Nothing In This World (BEING EDITED)

XXIII.

Chapter XXIII:: Thawed Heart
Warning: Language and brief nudity involving a minor.

A day before Snape's birthday, Arthur and Lucius were out and about in the muggle world with Hermione, Seamus, and Harry. Harry had nearly threatened them to take him out to buy party supplies so he could throw Severus a surprise birthday party, which he knew the man would hate, but given the fact that the potions master had never had a party to celebrate him, Harry took it upon himself to throw one. If his boyfriend hated it, well, it was the thought that counts and Snape would get over it... someday.

Harry skipped happily though the streets of London bouncing from store to store, the eminent threat of Voldemort being back pushed to the far corners of his mind. He'd never thrown a birthday party before, well except for that one time when he was eight and nearly burned the kitchen down, but surley it wasn't going to be that hard. He was older now and more experienced. He'd known Snape long enough now to know what the man liked and disliked. At least he thought he did. He knew Snape hated children. That was the only thing in the man's world that was constant. Harry knew he hated loud places, and if the New Years Eve party wasn't an indication of that, he didn't know what was.

Harry and Arthur enter a used bookstore while Hermione and Seamus left to look in a near by shop. The bell over the door dings as they walk through. "Good afternoon gentlemen, welcome to Finder's Keerpers. Let me know if I can assist you with anything."

Harry gasped, he couldnt believe what he was seeing. There were books everywhere and crystals, charms and vases, weird looking mugs full of even weirder little trinkets, decorative glass orbs like the one in Professor Trelawney's class and dreamcatchers of various colours, shapes, and designs all thrown around the store. The room was a deep western hemlock wood, made up the walls, the ceilings covered almost every inch of the store, the sun flitting about through leaves. Hidden trees blocked most sunlight, shrouding some corners in absolute darkness with charming little vintage oil maps guiding the way. Harry made a mental note to bring Snape here sometime for one of their dates, but knowing the man, Snape has probably been here many times. He looked around with wide green eyes, stacked onto bookshelves, into boxes on the floor, even besprinkle about the florid carpets, the store was covered head to toe in any bibelot you could think of.

Softly dancing in the light mid-afternoon winter breeze, a cacophony of windchimes, bells, sweet and light, rang in the far side of the store hidden behind an extravagant pieces of vintage fabric, hanging and swaying from the ceiling. Harry took care of the way he walked through the store. The different colours and patterns that decorated this room with some fabric had fallen, obscuring parts of the room made him feel as though he had gone back in time . The vintage aesthetic of the whole place makes him feel warm and elegant. It was a large room for sure, with rows of bookshelves entrenched into the walls, soft dark carpet caressing the bottom of his shoes and neatly placed vintage rattan chairs and beanbags for comfortable reading. Harry knew that Snape could spend a lifetime in there and be swallowed up by time, lost so deep in books that he'd lose all concept of time and reality.

With the wide array of books, he knew that Snape spending a lifetime in here would be nothing, scouring each page with an urge for an answer, humming aloud the tunes of the old, the young and the innocent in search of an answer which many dare not seek. If Snape didn't know about this place, it'd be their little secret. The too warm for winter sunlight filtered softly through a surface mounted luminary skylight, tinted warm from the many colours that hid it. An almost melted candle was dying on some bookshelves and a forgotten daily newspaper and magazine, which calloused hands and warm eyes had read and touched, was left in a forgotten whirl of fallacy.

"See anything you like?" Harry jumped at the sound of his father's voice and turned to face the man. He'd been so lost in thought he'd forgotten about the present company.