Work Text:
The first time it happened she thought she’d imagined it. Ludicrous, it’d been to imagine Snape - Snape - kissing her. And how it happened? All the more so.
She’d pulled him aside after a faculty meeting to ask his opinion on one of her DADA lesson plans. He’d been more open to her lately, now that she’d been an instructor a full year and he knew she was planning to stay. Snape had not warmed to her per se, more thawed. After all their history he’d been less than thrilled at her accepting the DADA position but here they were. Coworkers, and ones that had a decent working relationship or so she thought.
So, she hadn’t known how to react when after everyone else had filed out of the meeting and he’d answered her questions on the boggart presentation she had planned that he simply bent down and gave her a quick peck. Very innocent. No change in facial expression at all. He could have been occluding for all she could read him. And then he just swanned out of the room leaving her there, adrift.
“Huh?” Harrie tentatively touched her lips, a light frown marring her face. That’d happened, right? Right? No. Nooooo. She turned but he was gone and it’d all been so fast, maybe it hadn’t actually happened at all? Nope, didn’t happen.
She nodded once, pressing her lips into a thin line and left the room. She had grading to do and a boggart to collect.
~~~
The second one she was almost certain was real. Because that first one- well, it hadn’t been real. Just a blip of the brain. But the second one was definitely real. Harrie had been out on patrol and was moving through the dungeons on the latter half of her walk when she turned a corner straight into a line of buttons and a hard chest.
“Ooof.” Hands stabilized her on her shoulders and Harrie blinked, scrunched her nose to clear the sore feeling.
“Potter.” He drawled. Not even pleased to see her. Not surprised either but then again he knew the patrol schedule like the back of his hand.
“Snape.” She greeted, “Apologies for running into you, literally.”
“It is expected.”
Her brows rose at that, trying to puzzle him out.
“That you would not pay attention when turning corners.” He explained and Harrie nodded along. Not wrong. She was not the most attentive at times.
“Well,” She not so eloquently added. “Thank you and good night.”
“Good night.” He said and then used his hold on her shoulders to draw her forward allowing him to press a longer kiss on her lips. His eyes were closed. Hers open. Harrie was shocked and couldn’t help but notice that when he pulled back, reopened his eyes to pin her with a cold look. Then Snape released her and swanned off, yet again leaving her gaping with no brain cells left to help her.
“Wha-?”
Harrie finished the rest of her patrol on auto pilot, if there’d been students out after curfew she didn’t notice. They’re could’ve been centaurs on the moving staircases singing sonatas and she would’ve been utterly oblivious. By the time she was able to vocalize she was already in her pajamas and flat in bed.
“Did he- kiss me?”
~~~
Harrie was on guard the third time for all the good it did her. She’d been watching Snape like an owl. A few of the students and staff had noted the odd behavior but let it go since it was her. Chosen One status coming in handy for once. Snape, himself, was not unaware but he mainly returned her stares with more and more disgruntled scowls. Their working relationship was probably deteriorating before her eyes but it wasn’t her fault! He’d kissed her. Not the other way around. So any interpersonal issues were purely on him.
He’d given under her spying and had cornered her in her DADA classroom at the end of the daily courses. The students streamed out giving him a wide berth as he stalked into the room. And for all she’d been keeping an eye on him she found herself nervous of a sudden as he rounded on her.
“Potter, what is the meaning of this?”
“Snape.” She did not explain. She was the one who deserved an explanation. Not him.
“You’re behavior has been odd of late. Explain yourself.”
“It’s not me! It’s you.”
“ I fail to see how I instigated your actions.”
“You ki-“ He cut her off with his lips. Snape’s head was angled and her mouth was open under his. Harrie gasped, brain shutting off at the warmth and pressure. He pulled back, standing straight and going right back to intimidating her with his size. Confusion and frustration still on his face like nothing whatsoever had occurred. Harrie squeaked out a very confused noise before gesturing uselessly with her hands that this this was what was odd!
“Do you still struggle to use words, Potter? I’m awaiting your explanation.”
“But I shouldn’t have to explain, you keep kis-“ And this time his hand cupped the back of her head as he took her lips with his. Harrie was so vastly confused she closed her eyes this time. At least that’s what she told herself later. After her lips had moved against his. Sliding and falling further open under his onslaught. Defenseless she rested her hands on his chest and gave in. His lips were so bloody soft on hers. It was entirely unexpected. That they’d feel that good.
When he released her, Harrie’s hands dropped to her waist and his arms were crossed and she just blinked up at him lost. He had that patented frustration stamped on his face when she continued in silence under his gaze.
“Very well, you may explain yourself to me when you have ceased with this nonsense.” Then he swanned out very dramatically leaving Harrie behind muttering ‘nonsense’ as she collapsed into her desk chair.
