the marriage stone (Discontinued)

Chapter 55 - Legal Maneuvers

Remus and Sirius while the three of them waited for Dumbledore and Severus to join them. Harry desperately wanted to talk to both Remus and Sirius - separately. But he suspected it would be a while yet before he found any time with either of them alone. He could see that something major had changed in their relationship - they were sitting on a couch together, which in itself was not unusual. But the fact that the fingers of their hands, which were resting on the couch cushion, were intertwined was very telling indeed.

It didn't surprise him in the slightest, this change in their relationship. Not after everything the two of them had gone through. But he was burning with curiosity to know more. He just didn't want to talk to them together - somehow the idea of asking them something so personal in front of both them was too embarrassing to contemplate. Especially since he had very different questions for each.

Because of the whole werewolf thing, he knew Remus had been as inexperienced about things as Harry himself was. He wanted to know how 'it' had been - though he guessed asking someone he considered a father figure something like that would probably be awkward in the extreme.

As for Sirius - he wanted to know if he was happy now, content in such an exclusive relationship after having lived a more active life prior to this. Of course he didn't suppose he would ever get the courage up to ask either of them any such things. Instead he was left to simply grin like an idiot at the two of them because he was so happy they were finally together. So happy that the two of them looked so content in their relationship with one another.

As often happened these days his mind drifted to Severus. Ever since that night when he'd kissed him, things had been awkward between them. He found himself thinking about that kiss at odd moments during the day, replaying it in his mind so often that he was fairly certain by now that he'd blown the whole thing out of proportion. It couldn't possibly mean all the things he had imagined it might mean. Had Severus been jealous - didn't seem likely that a man like Severus Snape would be jealous of someone like Lavender Brown. Nor did it seem likely that he would be jealous over Harry. That would imply a much stronger degree of affection.

But no, it didn't have to be affection, he reasoned. It could simply be possessiveness, or a sense of propriety or decorum, or possibly just concern about their reputation. He'd certainly been angry - he'd been shouting at him after all. It could be any of those things - or none of them. Harry was thinking like a Gryffindor, and Severus was a Slytherin. Who knew why Slytherins did the things they did?

And then most troubling of all was the fact that Severus had failed to answer his question about whether or not he was seeing anyone. That more than anything else twisted Harry's thoughts inside his head - it was possible he supposed that Severus was a having a Slytherin moment of hypocrisy, reading into Harry interaction with the Gryffindor girls some sin he himself had committed.

Confused as he was, Harry had been left with only one alternative - spying. He began spying on the man - well as much as it was possible to spy on a person who'd actually BEEN a spy for real. Mostly he just watched him around the other teachers, trying to figure out which one of them - if any - he might secretly be seeing. There weren't many candidates to choose from. Sinistra was the only single teacher of suitable age, and as far as he knew Severus was about twenty years too old to interest her.

McGonagall was out of the question - single yes, but too old and stuffy. Trelawney didn't even bear thinking about. Madam Hooch was a distinct possibility - she was quite a bit older than Severus, but she was still fit and attractive, and Severus enjoyed sword fighting with her. Harry had watched several of their sparing matches over the last few months. Hooch was married, however, which made her an unlikely match. But then again after everything he'd learned, perhaps marriage was no deterrent at all?