Harry sighed as he stared out over the grounds of Hogwarts. The sinking sun had turned the lake into a pool of fire, and the grounds seemed to have an ethereal glow in its wake. It had been two days since his fellow students had gone from the school. He had wanted so badly to go with them, in part because he hated the idea that he was trapped here forever, love the school as he did, but mostly because, had he been able to leave with them, it'd have been excuse enough to avoid going to the dungeons.

It had been a few weeks since his…waking, here on the Astronomy Tower, since Snape had fixed his tumultuous thoughts. His friends noticed, but he could hardly have explained the change, even if they'd known about his turmoil to begin with. For the first week it had been nice to think of the kisses he had shared with the man, nice to pretend he could still feel the heat of him so near to his own, deformed body. After that, much like the sun sinking beyond the horizon now, his desire and happiness waned. His feelings were unchanged, but his perceptions…now there lay the problem.

Harry turned at the sound of the nearby door opening, and blushed when the very subject of his thoughts stepped from the shadows cast by the door's eave. He turned quickly away, and briefly considered taking off. Had his gaze not found those glistening onyx, he might have even done so. Stubbornness and pride kept him on the ledge of the parapet, though, his wings tucked tightly against his shoulders. He pretended not to notice has his breathing quickened with the approach of those clicking heels.

"Are you not frightened, to sit so close to the edge?"

Harry shook his head and flexed his wings lightly. "Thanks to my dream, and a bit of recklessness, it's as if I've had these forever. I could fall or jump, and catch myself on the slightest breeze. Are you envious?"

Snape scoffed. "Unlike in your dream, I do not love or revel in flight. I am not frightened of heights, but I do not make a habit of seeking them out."

"Oh," Harry murmured, still refusing to look around at the man. "Then, what are you doing up here?"

There was silence for a moment, and when Harry chanced a look, almost expecting the man to be gone, he found black eyes watching him curiously. Sighing, he swung his deformed lion's legs around and leapt off of the parapet. He wondered if he could get away with just leaving, but when his eyes flickered in the direction of the door, gentle fingers touched his chin. He pulled away and turned, wrapping his arms around his thankfully human middle.

"Why have you come?" He demanded.

"Because you did not," Snape answered in his rumbling voice.

Harry sighed again. "I…I couldn't."

"Why not?" Snape asked.

Harry turned and smiled humorlessly. "You don't love me," He told the man. "You don't even like me. I didn't come to you because… I have to accept that the Severus Snape I created in my dream doesn't exist, that that isn't who you are."

"And I must accept that… It could be."

"What?" Harry asked, suddenly cross. He scowled at the man, but Snape only gave what might have been a smile on a less imposing face.

"I have desired to change for many years, long before you ever came to Hogwarts," Snape admitted. "But I didn't know how. If I get nothing else from you, I know that I have glimpsed the man I could be, given the chance."

Harry frowned. "What chance?"

"Our chance," Snape said, entirely serious. "I may not yet know if I am capable of loving again, but I do know that I want to explore that possibility with you, if you will let me."

Harry sighed. "Since when, though?" He inquired mournfully, looking away. "Since my dream, right? Since you lived my dream with me? I can't do that, Snape. I wouldn't know if what you felt was real and… neither would you. So don't ask me to do that."

Those cool, gentle fingers were on his chin again, lifting his gaze back up to meet obsidian. "I think, under the circumstances, you may call me 'Severus'," He said.

Harry continued to frown.

"And you are right," The Potions Master admitted. "I have begun to feel for you since your dream."

Harry opened his mouth, but Severus continued.

"Not since I shared your dream, however, but since you first had it."

"I don't understand," Harry breathed in confusion.

Severus smirked. "I was among the other professors when you first transformed. We studied your body, discovered your scars and bruises from the hard life you have led in secret. It was then that I realized there was so much more to you than being the Boy Who Lived, the spawn of my childhood nemesis. Nearly every night until you woke, after your friends had gone, I would come to sit beside you. In those hours, I had much time to think. You are a kind, gentle soul, for all the darkness you have seen. You give without expecting anything in return, and I envy the goodness I see in you. That envy, in the wee hours of the morning, turned to care. Given time, I do not doubt that the care I feel for you will turn to love, even without your consent. You are a beautiful creature, like the angels my mother used to teach me of."

Harry blushed. "I'm not beautiful. I'm a freak of nature."

The fingers on his chin hardened. "You're not," Severus growled. "No matter what anyone says, not even you, will you ever be less gorgeous in my eyes. And I will spend whatever time you will give me teaching you to see all that I see in you."

Harry felt his gaze soften as the hold on his jaw relaxed. He smiled. He wanted so much to lean up and close the distance between them, wanted to take in all the beauty he saw in this man, who could see beauty in him. Severus seemed to read his thoughts, and leaned down to place a gentle kiss upon his lips. Harry smiled into the tender coupling, and felt his wings extend to encompass them both without his permission. He blushed again when Snape pulled away, smirking once again.

"Do you really think we have a chance?" Harry asked self-consciously.

Severus gave a single, slow nod. "I think we will lay the world at our feet, together."

Harry grinned. "Me, too."

He wrapped his arms around the stiff neck of his beloved Potions Master and drew him down into a kiss. Although things would be hard, perhaps even harder than he could dream, he knew they had this chance. It wasn't only a kiss, but a kiss of promise.