Warnings: This is, as far as JKR might have imagined it, completely out of character. This is not like my usual writings, it is not a smut by any means, it's just pure angst and fluff, born out of my own angst at Severus pointless death.

This is a short story, and any gaps you might find are there on purpose, for you to fill them, this is just a sketch born out of a wild idea and as my mentor Oscar Wilde would say, "Those who go beneath the surface do so at their peril."

For those of you who are still here, remember, death story, if the ending is happy… that's for you to tell…

Wishful Thinking

Bill couldn't take his eyes off the long snaking black braid. They followed the shiny hair down until he couldn't stop focusing on the firm bum that was insinuating itself in front of him, clad in outrageously thin cotton pants he could see that this delectable person in front of him was completely naked under them. Something about the fall of the fabric over the body was just too right to be upset by any other pieces of clothing underneath it.

He felt his cock stirring in the confines of his own pants and had to readjust himself. He was feeling very uncomfortable, after all, he was a married man, and even if his wife knew he had to appease his need for men occasionally, there had never been anybody else in his life that aroused him as much as she did, never, except for…

"Professor Snape?" Bill asked a little out of breath.

The tall lanky man straightened himself from his inclined position and turned around to regard him. The skin was not milky white, but tanned and warm, like gingerbread. The robes were white and airy, to keep the body from dehydrating in the scalding Egyptian weather, instead of black and forbidding like the English rain, but the eyes! The eyes were the same deep black that had mesmerized Bill when he was at school and they were regarding him with a bit of shock and if he was not mistaken, pleasant surprise.

"Mr. Weasley" Snape said in that same deep chocolate voice that had Bill's already frayed nerves completely disintegrate.

"Professor… you… you're alive?" He whispered, unbelievingly.

Severus lifted an eyebrow "That seems to be the case, yes Mr. Weasley, you needn't overreact so much"

"But Professor, we all thought you were dead! When the Order gets to know this! Harry will be so happy! You have no idea how…"

"Don't make me obliviate you Mr. Weasley. There is a reason for people to think I'm dead, and it should remain that way. Now, will you forget this small mishap, or should I alter your memory slightly before sending you out politely from my shop?"

"No! No… I… I mean… I'm sorry it's just that I don't understand, why…"

"You do not have a need to understand it, now, is there anything you wanted from my shop, or do you make a habit of ogling at the apothecary's arse every time you enter their establishment?"

Bill's cheeks darkened and he knew acutely how unappealing he must have looked at that moment, his orange hair and scars clashing with his red cheeks. "I'm sorry Professor, I… I just wanted" here Bill noticed that he was making a complete fool of himself and cleared his throat, managing to sound more in charge, "I need to buy some monkshood".

"Drugging yourself lately Mr. Weasley?" Snape asked with a half smile and turned to look at the infinity of glasses and pots and phials he had around the shop. He lifted his hand and, without a word, or as much as a flick of his wrist, nor a trace of a wand anywhere, the jar of aconite came to his hand. "How much do you want?"

"I need enough to brew a batch of wolfsbane, and no, I haven't been drugging myself"

"Wolfsbane? As far as I know you're not a full werewolf Mr. Weasley, you don't need to take the potion to keep your mind"

"Yes professor. But I've noticed that there are still certain… urges, that are hard to suppress without the potion."

"Urges?" Snapes eyes were sparkling with interest. Purely professional, Bill was sure. He fought to keep his rebelling cock under control and took another deeper breath to calm his desperate heart. "I'd rather not talk about this"

"Very well" Snape said and proceeded to seal the ingredient in a series of magical spells to keep it fresh and conserve all its magical properties, even under the direst transport conditions. "Here you are"

Bill thanked him and paid for the herbs. He knew very well that the moment he stepped away from the counter Snape would see his hard on. He waited for a while to see if the man turned back around, but he just lifted an eyebrow, "Anything else Mr. Weasley?"

