Date Night prt2
"What do you want from me? Is this some practical joke that you and your brother have cooked up for me? To humiliate me in some way?" Severus demanded, glaring at Rodolphus.
They had spent the last fifteen minutes inside the Three Broomsticks, and Rodolphus had actually been pleasant. He hadn't threatened anyone or lost his temper; he hadn’t whipped his wand out and cursed Severus into oblivion either.
He was actually being charming, and it was creeping Severus out.
He bought Severus two butterbeers, and they were currently sharing some of Madam Rosmerta's homemade chips.
When Severus began to notice how nice his amber eyes looked in a certain light, he knew he had let this get too far and not even he could continue to put up with this ridiculous ruse any longer.
It was stupid and a waste of Severus's valuable time. He had much better things he could be doing instead of going on a pretend date with a raging sociopath.
"What would be the point of the joke?" Rodolphus asked, an eyebrow raised in amusement.
"Oh, who knows? You've never liked me; you've never so much as looked at me before unless it was to shove me out the way. I know how you feel about half-bloods, and now all of a sudden you want to... well, you know what I mean. Do whatever this is," Severus hissed out, feeling himself flush as he couldn't get the word 'date' out of his mouth.
The notion was just too ridiculous.
"I never disliked you. I just didn't notice you before, and now that I've noticed you, I want you. There's no ulterior motive." Rodolphus leaned forward, his eyes blazing and intense. "If I want to be cruel, I'll be cruel, you know that. When have I ever played pranks or been sneaky about it? If I wanted to hurt you, I would've done it."
"How reassuring," Severus muttered with a frown.
But what Rodolphus said was true. He wasn't one to play games or come up with elaborate schemes to humiliate people. That wasn't his thing. Rodolphus would come up to you and just curse you, or if he was feeling particularly lazy, push you down the stairs or trip you up.
Pretending to like someone wasn't exactly his style, but it didn't make any sense.
Why would he want to date Severus?
Severus lacked a lot of things, but self-awareness wasn't one of them.
He knew what he was.
Severus knew he was intelligent.
He knew he was talented at potions.
He knew he was sarcastic, pessimistic, and not particularly fun to be around.
There was a reason that Harry was his only actual friend.
He also knew he wasn't attractive.
He wasn't horrifically ugly, not anymore anyway, not since he started taking better care of himself, but he was still a very far cry away from being attractive.
He was below average on his best day and downright unattractive on his worst.
His skin was pale, too pale, and not in the flawless ivory way that Lucius was but in the slightly sickly way a hospital patient was.
He had large, doe-shaped, raven-coloured eyes that were too big for his face, but he also had long eyelashes that curled. His nose was slightly crooked due to his father breaking it when he was only seven, and it was definitely still big for his face, but there was nothing he could do about that.
His lips were pink—not too big but not too small either. Average size.
His hair still got greasy quicker due to the amount of time he spent brewing potions, but he also took care to wash it more often so it was healthier and thicker now.
He stood around 5'9, his body thin and awkward, but he dressed better. His clothes were cleaner and didn't hang off his body in an unflattering way. He charged people for doing their homework, which meant he was able to get half decent clothing now.
Yes, he wasn't as much of an eye sore as he was a few years ago, but he was still very far out of Rodolphus's league. He was out of most people's leagues. Severus couldn't imagine anyone looking at him with any sort of genuine interest.
It was bizarre.
"You're attracted to me. I know you are. I've seen how you've looked at me, so I don't understand what the problem is," Rodolphus continued.
"Seen how I look at you? Anytime I've looked at you, it's in suspicion and dread. Thank you very much!" Severus spluttered, indignant.
Rodolphus frowned. "Why would you look at me in dread and suspicion?"
He couldn't be serious?
Severus shook his head, subconsciously moving forward towards the frowning boy. "You must know you have a reputation of sorts.”
"So what? All of Slytherin does, what makes me so different?"
"Rodolphus, last year you were almost expelled for attacking a Hufflepuff so badly that it took the healers three days to make his face recognisable again. The only reason you weren't was because your father was part of the school board. Just last week you pushed a third-year mudblood down two flights of stairs for no reason!" Severus explained incredulously.
Instead of looking remotely apologetic for his actions, Rodolphus let out a wolfish grin.
"You know that's the first time I've heard you say my first name. I like the way it sounds coming from you. I plan to hear you say it repeatedly, but for other reasons." He murmured, his tone molten.
