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English
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Part 1 of The shadows of our fathers
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Published:
2023-06-12
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2,378
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1/1
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Raindrops on lips

Summary:

Black and Sharp just wanted to get to the bottom of a rumour, they hadn't planned on being caught in the rain. Sharp decides to make the best of it and thinks of a way to draw the headmaster out. What could possibly follow for both of them after this?

Notes:

I have had the game for some time now and I can't stop playing it (send help D:)
For some reason I've totally fallen for the idea that Sharp and Black would make quite a good pair. When I found, admittedly few, works around this pairing here, this thought was confirmed all the more.
So for this reason (and because I haven't written anything for a very long time and want to start again) I decided to write this short story and share it with you. I'm not quite sure about the dynamics of this pairing yet, but I think this piece is a pretty good start.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the story and have some fun with it.

Stay save out there <3

(See the end of the work for more notes.)

Work Text:

The patter of heavy, large raindrops echoed off the stones. Dark clouds shrouded the sky above Hogwarts, enveloping the castle and its grounds in a trepidatious atmosphere. A few students who had been outside until a short while ago sought shelter from the sudden downpour or ran to escape straight inside the castle.
The bad weather had been announced hours before, but it seemed that not everyone had taken the signals seriously.

One of those people who didn't want to or couldn't interpret the signs of nature was the headmaster Phineas Nigellus Black, who had been at the boathouse by the time the rain started. Together with the potions teacher Professor Sharp, he had wanted to search some of the boxes that were stored down there. Rumour had it that the students hid a not inconsiderable supply of gillyweed somewhere around, which had been picked up by some of the perfects and passed on to him. With this, the students, forbidden to do so, repeatedly undertook dives in the lake. As a rule, they did this at night and goaded each other into some childish test of courage.

Admittedly, Black couldn't care less what the students did in their free time and if they were so careless and wanted to put themselves in danger, so be it. Their recklessness would find a strict mistress in fate and teach them never to do such mischief again. But Professor Weasley had expressed several times how irresponsible it would be to know about these activities and do nothing to protect the students because....

To be honest, Black had stopped listening to her at a certain point and, in order to silence the woman, had finally agreed to look into the matter.
Of course, the headmaster would never take on this inglorious task alone,  rummage around in some musty boxes, so he simply brought Sharp along. The potions master was, of course, anything but enthusiastic, but agreed out of necessity when the headmaster couldn't even recall the name of the gillyweed without trouble. So it was up to him and the headmaster to descend the countless steps to the boathouse, Black never tiring of complaining about how nonsensical the anti-apparation rule was at this school (Sharp refrained from reminding the headmaster that they had to climb all those steps back up again) and to find the alleged hiding place between the boxes.

After only a few minutes, they found a small wooden casket containing the gillyweed in question. Thanks to Revelio, it was actually child's play and the hiding place was quickly found. The 'hiding place' wasn't actually one in fact, the casket had simply been placed between some ropes that were stored in one of the boxes. The headmaster was reluctant to even touch the casket with a cloth and so Sharp took it out and let it disappear into the headmaster's office. (To a place that Black had described to him very precisely, and don't you dare let that casket lie somewhere else and get something dirty...)

When the two men wanted to go back and had climbed the first steps, the rain started. At first it was harmless, with a few drops here and there. But within seconds, these small drops turned into a waterfall that threatened to drench them completely. As quickly as they could, the two climbed the steps to the platform on which the stone pavilion was located. From here, they had a magnificent view over the large lake around the castle, but they were not interested in the view by any stretch of their imagination.
They stood under the pavilion, completely wet, and wrung out their coats. Black cursed to himself and fixed his hair while Sharp sat down on the bench under the pavilion and massaged his aching leg. Running fast did nothing for his injury and, as so often, he was reminded that his body was not as healthy as it used to be.

