pekeleke

Title: Love So Fierce It Hurts.

Author: pekeleke

Characters: Harry Potter, Severus Snape.

Rating: PG

Warning(s): Angst.

Word count: 365

Disclaimer: Don't own these characters. No money is being made out of this work.

Written for: hogwarts365 Prompt #33 – Unfaithful.

Summary: Harry Potter's love towards the Headmaster of Hogwarts is so fierce it hurts.

Love So Fierce It Hurts.
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Harry never rushes home, unless it's Friday.  Home means silence and cold, unappealing weekday dinners.  It means loneliness and absence.  It means that Hogwarts has won once again and Severus is at work.  Trapped inside the castle that has always been his haven.  His safe harbor.  The heavy responsibility he'll never cast aside.

Despite his outward acceptance of the limitations that being the Headmaster of Hogwarts has placed on Severus' life, the plain and simple truth is that Harry resents the school's hold on his husband's heart with irrational passion.  He considers it a rival for Severus' affection.  A stubborn mistress determined to keep them constantly apart.  The ever-present third wheel he can neither forget nor ignore.

Harry turns the key in the lock and flinches at the unbearable quiet.  He walks into the suffocating silence of their home and stares blankly at the pantry before dropping heavily on the couch, unable to stomach the thought of cooking a meal for himself.  Of dishing out a single portion and pouring just one cup of the delicious wine Severus brought home last weekend.

“I should have stayed at work again tonight.  Or gone out to dinner.  Or brought some paperwork home to keep me sane until sunrise.”   The sound of his own voice startles him and he suddenly slumps forwards, curling brokenly towards his shaking knees in a bid to still the growing self-pity that darkens his heart whenever he's home alone.  Whenever that bloody castle has claimed its faithful headmaster, calling him back into service like an enthralled slave.  “I wish I could convince him to be unfaithful to you, bitch.  But then he would no longer be the man we love so fiercely, would he?”

Silence is his only answer and he laughs, bitterly angry.  There is nothing he can do until Friday finally arrives, proclaiming him the victor once again.  Severus will be home and the house won't be so silent anymore.  Their kitchen will be alive with the aroma of home-cooked meals and the sound of their combined laughter.

“He'll be home again.  He'll be mine.  And then it'll be your turn to hate me as much as I hate you, Hogwarts.”