Second Place - Action/Adventure

Draco and Brian Apparated to Severus's building. It was as Draco remembered�moderately uppercrust and filled with the pretentious and the erudite. The doorman took in Draco's somewhat foppish attire and smiled knowingly. "You must be here for Mr. Snape's party?"

Draco and Brian exchanged a quick glance. "Yes," Draco said smoothly eyeing the doorman's nametag. "Remind us again, Felix, which flat is his? We've just come in from London, you see."

Taken with Draco's cultured accent and the fact that the young aristocrat knew his name, Felix beamed as he pointed towards the lift. "Thirty-second floor, sir. Apartment 32B."

Draco nodded his thanks and Brian wisely stayed quiet. He doubted Felix would be as taken with his southern drawl.

"How rude," Draco said as they entered the lift and felt it jerk upwards.

"What?" Brian asked. "Felix seemed nice?"

"Not Felix, Severus!"

At Brian's blank stare, Draco rolled his eyes and sighed. "That prat is having a party and he didn't invite us," Draco scoffed. Before Brian could say anything, the lift opened to the thirty-second floor. Draco bounded out and looked back at Brian. "Well, are you coming or not?" he said impatiently.

Brian grabbed Draco's arm. "Wait a second, wait a second. What are we doing here, Draco? What's the point of all of this?"

Draco stared at Brian as if he had just asked if foie gras was truly a staple. "You can't be serious," he asked. A beat later he said, "You are serious." He shook himself loose from Brian's gentle grasp. "Harry and Severus belong together and we are going to make sure those two dolts actually get it right."

"What, through intimidation? Blackmail? Threats? Manipulation?"

"Finally, you're seeing the light," Draco said as he turned on his heel and made his way to Severus's door.

"Damn it! Draco, wait," Brian whispered as he hurried after Draco.

"Brian, trust me. I know what I'm doing."

Brian held up his hands in surrender. "Fine. Tell me what you want me to do."

"That's the spirit! Okay, your job is to keep everyone away from Severus while I corner him. We don't need unwanted distraction."

"Fine," Brian said dully, already wishing he'd never agreed to this ridiculous game of cat and mouse.

Draco regarded him carefully before leaning over and kissing him on the cheek. "Thank you, Brian. Truly. I'll make it up to you, I promise."

"Yeah, how's that," Brian said flatly while staring at the door.

Draco leaned in closer and whispered in his ear. "Me. Chaps. Cowboy hat. The stable. Nothing else but you and your wrangling rope."

Brian shivered at the mental image of rolling around in the hay with Draco. Draco's perfectly coiffed hair mussed with bits of straw sticking out. His pale skin, a bit sweaty and very flushed. He could practically feel the slide of his body against Draco who was in nothing but leather chaps and a cowboy hat that slipped over one eye in a very, very provocative manner. And the wrangling rope! Oh, dear Merlin above! The things he'd like to wrangle. He swallowed thickly while willing his sudden erection to subside. "You play very dirty. Very, very dirty."

Draco smiled brightly. "Of course I do, love. And you wouldn't have me any other way."

Within thirty minutes of arriving, and with no sign of Severus, Draco had declared his party to be the most boring event he'd ever been forced to attend. Sipping a glass of respectable Pinot Noir, Draco scanned the room. "Thank Merlin he didn't invite us to this awful party," he hissed. "It might be the most gracious thing he's ever done."

Brian rolled his eyes and continued to feign interest in whether Faulkner's works provided a basis for legal objectivism with some older woman named Agatha who was entranced with his southern drawl and his backside�if her pinching fingers were anything to go by. He'd made the mistake of politely telling her that he was gay, which only served to increase the pinching ten-fold.

"There he is!" Draco hissed as he slammed his wine glass down and made a beeline for Severus.

Brian quickly extricated himself and strode after Draco.

"Severus, so good of you to invite us," Draco announced in a voice that brokered no room for argument. The people with whom Severus was conversing nodded mildly and floated away.

Severus whipped around and gave Draco a cold, hard stare before his eyes flicked to Brian and settled back on Draco. His lips curved into an unnatural smile. "So good of you to come on such short notice," he said through clenched teeth for those who were casually pretending not to listen. "How lucky for us that you happened to be in New York during the week preceding the Library's annual literary gala. Will you be attending this year?"

"Can't this year. Time and tide will wait for no man, as you know. Oh, and I have to see a man about a horse," Draco quipped

Brian nearly laughed at Draco's joke. Severus, it seemed, was not nearly so amused. "I didn't realize you were such a fan of Dickens."

"Dickens? I say, did someone say Dickens?" Agatha Smalley said in her pitch-perfect east coast accent as she drifted into the conversation, ruthlessly pinching Brian's backside as she did so. Brain nearly yelped, causing Draco to turn. His gaze narrowed to such degree that Agatha removed her hand with a short huff. "Severus, introduce me to your friends. You're a wicked, wicked man for hiding such lovelies from us. Why haven't they joined us at the literary society meetings?"

