Mean Boys: The HP American High School AU
by Beth H
(c) January 2007

***

"...and if I meet Severus Snape along the way, so much the better for me, so much the worse for him."

Neville looked up from his 4H Horticulture Project, his hands full of compost and his eyes wide. "Gosh, Harry! You're really mad, aren't you?"

"Of course I am," Harry said, wrapping masking tape around the broken bridge of his eyeglasses. "Principal Dumbledore promised that Snape could be trusted to help with the Tri-State Laser Show, and now, at the last minute, Snape tells me he can't do it? What a jerk!"

"Yeah," Neville agreed, looking over his shoulder just to make sure Snape wasn't lurking in the doorway. "What a jerk!"

"Should have known I couldn't trust him," Harry muttered.

"Hey, Harry," said Ron as he loped into the small A.V. Club office. "Was that Snape I just saw wearing a football uniform? I thought he was supposed to help you with that Laser Show thing."

"I don't want to talk about it," Harry said.

"He's not going to do it?" Ron said. "What a jerk!"

"Yeah, what a jerk," said Neville.

"Total jerk," Harry said.

Ron put his chess set up on one of the shelves, then shoved a stack of old eight-track tapes out of the way and sat down on Harry's desk. "I told you, you know."

Harry glared at his friend. "Didn't I just say I didn't want to talk about it?"

"I told you," Ron said, shaking his head. "You said Principal Dumbledore told you Snape was just in the marching band, but my dad said he'd seen him hanging out at the Snake Cafe with Malfoy and the rest of the football team."

"The Snake Cafe?" Neville said. "I was there once with my grandmother. Some guy poured juice all over me. On purpose!"

"Look," Harry said. "Just because Snape used to hang out with Malfoy, it doesn't mean he's on the football team.

Ron stared at Harry. "Are you defending him now? Do you like him or something?"

"No!" Harry said, turning bright red. "He's a jerk!"

"Yeah," said Neville. "A jerk."

"A greasy jerk," Ron said.

"He's not that greasy," murmured Harry, but neither Ron nor Neville heard him.

"So, Harry. What are you going to do about...."

"Harry!" said Hermione. She sounded a bit breathless and her hair was even more tangled than usual. "Sorry I'm late, but the Young Librarians meeting took a little longer than I'd expected."

"It's okay, Hermione. We were just talking about..."

"The Laser Show, right?" Hermione shook her head. "What are you going to do?"

Harry frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Well," she said, biting her lower lip. "I saw Severus Snape getting into Coach Riddle's Hummer, and he was wearing a team uniform. The game's the same time as the show, isn't it Harry?"

Ron nudged Harry. "See? Everybody knows he's a jerk."

"You shouldn't call people names, Ronald. Principal Dumbledore always tells us that..."

"DUMBLEDORE'S NOT HERE, IS HE?" Harry shouted. "HE'S AT A CONFERENCE IN TRONDHEIM"

"Why are you shouting, Harry?"

"Oh, right. Sorry," Harry said quietly. "Just...Snape's such a jerk!"

"Yeah, a jerk." agreed Neville.

"A jerk," said Ron, looking challengingly at Hermione.

She sighed, and shrugged her shoulders. "I guess he is sort of a jerk. Anyway, Harry...we'll help you with the Laser Show."

"You will? But you don't know anything about Lasers."

"No, but I think my parents have a book about Lasers. I'll just rush home and..."

"I'm not too late, am I?"

Severus Snape stood in the doorway. His left arm was in a sling, he was sporting a black eye, and his shirt was ripped.

Harry thought he looked wonderful.

"What...what happened?" Harry said.

"I told them I had to do the Laser Show."

"And?"

"And they kicked my ass, of course," Severus muttered.

"Gosh," Neville whispered to Ron. "He must be one of us."

"So," Severus said, looking down at the floor. "I suppose we should get down to the auditorium."

"Yeah," said Harry. "But there's something I have to do first."

And then Harry kissed Severus, right in front of everybody!

[...]

[...]

[...]

"Come on," Harry whispered to the slightly stunned boy standing in front of him. "We've got a light show to put on."

Comments, critiques, chit chat: beth-h (at) mrks (dot) org

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