Care of Magical Teenagers

by Barbarella

Summary: [sequel to The Boy Who Lived A Bit] It starts about two weeks after the events of the one-shot Wrong On So Many Levels. The War is finally over. Now Severus and Harry have yet another battle before them - how to carry on their relationship when the whole world wants to marry Harry Potter.

Chapter One

Why on earth did Minerva keep giving him that silly, knowing smile every time she looked at him? It was getting downright aggravating.

Severus stretched his long legs out in front of him and leaned back in his chair. Staff meetings were interminably dull at the best of times, but since fighting the War, vanquishing evil, and celebrating for a fortnight or more, the dullness level of a staff meeting was second only to a lecture on eighteenth century waistcoat buttons delivered by Binns.

Hmph. And Severus had actually endured Binns' lecture on eighteenth century waistcoat buttons, so he felt justified in considering himself something of an expert on ascertaining levels of dullness.

'So, with the student body returning in force tomorrow, I'd like to wish everybody the best of luck for returning to a full class schedule.'

Snape's spirits lifted slightly. That sounded suspiciously like Albus was beginning to wind up the proceedings.

'Of course,' the Headmaster continued, and Snape's spirit flagged a little again, 'the students will all now be three weeks behind, due to the disruption of the War. So we will all have to try our best to assist them in their catching up. For the next two months, curfew will occur a half hour later than it usually does, so that study hall sessions can be likewise extended.' Albus trailed his twinkling gaze around the staff room as he smiled benignly at each faculty member. 'I think that brings this meeting to a close, ladies and gentlemen. Thank-you all for your attention. Oh, and Heads of Houses will kindly remember the meeting in my office tomorrow afternoon just before the Hogwarts Express is due.'

Joy. Another meeting to endure. Snape stood up and prepared to leave.

'Severus?' Damn you, Albus.

'Yes, Headmaster?'

'Won't you stay and take tea with Minerva and I? We've barely had a decent conversation since the War ended, my dear boy.'

'My apologies, Albus, but I am expected elsewhere.'

'Oh?' Dumbledore was using his "innocent enquiry" voice. 'House matters to attend to already?'

You know perfectly well where I'm going, you old witch. Snape cleared his throat softly. 'I have been invited to dinner at Grimmauld Place, Headmaster.'

Minerva was wearing that aggravating smile yet again. What, in the name of the Four Founders, was going on?

'Ah! Splendid.' Much twinkling. 'Do give our regards to Remus. And to Harry, of course.'

Snape felt his eyes narrow. 'Of course,' he said carefully. He inclined his dark head toward them both in place of a proper bow and strode toward the staff room door.





'Snape! God, I thought they were never gonna let you out of that meeting!'

No sooner had Severus stepped out of the floo in the livingroom at 12 Grimmauld Place, than Potter's surprisingly strong arms were around his neck, pulling his head down into a hasty kiss. Snape took a moment to make certain there was no one else in the room before returning it. His lover had been eating chocolate. And so close to dinner, too. He sighed against the boy's mouth. When they pulled back from each other, Potter was wearing the wide, floppy grin he usually did these days whenever Snape walked into a room. It made him ache, almost, to see just how happy his mere presence could make Harry.

'How've you been?'

'It has been less than four hours since you last saw me, Potter.'

'I know, but it feels like forever.'

'Stop being so melodramatic. If I wanted a girlfriend, I would've gotten myself one.'

The brat smirked at him. 'Bollocks. You were too busy denying yourself, until I came along.'

Eyebrow. 'You shouldn't push your luck, you little prick.'

The emerald eyes fairly glittered in response. 'I miss your voice so much when you're gone.'

'Hmph. Should I leave you with a recording next time?'

'Would you?'

'Oh for gods - '

The dinner gong interrupted their banter. Potter smirked again. 'Shall we?'

Snape felt one side of his mouth twitch as a smile threatened. 'Indeed.'




'The interview with Witch Weekly was a nightmare today!' Potter had barely paused for breath since sitting down to dinner. The media schedule the Order had arranged for the saviour did indeed sound torturous, and Snape certainly didn't envy the young man, but watching Harry's table manners deteriorate as his narration intensified was quick becoming a torture all its own.

'Do remember to chew before swallowing, Potter.'

The boy smiled, and gulped. 'The journo doing it just would NOT shut up about me getting married and did I have a girlfriend and how large a family did I want to have and what sort of woman could catch me - CATCH me! That's actually how they put it!'

'Well, you are the most eligible bachelor in the whole of the Wizarding world now, Harry,' Lupin gently reminded him. 'You can't really blame them for being curious about you.'

'Indeed, Potter.' Snape swirled his merlot around in his goblet. 'Every family with an unmarried daughter over the age of twelve will be plotting to marry you into their bloodline.'

Hm. Well, at least that seemed to shut the boy up for a moment.

'I'm rather afraid that Severus is right, Harry. I wager you'll notice a sharp increase in the number of people wishing to introduce their daughters to you at social functions now. Yet another symptom of your celebrity, I'm sorry to say.'

Snape watched his lover poking desultorily at some cauliflower with his fork for a moment. 'So, what response did you give this journalist today?'

Candlelight glinted off the spectacles fleetingly as Potter raised his head to look at him. 'That it was way too early for me to even start thinking about things like that. And that I wanted to live a bit before settling down.'

Snape nodded slightly. 'And what sort of woman could catch you, Potter?'

'I… I think I just blushed and she took pity on me and moved on. I think it flustered her for a little while, though.'

'Serves her right for being so presumptuous.'

Potter and Snape both looked up at the werewolf's comment. Part-way through slicing a carrot into meticulous strips, he suddenly seemed to realise they were both looking at him. 'Did I say something wrong?' he enquired softly.

Snape became aware of his lover's gaze moving onto him. 'Um…' Snape looked across the table at him. 'Remus knows, Severus.'

Snape put his knife and fork down carefully and took another drink from his wine goblet. 'How long?'

'Since the second t- I mean, since Ginny was in the hospital.'

Snape looked at the werewolf again, this time with a raised eyebrow. Lupin nodded slightly. That was almost two whole months of his relationship with the boy - practically the entire relationship - and Lupin hadn't said a thing about it. Except, his memory told him, for that bizarre comment about the tide of the War being turned by his place in Potter's life. "I do think you're good for the boy, Severus." That's what the wolf had told him, wasn't it? He knew that Gryffindors were woolly in the head, but surely this should have presented an irresistible opportunity for the Marauder to hold something over Snape? Black certainly would have done. And Potter Senior. What was the man playing at?

'And you approve of this, Lupin?'

'I certainly don't disapprove, Severus. I don't feel that it is actually any of my business. Just so long as Harry is happy, that is all that concerns me.'

'And I am!' Potter interjected, with a silly smile.

A silly… Dear gods, no. 'Who else, Potter?'

'What?'

Snape felt a slight twitch under his right eye. 'Who else knows? Does Minerva know?'

'Er…'

'And Albus?'

He could see Potter swallow. 'When we were asleep on the couch in the library. After the battle. I heard them whispering at the door. McGonagall was saying how proud she was of us. Even though you're a Slytherin.' There was that floppy grin again. 'And Dumbledore sounded kinda surprised that he hadn't guessed, and McGonagall said who could blame us or something like that…'

So that explained all those knowing looks the Head of Gryffindor had been bestowing upon him, then.

'You should recall, Severus,' said Lupin gently, 'that the two of you were inseparable in the final days of the War. Many people couldn't help but notice. And your refusal to fight anywhere but at Harry's side certainly got everybody talking. You, ar, you did spend the night before the battle in Harry's room, remember.'

Yes, he remembered. He didn't even bother placing a silencing charm on the bedroom that night. They were facing their potential doom the next morning, after all, so what did it matter if the whole house heard them making love? Eve of battle love-making was tender and quiet anyhow… He drank some more wine while his thoughts gathered. He could cope with this. He would cope with this.

'We can cope with this.'

The younger man's words focussed Snape's gaze on his lover. He put his goblet down and took up his cutlery once again.

'Naturally, Mister Potter. Of course we can.'




'Not so fast, you greedy brat! You'll do yourself a damage.'

'Severus!'

'Shhh, just take a little more care.'

'Git.'

'Child.'

'Bastard.'

'Shut up and fuck yourself, Potter.'

Verdant eyes blazed and Harry pressed his mouth against Snape's as he bounced on Snape's lap. Snape braced his back against the headboard of the bed and willed his hips to stay still. If Harry insisted on riding his cock this hard, well then, at least one of them should have a modicum of self restraint.

Potter pulled back from the kiss with a gasp. 'How come we've never done it like this before?' he moaned, hands clasped behind Snape's neck as he leaned his straining body back, rocking back and forth on the hardness upon which he had impaled himself.

Severus held the boy's hips steady for a moment, enjoying the throbbing heat that surrounded him. 'Because this position offers little opportunity for thrusting.' He put his mouth against an ear and purred, 'And I do so adore thrusting into you, Harry.' His words and his voice had the desired effect - Potter's arse clenched fiercely around him and the teenager started moving again, sliding himself up Snape's cock so far that he almost lost it, and then slamming himself back down again as hard as was comfortable. Maybe even a little more so.

'Mmm, so fucking good, Snape! Fuck! Touch me, ohgodplease, make me come… make me… uh!'

Leaving one arm around the small of the boy's back, Snape obligingly moved his right hand to Harry's leaking cock. He smoothed his thumb through the clear fluid, coating the dark head with the boy's pre-come, and then grabbed hold of the shaft firmly and began wanking him. Harry's fingernails were digging painfully into Snape's shoulders as he fucked himself; both men were going to be more than a little sore after this.

Snape felt the flesh in his hand become slicker. 'Are you close, Harry?'

'Yeah. God. Yes.'

'Can you hold my hair back out of my face, please?'

'Huh? Uh, sure…' Potter gathered Snape's shoulder length hair into a rough ponytail and held it.

'Now fuck harder, Harry.'

'What about you? Oh - '

'Just do it.'

The arse around his prick tightened and the boy groaned, deep and guttural. Snape pointed Harry's cock just so, at the same time tilting his head down toward it and closing his eyes. When Potter's ejaculation came, it splattered up into Snape's face. He heard Harry's yelp of surprise.

'Ohmygod, that is so fucking hot!'

Snape opened his eyes to see Harry panting, green eyes huge and bright with passion. 'Lick it up,' he instructed, his voice at its blackest velvet.

'Fuuck…'

Harry leaned forward and swiped his tongue along Snape's left cheekbone, pulling back far enough for Snape to see the come being swallowed, before leaning in again to open his mouth on Snape's chin, slurping away the drips there. Snape felt his cock throb, still buried balls deep in the boy's arse. Patience, he told himself. Let the brat finish his work. Harry continued licking at his face, even sucked at the tip of his hooked nose. Then their mouths were crushed together again, a punishing kiss of heat and come and teeth.

'God, I love you!' Harry hissed into his mouth. 'You sexy, fucking bastard.'

'You can let go of my hair now, can you not?'

'Oh yeah,' Harry grinned, obviously now beginning to enjoy the slow encroachment of languor and satiety.

Snape got a firm grasp on Potter's buttocks, holding him tight over his cock and rolled to the side, then further still, until Potter was on his back below him. The boy's head was hanging off the edge of the bed, but what the hell? He lifted one of Harry's legs higher and thrust at his arsehole. Mm, very nice indeed, that. Harry's entire body had gone limp with his afterglow, and he lay there virtually motionless while Snape pounded into him.

'Hold me,' Snape told him, and the perfect arms came up obediently to fold around his neck. 'Harry…' Snape moaned. 'Harry…' And he erupted inside his beautiful young lover, murmuring his name over and over like a sacred mantra.




'I'll be gone for the rest of the week, you realise, Harry?'

Potter sighed and nodded his head against Snape's chest. 'I guessed you would be. Getting the students settled back in and all that.'

'Yes.' Snape was absolutely not looking forward to the following evening, watching the students filing back into the Great Hall for the first Hogwarts dinner of the post-War period. He knew he was the only Head of House who would have to look down on a House table missing almost half of its Seventh Year students. At least two of his Sixth Years would not be returning, either. It was going to be a difficult time for any of them to be Slytherins. He already envisioned having to break up numerous fights and confiscate umpteen wands. He had sought permission to teach his students extra counter-curses in order that they could protect themselves from the attacks other students were sure to make. But the Headmaster had refused him point-blank, his twinkling gaze carrying an unspoken warning against disobedience.

'You really do care for them. Don't you?'

'Begrudgingly, Potter, I assure you.'

He could feel Harry's mouth pulling into a smile against his flesh. 'Yeah, right.'

'Do you have more interviews tomorrow?'

'Just the one.' Harry stifled a yawn. 'The Ministry of Magic want to film an interview with me for the archives. Something to play for the tourists in the new War Memorial they're building.'

'Do be careful with what information they try to weasel out of you.'

'Yeah, yeah, I know. I've got my story pretty much down pat by now, with all the interviews I've been doing.' Absent-mindedly, Harry was tugging gently at a hair beside Snape's left nipple as he spoke. 'Wouldn't it be great, though, if I really could tell them? About the Culmen Densus and the enhancement potion and all of that? Just imagine their faces!'

'I'm trying not to. That potion was not a legal one, Potter. And telling your adoring public that you engaged in sex magic with an ex-Death Eater would likely result in your immediate committal to Saint Mungo's.'

'Sex with this ex-Death Eater is always magic.'

Snape sighed into the boy's mess of raven hair. 'As if you have any other ex-Death Eaters with whom to compare me.'

'Do you want me to go visit Lucius in Azkaban?'

'I most certainly do not!' His arms tightened around his lover slightly. 'He'd eat you alive.'

'You're staying here tonight, aren't you?'

'I doubt I could move from this spot, even if I desired to.'

'So, that's a yes, then?'

'That is a yes, Potter.'

'Can I molest you if I wake up during the night?'

'I suppose so - I'm unlikely to have time to service you before I leave in the morning.'

Harry raised his head from Snape's chest and poked his tongue out. Quickly, Snape leaned up and caught it between his lips, sucking it into his mouth hotly and then abruptly letting it go again. He lay his head back onto the pillows once more and gave a satisfied smirk at the shocked look on his lover's face.

'Goodnight, my brat.'

Chapter Two


"My brat."

Those two words stayed with Harry all through the next day. Every time he thought of them, of Snape saying them, he couldn't help but smile, making just about everyone he came into contact with think him a very happy young man indeed. Not even the tedious interview at the Ministry of Magic could wipe the contented smile off his face.

'Harry Potter! My dear lad! How wonderful it is to see you again!'

A voice so smarmy as that could only belong to one person. Harry blinked into the studio lights in the vague direction from which the voice had come. 'Hello, Minister Fudge.'

The camera wizard who had recorded Harry's interview signalled the lighting wizards that the lights could be turned off now, and then turned to Harry to give him a smile and a thumbs up. 'That was brilliant, Harry, thanks.'

'Oh, cool,' said Harry as he stood up from his seat. 'Thanks for all that.' He stepped away from the plain set against which he'd been interviewed and was immediately set upon by the Minister of Magic.

'Another excellent interview from our favourite Saviour, I take it?' Fudge gushed as he grabbed Harry's hand and shook it solidly.

'Er, hopefully,' said Harry. 'I hope it's what the Ministry was hoping for, anyway.'

'Excellent, excellent. May I walk you out, Harry?'

'Um, sure. I guess.'

Fudge threw his arm around Harry's shoulder briefly to propel him in the direction of the studio door. I hope he's not intending on leaving that there, Harry found himself thinking. Luckily though, Fudge let his arm fall away again as soon as they were outside in the corridor.