~~~
The fourth time she was feeling driven. She was going to get to the bottom of this. Whatever this was. Snape could not just keep kissing her and getting away with it. Harrie would not allow it. So this time she cornered him in the potion’s lab. It was familiar territory for all that it was his more than hers. Then again all of Hogwart’s had felt familiar before this whole kissing thing had started.
“Snape,” she began, a few students lingered behind her as she stood staring down at him seated at his desk. “I need to speak with you about this whole… thing.”
“ Ah, finally, you deign to give me a valid reason for your strange behavior.” He said, still not looking up from his work.
“It’s not me. It’s you - your behavior - that’s been…strange.” She ended in a whisper that made him finally meet her eyes. Granted with doubt and a trace of disgust she could’ve done without.
“I once again fail to see how that is plausible, Potter.”
“Snape, you keep… kissing me.” She finally got the words out. Whispered in a hiss though they were. It did not go well. She wasn’t sure what she expected but not this. Snape sneered, nearly snarling at her. Disdain written all over his face as he leaned back in his seat to regard her like she was less than a discarded bubotuber.
“I do not appreciate mockery, Potter. If this is your attempt at humor. Desist. Immediately.”
“I-it’s not- that’s not what I’m saying- Merlin’s sake, Snape! I’m not joking.” She choked out the words, spitting them out, insulted that he thought that of her. That she was lying. That she was joking. That she would make fun of him, of all people, especially after having seen what she had of his past.
“This must be a cruel prank, I did not believe you would stoop to these levels. It was one thing of your father as a youth but you as an adult?”
That hurt. Harrie drew back and the pain on her face must’ve been plain because some confusion drifted into his eyes. She grit her teeth against the sting in her nose warning her of tears she would not let come. Harrie put on the face she used to deal with reporters and stood as tall as her petite stature would allow. Channeling all the snobbery she’d encountered in her life she gave him a dismissive nod and left the classroom. She was still puzzling through her hurt feelings and frustration on the entire handling when a hand caught at her arm drawing her to a stop in a deserted hallway.
Harrie turned ready to argue with Snape and demand an apology or try to explain again when she looked up at him. But instead he kissed her. Long, elegant fingers sifted through her hair to cradle her head, tilting her, angling to better slot their mouths together. Taking leave of her senses Harrie’s hands buried into long silky black strands and she made a small noise of unhappiness into his mouth. Still angry with him for his implications she bit his lip. The answering growl was a purely sexual sound that shocked her into yanking back. She blinked up into his face where all she could see was concern. The hand on her arm remained as he dropped his other free of her hair. Harrie was still gripping his hair when he frowned down at her.
“Are you resorting to hair pulling?” He asked dryly. He took a hold of both her wrists and disengaged her from his hair.
“No.”
“I came after you to apologize but this behavior is markedly off for you. Perhaps...you’ve taken ill?”
“Ill?”
“Yes,” he drawled, “Poppy may be of assistance.”
“Assistance?”
“If I wished for an echo, Potter, I’d go shout into a canyon. Please do not parrot me again and take yourself to Poppy so that this may stop.”
Harrie opened her mouth to say ‘stop’ but paused and nodded instead. “Perhaps...I am ill?”
“That is my suspicion.”
“Ill.” She muttered, nodding to him as he released her hands with a worried expression. “I’ll go. Sorry.”
Poppy gave her a calming draught that did nothing to remove the memories of Snape’s kisses. When she was told it was freshly made by the man himself she sighed and downed the potion. Grateful that at least half her stress had dulled even if the rest still mulled over what the fuck she was going to do now.
~~~
The fifth time was purely experimental. Harrie had thought long and hard over the ‘incidents’ in question. Each time he’d kissed her they had been completely alone. When alone, if she mentioned the snogging he would shut her up with a kiss, and when around others he was able to hear her out but not believe her. Also, she’d noted that each subsequent kiss had upped in intensity. That boded—something. Good or bad, she was undecided. But either way having him snog her without his express knowledge and without her consent, technically, was not well done. He needed to know the severity of the situation.
“Snape.” She met his eyes with a committed expression.
“Potter.” He drawled, one brow raised in question.
“I wish to request your assistance.”
“How very - formal - of you.”
Harrie nodded. “Would you be willing to spare me some of your time for an discussion? I need to verify some information.”
“Regarding Defense?” He asked.
Her head tilted. That’d make a great excuse but this wasn’t for a class. This was definitely important though. She shook her head, decided.
“No, but it is necessary. And it involves you.”
He observed her for a long pause before nodding cautiously, “Very well. This evening, in my office?”
So she knocked on the door of his office at 9 sharp, neither of them were on patrol that night and she’d caught up on her grading. This mattered so she’d worked extra fast and hard to get things off her plate so she could dedicate her time to this- and him.
