My Everything 2

8

It took every bit of restraint he had to stop himself from pulling his hair out in frustration as he reread the same two pages over and over again. He was trying to find something-anything to get himself out of the mess that Sirius Bloody Black decided to throw him into. But other than kissing Potter, Snape couldn't find any other way to break the spell.

"You know, if you just kissed him then none of this would be necessary."

Snape looked up at his double and couldn't resist the urge to glare at the other. After Severus revealed the penalty for not breaking the spell, he hadn't really cared about the details on how or why he found the book in the library. The threat of being bonded to Potter of all people whether he liked it or not was enough to have him willingly kiss a hippogriff if necessary, just so he could get out of it. After releasing Lupin and Black from the hexes Snape threw at them Potter led Severus to the library and showed him the book. Severus allowed himself to be led there for the time being while Lupin and Black followed much too close for his liking and his double insisted on holding Potter's hand as they made their way there.

Now, he's sitting at a table trying and failing to find some sort of loophole to break the spell, while his double sat at the table with him and the Marauders sat at a table a bit away.

He was trying very hard not to glare at them as well.

"I don't understand what the problem is. James adores you." Severus said with a sigh, his head tilting slightly, "Why don't you like him?"

Snape's glare got even darker, "He's an annoying bastard that's done nothing but try to humiliate me and ruin my life since the moment that we met."

"But he loves you."

"And that makes up for everything that he's done?"

Severus' lips pursed in a line for a moment as Snape looked back down at the book, trying to find some sort of inscription that he might've missed or some hidden meaning in the spell-

"Do you know which day James regrets most? The worst day of his life."

"I don't care."

"It was that day, by the lake." Snape tensed and the other seemed to move closer with his chair. "He hadn't been thinking when he did it. He just saw you with Evans and got so upset and Sirius was egging him on. When he started taking your clothes off, he saw the scars."

Snape froze as Severus kept going, "That's when he snapped out of it, that's why he dropped you so suddenly and he never said anything to anyone, not even Sirius or Remus about them. He wanted to ask where you got them but he figured you'd never tell him and if he suddenly started behaving differently he was afraid that you'd know he knew and you'd just hate him more. So he just kept going like nothing happened, but he started watching you more closely. He'd cover it up with pranks because that was easier to explain than letting anyone know that he was worried about you. James didn't want to have to explain why. And trying to talk to Evans was easier too, you two are so close he realized that she might know where you got them but she never let him talk about you. Every time he asked she'd threaten to curse him, made him promise that if he was really serious about dating her then he'd leave you alone but of course he couldn't do that."

Snape swallowed hard but said nothing as Severus continued, "He thinks about that day all the time; what he could have done differently. James never says anything though, he's terrified of you. He thinks that you'll never forgive him so there's no point in trying. Fighting and arguing with you just seems easier, you might hate him but at least you're there and at least you look at him."

Snape finally looked away from the other resisting the urge to look back at the Gryffindor in question, "Potter's a spoiled brat that's used to getting whatever he wants simply because he wants it."

"What does that-"

He looked up at his double, eyes narrowing into a glare, "He's not getting me."

The double blinked as he stared at the other when the large clock in the library suddenly started chiming. Snape looked up at the clock and realized that it was eleven o'clock. Four hours and he'd found nothing.

The Slytherin sighed as he shut the book and then shut his eyes. He took in one deep breath and prepared himself for his fate.

Just one kiss. One kiss and that's it. He'll be able to go back to his room, wash out his mouth maybe take a long shower for good measure, crawl under the covers and pretend like it was nothing more than one very long very disturbing dream.

Snape opened his eyes and stood from his chair before turning around.

"Let's just get this over with Potter-" And then he blinked. "Potter?"

The table behind him where the marauders had been sitting whispering among themselves was suddenly vacant.

"Where did they go?"

His double's head gave a tilt and then he nodded, "Gryffindor Tower."

"What?" Snape frowned, "Why are they there?"