AN: Okay, so I've been incredibly remiss in thanking my readers and reviewers. You guys are helping so much, and I love that you love this! It certainly doesn't get enough love from me, so it needs attention from somewhere.

Uh... I wrote this. Maybe. You get a glance at what the rest of the Golden Trio thinks... Hope you like.

Sorry I've not worked on this in months. I just couldn't work up the inspiration. But now you have it. Yay!

~Kiro
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Harry managed to slip into Charms without Professor Flitwick giving him much mind. He was not spared such inattention from his friends.

"Where have you been, Harry? You never made it back to lunch!"

Hermione was the first to question his whereabouts. Hearing the sharp tone in her voice, he winced. He most likely should have been paying attention to his friends' reactions during breakfast, but all he could think about had been making sure that Severus wasn't subjected to disciplinary action. All he could now was put off talking to his friends until he had more time to think, and they could discuss it without twenty potential eavesdroppers.

"I'll tell you later, okay. Now isn't a good time."

Hermione gave him an evil eye, but turned back to the blackboard where Proffessor Flitwick was still squeaking out a lecture. Ron gave Harry a concerened glance when he slumped down in his seat, sliding half under his desk. Oh, how he was dreading this conversation.

Harry managed to avoid explaining himself to his friends for the rest of the afternoon. They all had classes until then, but after dinner he would be wide open for Hermione to drag him to some corner and demand an explanation, Ron tagging along behind. Right now, Harry was just trying to draw the meal out for as long as humanly possible, picking at his chicken with one fork. All of the sudden the scent of the spicy fowl made him nauseous. He pushed his plate away.

Above him, black eyes watched worriedly. Harry flicked his gaze upwards, caught his man's eye, and smiled, exhausted, in reassurance. All he recieved in return was a deeper scowl from Severus and a huff from Hermione, who appeared to have noticed the interaction. Harry dropped his head supressing a groan.

He had debated having Severus present for the conversation with his friends. It would eliminate a lot of the disbelief if he could just snog the man in front of his friends, but he also didn't want Severus to be there to a.) hex one of his friends of b.) be interrogated by one of them. Actually, he was probably just putting of the inevitable, but at least without Severus there he could... smooth the way a bit.

Finally determining that there was no way he could put off this conversation any longer, Harry stood from the table and limply made his way toward the doors. Behind him, he could hear Hermione haul Ron away from the last of his food.

The trip to the Gryffindor dormitory was long and arduous. Harry nearly fell down the stairs at least three times, but he figured that a trip to the hospital wing would only make this conversation more uncomfortable. When the trio entered the common room, it was about half full, as was typical of a Tuesday night. The three friends made their way between groups of chatty students and up the stairs to the seventh year boys' dormitory, locking the door behind them.

There was silence as they each sat, Harry on his bed and Hermione and Ron on the redhead's bed. A rustling, during which Harry stared at his hands on his lap, then Hermione spoke.

"So where did you go during lunch, Harry?"

Silence. Harry sighed, then lifted an eye to peek between his bangs at the two opposite.

"You have to admit that it was pretty strange, you just running off like that, mate. What was that about?" This time it was Ron. This was a bad sign, if Ron was worried about something then Harry was in deeper trouble than he thought.

"Well- I..." Harry sighed. This was never going to work. He decided to take a page out of Severus's book.

"Have either of you heard of Amare Speculae?"

A gasp sounded from Hermione, and Ron shook his head, looking tisked.

"Mate, if you don't want to tell us just say so. Don't bring up random trivia that has nothing to do with anything."

This earned him an elbow in the stomach from Hermione, who seemed to have been fed rainbow pellets for all that she was beaming.

"No, Ron! Amare Speculae is a recently developed potion that just emerged in the potions community. It uses olfactory, visual, and cognative methods of conveying the identity of one's soulmate. In other words, it tells someone exactly who they are meant to be with. In truth, it is very romantic."

Harry blushed, looking once again at his hands.

"Yeah, well, I guess you could say that."

Ron, it seemed, still didn't understand the significange of this revelation.

"So what does this have to do with why Harry wasn't at lunch? Was he trying the potion or something?"

"Don't be silly, Ron!" Hermione cut in, "Only an experienced Potions Master could brew such a potion. It would hardly be at the level of a seventh year potions student barely passable at potions. No offence, Harry."

Harry shook his head and looked up at the two.

"Don't worry about it. Uh, no, Ron, I didn't brew Amare Speculae. But... my soulmate did."

A loud squeal erupted from Hermione, and wolf whistle from Ron echoed around the room. Harry's face burned.

"So who's the lucky girl, Harry?"

A few beats of silence followed from Harry and Hermione.

"But... wait," Ron's mind worked in overdrive, "You said that only an experience Potions Master could make the potion. Right, Hermione?"

Hermione nodded, avoiding his gaze.

"But the only experienced potions master here is... Oh. Oh, no."

The moment that the realization hit the redhead was palpable in the air. Ron's eyes went wide as plates, mouth dropping open before contorting into a grimace the likes of which had never graced his face before.

"Awe, oh, Harry! That's just disgusting! You should never make me think of Snape that way- just- ugh!"

Harry didn't know whether to laugh, cry, or slap his friend. Hermione took the last option away from him, landing a blow on Ron's shoulder.

"OW! Hey, what was that for!?"

Hermione ignored him as he nursed his injury, turning back to Harry, clasping hands and leaning forward in an earnest stance.

"When did this happen, Harry? And, just to be sure, it is Professor Snape, isn't it?"

Harry nodded, smiling a bit sadly at his friends.

"Yeah. It's Severus. He came to me in the fall- you remember the time I made a flaming cauldron that wouldn't go out?" They both nodded. "Well, that was the day he- uh- told me. He tested the potion before he released it and, I guess, he saw me. He told me during detention and we've been seeing each other since."

Ron was making disgusted faces, this time without sound effects, and Hermione was beaming at him. Until she reached over and slapped him. Harry rubbed his face in pain as she yelled at him in righteous anger.

"Harry James Potter! Why did you not tell us before this!? We are your best friends, yet we are later than even McGonagall to learn about you and your soulmate? Oh, yes, I know what you were doing during lunch today. You should be ashamed of yourself, not telling us something this important about your life."

Harry shrank back into the bed on which he sat, intimidated by the tiny bushy-haired witch opposite as he never had been by any Death Eater or Dark Lord.

"And I absolutely demand that you introduce us as your friends. I want to ask him about his invention, and we ought to get to know him as more than just students."

Gradually, Harry looked up from where he had curled in on himself to see Heermione beaming at him, and Ron behind her lending a supportive hand on her shoulder. Slowly, ever so slowly, a smile began to cross his face.

"I think I can do that."