HP: Those Years Sleeping with the Half-Blood Prince

The next morning, when Leah saw the two of them coming out of Ian's room together, she just glanced at them and didn't ask anything.

During breakfast, John mentioned that the Ministry of Magic had recently been cracking down on "suspicious transactions" in some shops in Diagon Alley. Ian nodded in agreement, and his foot under the table gently nudged Severus.

The days that followed felt like they were under a time-lapse spell. The work in the lab continued, the arguments continued, but something had changed completely.

A glance, a touch of fingertips, a doodle between the pages of a book, a silhouette of the other person engrossed in taking notes.

Severus would go back to his guest room to sleep at night, while Ian would always sneak into his room late at night to play chess, or simply read books and snuggle together.

In mid-August, they received a letter from Hogwarts, along with their OWL transcripts and NEWT course selection forms.

Severus's report card had "O" grades for everything except Astronomy and Divination, which were both "E". There was even a "Good" note in Slughorn's handwriting next to Potions and Defense Against the Dark Arts.

Ian's are equally excellent; his spells and transfiguration are both "O".

"Course selection." Ian spread the form on the lab workbench. "Potions, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Charms, Transfiguration... What else do you want to choose? Ancient runes? Arithmetic divination?"

"Potions, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Charms." Severus crossed out Transfiguration. "That's enough."

"What about the ancient runes? You translated those protective spells very quickly last time."

"No time."

Ian looked at him and ultimately didn't try to persuade him further. "Fine, then I'll choose those three as well, plus Herbalism."

"Your shapeshifting skills are excellent."

“But your potions are better.” Ian shrugged. “I need a partner who can keep up with you, and…” He paused, his voice lowering, “to spend more time together.”

Severus's ears turned slightly red as he lowered his head to continue checking the class schedule.

On the last weekend of August, Regulus's owls arrive at dusk.

The letter was short, only saying that he had "found some clues, but needed time to verify them," and thanking Ian for his previous advice. His handwriting was more consistent than before.

"He's going in." Severus finished reading the letter and threw it into the fireplace.

"Everyone has to choose their own path." Ian watched the parchment curl up in the flames. "There's only so much we can do."

"That's enough."

In the last few days of the holiday, they began packing their luggage to return to school.

Severus's suitcase contained several new, well-fitting robes, secretly prepared by Leah, as well as a complete set of professional potion-making equipment given to him by Ian, packed in a specially made padded box.

The night before they left, they stayed in the lab very late. They washed the crucibles and turned them upside down, filed their notes, and carefully categorized and stored the materials.

As Ian turned off the lights and prepared to leave, he grabbed Severus's wrist at the door.

His eyes shone brightly in the darkness. "Sixth grade."

"Um."

"It will be different."

"I know."

Ian kissed him, tenderly and lingeringly in the darkness filled with the scents of herbs and parchment.

As they parted, Severus rested his forehead on Ian's shoulder and whispered, "Thank you, Ian."

"What are you thanking me for?"

"all."

Ian laughed, the vibrations of his chest coming through the fabric. "Idiot."

On the Hogwarts Express, Kevin was complaining that summer vacation was too short, while Aris had already laid out his NEWT Potions class study list.

The fields outside the window rushed past, and the clouds hung low.

Severus sat by the window, watching his and Ian's blurry reflections overlap in the glass.

Ian was discussing the course schedule with Aris when his fingers quietly found Aris's hand under the seat and clenched it.

The train passed through the tunnel, and darkness briefly enveloped the carriage.

In the rumbling noise and darkness, Severus gave a very light squeeze back.

When the light pierced through the tunnel, Ian's hand naturally loosened, and he picked up the book "Advanced Spell Theory" on the table, as if it had just been an unintentional touch in the darkness.

But the lingering warmth at his fingertips, and the slight itch when Severus's little finger brushed against the edge of his palm as he quickly withdrew his hand, left traces in the air.

When the sixth-grade schedule was handed out, NEWT's class size was halved, and the atmosphere was completely different.

During Potions class, Slughorn looked at Severus's impeccable potion potion, his round face practically beaming with a smile.

"Extraordinary, my dear child, extraordinary! I dare say even the seventh-grade NEWT class might not achieve this level of completion. Oh, and of course, Mr. Burke's is also excellent, consistent, very consistent!"

Ian shrugged, cleaning his own crucible as he muttered to Severus, "Next time, slow down. It makes me look like a doctor who just follows instructions."

"You never really liked following prescriptions anyway." Severus didn't look up, precisely guiding the potion into the bottle with his wand, but a slight smile curved his lips.

One evening a month after the start of the semester, the fireplace crackled in the common room.

Kevin clutched a roll of parchment and wailed, "The evolution of ancient runes is more troublesome than the cry of the mandrake!"

Aris snatched the parchment from his hand, glanced at it, pulled out a quill, and quickly wrote a few lines of annotations in the blank space beside it.

Ian and Severus shared a sofa.

Ian was reading the Daily Prophet, while Severus had a copy of The Powerful Potion open on his lap, his gaze occasionally drifting to the half-finished cup of hot cocoa beside Ian.

"Look here." Ian suddenly nudged him with his elbow and pointed to an inconspicuous corner of the newspaper.

It was a brief announcement: "The Department of Magical Law Enforcement is conducting a joint investigation into several recent unusual magical fluctuations and urges the public to remain vigilant and report any suspicious activity promptly."

The wording was official, but the phrases "joint investigation" and "abnormal fluctuations" were highlighted in bold.

Severus paused for two seconds, hummed in agreement, and then looked back at his book.

But Ian noticed that he was turning the pages more slowly.

"Going to Hogsmeade this weekend?" Ian asked casually, closing his newspaper.

"Um."

"Honey Duke? Or Three Broomsticks?"

"casual."

"Let's go to the quill pen shop first, I need to get a new pen, then to the Three Brooms, Ms. Rosmerta said she got a new oak-aged mead, and finally," Ian turned his head, his gray eyes reflecting the flickering firelight, his voice so low that only the two of them could hear, "let's take a walk on the path behind the Screaming Shack? I heard the autumn scenery is nice, and there's no one around."

Severus tightened his grip on the book, his Adam's apple bobbed, but he didn't speak, only nodded slightly.