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––James—-
Tom Riddle visibly takes in a huge breath and holds it.
“Oh shit,” James says out loud. He did not mean for that to happen. Not to him. This is the last thing he meant to happen; Tom Riddle is scarier than most of their teachers. “Oh, double shit.” James needs to stop fucking talking, but Severus Snape stepped out from behind Riddle, and he’s obviously been hit with the same prank James is now very much regretting setting up to catch Sirius with.
Snape is beet red, and his hands hover over the new additions to his chest, but when Riddle smacks them, he’s quick to drop his arms and school his face to something uncaring – the blush stays, though, and James fixates on his cheeks until Riddle speaks up with a masculine voice that doesn’t currently match his chest. “Fix this.”
James jolts, and tears his gaze away from Snape, who he doesn’t remember ever seeing embarrassed before. Riddle’s eyes are sharp as daggers, and James stutters out, “I can’t.” Has Riddle ever directed his anger at James before? He doesn’t think he has.
James remembers there’s a second part to the spell. “Oh no,” he’s frozen. He doesn’t want to be hexed for what comes next, but at the same time, he worked so hard on setting this up. Human transfiguration is difficult, you know! And no one has ever accused James Potter of playing it safe before.
Riddle looks ready to say something else, but before he can, his and Snape’s hair turns into rainbow colored spaghetti noodles, and oh, this would have been so funny if Sirius walked under that spell instead. Marinara sauce drips down the noodles, and only Snape is shivering in disgust. Riddle barely falters long enough for the change to happen until demanding, “Then you can explain to your head of house exactly what happened here.”
James yelps as Riddle wordlessly locks his legs together and floats him above his head. Snape magics his wand out of his hands when James pulls it out to make a daring escape, and then darts back behind Tom to semi-hide his misfortune.
James hears snickering off to his side, and he knows Sirius is witnessing this before he notices him poking his head out around a corner. “Black,” looks like he’s not the only one that noticed him, because Riddle’s voice has not softened at all when he speaks. “Did you know about this?” Sirius grins wider than he has all week as he responds.
“Nope!”James glares at him.
Damn it, help me! You’re the one that started this stupid war!
No such luck.
“But he’s been muttering about ‘getting the bastard to stop being so bloody cheerful’ when he thinks I can’t hear.”
“Liar!” James yells, knowing full well he has been doing exactly that. Except, the bastard in question is the only Gryffindor in this confrontation with both his feet still on the ground, not one of the Slytherins he actually hit!
Snape takes Sirius’ wand just before Riddle puts him up in the air next to James. “Neither of us are cheerful, idiot.” Sirius shrugs.
“Fair enough.” The Gryffindors are silenced, and stay that way even as Sirius evidently realizes where they’re being taken and begins to struggle. He probably thought they were going to be murdered, which is a better alternative to being sacrificed to McGonagall, who holds their right to be on the Gryffindor quidditch team in her hands.
McGonagall doesn’t even try to ask James and Sirius before sighing and directing her inquiries to the Slytherins holding them hostage. “What did they do?” She politely avoids mentioning the obvious problems until they confirm who created them.
In the end, James has detention for three weeks and is barred from practicing with the team for a week of that time. Sirius gets away with three detentions total, which James thinks is completely fair, but complains about it to Sirius the entire way up to the Gryffindor tower anyway.
And of course, being a Thursday night, they sneak out hours after curfew to pass around a Quaffle.
“You should still transfigure me like that,” Sirius offers gleefully. “That was a whole work of art, and I wanna send my mother a picture with my hair up in a spaghetti bow.” They both cackle; the howler Sirius’ mother would send would be so worth it.
“Did you see how red Snape was?” James snickers. Sirius keeps laughing.
“Are you sure you didn’t mess up and turn his skin into a tomato?” Sirius suggests.
They switch to fooling around on their brooms, racing around the pitch and playing chicken to see who will pull out of terrifying dives towards the ground first. Everytime they take a break, James’ mind goes back to Riddle and Snape, and how much they actually had that coming in the first place, to look more than a little ruffled from their usual cool, perfectly-put together dispositions.
So three weeks later, so his detentions don’t stack or compound, he pranks them again on purpose.
He covers his tracks this time, trying to at least make it a toss up between him and Sirius as the culprit. When they’re both questioned, they’ll share the punishment. McGonagall never believes them anymore when only one of them claims they didn’t do something. They used that too many times during their era of taking turns taking the blame for their pranks.
Three weeks gives him plenty of time to stalk them after classes in his invisibility cloak, but it didn’t take that long to figure out they sit at the same table in the library every other day to study. He curses the individual chairs they sit on this time, so they each get their own prank.
Snape’s face lights up when, fifteen minutes into their study session, he goes to ask Riddle a question and it comes out in song. He clamps his mouth shut and won’t look Riddle in the eye after that.
James’ breath catches. He expected Snape’s singing to be scratchy and out of tune, but it came out clear, strikingly deep, and smooth, and he runs away before he gets to see Riddle’s fingernails turn into mice. The effects will lift the moment they’re out of their chairs, and the spells will self-destruct automatically after that, so he has no need to stay behind to prevent himself from getting caught.
That was too much for him, holy fuck.
“Sirius I have a problem,” he says to his best friend, slightly out of breath from running up all the stairs he has to take to get to their dorm room. Sirius picks his head up from where he’s bent over a piece of parchment, planning something with a mad glint in his eyes, and takes half a look at him and says, annoyingly,
“I’m afraid I can’t do anything to fix that dumb expression on your face.” Sirius shakes his head sadly at James. “I’ve been stuck with the same one for years.”
“At least let me complain first!” James whines. Sirius laughs and pats him on the back.
“We’ll suffer together.”
“Sirius!” James shouts. Sirius throws him a pillow from the closest bed, and James puts it up to his face and screams into it. He dramatically falls face-first to the floor when he’s done, and Sirius’ chair creaks as he stands up to instead sit on the floor next to him.
“Who is it?” James groans. He doesn’t want him to know, but he really wants to tell him.
“‘Ver’s S’pe.” He says without lifting his head. Hopefully this would quell his desire to blurt out the name of– nope, it didn’t. Sirius pokes his cheek meanly.
“This is an equal friendship,” Sirius demands. “You tease me about Remus, so you have to tell me about the love of your life so I can do the same to you.” James screams again, and ignores Sirius laughing at him.
James lifts his head off the pillow long enough to shout out the name, “Severus Snape!” and hides his face again.
“Severus Snape!?” Sirius screeches. “He’s so ugly though! No, you have to choose someone else.” James smacks at him blindly, and feels smug at the sound of him successfully slapping his traitor of a best friend’s skin.
“Help me, dipshit!” James flops over onto his back and glares at Sirius, who is currently struggling to breathe. “What the fuck do I do?”
“How should I know?” Sirius asks genuinely, after taking a minute to catch his breath.
“You have more experience than I do.” James is fully aware that means shit. Remus still doesn’t even look at Sirius except to criticize him, and it’s been two years. Sirius just stares at him this time, portraying that exact thought. James is tempted to tell him to shut up, but that would dignify the point, and Sirius doesn’t deserve that.
Sirius’s mouth stretches into a mockery of a nice smile, and really, James should stop listening to him when he gets like this. The last time he saw this expression on Sirius, he was agreeing to touch the trunk of the Whomping Willow and ended up in the hospital wing for two days. His parents actually received a letter about those particular injuries, and they were not happy with his idiocy.
“You should try flirting with him,” Sirius says. “Unless you’re a pussy, you won’t just pine after Snape, and you’ll flirt with him.” James thinks about how red Snape got in both occasions he’s pranked him, and then thinks about how Riddle isn’t always next to him, looming with his freakishly tall height threateningly.
“That’s a horrible idea.” James sits up to look Sirius in the eye on the same level he is. “Tell me what to say.”
––Severus—-
Severus is going down to the library on a Saturday when it happens.
Tom stayed up in their dorm, focused on adding this week’s materials to his carefully curated study guide for their OWLs next year, and Severus saw no harm in walking alone in the hallways as he often did.
