You Needn’t Worry Your Pretty Little Head

Severus had learned long ago that it was useless for him to try and predict his Master’s actions. His Master often told him that he was quite intelligent for a submissive, but he knew that he didn’t hold a candle to his brilliantly unpredictable dominant. Severus was booksmart, but Harry... Harry knew what Severus needed before even Severus knew; in fact, Severus very often didn’t know how much he needed something until after he and Harry had already done so.

In a unique situation, Severus was gifted to his dominant when his dominant was only a teenager. Harry was extremely powerful for his age and Severus had lost his family before he came into his inheritance. Albus assumed the role of his legal guardian but did not address his submissive inheritance until Harry came into an early magical inheritance in fifth year, at which point he gifted Severus to Harry, a powerful bloodline dominant who needed a submissive to ground him.

Severus was secretly glad that Albus waited, because he had many suitors in the form of pureblood families trying to buy his submission. He was starting to think that Albus would never find him a dominant, when he discovered the perfect solution: a bloodline dominant with no familial obligations and a strong connection to the “light”. Severus was relieved when he was gifted to his dominant and the other students stopped trying to control him. It was quite difficult to instill respect in his students when his biology would have been happy serving some of the more aggressive teenagers that were practically bred to be obeyed.

Draco was particularly hard to contend with and Severus often chose to ignore his comments rather than argue with him about respect. Draco knew what Severus was and how to properly deal with him. He would not have tolerated Severus insulting or demeaning him in public, and Severus couldn’t imagine refusing Draco if he did decide to take him in hand, even in front of his class. No, it was simply easier to ignore Draco and focus on arguing with Harry instead. Harry was always so reserved until Severus pushed in just the right way to get a reaction. He nearly came in his pants the time Harry told him “There’s no need to call me Sir, Professor.”

Despite their differences, (and maybe a little to Severus’s annoyance) Severus’s inner submissive had no problem recognizing Harry as his dominant, in fact his biology was thrilled to have such a powerful Master. Age, of course, had no impact on his view of his Master: Harry was perfect in every way, and the fact that Harry was able to use Severus to control his own power meant Severus was perfect too. Or so his Master said. The thought made Severus happy.

Severus wasn’t the perfect submissive, but he tried his hardest to please his Master. Nothing felt quite like the rush of arousing embarrassment when his Master called him a good boy, and there wasn’t much Severus wouldn’t do to feel that rush. Severus trusted his master implicitly and knew that Harry would never steer him wrong.

For a while when they first bonded, Harry had him assume complete submission and Severus had to take a few months off from teaching to help ground Harry. For the first time in his life, Severus was a kept boy. Harry took two weeks off after their bonding to get control over his new powerful inheritance and Severus still remembers the feeling of absolute submission to another person's will; it was wonderful. He lost all sense of self, all responsibility. All he had to do for those two weeks was exactly as his Master commanded. He ate, slept, even peed when told. His orgasms were completely at his Master’s discretion and he spent two weeks in a warm haze of submission, bubbled away from the outside world.

Eventually, Harry had to return to classes, but he wasn’t ready for Severus to interact with others without him there, so Severus stayed home and took care of their little set of rooms. He cooked for his Master, following a strict menu plan set by his dominant, he tidied up in the mornings, and even did a little decorating. During the day, Harry kept him busy with small tasks around their rooms, and at night he got to eat from his Master’s hand, kneeling by his feet. Harry often took Severus out for walks at night after curfew to ensure privacy. One night, Harry took Severus flying and Severus got to hold on to his Master’s waist and lean into his warmth while they flew through the night air. It almost made up for the crazy tricks his Master executed on the broom. Almost.

After a month of solitude, Harry set up a meeting with Albus on the weekend so Severus could socialize with his Master’s supervision. It went well enough that it turned into a weekly tea with the odd trio. After a little while, Minerva was permitted to join, but Severus spent a lot of that meeting at his Master’s feet, while his Master calmed down and pet his hair. (That part was nice.) To his chagrin, the next invitees were Ron and Hermione, but what Severus thought was going to be fodder for revenge on their hated teacher was actually quite a pleasant afternoon. Harry was calmer around his friends, of course, and Ron, who was raised a pureblood family, was accustomed to bloodline dominants and submissive, while Hermione came from an open-minded muggle family and was happy that Harry and Severus were happy.

At the beginning of the next term, Harry allowed Severus to contribute his lesson plans to the substitute teacher, but refused to allow Severus to contribute any more to the class for the time being. Severus’s attention was his and his alone and all Severus had to worry about was Harry. Every condescending interaction fueled a heat that twisted and coiled in Severus’s gut  and Severus actually came in his pants when Harry explained that the class was currently out of Severus’s hands and he needn’t worry his pretty little head about it. Instead, Harry had Severus take up muggle needlepoint, and gave Severus a big project with scheduled check-in points so Harry could supervise his progress. The end result was a beautiful House of Potter crest that Harry exclaimed only Severus’s long, delicate fingers could have made. The project was such a success that Harry gave Severus smaller naughty portraits to work on, promising Severus that every picture that he finished with perfect precision would then be enacted by the dominant-submissive couple. Harry framed each project on the wall, a constant reminder of Severus’s submission. Severus was happier than he had ever imagined.

Harry was very reluctant to let Severus return to work, but eventually allowed Severus to brew potions for the school when their supply ran low, with strict instructions restricting Severus to two hours of brewing per day, four days a week. Harry accompanied Severus to the laboratory and brought his homework with, but often took breaks to establish that Severus was completely at his mercy. Severus quickly learned how to cast silent, wandless stasis spells to freeze his potions’ progress until his Master was finished using his body. His Master never extended the two hour time limit, regardless of interruptions, so some days were more productive than others. It was freeing, in a way, to know that he wasn’t responsible for meeting a quota or a deadline. His only responsibility was to his Master and his Master decided what he would do and when he would do it.

In his last year of school, much of Harry’s time was consumed with studying for his NEWTs and his increased levels of stress meant that he needed Severus constantly close. His study group, the golden trio, had gotten used to Severus being around simply to serve Harry. Although Severus could never predict how his Master would surprise him next, he did learn an extensive set of basic commands like “kneel” (on his knees), “down” (forehead to the floor), and “present” (kneel down, left hand grasping his right elbow behind his back, head up, eyes down). He learned that a double tap of his Master’s middle and index finger to his Master’s inner thigh meant that Severus was to kneel between his Master’s legs and rest his cheek on the indicated spot, no matter who was with them. Severus learned to ask to speak in the presence of others by resting a hand on his Master’s knee, if they were sitting, or on his upper arm, if they were standing. In short, Severus learned what kind of behavior his Master expected in public. Severus understood that it was very hard for Harry to share him with others, even in the most basic of interactions, and was happy to modify his own actions in order to alleviate his Master’s stress. They were a good pair: the young man who needed control and his boy who could care for him by being cared for. No one grasped what the perfect jerk of embarrassment deep in his belly did to him quite like his Master and no one took care of him half as well.