'I hope you've been working on your speech, young man.'

'My, er, my speech? Sir?'

'Your acceptance speech, of course! For your Order of Merlin! First class!'

'Oh. That speech.' Harry nibbled at his bottom lip as they walked. He hadn't really thought about the fact that people would probably expect him to give an acceptance speech when the award was handed over to him. What was he supposed to say? Well, aside from "Thanks, you're welcome"? 'I guess I'll have to give it a bit more thought, sir.'

'Well, don't dally too long on it. The presentation dinner is only a week away, Harry.'

'I know. I will. I mean, I won't. Dally too long on it, that is.' God, he hated trying to talk to this man.

'Now, Harry, I wouldn't presume to try to tell you what you should or shouldn't say…' Which of course meant that he was about to. 'But I have been a little concerned with some of your interviews lately. If I might be so bold as to make a tiny suggestion?'

Harry braced himself. 'Of course, sir,' he said tightly.

'Just a minor quibble, you understand, Harry. Nothing of any great import. But it has given me some concern that you've been so eager to share your glory around. Now, you're a noble and gracious young man, I know that, and of course you don't wish to be seen to be taking all the credit for bringing down You Know Who, but telling all and sundry that you couldn't have done it without the help of a Death Eater, Harry - '

'He's not a Death Eater, sir. He hasn't been one for a very long time.'

'Well, ex-Death Eater then - '

'I couldn't have done it without him, Minister. And I'm not being noble or gracious about it, I'm just telling the truth.'

'Yes, yes, of course you are, but - '

'No buts, sir. Severus Snape and I brought down Voldemort together and that is the utter truth of it.'

'Harry - '

'I'm not going to deny the man the credit that's due to him, sir.' Harry was amazed at himself that he was managing to keep his voice so level and calm. 'And on that note, Minister, may I ask when the rest of the Order will be receiving their Orders of Merlin?'

That set Fudge's jowls wobbling and Harry was very pleased indeed to see the main doors of the Ministry come into view. 'In due course, my lad, in due course.'

'And Professor Snape WILL be receiving one, won't he, sir?'

'I'd have to check the paperwork… my secretary…'

'He WILL be receiving one. Won't. He.' Harry stopped a few feet from the doors and glared at the Minister of Magic. The man seemed to shrink before him.

'I, er, I'll have to get back to you, Harry. Check with my secretary and all that. Oh, is that the time? I really must dash. Another meeting to get to. Do take care. Goodbye!' His sweaty hand shook Harry's briefly and then he was gone, practically running scared from a teenaged boy. Harry watched him scuttle away and shook his head in disgust. He hated this place. The whole sodding Ministry could go fuck itself for all he cared.




Lupin was soundly thrashing Harry at wizard chess for the fourth game in a row when the wards on the house alerted them to a visitor at the door.

'I'll get it, Harry,' said Lupin. 'It'll give you an extra moment to re-think that move you're about to make.' He gave a little smile as he stood up and went to answer the door.

Harry was still staring at the chess board, trying to work out what was so wrong with the move he had been going to make when Lupin walked back in with a rather sorry-looking Ron Weasley trailing after him. His shirt had blood on it and his left eye was swollen shut from the bruising all over it. He was holding a handkerchief to his mouth and when he moved it to bid Harry hello, Harry could see that his bottom lip was split and bleeding.

'What the hell happened to you?'

Ron rolled his uninjured eye, as if to comment on how bloody obvious that was. 'I got in a fight,' he answered, his voice thick and tired sounding.

'Well, I can see that much! What happened?'

Ron threw himself into a spare seat and dabbed at his lip. 'S'nothing really. Just some arsehole in a pub.'

Harry couldn't help a small smirk. 'So, did you win?'

Ron laughed, a short, bitter sound. 'Certainly can't call me the Loser. I gave as good as I got.'

'What on earth started all this, Ron?' asked Lupin, his voice full of concern.

Harry noticed Ron's good eye flicker toward him briefly and then away again. Ron had been acting funny for a couple of weeks now. He hadn't even waited around to say goodbye to Harry on the morning he left after his last stay, and his responses to Harry's owls since then had been short and sort of, over-polite or something…

'It was just a stupid argument,' Ron told Remus. 'Like I said, just some arsehole.'

'But something must have upset you, surely?' Lupin obviously wasn't going to let Ron just brush this off.

Ron shrugged his broad shoulders. 'It's not like I'm proud of it, you know. It's just, I couldn't let him get away with it, that's all.'

'Get away with what?' asked Harry. Ron still wouldn't look back at him.

'He was casting aspersions.'

Harry almost laughed. 'Upon what?'

'On you,' Ron mumbled.

'Me?'

Ron nodded, looking into the fire.

'Well, what was he saying about me?'

Ron shrugged again.

'Ron?' Harry leaned forward and reached out to touch Ron's closest knee briefly, trying to get his friend to look at him. Ron moved his knee out of Harry's reach. 'Ron? What could a stranger say that could make you get into a fight on my behalf?'

'He was calling you a poof. Said you were queer, alright? Can we drop it now?'

Harry blanched. Remus caught his gaze and smiled softly. 'I think I'll go and make us all a nice cup of tea,' the older man announced, and left the two boys alone. Harry wondered what to say.

'Um. Ron?'

Ron crossed his arms over his chest and sighed. 'You don't have to say it, Harry.'

'You what?'

'You don't have tell me, okay? I already know.'

Harry swallowed. 'Know what, Ron?'

His friend shot him a glare, as much as it was possible for him to do so with one eye swollen shut. 'That the arsehole was right, okay? That you are. Queer, I mean. I know, alright? I don't have to hear you say it.'

'Who, who told you?'

'You did. Traipsing around after Snape like a bloody puppy…'

'I, I don't. Do I?'

Another shrug. 'Not now, I guess. Not now that school's back. But the end of the war, Harry - god, could you have made it anymore bloody obvious?'

Harry felt heat flare in his cheeks. 'But, if you know… how come hearing some stranger say those things made you so angry?'

'Dunno. The way he was saying it, I s'pose. None of his fucking business anyway, is it? And, well, it just DID, alright? Just made me wanna hit something.'

Harry nodded a little. 'You know, whoever this bloke was, Ron, he can't have known what he was actually talking about. Could he? Only a few people really do know. He was just talking rubbish.'

'I know.' Ron sighed heavily and turned his head to look at Harry properly for the first time. 'How can you let him do that to you?'

It took Harry a moment to realise Ron was talking about a different "he" now. He was referring to Snape. Oh god, he really didn't feel ready to have this conversation right now… 'Um, do what, exactly?'

'You know what. You let him, Snape, you let him do things to you, don't you?'

Harry blushed. 'He lets me do things back to him, if it's any consolation.' The noise Ron made told him it wasn't much of one.

'How, Harry? He's got greasy hair! And a big nose! And he's a prick!'

'He's not a prick to me, Ron. Not anymore anyway. And I like his nose. And his hair's not horribly greasy. Not much…'

'Ugh.'

'Well, you asked!'

'But to let him shove his cock up you, Harry! It's dirty! And I bet you suck it for him, too, don't you?'

'I think that will be quite enough of that sort of talk, Ron.' Lupin's usually gentle voice sounded stern as he walked back into the room, levitating a tray full of tea supplies in front of him. They were all silent for a few minutes while teas were poured and handed around.

'So,' Ron finally said, in a hurt tone. 'When were you planning on telling me? Seeing as I AM supposed to be your best mate and all?'

'When I could work out how, I guess. S'not something I could just throw into a conversation, is it? "Cor, Ron, how about that Puddlemere United match, eh? Oh and by the way, I'm shagging Professor Snape!" I can just imagine what a treat THAT would've gone down!'

Remus looked like he was trying not to laugh.

Ron just looked pale. 'It's just… I just can't get the images out of my head, Harry. I can't stop thinking about him - and you - and - gah! I just don't want to think of you doing things like that!'

'Then don't!'

'Easy for you to say. You obviously don't mind the idea.'

'I don't mind the reality, either.'

Ron's nose crinkled. 'So, you're not gonna bother with girls anymore, then?'

It was Harry's turn to shrug. 'Certainly not at the moment, I'm not.'

'You mean you might again one day, though? So you're not completely off them, like?'

'I don't know. Not completely, I guess. But definitely not completely ON them, either. Obviously.'

Ron seemed to brighten a little at this. 'So you're just experimenting or something, then? That's what you're doing with Snape?'

Harry winced. 'It might've been a bit of that at first, I suppose. But not now. No. It's beyond that now. I, well, I - '

'Love him?'

Harry looked up and met his friend's gaze. 'I think you know I do, Ron.'

Ron shook his head into his mug of tea. 'Bloody unbelievable, this. I thought you hated each other all this time.'

'We did. We used to. It's just that now we… don't.'

'It's a thin line,' Remus muttered quietly and sipped at his tea.

'Still,' Ron lifted his chin. 'It's a bit of a step, to go from just not hating someone anymore to letting them shove their cock up yer arse!'

'Ronald Weasley!'

'It's okay, Remus,' Harry held a hand up. 'Ron just needs to vent a bit, I think. Doncha, mate? Look, I know it's a shock, okay? And I'm sorry. And I was going to tell you about it, I promise. It's just… it's complicated and scary and wonderful and weird and fucked-up, all at the same time and I just didn't know how to start telling you just yet. I'm sorry, Ron. I really want you to be alright with this though. I need you to be. For me.'

'What do you need me for? Now that you've got him?'

'You're my best friend, Ron! I need you for heaps of things!'

Ron sighed and drank his tea quietly for a minute. 'Do you like the way he looks, then?'

'Yeah, I do.'

His best friend grinned and shook his head softly. 'And you don't mind that he's a greasy old git who went to school with your Dad?'

'Not at all.'

'And he likes you back?'

'Yup.'

'And you HONESTLY like the way he looks?'

Harry laughed out loud. 'I think he's beautiful.'

Ron stuck a finger into his open mouth and mimed gagging for a moment before stopping and laughing as well. 'You're a dark horse, you are!'

Remus looked at them proudly as he set his empty tea cup down.

'So,' Ron continued with his questioning. 'Does he reckon you're an alright shag, then?'

Lupin stood up and smiled at them both. 'I think I'll leave you two boys to your conversation now. Oh, and Ron? Let Harry do an anti-swelling spell on that eye of yours, hm?'

'Sure I will.'

Lupin's smile got wider as he walked toward the door, as Harry responded 'I think he reckons I'm a bloody excellent shag, thank-you!'

Chapter Three

'Accio Franklin Pandicot's wand,' intoned the Potions Master.

The Ravenclaw boy gasped as his wand jerked out of his hand and flew toward Snape. The Professor strode down the dungeon hallway toward the small group of students, three Ravenclaws and one Slytherin, glaring at each one in turn. 'Explain yourselves,' he demanded.

Pandicot looked from Snape to the Slytherin boy against the wall and back again. 'It's nothing, sir, honest.'

'I shall be the judge of that, Mister Pandicot. Report to my office directly after class. I expect you to have a better explanation than "nothing, sir" by then.' He handed the boy's wand back to him. 'And ten points from Ravenclaw for reckless wand use. Now get to class.'

He watched the Ravenclaws walk away, black gaze never wavering until they were out of sight, then turned his attention to the Slytherin boy who remained. 'Mister Stark? Can you enlighten me as to why Pandicot had his wand at your throat?'

The boy took a shuddering breath and shook his head. He was a Fourth Year, but small for his age, a rather sickly looking child at the best of times. 'He doesn't like Slytherins, sir. That's all.'

Snape's jaw tightened momentarily. 'Are you unharmed, Mister Stark?'

'Y-yes, sir. Thank-you, sir.'

'Very well. Perhaps try not to travel alone for the foreseeable future, hm?'

'Yes, sir.'




Snape stalked into his classroom only a minute or so late after the altercation in the hallway. But any absence by Snape was seen as some heaven-sent holiday by Hogwarts students, and his class was abuzz with childish chattering and laughter.

'Silence!' He swept along the central aisle toward the front of the class, snatching a copy of Witch Weekly out of a student's hand along the way. 'You can have this trash back at the end of the class, Miss Raynaud. Your instructions are already on the board. Why has not one of you lazy wretches thought to make a start on your potions as yet?'

Eventually, the class settled down to their chopping and pulverising and brewing, and Snape was able to take his eyes off them long enough to do some essay marking. As he finished marking one parchment and moved it aside in readiness for another, his gaze fell on the copy of Witch Weekly he'd confiscated. It was open to a photograph of Harry bloody Potter. Of course. A full-colour picture that took up half the page. Photograph Harry waved up at him shyly and blew him a kiss. Snape snatched up the next essay from the pile of parchments and slapped it down over the photo hastily. The one paragraph caption was still visible, though, and Snape's eyes were irresistibly drawn to the small column of text.

Exclusive to Witch Weekly NEXT WEEK! Harry Potter talks about his plans for the future and tells us what sort of girl he's looking for! Don't miss this exclusive interview. Who knows - maybe Harry's looking for YOU?!

And maybe Harry's already found what he was looking for, you stupid bints, Snape thought automatically, only to immediately feel galled by his own foolish pride. Flattering yourself, Severus. Pathetic.

He pulled some more essays forward and steadfastly scratched away at them for a good forty minutes or more before his gaze drifted back to the sappy magazine again. Surreptitiously, he poked some parchments out of the way so as to uncover most of the photo once more. Photograph Harry looked up excitedly and grinned his private smile up at him. The diminutive image even reached his hand out, flattening his palm against the invisible barrier of the photo's surface, as if trying to touch Snape through a pane of glass.

Snape swept his gaze over the classroom. None of the students were watching him as he quirked an eyebrow at photograph Harry and gave him the very slightest of smirks. Photograph Harry grinned wider and blew him another kiss. Enough of that, you idiot child, Snape silently chided his lover's image. Photograph Harry laughed silently, then pointed at the words printed next to him and made a "Blecht!" expression.

Indeed, thought Snape.

Then photograph Harry gestured to his other side and gave a slight shrug and a silly grin, a shy shake of the dark head. Somebody - Miss Raynaud, the magazine's owner, presumably - had scrawled a love heart in purple ink and an arrow pointed at Harry.

Snape sighed, a little more audibly than he'd intended. He was… involved… with a person that his students lusted after. For fuck's sake. Was it ever going to feel normal?

He should feel like a dirty old man, should he not? Like a paedophile, probably. Not that he knew what it felt like to be one of those, of course; images of a fifteen-year-old Harry flying circles around a full-grown Hungarian Horntail notwithstanding. And what was being a dirty old man supposed to actually feel like anyhow?

He gave a mental shrug. It wasn't his Harry that Miss Reynaud and the other readers of Witch Weekly were sweet on, after all. None of them knew the young man, really. Not even the ones that had met him. Not like Snape did. Nobody knew him as Snape did. No other person had ever experienced him the way that Severus had - metaphorically naked as well as physically, trembling and vulnerable, wanton and abandoned in his arms, flirtatious, poised, loving, passionate, crying, murdering, fucking, reaching for him in the middle of the night.

Photograph Harry was watching him silently, his features composed and thoughtful, the green eyes gazing upon him as though he were the only thing they ever, ever wanted to look at.

At least tomorrow was Friday. His time would be his own once again. Correction - his time would be Harry's once again. I love, he thought to himself, even as he was checking the time and beginning to shuffle the parchments on his desk. After all that has passed and all that I've done. I love.