“Hey, Severus,” he almost trips over his own feet. The only people who call him by his first name anymore are Tom and Lily, and that sounds nothing like either of them. He stops walking and whips around to confirm it was James Potter, half of Hogwarts’ resident prankster duo, and wishes his skin isn’t so pale as to easily broadcast his embarrassment at his current bully.
Potter has pranked him and Tom twice, even if the first was an accident, and the second couldn’t be verified by Madam Pince in time for them to inform a professor. It was great spellwork James attached to their seats – and no one else's, which is how they knew it was targeted – and his magic was only recognizable to the Slytherins before it faded because they were victims of a prank of his recently.
“What, Potter,” Severus demands of him, drawling his voice like Tom does when he’s being purposefully scary. “Could possibly give you the idea you are allowed to use my first name.”
Potter stutters out something unintelligible, and turns around to dash back the way he came. Severus feels a small amount of pride, scaring him off so easily. He should speak like that when he wants to be left alone more often.
––James—-
“Sirius,” James whispers to him in a strangled voice, and clings onto his shoulder with shame. “That backfired so fast,” Sirius snickers.
“Did he try to kill you, then?” Sirius shouldn’t get to sound so happy at that.
“Nooo,” he whined. “He spoke back to me .” Sirius cackles, drawing the attention of everyone in the hallway. Most people speed walk away from them. That would usually cause James to puff out his chest in pride at being such a menace, but right now he just sags in relief at the decreased risk of being overheard.
––Severus—-
“Severus!” Severus scowls. This cannot be happening again, it was the fourth time! He doesn’t know why Potter keeps trying, with how fast he rushes off each time he speaks in what he’s started calling his Jerk-Repellent in his head.
“Leave me alone, Potter,” Potter freezes, but doesn’t retreat this time. This is why Severus wanted him to stop pestering him before too long: deterrents are less efficient when people get used to them. “Go away,” he tries again.
Potter stands his ground, and gives a smirk as he says, “I’m not so good at holding conversations,”
What? Is Potter deliberately lying to make him mad? He talks to Black and whatever girl slides up to the two of them on any given day with ease.
“Can I hold your hand instead?” Severus’ jaw drops. He has nothing to say to that, not even a ‘no,’ because he practically explodes as blood rushes to his head.
“Wha–?” How eloquent, Severus.
“I asked–”
“I know what you asked!” Severus yells. Potter has the audacity to pout at him, and Severus decides no homework help is worth this. Potter is blocking his way to the library, where Tom is probably getting pissed, so he pulls his bag to his chest so it doesn’t hit his side while he makes his escape back to the dungeons.
Severus dives under his blankets when he reaches his bed and shoves his nose and mouth into his sheets, hoping to suffocate himself and forget the past twenty minutes.
He pulls his head up before that happens, he’s not stupid.
“Severus,” Severus switches between tensing, relaxing, and tensing again at the sound of his first name. He’s glad it’s from someone who’s actually allowed to use it, but as soon as his muscles slacken, he remembers he never showed up to their study commitment. “What do you think you are doing?”
Severus groans and pushes himself onto his forearms so he can swivel around to look at Tom. “That does not explain anything,” Tom says, referring to his red face. Severus thinks it does.
“Potter was in my way,” Tom hums, and looks at Severus consideringly. “I think he was bullying me.”
Tom’s gaze sharpens. The last person to bully Severus regretted it instantly. “What did he say?” Severus’ blush picks up intensity again.
“I think he used a pick up line on me?” Tom raises an eyebrow. Severus sits up fully so he can fidget with his hands. “But one that suggested he was bad at talking to people, so at least I should hold his hand?”
Tom looks disappointed now, and his glare is focused more at Severus rather than through Severus, trying to figure out how Potter hurt him. “Was he insinuating I’m a last resort? Or is he calling me easy?”
Tom’s eyes soften as much as they physically can. It’s not a lot, but Severus grabs onto the reassurance offered him. Severus looks too much like his father, one of the world’s ugliest men. “If he tries to talk to you again, say he’s too ugly for you, and come find me. I’ll settle things with him.”
Severus nods, and Tom strides up to him to awkwardly pat his head.
––James—-
“If you and I were socks, we’d make a great pair!” James yells at a rapidly fleeing Severus Snape.
“That’s disgusting!” He yells behind him as he runs away, presumably to tell on him to Riddle again. He keeps doing that, leaving James almost no time to appreciate how his embarrassment plasters itself to his face.
“Potter!”
“Oh, shit,” Riddle’s closer than James hoped he was this time, already rounding a corner and storming in his direction. Riddle flicks his wand to his hand and James yelps and sprints away. He knows Riddle will never run in the hallways, so he’s safe.
Or so he thinks when he ducks around his second corner in his escape and runs right into Professor Slughorn. He needs to stop celebrating too soon.
“Mr. Potter!” Slughorn says with too much jolly for a man who doesn’t know what to do with misbehaving students. Sirius-ly, he and Sirius once knocked down an entire shelf of ingredients fooling around in the supply closet, and all they got was ‘Such spirit! Just as the heirs of Potter and Black should have! Practice your spells outside of class next time, if you would, boys!’
Yeah, most people hate him.
But right now, he’s the worst professor to run into, because Riddle and Severus are his favorites ; a student overly ambitious even for a Slytherin, who is definitely going places, and a promising potions prodigy who mastered fourth year potions in his first year.
“Where are you off to in such a rush?” Slughorn asks.
James panics. “Er, uhm, SIRIUS!” He calls out desperately. Maybe Magic will be kind to him, and he’ll be somewhere nearby.
… Or he could have told Riddle exactly where he is. James sweats nervously. With luck, it’ll disgust the man who works with things like armadillo bile and beetle eyes enough to let him the fuck go… yeah that’s not gonna happen.
“Potter!” And here comes James’ death. Slughorn looks up to find one of his favorite pupils, but not before shooting James a brief look that translates roughly to, “What the bloody hell did you do, boy?”
James sags in defeat. Hopefully Sirius finds his will; he hid it in the shack they’re not supposed to know about that they can access by a knot at the base of the Whomping Willow. With any luck, Sirius will brave the roots to honor his bravery or something, and the paper is still safe under the floorboards and the magic keeping impervious to most damaging things hasn’t failed.
Riddle’s eyes promise death by excruciating venom from the nearest venomous snake when he comes into view. He glances at Slughorn, who’s grip grew tighter with the understanding of his obvious involvement in Riddle’s current anger, and the professor manhandles James so the two students stand face to face.
“You will stop–” he starts, but apparently Magic heard his wish because Sirius has come to save him.
“Glitter bomb!” Sirius shouts, and jumps up high enough to slam something that sparkles from the lights down onto Riddle’s head. Slughorn’s grip tightens again with the reflexes of a man who definitely does not want his first reaction to being startled to be to throw something dangerous across a room.
But Sirius has a stinging hex ready for him, and Slughorn quickly releases James when it hits his forearm. “We are so expelled!” James shouts at him and they both sprint through the halls.
“No problem!” Sirius promises as they try to find somewhere with no students around to witness where they decide to hide and presumably wait until midnight to leave the castle entirely. “We’ll sneak back in and live in the sewers!”
“How are we meant to interact with the loves of our lives like that!” Sirius stops running, and James trips over a stone while looking at him instead of the ground, and faceplants.
Sirius is shoving his hands through his hair when James gathers enough of his dignity to get up onto his knees. “Yeah, that would be a problem.” Sirius taps his thumbs on his forehead, and James readies himself to turn back the way they came. “Guess we should go explain ourselves to McGonagall, at least she’ll stop Riddle from killing both of us.”
James sighs heavily and thrusts his hand out for Sirius to take and help haul him to his feet. “Alright, fine.”
So, McGonagall is pissed at them when James and Sirius sheepishly tell her what they did.
And Tom Riddle, who was already there complaining about them when they went in, is still in her office with them, glaring at nothing in particular. The hairs on the back of James’ neck prickle, though he can’t tell if it’s out of fear or excitement over the prank Sirius pulled over on him.
