When Obsessions Collide

All canon characters belong to JKR.

Thanks to June for all of her help and suggestions.

When Obsessions Collide

Hermione stood in front of her mirror, inspecting her reflection and thinking on the last several days. When Neville came back from his trip to Hogsmeade and informed her he had lost her onyx ring, she was furious. It had been an heirloom from her great-grandmother, and was something she treasured, especially since it was such a reminder of her love's eyes. She also pondered on her now dwindling days at Hogwarts, as her internship would soon be over. While Minerva offered her hope that there would be an open position soon, due to Professor Flitwick retiring, there was no telling when the Charms professor would make his final decision and actually leave. Hermione decided that the time had come for her to make herself known to Severus.

She didn't want to ask Harry for the use of Hedwig because Severus would know it was his bird, and then figure out his correspondent was her, or even worse, think it was Harry.

She laughed as she sat at her desk to write her letter. "Severus would never think a man was in love with him; how ridiculous." She would ask Severus to meet her in the school's rose garden; it was the perfect place to tell him how much she cared for him. After reading the letter over several times, she looked at herself one more time and then made her way to the Owlery.

Unbeknownst to her, there was someone else making plans to head that way as well.

Harry sat in his rooms, writing a letter of his own. He wondered what his letter's recipient would think about his request. For several years, he'd wanted to contact his own object of obsession regarding his feelings. He only hoped that this was not a mistake. He finished his letter, asking that they meet in his rooms. With one last look at himself in the mirror, he left his rooms and made his way to the Owlery.

Both friends walked down their respective corridors, not thinking on anything other than their soon-to-be meeting. Suddenly, two bodies collided with one another.

"Oomph!" Harry had enough time to grab onto Hermione before she fell back.

"Harry, I'm sorry," said Hermione as she steadied herself against him.

"No, it's my fault. I wasn't paying attention to where I was going." Harry smiled.

"Neither was I, actually." Hermione looked down on the ground and noticed her letter. She bent down and picked it up, then straightened her dress.

"That's a lovely dress. Planning to break some hearts tonight at the ball?" Harry winked at her as he chuckled.

"For your information, I plan on ensnaring one." Hermione smiled as she swung her hair back and walked away.

"Where are you off to?" yelled Harry.

"I have one last note to send. I'm going to the Owlery!" she yelled back. Harry then realized his own letter was missing from his hand. He looked down and saw it next to his foot. Bending down to pick it up, he then quickly ran to catch up with Hermione. He had his own note to deliver as well.

An hour later, the annual Victory over Voldemort ball was in full swing. Severus kept to himself, as was his usual custom. He looked around the room, wondering if tonight would be the night his secret love would reveal herself ... or himself. As though on cue, a large brown owl came into the Great Hall and swooped towards him. It flew just above him and dropped a note on his lap. He looked up at the animal, and thanked the heavens it wasn't anything else on his lap.

Severus looked at the note and sighed. He remembered that the last three individuals he'd thought were his secret loves were actually misunderstandings on his part. What terrible misunderstanding would there be now? Smiling at his own wit, he picked up the note and began to read it.

My Dearest Love,

Harry

"Fucking hell," muttered Severus. He couldn't believe it. Harry Potter was his secret love. Severus sighed and buried his head in his hands. "Of all the damnable things to happen. To have Potter of all people in love with me." He looked up to the ceiling, "Is it too much to ask for it to have at least have been a woman, any woman?" He shook his head. "Well, not any woman. I don't think I could stand the thought of seeing Minerva in her knickers, or Hooch for that matter." Severus looked over at Madam Hooch and shivered. "No, that one probably wears boxers." He stood and steeled himself for what was about to happen.

Deciding it would be best to get things over with, he walked out the back entrance of the Great Hall. There was no doubt Harry would be devastated at being rejected, so Severus decided to let him down easy. After all, the Gryffindor did defeat the Dark Lord and merited some respect.