'Five minutes,' he announced to the class. 'Those of you not bottling your sample by now should be ascertaining where you went so horribly wrong. Miss Reynaud? Kindly remove this piece of obviously fascinating frippery from my desk.'

He cast a final glance at photograph Harry, swiftly and silently bidding him adieu.




A man of my age, Snape thought to himself roughly, a man of my age should not have to do this so many times in one week.

Friday morning, here at last, and he was starting it the same way he had started every other morning this past school week - his right hand wrapped tight around his erection, his mind a jumble of Potter moments, each one more intense, dirtier, more pure and more beautiful than the one preceding it. He wanted to kiss and bite and lick, touch and be touched, he wanted all that firm, young flesh laid out before him to taste and savour, he wanted Harry under him, he wanted the furnace and the tightness of the boy's body wrapped around him. He squeezed his hand harder, imagining spreading the boy's legs and sinking inch by glorious inch into the sweetness that was offered up to him time after time. He pushed the bedclothes back and knelt up on the bed, body bent over his lap and his pumping fist. He thought of his cock in Harry's hand, in Harry's mouth, in Harry's arse. He thought of Harry's voice whimpering and begging, moaning to be fucked harder, used rougher - there really was a deliciously slutty element to the young man's sexuality at times. Snape slid his other hand around his body and reached behind himself, fingertips pressing at his own arsehole, not entering, just teasing, sending his body over the edge of desire until he coated his hand with yet another lonely orgasm.

Gods, a man of my age. He got up creakily and headed for the shower, attempting to cleanse himself sufficiently to face another day of work, another day of teenagers, none of whom was the one teenager he simply could not get out of his mind.




Despite the usual Friday lunchtime noise level of the Great Hall, everybody, it seemed, heard the jug of pumpkin juice that had been levitated toward the Slytherin table at great speed, smash into the far wall. The heavy glassware had only narrowly missed several Slytherin heads as it zoomed by. One of the Sixth Years yelped as a flying shard from the smashed vessel lodged itself in her shoulder.

Snape was on his feet immediately, obsidian eyes raking over the Gryffindor benches, even as he strode to the Slytherin table. Two Gryffindor heads were bent closer together than all of the others, shoulders shuddering with laughter. Bastards. He approached the injured Slytherin girl. Her face was pale with shock and pain, but he quickly assessed that the glass shard had not gone too deep.

'Hold still,' he told her softly, letting his left hand rest gently on the curve of her shoulder as a comfort as he quickly and smoothly plucked the shard away. Its point was stained with her blood up to a distance of about half an inch. 'It's less than an inch deep,' he assured her and removed his hand from her shoulder again. 'Margaret?' he addressed the next student along. 'Would you mind accompanying Diana to the Infirmary? Thank-you.'

The two girls got to their feet and began to make their way toward the door. Snape waved his wand over the smashed jug and the mess of its former contents. It all disappeared in a flash. Severus swept a last, paternal, look over the remaining Slytherins again and then returned to his seat at the Head table.

'Minerva,' he began quietly.

'It's alright, Severus, I saw the culprits, too. They will be dealt with as severely as they deserve, I assure you.'

If it was up to Snape, the two Gryffindor fools would have been singled out now in front of the entire school and dealt with immediately. But that choice was Minerva's to make, not his. He contented himself with glaring daggers at the two boys for the remainder of the midday meal, knowing that even when they weren't physically looking back in his direction, they could no doubt feel his stare boring into them and making their flesh goosebump. It was a talent.




Early that evening, as soon as he could get away from Hogwarts, Snape stepped through the floo into the library at Grimmauld Place and immediately set about finding his lover. It didn't take long. Harry was lying on his stomach on his bed, reading Snape cared not what.

'Would the Gryffindor golden boy be so kind as to fuck the Head of Slytherin into next week, please?'

Harry looked up from his reading with a stunned look. 'When did you get here?'

'Just now.' Snape slammed the bedroom door shut, one hand already working at the buttons of his collar. Almost as an afterthought, he threw a quick silencing charm up on the room.

Harry shoved a bookmark into his book and placed it on the bedside table as he got up from the bed. 'Bad week, I take it?'

'The worst since having to put up with you and your fan club on a daily basis.'

'That bad, huh?'

Snape reached for the younger man and dragged him bodily into his arms, crushing their mouths together in a possessive kiss that left no doubts as to his immediate intentions. He ground his hardness against the other body and started backing them both toward the bed. His hands were already working at Potter's belt and jeans fastening, his right hand plunging into the back of them as soon as they were undone, grasping at the boy's arse with long, cool fingers.

Harry responded so beautifully to his touch, arching into him, practically humping his leg. 'So, do you really want the Gryffindor golden boy to fuck you into next week or were you hoping to do the fucking yourself?'

'Mm, perhaps… both?'

The green eyes blazed. 'Like the time Ginny was in hospital?'

'If you wish.'

'Oh, I wish!' Potter flashed him his private smile, the one that was just his, just for him. Snape laid one hand flat against the boy's sternum and gave an almost gentle push. Landing on the bed with a small bounce, Potter spread his legs invitingly and tilted his head back, grinning wide. 'It's been a hell of a week without you, you know.'

Snape spelled the rest of his many buttons open and threw his robe and jacket off before climbing onto the bed on top of Potter, one thigh rubbing between both of Harry's straight away. 'I've been wanking like a sodding teenager.' He still sounded disgusted with himself. 'You'd better make a move to fuck me soon, Potter, or you'll be full of cock within the next twenty seconds, I assure you.'

By the time twenty seconds was up, Snape was kneeling on the bed and leaning heavily onto the headboard, with Potter behind him, forcing a spit-slicked cock head into his arse with such an agonisingly slow motion that Snape felt the unbelievably stupid urge to squeal. He managed to resist that particular urge, but he had no intention of resisting any others for the rest of the evening. He pushed back slightly and heard Potter grunt close to his ear. The boy shifted his weight a little and then pressed forward further. 'Keep going,' Snape urged him, and he did, not stopping until his body was pressed fully against Snape's.

They were both still largely clothed, just the necessary bits uncovered in their haste. Potter ran his hands up under Snape's shirt and pulled at his nipples as he leaned back slowly and thrust himself forward again. How did the boy know? How did he sense what Snape wanted, what Snape required of him? He quickly set a punishing rhythm, pushing solidly into Snape's arse confidently, strongly. Perfect.

'Gods, you haven't been fucking anyone else while I've been away, have you, Potter?'

'Only you, Snape. Every night and every morning. In my head.' The boy shoved at his shirt collar and his hair until a section of his throat was bared, and then those lovely lips were on him, and that searing tongue and those scraping teeth. Potter drove his cock deeper and harder, sucking at Snape's ear wetly. 'Is the Head of Slytherin happy with his fucking?'

'Hmph. Angling for points are we? How typical.'

Potter laughed a little. 'Oh, shut up and take it, you!'

The only conversation after that was the bestial sort, a dialogue of moans and hisses and urgings. A vocabulary like his! And this boy could reduce it and him to one continuous groan of want and need. Harry bloody Potter - Severus Snape's undoing. He pressed his forehead onto his forearms on top of the headboard and felt himself slip away. In this moment, he was nothing more than the thing that Harry fucked, the body in which Harry found pleasure, the form that Harry filled. And, oh, how Harry filled him.

'Severus! My - uh! MySeverus. Mine. Mine…' The boy dug his fingernails into the flesh over Snape's hips as he rammed himself home and emptied into Severus' body. At Snape's ear, he whispered an indecipherable nothing that slowly deciphered to a repeated entreaty to take him now, to fuck him now, to hold him down and pound him through the mattress.

Somehow, Snape found the body strength to comply. Harry was rough going at first, but eventually, he was in, and nothing could hold him back from slamming into his love as hard as he dared, all of his anger and frustration and worry from the week gone by flowing through him with his quickly found release. He collapsed on top of the man he loved and slurped a kiss onto the sweat-damp throat. He didn't realise, for a short while, what it was he was murmuring over and over against Harry's flesh. It was "Thank-you".

Chapter Four

Harry shifted his head slightly so that his nose wasn't being squashed into the mattress quite so much, and took a few short, steadying breaths. 'Bloody hell, Snape…'

The man on top of him lifted his head from the crook of Harry's neck and sighed shudderingly. 'Indeed.'

Carefully, they both moved and readjusted until their bodies were no longer connected. A cleansing spell and some further readjusting for their clothing, and then they were lying side by side across the rumpled bed, both looking up at the canopy as their breathing settled.

'Thank-you, Potter. I rather needed that.'

Harry smirked and turned onto his side, propping his head up on one arm and laying his other hand gently on Snape's chest. 'Sorry you've had such a shit week. Anything I can do?'

'I believe you just did it.'

'No, seriously. Anything?'

'Unless your preternatural powers extend to brokering peace between adolescent combatants, then I think not.'

It took Harry a second or two to figure out the words his lover had just said. 'Oh. House rivalries getting out of hand?'

Black eyes flashed. 'They were "out of hand" when nitwits started labelling all Slytherins inherently and irredeemably evil!'

Harry winced slightly. 'I guess so…' he mumbled, then tried to rally. 'But surely Dumbledore can make a speech or something? Whip up a bit of all-in-this-together feeling for the whole school?' The look Snape gave him told him precisely how much the Professor thought of that idea. Harry looked away for a moment while he thought. 'Erm,' he looked back at Snape cautiously. 'Are the Slytherins retaliating?'

'They most certainly are not! I have spoken with my students, Potter, and I know they all have more smarts and wherewithal than to give in to the sort of victimisation and tauntings that they've been subjected to this week - '

'Alright! Okay, sorry I asked! Didn't mean to upset you. Just had to be sure, okay? Okay?'

Snape bristled, but calmed himself again. He ran a hand through his hair and pursed his thin mouth. 'Forgive me, Harry. It's just… frustrating in the extreme to have to watch.'

'What about if I talked to the school?'

'I fail to see that the Board of Governors would think the situation worthy of their time and concern.'

'No, not the Board - the School. Do you think the anti-Slytherins might listen to The Boy Who Lived if he told them to get the hell over it?'

Snape blinked up at Harry before his eyes narrowed slightly. 'You would be prepared to do this for Slytherin House?'

'For the peace of Hogwarts, definitely.'

Snape sat up. 'That could most certainly be worth a try.' He quirked an eyebrow back at Harry. 'I would offer to approach Albus about it on your behalf, of course, but I feel he might listen more intently to a bright idea from The Boy Who Lived himself.'

A wide grin eased over Harry's features as he also sat up straight and joined Severus on the edge of the bed. 'I'll ask him this weekend, then. At my dinner.'

'You're throwing a dinner?'

Harry stared at his lover for a moment. 'Don't tell me you haven't been invited?'

'Invited to what?'

'My dinner! The dinner for me! At the Ministry of Magic! They're giving me my Order of Merlin and there's a huge dinner on Sunday night in my honour. I thought everybody in the Order got invited to it…'

Snape's jaw tensed momentarily. 'It would seem you thought incorrectly.'

Harry jumped to his feet and began stomping about the room. 'But that's so UNFAIR! You SHOULD be invited! I want you to be there!'

'Sunday evening, you say?' Severus barely reacted to Harry's stomping and emoting.

'Yeah. Seven o'clock.'

'Well, that makes far more sense now.' Snape looked up at Harry. 'Minerva asked me yesterday if I would accompany her to a dinner on Sunday evening. I told her to go jump, of course.'

Harry started to grin for McGonagall and then grinned wider again at the thought of Severus telling his senior staff member to "go jump". 'Maybe you could politely retract that last bit?' he suggested hopefully.

'Retract? I think not. Minerva would likely have a heart attack if I did such a thing.' He stood up from the bed and crossed to the door. 'But if you wish me to, I shall go and firecall her now and see if her invitation stands?'

Harry had to take a moment for that to sink in. He had just asked (well, stomped around the room, ranting) for Snape to come to his dinner, and the usually implacable man had immediately offered to go do something about it. And it wasn't even his fault that the situation existed in the first place! Harry felt… a little unsettled, somehow… like he'd just witnessed some great paradigm shift that he had absolutely not expected. It was weird. But then again, hadn't he just offered to do something for the Slytherins? Maybe Snape was simply reciprocating so that Harry would find it more difficult to back down on his own offer? That made a little more sense - at least as far as the man Harry used to think he knew was concerned.

Harry grabbed hold of Snape before the man could fully exit the room and gave him a brief hug. 'You're the best,' he enthused at him.

'Hrm. But the best what, Potter?'




Once again, Harry found himself on a dais, blinking into the lights of a dozen camera flashes, deafened by applause, and trying desperately to look like he was absolutely fine with everything that was happening around him. This time, unlike the last, he actually held a prepared speech, plus a flute of pale champagne that a smiling Ministry official had pressed upon him. Standing upright on the lectern in front of him was a rolled scroll of the finest parchment, bound with silk ribbon decorated with an enchanted pattern of shooting stars that glittered, flared and shot, criss-crossing, upon the surface of the lush fabric - the Order of Merlin, First Class.

The Ministry of Magic had chosen the most sumptuous ballroom it had at its disposal. No expense was to be spared in showing their appreciation for The Boy Who Lived Yet Again (and, in the process, of course, make themselves appear to be completely aligned with him and his allies).

Harry set the champagne down on the flat part of the lectern and cleared his throat politely. Despite the Sonorous spell he had just cast, the applause persisted unabated until Harry cleared his throat a second time. Finally, the ballroom fell largely silent and Harry looked down at his speech as he unfolded it with faintly shaking hands.

'Minister Fudge and Mrs Fudge, Ministry Officials, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,' Harry paused and cleared his throat yet again, this time a soft, genuine one that he actually needed to do, seeing as his larynx felt like it was trying to close up of its own accord. 'It is a very great honour indeed that you bestow upon me tonight and I humbly thank the Ministry of Magic for seeing fit to bestow it upon me. The Order of Merlin. First Class. Wow.' A soft tumble of nervous laughter bubbled out of him as he said the words. 'I, I've never been First Class before. At anything.' He smiled and looked down at the parchment again. God, it was so obvious that he'd never had to make an official speech before, wasn't it? He could tell. He just knew it. 'Um…' Oh, god, he was starting to feel a hot prickling feeling behind his eyes. Shit. 'For, er, for most of my life, I didn't even know all this existed. I didn't know what I was. I didn't know what my destiny was going to be. In some ways, it might've been better never having known.' He swallowed uncomfortably, then took a deep breath. 'But of course, my destiny was revealed to me and with it, everything that is remarkable and astounding about my life.' He managed to look up into the middle distance and flash a small grin before looking down again shyly. 'To be just eighteen years old and having already fulfilled one's destiny feels kind of, well, it feels downright WEIRD, is what it feels! But anyway.' Another deep breath. 'I couldn't possibly have fulfilled this, er, destiny, without the assistance of a lot of other people and I'd, um, I'd like to take a moment, if I may, to say a few thank-yous.' He tried not to look in Fudge's direction as he said this, and barely paused for breath as he launched into his thanks, in the hopes that the Minister wouldn't have the opportunity of stopping him.

'First and foremost, I want to thank Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The finest school, of any sort, in the whole world. I am the wizard I am because of my education and experiences there. Headmaster Dumbledore, especially, and Professor McGonagall, my Head of House, I especially want to thank-you both for shaping me into, well, me.' He grinned in the general direction of the tables he knew the Order members were seated at, not daring to make eye contact with anyone for fear that he'd dissolve into a flood of embarrassed and grateful tears. 'I also want to thank all of my fellow members in the Order of the Phoenix. You all know why, and you all know how very, very much I owe you. Thanks indeed are also due to my surrogate family, the Weasleys and Remus Lupin.' He looked in the direction of the appropriate table again. 'Thank-you,' he whispered in their direction. 'I also have to thank the first three friends I ever had in the whole world - Rubeus Hagrid, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. You guys are great!' Harry looked down at the parchment. There were only a couple of lines left that he hadn't said yet. With great care, he folded the parchment in half and in half again, not needing to prompt himself any further, now that he was in the home-stretch.