Every time the Slytherin breathes out, a small cloud of glitter puffs out off his upper body, and that ridiculousness is the only thing keeping James sane right now. He doesn’t know if Riddle hasn’t vanished the glitter yet because he wanted it for evidence, or if it’s because he can’t.
At the end, they’re both forced to apologize, and Sirius and James are both responsible for cleaning the glitter out of the castle walls and floors, and get two detentions each on top of that.
“I will admit,” McGonagall tells them when Riddle leaves. “I am impressed that you both came to me about this. I would have expected you to keep running until someone caught you.”
“Oh,” Sirius, no. “That’s because we can’t keep talking to ou– ow!” James stomps on his foot, and swiftly takes over.
“All our friends would be mad at us for attacking a teacher,” McGonagall’s face loses some of the respect she’s granted them. Fair enough, they might be friendly with some people, but the two of them are really only friends with themselves. James weakly finishes, “We didn’t want to disappoint them by not confessing, professor.”
Yeah, maybe he should have just let Sirius air their shame. McGonagall’s face is pinched again. “How very sweet of you.”
“Why didn’t you let me finish?” Sirius whispers angrily at him after the door to McGonagall’s office closes behind them. “I’m a Black, we’re bred for the ability to bullshit our way to the top!” James sneers at him.
“Oh, yes, your ability to get out of approximately one out of every fifteen detentions gives me so much confidence in your bullshit ability.”
“Hey!” Sirius complains. “I stopped you from being murdered, show some respect.” James rolls his eyes, but obligingly takes a great, exaggerated bow and intones with much sarcasm,
“Oh, Heir Black, forgive my foolishness. I have done wrong to an Ancient family of Magic.” He rights himself. “Good enough?”
“Yes,” Sirius decides. “Also, I have an idea for your next attempt to seduce Snape.”
“You’re trying to do what, Potter?” Sirius freezes. He and James slowly turn around to find Remus Lupin standing behind them, looking more than a little annoyed. “And can I assume the glitter I slipped on in the hallway was one of your doing?”
Sirius’ face fell, and he hid it by pouting. “Do you not like my surprise?” Oh Sirius, oh no. “I thought–” Remus, because James thinks of him as Remus with how often Sirius screams about the Ravenclaw, holds up a hand and cuts him off.
“I’m going to stop you right there,” he pinches his nose. “Enough with the jokes Black, seriously, you’re going to hurt someone one of these days.”
“Sirius-ly?”
“No, Black.”
James winces.
“You two are both idiots,” he points harshly at Sirius. “You especially.” Sirius looks proud of Remus’ spitting anger, and grins stupidly while he watches him walk off.
James yelps as Sirius grabs his arm and pulls him into another run through the castle. He’d be concerned about breaking the rules so soon after talking to McGonagall, but Sirius will die if he doesn’t scream within the next ten minutes, so James doesn’t really care.
“Out, Peter!” Sirius yells after slamming over the door and startling Pettigrew enough to make him fall backwards out of his chair. Sirius taps his foot impatiently as he gathers his things and rushes out.
James locks the door behind him after he leaves, and Sirius collapses into his bed and screams into the mattress. James pats him on the back apologetically.
“He’s just so!”
“I know, Siri,”
“You don’t though! You don’t see it!” Sirius cries. “I wanna kiss him so badly!”
“I know, Siri,”
––Tom—-
Tom runs across Potter’s latest attempt to woo his roommate before Severus even has the chance to run.
His companion is incredibly red, and is standing on the balls of his feet, ready to bolt the second he can.
Tom expects to feel another bout of anger bubbling deep in his chest at seeing Potter flirt with his roommate right in front of him, and he definitely feels something, but he isn’t versed enough in his own emotions to tell for sure what it is.
“Potter,” He walks up to the troublemaker and revels as he jolts with fear. The last time they interacted, he watched James and Sirius vanish the glitter from his clothes with an eagle eye, not trusting them to resist vanishing his clothes instead. He was still angry about that.
He pauses when James turns to face him, and his eyes portray less fear than they should at his arrival, and more embarrassed, horrified arousal. Tom blinks.
Oh, this should be fun.
“Are you bothering my Severus, again?” Tom drawls his words as slow and deep as he can. Severus bragged about getting James frightened enough to leave with a handful of words using the voice he learned from Tom, but he suspects Potter ran for a different reason, and now seems to be the perfect time to test his theory.
Before now, when he spoke to Potter, his words were short and sharp, saying what he needed to before he pulled another irritating disappearing act.
Potter chokes, and Tom’s eyes light up.
Tom lays an arm around Severus’ shoulders and pulls him in close, and James’ gaze sharpens. “Severus,” Potter whines, and his face changes completely. His eyes are soft, and his cheeks are puffed up. Tom knows pranksters have to have at least some skill at deception, but the sight of Potter so effortlessly switching from embarrassed to calculating to pouty threw Tom off long enough for him to say what he does next.
“I’ve been looking for you everywhere! I had the perfect thing to say to you, but you’re so fine, you made me forget my pickup line!”
Severus makes a strangled noise and hides his face in Tom’s collarbone. Tom smirks at Potter for his failure to seduce his companion away from his side.
Potter scowls at him, and Tom gets an idea too great to pass up. There’s no doubt in his mind that Severus’ companionship belongs to him, but how perfect would it be to embarrass Severus harder than Potter ever could and still have him choose to stay with Tom?
“Severus,” Tom lays a finger under Severus’ chin and gently pushes it up so they’re nose to nose, and looking into each other’s eyes so Tom can watch his face burn a brighter red. “There you are, my dear.” Tom whispers the next part, which is only for his ears. He’s not trying to give Potter any material for whatever hormone-induced fantasies he might have, only make him jealous. “I have things I wish to do to you in our dorm room, if you would like to hide your face in your pillows instead.”
Severus stops breathing.
“Yess, Sseveruss,” he says in Parseltongue, at a normal volume this time. Severus gasps loudly, and his eyes are wide as saucers. Potter, predictably, ruins it.
“Don’t worry, my Prince, I’ll save you from the dragon!”
“Excuse you,” Tom says without meaning to, left eye twitching. “If anything, I am a Basilisk. Do not compare me to those mindless beasts.”
“I think you’re right, Riddle. Severus must be more dangerous than you, I keep falling for him and scraping my knees.” Tom’s plans can be changed, and he can easily fit studying and building favor with the more privileged students in Slytherin around this.
He looks down at Severus, who looks like a deer caught in headlights, and recognizes the glee rising in his throat, because Severus isn’t running away from him, unlike every single time Potter tries to reel him in, and out of Tom’s reach. His face is nearly purple with embarrassment, and Tom is concerned he might pass out, but he can’t stop yet; not until he runs, and Tom knows exactly how far he can push him with this.
“Hmmm,” Tom doesn’t let Severus turn his head away. ”He takes my breath away every time I watch him wake up in the morning,” Potter glares. Tom can respect his tenacity, but he must understand by now he has no chance against the only one of them Severus lives with for most of the year.
Severus whines, but even looking him directly in the eyes, he’s in the background.
“Are you sure your birthday isn’t on October tenth, Severus? Because you’re a 10/10.” Tom wonders how long Potter had taken to come up with these. (he stole them all from Sirius, Tom, who asked the writer, who stole them from the internet, don’t give James that much credit)
“His birthday is on the ninth of January, the month of new beginnings, the same month he and I first became friendly.”
Severus sniffles, and Tom brings his focus back to him and marvels at his miserable eyes. “Fuck, Sev, are you crying?” Potter asks him. Tom wishes he didn’t, Severus looks beautiful like this, completely overwhelmed by Tom’s words.
He pushes at Tom’s arm, and he takes it off his shoulders. Severus gives both Tom and Potter a single glance, and dashes away from them.
––Severus—-
Severus runs outside, to the fields to the left of the quidditch pitch and on edge of the Forbidden Forest, where Mr. Filch doesn’t care enough to ruthlessly cut away all the flowers that creep out of the forest that weren’t purposefully planted.
Lily is there when he arrives, severely out of breath, as she is quite often. She stands up from a crouch when he approaches, grass swishing every time he moves his feet.
“What’s wrong?” She demands. “You were crying.”
