Severus finally found something that was true that he could say without completely humiliating himself. "Because no one else has ever stayed when I was no longer able or willing to accommodate their sexual needs. This is . . . completely outside my experience."
"Sometimes the things outside our experience are the things that have the power to reshape our entire world, if we're open to their influence," Penbroke said.
Thinking that Harry had done just that, he considered the words.
"I think we've made a good start today, Severus," Penbroke said. "Are you up to meeting again this week?"
Severus didn't know if he were relieved or disappointed that their time was up. Considering the man's question, he answered, "Yes."
"Good, very good. Will the same time, the day after tomorrow work for you?"
That would be a school night, right in the middle of detentions. Normally, he would never consider accepting any appointment during that period, but . . . this was important. "I will be here."
"You're a teacher. You'll appreciate this. I'm going to give you some homework to do over the next few days," Penbroke said.
"Homework?" he echoed uncertainly.
"During our sessions, we will be exploring many of the topics we brushed upon today. But tonight and tomorrow, I want you to remember those times you froze up when trying to be intimate. Try to determine if there is any one common factor responsible for your adverse response when you're close to Harry. Do you think you can do that?"
"Yes."
"Good. I'll see you Tuesday evening, then."
Feeling more than a little shell-shocked, Severus rose from the couch and crossed to the floo. He was shaking the ashes off himself in his thankfully empty sitting room when he realized that he'd forgotten to pay the man.
*~*~*
The Three Broomsticks was its usual Friday night blend of noise, music, and laughter as Severus stepped out of the floo. The loudness of the crowd hit him like a physical blow. The fact that the conversations closest to the hearth broke off when the nearby patrons recognized him played along his already tense nerves.
"Are you all right?" Harry Potter's soft voice said from behind him, a familiar hand settling on his arm to steady him.
Taking a deep breath, Severus gave a tight nod and turned to meet Harry's gaze.
The lights were flickering off those round spectacles. Even so, Severus could still read the concern in the wide green eyes behind the clear lenses.
"If you'd rather go back home, we can leave now," Harry suggested, stepping in closer.
Severus considered the offer. More than anything, he wanted to retreat to the peace and silence of his dungeons, but . . . he'd spent the last five months hiding out there. Harry hadn't been out with his friends on a Friday or Saturday night once since he'd started helping Severus through his nightmares. The wistful expression in Harry's eyes this morning as he'd asked him if he were up to an evening at their local pub had told him how much Harry wanted to socialize. His suggestion that Harry leave him behind hadn't gone over well at all. Harry had offered to stay home with him, but Severus knew how unfair that was. They hadn't done anything Harry enjoyed in months. So . . . here he was.
"No," Severus denied. "It will be fine."
The relieved smile Harry gave him told him he'd made the right decision.
"Harry, Severus," Hermione's voice rang through the din around them. "We're over here."
Harry's hand gripped his arm as he turned to lead the way to the far corner where the Weasleys had appropriated the only table that still had several empty chairs at it.
Severus gratefully sank down in a chair in the corner, Harry sitting beside him.
"Wow, it's crowded tonight," Harry said.
"Yes," Hermione answered, "the fair weather seems to have brought everyone out."
Harry's gaze turned to the remaining empty chairs, "Where are Fleur and Bill?"
"Georgie's got an upset stomach, so they're not coming," Ron said.
"Ah, too bad," Harry said. "I think Severus wanted a shot at talking little Fred into Slytherin."
"Fred's only two," Ron protested.
Trying to relax, Severus concentrated on his four companions and offered an urbane, "It's always wise to start indoctrination as early as possible."
Harry's chuckle seemed to envelop him. Suddenly, the stares of all those strangers didn't seem as bothersome.
"Hermione?" a woman's musical voice called from the bar.
They all turned to see a gorgeous blonde woman approaching them.
Hermione jumped to her feet to embrace the woman.
