Disclaimer - I own nothing you recognise.

Written for round three of the Harry and Who Challenge on HPFC.

Prompts - There must me non humans / There must be a romantic kiss between Harry and someone not in the chosen pairing. / No Gryffindor dorms/common room / The word magic cannot be used. / A foreign language must be used / "Harry and WHO?" / Deja Vu.

Word Count - 3021

Almost Over

Harry slammed the door behind him as he walked out of the cottage he shared with Severus. Three years. Three years they had been together, and still the git treated him like a child. He was twenty seven for Merlin's sake, he wasn't a teenager anymore. He heard his partner calling his name, but he ignored him, continuing down the dirt road that led to their home. He was tired of the arguments, he was tired of walking on eggshells around the prickly man, and he was tired of giving all the love in him and receiving nothing in return.

Deja Vu flooded through him as he thought about their first argument. That had ended much the same way, with Harry walking out. He knew he had to stop running away from his problems but, well, Severus brought out the stroppy stubborn teenager in him he supposed. He wondered if they would ever be able to live together, to love each other, without all the problems that seemed to spring up whenever things started going well.

An almost silent crack had Harry clutching his wand tightly as he looked around for the source of the noise. He knew in his head that it could only be Severus, the wards wouldn't let anyone else passed them, but he was still wary. An after-effect of living through a war.

"You cannot keep running away like a child when things get hard, Potter," Severus growled and Harry whipped around in the direction he had been walking to see the taller man blocking his way.

"Neat trick. Let me pass," Harry replied flatly, his hand still cautiously on his wand. Severus had hexed him before, after all, and Harry wondered if he would do it again now they were together. In three years, they had never raised a wand to each other, but this had been one of their worst arguments to date.

"You're going to come back to the house, and we're going to talk about this like adults."

Harry, while knowing that the sentiment behind the speech was sensible, felt an unadulterated rage well up inside him at the condescending tone the sentence had been delivered in.

"No, now move before I hex you out of the way," he replied through gritted teeth. Truly, he didn't want to hurt Severus, but at that moment, all he wanted was to be away from him.

"You complain that I treat you like a child, and then you act like one. Potter, get back to the house!"

"Fuck You."

Harry waved his wand, causing a huge gust of wind to sweep Severus completely off his feet and out of the way. Walking past him, Harry crossed the wards and apparated away.

Severus stared after him, and uneasy feeling in his gut, that perhaps, he had pushed too far this time. Picking himself up off the floor, he walked back to the cottage with an empty feeling in his chest. Had he really just lost the only man he had ever loved?

xxxx

Harry appeared outside the burrow, still seething with anger. He hoped there was someone home, if only he could vent for an hour before going home and facing the consequences of what he had just done. Or packing his bags. Severus would be livid he knew, and as angry as he was, he hoped he hadn't just lost all chance at a happy life with the only man he had ever, and could ever, love.

Opening the back door, he wasn't surprised to hear his name called, though he was slightly confused that no one even appeared to know he was there.

"Harry and WHO?" the voice screeched, and Harry winced. Apparently, Ginny was home. She had been away for almost four years, touring the world, finding herself, or so she said. Harry had been devastated when she left, when she told him not to wait for her. It hadn't taken him long, with the help of Hermione and surprisingly Ron, to realise that his infatuation with Ginny was just that, an infatuation. He hadn't truly been in love with her, more the idea of her, and what he would stand to gain if he was with her.

The Weasleys had been quick to reassure him that he didn't have to marry Ginny to be considered part of the family.

"Hey," he said, feeling a little awkward as the crowd of people spun to face him.

Ron, Hermione, Bill, George and Charlie grinned when they saw him, and Molly quickly took him in her arms, pulling him into the usual bone shattering hugs that only she could give.

Ginny gasped when she saw him.

"Harry! Ron just played the most ridiculous joke on me! He told me you're living with Snape!" She said as Molly released him.

"Not a joke, Ginny, I've already told you," Ron muttered with a frown.

"He's right, Ginny, though it doesn't really matter now. I'm pretty sure I just fucked it all up," Harry replied, shaking his head. He walked over to Ron and Hermione, ignoring Ginny who was about to wrap her arms around his neck.

"You two up for a night out?" He whispered, not wanting the whole family to invite themselves along, as they were prone to do. Unfortunately, Ginny had followed him.

"That's a great idea! We'll all go out to celebrate me being home," she said with a fake smile. Harry gritted his teeth together but said nothing. He had a bad feeling about the smile on her face.

"I'll meet you back here later then," he muttered, smiling at his two best friends.