'I am indebted, also, to Professor Severus Snape, without whom I doubt I would be standing here today before you all.' He paused slightly, allowing his eyes to focus for the first time on the round table where Snape sat with ten other members of the Order. His lover wore his public mask as always, the pale face blank and seemingly disinterested, though Harry recognised that glint in the obsidian glare. 'Finally, I would like to dedicate this award to the memory of all who fell under the tyranny of Tom Riddle and Voldemort, both in the first war, like my parents, James and Lily Potter, and the second, like my godfather, Sirius Black.' That prickling feeling was behind his eyes again, stronger this time. He grabbed up his champagne and held it aloft in salute. 'To their memory,' he repeated, his voice now noticeably gruff, and took a welcome swig of the bubbling liquid.

Harry slipped the folded speech back into his pocket as he lowered his champagne, and picked up the fancy scroll that was now his. 'Thank-you,' he whispered once more and moved away from the lectern, barely even hearing the applause and cheering that followed him all the way back to his seat in between Ron and Severus. Once there, he threw his head back and poured the rest of his champers down in one go, thankful for Hermione pointing her wand at his throat and intoning "Finite Incantatem" for him so that the whole room didn't have to hear his coughing on the forgotten Sonorous charm.




'And what do you call this costume again, Harry?' Arthur Weasley casually poked at the flower in Harry's buttonhole as he queried the strange outfit.

'It's called a Tuxedo, Mister Weasley. It's a, er, a Muggle thing. For special occasions.'

Arthur's eyes widened in delight. 'Is it really? A Tuxedo, you say?' He clapped his hands together in glee. 'Marvellous! Almost quite dashing, wouldn't you say, Molly?'

'No "almost" about it, you silly man! Harry looks absolutely beautiful - no matter what strange thing he's wearing.'

Harry blushed and looked down at his shoes.

'Ah!' Arthur exclaimed, as the music changed to a different tune. 'I do believe that's our song, Mol! Shall we?' He crooked his elbow toward his wife and then led her away, leaving Harry standing alone on the edge of the dance floor, sipping at yet another glass of champagne.

'Mister Potter does indeed look rather dashing in that Muggle get-up.' The deep, dark voice sent a shiver down Harry's spine as he turned his head. Severus stood beside him, tall and elegant in his finest robes, hands clasped casually behind his back as he pretended to watch the couples dancing across the parquetry floor.

'Don't look so bad yourself, Professor,' Harry murmured out of the corner of his mouth, as he took Snape's lead and seemingly returned his attention to the dancers. His eyes may have been on the couples moving together out there, but all of his other senses were completely Snape's, as was his mind. All he could think about was that he was standing here with his lover, both of them dressed to the nines, both of them having imbibed quite a bit of very expensive champagne and both of them, he knew it, wishing they weren't standing so far apart right now. Even if it was barely more than a foot that separated them.

'You should have seen Fudge's face when you thanked me, Potter. I've half a mind to put the memory in a pensieve so that you may see it for yourself.'

Harry turned properly to face Snape and smiled softly. 'I've half a mind to drag you into the nearest broom closet and ravish you.'

Snape's outward expression barely registered the remark. 'People are watching you closer than hawks, Mister Potter. Including a dozen reporters and the Minister himself.' The dark hair swung lightly as he finally inclined his head toward Harry. 'So you had best hold that thought for later.'

'Ah! Harry, Harry!' Fudge was suddenly in Harry's face. 'Well done, my lad! Well done, indeed! And I've, ah, got a treat for you, young man - THIS charming young lady is my youngest niece, Riva!'

'And so the pimping begins,' muttered Severus as he faded back into the crowd, leaving Harry to face a nice-enough-looking girl in pink robes who shook his hand limply and giggled a rather lot.




Harry never, ever wanted to be without Severus' kisses, he decided. He leaned back against the closed door of his bedroom and melted under his lover's mouth as Snape leaned over him, nibbling wetly at his lips and pulling delicately at one end of his bowtie until the knot slid undone.

'I've never kissed a recipient of the Order of Merlin before,' Severus mused in a whisper while he paused to lick at Harry's earlobe.

'And here I thought Gilderoy Lockhart would've been just your type, love!'

Snape nipped at the ear he was licking and then pulled his head back to look down at Harry with a bemused expression. 'About as much as Fudge's niece was undoubtedly yours.'

Harry coughed out a splutter at the mere mention of that embarrassing little fiasco. 'God, don't remind me!' He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose slightly and clasped his hands loosely around Snape's neck. 'What the fuck am I supposed to DO when that happens? What should I say?'

Severus shrugged, preoccupied with the presence of, and subsequent undoing of, a cummerbund - a garment Harry would lay bets on the older wizard never having encountered before.

'I mean, I don't want to be rude to the poor girls,' Harry continued. 'It's not like it's their fault their menfolk are trying to marry them off like that…'

'So just be polite to them but not effusively so. Give them no reason to think or expect that their liaison with you will go any further than the conversation in which they are currently engaged. Then, as soon as it is polite to do so, run like fuck.'

Harry laughed loudly, which made Severus wince a little. 'How much champagne did you have, Snape?'

'Too much to enable me to get this damned belt of yours off!'

'It's not a belt. It's a cummerbund.'

'It's a bloody nuisance!'

'Here.' Harry undid the clasps easily and threw the black garment across the room. 'Gone.'

'Hrm. And what about this?' Snape pulled at the Tuxedo jacket.

Harry smirked, shrugged the jacket off and let it fall to the floor. 'Gone,' he said.

'I can't possibly cope with cuff links in my condition.' Snape glared at the fasteners in question.

Suddenly, Harry felt much less intoxicated by alcohol than he'd felt just moments ago. Instead, he felt drunk with something else entirely, something that affected his body in wonderful, terrible ways and wouldn't leave him with a hangover tomorrow morning. Deftly, Harry slid the pearl cuff links away from his shirt cuffs and placed them in one of his trouser pockets for safe keeping. 'Gone,' he said again, a little more husky than the last time he'd said it.

Snape eyed the Tuxedo trousers and quirked one eyebrow. 'And those?'

Harry laughed delightedly and reached for the button at the top of the fly.

Chapter Five

Severus woke up to a dreary Monday morning with a champagne hangover and a naked youth clinging, limpet-like, to the back half of his body. Potter's knees were pushed into the crooks of his own from behind, Potter's chest pressed against his back, Potter's arms around his torso, Potter's mouth drooling onto his shoulder, and Potter's morning erection pressing into the cleft of his arse. If not for the hangover and the fact he had to get up and go to work, it would have been a pleasant way to wake up.

He couldn't be sure if Potter had realised he had just awoken or even, indeed, if Potter was actually awake himself, but Potter's right hand was suddenly moving down his torso. It rubbed once, in a circular motion, over his belly and then it travelled lower again and took lightly hold of Snape's prick. Snape willed his breathing steady and sleep-like, enjoying the languid tugging on his cock. Yes, a pleasant way to wake up, indeed.

He was surprised, suddenly, at Harry moving his body swiftly around his own, and in a downward direction, too, so that in barely an instant, Potter's mouth was closing hungrily over Snape's cock. Severus gave a soft yelp at the sudden blissful envelopment, feeling his prick harden further in the boy's mouth. Harry was holding the base of his cock with one hand and fondling his balls with the other, occasionally dipping that hand back further to press over his perineum. Snape spread his legs wider and shoved another pillow under his head.

'Potter. Potter, look up at me.'

Emerald eyes fluttered toward him, slightly unfocussed as the round spectacles still sat, neatly folded, on the bedside table at the other side of the bed. 'Mm,' Harry hummed around the flesh that filled his mouth, sending heavenly vibrations throughout Snape's body.

Snape reached down and softly stroked the hollow of Harry's sucking cheek. 'How did you get so accomplished at this, hm?'

Harry eased his mouth back from Snape's cock momentarily. 'You taught me.' He closed his luscious lips around the throbbing head once again and administered a slow, rhythmic sucking, while at the same time, he circled a finger teasingly around Snape's arsehole.

Severus bit back the moan he felt rising up in his throat. 'I do have to get to work, you know,' he managed to grind out.

'Just let me get you off first…'

Oh, Merlin. Snape tilted his pelvis upwards, simultaneously thrusting his cock up into Harry's mouth and giving Harry better access to his body's entrance. The finger pressed into him gently and he was surprised to feel it breach him despite his dryness. Harry's mouth moved off his cock again and the tousled head dipped lower, licking and drooling at the wiggling finger, providing at least a little lubrication, before returning to feasting on his erection.

Snape let his eyes drift shut and enjoyed the remarkable sensations and the sounds of Harry taking pleasure in pleasuring him. The boy moaned and slurped and breathed heavily through his nose as he worked his mouth on Snape's rock hard cock. Any minute now, Severus thought to himself, opening his eyes again so that he might watch his lover suck and lick and stroke and finger-fuck him toward his first orgasm of a new week. And to think - not so long ago, Snape could, and frequently did, go weeks on end without an orgasm at all. What a change a former student could make…

Severus undulated his hips slowly and felt the head of his cock touch the back of Harry's throat. Inside him, Harry curved his finger and thrust it in and out steadily in a smooth arc of motion. Harry's eyes were closed in concentration, his eyelashes so impossibly long. Snape thrust his fingers into the boy's wild hair and held him still as his cock pulsed and pulled his consciousness into Harry's throat with it.

'YesHarryyes…'

Spunk trickled out of the side of Harry's mouth as he valiantly flexed his throat and swallowed down as much as he could. His eyes opened again and gazed up at Severus as he milked the man's erection. If it was possible for a person to smile while they had their mouth clamped firmly around a gushing prick - Harry was doing so right now, the verdant irises sparkling with love and desire.

I am expected to leave him now, Snape thought vaguely. I am expected to leave his arms and his bed and get up and go to work and supposedly keep my mind off him all day. He reached down, taking hold of Harry's shoulders and gently coaxing the younger man back up the bed to lie over him fully. He swiped his tongue at the corner of the red lips, licking away the last trickle of debauchery, and then pulled Harry's face to his own and kissed him soundly.

'I'm certain I never tasted as good on anyone else's tongue as I do on yours.'

Harry actually blushed at the murmured comment. Charming. 'Is it going to be another week before I see you again?'

Snape thought on this for a short moment, barely even noting that his hangover seemed to have disappeared at some point in the last fifteen minutes. 'The students are all settled back into their routines again now,' he offered. 'Although, with attitudes toward Slytherin being what they are at present, I am loath to spend too much time away from them for the time being…'

Harry ran one finger down the length of Snape's nose, his head tilted to one side contemplatively. 'I could, perhaps… visit you? I could floo directly into your rooms! And I'd be so discreet! No one would ever know I was there! Except Remus, of course. I'll tell him where I'm going so that he doesn't worry - '

'Potter?' Snape interrupted the boy's blather with a put-upon voice and a quirked brow. 'You're babbling, boy. And you don't have to defend the suggestion so strenuously. At least not so soon.' His expression softened. 'The proposal is actually quite a sound one.'

Harry flashed him a shy grin. 'I thought I'd have to get my arguments in before you dismissed the idea completely.'

Severus sighed lightly. 'Does this evening suit the Boy Wonder?'

'This evening suits the Boy Wonder very well, thank-you.' Smirk.

'Fine. Now get off me so I may go earn my living.'




'So how come it's called "two fingers" of scotch?' Harry was standing at the side of Snape's desk in the sittingroom, holding his tumbler up to the light and squinting at the amber liquid as though looking for miniature fingers floating in it.

'You really do know bugger all about the world, don't you?' Severus had intended the comment to sound a little more playful than it actually came out sounding. Damn it. He was still far too out of practice at such things. He put down his quill and reached for Harry's glass, taking it away from the boy and placing it on the desktop. 'See here,' he said softly. He held one finger out straight against the side of the tumbler. The top level of the liquid was quite a bit above where his finger rested. 'One finger,' he intoned, then added another outstretched finger. The level of liquid corresponded with the distance measured now. 'Two fingers,' he said.

Harry beamed in understanding. 'Ah, I get it now! "Two fingers". Of course!'

Snape shook his head bemusedly and returned to his essay marking.

'So, if someone's got really fat fingers, they'd get drunk quicker?'

Severus looked up and frowned a little.

'Because they'd be drinking more scotch than someone with thin fingers, right?' Harry extrapolated, barely managing to contain his smirk.

'Brat.'

'Git.'

'Harry? Professor Snape?'

Both men started at the sound of a woman's voice intruding on their banter. From the sittingroom's fireplace, Hermione Granger's head and shoulders jutted out over the hearth. 'Sorry to interrupt you both. I tried Grimmauld Place and Remus said you were here, Harry.'

Potter walked over to the fire. 'Is something up?'

'Would it be okay if I came through? I've got to talk to you about something.'

Harry looked back over his shoulder at Severus, silently seeking his opinion on the matter. Snape would really rather not have had the Granger girl imposing on an evening alone with his lover, but he supposed that she had enough sense not to have interrupted unless it really were something important. He stood up at his desk and met the girl's gaze. 'You may, Miss Granger.'

'Thank-you, Professor.' The fireplace ejected her fully into the room and she wobbled on landing, falling into Potter's embrace. 'Oomph! Oh… thanks, Harry. Sorry.' They hugged briefly then broke apart, both looking for a brief moment as though they were about to sit down on the sofa, but then seemed to think better of it at the same instant. Refreshing to see that young people had at least some manners. Occasionally.

'You may sit,' Snape informed them. He re-seated himself at his desk and took up his quill again. 'Will you act as host while Miss Granger visits, please, Harry?'

'Um, sure.'

Severus glanced up to see Harry looking around as if for inspiration on what to do or say next. 'Offer the young lady a drink, you imbecile.'

Harry coloured slightly and smiled at Granger. 'Er, can I get you anything to drink, 'Miony? A scotch, maybe? Or um, I think Severus has Gin…'

Snape shook his head in faint bewilderment and returned to marking, trying his best to ignore Potter's pathetic attempts at good form. After a few moments, he noticed Harry's tumbler of scotch take flight from his desk and levitate over to the boy. A glance at the other end of the sofa showed Granger holding a glass of clear, carbonated fluid; most likely soda water.

Some minutes later, despite the obviously engrossing text of a Second-Year's attempt at academic logic, Severus' hearing suddenly locked onto the quiet conversation across the room as he distinctly heard the word "pregnant".

'Shit!' Harry's voice cracked a little in surprise. 'Really? Wow! That's… well, wow! Really?'

Granger looked rather wan, Snape thought, as he watched her nodding her head, eyes on the floor. 'Miss Granger?' Severus got up from his desk again and walked over to his two young visitors, perching himself on the overstuffed arm of one of his armchairs. 'Did I just hear correctly?'

The girl nodded mutely for a moment before finding her voice again. 'Yes, sir. I'm, I'm pregnant.'

Snape swept his gaze over her. She wasn't showing yet. 'How far gone are you?'

'Eleven weeks.'

'I see. Were you aware of this when you walked into battle beside the rest of us at Belvedere's Hump?'

Her chin poked out slightly as she squared her shoulders, obviously ready to fend off any verbal attack the mean old Potions Master was sure to make. 'I wasn't certain. Not then.'