When he opened the door, he took her chin in his hand and kissed her soundly. Harrie couldn’t stop her eyes from closing if she’d wanted to. And the tiny moan she gave when he licked her lips. Well, that was pure weakness on her part. When he pulled back and gestured her inside she was a little dizzy and dazed. Taking a deep breath she entered the dungeon. She turned to speak to him.
“We’ve been kis-“ Was all she got out when his mouth was on hers again. Faster than the last time she opened her mouth, tentatively licking back. Copying his movements. Unsure from lack of experience before the ‘incidents’ Harrie’s shy interest came to the fore. Her fingers trembled as she ran her hands up the front of his frock coat, tensing on his shoulders, then sliding into the gap of skin between his hairline and the edge of his collar. A pleased rumble answered her questing motions. Harrie let her head fall back and for the first he continued kissing beyond her mouth, those soft lips of his drifting over her cheek to nibble and nuzzle her jaw. “Snape - mmm - I just - oh, that’s good - I - we’ve been - kissing.” She gasped out.
He returned to her mouth and Harrie was set adrift in sensation. His hands were petting down her back in soothing strokes that made her feel feline. Her hips were going warm and weak with each new motion and she was jerking against his body. She forced her eyes open, glasses askew she focused for a second but the sight of his long lashes on his cheek combined with the slow sensual slide of his lips on hers lulled her back into his pace.
“ Snape.” She moaned when he gave her a gap for air. The man in question growled, tangling his tongue with hers. Harrie grew dizzy and she wrapped her arms around him, holding tight.
He pulled back to breath hard, foreheads pressed together, body’s throbbing with their pulses. She was entranced, and still muzzy headed when he stopped his petting and unwrapped her arms from around his neck. Harrie stumbled back, cold suddenly and confused. When her vision cleared he looked a cross between incensed and puzzled.
“What. Just. Happened?” He bit out the words. Eying her with suspicion.
“I told you.” She said, shakiness in her voice and her hands.
“That I’ve been ‘kissing’ you?”
She nodded, not liking how he’d put the emphasis in that sentence.
“Did you dose me with amortentia while confounding me?”
“I did not.” She couldn’t work up the energy to be insulted by that. Maybe later.
He hummed, thoughtfully. The rage drifting away from him like mist to be replaced with doubt.
“I wonder-“ he started, then stopped, looked at her with something dawning behind his eyes. He stalked around her to his desk, sorting through papers with quick violent movements. “I have been testing a new potion. How long?”
“Uh, a few weeks. It’s amped up. I was coming to test out some of my theories, see if I could figure it out. A potion, though?”
His brows rose at the time limit she’d given, and twitched at the words ‘test out’, but he gave a nod at the end.
“Yes, a sleeping potion. It’s meant to not be addictive, and give pleasant dreams with a good luck side effect. The goal was to create a dreamless sleep but with good dreams and without the negatives. It’s been a positive testing to date but it seems there have been some unintended effects. Ah, yes, the rose thorns I added for the pleasant aspect must’ve overwhelmed with an amortentia-like addition. Perhaps, rosehip oil instead.” He hummed, noting things down, and Harrie felt forgotten. Still weak kneed and watching as Snape ignored her for his project.
“Any idea how long your current dosage will last?” She asked. Drawing his eye to her. He scowled at the reminder that she was still there. Then he seemed to recall himself and after a last scrawled note he stood up and came to her.
“I am…uncertain. Possibly 24 hours. I’ve been dosing every 24 hours to track the possible addictive tendencies and any overdosing signs.”
Harrie searched his face. Unreadable, again, probably occluding now that he actually believed that they were snogging.
“You don’t remember, do you?”
A twitch. “No.”
She didn’t know how to feel about that. Ignoring that mess she clenched her hands, digging her nails into her palms to concentrate. She looked off to the side. Avoiding him like a coward.
“24 hours?”
“36 hours would be best to be safe.”
She nodded, chanced a glance, still blank faced. Harrie took a deep breath and straightened up.
“Good night. I will speak to you after at least 36 hours. Snape.”
"Potter." When she was to the door she stopped at her name. Turning back she looked at him.
“I will make sure this does not happen again.”
Harrie didn’t thank him for that. Just left.
~~~
36 hours wasn’t the longest time period in her opinion but since she’d spent every single hour pulling apart her thoughts on kissing Snape it felt interminable. When the time was up she didn’t immediately seek him out. Harrie had taken to eating in the privacy of her chambers. Classes were stilted affairs and she would’ve possibly kept to the cowardly path if it hadn’t been taken from her hands by a staff meeting. Harrie was usually outspoken and expressive during meetings. She wanted to do well and she liked feeling a part of something. So she’d made it a habit to engage.
