Severus lay in bed staring at the ceiling, his mind a jumble as he tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep.
He rolled over to look at the young man lying beside him with his eyes closed.
In the dark of night, moonlight shone through the unshaded curtains onto Wenxiu Lord's delicate, fair face. The boy was fast asleep, the two of them pressed very close together.
Severus could even feel the boy's warm, steady breath brushing against his face.
Asleep, Wenxiu Lord looked to have lost much of the maturity he showed during the day; now he looked more like a well-behaved child.
Watching the moonlight illuminate his delicate sleeping face, his thick eyelashes glistening in the moonlight, a strand of hair falling across his slender collarbone, Severus felt in a daze as if he were back to how he had first seen him hours ago.
***
After taking a comfortable hot shower, Wenxiu Lord took pajamas out of his system inventory and put them on. Although Scourgify was very convenient, without water flowing over his skin, he always felt he wasn't truly clean.Stepping out of the bathroom while drying his dripping hair with a towel, Wenxiu Lord saw Severus sitting stiffly on the edge of the bed, head bowed and motionless, as if he were staring intently at his own shoes.
The very moment Wenxiu Lord opened the door and stepped out, Severus caught sight of the young man.
Dressed in loose silk fabric with the collar slightly open to reveal his elegant collarbones, his fair skin was still flushed with the warmth of his recent shower.The moonlight favored the young man before him so deeply; his silver-grey, silk-like hair draped over his chest, shimmering like a river of stars under the lunar glow. Droplets of water from the tips of his hair dampened the fabric, revealing the outline of the youth’s slender chest.
Severus noticed the patch of color beneath the fabric and instantly turned red from his neck to the tips of his ears. Seeing Wenxiu Lord’s gaze shift toward him, he lowered his head in a panic, his heart thumping wildly against his ribs.
Fortunately, the moonlight did not grant the same favor to Severus; Wenxiu Lord did not see his flushed neck, and his reddened ears remained hidden beneath his hair.After an afternoon spent together, the two boys grew much closer; at least for Severus, they could now be called friends who could joke and horse around.
After all, this person had seen him at his absolute worst without showing a hint of disdain or pity. He was a wizard just like him, and remarkably skilled in potion-making to boot. Faced with someone like that, it was inevitable for the young Severus to feel a sense of affinity.
In truth, throughout the afternoon, Wenxiu Lord had not only shared a great deal of common knowledge about the Wizarding World and potion craft with Severus, but had also gossiped extensively about the romantic entanglements between the greatest Dark Wizard and the greatest White Wizard.
Upon hearing it all, Severus felt that he would never be able to look at Headmaster Dumbledore the same way again, even before having set foot in school.
Wenxiu Lord walked over to Severus’s side, drying his hair as he asked, "Didn't you already finish your shower? Why are you just sitting here like this? Are you not used to lying down with someone else?"
Severus shook his head, then recalled the reason he had been sitting there waiting for Wenxiu Lord, and the heat on his face subsided slightly.
Severus spoke with an air of awkwardness and discomfort, "Lord, thank you. If it weren't for you, Mother and I might have..."
"Severus," Wenxiu Lord placed his towel on the nightstand, sat down beside Severus, and took his hand, turning to look at him. "We are friends, aren't we?"
Seeing the blush bloom across Severus’s pale face, Wenxiu Lord simply couldn't help himself and burst out laughing, shattering the tender atmosphere of the moment.
Severus, who had been feeling deeply moved, hadn't yet realized what was happening before he saw Wenxiu Lord laughing at him. The other boy simply pulled back the covers, climbed in, and dragged Severus down into the bed along with him.
Finally snapping out of his daze, a flushed and annoyed Severus shouted, "Wenxiu Lord!" but was promptly wrapped up inside the duvet along with the other boy.
Wenxiu Lord teased the young Severus for a while longer; after all, this was an opportunity he hadn't even dared to dream of in his previous life.The two of them wrestled and played for a while, stopping just before Severus genuinely got angry. Wenxiu Lord turned his head to look at Severus lying beside him and said, "Severus, I'm going to Diagon Alley tomorrow. Do you want to come with me?"
Severus fell silent for a moment.
"No need. I'll go when the admission letter arrives." Severus had initially wanted to accept the boy's invitation, but upon thinking of his impoverished family background and the difference in currency between the two worlds, he decided to refuse.
Wenxiu Lord wrapped his arm around Severus's slender waist over the blanket. "Come on, come with me. What if some human trafficker kidnaps me again?"
Severus shot Wenxiu Lord a sideways glance. "What use would I be if I went with you? To get kidnapped right along with you?"
"Oh, I'm scared to go alone, just keep me company," Wenxiu Lord whined, activating his ultimate skill of throwing a tantrum as he rolled back and forth across the bed while hugging Severus.
In the end, feeling completely dizzy from the tossing, Severus couldn't withstand this wave of "attacks" and agreed to go to Diagon Alley with Wenxiu Lord tomorrow.
As his thoughts drifted back, the boy's face gradually became clear before his eyes. Looking at the boy's calm and lovely face, Severus muttered softly, "Good night, Wenxiu... my friend." He closed his eyes in peace and drifted off to sleep.
In the dark of night, Wenxiu Lord rolled over, a smile curving the corners of his mouth.
The next day.
Wenxiu Lord slept in until noon. By the time he finished washing up and changing his clothes, Severus was already sitting on the living room sofa reading a book.
"Where's Mrs. Snape?" Wenxiu Lord asked, looking around in confusion after scanning the entire room and seeing no one.
"My Mother went to deliver some handmade goods. She usually makes crafts at home to supplement our household income," Severus answered without raising his head.
"Then it's just the two of us at home today. Severus, have you had lunch yet?"
Severus put down the potion book in his hand and looked at Wenxiu Lord. "No. Are you hungry?"
Wenxiu Lord shook his head. "I just woke up, so I'm not hungry yet. If you're not hungry either, let's head to Diagon Alley now. We can have lunch there and properly sample the food of the Wizarding World."
"Mn." After thinking for a moment, Severus agreed.
That morning, upon learning that Severus was going to Diagon Alley with Wenxiu Lord, Eileen Snape had specially taken out some of her private savings to hand to Severus so he could enjoy himself, also reminding him to go to Gringotts to exchange his money for wizarding currency.
Not wanting to find something he wanted to buy only to stare at it longingly or spend Wenxiu Lord's money, Severus accepted the money without declining.
"Let's go." Wenxiu Lord pushed open the front door and looked back at Severus.
After leaving the house, Severus followed behind Wenxiu Lord, being pulled forward the entire way. Seeing that they had already left Spinner's End, he asked somewhat doubtfully, "How are we getting there?"
"We'll take a train, transfer to the tube, and then hail a cab. You brought money, right? I don't have a single penny on me right now." Wenxiu Lord blinked at Severus and pulled him toward the nearest train station.
Seeing Wenxiu Lord speak so casually about a journey of such a distance, Severus had assumed he was very familiar with the area.
Yet when he watched the boy search for the ticket office for ages without finding it, he felt that coming out with him was probably a mistake.
However, since the two of them were already on the train heading to London, Severus had no choice but to go along with him, simply memorizing the return route in his mind just in case they really got lost and couldn't find their way home.
Emerging from the tube station hall, Wenxiu Lord waved down a taxi by the roadside, pulled Severus into the car, and told the driver in the front seat, "Charing Cross Road."
Once inside the taxi, Wenxiu Lord finally let out a sigh of relief. He had never been to England before in his life, and had navigated entirely by his own cleverness and reading street signs. Fortunately, they had reached their destination smoothly, otherwise his cool image would have been completely ruined.