AN:
This is not beta'ed. Yen might - just might - do a flyby later. It was planned for the 2014 adventdrabbles , but alas, time and my muse were not cooperating. This tale uses all but one prompt from the drabbles somewhere in it.

I hearby declare that I know nothing of the world of ambassadors and diplomats. If you do, please forgive anything that I mess up. If you wish to nicely tell me what I did wrong, I would love to learn.

This is written for my wonderful friend, pekeleke - I hope you enjoy it dear. I know it is late. Thank you for letting me use your drabble 'Daring to Soar' as part of this.

ed: Yen was lovely and quick on her flyby edit. Thank you, Ladio!

Prologue: Soaring

Harry sank onto the edge of the sofa and stared at the note in his hand. The missive had come after the morning post. Actually, the owl had almost cracked itself against the window while he was doing the wash up.

Not but ten minutes earlier, Severus had retired to his lab for some well earned playtime with his cauldrons and ingredients. Summer was Severus' fun time, the time he didn't have to deal with students and all the issues that came with them. Harry had learned that the first summer he had attempted to visit – the first one after he finished school. Severus has taken one look at him and closed the door. Harry had come back the next day, only to be treated the same way. Remembering that the three was a magical number, he had attempted again. It was then that he had been summarily told that Severus did not see students during the summer.

'I told him I was no longer a student, so that didn't apply. He had glared at me, told me to come in, and then stalked off to his lab. He didn't come out until supper time and was surprised that I was still there. That was the start of this relationship.' Chuckling at his own thoughts, Harry let his gaze take in the room that over the last three years had collected his stuff as well. 'At first it was just housemates. I had no where-else I wanted to be, and he put up with me much like during eighth year. Then it evolved into this.'

Looking down at his hand, he smiled at the ring that adorned his third finger on his left hand. There was remarkable very little negative reaction to his marriage to Severus. Mum and Dad Weasley had just handed him a book filled with notes – ideas that they had obviously been coming up for their wedding since the day he had landed on the man's doorstep for their wedding. George had pulled out a set of matching formal robes, one Snape size and one Harry size. Ron and Hermione had taken him shopping for a ring and asked the jeweller for the ones that they had been putting on hold for the last couple of years. It had been the public that had been shocked, and even they shrugged it off for the most part.

His gaze shifted from the ring to the parchment, and he sighed. 'Yeah, the public wasn't put off at all.'

Shoving a hand through his hair, Harry considered how to interrupt Severus with this news. "Maybe it will keep till lunch time."

Glancing back at the note, Harry knew that this was going to change everything, and that there was no way that he could keep it from Severus even a moment longer. Severus would truly be madder if he did that than if Harry interrupted him and caused every cauldron to explode by doing so.

Heaving a sigh, Harry headed for an argument. He just hoped that once the dust settled, they could make a feasible plan.

~.~ HP/SS -.-

(Pekeleke's 'Daring to Soar')

Severus surveys the empty room, grieving the life he's abandoning: years of spying. Teaching. Albus' portrait... Why does his need to leave feel like a betrayal?

The war is finally over and he's ready to embrace a better, brighter future despite his heart's anxious reminders that he's never risked it successfully. That his past dreams of love have been foolish. Reckless. Dangerous.

"You could always stay. We could make it work, Severus. I know how safe you feel at Hogwarts." Harry whispers, kissing his shoulder gently.

"No. I want to stop seeking safety, Harry. It's time I dare to... soar."

~.~ HP/SS -.-

Unlike the Muggle world, each nation only had one magical embassy building with wings that were assigned to each country. These embassies might not be located in the capital city of the country, but in the place where the Ministry of Magic of that country thought the diplomats would be happier living. It was easy to floo them into their Ministry of Magic when they needed to see the diplomats, or they could go out to them and use one of the many conference rooms inside the embassy itself.

The diplomats that lived in these huge places formed their own type of society with their own version of class system. Ambassadors, of course, were the top of the system, followed by the multitude of diplomats that served under them. The spouses of those people held rank under the diplomats unless they were born with political clout in their own country. Office workers and others fell below the spouses. Each level had their own pecking order as to who was the top.

This balance of power was always shaken up when a new Ambassador or diplomat came. The diplomats at the magical embassy in France were pleased to meet Ambassador Harry Potter even though he was replacing one of the oldest and highest ranked ambassadors that resided in the embassy. They had prepared a dinner in his honour, and every ambassador was prepared to show the new one just where he fit in their level, the bottom.

Blanche watched as a young man exited the international portkey terminal. 'Easy pickings. He shall be too easy to control.' That of course was the reason that he was meeting the man in the first place, to determine just how much the new one would disrupt their lives. When six other people walked out of the terminal, he began to wonder if the young man was the ambassador at all. Taking the easy way out, he addressed the entire group and waited to see who would answer. "Ambassador Potter, welcome to France. I am Ambassador Henri Blanche. May I ask who are all accompanying you?"

Harry smiled at the man who looked to be a peer of McGonagall. "Thank you. This is my husband, Severus Snape, and my security detail: Anna Kimbel, Lindsey McClure, Cassandra Darsey, Michael Stovall, and Gregory Valce."