Severus nodded, keeping his expression as open and kind as his nature allowed. It had been at least a decade since he had last had cause to question a teenaged girl on a confession of pregnancy. He remembered the mood swings and hormonal outpourings with not a little trepidation and distaste. He cleared his throat softly. 'May I enquire, Miss Granger - if you are amenable to furnishing me with such detail, of course - as to the identity - '

'Who's the father?' Potter suddenly blurted, sounding for all the world as though the concept of there needing to have been one had only just occurred to him. Snape rolled his eyes and then glared at the boy. Hard.

Granger rolled her eyes a little, too, though she obviously didn't mind Harry's complete lack of tact quite so much as Severus did on her behalf.

'Well, I…' she began, but broke off to study the fingers of her left hand through the water in her glass.

Snape sat back slightly. Oh, dear. The girl didn't know, did she?

'Hermione?' squeaked Harry.

She took a deep breath and looked up at her friend with the very tiniest of embarrassed smiles. 'Well… it's one of them… I know that much.'

Severus watched Harry's mouth fall open gracelessly. 'Close your jaw, Potter.' Snape turned his attention back to Granger. 'Do you have plans as yet, Miss Granger? That is to say, have you considered your options?'

'Oh, I want to keep it, Professor! There's no question about THAT!'

'Very well. Who else have you told so far?'

'This is it. You two are the first to hear about it.'

Potter edged a hand along the sofa cushions and latched onto Granger's nearest hand, giving it a friendly squeeze. 'It's exciting news, 'Miony! Just think how over-the-moon Mister and Mrs Weasley are gonna be. Their first grandchild!'

Granger seemed to swallow uncomfortably at that, but she rallied a smile for Harry's enthusiasm.

Snape crossed his legs. 'And when do you plan on telling the, the suspected fathers, Miss Granger?' He watched her gaze travel down to the floor once again.

'I don't know how I'm going to approach that conversation just yet.'

Severus nodded. 'And your parents?'

'Well,' her shoulders slumped in a huge sigh. 'That conversation's going to have to come after the other, I suppose.'

'Indeed.' He tilted his head as he looked at her. Gods - twelve years from now was he going to have to put up with a bushy-redheaded know-it-all who wanted to blow up every toilet in the castle? He hid a shudder. Severus could see Early Retirement coming in the next decade. Definitely. 'You know,' he said softly, 'there are ways of determining paternity that are non-invasive. Magical ways, naturally. Would you perhaps like to speak to Madam Pomfrey? Seeing as you're here already?'

Granger lifted her head slowly until she was looking him straight in the eye, albeit with a watery gaze. Oh, Merlin, no - not tears! He wasn't going to put up with tears! 'Really, Miss Granger, I'm surprised you don't already know the minutiae of every such procedure. There are any number of reliable texts on the subject.' That fixed it. Her chin jutted out in defiance again and she even tossed her hair back off her shoulder in a girly gesture. Waterworks avoided. Good.

Snape stood up swiftly. 'Potter? Why don't you take your friend to the hospital wing and beg a few moments of Poppy's time? A swift medical and a paternity clarification spell shouldn't take very long at all.'

Harry clambered to his feet, still holding onto the girl's hand limply. 'Yeah, c'mon, Hermione. Madam Pomfrey will know what to do.' Gently, he tugged her up from the sofa and walked her toward the door that led out into the corridor.

'Professor Snape? Sir?' Granger turned around as they stood on the threshold and smiled a rather uncertain smile at Severus. 'Er, thank-you.'

'You are welcome,' he replied flatly. 'Good luck,' he added as an afterthought.

Potter caught Snape's eye and mouthed "I'll be back soon" as he closed the door.

Chapter Six

Harry had never really known a pregnant woman too well before. He kept looking at Hermione as though he expected her to look different, as if the words "Mother" or "Giver Of Life" or something like that would miraculously appear on her forehead at any moment. He felt all nervous and anxious and excited all at the same time. And the bloody thing wasn't even his!

They had to wait a few moments for Madam Pomfrey to finish up with two small kids (Was I that little when I first came here? Harry found himself wondering) who had obviously been in a bit of a scrap. Then a Prefect arrived to lead them back to their dorm and Hermione was soon quietly explaining her situation to the mediwitch. Pomfrey was smiling conspiratorially one moment and shaking her head in seeming disappointment the next - like she couldn't quite make up her mind whether she should be admonishing 'Miony for foolishly getting herself into this sort of trouble, or whether to be thrilled to bits that there was a new baby on the way. Harry guessed the woman probably felt a bit of both. After coming through a war and all the horrors that had entailed, it must've been kind of nice for Pomfrey to have to deal with a non-injury related condition. And a rather joyous and life-affirming one at that.

Harry stood quietly by and watched as Hermione was subjected to a series of routine physical checks. He was just glad there wasn't anything too embarrassing involved. He wanted to be a good friend and give his support to 'Miony through all this, but he really didn't think he would've been up to dealing with any sort of womanly bits being prodded or explored or anything. Not while he had to stand there feeling terribly, terribly male and clumsy and all.

'Well,' Madam Pomfrey shoved her wand into the cuff of a starched sleeve and took a step back. 'Everything appears to be in perfect working order. Mother and baby doing fine.' She smiled at Hermione, who smiled back but started to blush a little. Pomfrey's smile faded slightly. 'Is there anything else, my dear?'

'I, er, yes.' Hermione looked rather unsure of herself all of a sudden, her eyes flitting about the room, not seeming to focus on any one thing for too long. 'I understand, Madam Pomfrey, that there's a, a magical procedure. To um… clarify…'

Harry watched understanding spark in Pomfrey's eyes. 'I see,' she said, raising one eyebrow in quite a Snapely manner. She drew out her wand once again and held the tip gently to Hermione's abdomen, incanting a hushed Latin phrase under her breath as she did so. Writing seemed to appear along the length of the wand for a split second, as though written there with blue fire, but what the words might have been, Harry couldn't make out. Pomfrey seemed to read them easily enough though, as she nodded and hmphed as they disappeared once again. The mediwitch looked at Harry for a moment and he had one crazy, nanosecond's worth of panic that she was going to accuse him somehow of being the father. But that was patently ridiculous. Obviously. And the thought of it anyway? Yuck? That'd be like shagging his own sister. If he had one.

'Could you give us a moment, please, Mister Potter?'

'Huh? Oh. Oh, sure. Sorry.' Harry blushed a little and walked down to the other end of the hospital wing, swinging his arms in a nonchalant manner.

Barely a minute later, Hermione joined him, all smiles and obviously relieved. She took his hand and kissed his cheek. 'Thanks for being with me while all that went on,' she told him.

'So… everything's good? And you know… what's what?'

Hermione grinned and nodded vigorously. 'Yes. But if it's alright with you, Harry, I'll just keep it to myself for a little while longer. Is that okay?'

'Um, sure it is. It's all up to you.' He shrugged his shoulders to punctuate his statement and they began heading back to the dungeons, still holding hands and talking quietly between themselves as they went.

Snape, when they got back to his quarters, was reading a new potions journal and barely roused himself sufficiently to manage a "goodbye" to Hermione before she stepped into the fireplace and flooed back to York.

'You must've filled your Niceness Quota for the week earlier on, eh?'

Snape looked up from his reading with a small frown, the crease between his brows deepening further. 'I beg your pardon?'

Harry lounged in one of the armchairs, limbs thrown in all manner of directions as he attempted to get comfy. 'Well. You were pretty nice to 'Miony earlier on tonight. And then just now you were sorta back to your old self.'

'My old self, Mister Potter? I wasn't aware there was a newer version at large in the world.' He returned his gaze to the potions journal. 'And I thought that we had already established quite some time ago that "nice" is something I don't know how to be?' He turned a page and continued reading.

Harry crossed his arms and stared into the flames of the fire for a few moments. 'Do you ever think about children, Severus?'

'I am a teacher, Potter. Children assault my thoughts on a daily, sometimes hourly, basis.'

'That's not what I meant. I mean… having some of your own?'

Snape's gaze never lifted from the journal. 'I've had plenty of my own. They are called Slytherin House.'

Harry made a quiet, frustrated noise. 'I MEANT - being a dad. Becoming a father?'

'I hate to break this to you, Harry, but we're both male. No matter how much come I pump into you, you're never going to bear my children. It's the lack of womb, I think you'll find…'

'God, do you ENJOY being such an arse?'

Snape finally looked up from the potions journal and gave Harry a long, steady look. 'I thought you appreciated my sense of humour?' he said flatly.

Harry sighed. 'Sorry,' he mumbled. He was quiet for a moment before adding, 'I guess I'm just a bit freaked out or something. One of my best friends is going to be a parent, for godsake! It's all a bit weird, really.' There was another pause, while he gathered his thoughts. 'Sorry,' he said again. 'I guess it's fairly obvious that you don't really like kids all that much.' He managed a weak grin, but Snape's eyes were back on the potions text. 'I mean, what with the snarling and the raging and the violence and so on.'

'Violence?' Snape not only looked up from the journal he was reading, but actually set the publication down on his desktop, its cover now closed. 'Have you EVER known me to lay a finger on a student? Apart from when I dragged you out of my pensieve, of course? Do you honestly think Albus would have promoted a physically abusive teacher to a position as a Head of House?' He didn't wait for Harry to attempt an answer to any of these questions. 'I have never taken my anger out on a child physically. And I never would.' The black eyes flashed. 'I am not my father.'

Harry felt like his own gaze must hold a flash of something deeper, too, right now. 'None of us are,' he said calmly. For one short, sickening moment, Harry was worried that he and Severus had inadvertently stumbled into a lovers' spat. But then the blaze of what might have been anger in Snape's eyes transfigured into something altogether more amused as he considered Harry's last statement.

'Hrm, actually no - juniors Crabbe and Goyle are fairly remarkable facsimiles of their odious paters.' One corner of his mouth twitched as he held back a smirk.

Harry saw the twitch and couldn't help but smile. 'Oh, and Draco, too, I suppose,' he suggested.

Snape became serious once again. 'No… Draco still has a chance to not turn into Lucius. He has many important and unenviable decisions to make in the near future. And he will need all of his strength to make them. But he may yet become the remarkable young man he might always have been.'

Harry found himself thinking a silent "Oh". He hadn't exactly been expecting that. He shifted in the armchair, flinging a leg over one of the arms, letting his foot swing casually as he looked at Severus' face, trying to ascertain just how serious his lover was being now. The impression came to him that Snape was being entirely serious. 'Did he, did he end up taking the Dark Mark?'

Severus fidgeted with a corner of the journal he had been reading. 'Yes. I tried to dissuade him, of course. But I underestimated just how far he would go to try to please his father.'

Harry nodded. 'I guess it must've been tough for him not to do it, with the two men he admired most both having it.'

A somewhat weighty pause answered him. And then, quietly… 'Yes, thank-you for rubbing that in, Potter.'

Snape pushed his chair back from the desk and strode out of the room, disappearing into his bedchamber in a swirl of impressive black. Left behind in the sittingroom, Harry gaped at the door out of which his love had departed, fully realising that, yes indeed, he and Severus had just had a lovers' spat - even allowing for all the amusing comments and the almost-smiles. They hadn't even raised their voices or called each other names. Well, apart from him calling Snape an arse. Though even that was in an indirect kind of way. Erm. Shit. Was this his first grown-up argument? Harry continued to sit there for a while, going over the last few minutes in his head a hundred or so more times. Eventually, frowning slightly, he climbed out of the armchair and approached the door to Snape's bedchamber.

'Severus?' Harry poked his head around the door frame to find Snape in bed already, turned on his side, facing away from the door. Harry approached the bed, walking around to the side that he tended to think of as "his", which happened to be the direction Snape was turned toward. 'Severus? You okay?' He sat on the edge of the bed and reached down to gently smooth a swathe of lank black hair away from Snape's face. 'I'm sorry if I upset you just then. I can be so stupid sometimes.'

A large, pale hand crept out from under the covers and took hold of one of Harry's. Severus caressed the delicate flesh between two of Harry's knuckles with his thumb. 'Perhaps I over-reacted a little.' The deep voice was very hushed. 'I am, however, quite amenable to having my sulk soothed.'

Harry grinned as a wave of relief and love washed over him. Guh, and he was half hard already merely at the thought of soothing Snape's sulk away. Harry stood again, holding onto Severus' hand for a moment longer before reluctantly letting it go so that he could undress himself. He was torn between wanting to get his gear off as quickly as possible and throw himself into the bed, and undressing slowly because he knew Snape was watching him. The former won out in the end though and, quickly naked, he slid down into Snape's bed to find himself immediately ensnared in long, warm limbs, his face being pressed to Severus' chest.

'Mmm.' Harry ran his mouth, slightly open, over the firm pectoral muscles, the dark nipples, the patch of hair. Momentarily, he travelled upwards toward the hollow at the base of the elegant throat, and then to each side, running his tongue along the hard collarbones, closing his lips around those lengths of delicate bone and sucking them as he'd learnt Snape liked so much. He gently pushed Severus onto his back and scrambled over him, dipping his face back to the tiny nipples again and lavishing attention upon them with lips, tongue, fingers and teeth. Straddled over his lover as he was, he could gauge easily which of his ministrations were achieving the most "soothing" result. Practically everything, it seemed to Harry, was having the desired effect of melting the Potion Master's sulk. Like the proverbial lightbulb switching on in his mind, Harry suddenly realised that he and his love were currently having "Make-Up Sex". He scratched the tip of his nose where he was being tickled by some chest hair and, smiling lazily, pressed his mouth over Severus' solar plexus.

'Have I ever told you how great you smell?' he asked Snape suddenly. 'I just wanna…' he paused while he rubbed his face back and forth over Snape's torso, practically purring in ecstasy. 'God, I just wanna wrap myself in you and bury myself in you… and…' he felt the erection underneath him twitch firmly and he couldn't stop himself groaning in response. 'God,' he breathed.

A little clumsily, Harry managed to position himself so that his own cock was lying on top of Snape's. He reached down and tried to wrap his hand around both at once, the way Severus did sometimes, but his hands weren't as large as Snape's and he didn't quite have the span required to wank them both at the same time. He gave up the idea with a whispered "Fuck it" and instead started moving his hips, sliding his cock against Snape's with long, hard strokes. He lowered his head to Snape's throat and sucked at him wetly, pleased to feel Severus' hands grab his arse solidly and help to move his body in its back and forth motion. Harry moved his mouth up to an earlobe and sighed. 'So fucking good,' he hissed as he tongued at Snape's ear.

'Kiss me, you little incubus.'

Yes. Kissing. Definitely. Oh, god. Harry melded his mouth to Severus' and snogged him fiercely until they were both out of breath. He felt his cock leaking and suddenly feared coming too soon, just from doing this - frotting and snogging.

'Are you alright with doing this?' he gasped against Snape's mouth.

'This? Well… it makes me feel like a teenager…'

'I'll get you one.'

The sound of Severus laughing softly sent a shudder of delight down Harry's spine. He lifted his head and gazed down into Snape's face as he rocked on top of the man. 'I think it might be too easy for me to come like this if I'm not careful. You feel too good.'

Snape dug his fingers harder into the flesh of Harry's arse, pressing their cocks even more firmly together. 'So come, then. Just be sure to keep kissing me while you do it.'

Harry put his head to one side, looking down at Severus with a languid smile, before lowering his mouth onto the other again. He tried to hold back for a little while, tried using only lips to ghost over the other mouth. But Snape was more insistent about it - Harry may have had some semblance of control over the delicious friction of their pricks sliding against one another, seeing as he was the one on top, but Snape definitely had control of the tongue situation. Harry groaned deeply as his tongue was assaulted and sucked into Severus' mouth. It felt almost as perfect as having his dick in there. He sensed his cock pulse enviously.

