Severitus Inspiration

The house felt too small, as if someone had run a wire through the rooms and pulled it tight. It was anticipation, Sirius told himself firmly. Not panic. Just anticipation. A battered textbook flew past his shoulder, and Sirius was forced to amend that — maybe a little panic. He huffed indignantly at Harry, who apologized absently, still digging determinedly through his trunk. His movements were sharp, but still coordinated. Still decisive. Merely the movements of a teenager trying to accomplish three hours’ worth of sorting in twenty minutes, after falling asleep doing homework past midnight and oversleeping that morning.

(╯'□')╯︵ ┻━┻

Severus: Tell me where it hurts, you idiot boy, so I can make it better!

"Slowly now, or it will upset your stomach. Did you not learn this lesson the last time?"

"There is currently a werewolf standing right behind you, Sibyl. My dog should be the least of your concerns." His lip curled. "At least the mutt is house trained."

The trip from the sofa to the compost bin in the kitchen ought not to have felt like such an accomplishment. It was hardly a grand expedition, but Harry’s feet still prickled unpleasantly whenever he put weight on them, as though he had sat on them too long and put them to sleep. Snuffles pressed faithfully against his hip as Harry shuffled gingerly across the sitting room rug with the dish of shrivelfig skins. He could feel Snape watching him from the desk in the corner, and he was grateful for the dog’s steadiness. The last thing he wanted was for Snape to think he was overdoing it and sentence him to bed rest again. He scratched absently behind the dog’s ears with his free hand as they passed through the doorway. “Thanks,” he murmured, and he paused to flex his toes against the cool, chipped linoleum. Snuffles’s tail thumped loudly against a cabinet, and Harry laughed. “Come on, or he’ll think that was me collapsing or something.”

@gravitytrips I am having FEELINGS about this next chapter of Black Dog Mine. I am going to post it this weekend (I swear! I need it out in the world) and when I do... This is it. This is the chapter. 😭 Brace yourself.

Snape looked up from the journal article he was reading and frowned at him as if he’d suggested scaling the Astronomy Tower. “You have already bathed this morning.” Harry thought that was a rather creative use of several of those words. “You spelled me clean,” he blurted. “It’s not the same thing.” Snape blinked in surprise, and Harry’s stomach dropped like a stone. He hadn’t meant to argue. “I —“ Snape pinched the bridge of his nose as if he had a headache coming on, and Harry broke off. “Fine,” Snape said after a moment. “But there will be conditions.” Harry could hardly believe his ears. “Yes, sir! Anything!” Snape held up a finger. “One: this adventure will last no more than fifteen minutes.” Harry nodded eagerly. “Two: the mutt will accompany you.” Snuffles’s tail thumped against the floor, as if he knew Snape was talking about him. “No problem, sir.” Snuffles would probably prefer to go with him anyway, and Harry didn’t want to be sentenced to bed rest again for something stupid like wobbling too much walking down the hall. Snuffles would keep him steady. Snape raised an eyebrow and held up a third finger. “Three: the door stays open.” Harry foolishly opened his mouth to argue, but Snape cut him off before he could ruin things. “Clever though your faithful shadow is, Potter, the mutt is sadly lacking in opposable thumbs. Should you succumb to exhaustion in this little undertaking, I daresay the doorknob would prove an insurmountable obstacle to dear 'Snuffles' fetching assistance before you drown." Harry stared for a moment before letting out a surprised bark of laughter.

Adrenaline shot through Harry’s veins as he woke to Snuffles’ urgent whines near his head. He shushed him reflexively, even before his eyes opened and he experienced the vertigo-inducing shock of waking in an unfamiliar place. No. Not unfamiliar. Not anymore. He was on a battered green sofa in a sitting room cluttered with books. He reached for the self-correcting glasses Dumbledore had brought him a few days earlier, and the room slid into focus. Snape’s sitting room. Snape’s sofa. “Teachers do have lives outside of school during the summer holidays, Potter. Do try to contain your shock.” Snape’s house. “Potter.”