"No… I… no Professor, thank you" Bill gave a step back and tried to leave the shop as fast as he could with his cock trapped painfully inside his clothes but Snape stopped him with his velvet voice.

"Wolfsbane contains nothing to help with the kind of problem you're having Mr. Weasley. Once you stop this foolishness of yours you know where to find me. Maybe that way you'll be able to appease your inner wolf".

Bill left the shop humiliated, but this month he didn't even start brewing the useless potion. He waited as much as his body could take and after a week he went back to Snape's apothecary in a back alley in the commercial centre of Cairo. As soon as he entered he heard Snape's voice from the back, "If you're looking for more aconite Mr. Weasley, you might as well turn around and leave, now, if you've come to your senses, just walk around the counter and enter the small door to the left, and mind the step".

He did as he was told, like a good boy, and entered what he supposed to be Snape's study/lab. The room was a mix of potions supplies and equipment together with endless books and ink pots. "You look surprised" Snape said, without looking at him.

"I am" he answered simply.

"I see"

After a moment, Bill seemed to understand and with a few clean moves he removed all his clothing and stood in front of Snape. The other man stood, taking in the image of the eldest Weasley exposing himself to him, and then circled his neck with his still clad arms. "I am not really alive, you do realize that" Snape whispered in his ear.

"Yes" Bill nodded and held tighter to Snape, as if he were an illusion, bound to disappear any moment.

"Good"

In a few moments the pair was completely lost in the throws of passion, without care for anything else that wasn't the other's body. When they were done and both lay on Snape's chaise long, panting and sweaty Bill mumbled, "I forgot to lock the door, what if a customer comes in?"

"They won't" Snape breathed in his sweaty scent.

"How do you know?" Bill laughed and stroked Snape's still bound but messy hair.

"There is only you"

Weasley smiled. He knew that Severus ran an apothecary, not a brothel, but he didn't remark on the comment. "I have to leave" he said, mournful, "My… ah… family is waiting…" Bill thought of Fleur for a moment and grew crimson.

"You don't have to hide it Mr. Weasley, I know very well that you're a married man." The professor said, not standing from his reclined position, but not giving any sign of being bothered by the knowledge of Bill's unfaithfulness.

"Professor I…"

"I needn't hear any of your excuses Mr. Weasley, nor do I care for them. Now, as you said yourself, your family awaits."

Bill left Severus' apothecary feeling horrible, and when he got home that night he was not able to hold Fleur like he used to. To tell the truth, being with Fleur had become more of a responsibility than a pleasure nowadays, and he was sure she noticed how little time he spent home, under the pretext of being at work.

After a week of barely contained arousal and two or three nameless fucks Bill went back to Severus' store, feeling completely humiliated, but horny as hell. This time he didn't even bother to pretend he was there for a talk, he simply entered, locked the door and took Severus over the counter. It was fast, it was brutal, and it was exactly what he needed to feel like himself once more.

After the violent mating he took Severus in his arms and brought him to the back of the store, where he'd guessed a bedroom might be. The professor woke up after a while and turned around to face his previous student. "Bad week I take it?"

"You have no idea" Bill sighed and started to finger Severus sticky arse.

"She knows doesn't she?" The older man moaned and rubbed his hardening cock against Bill's hairy thigh.

Bill bit his lip to keep from moaning and thrust three fingers into the tight heat. "Probably. I told her I was bi before we got married, she knew she could never satisfy me all by herself. I've never had another fixed lover though… maybe that made me feel save in our relationship…"

Severus didn't answer with words, he only nodded and buried his head on Bill shoulder. "More" he whispered, "I need… more… use your hand…"

Bill almost came right then, he'd never fisted anybody and the thought of having his whole hand thrust deep inside his professor's body was incredibly sexy. He muttered a lubricating spell. The process was incredibly slow, but he didn't care. He had Severus moaning and writhing under him and that was almost too much for him to bear.

Once he had his hand fully inside he moved it to hit Severus prostate non stop and the man came so many times he didn't even have any cum left after a while, he just kept dry-coming, all the sensations involving an orgasm but without any actual release.