"We'll come with you now, and meet everyone at the bar later," she offered, to which he smiled gratefully and nodded. As they said their good byes, Harry didn't miss the calculating look on Ginny's face, and from the look on Hermione's, neither did she.

xxxx

Harry opened the door to Grimmauld Place, letting his friends go in before him. Closing and locking the door, he followed them to the kitchen, to find Kreacher waiting on him.

"Master Harry, sir, its been too long since you visited."

"Sorry Kreacher. You're always welcome to come and see me, wherever I am, you know."

The smile on the old elf's face made Harry chuckle. It was so strange how different the elf was now, when before he was the nastiest creature Harry had ever met.

Harry took the butterbeer offered with a thank you, and told his friends what had happened.

As Ron raged on Harry's behalf, something that normally happened when Harry and Severus had an argument, and Hermione looking slightly amused while telling Harry off, Harry relaxed a little. It was nice to know that some things never changed. Ron and Hermione had been with him through everything, and it was comforting to know that that was still the case.

Kreacher popped back into the kitchen holding a letter.

"Master Harry, sir, this was delivered just now," he said, handing over the letter. Harry took it, seeing his name on the envelope in familiar writing. His heart sunk. He slit the envelope with a feeling of dread, ignoring the questioning looks from his friends as he read.

Harry,

I didn't want to say this in a letter, but you are not here, and this needs to be said. We don't seem to work, do we. I wish we had, truly I do, but we can't. We're too different, and much as I hate to bring it up, you are too young for me.

I'll forward your things on to the Burrow. Please don't contact me, I would prefer a clean break.

Severus.

Harry threw the offending parchment into Hermione's waiting hands as tears poured down his face. How could he?

xxxx

The club was packed as Severus pushed his way through the crowds towards the bar. Why Harry wanted to meet here of all places, he had no idea. Ordering a firewhisky, he took a seat, waiting for his partner to find him.

xxxx

Harry was hammered. Absolutely, unequivocally, rolling drunk. He had decided, in all his wisdom, that this was just what he needed to get over a broken heart. Hermione had tried to convince him over wise, had told him that there was something wrong with the letter, but all Harry could see was the words, 'you're too young for me.'

Ginny pulled him to the dancefloor, and he followed willingly, desiring anything that could make him forget the pain he was feeling, if only for a few seconds. He never noticed the man watching him with dark eyes, a hurt expression on his face.

xxxx

Severus watched as that little Weasley chit pulled his Harry to the dance floor, he watched as she ground herself against him. He watched as she pulled his Harry's face to her own, and he watched as Harry kissed her back. He watched and he watched, and he watched. Until he couldn't watch any longer.

xxxx

Hermione saw Severus leaving the bar, and quickly scanned for any sight of Harry. When she found him, she found him him with his lips pressed to Ginny's. Nudging Ron, she pointed at the two and he nodded, making his way through the crowd towards them. Hermione followed the Potions Master, unsure of what to say to make him feel better, but knowing she had to try.

"Severus, please wait," she called as she spotted him outside. He faltered in his move to apparate, and she caught up with him.

"Whatever stupid reason's you're about to give me for his display in there, save your breath, Miss Granger."

"You realise he is doing this because of that letter. Why would you do that, when I know fine well how much you love him, no matter that you like to pretend different. He's looking for a way to fix his heart, the one you shattered into a million pieces this very afternoon with the drivel you sent him," she replied calmly, staring at him. On purpose, she kept eye contact, leaving her mind completely open to him. She knew he would search it, and she pushed the memory forward.

"I didn't send him a letter," Severus replied with a frown. "He sent me a letter, asking me to meet him here."

Severus took the folded parchment from his pocket, handing it to her. Sure enough, on the parchment was Harry's messy handwriting with the name of the club, and a time. 10pm. The exact time Ginny had pulled Harry to the middle of the dance floor.

She shook her head.

"I know what's going on. Will you come to mine and Ron's house in the morning, around eleven?" she asked.

He hesitated for a moment before nodding. She smiled at him, and he apparated away. Raising a hand to rub her now aching head, she wondered how on earth she would explain this to Ron without him hitting the roof and hexing his little sister.

xxxx

Harry woke up with an aching head and a sick feeling that he knew had nothing to do with the alcohol he had consumed the night before. What on earth had he been thinking, getting so drunk. He had no idea what had happened. He only knew where he was because he had stayed in this room plenty of times before.

Getting out of bed, with a groan, he left the spare room and walked down the stairs to Ron and Hermione's kitchen. Hermione pushed a cup of coffee at him, to which he smiled pitifully before downing the cup. With a chuckle, she poured him another, as Ron pushed a potion vial at him.