Severus takes several deep breaths, and wipes away some of the stickiness left over on his cheeks. Lily closes the distance between them and finishes the job for him. “Well?” She asks more gently this time, but no less demanding. Severus counts himself lucky to have her as a friend.
“Lily.” Severus clears his throat from the snot that built up while he was crying. “Tom’s acting weird. James started making fun of me again, and Tom joined him!” Lily looks at him, less angry and more confused now.
“Making fun of you?” She questions, like that can’t possibly be it. “I thought you’ve been avoiding him because you don’t like him flirting with you.” Severus’ eyes widen in horror.
“Flirting?” He squeaks out. Lily slaps a hand over her mouth, and Severus sputters.
“Wait!” She shouts. Severus bats her hand off his face. “You mean to tell me Tom Riddle , Mr. Icy Bastard who never shows emotion unless he wants something from someone, joined James Potter while he was flirting with you!? ”
“Making fun of me,” Severus protests. “And I know why Potter is doing it, I’m the perfect target without Tom around.” Lily huffs. Severus knows her opinions, but really, Severus is useless without someone around to guard his back. “But now Tom’s doing it too, and I don’t know why!”
Lily laughs at him, and Severus gives her a betrayed look.
“They were competing for your attention, Severus!” Lily says once her laughter dies down. “Well, Riddle confuses me, but James at least is just trying to get your attention.” Severus pouts at her.
“He has it,” he cries. “I want him to leave me alone.”
“He likes you.”
“He WHAT?” Lily giggles, and Severus tries to really think about the things Potter has been saying to him, but without looking for second meanings, like Lily keeps telling him to stop doing.
Severus’ eyes widen, and blood rushes to his face. “Oh, shit,”
“Hey!” Lily’s giggles increase in volume and speed. “You’re already mimicking him!”
Severus runs away the next time he sees James, which happens to be the next morning when he goes for breakfast, right outside the Great Hall.
––James—-
Sirius has no sympathy for James’ situation.
“Siriuuuuus! Sev won’t even let me speak to him anymooore!”
“You did duke it out with Riddle to see who could make him blush harder, in public.”
––Severus—-
Severus knows he can’t sleep in the quidditch pitch bleachers forever, but he refuses to sleep in the same dorm as Tom anymore, who apparently watches him when he wakes up every morning.
He’s lucky he hasn’t needed to resort to skipping classes, either. But Tom will never go without writing careful notes, to busy to speak with him, and Severus is more than willing to do poorly a few assignments if it means he doesn’t have anything to pack, and can be the first out the door.
Meals are unavoidable, though. Tom may not grab him like a brute, especially not in front of their peers, but even though Severus is wildly uncomfortable each night and has no reason to want to stay lying down on the bleachers for longer than he absolutely has to, Tom still wakes up earlier than he does and has plenty of time to eat a full meal in the mornings before Severus rushes in to grab anything non-perishable. With his longer legs, Severus has to break the rules to jog away from him in the hallways when Tom gets up to follow him as he runs off with his food stash for the day.
“Severus, this is beneath you.” Tom calls out to him on the fourth day of this.
“It obviously is not!” Severus yells back without stopping.
“Severus!” He only runs faster.
––James—-
Lily Evans eventually confronts James, and tells him he’s freaking Severus out. “He’s not used to this kind of attention, Potter, give him some time.” James wants to complain, but he’s been getting that impression himself, even before this, and agrees instead. He still puts a pout on his face, and Evans shakes her head at James and continues.
“It’s not for forever, Potter, but Severus needs to figure out how he feels about you first. He thought you were making fun of him until I let him know those lines were your terrible attempts at flirting with him.”
“Sirius told me to say them.” He immediately throws his best friend under the bus, and with no guilt. Evans is scary , and this way she’ll hit both of them if she feels the need to get retribution for Severus. He adds, quieter, “He thought I was making fun of him?” Evans nods at him sadly.
“So,” Lily starts after a time. “Sirius Black gave you pick-up lines to use on Severus?”
“Yup!”
“They’re awful, why did you use them?” James looks at her, puzzled. Of course he was going to use them. Terrible or not, it was James’ turn to flip the coin and see if Sirius’ tactics worked for him.
“Because Sirius used them?” Lily covers her mouth with a hand.
“Did they work for him?” James grins, and looks up to the ceiling.
“Definitely not , but it was high time I tried them.” Lily snorts.
“And who—” Lily takes a breath, calming down before she continues. “Who was the poor soul who had to listen to him?”
“Has to, still,” James corrects her. “And a Marauder never reveals a fellow member’s secrets.”
“A Marauder?”
“A model!” James yelps, trying to fix his mistake. “Sirius and I are both models! And the model code is very strict! I am both legally and morally obligated to keep his crushes secret.”
“James—” James fumbles to stand up and sprint away.
He had a new bullshit cover-up to inform Sirius to play the part of. He’ll love it; he loves any excuse to embarrass his mother, really.
The next night, at the start of dinner, James and Sirius strut into the Great Hall wearing gold skirts, badly transfigured red heels and blouses, and the same rainbow spaghetti hair that started this mess. They wink at Lily and blow her a kiss simultaneously, and even though she ducks her head to quiet her laughter, they can see her shoulders shaking.
“BOYS!” They do the same wink and kiss at McGonagall. She springs out of her chair, and they ditch their heels and run.
James notices Severus out of the corner of his eye, and already forgetting his promise to give him some space, and his and Sirius’ carefully crafted routine, waves to him cheekily. Sirius will forgive him. He’s probably doing the same to Remus anyway.
They don’t get detention for their stunt. They couldn’t. They’re both geniuses, and self-expression outside of wearing the required uniform to classes is protected by the rule book, so they get away scott-free. Never mind that they had no idea that protection exists, when McGonagall tries to punish them, they’re both brilliant and their thinking power is at max capacity.
“SIRIUS ORION BLACK!” Sirius ended up putting his hair in a spaghetti bow in their dorm room after last night’s escape, and borrowed a camera off an upper year to take a photo to send to his mother. In the letter included, the only words he wrote were “Aren’t you proud of me?”
“HOW DARE YOU BESMIRCH THE GOOD NAME OF BLACK!” Looks like Sirius’ mother is in fact not proud of him. Oh well, maybe she’ll finally kick him out of their family so he can be adopted by James’.
——Tom——
Potter has mostly left Severus alone since the cross dressing incident. He’s sure that no one but Lily Evans, Severus’s muggleborn friend and the first person James and Sirius blew kisses at, is the only one beyond the perpetrators themselves who knows what that was about.
Severus is no longer sleeping in the quidditch bleachers, but he is still avoiding him. He turns bright red every time he must speak with Tom, and though Tom is irritated that his companion is being so stubborn, he is also far too smug to have gotten this reaction from him.
His irritation wins out when he catches his companion giving Potter small smiles in potions, every time he succeeds in creating something and he and Sirius — who sits next to Potter — would come together and jump around in an insulting mimicry of proper dance forms. A vessel on Tom’s forehead pops out on the most recent of these occasions.
He isn’t about to curse Potter into losing his charm and losing his own hard-earned good faith; he’s aiming for prefect next year, and with his perfect record so far, he’s sure to get the badge. No, he’s going to turn up his own charm and find Potter right before their next potions class.
He remembers Potter’s enjoyment of his voice, the one Severus copied, and now Tom has plans to use it against him. He’ll use it as many times as he needs, until his Severus forgets his interest to Potter’s future bumbling mistakes.
Tom’s biggest obstacle to this plan's success is getting Potter away from Black. They come from the same class, both being Gryffindors and thus sharing a schedule. A well-thought out distraction is needed, and must be able to effectively and continuously draw Black from Potter’s side, lest Tom have to create a new situation twice a week.
The distraction pans out to be one Remus Lupin, a secret werewolf, and the person Sirius Black certainly holds strong feelings for. Tom would have preferred to keep that bit of blackmail of Lupin for a different situation, but after thinking it through, Potter would simply follow Black to anything else, and show up to potions only a little winded from running after him.
