As it turned out, Remus was right. Snape hadn’t tried to kill Harry. In fact, he seemed to be avoiding Harry altogether, something that Harry found nothing short of disconcerting. With no idea of just what Snape thought about that night, Harry became a nervous wreck by the time the second rehearsal rolled around.

This time he was accompanied down to the Great Hall by Sirius and Remus, having purposely met up with them at their chambers before Ron had even woken up. The redhead had kept on asking Harry why he was so jumpy, and Harry really didn’t fancy explaining to his best friend that he’d willingly shoved his tongue down the school’s most unpopular teacher’s throat. Somehow, he didn’t think it would have gone over too well.

"So, Harry, looking forward to today’s rehearsal?" Remus asked him, attempting to make small talk. Sirius looked at him as though he had gone mad while Harry just sighed.

"I don’t know about that," he replied. "Snape is still avoiding me, so I don’t think that this is going to be very pleasant."

" ‘Pleasant’ and ‘Snape’ don’t belong together anyway," Sirius grumbled. He still wasn’t thrilled with his godson’s newfound attraction to someone he considered to be the greasiest, slimiest, nastiest git known to wizard-kind.

"Now, now, Sirius. Even Severus has his good qualities," Remus chided.

Sirius snorted. "Oh, yeah? Like what?"

"Like his very shapely arse," Remus replied, grinning evilly and causing Sirius to choke.

"Moony, I really wish you’d stop saying that. It’s just…wrong," said Sirius.

"Ah, but it’s true, Padfoot! There’s no denying the truth!" Remus persisted.

Sirius shook his head. "There’s just no arguing with you, is there? He said in exasperation just as they reached the Great Hall.

Not many other people had arrived yet; in fact, the only other occupant of the room was none other than Severus Snape himself, who groaned inwardly as he watched the young man who had recently begun invading his dreams enter, flanked by his two fairy god-canines. He sighed deeply and braced himself for the inevitable confrontation. ‘Ah, here it comes,’ he thought to himself as he saw Harry break away from the other two men and approach him. Severus found himself sorely tempted to just turn into a bat and fly away.

Harry walked over to Snape with great trepidation in his heart. Granted, he had Sirius and Remus with him, but there wasn’t much that they could do from the other side of the Great Hall if Snape decided to hex him; even their reflexes weren’t that good. He took a deep breath and halted a few feet in front of the surly professor.

"Good morning, sir," he said as steadily as he could, and hoped against hope that his voice hadn’t really cracked on ‘sir’ as he thought it had.

"Potter," Snape acknowledged him with a curt nod, not trusting himself to say any more than that. At least the brat seemed as uncomfortable as he was.

A long, awkward silence passed before Harry finally decided that he needed to say something. "Um, sir? About the other night…" Snape tensed up. "Um…look, I’m really sorry, so please don’t hex me!" Harry mentally slapped himself. That wasn’t what he’d wanted to say!

Severus mentally sighed. So it had been a fluke then – he should have known. What had given him the idea that Potter might actually find him desirable? That was as absurd as Lupin thinking he had a nice arse. "Apology noted, Potter," he replied flatly.

Harry bit his lip nervously. Clearly, the man was still angry with him. Harry sighed; he’d blown it. There was obviously no salvaging this situation. Time to leave, then. "Ah, thank you, sir," he said, then took one last glance at Snape and hurried back over to his godfathers.

The rehearsal itself that day was awkward, to say the least. It wasn’t so bad when Severus and Harry didn’t have scenes together – those actually went quite smoothly. Unfortunately, the scenes where Severus and Harry did have to act together were awful. Severus’s acting was even more flat and emotionless than usual, and Harry was clearly a mess, constantly tripping on his lines, blushing, and being downright shy at the most inappropriate moments. No, things were not going well, and even the most unobservant members of the cast and crew noticed.

Eventually, the final scene rolled around. Harry was a mess, and not even Remus could dispel his nerves. Finally, after waiting nearly half an hour for Harry to get himself under control, a very irritated Severus had enough. He glided menacingly over to where Harry was being coaxed out of the corner by Lupin, pulled the werewolf aside, grabbed Harry by the collar, and forced the brat to look at him.

"Look, Potter, you’re about as thrilled with this as I am, but if you don’t stop acting like a spoiled little brat and get your arse over there so that we can finish this, I swear I will hex you from here to next week," he growled. He didn’t notice as Black began advancing on him, nor did he notice Lupin holding the ex-con back. "Just remember, you came to me, not the other way around, so stop acting like such a bloody martyr and just do your damned job!"

"Shut up!" Harry snapped back, pulling out of Snape’s grasp. "I’m not acting like a ‘martyr’, and I sure as hell didn’t mean for that to happen when I went to see you, you slimy git! Maybe I’d be a little less terrified of doing the next scene if you’d stop being such a bastard about everything!"

"B…bastard?! I have done nothing, Mr. Potter, to warrant being called a ‘bastard’!" There were several snorts from students and professors alike. "If anything, I think I’ve been rather tolerant, considering your more recent behavior!"

"My behavior? Last I checked, Snape, you were just as much a willing participant! I may have initiated it, but you were just as active, if not more so!" Quite a few confused glances shot across the room, but neither man noticed.

"It was instinct, Potter! Instinct! Don’t make assumptions based solely on one incident!"

"I’m not making assumptions!" By now, they were both yelling at each other at the top of their lungs. "I’m simply saying that you’re just as guilty as I am! And ‘instinct’, Professor? Is that really the best excuse you can come up with?"

Severus growled. "I thought you said you weren’t making any assumptions, Potter."

"I’m not," Harry retorted. "I’m simply analyzing the facts. But you’re right, that can’t be done with something that only happened once." And with that, Harry flung himself at Severus and brutally kissed him. Severus was slightly surprised, but quickly gave in to the kiss, parting his lips and sliding his tongue into Harry’s already opened mouth. He shoved the shorter man up against the wall and began devouring him, his hands roaming along the impertinent brat’s sides as Harry’s arms wrapped themselves around his neck.

The other occupants of the Great Hall were stunned, save Remus (who was whistling and catcalling), Sirius (who was openly weeping), and Dumbledore (who was sucking on a lemon drop and cooing at the adorable scene). Eventually the two men had to come up for air, and so the kiss broke. They remained pressed against the wall, panting slightly as they looked at each other.

"…Are you ready to do the scene yet, Potter?" Snape finally whispered breathlessly, and Harry just nodded, dazed.