Severus seethed with anger. But, only Draco could see it. It was rather amusing, actually. "They've just dropped in for the night, Aggy. They won't be staying long," Severus said, emphasizing the last part.

Brian took that as his cue. "You owe me. Big time," he whispered out of the side of his mouth as he carefully steered Agatha Smalley a short ways away and began weighing the relative merits of Bleak House in a post-modernist society.

As soon as they were far enough away, Severus rounded on Draco. "What is it? What's happened? Why are you here?"

Draco sneered. "Why are you here?"

"I'm giving a party, you dolt."

"You call this a party? A sodding nightmare, more like it," Draco groused.

"Draco," Severus said warningly.

"I meant, Severus, why are you still here? In New York? I thought you caught the big, bad bookseller."

Severus pursed his lips. "I'm here because I like it here. There's nowhere else for me to go at the moment. Suddenly, there appears to be a shortage of magical felons. But, that, Draco doesn't explain why you are here. Tell me. Now."

Knowing it was time to cut to the proverbial chase, Draco drew a deep breath and said, "Harry. It's Harry. You are an idiot and I insist that you leave this moment, Apparate to his flat and tell him in no uncertain terms that you love him."

Severus stared at Draco for several long moments. "Have you lost your bloody mind?" he hissed.

Draco held firm. "No. I haven't. It's obvious you love him. It's obvious that the two of you deserve each other�take that for what it's worth�but you're both so pig-headed and stubborn that both you refuse to make a move."

Severus looked around, pursed his lips and exhaled rather forcefully. He grabbed Draco by the arm and pulled him into the closest corner. Draco noticed that Brian discretely followed under the pretense of showing "Aggy" a delightful flower arrangement some five meters away.

"This is none of your affair, Draco."

"Oh yes it is. I've put up with this shite for years. No more. You will do this, Severus. You will."

"I will not!" Severus hissed in an angry whisper. "I'm not a puppet that you can manipulate to suit your whims. Besides, if he wants me, he can come to me," Severus sniffed.

Draco rolled his eyes. "Is that what this is about? Who gives in first? Are you even listening to yourself? Merlin, Severus, did it never occur to you that Harry won't come to you because you've never given him any indication that you felt that way about him?"

Severus's mouth fell open, his eyes began to shake and bright spots of color suddenly appeared high on his otherwise pale cheeks. "What did you say? I have given him every indication of how I feel about him!" Severus exclaimed.

Draco's left eyebrow shot up in a most bastardly manner. "Oh, right, I forgot. You're such a prince of a bloke," Draco said emphasizing the word �prince,' "how ever could anyone have ever thought that you felt anything but devotion and love for Harry? You know, Harry? Harry Potter? Son of James Potter? Remember him? The bane of your so-called existence? The one you publicly humiliated at every turn?"

"Shut it!" Severus said harshly, looking around quickly in hopes that they weren't drawing too much attention. He pinched the bridge of his nose as if staving off a particularly bad headache. "I have saved his scrawny little arse since he was eleven years old, Draco. I kept him from being tortured to death by the Dark Lord's minions, healed him after his year mates nearly destroyed him, decimated and destroyed my clan for him, hell, gave up my clan for him, and engaged in an ancient binding ritual in order to, yet again, save him. If that doesn't say love, what does! No more, Draco. I've made it abundantly clear how I feel. It is up to Harry to come to me."

Draco felt it would be rather inappropriate to point out that acts of mayhem and violence were not the universal symbols of love given the apoplectic rage ready to spring free from Severus at the first false move. Instead, he realized that the direct approach wasn't going to work with Severus. It was time to unveil the final thrust of his assault. It was dangerous, Brian would not approve and Harry would probably kill him. "I don't know that he's in the best position to do that," Draco murmured.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Severus said, his eyes narrowing into dangerous slits.

Draco shrugged. "You know Harry." Draco thought he could actually see the gears of Severus's mind whirring as they spun a desperate tale of woe.

"What's he done now? Is he all right? Have you seen him? What's wrong?" Severus asked, letting his mask of indifference slip for a moment.

Draco hesitated. He was treading on dangerous ground here, especially if Severus and Harry's weird little mind meld was working. "Haven't you," Draco made a gesture towards Severus's head, "Can't you feel him? What he's feeling? Talk to him and what not?"

Severus's face immediately closed, which Draco found infinitely curious. "No. Not at the moment. We were unable to complete the binding ritual�the claiming marks are keeping our minds closed to each other."

Draco nearly sighed in relief. "Oh," he said.

Severus stared at Draco for several long moments before sighing and muttering something about Draco that sounded remarkably untoward. "Well?" he snapped.

