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“Severus!” Harry said loudly, entering the man’s quarters and kicking off his shoes. “Severus! Are you here?”
“I’m at the desk, Potter, cease bellowing about like an undignified animal.”
Harry sprinted into the living room and threw himself into the chair opposite Severus. “What are you doing?”
The man looked at him suspiciously. “Grading papers. What trouble have you gotten into?”
“No trouble. So… you’re free, right?”
“I did not say that.”
“You only grade papers when you have nothing else to do, so…”
Severus’ eyes followed Harry’s hands down to the bag he was unsubtly hiding under the desk. “What is that?”
“Never mind. You’re free?”
“No.”
“Severus! You’re supposed to say you’re free.”
“I want no part of whatever Gryffindorish scheme you’ve cooked up, Potter.”
Harry was already sweeping the papers aside, quite used to this attitude from the man. “Look what I got.”
“So I get to mind now?”
Harry reached into the bag and removed an odd-looking contraption, a spinning wheel of sorts attached to a flat plastic base. Severus’ eyebrows raised; a sure sign that he was curious, which meant the plan was working. “That’s a Muggle device?”
“It’s a game,” Harry said excitedly. He plonked it down on the table. “It’s called Wavelength. Look, there’s a deck of cards that come with it, you get to choose a category and spin the wheel - don’t let the other player see. Whatever side of the wheel the needle lands on, you have to come up with something in that category. Then close this flap here, see - and the other player has to guess where the needle landed. So for example, if you get popular foods and unpopular foods and your needle lands on the right end, you should list an unpopular food, like, I don’t know… fish? And then I have to guess where the needle ends.”
Severus hummed.
Harry waited.
Severus looked at him.
“... So?” Harry said eagerly. “Can we play?”
“No.”
“Come on! It’s really fun, you’ll like it, I swear.”
“I do not like fun things, Potter.”
“Severus.” Harry looked at him imploringly. “I play chess with you all the time.”
Severus looked away quickly, but Harry knew he’d already seen the eyes, and Severus could never say no after seeing the eyes. Sure enough, the man let out a long, suffering sigh - God, but he’s so dramatic - and grumbled, “One game, Potter.”
“One round, you mean. And we both have to go in the round.”
Harry picked out his first card, put it on the display slot. He spun the wheel - Severus winced at the sound - and then closed the flap. “Okay, the category is Light animals versus Dark animals. And my hint is…”
“I thought you said it was a Muggle game?” Severus said, sitting up straighter.
“Oh, it is, but Fred and George charmed magical categories on the papers. There are also a few, um, inappropriate ones, just skip those.”
Severus raised an eyebrow.
“My hint, okay. Let’s say… animals that little kids would approach without prompting.”
“That’s obviously a Light animal, then. What’s the point?”
“You have to guess where on the wheel that is.”
Severus spun it all the way to light.
“Really? Little kids would approach a lot of animals, how do you know it’s not middle-leaning-light?”
Severus scowled at him. “You’ll have to give me more than that if you want an accurate guess.”
“I can’t give you more, that’s the point.”
Severus flicked open the flap. He’d spun the needle to a 2.
“Not bad,” Harry said. “Your turn.”
Severus gave him a flat look, which Harry returned with a beaming one. He picked out another card from the deck. “I am not playing with animals… let’s see, the category is Restricted section books versus Regular books. Now what?”
“Spin the wheel.”
Severus did so.
“No, I can’t see! Turn it away from me.”
Severus rolled his eyes, but obliged. Then he closed the flap, turned it back to Harry. “It’s a book that you wouldn’t want to be caught with, but if you were, no one could tell it was inappropriate by looking at the cover.”
Harry thought about this, then spun the wheel to the middle-leaning-restricted section. He opened the flap to a perfect 4. “Yes!”
“See, that is how you give hints, Potter.”
Harry was already picking another card, and he noticed Severus didn’t stop him, whatever he’d said about one round. “Category: Gryffindor versus Slytherin. Aw, man, this one’s gonna suck.”
Severus, on the other hand, looked excited. “Go on, then.”
Harry spun the wheel and closed the flap. “Okay… Ron.”
“Weasley? That’s it?”
“Yep.”
Severus spun the needle all the way to Gryffindor without hesitation, and Harry laughed.
“That’s a three. Your turn.”
“Hm. If this person were to find a dragon in Rubeus’ hut - ”
Harry slumped down. “Oh, no.”
“They would likely alert a teacher. And not attempt to smuggle it out through the Astronomy Tower. Perhaps they hesitated a little, first,” he added, as Harry spun all the way to Slytherin.
Harry readjusted, opened to a 2. “Oh, come on. That’s so Slytherin.”
He reached for another card, then widened his eyes as he read the category. “Never mind, we’ll skip this one - ”
Severus flicked his hand, summoned the card (Harry groaned). His eyes lit up. “I see.”
“No, really, let’s just skip this one - ”
“No.” Severus placed the card in the slot. It stood there in red and green mockery, Snape behavior vs McGonagall behavior. The twins had even managed to get a picture of each professor under their name. “You go. I’d like to see what you come up with.”
Harry buried his face in his hands, thinking he just had to have the worst luck in the world. Then he straightened up and spun the wheel. “Okay. This professor stops you after class and tells you you failed your assignment, but they offer you tutoring on the side to improve your grade.” There. That was nice and impartial.
Severus correctly spun to McGonagall’s end, then raised the needle up slightly. “I do offer tutoring to my NEWT students, on occasion.”
He got a perfect 4, looking very smug.
“You also have to play on this,” Harry said. “It’s only fair.”
Severus nodded, spun again. “This professor eats meals in the Great Hall.”
“Both of you do.”
Severus raised an eyebrow.
“Oh, right.” Harry spun the needle to the middle, opened the flap. “Yep. Three. I wanted to see you choose one side, though…”
Harry and Severus continued to pick cards and spin, well into the evening. Harry smirked a little; whatever Severus had said about playing only one round was forgotten. The man was clearly enjoying himself, almost eager as he read aloud the cards, lips twitching constantly. The grading papers sat to the side forgotten.
Harry thought maybe now they could finally play something other than chess all the time.