DISCLAIMER: None of this belongs to me and I lay no claim on it.

WARNINGS: These will be updated at the start of each chapter, if required. At present they are only for slash and teacher-student relationships. All characters are of age though.

PAIRING: Snape and Harry, there is side Ron/Hermione and Sirius/Remus and there will be other slash and het pairings/threesomes throughout

A/N: This story will probably only get updated once a week or so, and it will be a slow story. If you want the characters to fall in love and into each other' bed's in the first few chapters then this is not the story for you. It will be finished and hopefully there will be no huge lapses in posting, but it will take time, just so you know.

CHAPTER ONE

Shit. She must be able to smell me.

When he could take no more of his housemates' avid discussion of Voldemort's latest raid, Harry had decided to talk a walk. Luckily he'd remembered to grab his invisibility cloak and had successfully evaded Professor Sprout, but Mrs Norris had sniffed him out when he'd first entered the dungeons and still wasn't leaving. Uneven steps and low grunts alerted Harry to Filch's presence. Harry walked backwards, away from the pair, trying to be as quiet as possible. Feeling an open doorway on his right, he slipped in and breathed a sigh of relief when the door shut behind him.

Still under the cloak, Harry turned to see where he'd made his haven and came face to face with Professor Snape. The man was staring right at Harry. When Harry was certain the man was staring right through the cloak and into his soul, Snape turned away with a snarl.

'Bloody drafts.'

Harry watched, dumbfounded, as Snape walked through to what appeared to be his quarters. He muttered a charm and threw off his outer robe, draping it over the back of a dark blue sofa. Shoes were kicked off and thrown into a corner, along with black socks. He unbuttoned his collar and cuffs before flinging himself down on the sofa. When he didn't move for several minutes Harry stepped forward carefully and looked at the man. He lay on his back, one leg on the armrest, the other on the back of the sofa and both arms above his head. The picture he made was almost…

'I'm going to kill them, you know, Sebastian,' sighed Snape.

Harry jumped and whirled around, looking for Sebastian.

'They talk about it like it's some big game, a joke.'

Harry was certain there was no one else in the room with them.

'If I don't kill them, he will.'

Was Professor Snape talking to an imaginary friend?

'Unless Potter manages to kill him, but we all know how bloody likely that is.'

Harry nearly gasped out loud. Snape was talking about him to his imaginary friend. Before Harry could react further, Snape spoke again.

'Anyway, I must correct the plague of stupidity that haunts my classrooms once more. Be gone.'

With that the man pried himself off the couch and stalked over to his desk, plucking the top scroll from a pile and beginning to mark.

'Idiot. No, that's not correct. Imbecile. Have you slept through the past six and a half years? How exactly would that reaction occur? Idiot. That is completely inconceivable. …Passable.'

Harry and crept behind the Professor, holding his breath as he peered over his shoulder. He looked down to see Snape was marking his class' essays. The last comment had been directed towards a roll of parchment covered in Hermione's cramped hand. Harry's had been one of the "idiots".

He soon grew bored and sat by the door. Eventually Snape moved into another room and Harry could leave, running back to the Common Room to avoid being punished.

By lunch the next day, Harry had practically forgotten the incident. He and Ron had already begun lunch when Hermione joined them at the table.

'You'll never guess what happened,' she said as she sat.

'Voldemort's been poisoned?' guessed Harry.

'Malfoy's been permanently transfigured into a ferret?' guessed Ron.

'You've discovered a cure for lycanthropy?'

'Snape's dead?'

'Yes-' said Hermione.

'What?'

'Well, he's not dead, Harry, but he's being replaced for the next month.'

'By who?' asked Ron.

'Sirius.'

'That's brilliant.'

'It'll certainly be a change. Are you alright Harry?'

'What? Yeah, really glad. Having Sirius here'll be excellent, I just…Do you know what's happened to Snape?'

Hermione shook her head, and when Ron started telling other Gryffindors the good news there was no time to find out anything more.

Harry made it through the rest of the day on autopilot, still wondering what was happening with the man. By the time he was approaching the dungeons, his last potions class with Snape for some time, he'd decided to go snooping again.

It was harder the second time. For a start he couldn't really remember where the room was, and when he found it he had to wait around for Snape to arrive and then try not to get caught when he snuck in. He managed it, despite almost catching the cloak in the door when Snape slamming it shut, and was rewarded when heard the muttered password - ecstasy.

'The fucking drafts in this fucking castle and the fucking old man who runs it. Fuck.'

Harry pressed himself to a wall as Snape stormed around the room, kicking the furniture and waving his arms around. His outer robes were flung to one side and his shoes hi the walls like a thunderclap. Harry had to stifle a gasp as Snape tore off his shirt and grabbed his left arm. He was glaring at the mark, squeezing the flesh round the black stain, but Harry was caught up in the smooth chest that was exposed. The lithely muscled skin was making him feel…odd.

'Sebastian, I have to go. He's calling. Well they are. Both of them are calling for it this time. They're going to kill me, you know? I don't know when or how but one of those men will murder me. Probably Dumbledore.'

Harry had slid to the floor in shock. He couldn't believe what was happening, Snape seemed to have lost his cast-iron control.

'Anyway, I'll be away for little under a month on this one, so I shan't be speaking to you until then. You'll just have to find something else to entertain you. And don't give me that look, it's hardly my fault. I know what you're thinking of saying, and it's about ten years too late so leave off. Now be gone.'

When he finished conversing with his…friend, Snape flicked his wand and returned his clothes to their proper places. Harry sighed as the man seemed to return to his senses.

Just like the last time, Snape sat at his desk and began marking essays. Harry settled in for a long wait but after less than half an hour the man scattered the pile of scrolls to the floor and threw is quill across the room.

'Fuck.'

Harry watched in horror as Snape dropped his head into his folded arms on the desk. His shoulders shook slightly and his breath was coming in uneven gasps. Before Harry could decide on a course of action Snape was standing from the desk, his cheeks dry but his eyes bright. Harry watched as he stalked through a doorway, leaving the scrolls. A shower started but was switched off almost immediately and Snape reappeared, still only in his trousers.

The man crossed the room to a closet where he pulled out a heavy set of black robes and shrugged them on. A quick spell had the buttons closed and his shoes on and tied. With a final glance around his chambers, Snape pressed his wand to his left forearm and disappeared.

Harry didn't move for the longest time. He sat under his cloak and stared at the spot Severus had disappeared from. Eventually he lifted his wand and pointed it at the room. A whispered spell confirmed he was the only one in Snape's quarters.

Still under the cloak, Harry stood up and walked across the room. He reached out to stroke the arm of the chair in front of the fire. The cushions were smooth, bare, clearly this was where the man sat. A quick check revealed immaculately tidy drawers in the desk and there wasn't a speck of dust in the room. Steeling himself, Harry walked through the doorway he'd just seen Snape go through.

He found himself in a small bathroom, also impeccably clean. A shower stood in one corner, still dripping slowly. The sink had one toothbrush, one hairbrush, one face-washer, the tail-end of a tube of toothpaste, only ever enough for one. Harry frowned and left the room. The first door he'd seen Snape go through led to a bedroom.

Snape's bed was off to one side, pushed into a corner. A dark rug covered the stone floor in front of the fireplace and a desk was against another wall, covered in potion vials and ingredients. Most noticeable was the full-sized mirror that was covered by a dark cloth. Harry snooped for a moment longer before leaving and returning to his dorms.