"Well, what?" Draco said, enjoying making Severus work for it.

"Harry, you imbecile. Have you seen Harry?"

Draco looked over at Brian, who appeared deep in conversation with the Smalley woman. "Err, yeah. Just came from there actually. That's why we sort of crashed your party. He, uh, he didn't look so well," Draco said slowly, nearly wincing when he saw Brian pause at his last statement. As Draco suspected, Brian was listening to the conversation. But, in his defense, Draco hadn't told a lie. Harry looked like shite. Perennially too thin, wearing baggy cotton trousers that Draco wouldn't give a homeless person and a thin, oversized tee-shirt. And that goddamned hair! It drove Draco to distraction�all that hair sticking out willy-nilly. He'd looked dreadful in Draco's opinion.

"What do you mean he didn't look well? Is he ill?"

"He's very thin," Draco said, watching as Brian smoothly bid goodbye to Smalley and floated over to their conversation.

"What have I missed, love," Brian said, the sarcasm apparent in his voice.

"Oh nothing, just recounting our visit with Harry to Severus. You know, how he didn't look so well. Far too thin, don't you think? As if . . ."

Severus took the bait. "As if he hasn't been eating properly," Severus surmised. "Probably not sleeping. Probably into all sorts of self-destructive behavior and dangerous tomfoolery," Severus continued to mutter.

"Hmm," Draco said.

"Draco," Brian warned.

It was now or never, Draco flung himself headfirst into the assault. He stepped closer to Severus and grasped his forearms. "His door, Sev. I've never seen wards like that," he said solemnly.

"Draco!" Brian hissed.

Severus either ignored or didn't hear Brian's admonition. "What do you mean? What kind of wards?"

Draco shook his head. "Really strong ones. Impossible to get through. He's turned off the floo as well." Realizing he had to be careful Draco amended his response, "it was sheer luck that we were able to get through. Took both of us. The door attacked Brian."

Brian started to say something�something undoubtedly unwanted at this point, so Draco stamped on his foot. Hard.

"What?" Severus asked, genuine alarm setting in, not noticing Brian's gangly hop-step. "He's not eating, sleeping, he's wasting away. And now, now he's keeping everyone away�distancing himself. He's folding into himself. Blanking out. What is wrong with that man?"

"There's more," Draco said in a rush, not daring to look back and Brian who was no doubt fuming. "He. He went to visit the Weasleys. By himself. You know what that means."

"DRACO!" Brian thundered at the same time Severus bellowed "WHAT?"

Draco closed his eyes and winced. The stable wasn't looking nearly as much fun now. Brian would probably make him sleep out there as punishment at this point. It was worth it, though. His plan was working. Harry Potter had nothing on Severus Snape's "saving people thing"�especially when it came to Harry Potter, himself.

"Draco," Severus said imploringly. "Are you trying to tell me what I think you are?"

"You tell me," Draco said, hoping he wasn't going to hell anytime soon.

"Goddamn it, Draco!" Brian hissed before stepping away and downing a glass of Merlot.

"He swore he wouldn't. Did he try while he was there? What thwarted him? What's he going to do next? Damn it! He can't keep himself out of trouble for a moment. A moment!" Severus ranted as he began pacing. "Foolish, idiotic, bastard."

"Hmm," Draco said.

"How long ago did you leave him?"

"An hour, maybe less."

"Damn it! He could have done anything by now! I've got to go to him. Knock some goddamn sense into that Gryffindor brain of his."

"Yes. That's it. That's precisely it," Draco said with growing excitement. "His flat--"

"I know where it is," Severus interrupted.

Draco was taken aback. "You do?" he asked, genuinely surprised.

"Yes. Excuse me," he said without looking back.

Draco let go a shaky breath as the door to Severus's flat slammed closed.

"Draco, we are going to have a serious talk when we get home. And, just in case you were wondering, when Severus and Harry come to kick your lily-white ass, not only will I welcome them in, I'll probably help! Do you have any idea what you just did? What you just implied?"

Draco looked up at Brian and in all seriousness said, "That he couldn't live without him."

Brian stared hard at Draco, but couldn't bring himself to be nearly as angry as he should. He sighed. "You will be the death of me. But for some stupid reason . . . I love you anyway," he mumbled.

Draco beamed and nearly jumped up and down but, remembering that he was a Malfoy, quickly schooled his features. "Is that so?" he asked. "Good. I love you too. Took you long enough to say it, by the way."

Brian snorted and shook his head and muttered something that sounded remarkably like "un-fucking-believable." He took Draco's hand, ducked behind a passing tray to avoid Agatha Smalley and her pincers of death and led them from the flat. "How did you know that would work, by the way?" he asked as they got into the lift.

"Simple. I know Severus. He's spent his life saving Harry Potter. He just doesn't know that this time around it's a two for one special."



Artificial Life - Chapter 16

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