Lupin growls at Tom when he reveals his knowledge, as Tom expected. “I believe you have every right to be here,” Tom placates. Lupin calms a little, but the hair usually lying flat on the back of the werewolf’s neck is still raised, like a dog raising its hackles. “But I require your assistance in a matter nonetheless, if you wish me to continue keeping your condition a secret for you.”
“What,” Lupin grinds out.
“Merely for you to catch Sirius Black’s attention, Monday and Thursday, just before his potions class.” Lupin snarls at Black’s name, and Tom doesn’t blame him.
“You want me to use his attraction to me against him.” Color Tom surprised, he wasn’t sure the werewolf noticed the prankster’s affection. Either Lupin is more aware of his surroundings and other people than most Ravenclaws are, or his condition enhances his senses more than Tom thinks they do.
“Think of it as an opportunity, if you must.” Lupin’s jaw ticks.
“I will not return his feelings.” Tom hums.
“Pretend you might, anyway.”
They reach an agreement eventually, and Tom gets what he asks for. Lupin could not wiggle out of it, not with his life potentially hanging in the balance, and at least his education.
Before the first potions class of the next week, Lupin calls out for Black to stay behind and talk to him after the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw transfiguration period, and Potter leaves his friend alone with his crush.
Potter is grinning madly when Tom intercepts him in a corridor in the dungeons, where the path branches off in several directions in a way that is easy to get lost in. He casts a disillusionment charm Potter’s way to make sure anyone who might be behind him that Tom cannot see won’t notice Tom yanking Potter into one of these offshoots.
“Hey!” Potter shouts. Tom presses him up against the wall and covers his mouth with the palm of his hand. He lays a muffling charm on either side of them, and extends the disillusionment to cover himself, too. “Riddle?”
Tom grins purposefully, and leans forward to speak in Potter’s ear. “Who else were you expecting?” Potter shivers deliciously. Tom will have him reduced to a mess in no time at all, at this rate.
“The Grim Reaper, maybe?” Potter snarks through his obvious attraction to Tom’s voice, to which Tom bares his teeth at, where Potter can’t see him do it. “Back off, Riddle, Severus is safe from my advances unless he comes to me.”
Tom chuckles darkly against the helix of James’ ear, and he freezes completely. His breathing comes out in short gasps, and Tom can smell victory. “He’s very precious to me; I must ensure his potential partners are up to quality.”
——James——
Sirius has to nudge James several times during Slughorn’s class, to the point James thinks he might develop several bruises on his upper arm.
“That ended horribly,” Sirius tells him after class, referring to the glooping orange substance James shamefully bottled up to turn in, which was supposed to be a light, fizzy green. “Even for you.”
“Yeah,” James agrees, only half-caring. His mind is still mostly on Riddle – or? Is he meant to think of him as Tom now? Surely Riddle was messing with him – and his dad is more than willing to go over whatever potions he’s struggled with over the months he lives at Hogwarts when he comes back for the holidays.
“Sirius,” he says when he recognizes they’ve made it to their dormitory. Since double-blocked potions is their last class on Mondays, the rest of their afternoon and the evening, minus dinner, is always spent planning planks for the rest of that week. “Peter isn’t in here for whatever reason, is he?”
Sirius makes a negative sound, and James backs up until he hits the closed door behind him and slides down it, and sits on the floor with his head in his hands. “What the bloody hell happened to you in the six minutes I was talking to Remus? Who, by the way, told me he was being blackmailed into speaking with me.”
“Remus is a good man,” James agrees, knowing he could have led Sirius on for his own sake. “I think I know who blackmailed him.” Sirius taps his feet angrily.
“That doesn’t help me. I promised him I wouldn’t try to go after whatever bastard needed him to distract me so badly.” James whines.
“Merlin, Sirius,” James curls up tighter. “Tom fucking cornered me in the hallway, and–”
“TOM!?” Sirius demands an answer about the use of Riddle’s first name. James whines again, pitifully, and nods his head without taking his hands off his face. He doesn’t know how he went this long without blushing about the completely unexpected experience furiously.
“Sirius, I have another problem.” James explains to him, repeating his words from his confession of feelings about Sev. “Tom Riddle pushed me against a damn wall in the dungeons and fucking flirted with me, I think . It was a very weird exchange, but that’s what I got from it.”
“Oh,” Sirius stalls. “Oh, oh no. This can’t lead anywhere good.”
“It won’t!” James cries out. “He’s going to kill me! I feel so bad about doing this to Sev now, even if he did misinterpret me! Especially because he misinterpreted me!” Sirius slides down next to James, and pats his back with pity.
“Remus complimented my transfiguration prowess,” Sirius blurts out. James grabs onto that distraction with both hands, prodding Sirius for more on the interaction.
“Did he?”
“Yeah,” Sirius sighs. “He did it so sincerely.”
James refuses to sit facing the Slytherin table during breakfast the morning after. He’d love to be able to watch Sev eat, and catalogue his favorites from today’s pickings, but Tom Riddle always sits next to him, and he won’t risk staring at him, instead.
Riddle looks so smug every time James accidentally catches his eye the following days, and James hates it, believing with certainty that flirting was not Tom’s primary agenda on Monday.
Tom makes a point of holding Sev whenever he’s in reach, and James can’t help but think how good they look, standing next to each other so closely.
Thursday, after transfiguration, Sirius shoots James a dubious look. James gets the message; he is fully willing to throw Remus under the bus if he has to, and perform a daring rescue to keep Tom away from him. James shakes his head at the generous offer hesitantly.
He sprints through the hallways once he’s out of sight of McGonagall’s classroom, hoping maybe Tom won’t try to grab him. The faster he gets to the potions classroom, the more likely he’ll run across his classmates waiting outside to be let in, and Tom would never lower his image by flirting with an idiot like James in public.
He’s right, and eventually Tom shows up behind him, much to their classmates' bewilderment. But Tom still seems smug, and James almost gets cold feet and leaves.
Sirius shows up not long after, and James smiles at him when he looks at James worriedly.
“Professor Slughorn?” Tom asks before he can start his lecture for the day. “Why don’t I sit with Potter today? I’m sure I can prevent any mishaps like the one from Monday.” Slughorn obliges him cheerfully, and James and Sirius exchange looks of absolute horror.
“He can’t mess with you too much,” Sirius whispers to him, trying to be reassuring. “He has to follow through with that; he can’t let you fail under his watch.”
James’s eyes are wide as Tom takes Sirius’ place, who decides to move to the very back instead of taking the empty seat left next to Severus.
James ends up being a disaster again.
His potion turns out fine, Tom makes sure of that, but that’s mostly because James blankly does as he’s told, and lets Tom put all the real effort in. “As promised, Professor,” Tom shows off James’ perfectly colored and textured brew, and Slughorn simpers at his student’s expertise.
James takes the first escape route presented to him, feeling extremely cowardly, but ‘dear one’ and ‘such a good boy’ are swimming through his head, and he has to leave. Sirius rushes after him to ask what happened, and James tells him everything. Sirius whistles, looking mad at himself for being impressed by Tom Riddle’s game.
––Severus—-
“You shouldn’t avoid Potter forever, you know,” Lily tells Severus the same evening Tom leaves him to sit alone in potions, standing barefoot at the edge of the Black Lake together upon her request.
So close to Yule, the sun has set, and the moon has risen early. They’ll have to go in soon, curfew or not, since light charms can only get so bright without blinding the caster, and they won’t be able to see everything that might trip them.
Severus turns away. “I know, Lily, but–” Lily flicks his nose, and Severus rears back and looks at her, not completely surprised, but offended.
“Severus, you’re blushing.” She states plainly.
“That doesn’t mean anything!” He cries. He’s lying. Lily rolls her eyes at him, and Severus has to dodge another small attack of hers.
“Do you, or do you not like him?” She asks. “I know the answer, don’t lie to me.”
“I think I miss him, a little,” Lily cheers at his admission, small as it is. She jumps forward to wrap him in a hug, and against her steady figure, it becomes obvious he’s trembling. “I’m scared.” He whispers to her, and ducks his head down to hide in between her neck and shoulder.
“The worst thing that happens,” Lily reassures, and rubs his back. “Is he laughs in your face, and reveals it was all a joke after all.”
