Title: Scripta Manent
Author: Ligeia
Pairing: HP/SS
Rating: PG
Category: romance, drabble/ficlet
Word Count: 422
Summary: A typical evening down in the dungeons
A/N: Written for the After_Class dictionary drabble challenge. Word: totalitarian.
All characters in the Harry Potter universe belong to JK Rowling. I'm just a devoted fan with an overactive imagination.
Books. Rows and rows of them, shelves filled with treatises on poisons, Potions journals, famous wizards biographies and even a few Muggle novels. Harry ran a fingertip over the spine of a rather old-looking hardback.
"Nineteen eighty-four?" he asked drawing out the book and started leafing through the pages. Familiar slogans stared up at him from the yellowed paper: WAR IS PEACE; FREEDOM IS SLAVERY; IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH. He went to the last page. The final sentence was still a blow, just like the first time he'd read it. He closed the book and replaced it on the shelf.
"I didn't know you liked Orwell."
"It was a present," Snape replied without looking up from the essay he was marking. "The headmaster gave it to me when I left Hogwarts."
"And did you read it?" Harry asked, leaning against the table.
Snape snorted and looked up. "Of course I didn't. At the time I thought Dumbledore was an old fool, giving a Muggle novel to a Slytherin as a goodbye token."
"But it wasn't just a gift, was it?"
Snape didn't answer and went back to reading the essay, occasionally crossing off words or entire sentences with red ink and scrawling what he thought was a more acceptable expression. He didn't add his usual scathing comments, so Harry guessed it had to be a fairly good student. A Ravenclaw, probably.
"He wanted you to open your eyes and see what Voldemort's plans could lead up to: a totalitarian society where all that's different is eliminated."
"Since when are you capable of such deep critical analysis?" Snape commented as he dipped his quill into the ink.
Harry grinned. "Well, Hermione gave me that book for my eighteenth birthday and told me a few things."
"I should have known there was Granger behind this sudden outburst of intelligence."
"I'll just ignore this last comment," Harry replied and walked behind Snape's chair. He placed his hands on the Potions master's shoulders and kneaded the tense muscles. Snape closed his eyes and lolled his head back.
"You should go to bed. You're exhausted."
"I've got to finish marking these abominations first," Snape said without opening his eyes. He moaned as Harry's hands moved further down his back.
"It's Friday, you can finish tomorrow."
"I'd rather-"
"No. Let's go to bed."
Snape looked up at him through narrowed eyes. "Stubborn child," he muttered, but put the quill down on the table and stood up.
Harry gave him a broad smile and pulled him closer for a kiss.