Disclaimer: Harry Potter and company do not belong to me. I don't own anything by writing this, it is only for the pleasure of writing and for the reader's enjoyment. They belong to JKR.

Author's Notes: I blame my muse for this story. He jumped me and I basically had no choice but to write this.

Thanks go to: Darkmoore, my wonderful beta. Without her encouragement this story would never have been posted. Thanks!

Calling in a Debt

"You want WHAT? Are you completely out of your mind?" Severus' voice was dangerously low after that first shocked exclamation. He had paled considerably and if it were not for the two red highlights of rage on his cheeks he would have looked like a ghost.

Grinning inwardly - everything else would have cost him his life - Harry answered, "I'm perfectly sane and I believe I'm correct if I say that you owe me a wizard's life-debt." Harry Potter was enjoying himself tremendously. This was far better than he had imagined, he almost wished he had thought of taking a picture. Of course the injuries the older wizard would have inflicted on him would never have been worth it. "You owe me, Severus. This is the time of calling in a debt and if you say 'no' I promise I will destroy your life."

Chapter 1 - Predicaments

Harry carefully crept around the corner. He had been following Severus Snape all day, trying to find out his habits and plainly just more about the man. Up to now, all he knew was that he was a sarcastic, highly temperamental son of a bitch. Snape was also very good looking. Harry should know since he had to patch up his injuries on a field a couple of times now.

Without the black robes and with a little more care for his appearance, he would turn a lot of heads. That is until he started to sneer or glare at them.

Deep in his thoughts, Harry had almost missed Snape continuing on his way, but quickly followed him. Those last few weeks he had put his Invisibility cloak to good use.

17 years old, Harry Potter had seen and done more than most of his age. His life had been more adventurous, painful and dangerous than most wizards in their old age have experienced. The Boy Who Lived could not remember being a child. First he had been a household slave to the Dursleys, and then he had been thrust into a dangerous world. A world that had allowed someone like Voldemort to kill unchallenged simply because they were afraid.

Once they had finally believed him in his 5th year that the Dark Lord had indeed returned, they had looked at him and honestly expected him, a 15 year old wizard, to rid them of this evil.

"The Boy Who Lived. My ass. The Boy Who Is Supposed To Save Us would probably fit the description better." His mutter was very soft, but even that made Snape whirl around. 'Very sensitive to sound' Harry added on his mental list.

There were only a few people who never expected this of him. Severus Snape was one of them. Over the course of the years the man had tried to keep him in his dormitory, he had saved his life, taught him survival techniques and gone on missions with him since he was old enough to join the Order.

He remembered the full out fight between Molly Weasley and Albus Dumbledore. The old wizard did not seem to mind the yelling fits of Harry's fierce substitute mother. The mere thought of letting Harry join them with 16 had first made her faint and then ring a peal over Albus' head. In a way it had been heart-warming that someone seemed to care about him enough to quarrel with the leader of the Order. But Albus had just smiled and told Molly something Harry would never forget. "It is too late to try and protect him, Molly. He is so young and yet he had to grow up so fast. I know that you don't see it this way, Molly, but would you rather he went and got himself into dangerous situations without the backup of the Order?"

Pretending that Albus was completely wrong and act hurt would have been like lying to himself. Of course he was right. He and his two best friends would have found a way to be in the thick of it, they always had. As it was, the Headmaster's comment completely took the wind out of Molly's sails and Harry was admitted into the Order. As were Hermione and Ron, on the same grounds, but they were to never go onto a mission. Albus had only smiled and graciously offered Molly a sherbet lemon.

Since then, Harry had been paired off with Severus Snape on 99% of his missions. At first Harry had thought it was Albus way of punishing him for misbehaviour, but he soon realised that it was his idea of taking care.

Over the course of the next two years, Harry had paid back any kind of debt he had accumulated towards Severus over the years. Indeed, he had done some life saving of his own. Had it not been for Harry's intervention at some points in the past, the older man would not be alive for sure.

Pulling his thoughts back to his present occupation – which would be the stalking of one irate Potion Master – he sneaked after Severus Snape with renewed vigour. He had started this game not long ago. While they had spent an increasing amount of time together, he still knew almost nothing about the Potion Master. And the other did not divulge information freely at all. Every little titbit gained, was by subterfuge or cunning. Over the last few weeks of shadowing Severus Snape a plan had hatched in Harry's head. It was a positively Slytherin plan and while he knew a lot about the wizarding world, he would need help for this. And he knew exactly the right people to go to.

Falling back, Harry smiled broadly. "Severus Snape, I've got you. Just wait until I rope you in."

Dumbledore was eternally grateful for the fact that he had turned his back to the door when Severus had stormed into the room and babbled out his story. It wasn't like the boy to behave like that at all, but when in shock, a lot of people did weirder things. Like one of his best friends, Landry Appletree, always performed headstands when he was angry.