Blanche stared at Snape and then the security detail. He knew that the elves had not prepared family rooms for Potter, nor had they expect him to have five members on his security detail. This would change the dynamics of the embassy, even more so since the spouse was not a wife. "I fear we have not adequately prepared for your arrival. We were not informed of the number of people in your party."

Harry compressed his lips into a thin line. This was his first assignment and mistakes were already being made. Surely the embassy could read the numbers on the forms he had to fill out weeks ago. He also wondered why an ambassador of some unspecified country was greeting him. It didn't make sense. "If you could find someone to show Severus and myself to our rooms, and my detail to theirs, we will settle in and give the embassy time to sort out the fine points."

"That is now one of the issues. The rooms prepared for you are inadequate." Blanche was glad that the young man was the ambassador, he had a feeling that he would be easier to manipulate than anyone else in the party. Especially if he angered this easily.

"Then find us somewhere that will work until adequate rooms are assigned to us." Harry snapped, his tone short with frustration.

"Of course, this way." Blanche kept the pleased look off his face as he gestured for them to follow him.

~.~ HP/SS -.-

Severus closed the door behind him, his eyes taking in the room that they had been assigned as temporary housing until a permanent set of rooms could be assigned to them.

"Severus, I am sorry. I told them that there were two of us coming." Harry tried not to let his anger show. He didn't want to make Severus more aggravated.

Heaving a deep sigh, Severus dropped his luggage onto the luggage rack. "It will do for now, Harry. I did say that I wanted to soar, to be adventurous."

Harry rested a hand on Severus' arm. "I will make sure that they know to have a lab facility in available to you."

"We will see what they come up with. Now, the rest of the ambassadors wish to meet up with you, Ambassador Potter. Shall we prepare for dinner?" Severus gestured towards the bathroom. It was time to wash their travel dirt off and go to the meet and greet. "I also suggest that you practice one controlling your temper. It seems as if they wish to goad you into losing it."

Harry nodded. He had noticed his mistake as well.

~.~ HP/SS -.-

Harry growled low as he watched the other diplomats and their wives move away as Severus walked near them. It was like watching snowdrifts in the wind. Severus was the wind and the others were the snowflakes being buffeted by it. When Severus retreated to the far corner of the room, a relaxed atmosphere settled over the Christmas party.

Moving away from the small cluster of politicians and their wives, Harry made a beeline for his husband.

"I can't believe that they are acting like this here. They are supposed to be masters of diplomacy, and should be able to deal with all types of people." Harry handed a drink that he had picked up on the way over to Severus as he spoke.

Severus accepted the glass. "They are not consciously doing it. They developed the habit of avoiding me over the past several months, so they do it automatically."

Harry knew that Severus was speaking the truth. When Severus had joined the spouses of the other diplomats, he had stood out as the only male there. His sharp tongue and inability to handle stupidity had caused him to be quickly excluded. The ambassadors had heard from their wives what type of person Snape was and had come to Harry requesting that he talk to his spouse about his behaviour. Harry had, but not like they had meant. Instead, he listened to Snape complain bitterly about the lack of conversation to be had, even among the diplomats, especially the ambassadors. It was then that Harry suggest that he use his time to find the potions community. Severus had followed him to soar, not to be pulled down into this cesspit of a class system that played at being diplomacy.

The first month after Severus had followed his suggestion had been hard. The man had practically disappeared, so immersed he was into the field he loved. Harry heard from the security team that was assigned to Severus that his partner had landed himself a position in one of the top potion research labs in the country. Harry let him go, refusing to prevent the flight of the one he loved. The wind was pushing the man higher and higher, but further and further from Harry's reach.

A single distress call, one that summoned all the members of the security detail to his aid had brought Severus home. The security detail that was there did a fair job of keeping Harry safe, but Harry had to join in the fight to bring down the Death Eater that had been in hiding. All of it happened before Severus, Valce, and Kimbel made it back. That evening, Severus realized that he didn't know what Harry's schedule was. That realization was the thing that changed things once again. Severus, even though he was soaring high, was flying near Harry now, no longer out of reach.

The diplomats and their spouses still excluded Severus whenever he attempted to join in on any outing or function. That exclusion didn't truly bothered Severus much because he spent much of his time divided between being with Harry, potion research, exploring the country and training the security detail up to his standards.

A hand on the small of his back pulled Harry out of his thoughts.

"You should be mingling more. This is a political function dressed up as a holiday party."

Harry did his best not to roll his eyes, but he knew that Severus could sense his desire to do so. He understood why Severus was pushing him out there. Much to the dismay of the other ambassadors, Harry had proved that he could lead. As time passed, he had used every trick and quirk that he had learned from Severus and had seen Dumbledore use. Right now he was not at the bottom of the pile nor was he at the top, but he was certainly a force to be reckoned with. "Walk with me? I want to see if they will drift away like snowflakes on the breeze if both of us are there."

"Snowflakes?"

"Yes, that is what they resemble as they move to give you space. You are the wind and they are at your mercy."

The small smile curled Severus was just what Harry was hoping for.