Disclaimer: I can only dream of owning the masterpiece that is Harry Potter.

Anniversaries

He sighed, assigning another 'T' to the top of a sorry excuse for a paper. The Gryffindors this year were about as good at Potions as the Hufflepuffs. No, they were worse. In fact, Severus Snape had yet to be pleased by the performance of any of the houses so far this year. He grumbled as he pulled the next paper off the stack, preparing to be just as displeased. As he settled in to start (de)grading this next essay, his fireplace turned a dazzling shade of emerald, and he looked up in irritation. But to his surprise, it was not a body that emerged from the flames, nor was it a head; instead, a solitary scrap of parchment floated to his desk and landed softly on the paper in front of him.

'Meet me in the Room of Requirement.

-H'

He might as well go, after all, he did not want to deal with calming the boy down later; and surely it had to be better than sitting here for another two hours. He rose, stretching, and made his way to the seventh floor. Walking down the corridor, he found the young man bouncing eagerly outside the door. Rolling his eyes, he walked up to him and kissed him gently on the lips. Harry looked up, green eyes shining.

"Come on!" he breathed, grabbing Snape's hand and whirling around, opening the door with a flourish and all but pushing the man inside. Snape grumbled something under his breath about 'bloody Gryffindors', but Harry was used to this by now and simply chuckled, wrapping his arms around the man's waist and resting his head on his shoulder.

Severus surveyed the room through narrowed eyes. There were blood red rose petals strewn all along the floor of the dimly lit room; there was a single wrought iron table in the middle, set for two with silver pillar candles throwing soft shadows in the middle. A dark leather sofa sat in front of a roaring fire, and he could hear soft violin music playing from an unknown source. All in all, he almost wanted to gag. But as he did not want to upset the young man entangled around him even more, he swallowed the feeling almost painfully.

"What is the meaning of all this?" he asked, trying as hard as he could to keep his voice light and casual. Being as he was the dour old Potions Master, this was no easy task. However, as the young man tended to stray towards absent-mindedness, he got away with it.

"Oh, you know, Sev!" Harry stated playfully, twirling a strand of the older man's long hair around his forefinger.

Severus groaned internally at the absurdity of the nickname. No matter what tactics he employed, the boy would simply not drop it; he had even kicked him out of his quarters on numerous occasions, often leaving him to deal with various hexes. Snape turned the boy around and wrapped his arms around the slender waist as Harry slid his up to rest around the man's neck. Dipping his head, he gave him another, longer kiss to the lips. He wondered what all of this was for. The boy certainly did not have to go through such great lengths to get him into bed, after all, they had been shagging for months now. He had been clear about their exclusive relationship status, and Severus had even reluctantly agreed to it. Must be the Gryffindor bravado, he thought. Being from Slytherin house, he was not much for the romance of it all, but he supposed if he had to endure it once in a while he could bear. After all, he could always have the boy make up for it in his bed later on. With this thought happily in his mind, he deepened their kiss, moving his hands over the boy's hips and pulling him closer into his body.

Harry put a soft hand to his chest and pushed him away slightly, causing the sour look to return to his Professor's features. He smiled and touched a finger to the corner of his down-turned lips in amusement.

"Seriously, you know what day it is!" he said, excited. After a long silence, he added "Don't you?"

When Severus still made no move to answer, Harry pushed him more forcefully away, his features a mix of anger and hurt. What was going on? Severus had nothing wrong.

"You don't know what day it is," Harry stated, disbelieving."

"Saturday?" he supplied, feeling downright foolish. The boy was cornering him, ambushing him, and he had no idea as to why.

"Saturday," he scoffed, folding his arms. "Yes, Severus, very clever. It's December the 22nd! Our anniversary? Our 1 year anniversary?"

Snape's brow drew together. Had it already been one year? That seemed an awful long time to him for a relationship; especially with a Gryffindor, and the Golden Boy no less!

"I'm a busy man, Potter. I would've remembered." He snapped.

"Honestly, you really had no idea!" the boy fumed. "I've dealt with a lot of your coldness, but I thought you'd at least remember our anniversary!"

And with that the boy turned on his heel and fled the room, leaving Snape alone with the faint scent of roses and cedar. He looked around once more, putting it all together. He put a hand to his forehead and sighed. This was turning out to be worse than grading his papers.

Severus stalked around his room, fuming. He had worked himself into a formidable rage on the way back to the dungeons; the nerve of the boy. Did he really expect him to remember frivolities such as anniversaries? That was simply absurd. He was Severus Snape; he had much larger things to worry about than a silly anniversary. He sank into an armchair with a glass of firewhiskey. He supposed he should go find the boy and apologize, but he could not find it within himself to swallow that much of his pride. He looked around his empty rooms and found, much to his surprise, that he missed the man he usually spent his weekends with.

Abandoning his drink, he stood and exited his rooms, seeking his lover. He found him sitting forlornly in his rooms near Gryffindor Tower. He sat quietly next to him and leaned forward, elbows to his knees.

"I apologize," he stated stiffly. "I should have been more sensitive."

"It'd just be nice to know that I'm not the only one invested in this relationship. You're always so cold and distant, and I knew you would be, it's just…you. I just," he sighed. "A little feeling now and than would be nice."

Severus nodded to himself, mulling over the boy's words. He hated emotions, it was true. He saw them as a waste of time, as they usually ended up screwing you over in the end. He had spent many a night away, piss drunk, because he had fallen victim to his emotions. So when he took on the role as a Death Eater, he had separated himself from all feelings, and he liked it that way. But when he looked into those emerald eyes, he almost felt something. It felt almost like an itch that didn't really itch, a little twitch in his abdomen that informed him that the younger man meant something to him. He supposed he would be upset if he ever were to lose him. He looked over at the slumped figure next to him; Harry looked simply pathetic.

He put his arm around the boy and pulled him in closer, breathing in the scent of his hair as he laid his head onto his chest. Rubbing his arm he mumbled, "I love you, Harry."

Harry looked up at him through his lashes, gasping slightly. He had told the man repeatedly that he loved him, but he'd never thought of hearing it back. Leaning into those full, parted lips, Snape stole a kiss, savoring the sweet taste of the boy. As he licked his top lip, he was granted entrance and their kiss deepened. Snape bit his bottom lip and they broke apart, both breathing heavily, and gazed into each others eyes.

"Don't get used to it," Snape mumbled, as he towed the younger man to the bedroom in order to fully celebrate their anniversary.