Themed One Shots(Requests Open!)

WARRIOR

Rating: SFW
Pairing: severus Snape X Harry Potter
647 words

The man slumps down against the stone, the wall the only real thing he knows. Flashbacks, memories, flow as readily as water. The people he's tortured, people he's killed, people he's lost, float along, reminding him of everything he's done once again.

The only thing he had done right, was protecting him. Harry. The son of Lilly, the only person he had loved. Yes, he was also James, but those eyes, those eyes he had breathed for.

ALWAYS.

It was a surprise to see the young man standing before him. He was a man, no longer a child, proven through battle and war. Those eyes, the eyes he lived for, looked down at him, pity and empathy deep in those pools.

"I've convinced them you're a hero, Snape. The fact I even had to is an insult to everything you had done. It's over, professor. You can breathe easy." Hesitantly, he kneels down on the floor, gently helping the potions master up. He knew his terrors from his mind would never really leave, that he was cursed with what he had to do.

As he leaned closer, Harry could really see the pain in his professor's eyes. Gently, he strokes the man's sleek black locks from his face.

"You taught me how to fight. You put me to the test. I taught you how to win, to be strong. You are a warrior Professor. I'm honored to know you. You did everything you had to. You kept me safe, even if you couldn't protect my mother. Thank you." Black eyes meet green, his breath shaky as he puts the world back in order. It wouldn't do to have a Griffindor keep him together. He had fooled the darkest wizard of the age. He had survived.

"I'm here, Potter." He didn't have it in him to say his name, to see him as seperate of his father. After all, if he did, he'd have to admit the rest- that Harry James Potter was no longer an insufferable little boy. He was a man, a man snape could hopelessly let be the object of his affections. His whole life, his very breath, revolved around one man, the boy who lived twice.

"You got this, professor. Your mind is doing better, according to the healer at Saint Mungo's. It's only a matter of time. I only hope you don't disappear completely, professor. I've come to appreciate the company, what with everyone in an upheaval and Ginny leaving because I couldn't leave you behind." Snape sneers, his voice blank.

"You didn't need me anymore, potter. I made my use. Why do you bother?" Harry looks up to him, into those eyes, and he feels himself slip a little. Those eyes looked so much like his mother's, it hurt. Seeing a ghost in those eyes was pure misery, but one he hoped to never live without. The wound on his neck ached as he swallowed, but he did it again, needing the pain to feel alive.

"Professor, with all due respect, but I can't leave you behind. Not after what you've done for me, for all of us. You are the reason we won, I would have been lost to the deatheaters, or worse, Voldemort, long ago otherwise. I hope one day, you'll realize I'm genuine. I won't leave you behind. I'm not my father, or my mother. I promise you, professor."

He glares, those black orbs gazing into green, before he gives in. If this is fate's way of rewarding him, the ghose of his first love, her precious son, wrapped in his embrace, black cloak keeping him from the world, so be it. At least he wasn't in azkaban, or worse, without purpose. It was as he closed his eyes, he felt his warrior spirit begin to gather once again.

"Very well, Harry. I'll take you up on that... always."