Blood Bonds

Chp 14: Consequences

Severus woke slowly, gradually climbing out of a deep, restful sleep. That in itself was strange. Usually he woke suddenly, going from sleep to awareness in an instant. Today, however, he felt comfortable…safe. He tensed abruptly when he sensed another body behind him. The arm he hadn’t realized was around his waist pulled him closer. Around his naked waist, he realized. And by the feel of it, the person behind him was a lacking in clothing as he was. He wracked his brain for an explanation, for the…man’s? … identity? Yes, definitely a man and quite happy to be where we was too. What did he do last night? He remembered storming to his rooms after the resorting…

Oh, Merlin, the resorting. Harry bloody Potter was not only in Slytherin now, but was his mate. Not to mention the sexiest man Severus had ever seen in his life. Upon realizing that the previous night, and recognizing that he wouldn’t be able to avoid his fate for long, he’d proceeded to get drunk. Blind, stinking, utterly wasted drunk. He’d started off with a glass, but quickly moved to swigging straight from the bottle. He should be badly hungover now, shouldn’t he? He wasn’t feeling any terrible effects, so he must have managed to drink a potion last night. More likely the other person had given it to him, from what he could remember he certainly hadn’t been in any shape to do it himself.

In fact, his body felt energized; refreshed, like he’d…oh no. He didn’t, he hadn’t... As if that was the key to his memories, images from last night tumbled into his brain. Whisky, shoes, more whisky, blood, drinking, Harry’s mouth … He groaned. “Potter, damn it, Potter,” he muttered to himself, annoyed that he’d started thinking of the brat as ‘Harry’.

“Mphf. Sleep. Too early. Angst later,” mumbled the man…his mate…behind him. Harry, Potter damn it! Potter tightened his hold on Severus and nuzzled his neck. To his horror, Severus found himself relaxing back into the warm, protective arms.

How could his mate; the intelligent, caring, powerful vampire that he had gotten to know through their late-night talks be Harry Potter? He had of course considered the Golden Boy when contemplating his mate’s identity, but had dismissed him early on. He knew that neither James nor Lily Potter had a single drop of the Blood in them, and it just wasn’t possible for a person to spontaneously turn without the help of another vampire. Surely they would have heard if the Savior was attacked?

Then there were his eyes. Mme Malkin had specifically said blue eyes. As far as the spy knew, there was no spell or potion to alter the colour of the eyes alone. Disguise spells changed hair and skin colour as well, and the polyjuice potion changed everything.

How about all times he’d been outwitted? How could anyone, how could a Gryffindor, outmaneuver him; a spy of twenty years and the Head Slytherin? But Harry was a Slytherin now too, wasn’t he. Perhaps his faith in his House wasn’t misplaced. Perhaps he’d just been wrong about Harry?

He recalled the Headmaster’s ranting from weeks before, how he’d inferred that Harry had had a bad childhood. Severus had dismissed it at the time, being more concerned with the pain and his own safety, but he remembered now. How could the ultimate Gryffindor fool everybody for so long? The answer: if he was actually meant to be in Slytherin.

Severus had a terrible feeling that he’d been wrong about a great many things. He may even have to apologize to his … mate.

“Apology accepted. That didn’t hurt too badly now, did it?” The sleep fogged mental voice in his head intruded on his musings, making him jump. He twisted around to face the other man, opening his mouth to berate him for listening in on private thoughts, but was abruptly silenced by lips covering his.