The headmaster settled down next to Sharp on the bench and turned his upper body so that he could see out over the lake and into the distance. Frustrated at the black clouds there, he groaned and turned back again.
"Unbelievable! If you could apparate on school grounds, none of this would have happened. Next time, Professor Weasley will take care of things like this herself!" grumbled Black, stroking his dishevelled hair anew.
Sharp watched him out of the corner of his eye and couldn't help but notice how... attractive Black looked. With his dark, wet hair and slight scowl. The headmaster had a charm all of his own and it wasn't the first time Sharp had noticed it.

The ex-auror had often caught himself looking at headmaster Black for much longer than was appropriate or necessary. The way the man moved, so elegantly and always with a certain arrogant majesty. His way of walking, which looked more like prancing, and that high, but at the same time cutting voice. But what struck Sharp the most was the dark hair and the piercing gaze. Those storm-blue crystals that stared cold as ice at the people around them, rather below them, and never failed to command respect for their owner.
Oh yes, Black was an incredibly good looking man and Sharp would be ignorant at best not to recognise and react to that.

One thing was clear though, Sharp would never give the headmaster the satisfaction of throwing himself at the man's feet and begging on his knees for his attention as Black normally seemed to be accustomed to. That was completely out of question.
Sharp had enough self-respect and standard not to fall to such an undignified level. Besides, something told him that Black wouldn't find such behaviour extremely desirable either. Rather, it probably took a person of strong character and equal standing to get Black off his feet and impress him. It took a firm hand to get the headmaster off his high horse and keep him grounded in reality. Fortunately, Sharp would say about himself, being all of this and more. But those were thoughts for another time...

Bringing his concentration back to the here and now, he looked away from the headmaster and at the floor in front of him. The other was still busy complaining about Professor Weasley and not being able to apparate and Sharp thought it was time to take the man's mind off things. For his own sake and for the sake of his nerves too. Sharp was beginning to think he would soon lose his temper and that would have a negative effect on his plan with Black.

Looking around, Sharp searched for something they could talk about that was miles away from the current situation. Some scratches on one of the stones of the railing behind them gave him the decisive idea. Nostalgia immediately rose in him and a warm, wonderful feeling spread through his chest. That would be more than helpful.

The potions master cleared his throat and tapped Black on the shoulder to interrupt his flow of words.
With a sour look, the headmaster stopped and looked at Sharp. The latter pointed to the scratches in the stone that dare yielded two letters, an 'A' and an 'L'.

"See that there?" asked Sharp and Black leaned back a little to get a better look at what he was pointing at.
"The letters that have been carved quite bunglingly there? The students do it all the time. Even when I was at school, this was a popular meeting place for couples in love. Supposedly it brought 'luck' to engrave one's letters here. Didn't do much good for most of them," Black's voice dripped with contempt and scorn. Clearly, the deeper meaning of this whole thing completely escaped him. No surprise there.
With a raised eyebrow and abundant incomprehension, the headmaster eyed Sharp. "So, what are you trying to tell me?"

Shaking his head, Sharp laughed quietly once and sat back. "I carved those two letters there. After my first kiss."

Beside him, Black choked and coughed hoarsely. Sharp smirked. He had caught him, then.

"You did this?! You went along with this nonsense?" retorted Black, stunned, looking back and forth between the letters and their maker.
Sharp nodded in agreement. "Yes. The letters represent me, 'Aesop', and a girl from fortune telling class, 'Luciana'. She had been cute, with long brown hair and those silver earrings she always wore. We had always got along well and had become good friends. One late summer evening we were sitting here together and she seemed so anxious. When I asked her if everything was all right, she mustered up all her courage and kissed me. It was awkward, we were only fifteen at the time, but even today I remember that kiss fondly. Not just because it was my first, but because I really liked Luciana," Sharp briefly looked over at Black and saw what he thought he was about to see.

The headmaster was listening but seemed visibly uncomfortable. His hands fumbled with the hems of his gloves and there was a slight shade of red on his cheeks and nose. Such conversation, it seemed, was rather frowned upon in higher circles. Sharp found it highly amusing. Undeterred, he continued.