The breath froze in Severus' lungs as he recognized the woman hugging Hermione, and, more importantly, the heavyset man in her party. The woman was Lydia Forrester. There was an unfamiliar man, whom Severus guessed to be Lydia's husband, between her and her brother, John Penbroke, who was only too familiar.
His analyst's steps seemed to falter as their eyes met. Severus watched Penbroke's brown gaze take in their group, pausing for a moment on Harry, who was sitting closer to Severus than even the crowded pub warranted.
Ron and Harry rose their feet to shake both Penbroke and the stranger's hands. Clearly, everyone was acquainted. The excited chatter made Severus feel extremely excluded.
He'd barely had time to acknowledge that childish feeling when Harry turned to him with a warm smile. "Severus, I think you already know Lydia."
Meeting her pale blue eyes, Severus gave a nod, "Miss Penbroke."
"It's Mrs. Forrester now," Lydia corrected. "This is my husband, Terrence Forrester," she waved towards the handsome dark haired man at her side, and then gestured towards Penbroke, "And this is my brother, John. It's so good to see you again, Professor!" Once the resulting handshakes were finished, her bright eyes took them all in. "Are these chairs taken? There's none to be had for love or money."
"No, please join us," Hermione quickly offered. "I'm afraid we're still a chair short."
"Hold on a second," Harry said. "I'll take care of that."
"You know Rosmerta doesn't like us transfiguring her stuff," Hermione scolded as Harry withdrew his wand and waved it at a saltshaker he'd taken from the table.
Once again, Severus was impressed by how careful Harry was in public. He transformed the chair using his wand and a spell like most wizards would.
"Thanks, Harry," Terrence Forrester said, as the new arrivals took their seats.
Lydia and her husband ended up in the two empty chairs next to Ron, while Penbroke sat down in the one Harry had transfigured, which was right beside Severus.
Hermione and Lydia were obviously fairly close, for no sooner had the Forresters sat down, then the two women began eagerly discussing what sounded like a dozen topics that Severus couldn't even follow.
As Severus' gaze touched the dark haired man at Lydia's side, the man smiled and said, "Lydia speaks quite highly of you, Professor Snape."
"Does she?" Severus said, for want of a wittier response. Penbroke's presence here had thrown him completely.
"Yes," Forrester replied.
Deciding to try to make conversation, Severus commented, "I don't remember you from Hogwarts."
"No, sir, you wouldn't. I went to Grimstaff," Forrester said.
Severus was somewhat surprised Forrester would admit to that. He couldn't count the number of times someone would claim to have gone to Durmstrang or Beauxbaton, rather than claim such lowly origins. Only wizards of the oldest families or the most powerful of the Muggleborn wizard children received invitation letters to Hogwarts. Grimstaff had open admission and wasn't generally considered prestigious.
"What do you do now?" Severus asked.
"I'm a prosecutor. Ron and I often work on cases together," Forrester said.
Ron apparently overheard that, for he looked over at them and said, "He's the best there is. Are you part of that Covington mess?"
"I've heard that name," Harry said. "What's the story behind it?"
As Ron and Forrester explained the details to Harry, Severus sat back and sipped his drink.
While everyone's attention was on their conversations, Penbroke leaned over and softly said to him, "I'm sorry to have intruded on your night out. I didn't see you until Lydia had dragged us over. Would you be more comfortable if I left?"
He would, but it would hardly be polite to say so. Normally, Severus didn't hold much with social convention, but the work he'd been doing with Penbroke these last three weeks had made him more conscious of how his actions affected others. "Although I'm tempted, the explanations would be awkward in the extreme."
"I could claim a headache," Penbroke offered.
"No, I . . . you simply took me by surprise. I wasn't expecting to see you here," Severus confessed.
"Me, too," Penbroke said with a smile. Still talking in that low tone that would carry no further than where Severus was sitting, Penbroke said, "I didn't know you were close friends with Hermione and Ron."
Severus nodded. The muscles in his entire body tensed as he awaited the next, inevitable observation about Potter being his 'Harry'.