Finally, finally he begged for mercy and Bill removed his hand, ever so slowly. When it came out completely Severus started crying. "Shush… Severus, why are you crying? Does it hurt so bad?"

The other man shook his head and held Bill close, seemingly trying to bury him inside his body, "It's empty" he whispered shakily, "So empty, so lonely…" he let out a loud sob, "I can't take it… fill me, fill me please, or else I'll die…"

Bill hadn't expected such a strong reaction, and his arousal seemed to have been made solely to answer such a deep need of Severus'. After a while, when both of them could barely move anymore he said, "I'll have to go back you know…"

Severus nodded but Bill knew he was crying softly.

"I really am the only one aren't I?" He asked after a while.

"Yes"

"Can you leave?"

"I might, but I'd become incorporeal the minute I stepped over the threshold"

Bill nodded and said nothing. He had to leave now, go back home, but before he did so he murmured a spell that left a dildo shaped exactly like his cock buried deeply inside Severus. "That way you'll feel me, even if you're by yourself".

Severus nodded and buried himself deeper under the covers, his tears sliding silently.

The minute he got home he was struck down by the question. "You've got another lover, 'aven't you?"

Bill didn't feel the need to deny it when his wife brought it up so clearly. "Yes"

She took a deep shaky breath and came to sit beside him on the couch. "We're completely over each other, aren't we William?"

He stretched and fixed his eyes at a point up on the ceiling, "We've been over for a long time Fleur…"

He felt more than saw her nodding. "What about the children?"

"They're old enough to understand if the haven't already"

"They 'ave. They keep asking me about it"

It was his turn to nod, "I see"

"Who is it Bill? Will you at least tell me who it is?" Fleur held his hand and tried to meet his eyes, he didn't look away.

"He's dead" he told her and waited to see her enraged reaction.

"Dead? You mean…you mean, him?" She raised her voice a little.

"Yes". He saw her beautiful body be dominated by rage and despair, but then, after a few seconds, it all went away and she looked like an empty balloon, completely deflated.

"How?"

"I don't know" He was telling the truth, "And frankly, I don't care"

"You're soul mates, aren't you?" She sounded jealous.

"Who knows?" He answered, stretching on the couch one more time before standing up and leaving the room.

"Who knows?" She echoed after him, but he didn't hear…

"Don't you have to go back?" Severus asked that afternoon when they lay together on the bed, after countless rounds of love making.

"No" He answered and turned to look at those black bottomless eyes.

Severus smiled but then furrowed his brow, "You shouldn't do this you know…"

"Yeah" he yawned and turned to look at Severus beautifully manicured garden. "I didn't know you liked flowers"

"I don't, but you like them"

Bill felt a bit cold inside at the comment. "Is that why I shouldn't do this?"

"Yes".

"I didn't really know you, did I. That's why I can't keep you like this for much longer"

"Yes"

He was in indescribable pain. "If this is how it is, why didn't you call to me earlier?"

"Your family needed you"

He wanted to scream, to send his family to hell, but deep inside he knew Severus was right, had he been called earlier, he'd have gone to them, not to Severus.

"What happens next?"

"Who knows?"

"Indeed".

That morning, Bill Weasley was found by his desk at the Egyptian ministry, dead. His wife didn't sound very surprised when she'd been contacted that morning and was told about it, her only comment was to say that he had wanted it.

Nobody understood how such a young person could die like that. His body didn't have any signs or marks on it, and after a while, the hypothesis of Avada Kedrava was put aside and it was said that Bill had died due to overwork. A stupid, meaningless cause really.

Nothing was said about the black lock of hair he held in a death grip even after the body had been spelled to release it, nor about the paperwork he'd been working on on that fateful evening. The minister had decided to burn it, since all the documents had been rendered useless, all their carefully calculated plans about a new type of WizardSpace, one that could fulfill a person's whishes, Bill had filled them all with a cursed name, that of Severus Snape, over and over.