Snape slid a hand between their bodies, stroking their erections in tandem and Harry felt his orgasm begin to build. His movements on top of the other man suddenly became less graceful and he sucked on Snape's bottom lip whilst moaning over and over in his mind. A moment later, Severus' cock and hand were both dripping with Harry's come and, ohgod, it felt like there was so much of it - Harry didn't think he'd come this much since the last time he'd given it to Snape up the arse.

'Oh bloody fucking hell,' he sighed as he collapsed on top of his lover. 'Ssorry. Messy. You?' An eyebrow arched bemusedly at him. 'What?' he panted. 'D'you want… anything?'

'Lie down beside me.'

'Okay…'

Snape got up onto his knees on the bed and looked down at Harry heatedly. 'You once told me you'd like to watch me do this some time.' As he spoke, he started sliding his right hand up and down the shaft of his cock.

Harry's mouth opened to say a silent and drawn out "Fucking hell" as he watched the come-covered hand moving on the likewise covered erection. Several drops of his own orgasm dripped onto his torso as Snape's hand moved faster and harder, and then suddenly Harry felt covered in spunk - all over his chest, dripping down his sides, Severus even angled it so that some splattered onto his face. Harry arched his back up off the bed, wanting it all, wanting everything Snape could give him.

'Godyes!' Harry was surprised to feel his prick hardening again in response. He made a grab for it and tugged haphazardly, his higher brain functions having all left him now and leaving him operating only on autopilot. 'Need you,' he murmured up at Snape. 'Need something in me… Please. Please.'

Severus swirled his fingers in the rivulets of spunk on Harry's body and then pressed them to Harry's arse. Harry spread his legs wide and let the older man stretch him and fuck him hard with three fingers. He came again in no time at all, his cock forcing out just a small amount of come this time, while his fingers slid on Snape's wrist as he tried to push the man's hand deeper inside him.

'You are one astoundingly horny young man at times,' Severus whispered over his body.

Harry gazed up drowsily. 'You love me,' he accused happily, and watched the crooked smile ease over Snape's face.

'Just look what a mess you've made, Harry.'

'You too. Dirty us.'

'Very much so. Perhaps a shower…?'

'Mmm, I like the idea of that!'

Snape shook his head in mock disgust. 'I meant for cleaning ourselves up so that we might actually attempt to sleep properly tonight, you insatiable, incorrigible…' he sighed lightly, '…beautiful, fuckable little arse!'

Harry grinned mischievously. 'You love my fuckable little arse, too,' he accused again.

Snape sighed once more, heavier and more heartfelt than before. 'I love YOU, you idiot child.'

'Kiss me.'

Despite all the spunk, Severus settled himself over Harry's body and kissed him slowly and lovingly for a moment that stretched and stretched until Harry had no idea how long the kiss had been going for anymore. He sighed into his lover's gentle mouth and continued kissing him back for twice as long again.

Chapter Seven

Severus watched his office door close behind the student he had just been talking with and checked the time. Curfew was less than fifteen minutes away. It was entirely unlikely that another Slytherin would come to see him now, at this late hour. He tilted his head first to one side and then to the other, repeating the action until the knot in the back of his neck suddenly clicked and the headache that had been threatening him for most of the evening seemed to miraculously disappear. He leaned back in his chair and allowed himself a deep sigh. Three of his snakelings had been to see him this evening, describing to him at least five different incidents of hatred and victimisation perpetrated against Slytherin by students of other Houses. Harry was due at the school tomorrow evening, Thursday, to deliver his speech on the topic of school unity. Severus hoped the charm and influence of the boy would be enough to ease at least a little of his Slytherins' discomfort. His pessimism told him not to let his hopes get too far advanced.

Long, pale fingers tapped quietly on the back cover of a confiscated magazine that was lying face down on Snape's desk. Black eyes flitted toward the office door to ensure there clearly wasn't any last-minute Slytherins with further tales of woe to tell, then Snape looked down at the publication beneath his hand. The latest issue of Witch Weekly. It had hit the stands yesterday but it had taken Snape until today's very last Potions class to find a student with a ready-to-be-snatched copy. He eased a finger and a thumb around one edge of the magazine and slowly turned the thing over.

Harry bloody Potter. Severus felt his face heat unexpectedly as he let his dark gaze travel over the picture on the front cover. Full-colour, glossy, probably airbrushed Harry smirked up at him, green eyes glittering.

'You fucked yourself on my lap mere hours after posing for this picture, you realise?' Snape drawled softly at the photograph. Magazine cover Harry grinned a spectacularly big grin and flushed slightly in response. Shaking his head slowly, Snape opened the magazine and ran an eye down the table of contents. Pages eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen AND fifteen? More bloody hero worship…

The bulk of the article appeared to be taken up with more photographs of Harry looking, well, gorgeous. And young. There was even one taken when the boy was no more than fourteen, hovering above the school Quidditch pitch on his broomstick. Severus squinted a little at the background of that particular picture, quickly ascertaining that, yes, the opposition team was indeed Slytherin.

'Accio scotch,' Snape intoned flatly, eyes moving up to read the blaring headlines while a whisky bottle obediently smacked into his raised hand.

THE BOY WHO LIVES FOR US! shouted the largest print on the page.

'Accio drinking glass,' Snape requested again. A tumbler flew to him and he poured himself a slosh of amber relief without even looking to see how far the glass was being filled.

The saviour of the Wizarding world blushes charmingly when asked about his romantic interests, citing his tender age as the main reason why we haven't yet seen him out on the town with a bevy of beauties since his triumph over He Who Should Still Not Be Named.

"Oh god, I'm WAY too young to be even thinking about that sort of thing!" laughs Harry, when we ask him about the prospect of settling down.

So there's no love in the life of the Boy Who Lived? Harry certainly seems to get serious for a little while as he takes a moment to answer that one. "There's plenty of love in my life," he tells us. "I have wonderful friends and colleagues, I get heaps of support from all of them. And it's not like I'm lonely, you know!" he smiles.

Snape took a long drink of his scotch before continuing reading.

Call us cheeky if you must, but we couldn't let Harry get away with a tease like that! Just how "not lonely" is "not lonely", we had to ask? "My personal life IS personal, you know," Harry reminded us with good grace, running one hand through his lovely dark hair. "But I'm happy with everything that's happening in my life right now. And I'm satisfied with stuff. Honestly, I'm doing fine!"

But curious minds want to know, Harry - when you ARE ready to think about settling down, what sort of girl are you going to be looking for? "That's too difficult to answer, I think," the saviour blushes. Further quizzing as to whether he prefers blondes, brunettes or redheads just makes him blush even further. "Aw, c'mon, guys! Give me a break here!"

Severus, nose firmly jammed into his whisky glass, found that he couldn't stop his brain from thinking the words "Brunette. Definitely." to itself. He extracted his nose from the tumbler and tried to berate himself for being so silly as he swallowed the neat whisky down. Then again, he reasoned with his brain, I'm merely being truthful - it's not just me, after all, there was that Chang girl from Ravenclaw as well…

It was then that Snape realised that that was the extent of his knowledge of Harry's romantic past. Potter had once told him that he had kissed five people, all of them female, prior to getting involved with him. Severus knew that one of those five was Cho Chang, and he guessed that another was the Weasley girl. Another was obviously the as-yet-unnamed female fan who had taken Harry's heterosexual virginity. Beyond that, Severus had no other inklings or ideas. He found himself thinking back to the evening before, seeing the Granger girl stumble out of his fireplace and into Potter's waiting arms. No… that didn't quite make sense. Harry treated her with barely more delicacy than he treated Ronald Weasley. The terrible trio had been partners in crime, nothing more.

Just look at yourself, Severus! Sitting here over a magazine, getting yourself worked up over who the boy might have been with, and what he might have done with them whilst there! He picked up the tumbler of scotch again and enjoyed a long drink. He uncapped the bottle once more and poured another splash or several into the depleted glass. After all, he thought, I haven't told Potter the names of ANYone that I've ever been with. Hrm, though perhaps… if he is using his mental faculties in any capacity at all, he just might be able to make an educated guess of at least one of them. Maybe even two, if the brat really thought hard enough. He took another long draught of whisky before letting the glass settle on the desktop again. As if any of that ancient history mattered at all, anyhow. About either of them.

About EITHER of them, his brain helpfully tried to reinforce to him.

A beautiful black and white portrait of Potter at the top of page twelve was making constant kissing actions at him. 'Stop that!' he growled at it, and roughly turned the page over.

On page fourteen, and again in full glossy colour, there was a photo of Harry in his Muggle suit at the Order of Merlin presentation dinner. The shoulders were broad and square, the waist slim, the legs… begging to be worshipped. Later that night, those worshippable legs had gripped like a vice around Snape's ribcage, tensing against him and holding him firm, like Severus' body was a broomstick for the boy to ride. At Potter's left side in the picture, stood a beaming girl in pink robes, her gaze never leaving Harry's face for too long. Fudge's niece.

Above: Harry enjoys a tête-à-tête with Miss Felicity Fudge, after receiving his Order of Merlin (First Class).

'"Enjoys", my arse!' Snape snorted derisively over the comment. The Harry in the photo threw his head back and guffawed silently, getting a very confused look from the girl beside him. Severus watched his lover laughing for a moment before the source of the amusement hit him. He felt a smirk moving over his face. 'Hm, yes,' he said to the photo. 'He enjoys my arse, too.' The girl blushed deeply and shot Harry a disapproving look.

And what does the future hold for The Boy Who Lived? What sort of career is Harry hoping to pursue? "To be perfectly honest, I haven't really had time to think about it yet," Harry says in a serious tone. "I used to want to go into Auror training, but I'm not really sure I want to do that sort of thing for a living anymore."

What about Quidditch, we ask, and Harry dazzles us with a wide grin. "It's flattering that people keep thinking I'm good enough to maybe make a living out of doing that," he says shyly. "It's an option, I suppose. But I've been kind of out of practice for a long while now. Not to mention out of shape! I don't know if my body would thank me too much for putting it through that sort of torture at the moment."

We think his body's looking just fine. What do you reckon, girls?

Ohdearfuckinggods. I'm in love with a pin-up! A bona fide celebrity. Severus felt an uncomfortable pressure at the back of his throat and swallowed purposefully. Fucking hell - "celebrity". Did his brain HAVE to bring that word up just now? "Mister Potter. Our new… celebrity." Severus cringed at himself.

Standing abruptly, Snape slammed the magazine shut and locked and warded his office door. Leaving everything else as it was, he strode through to his private quarters and took up the floo powder. 'Twelve Grimmauld Place,' he said into the fire and stepped into the green flames.




Snape was snogged soundly as soon as he stepped into the sittingroom at Grimmauld Place, Harry's mouth opening on his even before the green floo flames had faded back to their usual oranges and reds.

'I wasn't expecting to see you tonight!' Potter's arms were loose around Snape's waist, just resting atop his hips. A comforting pressure.

'I shan't stay long.' Severus stroked a hand down the back of Potter's head, the unruly hair springing back up as soon as he had smoothed it down. 'I merely wished to…'

'See me?'

'Check on you.' The grin Harry gave him told him he wasn't believed.

'Oh, hello there, Severus!'

Snape automatically dropped his hands from his lover and took a step back as Lupin walked into the sittingroom, smiling that annoying little smile of his. 'Lupin,' he growled in response.

'Do you want a drink of anything, Snape?' Harry asked. 'Cup of tea, maybe? Or scotch? You taste like you've had some of that already…' Smirk.

Severus wished Potter wouldn't say such things in front of the werewolf. 'No, thank-you,' he managed. 'As I said, I am not staying long.'

Lupin seated himself in his usual armchair, taking a magazine from under his arm and opening it up. This week's issue of the fucking Witch Weekly. Potter noticed what Snape was sneering at. 'They sent me a copy this morning. Have you seen it? I'm on the cover.'

'Yes, Potter, I've seen it. I had to confiscate a copy in Potions this afternoon. Every adolescent female in the castle has been swooning over it.'

Harry smirked mischievously. 'And every Potions Master in the castle, too?'

Snape shot him a murderous glare. 'I should return. Make my rounds of the dungeons.' He moved toward the fireplace once again, making the smirk disappear from Potter's face.

'Is that it? Can't you stay a little longer?'

'There is no need, Potter. I wanted to check on you, I have checked on you.'

'Check on me for what, though?'

'For - ' Severus suddenly realised he didn't actually have an excuse that would satisfy that question. He looked down at the pot of floo powder he had taken up, mind thinking fast. 'Have you prepared your speech for tomorrow evening?'

'Oh. Yeah. Is that what you wanted to check?'

Severus closed his eyes for a moment and then, calming himself, opened them slowly to look at his lover. I wanted to check you still like me, he found himself thinking. I wanted to check that you'd be happy to see me. That you would kiss me as soon as I stepped out of the floo. That your private smile would brighten the whole room when you saw me. 'Yes,' he said simply. 'We shall see you at five tomorrow, is that right?'

Harry was looking at him with a slightly confused expression. 'Yeah,' he said quietly.

'Very well.' Snape took a handful of powder and set the box back on the mantel. A hand appeared on his arm, bringing his attention back to Potter again.

'Can I visit you afterwards? After the speech and dinner and all that, I mean? Can I come down to the dungeons?'

'Are you capable of being discreet about it?'

Potter looked hurt. 'Well, if you don't want me to - '

Snape felt a twitch under his right eye. He glanced toward Lupin, who seemed utterly engrossed in the article on Harry, but was no doubt listening to every word he and Potter were saying. Severus suddenly really wanted to get back to his bottle of scotch. 'Ask Albus if you may use his floo.'

Harry brightened. 'Okay. I'll see you then, then.' And he lifted his face, as though expecting a goodnight kiss.

Severus stared down at him in horror for a moment. He felt very exposed all of a sudden. As though Potter was expecting a thorough snogging with the werewolf looking on. Not a chance in hell, Snape thought to himself. He allowed his expression to soften though, and briefly brushed the back of his hand against the smoothness of Harry's cheek. 'Goodnight,' he muttered, and threw the floo powder into the grate before anything else could transpire between them.




'You seem preoccupied this night, Snape.' The Bloody Baron drifted along at Snape's right side, accompanying the Head of House on his night-time rounds.

'It is nothing,' Severus responded, crossing his arms against the cold.

'Hrm,' the ghost pondered. 'A matter of the heart? Or of the mind?' He inclined his head toward the man at his side. 'Or perhaps merely pleasures of the flesh?'

Severus forced himself to make an amused noise. 'How well do you actually believe you know me, Baron?'

'Well, at least since you were eleven years old, lad.'

'I didn't ask how long, you silly old thing. I asked how well.'

'Well enough to know when your scowls are genuine and when they are not.'

'Hmph.'

'And well enough to know there's been somebody in your life for the last couple of months.'

Snape actually stopped and looked hard at the phantom. 'May I enquire as to how you would think you know such a thing about me?'

The Baron careened slowly around to face him, one hand twisting the end of his perfect moustache. 'I know you, Snape. I know your allies and your enemies, I know your movements and your moods. I know about your boys and your girls and I know how long it has been since you've had one to call your own.' The ghost grinned sharply. Snape suppressed a shudder. 'Yesss,' the Baron nodded, gliding silently around the stationary Snape. 'I was right, wasn't I?' The expression on the ghostly countenance became downright lascivious. 'It's one of the things I miss most about being corporeal, you know - buggery. The most delightful of all the sins, I believe. Tell me,' he licked his leering lips, 'Is it as good as I remember? Sliding yourself into that abundance of sin and wickedness?'