“That doesn’t help me,”
“Let me finish!” Lily smacks his arm. “And then you come get me, and I’ll hex him so bad he can’t be fixed in the infirmary.” Severus’ shoulders shake.
“And you wonder why all the girls you live with are terrified of you,” he teases. Lily makes a warning sound, and Severus yields. “I’ll tell him on Saturday.”
Well, Saturday comes, and Severus’ nerves have only gotten worse. Potter has continued to leave him alone, except for small smiles, and a single deep and princely bow when they both reached for a door at the same time and he let Severus go ahead of him. Severus almost wishes Potter would flirt with him one last time, so he could be more sure about his decision.
–—James—-
“Potter?” James’ back straightens, and he shoves the yo-yo he was going to try and hit Sirius in the back of his head with in a random pocket. He resists the urge to pat his hair down as he swivels on his heels to face Severus, who, for the first time, comes up to him willingly.
“Yeah, Sev?” Severus ducks his head, and his long, black hair falls over his face. James wants to push it back and reveal the flustered face he’s surely making. Instead, he only takes a couple steps toward him, leaving over an arm’s length between them, trying not to scare him away.
Severus murmurs something, but James doesn’t catch enough of it to figure out what he said. He’s about to ask, when Severus closes the rest of the space between them, and grabs onto the bottom of his sleeve, and tugs on it like a lost child might do. It takes everything James has not to squeal out loud.
Sev is touching him!
“I can’t say it, Potter,” James really hopes he has the right idea about what’s happening, because he pulls away the hair curtained in front of Sev’s face, and leans down the small amount it takes to press his lips against the hook of Sev’s nose. Severus slams his eyes shut, his cheeks are bright red, but he isn’t moving away.
“May I borrow a kiss?” James has been saving this line for this moment, and he feels so giddy to finally say it, close enough to Sev’s face for his blush to warm his skin. “I promise I’ll give it back.” Severus nods, and moves his hand to hold James’ wrist.
James steps away from Severus, but puts his own hand on top of the one Sev has wrapped around his arm, and guides him away from the hallway. James refuses to have his first kiss with Severus in a public space.
––Severus—-
The floor gives out under Severus when Potter moves away from him, and he’s convinced this is a mistake after all. But Potter puts his hand over his, and Severus regains enough strength to follow him down the hall.
Severus hears his breathing getting louder, but it might just be that everything around them seems quieter. The edges of his vision are certainly fuzzy, blocking out everything but the sight of where his and Potter’s hands are touching, so Severus assumes his increased notice of the sound of himself breathing must follow the second option.
Potter doesn’t lead them very far, only to the nearest empty classroom, and Severus’ heart rate increases, thudding uncomfortably in his chest. His blush has not toned down in the slightest, and he has to swallow when Potter pulls him through the doorway.
“Potter–” he gasps when Potter closes the door behind them.
“Sev?” Potter asks, and Severus looks at him expectantly. “Call me James already, will you?” Severus nods, captivated by the movement of his lips. He’s never noticed how pink they are before, and wonders about their softness. Potter chuckles, and brings up both of his hands to place on the sides of his face, palms on his cheeks and thumbs just barely brushing his ears.
Severus realizes his mouth is parted, and closes it. He jerks his eyes up to meet Potter’s, and, okay, it might be difficult to use his given name. He’s too used to scoffing at the Hogwarts prankster’s shenanigans, and occasionally muttering an annoyed ‘Potter’ if something blocked his way to wherever he was heading.
“James,” Severus says slowly, testing the name.
“James,” he thinks, and watches James’ face light up at his name.
“I want to kiss you now,” he tells Severus, who squeezes his eyes shut at the comment. James laughs quietly, and Severus can feel his breath as he leans in.
James hesitates before his lips can touch Severus’, and he peeks open one eye to try to find the problem. James’ eyes are two inches away, crinkled, and shining with barely restrained joy. “Hey, Sev,” he sings. “Say my name again?”
Severus raises his eyebrows, unimpressed. But he doesn’t want to lose this twirling, anticipatory feeling in his chest, so he humors him. “James.” James’ eyes flutter shut, and in one leap, he closes the little distance remaining between them. Severus follows him back into sightlessness.
He slides his hands up James’ arms to rest on top of his shoulders, and fixes his focus on where their lips meet. It’s smooth and slick and soft, and Severus enjoys the gentle closeness. His blush fades the longer they’re interlocked, relaxing into the sensation and the person providing it.
Barely a minute passes until James pulls back, and Severus looks at the Gryffindor still holding onto him. He wants more.
“I like you, Severus,” James tells him.
“Why?” Severus raises, wanting to know exactly how he attracted James Potter, heartthrob of so many of their fellow students, no matter what they think about his mischievousness. If it’s something Severus has done, he’s going to do it more often.
James’ cheeks darken, and Severus’ eyes widen at the rare sight. Extremely rare, considering with all the times James has embarrassed and humiliated himself, he’s never seen him blushing. “You have a really nice voice.” James explains, and Severus is affronted.
“My voice?” Severus has gotten in the habit of speaking slowly and deeply all the time, appreciating how his words roll off his tongue, and how more people listen when he speaks to them. But the reason he started using this manner of speech is because it scared James off when he was ‘Potter,’ and now he’s told it didn’t have the effect he thought it did? Severus grumbles. “It’s meant to be creepy,”
James grins. “Maybe to other people.” James lowers his hands to rest on Severus’ waist. “But I like it. And your hair, and your blushing, and your dedication to potions, that you’re just a little shorter than me, your annoyed expression, your bluntness…” James trials off from his list, and his smile turns sheepish.
“I’ve had a lot of time to think about it,” Severus whines, and drops his forehead on James’ shoulder. He looks up and resumes their eye contact when James moves onto another topic.
“Also, I’m sorry!” James declares. “I wasn’t clear enough with my flirting, and you misunderstood me! I wasn’t making fun of you, I solemnly swear.” Severus’s blush comes back at a third of its force.
“I won’t be mad at you if you don’t do it again.” Severus decides. He quickly adds, “Compliments are fine, but no pick-up lines.”
“I won’t, seriously!” James promises, and gives him a bit of a haunted look. “I learned the hard way how it feels to be on the receiving end of them.”
“Er,” Severus scrunches his eyebrows together in confusion. “What?”
And, okay, Severus isn’t expecting James to crouch to the ground in front of him, face buried in his hands, and takes a large step back. James stays there, and Severus gets more confused as the minutes go by. “James?”
James peeks up through his fingers, and Severus awkwardly crouches down with him, not wanting him to strain his neck.
“Tom—Riddle!” Severus narrows his eyes. “He’s been… seeking me out.” Severus purses his lips.
“I noticed that.” Severus spoke with a sour taste in his mouth. His only true Slytherin friend was particularly fixated on James, recently. In their potions class, especially, since his success in keeping James from making any mistakes. “He won’t tell me why, however.”
Will you? Is the unspoken question, one that James answers.
“ He’s been flirting with me !” James whines. “I have never felt so weird in my life! Please tell him to stop. I think he’s trying to distract me from you, and clearly that hasn’t worked.”
Severus has never felt such conflicting emotions before. On one hand, he wants nothing more than to laugh at James for getting his well-deserved karma, but on the other, he recognizes an awful jealousy in his chest, something he has – up until now – only felt before getting on the Hogwarts express, ignoring other people saying goodbye to their families, or when seeing how many of his classmates go home over break.
“I’ll talk to him,” Severus promises.
“Thanks, Sev.” James shuffles over and presses a quick kiss to Severus’ lips, and stands up, offering Severus a hand to help him up as well. He takes it, blushing furiously at the unexpected gesture. “Can we talk about what we want next? I don’t want any more misunderstandings between us.”
Severus agrees, and they talk until James’ stomach rumbles, and he admits to Severus he hasn’t eaten breakfast yet. Severus pushes him out of the classroom fondly, secretly happy James almost skipped a meal just to have a chance to kiss him.
Severus attends his classes for the day hiding a persistent small smile, wanting to wait to have his conversation with Tom until they’re done with.