Severus swallowed, his entire face flushing bright red at his implication, "You can't mean this. You're not being practical. You're the heir to your hous-"
"-My father is now dead, and I am seventeen. I'm the Lord of my house," Rodolphus interrupted, his tone amused.
Severus shot him a wry look, thinking back to the rumours that it was Lestrange himself that had killed his father.
Apparently Mr. Lestrange had killed their mother; the twins had resented him for it, and just after Rodolphus and Rabastan had turned seventeen, they killed him.
Mr. Lestrange's death had been ruled an accident, but the rumours said otherwise.
"You know what I mean. People would never accept this, I'm a half-blood!" Severus gritted out, trying to get the stubborn boy to see sense.
"I don't give a fuck about what people say or think as long as they know to not disrespect you. You're a half-blood, but you're the smartest person, excluding Tom, that I know. You'd run rings around all of these pure-bloods; none of them hold a candle to you. There's nothing wrong with half-bloods; Merlin was a half-blood. Tom’s a half-blood, and he is going to revolutionise the world one day. Fuck what anyone else says," Rodolphus’s amused tone turned hard and serious.
Severus took in his words, trying to understand his motives, but he couldn't uncover anything, which meant he was left with the fact that he may be telling the truth.
Rodolphus Lestrange may actually like him.
"Fine, say I believe you. Then what? We become boyfriends? Hold hands down the corridor? Go on dates? I don't feel comfortable with that sort of stuff; that isn't me, and I won't pretend either. I'm stubborn and wry, and I like my own company. Whatever you think about me, you're going to get a very rude awakening very quickly. This isn't going to be like it was with your other... partners." Severus said, defeated.
"I don't care. I'll take whatever you give me. I don't want to rush you, and we don't have to put a label on it either. I won't do anything you're not comfortable with. We can just say we had a good time today, and we'll see how it goes from there. No pressure or ties, how's that?" Rodolphus suggested.
"Okay, fine." Severus stood up, his eyes dark and inscrutable. "I want to go back to the castle now, and I want to walk by myself; I need time to think."
"That's fine, but Severus, I won't share. So make that clear to anyone who may think otherwise because I will hurt them so badly that what I did to that annoying little Hufflepuff will look like child's play."
Severus's face remained blank and stony as he turned away, not portraying the anxiety he felt inside.
How on earth had he managed to gain the favour of someone like Rodolphus?
It was frightening.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Later that evening, when Severus was in the private brewing room that was in the Slytherin dormitories (something paid for by the pure-blood Slytherin parents who often 'generously' donated to the school as a way to stop their unruly sadistic children from being expelled) that he had come to think of as his own.
Ever since joining Tom’s group, Tom had made it clear that the room was Severus's to use and couldn't be used by anyone else unless they had Tom’s or Severus's permission.
So, Severus was surprised as the door opened and Narcissa and Harry walked through.
Harry was in the Slytherin common room a lot due to his friendships with Tom, Severus, and Narcissa.
Malfoy had of course directed Narcissa to befriend Harry as soon as the sorting hat had called out "TOM SLYTHERIN!" all the way back in first year.
Malfoy was never one to miss an opportunity to social climb or be next to greatness. Everyone had been intrigued to know about the boy who was apparently the heir of Slytherin, who had then spoken Parseltongue to everyone in the common room.
Once it was obvious how close Tom was to Harry, who had happened to be the half brother of James Potter, Malfoy had been quick to ensure his future bride cemented a friendship between the two.
Severus didn't understand why Harry liked Narcissa so much either, because not only did he know that she had only originally decided to be his friend because of Malfoy, but she was also mean.
She wasn't a psychopath who flew off the handle at any perceived slight like her sister, but she had a very sharp tongue and wasn't afraid to use it. Severus had seen the girl completely verbally demolish girls years older than her, and she certainly never held in her scorn for muggles and mudbloods. She was like an ice princess, her beautiful face always expressionless unless she was tearing someone down.
Yet she seemed to like Harry, who was the complete opposite.
"Hey, is it okay if we come in here? You're not too busy, are you?" Harry asked, almost hesitating at the door.
Narcissa pushed past him. "I don't need anyone's permission to enter a room that my family has paid for, thank you very much."
Severus barely refrained from rolling his eyes. "Come in Harry, I'm almost finished anyway. Good evening, Narcissa."
"Severus," Narcissa nodded. "So, how was your little date?"
"Cissa!" Harry hissed, shooting her a glare.
