Fic: a Different Kind of Friendship (HP/CSI:NY, gen)
Title: A Different Kind of Friendship
Author: loonie_lupin (ff. net)/nilitara (livejournal)
Fandom: HP, CSI :NY
Characters/pairing : Harry Potter, Adam Ross (friendship only)
Rating: PG
Summary: Adam comes home smelling of weird chemical ; Harry is reminded of potions.
For: crossovers100
Prompt: 036. Smell.
Disclaimer: The characters are the property of their respective creator. I own nothing
036. Smell.
Harry had been right; the beginning of his cohabitation with Adam had gone without an itch. Of course, they both had very different temperament and they didn’t always agree on everything, especially now that Adam had realized Harry wasn’t going to throw him out just because he had dared to disagree with him. However, that had been expected and would have been the same for any two people deciding to suddenly share a living space. It was simply impossible to always be on the same wavelength.
Still, he felt that asking Adam to live with him had been one of his best ideas. Of course, that didn’t mean he particularly enjoyed welcoming Adam home after working on one of his case had made him smell about the same than if he had gone dumpster diving. Thankfully, it didn’t happen very often and, when it did, Adam usually showered at work, not wanting to stay that way any longer than necessary.
Today was different apparently. To be fair, it wasn’t the smell of either detritus or rotting cadaver - and thanks Merlin for small mercies - but a fairly chemical smells, probably a mix of different products interacting together.
“I know, I know, I smell absolutely rotten,” Adam said with a grimace before he even had time to say hello. “Hurgh, I don’t know how many showers I will need to get rid of that smell.”
Harry could see Adam didn’t appreciate the smell any more than him but it seemed to be purely a question of odor. For Harry, it was the memory this scent brought back that made him tick. It kind of reminded him of the dungeons of Hogwarts.
“You smell like my old potion classroom” he called after Adam, who went straight to the bathroom, to get rid of his clothes and probably jumping in the shower without wasting a single second.
Harry wasn’t certain he even wanted to know what it was that Adam had had to do during his work hours to end up in such a state. He was fairly sure that, not only did he not want to know the details, but he probably wouldn’t understand a word of the explanation either, since it probably involved quite a lot of chemical products and technical procedures he would have difficulty to follow even if he had an education that surpassed primary school in the muggle world.
Harry sighed and began to set the table; it was late after all and Adam would probably be hungry by now. He shook his head as he realized his thoughts process. He really had to find something to do with his days before he ended up a housewife, Harry mused humorously. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to work that was the problem, though. It was his lack of muggle education. In these conditions, finding a job in the muggle world would be hard. Still, he would have to try.
Adam stayed a very long time in the shower, probably having to wash himself thoroughly quite a few times to get completely rid of the smell. Harry had more or less planned for that so the meal was still warm when he sat down in front of him.
“Feeling better?”
Adam gave him a gigantic smile and the answer became superfluous.
“Much, thanks. At least I don’t need to stop breathing anymore to avoid gagging. That was becoming rather tiring. But I just spent the whole day around all these products, trying to find the right combination in the right proportions to get the exact same mix we found at the crime scene and it took ages and the products smell so bad and impregnate the clothes so quickly. Hurgh. I hope I won’t have to do anything like that again for a while. I mean, I love my job but there are parts I could do without. You say it reminded you of your potion lab? That must have been so cool!”
Harry chuckled. It wasn’t really the word he would have employed himself.
“Not really. The teacher was atrocious. Well, he was a bad teacher, not a bad person in the end. But it took me quite some time to see that.”
“What do you mean?” Adam asked, frowning, apparently curious.
Harry had to admit it was perfectly normal. After all, he hadn’t talked a lot about his life in the magical world. Granted he didn’t have to hide its existence, not with Adam knowing, but that didn’t mean he usually talked about it, not with everything that had happened in the last few years. Still, that didn’t mean he shouldn’t. For one, it could be quite an entertainment for Adam and, maybe, it would do him some good to share his memories with someone, especially those involving the people who had fought in the war.
“The first time I met Snape, my potion teacher, it took me all of five minutes to realize he hated me. The class quickly became a torture, so to speak. Snape did everything he could to humiliate me, verbally. He called me names, insulted my dad, things like that. I learnt later on that it was because he hated my dad and, well, I look quite a lot like him.”
Adam blinked; that was not what you could call a professional attitude for a teacher.
“Why wasn’t he fired?”
Harry wasn’t surprised that this would be Adam’s first question. For quite some time, Harry hadn’t understood that either. Of course, it had all become clear in the end but, even knowing Dumbledore’s reason, Harry knew the man shouldn’t have let Snape have such leeway. As Headmaster of the school, his first priority should have been the well-being of his students.
“He was a spy,” Harry still answered, knowing it was the reason. “He had become a spy when Voldemort decided to target my mom. I learnt that at the very end of the war, looking through Snape’s memory. Snape had been on our side all along, no matter how much we didn’t trust him, because he had loved my mom since they were kids. I know it doesn’t excuse his behavior but it explains it. I mean, he wasn’t a nice person or even a fair person, but he was a good person.”
Harry sighed, knowing his explanation was confused but determined to finish it.
“I was with him when he died. He was bleeding out from his neck and the last thing he wanted was to see my eyes. He wanted to see my mother’s eyes. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to forget that image, you know: him, bleeding out, asking me to look at him with his last breath.”
It was the very first time he had ever told anyone about that. Ron and Hermione had been with him at the time, so they knew, but he had never taken the time to think about it and put it into words to explain it to someone else. He hadn’t known how to explain this moment or what he was feeling towards his once most hated teacher. Now he had done it, just so he could explain it to Adam.
Harry found it strange how deep a conversation could become when, in the beginning, he had just wanted to remark that the smell floating in the air reminded him of old times.
Prompt table
A Different Kind of Friendship - main entry