Severus wandered slowly towards the Gryffindor Common Room. He knew where it was, but he hadn’t wanted to go there so quickly. He had wanted to acclimatise himself, he had wanted to speak with Dumbledore. But Dumbledore hadn’t wanted to talk with him, oh no, he was concerned about the boy. He started muttering to himself in his anger.
“Bloody Potter and his bloody…”
“Are you okay, Harry?” Severus halted in his tracks and moved around slowly to see who had called him. He was deeply concerned when he saw who it was.
“Yes, Miss… I mean, Hermione. I am fine. How… how are you?” Severus asked lamely. What was Granger doing out of the common room so late? Were those Potions books in her hands? Why did she have them? Was she the one who had stolen the wormroot? Was she concocting Potions behind his back? For what purpose?
“I’m okay. Just researching for that essay Snape gave us,” she replied carelessly.
“Don’t you mean Professor Snape?” Severus asked outraged. They had continued walking to the common room and were standing by the Fat Lady.
“Googoocachoo.” Hermione said to the portrait before continuing, “Since when do you care? You were calling him Slimy Snape last week. Where’ve you been all evening, anyway?”
“I have been doing work. With Dumbledore,” Severus said as they stepped into the room. There was no-one about. It was later than he had previously thought.
“Oh, okay then. Well, goodnight Harry, hope you feel better in the morning,” Hermione said with a frown before going up the stairs to the girl’s dorms. Severus brushed his hand across his face. He’d have to do better than that if he were to go undetected. Where were his master deception skills now?
He went up the stairs to the boys dorms, stopping at the door which he sincerely hoped was his one. He walked in looking about carefully. From what he could see in the dim light, the room was a tip. He couldn’t worry about ablutions now, he just wanted to go to bed. He walked towards the bed in front of him, he thought he could see the Potter boy’s broomstick standing by. He opened the curtain slightly. He perched tentatively on the edge of the bed as he started taking off his jumper and shirt. He jumped off the bed as he felt something touch his arm from behind.
“Gah!”
“Harry? Is that you?” a muffled voice asked, before a red head came out into the moonlight. A freckled face stared up at Severus in confusion,“It is you. What were you doing on my bed?”
“Uhhh sorry, uhhhh, Ron. I, I mistraced my steps because it’s so dark. I thought it was my bed,” Severus said, looking about furtively.
“Never happened before. Are you okay? You’ve been acting really…strange… lately,” the boy whispered.
“I am fine, really. I just had a stressful night, talking with the headmaster,” Severus replied. He commended himself on his quick save.
“Oh, wow? Really? What were you talking about?” Weasley asked back, moving forward slightly.
“Uhhmm, can we talk about it in the morning? I’m really tired now,” Severus said.
“Yeah, if you prefer,” Weasley replied, sounding slightly offended.
“Good. This is my bed right?” Severus asked, pointing towards the bed behind him. The boy chuckled.
“Yeah, and don’t you forget it. Night Harry.”
“Goodnight, Ron,” Severus said before slipping under the sheets. He figured there wasn’t much harm in sleeping in his school clothes.
**************
Sunlight drifted in through the open drapes of the bed. Severus twitched uncomfortably with half opened eyes. His mind was wandering off to strange places, distant lands and he wondered why the sun was so bright.
“Come on, wake up you lazy git,” an irish voice called, accompanied by a lot of clatter.
“Who are you calling a lazy git, Finnegan?” another young male voice asked as various bangs and crashes emanated through the room. So this was the boys dormitory in the morning. Severus supposed he should remember the feeling well, but it was a distant memory, and one that had been squashed to a miniscule part of the back of his mind. He felt vaguely out of place then, and he felt extremely out of place now.
“Harry, you awake?” another voice asked sounding like it was stifling a yawn. Severus took a moment to contemplate his reply.
“Yeah,” he said eventually, rolling to his side. The school shirt’s sleeves had rolled up and were cutting painfully into his skin. Perhaps sleeping in the uniform had not been the wisest of choices. For some reason he still held it preferable over any other choice at that point in time, however. He crawled out of bed, looking underneath for some comfortable footwear to put on.
“How does the wretched boy walk around without any slippers? These floors are cold, dusty and rough against the skin!”
“How are you this morning, mate?” Weasley asked, standing looking at him and stretching.
“Okay. Still tired. I’m gonna go have a shower, ok?” Severus replied, feeling proud at the way he was successfully emulating the boy’s lackadaisical approach to speech. He rummaged in the trunk at the foot of the bed for clothes and after finding some he thought suitable entered the bathroom in a trepidatious manner. He undressed as quickly as he could, dipping in and out of the shower, washing his hair, drying, and getting dressed in the clean clothes within a matter of minutes.
As he towel dried his hair he stared anxiously into the mirror. He hated this face, those wide green eyes, that mole, that stupid scar. So many times he’d just wanted to punch this face. And now it was his own. He started to comb his hair. He wished he had some hair gel, the jet black tufts just would not sit flat. Severus had always figured Harry just couldn’t be bothered presenting himself neatly but as he tackled the bothersome locks, he could tell why. This hair was impossible!
He came out into the dormitory to be confronted by the red-haired boy again as he was putting his worn clothes away.
“Breakfast and then quidditch?” the boy asked.
“Uhhh, aren’t you gonna have a shower too?”
“I did yesterday!”
“You don’t shower every day?”
“No, and neither do you… what’s all this interest in cleanliness?”
“It’s called hygiene!” Severus replied, exasperated and appalled. He contemplated spending days without washing away the residue of daily potion making and the thought made his stomach squirm.
“Ehh, hygiene’s for girls. Come on. Breakfast. I’m hungry!”
Severus followed the boy reluctantly. He hated this already, and only a night had passed. How was he going to survive?