A Lucky Man (Snarry)

You'll kill me if you stop

"If there is any truth in the world, it lies when I'm with you."

― André Aciman, Call Me by Your Name

"Of all the reckless thing you could have done, Potter! To let a Lethifold loose in a school full of children! You would have been killed if I haven't come in when I did! What were you thinking!? Or did you think at all?! Of course not, that would have required too much work!", Severus growled, foaming at the mouth, his face redder than Harry had ever seen it. He was absolutely furious, shouting at the top of his lungs, as Harry just sat there, unable to say a word since every time he tried to defend himself, he was interrupted by another loud lecture.

"Shut up!", Harry growled after a few moments, quite done with being yelled at. He was still shaken up, his throat smarting and the skin tender where the Lethifold had taken ahold of him.

Snape's mouth snapped shut, his eyes bulging out quite comically and if Harry hadn't been sure that the man would kill him, he would have laughed.

"Excuse me?", he said, his tone now deadly quiet, making Harry shiver unwillingly.

"Just shut up, will you! Stop shouting like a lunatic, for fuck's sake. It wasn't my fault that the Lethifold got loose. It had only just arrived from the Ministry and I was thinking about where to put it when the damn thing jumped out and attacked me. The good-for-nothing idiots in the Ministry must have not locked it or something. So, if you want to shout at someone go to them and do so. Alright!?", Harry finished, feeling quite furious himself. He was just beginning to realize that he could have died. Actually died, and the realization made him weak in the knees.

"Fuck...", he whispered shakily, catching himself before he had the time to fall down, as he slowly sat at the nearby chair, his hands shaking as he brushed them over his face.

"Are you alright?", came the question, the voice much closer than it had been before, and he opened his eyes only to see Severus kneeling in front of him, all the previous fury gone, his gaze full of worry as he scanned Harry's body for injuries.

"Yeah, the neck's a bit sore, though.", he whispered, feeling more than a little exposed under Severus's heavy gaze.

He realized as he watched the man before him how much he had missed him. He had gotten used to seeing the man every day during the meals, even if they never talked much, Harry feeling too self-conscious to string more than two words together.

"Are you sure? Maybe I should call Madam Pomfrey, just to be on the safe side.", Severus said, the worry still etched into every line of his face.

Harry quickly nodded since just the thought of the matron fussing around him made him shudder in horror.
Severus snorted at the look that crossed Harry's face at the mention of Poppy since he usually sported the same one any time he was obligated to visit the infirmary.

"I just need a moment to calm down, that's all. The damn thing was so unexpected, my heart is still trying to escape my chest. I guess I had gotten too comfortable as of late. Constant vigilance, right?", Harry said, a sad smirk on his lips, the same one echoed on Severus's face.

The man stood up then and Harry thought that that would be the end of it but he didn't leave, instead, he walked through Harry's office, his eyes traveling over the shelves on the walls before his eyes paused at the frame at one of them.

He picked it up, one of his fingers gently caressing what Harry knew was his mother's face smiling as she looked at the baby in her arms; himself. Harry had found the photo in one of the vaults his parents had left him soon after the end of the war, end he had immediately framed it. It was one of his most prized possessions, few as he had.