––Still Severus—-
“Tom?” Severus asks when the two of them are alone in their dorm room. No one else is ever there, unless it’s to sleep, since Tom successfully demonstrated his magical might the year before and scared them off. The male Slytherin dorm for their year is now theirs for whenever they want a space with guaranteed privacy.
Severus waits a few minutes for Tom to finish what he is writing, sitting on his bed with his legs crossed, looking over the side of his bed, in the direction where Tom is. He has this week's potions magazine, which Evan Rosier pays his subscription for in exchange for his potions notes, in hand, and goes back to reading it for the moment.
“Yes, Severus?” Tom lets him know he’s ready for conversation, and Severus bookmarks the page he is on and sets his reading to the side. Tom turns his chair around at the movement, fully facing Severus instead of only shifting in his seat so his legs go over the side of his chair.
Severus tries to be nonchalant. “James says you’ve been flirting with him.” Tom’s face breaks its usual impassivity to make way for rage, but the mask is brought back quickly in response to Severus flinching.
“‘James?’” Severus nods, and decides to go for the simplest explanation.
“We kissed.” Tom stands up and speedwalks to Severus before he can decide what to do with his approach. He bends over slightly, enough to put his hands on either side of Severus’ knees.
“When?” He demands.
“Earlier today,” Severus allows him. He goes on, using his tone to convey to Tom should be careful with what he says next to avoid angering him. “He wasn’t making fun of me, aren’t you glad? He likes me, and I like him enough to give him a chance.”
“Are you sure he’s not lying?” Severus glares at him.
“His interest in me is not the issue here. You are deliberately antagonizing him, and I want you to stop making fake advances to try and seduce him away from me. Clearly,” Severus repeats James’ statement. “It hasn’t worked.”
Tom lunges forward with crazed, possessive eyes, and grabs onto Severus’ wrists. Out of the two of them, Severus is not the one who works to improve his physical strength along with his magic, so he can’t twist his way out of Tom’s hold on him. He gives it a try, but since Tom’s grip isn’t hurting him at the moment, he lets his arms go limp.
“You are mine, Severus,” Tom speaks plainly. “My companion, not anyone else’s. You cannot belong to any other person, especially not romantically, and not to James Potter in any way.” Severus grinds his teeth together.
“The only person I will ever ‘belong to’ is my father,” he sneers. “And that ends in less than three years, on the day of my 17th birthday. Is this how you’ve thought of me? Not as a person, but a thing?”
“Of course not,” Tom looks genuinely offended. “I am not a monster, but you are my person, not James’ .”
“Jealousy is not a valid reason to undermine my potential relationships, Tom.” Severus realizes now that he knew James’ intentions all along, and purposefully allowed Severus to believe they were malicious. Tom bares his teeth.
“I do not feel something so common as jealousy.” His eyes flicker with a hint of unsurety. “Nor have I ever felt attraction towards you, nor to anyone else, so that is a moot point anyway.”
“Jealousy doesn’t stem from romantic attraction,” Severus informs him. “It’s a feeling of wanting something you do not have.”
“I do have you,” Tom argues. “But James has more , and I will not allow that.” Severus tries again to get Tom to release his hands. This time, he’s able to, and Tom goes back to simply placing them around Severus, on his bed.
“You have never asked to kiss me.”
“I did not want to.”
“And now?” Tom avoids Severus’ eyes.
“Not out of desire for the gesture in a romantic sense.” He explains. “But, certainly yes.”
Severus nods, but doesn’t allow it. “James and I have made plans to date, Tom. If I let you kiss me, it won’t just be because I want you to, but because he agrees to it.” Tom’s upper lip curls.
“That’s not how relationships work,” he seems mildly disgusted. “You are either with him, or with me.” Severus shakes his head. He thought that too, but James very clearly said it wasn’t.
“To muggles, yes, it isn’t something they are okay with” Severus concurs, using ‘muggles’ instead of just explaining how purebloods look at relationships so that Tom will listen. “But James’ own grandparents, on his father’s side, were in a triad relationship. Apparently it isn’t uncommon for purebloods to engage in several committed romantic relationships, it’s just not generally talked about.
“He brought up bringing in other people into our relationship, while we talked about what we each wanted, and had to explain what he meant by it.” Tom pursed his lips.
“I do not want you to be with James Potter at all.”
“If you try to have us break up, Tom, I will no longer speak to you.” Tom hangs his head. “Take time to think about it, Tom. I will talk to James, and you should tell me when you make your decision.”
––Again, Still Severus—-
“He’s been staring at me all day.” James complains to Severus. They’re eating dinner together at the Gryffindor table, and Severus is trying to ignore Sirius, who is a couple seats down from James on his side and wiggling his eyebrows at them.
“Are you speaking about Black over there?” Severus asks, being purposefully obtuse. He’ll present the issue of Tom’s jealousy after he teases his almost-boyfriend, a label he and Severus agreed to begin using after their first date in Hogsmeade. They haven’t yet been given the opportunity, though, so for now, ‘almost’ it is. “Because it’s certainly annoying.”
James grins. “He’s just jealous that his crush said he doesn’t like him.”
“Mhmm. Tell him to stop, please.” James obligingly sends a stinging hex Black’s way, and Severus’ lips twitch upward at his yelp of pain. The other students in close proximity to them also hastily look away.
Severus throws up a silencing spell after that’s done, and goes on to explain.
––James—-
“So why’d you tell him no?” Sirius asks when they’re back in their dorm room that afternoon. “I thought you liked Riddle?”
“Exactly.” James flops into his bed, and lays an arm over his face. “I don’t want to feel jealous about Severus, because Tom definitely won’t be kissing me.”
“That’s rough, buddy.” That’s rich, coming from the guy whose crush had to be blackmailed into speaking to him by someone else. James flips him the bird, and Sirius laughs at him.
Tom doesn’t stop staring at James over the next few days, but he’s not shoving James down dark corridors anymore, so he lets it be; externally, at least, he’s not bringing it up to Severus, but internally he can’t help but focus on it.
James told Severus why he was reluctant for their relationship to turn polyamorous, that he didn’t want Tom Riddle to have a relationship with James only through their mutual connection to Severus. Apparently, when Severus told Tom this in turn, all he did was hum and go quiet. So in case Tom is considering James as a partner, he’ll not mention that the calculating eyes following him is a distraction.
Two weeks pass, during which Tom no longer sits next to him in potions, and James works extra hard so Slughorn doesn’t ask him to again because of its relative success; relative, because James may have turned in perfect brews, but he retained none of the information. Severus sits with James during dinner, with Tom for their other meals, and the first Hogsmeade visit since he and Severus agrees to date goes by.
They were together for about half of it, sharing a quick kiss for a greeting and after visiting each shop. Severus’ face was a vibrant red for the first two, and after that, started becoming less embarrassed by it. James will have to find new ways to put a pretty blush on his cheeks that they’re both okay with, wanting to see it in the future, which won’t happen if Severus gets used to all of James’ affections.
James and Sirius fooled around for the last few hours of their Hogsmeade day, spying on their teachers and giggling over poorly-named sweets that clearly had not been approved by someone who actually understood teenagers. Sirius pouted about wanting to go on his own date with Remus, and James bragged about how wonderful it is to be with Severus. As payment for his ego, James didn’t notice that Sirius stuck a foot out in front of him, and faceplanted.
“Potter,” in the present, Tom calls for James the Monday after their trip out of the castle. He and Sirius are about to run out of potions class with a stolen handful of sliced caterpillars, so they can make shrinking potions for themselves and taunt Filch’s cat from cracks in the wall it can’t get through.
“Riddle,” James responds, ignoring his jumping stomach. He doesn’t think anyone saw him nick the ingredients, and made sure to get them when Tom was particularly focused on something, but he can’t know for sure.
“May I speak with you, somewhere privately?” James’ stomach has graduated from jumping to dramatic swooshes, and he resists the urge to shush it.
James nods, slipping the caterpillars to Sirius when Tom turns around to lead him away from the busy hallway. They stop in the same spot Tom first pushed James against a wall, but this time there are two chairs waiting for them, angled slightly towards each other, but with their backs mostly facing the wall. Tom prepared for this, James realizes.
