, just counting the seconds and getting more and more worked up until the bell toll marks his moment of revenge.