Good for the Soul
Author's Notes: a drabble written for a SnapeXHarry ML challenge.
Headmaster Dumbledore stood up to begin the staff meeting, fixing his teachers with what he hoped was a stern but kindly look. "It has come to my attention that Hogwarts is in need of a new rule. There have been certain rumors of--improper relationships between students and teachers." He tried to look evenly around the oval table but deliberately lingered a moment on the face of his potion master.
"Granted, there has never been a rule against it, because frankly no one ever thought such impropriety would flourish given the usual er, age difference between the students and teachers." Again he glanced quickly at the politely interested black eyes of the man on his left.
"However as of today I must announce that Hogwarts forbids any, um sexual concourse between teachers and students." This time he determinedly fixed his gaze firmly on Snape.
Who looked back blankly.
A deep throaty sob interrupted the supposed censure. "But my little Pumpkin needs me--"
All heads swiveled toward the Herbology Mistress who was dabbing her eyes with what looked like a large leaf. "Sprout! Wh--Who?" He could hardly believe it.
"Neville of course. He's so l--lost without me." She shot Snape what should be a withering glare but was considerably lessened by greenish bits of leaf clinging to her cheek.
Dumbledore tried to catch Severus's eye again but was interrupted by a tartan-y throat clearing. "Albus?" said Minerva McGonagall, biting her thin bottom lip. "You know I've always had a weakness for Weasley's."
The startled headmaster looked over to see his Transfigurations teacher with suspicious moistness behind her spectacles. "Ronald?" he guessed.
Her eyes slitted, catlike. "The twins."
"Both of them?" he asked, feeling a bit weak in the knees. How did she give the impression of grooming herself with the merest twitch of her face?
"I'm getting on in years," she admitted, "Not the woman I once was."
A quiet voice spoke up before Dumbledore could turn his attention back to Snape. "I suppose I'll have to end my affair with Ms Granger." Remus Lupin, who'd come back to teach in these troubled times, looked up with his customary resigned expression. He'd lost so much already, as he never tired of reminding the staff.
Beside the headmaster the potions professor's brow raised into the lank hair on his forehead. Again he tilted his head toward the Slytherin expectantly, but the bewildered face only shot the werewolf a slightly aghast expression.
A decided "Harumph" brought both their attentions to the flying instructor. The short haired woman crossed her arms over her slight bosom and leaned back in her chair. "I suppose the rule doesn't apply to former students even if the fraternization started when they were in school?" Hooch asked defiantly.
"Well, er, no," the headmaster acquiesced. "You may continue with--"
"Oliver Wood." Her falcon like eyes raked the assemblage.
"Oliver?" Dumbledore's bushy brows lifted. "I thought you were--well, perhaps not then," was all he could say.
The not quite so twinkly expression rounded the table again, settling almost resignedly on the man on his left. Clear untroubled black eyes met his without a trace of guilt.
~~**~~**~~**~~
Sated and spent Snape tucked the similarly flushed and panting Harry Potter into the lean strength of his bare chest in the bed that had been their haven for nearly two years.
"Are you sure this is all right?" the boy asked, sliding agreeably into the comforting warmth of his teacher.
"Of course," he replied, ruffling the sweat drenched hair fondly.
"But there's a rule now," Potter protested limply, though his heart clearly wasn't in it.
"Come now," Snape said, though he supposed even the boy's legendary youthful recuperative powers weren't up to it. "When have such arbitrary moral strictures ever governed us?"
"How'd you get around it then?" Harry asked, hand tracing patterns in the dampness sheening his lover's skin.
Snape smirked. "I wasn't a spy for nothing you know."
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