Snaped smirked and began walking again. 'Every bit of it, Baron.'

The Bloody Baron groaned quietly in response, beginning to drift along after him again. 'And do you still take it as well, Snape? I know you did when you were at school here…'

'You're a disgusting old perve, you DO know that, don't you?'

'I try my best, lad.'

'I had hoped that you would cure yourself of that particular filthy habit. May I remind you that I have the children's welfare to think of?'

'But I'm not doing any harm! The children don't even know I'm there! Not that any of the rapacious little fuckers would notice while they were on the job…' Lost in his thoughts, the Baron didn't seem to register for a moment, that Snape had strode quite far ahead of him, and he suddenly disappeared and reappeared right next to Snape's shoulder in order to catch up. 'It's not like I'm proud of it, you know,' he continued. 'But alas, voyeurism is the only sin still available to me now.'

'Thank Merlin.'

'Well, now you're just being rude.'

Their progress continued in companionable silence for some minutes. 'Do you remember what it was like to be in love?' Snape suddenly asked as they mounted the stairs to the level above the dungeons.

'Love? Do mine ears deceive me? Sev Snape is actually asking me about love?'

'Don't call me that.'

'Of course I remember what it was like. The question is, my lad, do you?'

'I am… beginning to recall.'

'You have my congratulations and commiserations, in that case.'

'Commiserations, Baron?'

'It is a hard road, friend. Is it not?'

Snape stopped at the top of the staircase and looked back at the Baron who was floating in one spot, halfway up the steps. He nodded at the apparition. 'And an emotional minefield lines each side of it,' he agreed.

The ghost gave a rare smile. 'So tread carefully!' And with that, he drifted around and glided back down the stairs once more, back down to the dungeons.

Snape stood at the staircase for a few moments more, before turning on his heel and stalking along the hallways outside the Hufflepuff common room.

Chapter Eight

'I mean, how many of you are actually aware of the fact that there were Gryffindors, for instance, that did Voldemort's bidding in this last war? And the one before, when Voldemort came to power, too? Or that there were Slytherins who fought bravely on the side of Light in both those wars?'

Harry looked out over the hundreds of attentive faces, pausing a few moments to watch his rhetorical questions sink in for his rapt audience.

'Ravenclaws on both sides, too,' he continued. 'And Hufflepuffs. Honestly, there isn't any one House here at Hogwarts than can point a finger at any other House and call them evil. Evil is a human trait and every one of us, every last one of us, has the capability to succumb to it within us. But remember, nobility is a human trait, too - and every last one of us has the capability within us to embrace that, as well. As a very wise man once told me, it is the CHOICES we make, that show what we truly are.'

Harry half-turned his head slightly and managed to catch Dumbledore's eye, exchanging a small smile with the Headmaster before turning to look out over the students again. He flicked a glance down at his speech notes. Oh, thank fuck, he thought to himself - almost done!

'The war affected us all, and there isn't a Wizarding family or community in Britain that hasn't endured hardship or grief during it, but we must all remember that it IS over now. The war is now part of The Past and we can all start to get back to normal again, start rebuilding our lives and moving on. We're all going to get over it, yeah?'

Practically every head he could see nodded. This couldn't possibly have worked, could it? Harry made a point of dragging his gaze up and down the Gryffindor table, knowing that most of the anti-Slytherin trouble had been originating in his old House. Hardly surprising, really, but still.

'The last remaining part of the war effort is going to be largely up to all of you guys,' Harry told the entire student body. 'Now that the fighting's over and done with, olive branches have to be held out. And accepted as well,' he glanced momentarily at the Slytherin table as he made this last point.

He took a deep breath and launched into his final paragraph. 'We have to forge friendships and alliances. We - you, me, us, them, everybody - we all have to make the effort to get along better than we have in the past. It's our future, right? So let's take control of it and make sure it's a good one. Starting today, starting here at school, let's all choose unity and peace over division and war. It isn't difficult - just try making one new friend from one of the other Houses before the year's out. Trust me, it isn't as scary as it sounds.' Harry paused and smiled broadly. 'Thank-you for letting me come and talk to you all tonight. I hope I haven't been too boring. Now let's eat!'

Thankful that it was over, Harry took a couple of steps back from the Headmaster's golden lectern and stuffed his speech notes into a pocket in his robes as the students cheered and applauded. Even the students at the Slytherin table were at least clapping politely, he noticed. Maybe his celebrity could actually be good for something from time to time…

He strode around the staff table toward the empty seat in between Severus and McGonagall, as copious amounts of food and drink sprang into existence on all the tables at once. He pulled his chair out and sat down, stupidly gratified at the feeling that not every eye in the entire Great Hall was locked onto him any longer.

'Well said, Mister Potter,' McGonagall congratulated him as Harry shifted himself and his chair closer in to the table.

'Thank-you, Professor,' he grinned at her. He chanced a swift glance to his right and caught Snape looking at him with a fairly blank expression.

'Isn't as scary as it sounds, Potter?' Snape enquired softly, lifting one eyebrow.

Harry felt his cheeks colour a little. 'Sometimes it's scary in other ways, maybe,' he conceded. 'But it certainly isn't scary just because we're from different Houses.' He made sure to keep the volume of his voice low, so as not to cause Severus any undue embarrassment. Harry watched as the raised eyebrow arched a little further upward at his reply. Snape nodded once and then turned his attention to the platters of food crowding the table. Harry willed a smile away, just in case anyone was watching them, and likewise allowed the feast to distract him.

While piling his plate with steaming roast vegies, Harry felt a soft pressure against the side of his right leg. He glanced furtively to his side but Snape was ignoring him, busying himself with pouring a goblet of mulled wine. Beneath the table, though, the pressure against Harry's leg increased. Harry cleared his throat softly.

'Um, Professor Snape? Could you pass the wine, please?' He was pleased to hear his voice sound steady.

'Certainly, Potter.' But instead of passing the carafe into Harry's waiting hand, Snape poured a measure directly into Harry's goblet for him and set the wine down on the tabletop again. Their eyes never met during the short exchange, but Snape's leg was still pressed against Harry's under the table.

'Thank-you,' Harry whispered. He couldn't hold back a shallow sigh. And he couldn't help but be thankful for the long, crisp, white cloths draping the staff table; Severus wouldn't be touching him at all right now if the table was denuded. Bizarrely, Harry even spared a moment of thanks for the fact that Slytherin and Gryffindor were traditional rivals - he was unsure he'd have been placed between his lover and McGonagall for dinner otherwise.

In no time at all, the noise level in the large room had risen to the kind of volume Harry remembered nearly all evening meals being. It suddenly occurred to him how quiet life was with Remus at Grimmauld Place. He made a vague decision to purchase a stereo, or whatever the Wizarding equivalent was, for the old house. And some music to play on it, obviously. He soon found himself dragged into a conversation between McGonagall and Madam Hooch, who was leaning around Severus and shouting down the table. Between chatting and eating and yelling greetings down the length of the table to Neville, dinner seemed to pass very quickly.

Turned toward McGonagall as he was at the time, Harry was only aware of Severus standing up from the table when the comforting warmth of the man's leg against his own moved away. He turned abruptly and looked up at his lover, watching him push his chair in silently.

'You're not staying for dessert, Snape?'

'I was thinking I would have that a little later. In the privacy of my quarters.'

Harry was sure he felt his dick twitch at the implication heavy in Severus' words. 'Uh, okay. See you, then. Professor.'

'If you will all excuse me.' Snape stepped back from the table and strode elegantly away. Harry forced himself not to watch the man as he left, and wondered how soon he could feasibly make his own excuses and get himself down to the dungeons for "dessert".

'Everything going well, I trust, Potter?' McGonagall asked from his other side, giving him quite a knowing smile.

Harry felt a blush threaten and willed it away. 'Fairly well, Professor, yes. At least, I think they are. I don't really have much experience in these things… Oh - ' He blinked and looked his ex-teacher in the eye. 'I, er, I know that you know, by the way.' The blush he'd willed away was suddenly back.

McGonagall briefly patted his hand where it lay on the tablecloth. 'No need for embarrassment, Mister Potter. I'm pleased for you. For you both, I should say.' She smiled serenely, making Harry wonder if she'd been drinking the mulled wine as well. She dropped her voice to a hush and whispered, 'Frankly, I think it's about time someone on this Faculty was getting some romance in their life!' Harry was pretty certain, then, that McGonagall had definitely been partaking of the wine. He couldn't help but grin to see his former Head of House, usually such a stern and implacable woman, waxing whimsy about romance with just an undertone of frustration.

Harry drained his goblet and surreptitiously checked how far into dessert the Headmaster had progressed. Normally Harry would have loved to throw himself, face-first, into the dishes of berries and icecream and puddings and syrups as well, but tonight all he could think of was getting back to Severus' arms as soon as possible. Snape's fleeting, confusing visit the evening before had only served to bother Harry further. God, he wanted that man.

They'd been… doing what they were doing… for almost three whole months now, and he still couldn't get enough of Snape. Back when they first started, he might have thought that he'd get it out of his system ("it" being his sudden fascination for Snape, and Snape's dark sensuality, and Snape's uglybeautiful body, and the promise of sex - and lots of it, and lots of it being the naughty sort - that Snape could offer) and then they'd just go back to their regularly scheduled programme of not liking each other all that much. But none of it had been that easy to let go of. At all. A few weeks into it, he might have started to think that, seeing as he hadn't been able to get it all out of his system, that Snape would soon sate himself on Harry's limited charms and put an end to it all himself ("it" by then being their growing comfort around each other, and the increasingly tender feelings that accompanied their still very hot sex, and the realisation that their personalities were actually a bit compatible, and the promise of it all only getting better and better, and wasn't THAT a terrifying thought just on its own?). Harry lifted his goblet to his lips again, only to be reminded that he had already drained the vessel some moments ago. He sighed softly and looked askance at Dumbledore's dessert bowl once again. Ah!

'Professor Dumbledore? Professor Dumbledore, sir?'

The Headmaster set his spoon down in his empty dish and peered down the table at Harry. 'Yes, Harry, my dear boy?'

'Can I? That is - may I use your floo, please, sir? If you've finished your meal, that is. Of course.'

Dumbledore continued to peer at him for a moment, blue eyes bright over the tops of the half-moon glasses. 'Of course you may, Harry. Are you ready to go now?'

Harry tried not to seem overly eager. 'Only if you are, sir.'

Dumbledore pushed his icecream be-smirched bowl away an inch or so and pushed his chair from the table slightly. 'Then let us go, Harry.'




Harry took the proffered box of floo powder gratefully and took a step toward the fireplace.

'Before you go, my boy, may I have a word?'

Harry cursed silently and turned away from the fireplace again, making sure his expression didn't give away his disappointment at being kept from Snape a moment longer. 'Sir?'

Dumbledore walked slowly around his desk and seated himself into his usual chair. Harry hovered on the hearthrug, fearing that if he sat down upon one of the chairs in front of the desk, he'd be trapped there for god only knew how long. Dumbledore popped a lemon sherbet into his mouth and sucked quietly for a few seconds before smiling in Harry's direction and leaning back in his seat.

'You are going to Professor Snape, I take it?'

Harry straightened his shoulders instinctively. 'To Severus, sir. Yes, I am.'

Dumbledore nodded, seemingly to himself. 'You've been seeing a little of each other for some time now?'

We've been seeing a damned sight more than "a little" of each other, Harry thought. Almost as though Snape were there to instruct him, Harry calmly slid his brain behind a wall of Occlumency. 'Yes, sir. We have.'

'Is it… romantic, Harry?'

Harry very nearly fancied he could feel the question throbbing in his dormant scar. Definitely just a fancy. He mentally shook his head clear and made himself stand up a little taller. 'I think that question might be a bit, a bit personal. Sir.' His gaze, by sheer force of will, held Dumbledore's steadily.

The Headmaster nodded slowly again. He looked sad, somehow. Harry had kind of hoped that McGonagall's reaction to his relationship with Snape would be indicative of Dumbledore's feelings as well, but obviously that hope was not to be fulfilled. 'Um…' He started to speak but then realised he hadn't thought of what he wanted to say just yet. 'Professor, it's…' Square shoulders shrugged for lack of anything else coherent to add. 'We…'

'You're both adults, my boy. You don't have to explain yourself.'

Harry tilted his head a bit as he looked at his former mentor. He didn't want to argue with this man. He honestly didn't. So why was he feeling so affronted right now? 'Well,' he said hesitantly. 'If I don't have to explain myself then, I guess I'll just be off now. If that's okay.' He got halfway through a turn back toward the fireplace before Dumbledore spoke again.

'Are you thinking of the future at all, Harry? You're still so young, after all.'

Harry slowly turned back to face the Headmaster, forcing himself to remain calm. He took a deep breath. 'Are you suggesting, Professor, that… that I maybe shouldn't be with Severus?'

Dumbledore crunched loudly upon the sherbet in his mouth. 'Of course not, my boy! No, no… not at all. I simply wish for you to consider all the many options that are open to you now. Having fulfilled your destiny in destroying Voldemort, the world is indeed now your oyster, Harry. And I would hate to see you waste it.'

'WASTE it?!' Harry felt his cheeks burn and his eyes go wide. 'With respect, sir, I'm not WASTING anything!' He breathed out through his nose somewhat loudly. 'I was always under the impression that you liked Severus, sir? That you loved him almost like a son?'

The Headmaster's eyes looked sad as he held Harry in his blue gaze. 'I can assure you that I do, dear boy. There is probably only one other student who has passed through these halls that I could admit to caring more deeply for than Severus.'

Even though Harry knew full well that Dumbledore was referring to him, he felt so indignant on Snape's behalf right now that he couldn't even allow himself to feel any softness under that twinkling look. 'Then why don't you approve? Sir. Is it because we're…' God, Harry couldn't believe he was saying this. 'Both men, sir?'

Dumbledore shook his head slowly. 'Nothing of the sort, Harry, I assure you. I am merely concerned for the welfare of you both. That is all.'

'But that doesn't extend to being happy for us both having found somebody?'

'There is a twenty year age gap, my boy…'

'So what? McGonagall doesn't care about that! And neither does Remus! And even Ron's getting over it now, too. And, honestly, if Severus and I don't care about the age gap, why the hell should anybody else?'

'He was at school here with your father and mother, Harry.'

'Yeah, we know. And it took both of us most of the last seven years to get passed that, but we have now, okay? We really have, Professor Dumbledore, sir. Trust me, okay? We're good. I wouldn't have believed it myself, even, but we really are. We're good together. Belvedere's Hump should've proved that to everybody. Severus and I were able to do what we did that day because of, of what we have.'

'You are the number one man to practically every witch in our world now,' Dumbledore reminded him. 'Are you sure someone of Severus' temperament can cope with that level of adoration?'

Slowly, it dawned on Harry that Dumbledore really was concerned for the both of them - that he was as anxious about Severus being hurt by Harry's publicity as he was about Harry being harmed by Snape's resistance to anyone getting too close. For the moment, though, the realisation didn't do much to calm Harry's temper.

'I think, maybe…' He held up the box of floo powder. 'I should just go now.' He took a few steps back toward the grate again. Thankfully, Dumbledore didn't try to say anything further and Harry was able to grunt out the words "Professor Snape's Hogwarts quarters" and step into the green flames without any further delay.




'So sorry to have dragged you, kicking and screaming, away from your slathering public, Potter,' Snape sneered, as Harry landed inelegantly on the hearthrug in the dungeon sitting room a moment later.