"Do you come here often?" Penbroke shocked him by making small talk, instead of questioning him about Harry.
"We used to, before January," Severus said. Once again, Penbroke refrained from questioning the 'we'.
"It's a fun place, one of the few places I feel comfortable in the Wizarding World," Penbroke admitted.
"I imagine it is quite frustrating dealing with our world without magic," Severus said.
Penbroke nodded. "It can be. It's not the lack of magic as much as the attitudes of those who have it that make it difficult."
Severus nodded. He'd seen some of the cruelties Squib children endured in the Wizarding World. "People can be quite cruel."
"It's easier now that I'm a grown man. Adults are so much more . . . polite. When I was younger . . . . ." Penbroke's voice trailed off.
Severus realized that, for all that he'd told this man things he wouldn't share with even Harry, whom he trusted above all others, he knew nothing about Penbroke's life outside of that comfortable sitting room where they held their sessions.
"It must have been difficult," Severus said.
Penbroke nodded. "Nothing empowers some people more than having a defenceless victim."
"Yes," Severus agreed.
Severus could almost see Penbroke remembering some of the things they'd discussed.
The smile he received was very warm as Penbroke commented, "Yes, I suppose you would understand what that's like. Fortunately, my parents and sister were more . . . enlightened than most of Wizarding Society. They didn't spend their time tossing me out windows and the like to try to force my magic to manifest. Once it became clear that I was a Squib, they did everything in their power to keep me safe."
"You were most fortunate," Severus said.
"I know how lucky I was, am. The papers are full of tragedies where children have died at their own families' hands when their parents tried to force them to use their magic."
"Did Mr. Forrester know that Lydia had a Squib brother before they married?" Severus questioned, genuinely curious. A Squib in the immediate family was often grounds for breaking engagements in Wizarding society. Most families had a tendency to hide such facts.
Penbroke chuckled. "Terry met me before he met Lydia, in circumstances that could leave him in no doubt that I was a Squib."
"Oh?" Severus encouraged.
"Do you really want to hear about that?" Penbroke asked.
Still speaking in that low voice that would carry no further than the man next to him, Severus said, "I know nothing about you, but you know my every secret."
"Not your every secret," Penbroke chuckled. "There's a mighty huge one sitting at the table with us."
Severus felt the corners of his mouth twitch. He'd wondered if Penbroke would address this issue. "Everyone must retain some mystery. You were about to tell me how you met your brother-in-law."
"Was I?" Penbroke laughed.
Severus was surprised to realize that he was actually enjoying himself. Normally, the things he discussed with this man left him a wreck. "Yes, you were."
"Very well," Penbroke agreed. "I was thirteen and at my first Quidditch World Cup game when Terry and I met. I was going through a difficult stage then. I was trying to establish my independence from my parents, as most adolescents do at that age. Only, it wasn't exactly safe for me to do so. I insisted on going to the refreshment stand alone during halftime. Predictably enough, I ended up being tossed about by a couple of bullies. Terry petrified the buggers and brought me back to my family. He and Lydia took one look at each other, and that was all she wrote."
"He sounds quite Gryffindor," Severus remarked.
"Hardly," Penbroke denied. "We both know that no sixteen year old Gryffindor would have looked twice at a Slytherin girl, no matter how lovely she might be."
"Gryffindor and Slytherin can occasionally rise above their house differences," Severus mildly protested.
"So I see," Penbroke said, casting a meaningful glance Harry's way.
Severus felt his cheeks warm. He was spared having to respond when the object of their conversation turned to look at him.
"Sorry, I got caught up in the conversation," Harry said. "How are you doing?"
Reading the genuine concern in Harry's eyes, Severus found a small smile and assured, "I am fine. Mr. Penbroke was just relating how he and his brother-in-law met."
"You're not telling that tale again; are you, John?" Forrester questioned from Harry's other side, looking ill at ease,