"Afterwards, I used a knife that I always carried with me to cut the herbs for my potions to carve our initials into this stone here. She said that now we would surely have even more luck together. Well, she was kind of right. We broke up a year later, but still remained good friends. That had been a great luck, because I never wanted to lose her. We're still in close contact today and just last year, I became godfather to her daughter. Crazy, isn't it?" Sharp smiled softly and beside him Black shifted uneasily on the bench. "Extremely." he pressed out stiffly to at least have the decency to say something back to Sharp's story.

The ex-auror saw his chance and asked "And you? How was your first kiss?"
As might be expected, Black immediately responded with disapproval to this question. "It's really not proper to talk about such intimate things."
"It isn't? After all, we are undisturbed here and we are both grown men. Can't, or won't, you talk about it?", Sharp continued to tease and Black groaned indignantly. "What's that supposed to mean? Do you think I wouldn't remember?"
Unperturbed, Sharp shrugged. "Could be..."
Behind them, the long tentacle of the lake-dwelling squid broke the surface and splashed loudly back into water.

Black remained unimpressed and arrogantly stuck his nose in the air. "Outrageous! Of course I remember, it's just none of your business. Besides, what would you do if I didn't remember, eh?"

Without knowing it, Black had given the ex-auror the perfect template to put his plan into action and Sharp could hardly believe his luck. 

Sharp changed his gaze to a slight seductive smile, with which he had already turned the heads of several witches and wizards. Black was not unaffected either and looked at him in astonishment. "I might have an idea," Sharp purred and leaned forward so that he could stand up.

Gently but quickly, he grabbed the headmaster's hand and pulled him to his feet and towards him. Because of Black's surprise, it didn't take much strength and they were facing each other. Sharp was slightly taller than the headmaster and looked down at him. Before Black could say or do anything, Sharp crossed the remaining distance between them and put his lips on the other's.

He was surprised by what he found.

Black's lips were soft, with a certain roughness due to his beard, and the distant taste of wine lingered on them. Sharp had to admit, he didn't think he would like this combination so much, but that's exactly what happened.

It took a few seconds for Black to collect himself and, to Sharp's great surprise, tentatively return the kiss. Black's gloved hands stroked the skin behind Shapr's ears and then settled on the back of his neck.

Almost greedily, Black began to nestle against the potions master and Sharp almost lost his balance. He shifted so he wouldn't fall over and wrapped his arms around the headmaster's waist who had his eyes closed and was hanging on Sharp's lips like a lifeline.

Perplexed was one word to describe what was going on inside Sharp. Shocked would probably be more appropriate.
He had reckoned with many things. From the possibility that Black would simply push him away, to him cursing Sharp or simply slapping him in the face. Maybe he had even toyed with the idea that Black would just let it happen, but this? No, Sharp hadn't expected that, not that the headmaster would press himself against him like that and almost kiss him senseless.

It felt like their kiss stopped time around them, their lips lay on each other for what felt like an eternity. Exploring each other, transmitting far more than words could have done. Desire, lust, warmth... fear, desperation... An irrepressible urge that pulled them together.

When they finally broke away from each other, a tingle remained on Sharp's lips, the desire for more and the hope of what it could all mean. But when Sharp looked at Black, who Sharp noticed had moved far away from him, this hope shattered into thousand shards.

Black looked back at him through wet eyes and with a terrible feeling in his stomach, Sharp looked back. He put a hand on the headmaster's slender shoulder and started to ask a question that just wouldn't come out of his mouth. No matter how hard he tried to force the words out, he failed.

Black just looked sadly at the floor, brushed Sharp's hand away, then walked past him and up the stairs. Not quite realising what was happening, Sharp looked after him. The headmaster practically ran up the stairs and was almost back at the gate before he glanced once more at the pavilion and wiped his hand across his eyes.

" Bloody hell..." he whispered and disappeared in the direction of his office.

The rain, meanwhile, continued to fall unperturbed and without knowing it, two people fell with it.

Notes:

I know... Actually, the story should have a happier ending, but it's really late here and I suddenly had an intuition not to let the whole thing end quite as merrily as I had originally intended.
Please forgive me...

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