"Hangover cure," he answered when Harry looked questioningly at it. Harry pulled a face, but obediently drank it, sighing in relief as his headache cleared off.

"Thanks," he muttered, before looking at them both.

Both had serious faces, and he groaned again.

"What did I do?"

"Apart from snogging Ginny in front of Severus, nothing much," Ron replied, while Hermione hit his arm.

"Bloody fucking hell. Can I get any stupider?"

xxxx

Eleven o clock found Severus knocking on the door of Ron and Hermione's, wondering what on earth he was doing there. Surely Harry wouldn't want to see him?

Hermione answered and waved him in with a smile. He walked through to the kitchen to find it empty.

"Harry's outside with Ron, I'll shout them," Hermione said, opening the back door and calling for her husband and best friend. She made a fresh pot of tea, and Harry and Ron a coffee and placed them on the table.

"Did he know I was coming?" Severus asked, as she served him tea.

"No. He's about to find out though."

xxxx

Harry walked into the kitchen slightly behind Ron, stopping dead when he saw Severus sitting at the table.

"What are you doing here?" he asked before his brain caught up with his mouth. "I mean, why are you here?"

"Miss Granger invited me. There's something she want's us to know about, and I'd like to take a look at the letter you received yesterday."

"Harry took the parchment from his pocket and slid it along the table to Severus. He heart was aching as he watched the man he loved, and his eyes itches with un-shed tears. How could the man sit there unaffected? Did he not care about Harry at all?

"I didn't send you this."

"I know. Hermione told me that much. I didn't send you a letter either."

"Miss Granger, last night you appeared to know what was going on, care to explain?"

Hermione blushed, looking awkwardly between Harry and Ron.

"It was Ginny," Ron said, a flat tone to his voice. As expected, after they left the club with Harry and tucked him into bed, Hermione told him what was going on and he had hit the roof. It had taken her over an hour to calm him down enough not to apparate to the Burrow and hex her.

Harry looked down with a scowl. Severus merely raised an eyebrow.

"I see. Well, thank you for letting me know. I'll be leaving now, but thank you for the tea, Miss Granger. Mr Weasley."

Harry let the tears fall from his eyes as Severus left the room without so much as a glance in his direction.

They heard the door open, and then a pause.

"Harry? Are you coming with me or not? I feel we need to talk."

xxxx

Harry curled up in his usual chair in the conservatory, Severus sitting in the chair facing him.

"I saw you. You had your tongue down her throat. Do you know how much that hurt?" Severus said, no malice evident, only pain.

"You broke up with me. By letter. Or at least I thought you did. I was hurting too, and I was doing anything I could to take the pain away. It didn't work. When Ron pulled me away from her, all I felt was disgust at myself," Harry replied, and again, tears welled. "I don't know how to live without you anymore, but I don't know how to live with you either. You treat me like I'm still your student, like I'm still the reckless teenager I was at sixteen. I love you Severus, more than anything in the world, but I hate the way you treat me sometimes. No, let me finish. I give you every part of me, I give you my heart, and my soul, and I get nothing in return. In three years, I've told you countless times that I love you, and you've never once told me. Not even when we're in bed, not even when you're drunk!"

Severus stared at Harry for a moment. He thought back on the three years they had spent together, and realised it was the truth. Though he had thought it often in his own mind, he had never said it.

"Harry. Harry, I apologise for the way I treat you. In a way, it's to protect myself, because when you leave, I keep telling myself it won't hurt as much. The way I treat you, I worry about you. Every time you leave, to go shopping, to go and see your friends, when you go to work, I worry about you. I'm terrified you're going to get hurt. Harry, I do love you. More than anything, I love you."

Harry gazed into Severus' eyes, trying to gauge if he was telling the truth. In those beautiful obsidian eyes, all he could see was love, and adoration, and a healthy amount of worry.

He got up from his chair, and seated himself on a shocked Severus' knee.

"You really love me?"

"I really love you. I can say it in ten different languages, and I'll mean it every time."

"Go on then," Harry teased, pressing a kiss to the older man's cheek.

"I love you. Je t'aime. Ik hou van je. Ich liebe dich. Ti amo. Eu te amo. -"

"Alright, alright, bloody show off," Harry grumbled, making Severus chuckle.

"I love you isn't all I can say in another language. Harry, Mi vuio sposare?"

"Excuse me?"

"Work it out, then come and give me an answer. I'll be waiting."

xxxx

An hour later, Harry dived back into Severus' lap, pulling the man into a bone crushing hug. "Yes, Yes, a million times Yes!"

As Severus found himself being peppered in kissed he laughed.

"We better go and buy a ring then, Mr Potter."

"I'll be Snape soon."

"That you will, Harry. That you will.