“You are with Severus,” Tom begins bluntly after they both sit. James’ eyes widen, and he nods. “I want to have Severus the way you do, but you do not want that unless that relationship also extends to you.” James shifts awkwardly in his seat. This conversation is much weirder with Tom than it was with Severus, of which James did most of the talking.
“You did try to seduce me to get me away from Severus.” James points out. Tom huffs quietly.
“And I was halfway successful.” Tom crosses his arms. “I would appreciate it if you and Severus never mention that again.” James grins and leans forward.
“It’s the whole reason we’re sitting here, Riddle. We should talk about it.” Tom waves his hand.
“You liked the things I said to you, that’s established. I will not try to separate you and Severus again.” Tom lowers his hand, folding it in his lap. “I have decided I am willing to try a relationship with you if it means I am allowed to kiss Severus.
“But you must know I will never think of you romantically.” Tom adds before James can crow in excitement. “I do not believe I possess the capability to have such feelings for anyone. The desire to kiss Severus comes from the fact you can, and I presently cannot. Is this something that will be a problem for you?”
James plants his back to the chair and thinks. He’s never heard of someone not being able to feel for someone romantically, and doesn’t understand it, but Tom doesn’t seem like he’s lying about it so he can half-ass a relationship with James to have access to Severus. He does want a romantic relationship with Tom, but if that’s not possible…
“What will we look like, the two of us, if we try it?” James asks, and specifies, “Will we act more like friends? Or are things like kissing, cuddling, and appreciative comments still on the table?” Tom smirks at him.
“You are welcome to admire me all you wish,” Tom’s ego is showing. James can’t blame him, he’s given similar comments to a couple of girls who told him they were jealous of his hair. “And I will accept and return your affections, but unlike Severus, you will likely have to be the one to initiate the more intimate things between us. Refrain from pulling your pranks in our shared classes and when I am studying, and I will continue to lay praises upon you.”
“That’s alright, then.” James decides. “I wanna see your notes, though, if you’re going to distract me from classes.” Tom narrows his eyes at him.
“You will not abuse that allowance to slack off under the watch of our teachers. I won’t share my hard work with you if you do not put in your own effort.” James beams.
“Of course not.” Tom tilts his head in a way that portrays he does not believe him. Which, fair enough. “Are you going to join me and Severus at the Gryffindor table for dinners, now?”
“Absolutely not.” Tom sneers. “If you are so inclined to spend a meal with me every day, you can sit with the Slytherins for breakfast.” James swallows, but has yet to refuse a dare, and that sure sounds like one.
“Challenge accepted.”
“This, Potter, is why I agreed to try this with you.” Tom smirks evilly. “You’re so very interesting.”
Oh, shit. James is going to take on a lot of difficult tasks with this one, isn’t he?
Sirius cackles at him when he rushes into the dorms to explain what happened. “Poor Jamesie, sentenced to eating eggs and sausage in the snake den of his own volition.” James glares at him.
“That’s a big word for you,” he snarks, getting ready to dodge whatever Sirius throws at him for the comment. “Don’t use up all your brain power before the week is up.” Sirius lobs a tickling hex his way, and James dances around it to the door, which he throws open before Sirius can cast something less lacking consequences if it landed.
––Tom—-
Potter and Severus sit next to each other that dinner, both consistently shooting Tom glances throughout their conversation. Tom takes it as a good sign, and Severus agrees to Tom’s proposal to the only Gryffindor of their soon-to-be triad. Even from the other side of the Great Hall, Tom can see Severus’ cheeks pinkening, and promises to himself that Potter will not be the only one who can comfortably elicit that reaction.
His peers hit a lull in their own discussion, and Tom takes the opportunity to warn them. “James Potter will be sitting here in the mornings.” The Slytherins freeze, and turn to him eerily in sync. The Hogwarts prankster duo gains reputation in Tom’s eyes, if this is the response to the mere mention of consistently interacting with just one of them for the foreseeable future.
“Why,” chokes Regulus Black, Sirius’ brother, who has more reason to dislike them than some of their professors. “Will he be doing that?”
“I have entered a relationship with him.” Tom informs him. Several people sputter.
“ Why? ” Is said again, with more emotion. Tom allows his lips to turn upward, but doesn’t answer.
“As well as with Severus.” Tom finishes, stands up, and leaves the Slytherin table in slight chaos. He can feel Dumbledore’s eyes tracking him, suspicious of the whispers that follow his exit.
He wonders how the Headmaster will react when he gets the news of Tom’s involvement with one of his favorite Gryffindors. Tome hopes he cries. It would be the least he deserves, for burning the meager possessions of a child.
––Severus—-
If James’ lips are soft and gentle, letting Severus choose the pace, Tom’s are firm and insistent, moving against Severus’ without giving him a break. It’s possessive, and Severus isn’t sure he likes it yet. But he’s stuck there, standing under the limp branches of the Whomping Willow, a feat which James marveled at before Tom used his control over the tree to drag him out from its drooping canopy.
Tom’s hands are hot against his shoulder blades, and Severus can barely lift his arms enough to pinch the hem of Tom’s shirt. Severus feels a little trapped, and decides he wants to be done with it.
“Tom,” Severus mutters, muffled by his lips. “Enough.” Tom pulls him closer, and Severus whines, finally bringing a hand up to Tom’s chest to push him away. Tom stalls for a moment longer, sighing deeply as if savoring Severus’ touch, and takes his face away to give him his space.
Severus blinks away the stinging in his eyes, and Tom frowns at him. “You didn’t enjoy that.” Severus shakes his head frustratedly, not really understanding why not. Tom walks around with an arm slung over his shoulder often enough, yet Severus has never felt so confined by him before.
“I wanted to,” Tom releases him fully, and now Severus misses his warmth.
This is so easy with James, why is it so different now? He’s known Tom personally for longer, felt comfort in his rare touch, and was delighted in the middle of their second year when the amount of those touches increased.
Tom looks disappointed, and Severus’ heart explodes. “I want–” his voice breaks, and Severus has to clear his throat. “I want to try again.” Tom hums.
“How do I get you to enjoy it?” Tom admits to his faulty knowledge on the subject of intimacy, and Severus can only tell him what he likes when it’s James he’s kissing, and hope it works.
“Be gentle, maybe?”
Tom’s eyes soften. “I should have guessed.” He tucks a piece of hair that’s loose back behind Severus’ ear. “No, demanding doesn’t suit you. May I try again?”
Severus nods shyly, and this time puts both palms on Tom’s chest before they begin. Tom relaxes into it, and tugs him closer by the backs of his upper arms instead of his back. Severus shuts his eyes as he leans in, and puckers his lips, asking Tom to take the final step.
When they connect, Tom’s lips are just as firm, but aren’t compelling Severus’ to do anything more than press against his. With the knowledge that Tom’s patience is limited, he moves his hands over Tom’s chest to split his focus.
Tom roughens the kiss for the second before he ends it, and Severus finds he’s okay with it as a sort of goodbye-for-now. Severus smiles, and doesn’t think he needs to tell Tom he liked their second kiss.
James is plopped on the ground when Tom and Severus move out of the Whomping Willow’s reach. His hands are twisted in the new Spring grass, and he smiles broadly at the sight of them when the Willow’s branches creak back up into their usual position, announcing their return to him.
James stands up, and offers Severus a hand to take when they’re closer, and he grabs onto it happily.
“Hey,” James says dumbly, and gives Severus a chaste kiss to the cheek. He stares at Severus for a while before turning to Tom, asking, “When do I get my kiss?” Tom rolls his eyes, but steps into his space indulgently.
James’ eyes roll back as they close, and Tom holds his neck steady so as to kiss him harshly without hurting him. It’s a kiss Severus knows he will never enjoy, but James revels in it, returning it with the same fierceness.
“James,” Tom says. “Just kiss me, next time, my dear.” James grins, a little loopy.
“Alright, Tom,” Severus almost groans at his glinting eyes, knowing exactly how much trouble James will probably get himself into. “I think I will.”