Fic: Never Say Never

[alisanne]

Title: Never Say Never
Author: alisanne
Rating: PG
Pairing: Severus Snape/Harry Potter.
Word Count: 365
Genre: Romance
Warnings: None.
A/N: Written for hogwarts365's prompt #45: “People don’t belong to people.”, Dobby, Draco and Harry sitting in a tree.
The next part of my In Vino Veritas Series.
It's also continued from Chance Encounter (LJ/IJ/DW), The Road to His Door (LJ/IJ/DW), The Drunken Truth (LJ/IJ/DW), The Great Pretender (LJ/IJ/DW), Planned Experimentation (LJ/IJ/DW), Losing the Armour (LJ/IJ/DW), No Turning Back (LJ/IJ/DW), Regaining His Senses (LJ/IJ/DW), Getting Lucky (LJ/IJ/DW), Warning Signs (LJ/IJ/DW), Reassurances (LJ/IJ/DW), The Solution (LJ/IJ/DW), Getting to Lunch (LJ/IJ/DW), Avoiding Distractions (LJ/IJ/DW), Continuing Education (LJ/IJ/DW), All's Fair (LJ/IJ/DW), The Hardest Thing (LJ/IJ/DW), and The Magic Word (LJ/IJ/DW).
Betas: sevfan and emynn
Disclaimer: The characters contained herein are not mine. No money is being made from this fiction, which is presented for entertainment purposes only.


~

Never Say Never

~

They settled on a sofa in the living room. As Harry waited expectantly, Severus exhaled. “First, to address your concerns. Our...association thus far has been enjoyable, I’ve no intentions of discontinuing it.”

Harry’s shoulders relaxed.

“Although, naturally, should you wish to move on,” Severus continued, “you’re under no obligation to me.”

Harry’s eyes narrowed. “You’re saying I can date other people?”

Severus ignored the way his heart clenched. “Certainly. We’ve been...involved a few hours; you only realised you were gay last night. Demanding fidelity at this point is foolish.”

“I wouldn’t like it if you dated other people.” Harry paused. “Are you?”

Severus cleared his throat. “Not at this time.”

“Are you planning to?”

Severus couldn’t believe they were having a relationship talk this early into...whatever this was. “I’ve no such immediate plans.”

Harry smiled. “Then, for the moment, we’re exclusive. We belong to each other.”

“People don’t belong to people,” said Severus. “They may travel the same path for a time, but circumstances, and people, change. And people leave.”

Harry nodded. “True.” He caressed Severus’ thigh. “I’ve lost too many friends to think otherwise.”

“As have we all,” murmured Severus.

Shifting closer, Harry said, “I wonder what Mum would’ve thought of us?” And before Severus could react, he chuckled. “I dunno why, but I think she’d approve. I can see her smiling down at us. In fact, I can see the others doing that, too. Tonks, Remus, Dumbledore, Dobby--” He paused. “Maybe not my dad and Sirius.”

Severus hummed. “Indeed. Perhaps not.” He embraced Harry’s shoulders. “Those who’ve passed on are one thing, but more concerning are those who are still here. Your friends.”

“And yours.” Harry raised his head. “The Malfoys come to mind.”

“They’ll be surprised, Draco especially. In fact, it would’ve been less shocking had you ended up with him.” Severus blinked away the image of Harry and Draco sitting in a tree kissing. “It could still happen.”

“Me and Malfoy?” Harry’s snort was reassuring. “Trust me, even if you and I don’t work out, I’ll never be with Malfoy.”

Severus hummed. If it was one thing he’d learned in his life it was to never say never.

~

Continued in Clear Communication (LJ/IJ/DW).

Comments

[elmyraemilie]

So many hedges and doubts, Severus!

[alisanne]

Yeah. *pets him*
It's his nature. :)
Thank you!

[mrs_sweetpeach]

I love this series and this is another great installment. I've had this open in a tab for several days, waiting until I felt I could write a response. What's funny though is my attitude toward Draco. My feelings toward him depend on how he's written in any given story but I believe I start off with a fair amount of dislike and distrust. When I read this the first time, I responded to the idea of Harry and Draco together with a shudder of distaste and revulsion. Draco? Ick!

Then I spend some twelve hours reading The Apple Tree by Philo ( www.hpfandom.net/eff/viewstory.php?sid=19708 ). In that story, I adore the man Draco becomes. So when I came back to comment and reread the story my thought Draco and Harry in a tree kissing? That'd be pretty hot see. Although my feeling is that if that were to happen here, it wouldn't be because Severus was out of the picture, it would be because somehow the three of them decided to form a triad. If you haven't read Philo's The Apple Tree, I highly recommend it. It's a huge time commitment -- I wish the story had a word count. Counting html "words", unix's wc command reported more than a million and a half words -but I feel it was worth every second I spent reading and the fact that I lost my Saturday to it. (I didn't go to bed until 5 am due to not wanting to go to bed without reading to the end -- and then didn't wake up until nearly 5 pm.)

[mrs_sweetpeach]

Reread my response and realized it was misleading as regards The Apple Tree -- it's Snarry. As I said in my comments, Draco's lovely in it but in no way is he paired with Harry.

[alisanne]

Thank you for the lovely, thoughtful comments. :)
The odd thing? While I adore Draco, I, too, have times where I dislike him. Going into a story I have to know what I'm writing. If it's H/D then I have one mind set, if it's Snarry, I've another, and I can't seem to insert Draco in that case.
I used to write a fair bit of Drapery (Sev/Harry/Draco) but the longer I am in fandom, the less I can see Severus tolerating that, so now I rarely write it.
And it's funny that your reaction to Draco is the same as Harry's here. *g*

I read the Apple Tree years ago. It was excellent. :)

[patolozka]

Oh, I love this thought: “People don’t belong to people,” said Severus. “They may travel the same path for a time, but circumstances, and people, change. And people leave.” It´s very Snapeish... But I hope, too, that they will travel the same path for a long time;-) Thank you very much!

[alisanne]

That saying's quite Snapish, you're right. :)
I suspect they'll be traveling together for many, many years, perhaps even a lifetime. :)
Thanks, hon!