He reached Potter's rooms and knocked on the door. He waited several moments and knocked again. Still no answer. Then, instead of knocking, he tried the knob and found that the door opened easily. Severus stepped inside the room and looked around, but saw no one. He then walked down a dimly lit hallway toward a room that seemed to be lit with candlelight. He took a deep breath and walked into the room. Severus was shocked as he saw Harry, lying on his bed, smiling as though he was the cat who had eaten the proverbial canary. Severus cleared his throat.

Harry jumped slightly and opened his eyes.

"Professor!" Harry yanked the covers up his chest and began to push himself up against the headboard. "What are you doing here?"

"What do you mean, what am I doing here? You asked me to come here." Severus waved the note in front of him.

"What?" Harry sat up and put his glasses on. He noticed it had the purple wax seal he'd placed on it. "I didn't write you that note. That was for Draco." He immediately slapped his hand over his mouth.

At that moment, a very naked Draco opened the bathroom door and walked to the bed, oblivious to the professor's presence. He lay down on the bed and kissed Harry on the cheek.

"What was for me?" asked Draco. He kissed Harry, and then noticed he'd been staring at the door. Draco turned his head and screamed.

"Ah!" Draco quickly scurried under the sheets and pulled the covers up to his neck. "Um...I...I...um...how long have you been standing there?"

After recovering from the shock of seeing his godson naked for the first time since he was one year old, Severus finally found his voice.

"Long enough to wish Bellatrix hadn't missed hitting me with that Killing Curse." As Severus turned to leave, he thought he heard giggling. He turned his head and arched his brow.

"Did one of you just... giggle?" Severus asked.

"Yes," answered Harry. "Ha, ha."

Severus narrowed his eyes and looked at the bed. He now noticed something moving under the sheets.

"Is there someone else in that bed?" He then wondered if he really wanted to know. "No, wait, please, don't tell me ... it's Longbottom, or worse, Weasley." Just then he saw a redhead begin to pop up from under the sheets.

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?"

To his utter shock, Ginny Weasley now stared up at him from between Draco and Harry. Severus looked at his three former students, all in the same bed and very naked.

"If you will all excuse me, I think I will go to my rooms and Obliviate MYSELF!" Severus turned to leave once again, but was stopped by Harry.

"Professor, wait!"

"No, Potter, please. Let me just go to my rooms and annihilate my senses with a bottle of firewhisky. If I am lucky, I will forget I ever saw any of this." Severus begged.

"But, I think I know what the mix-up was. You see, I was sending that letter to Draco..."

"You sent me a letter?" asked Draco.

Harry looked to him and smiled.

"Well, yeah, I thought that's why you came by."

"No, I never got it."

"You mean you came by because you liked me?" asked Harry as he absentmindedly played with Ginny's hair.

Draco smiled and looked at Harry and Ginny.

"Well, I like you both," Draco said, as he leaned forward to kiss Harry. Before he reached Harry's lips, they heard a throat clear.

"I believe we were discussing a misunderstanding." Severus stood at the door with his eyes covered, not wanting to see any more of the scene in front of him.

"Oh!" said Harry. "Well, when I was on my way to the Owlery, I bumped into Hermione, and our notes must have gotten mixed up."

"Miss Granger?" His mind processed what Potter had just said. "Am I to understand that I was to be receiving a note from her and instead got this?"

"Please don't tell her I said anything. She'll kill me if she knew I said anything." Harry knew that Hermione had planned on telling Snape that she was in love with him. He also knew that she was probably standing in the rose garden at that moment waiting for Snape. Not wanting her to lose her chance, Harry decided that even though she would probably be angry with him later, she would ultimately forgive him.

"Where is she now?" asked Severus, wanting not only to get the hell out of there, but now finding himself happy at the prospect of actually being the object of a woman's affection.

"She was going to wait for you in the rose garden," said Harry.

Not knowing how long Hermione had been waiting for him, or if she was even still there, Severus ran out of Harry's rooms and in the direction of the rose garden.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I couldn't make him suffer anymore misunderstandings, poor guy.