"What? Tom's entire inner circle knows about it, and Lucius knows better than to keep gossip from me, and I'm sure this is the most interesting thing that's ever happened to Severus. Surely this has to be your first date. I can't imagine anyone els-"
"So, how was it? Did it go okay? Did you figure out his motives?" Harry asked, his questions quickly drowning out what Narcissa was about to say.
This time, Severus did roll his eyes.
It was nice of Harry to try and protect his feelings, but it didn't matter. There was nothing Narcissa could say that could upset Severus. He had heard it all before, and he really didn't care what anyone thought of him.
Severus told them what happened, his tone objective and dull, uncomfortable with the prospect of sharing how he really felt to someone like Narcissa, who would no doubt tell Lucius.
"Do you think he would've really hurt Lily?" Harry asked curiously.
Severus tried to ignore the sting in his heart at the mention of the girl's name. "Probably, he seems to be extremely... possessive, I suppose. I'm sure he'll come to his senses soon, and this madness will all cease."
"Why would you want it to end?" Narcissa asked, her perfect ski slope nose wrinkled in confusion.
"You may find it hard to believe, but not everyone dreams of attention from pure-bloods. I am busy. I plan to achieve great things, and I don't have time to pander and cater to hormonal teenage boys," Severus sneered.
Of course Narcissa Black would never be able to fathom why he wasn't head over heels at the chance to be liked by a pure-blood. Severus didn't need to be liked, he wanted to be remembered and feared.
"I have no doubt that you care little about things like social status. If you did, you wouldn't be running around with second-hand clothes, bad posture, and a worse attitude," Narcissa grinned. "But you're smart, so use Rodolphus. Surely you can see the opportunity his favour will bring, date him, and get him to fund whatever crackpot dreams you half-bloods dream of."
"Severus isn't going to pretend to like him to be successful. He's talented enough to do it by himself. Right Severus?"
"Harry, I am talented; I know that, but you're also being naive. I won't be able to get half the opportunities I would like if I don't have the funding or the status like Lestrange does."
"So, you're going to pretend to like him?"
"No! I-yes, no... I don't know. This whole thing is confusing, and I don't even know how I feel about it or him. This won't last, we all know it, but if I could get something out of it, then why not?" Severus replied, a frown on his face as he tried to make sense of his thoughts.
"It's unethical!" Harry insisted.
"Harry, grow up. It's practical. Lucius and I aren't marrying each other because we're so madly in love. Our parents drew up our contract because the Malfoys are the richest family in Europe and the Blacks are the closest thing Europe has to royalty. I'm practically a princess, and the status that comes with me will cement the Malfoys forever. Lucius will be the first Malfoy to ever marry into the Black family. There's nothing wrong with marrying for opportunity, and that's what Severus will be doing," Narcissa replied, rolling her cornflower blue eyes.
"Well, I won't be marrying Rodolphus!" Severus snorted.
Narcissa narrowed her eyes. "Don't snort. It's very plebeian and gives away your blood status. But of course you'll marry; Rodolphus is very traditional."
"Traditional? I'm a boy," Severus pointed out.
"This is the wizarding world, not the muggle one. Plenty of wizards marry other wizards, usually not the heir because they need to reproduce, but lots of second or third sons do. Rodolphus may now be the Lord of his house, but Rabastan is his twin, so I'm sure he'll have kids, so Rodolphus doesn't have to worry about that; he's free to marry you," Narcissa assured him.
Severus felt like he was having an out-of-body experience as he listened to her, but then he shook his head, disregarding it.
She was overdoing it.
Rodolphus may like him, but he certainly wouldn't want to marry him.
"I had no idea! So any wizards could get married then?" Harry asked, trying and failing to be casual.
"Yes, so that means you can get married to Tom. Don't worry," Narcissa smirked.
"Tom? Why would I get married to Tom?" Harry demanded, flushing bright red.
"Well, it's proper to wait until after marriage until you fuck, but with the way you stare at Tom, I'm sure he'll have you sat on his cock and riding it in no time."
"NARCISSA!" Harry screeched, his face turning almost purple.
Narcissa let out a cackle, clearly finding the whole situation hilarious as Severus kept hearing Rodolphus's earlier words replay in his head, 'That's fine, but Severus, I won't share. So make that clear to anyone who may think otherwise because I will hurt them so badly that what I did to that annoying little Hufflepuff will look like child's play."
He hadn't sounded like he thought all this would be a temporary arrangement, but there was no way that he planned to marry Severus, right?
It was ludicrous.
No.
This was just a passing fancy.
It had to be.