This meeting, however, was a departure from the norm. She kept to herself. Making spare notes and not meeting anyone's eyes. She felt them on her. Kind and worried coworkers and one set of dark eyes that were taking her in for observation.
When everything was concluded, McGonagall - Minerva - asked after her and Harrie gave a warm smile and said ‘just tired, too many essays on vampires’. She was almost home free when he cornered her. The other staff had vacated and it was just them, terribly uncomfortable in the large empty room.
“Potter.”
“Snape.”
An awkward silence grew as she didn’t not look him in the eyes.
“I viewed some of my memories in a pensieve.”
That had her looking up at him, eyes wide in surprise.
“It seems that I owe you an apology for my behavior.”
“Uh.”
“It is a flimsy excuse, my potions, to make for such… unseemly advances.”
“ Huh.”
“My potion was taking my pleasant dreams and turning them into a reality. For that I must apologize.”
His…pleasant dreams…into reality? Harrie gaped up at him.
“You’ve dreamed of kissing me?”
“Countless times.”
She stared at him. Surprised. A tiny shred of hope lit up.
“And you were able to see what happened with the pensieve?”
“My memory was only clouded by the potion during, my brain still recorded the entirety of our interactions.”
Her brows lifted at that.
He nodded, and was that a bit of a blush on his cheeks?
“But you don’t actually want to kiss me?” She had to ask.
She saw him jolt. Eyes wide, he looked straight into her eyes and what he saw there must have shocked him because he seemed surprised again.
“I…do…wish to.”
The hope grew.
“To kiss me?”
“Yes.” The begrudging word was the most beautiful thing to her ears. Harrie couldn’t hold back the tiny pleased smile. She bit her lip to stop it from stretching into a grin.
“You’re a very good kisser.” Harrie admitted, her face flaming hot and she avoided his gaze as she uttered the confession.
“Oh?” intrigued. She could hear it. He was interested.
“ If you wanted- I would be-“ she started to say then lost her nerve.
“You would be?”
Harrie looked up at his encouraging words. She took a step forward, swallowing, she fidgeted and licked her lips while staring up at him.
“I’d really like it if you remembered it without the pensieve. I would be willing to make some new memories. To help you have pleasant dreams or- or just because.”
Something soft and hot took over Snape’s face and Harrie felt herself grow warm under the attention. His hand slowly rose to brush her hair from her face. She held still. Not wanting to do anything that would stop him.
“Potter,” he drawled, teasing, “are you asking me to kiss you?”
“Yes.” She said a little waver in the word. “Please?”
The start of a familiar pleased rumble sounded from his chest. Snape carefully, oh so agonizingly slowly, leant down. His lips hovered above her own. Tantalizing. She was sure her entire body was honed in on that one spot. Waiting. Aching for him. Not able to last a single second longer Harrie bridged the gap. Eyelids heavy with want she gave him the most innocent brush of lips, reminiscent of that very first kiss.
She couldn’t look away from his dark eyes when he pressed in again, brushing. Feather light. His hand ghosted over her hair. She made a choked sound of need. Their eyes locked they both opened their mouths to the other. At the first touch of his tongue to hers, Harrie let her eyes drift shut and gave herself over. He made a noise that felt smug, manly, and conquering all at once. But Harrie was lost. Soft lips, long fingers in her hair, the brush of his nose across her cheek, a wet questing tongue caressing her own. Her hands found their way into his hair. His gorgeous black, utterly silky hair. The same that students had laughed at for years. It felt so good between her fingers. And he smelled fucking divine. A masculine scent that set her head to buzzing. Smoky? Musk? She didn’t know and didn’t care other than that it was her new favorite scent just like her new favorite activity was snogging Snape.
“Such a good girl.” He practically purred into her mouth and Harrie damn near imploded. Her knickers were drenched. She whimpered a very quiet and needy ‘fuck’ into his mouth.
“Language.” He scolded affectionately before doing that licking thing that sent a pulse right to her pussy.
He pulled back, watching her try to gather herself up, his thumbs dusted over her jawline, his hands spanning her neck, fingers kneading her nape making her feel boneless with want. His impact on her was evident. Harrie leaned in for another kiss and he granted her request. Concise, controlled, precise. He unraveled her with each steady stroke of his tongue, lips, and fingers. She had never had a kiss like this.
“I may need more memories.”
It took her a minute to process that. He was asking to snog her again in the future. She could do that. Happily. If it was like this? Of course. He could name the time and place and she’d be there, panting for him. Asking for his lips on hers.
“For your dreams?”
“For me.”
Harrie nodded. Licked her lips. Took a deep breath of that addictive scent and stared straight into his eyes.
“Yes, please.”