"That brat is calling in a wizard's life-debt, Albus. You have to help me, he wants me to live with him for the next two years."

There was a desperate tone to the usual controlled dark voice. It would not do to tell him, that he knew exactly what he was talking of. And of who. "Do calm down, my boy. I'm sure whatever it is that has your robes twisted around your feet, can be solved in a matter of minutes. Once you told me what it is." Turning around he saw a tinge of red creep up Severus' face. His long fingers were balled to fists so tightly that the knuckles had turned white.

"Harry. Bloody. Potter. The brat is trying to blackmail me into spending two years as his sex-slave, Headmaster."

Barely concealing laughter as a cough, Dumbledore heavily sat down in his chair with a sever expression on his face. "That is a grave reproach. Are you sure you understood Harry correctly? That you did not misunderstand him?"

Severus' eyes grew wide; his mouth gaped open slightly for a moment only. Then he regained his composure and glared at the man he had always counted on. "A misunderstanding? He asked for a two-year companionship. How can that be a misunderstanding? The lying bastard even dared to threaten my very existence!"

Albus tuned his Potion Master's voice out, as he flew in a speech that not only doubted the younger man's ancestry, but also his brains. He knew, that if he did not allow Severus to vent at least some of his negative feelings, he would turn into a ticking time bomb. The longer the young Professor kept his temperament reined, the more un-wanted magical discharges would occur in the near future.

If truth was told, the Headmaster of Hogwarts was overjoyed at Harry's plan. Why, it could have been one of is own! When the boy had come to him for his help he had been delighted to offer his wisdom. After all he wanted to see his favourite Potion Master and young Harry Potter happy. All the better if they were happy together.

"I can't believe that little pea-brained idiot found out about wizard's life-debts. Which fool has given him that little bit of information to torment me with? After all the problems his father made he now had to ruin my reputation, my life and my happiness in one."

The boy was still in mid-rant, but Albus felt, that this was his cue to intervene. "Please, Severus, calm down and sit. Have a cup of tea and a biscuit and breathe deeply." Watching Severus with glittering eyes through his half-moon spectacles he allowed himself a small smile before turning serious again. "I believe you still suffer from the illusion that Harry is James Potter, but he is not. You have to realise that, what was between you and the boy's late father, has absolutely nothing to do with Harry. It is your problem, and yours alone." Handing a biscuit to the openly gaping man he smiled soothingly. "I have to confess that it was a slip on my part. We were having a nice chat and he asked me about the wizard's life-debt."

Severus, who had just taken a sip of the calming tea, spit it out over the coffee table they had settled down at. "What?" His eyes were opened wide as he looked at the Headmaster in a way that a startled deer, which found a Hippogriff running towards it, might sport.

Sighing deeply for the benefit of his audience, Dumbledore looked away from Severus as if he was troubled about the news he had to give him. It was a good ruse to hide his mirth as well. "I fear young Harry wants you to be his consort very badly. He came to me, just an hour before you, and asked me to honour my own debt to him. Basically, if you refuse I will be forced to send you away from Hogwarts, my boy."

Seething with a feeling of anger he had no outlet for, Severus Snape returned to his peaceful dungeons. When he had left them this morning he had been in blissful ignorance of how badly the day would end. Falling down a staircase and braking legs and arms would have been more pleasant. The gall of the boy was absolutely appalling. In all his years at Hogwarts he had never learned what Snape had been trying to teach him: Respect for his betters.

Once he was in his living room he grabbed the first thing that was at hand and hurled it at the wall. The crash of porcelain against stone was a welcome sound and his hand reached out for the next handy cup on the table. When he ran out of smash-able objects he flung himself into his favourite chair. He slipped off his shoes and drew his feet up into a corner, leaning his head heavily against the headrest. Having just spent all his energy on throwing his own chinaware against the far wall of his own apartment, littering the floor with countless sharp-edged splinters he felt lost. There was no way to get out of this.

Nothing he did - even if he laid waste to his own apartments – could change it. Harry Potter had neatly built a double windmill and waited until he walked into it with open eyes. Severus had seen the speculation in Harry's eyes when he looked at him. He had never guessed the path the boy's interest was going and he had definitely not encouraged this kind of behaviour.

It was a secret that he had hoarded to himself for years. Not even Albus knew of this, and if he did, then the Headmaster was a better observer than Severus had ever given him credit for. So it could have nothing to do with his own sexual orientation. That only left a complete disregard of Severus feelings on Harry's side. The young man wanted a companion and could not come up with anyone else who would take up with the bigheaded youth.

And now it was expected of him to share close quarters and his life with a man he did not wish to spend a prolonged amount of time with. "Bastard." The snarl had no effect on the empty room.

Leaning back completely, he finally gave in to his despair and closed his eyes tiredly. Two years in the company of that imbecile. "I just hope his inability to think and his lack of common sense are not a contagious sickness."

A/N: Comments? Criticism? Suggestions? Review :). I'd appreciate it.