Sitting rather uncomfortably on his arse on the floor, Harry glared up at his glowering lover and harrumphed. 'For your information, love,' he spat out as he clambered to his feet and dusted soot off his person. 'I've just spent the last quarter of an hour trying to defend our relationship to the bloody Headmaster!'

Harry had never seen an expression change on Snape's face so quickly as he did then. It was quite unsettling, really. Severus lowered himself blindly into the nearest seat which happened to be on the sofa, and stared at Harry, his pale face looking suddenly even paler than usual. 'May I ask what he said to you?'

In under five minutes, Harry had the entirety of his uncomfortable discussion with Dumbledore related to his lover. About two minutes into his commentary, he'd lowered himself onto the seat beside Severus on the Chesterfield. By the time the next three minutes were done and he'd fallen silent, his arms were draped loosely around Snape's shoulders and Snape's long, dexterous fingers were tugging down the zipper of Harry's jeans.

'Dumbledore's disapproval gets you hot?' Harry queried the older man in a whisper, which earned him an exasperated eye roll.

'No, it most certainly does not.' Cool fingers extracted Harry's hardening prick from his trousers. 'I was however "hot", as you so eloquently put it, prior to your arrival and tales of Albus' disapproval.' A swift change of position brought Snape's head down to Harry's lap and his mouth lowered hotly over Harry's cock.

Harry pushed his fingers into Snape's hair and gazed down at the incredible sight of the feared Potions Master wrapping his arms around Harry's slim hips, his pale mouth suckling on Harry's engorged flesh.

'Uh. Shit,' Harry hissed under his breath. He tried to coax his voice into the semblance of something a little more commanding. 'Shouldn't we, perhaps, not do this here? I mean, we ARE right in front of the floo, you know.'

Severus applied more suction to Harry's erection, looking up at Harry with a dark gaze that promised nothing but passion and pleasure until morning. 'You think we might be disturbed?' he hummed against the cock he'd been sucking.

Harry attempted to put his thoughts into coherent sentences. 'We, uh, we could be. You never know. You know.' He forgot anything else he might have been about to say, as Severus took Harry's cock completely into his mouth and his throat. Harry's entire world became tongue and mouth and drool and, just slightly, the pleasantly threatening touch of teeth.

'Um, oh…' he tried harder to put word to some of the thoughts that had been in his mind earlier. Bloody hard to do, his brain told him. 'Ugh, last night. Grimmauld Place.' He splayed both hands full span around Snape's skull, working the pads of his fingers in small, languid circles upon Snape's slightly oily scalp. 'How come you, uh, visited?' He paused while Snape fondled his balls. 'What'd you want?'

Severus pulled his mouth back until just the head of Harry's cock was within the gentle loop of his lips. 'This,' he said around the flesh in his mouth. 'You.' His black gaze travelled up Harry's body until their eyes locked. Snape pulled his mouth away from Harry's prick and licked his lips appreciatively. 'I wanted you,' he said simply, the velvet voice deep and dark as it rumbled up to Harry's ears. 'Forgive me my failure of expression.'

Before Harry could say anything else, that wonderful mouth, so often pulled into a sneer or a snarl, was swallowing his member down again. The very first time Severus had done this for him, Harry had fainted as he came into his lover's mouth. He'd managed to hold himself in check enough that that hadn't happened again since then.

The last thought his mind had before he passed out this time was "Well, until now, at least…"

Chapter Nine

Beneath his mouth and hands, Severus could feel the boy go still. Reflexes taking over, Snape swallowed Harry's orgasm down, lips still working the turgid flesh even as it began to soften against his tongue. Dear gods, the aroma of the boy… Severus breathed deep, allowing all of his senses to wallow in Harry for a blissful moment. He gently tucked the spent prick back into Harry's pants but left the Muggle jeans undone for the time being.

'I trust that was satisfactory, Mister Potter?' Snape sat back and let his gaze travel over the smaller body. 'Potter?' Severus tapped the back of one hand against the boy's placid face. 'Oh, not again. Harry?' He sighed lightly. 'I have got to stop doing that to you.' He pushed his lank hair back from his face and sat straighter on the sofa, pulling Harry's limp body into his side and holding the boy against him protectively.

'Mmsevruss?' Harry murmured less than a minute later, messy dark hair tickling at Snape's cheek as Potter roused himself. 'Did I…?'

'You did.'

'Sorry.'

'It is no matter. How do you feel now?'

Potter gave a vague smile and stretched his arms above his head. 'I feel like I want to go to bed.'

'Are you still dizzy?'

The vague smile changed to one of mischief. 'I'm not wanting to go to bed to rest, Snape.' Harry reached a hand out in a beckoning gesture. 'Shall we?'

Eyebrow. Severus took the hand that was held toward him and stood up, letting it go again as he smoothed his jacket down in an habitual gesture. 'Are you quite sure you're fit to continue?'

'Oh, please!' Potter was already stepping into the bedroom. 'You didn't seem so concerned about my welfare last time you sucked my consciousness clean out of me!'

Snape glared at the younger man briefly. Potter was toeing his trainers off and divesting himself of his robes and shirt. Severus watched him and felt his glare fade. The younger man's body was a healthy shade of pale - not sallow like his own colouring. And even though Potter had not set broom on a Quidditch pitch in many, many months, his limbs were still firm and toned, his chest and stomach hard. Severus' body told him to quit his worrying. He swiftly unbuttoned his jacket and uncuffed his shirt sleeves.

'Here,' said Potter, stepping up close to Snape and eyeing his body in an overtly hungry manner. 'Let me.' The boy's fingers made short work of the many buttons of Snape's waistcoat and shirt, and then he pushed all three garments - jacket included - off Snape in one go. Severus watched the green gaze travel appreciatively over his now naked torso, followed quickly by Potter's hands.

Harry Potter was an idol of teenage girls everywhere. A pin-up boy. Pictures of him stood sentinel over nearly every female-occupied dormitory bed in this school. Even if Potter had no interest in pursuing the company of witches at this point in his life, Snape was certain there would be any number of wizards out there who would jump at the chance to claim the Boy Who Lived. Potter was so… pretty, in a gawky kind of fashion… so slim and hard and young and pale and emerald and raven and powerful… And here he was, visually eating up the sight of the ugly man before him.

'God, you're incredible,' Potter murmured reverently as his fingers moved over Severus' chest.

'That fainting episode did affect you.'

Potter laughed quietly, his hands moving onto Severus' belly. Snape felt his insides clench as the tantalising touch ghosted over him. 'Quit it, Snape. You just need to see you how I see you, that's all. You need to see your skin and your eyes and your hands and your shoulders and, oh, your legs…' The boy dropped to his knees silently, setting upon Snape's footwear and then his black trousers as well.

Allowing himself to be undressed completely, Severus then allowed himself to be led to his own bed and pressed down gently onto his back upon it. He watched as Harry pulled at the remainder of his own clothes and then climbed up onto the bed at Snape's side. The warmth and softness of their skin touching felt more thrilling than such a simple act had any right to feel. Severus moved his arms around Potter and pulled him down on top of himself, guiding the boy's head downward and crushing their mouths together.

'God, it's been so long since I've had you inside me,' Potter hissed against his lips.

'It's been three days, you brat. Don't exaggerate.'

Harry bit playfully at Snape's bottom lip. 'Mm, Sunday night,' he purred, his young voice gruffer than usual. 'Fuck me like that again.'

Snape frowned a little as he tried to remember the gory details. Sunday night… There had been a disgusting amount of champagne that evening… Ah. 'We weren't in bed, Potter. We barely made it into your bedroom.'

Emerald eyes glinted. 'I know. It was nice though, up against the door like that.'

Severus felt parts of his body agree with the little incubus. His knees and his lower back weren't among them, however. 'I think a warm and comfortable bed is more appealing right now.' He lost his fingers in the mess of Potter's unruly hair as he spoke, one thumb tracing a silken curve of ear. 'I think I'd much rather have you on your back tonight.'

Harry grinned. 'You like me on my back.'

'Indeed. Harry Potter is far easier to control when in that position.' He watched Potter's mouth open in mock indignation and quickly thrust his tongue into it before the boy could attempt a rejoinder. Even after months of intimacy, Potter still tasted sweetly forbidden, as though his mouth were a place Snape should not be allowed. Severus deepened the kiss, holding the smaller body firm against him, and rolled them both over until he had his lover pinned beneath him. He kissed the boy harder and harder, until his lungs screamed for him to break and breathe. Snape kneeled up between Harry's legs, breathing heavily as he reached for the tube of lubricant, his black eyes never once moving away from the rise and fall of Potter's delectable chest.

A string of whispered urgings and coaxings tumbled from Harry's mouth, willing him to make his preparation quick. Severus shook his head in bemusement. 'Always so impatient, Potter.'

'For you? Yeah, course I am.' Harry slid his hand slowly up and down his cock and smiled up at Snape. The smile changed slightly when Severus pressed two oiled fingers to the boy's arsehole, teasing the entranceway, pushing the tip of one finger and then the other into the tight ring of muscle, alternating between the two. Potter squirmed in anticipation, tilting his pelvis upwards, encouraging Snape to delve deeper. Before too long, the younger man's readiness was undeniable and Severus exchanged his fingers for his straining erection, holding Potter's gaze steadily as he pressed forward.

Severus let his hands fall to Harry's torso, long fingers splayed upon the taut, heated skin, pressing over the elegant lines of the boy's ribcage. Potter took firm hold of the backs of his knees and pulled his legs up higher, causing Snape to pitch forward sharply, his cock sinking solidly down into the tight channel, a groan being dragged from his throat at the same time.

'Easy, Potter. Don't make me hurt you.'

Harry shook his head on the pillow. 'Just move.'

Snape repositioned his hands onto the bed, taking his weight properly and obeyed his young lover's request. It was all he wanted to do, too, after all.

'Fuck,' Potter whispered in seeming awe, green eyes locked onto Snape's. Whether the word was intended as exclamation, statement, request or order, Snape couldn't tell. His mind instructed him to accept it as all four and his body told his mind to just shut the hell up and let it get on with the job of pounding the little bugger into the mattress.

Snape attached his mouth to the delicate juncture where Potter's left shoulder met the long, lickable throat. As he plunged his cock harder and deeper into the young man's arse, his mouth ravaged that sensitive spot over and over.

'Pull out,' Potter suddenly instructed. Snape lifted his head with a quizzical look. Was something wrong? Was he hurting the boy? Potter's eyes were dark. 'Pull out,' he repeated, 'and shove back in again. Hard. Please…'

Oh. Severus lifted his hips and eased his aching cock back little by little, sliding slowly out of the boy's vice-like tightness until just the head was still in. Potter swallowed and looked up at him. 'Completely,' he urged, the expression on his face showing his sense of loss when Snape complied and slipped fully out of him.

Snape took hold of the shaft of his cock, pointing it at where it wanted to be, waiting for Potter's order. Harry flexed his fingers in the crooks of his knees, making sure he had a good grip as he held his legs wide, and then jerked a nod up at Severus. 'Back in. Hard.'

Perfectly lined up, Severus thrust forward with as much force as he dared, his cock sliding easily back into the grasping furnace of Harry's slick body. OhfuckingMerlin… For good measure, and because it simply felt so outrageously good, Snape pulled out once more and shoved in again. Potter just about howled in response. Fuckyes. Severus re-attached his mouth to the already bruised spot he'd been sucking earlier and fucked into Harry's body quickly and brutally, both of them straining against one another as the bed protested beneath them.

Potter dragged Severus' face up to his and kissed him messily, his cock pulsing between them and erupting for the second time that evening. Snape soon joined him, his body jolting, filling Harry's body with come. He felt his arms weaken and he sank down onto his lover, mouth falling instinctively back to that spot again, lips and tongue gently soothing the abuse as he moaned love against the flesh.




Potter was lightly tracing the design of the Dark Mark on Snape's left arm. The brand had begun fading when the Dark Lord had finally fallen from this plane of existence for good, and now it was the palest it had ever been. Snape doubted that it would ever disappear entirely, but at least it was so vague now that, if he squinted, he could almost convince himself that his skin was as naked as it had been when he was seventeen. Harry had been fascinated with the fading of the vile thing and his fingertips could often be found upon it when they were in bed together these days. The boy had seemed concerned, for a while there, that his famous scar was not reacting in the same manner - when he had first noted the Dark Mark's fade he had run to a mirror, only to find his scar unaltered. Snape had virtually had to describe the distasteful minutiae of the intimate Morsmordre ritual to get Potter to believe the fact that their marks, although both carved by the Dark Lord, were not the same magical marvels.

'I don't think Dumbledore quite knows what to make of us.' Potter murmured into the stillness of their post-coital embrace.

Curled against the contours of the boy's body from behind, Severus tightened his arms around him and gave a gentle squeeze. 'I am not completely sure that I know exactly what to make of us,' he said into the raven hair.

'He's worried about us, I guess.'

Snape nodded. 'I can't deny that his worry has some basis.'

Harry turned his head slightly, trying to look behind himself into Snape's face.

'Think about it,' Snape continued. 'We are an unlikely pairing, Potter. Unsuited, in many ways.'

'But suited perfectly in others!'

Severus stroked the side of the boy's face. 'Shh. Yes, well suited in other ways. But there can be no denying there is a twenty year age gap between us, nor that we have wildly differing standings in society. Nor, I must point out, that the difference in our ages places us in completely different stages of life. There is no use in ignoring or protesting these facts, Harry. This is our reality.'

'OUR reality, yeah.' Potter struggled around until he was facing toward Snape. 'That's the whole point though, isn't it? That it's OURS? It doesn't matter if there's problems - as long as we face them as OUR problems, not just mine or yours but OURS, then we can cope with them. Right? Every relationship has its own troubles, Severus. Troubles unique to that relationship.' He gave an uncomfortable looking, lying-down shrug. 'We're no different to any other couple in that respect.'

Snape gave a soft snort and rested his faded Mark on top of a sharp adolescent hip. 'Can you listen to me without any interruptions for a short while, Harry?'

'Of course I can.'

Eyebrow. 'I am not the variety of lover who gushes his emotions and enthusiasms at every turn and every hour. But I wish to tell you something important. Will you let me?'

Potter's face had stilled to an expression of concentration and seriousness. Perhaps, a slight spark of fear in the verdant depths of his eyes, as well. Severus took a deep breath.

'It baffles me, to some extent, that I have allowed myself to become enamoured of you, Potter. I am a private man. I feel the need to hold anything dear to me on a tight rein - my reasons for this are my own and I should not have to justify them to you.' He paused a moment. 'So. I am baffled that I allowed myself to… choose you. Without meaning to upset you at all, Harry, you really are not a very good choice for me. You are famous and beloved and there is barely a person in our world who does not want to know you or at least know about you. They are hungry for information about you, to feel knowledgeable about you. And if I am a part of your life, then they are going to want to know about me, also. As I hope you can imagine, that prospect does not please me. At all. Albus is right to harbour concerns for my ability to cope with you, to cope with your celebrity. He knows me well, Harry.'

'You, you're not breaking up with me? Are you?'

Severus could have sobbed at the barely-concealed pain he heard in his lover's voice then. 'I asked you for no interruptions, Potter, and no, I am not "breaking up" with you. Idiot child.' The beaming smile that spread across Harry's lovely face made a sob threaten again, simply at the beauty of it, the unmasked sincerity of it. 'How could you think that?' he teased quietly. 'Harry, I'm going to say this just once because it is important that you know it. You will not hear me say this again, however.' He swallowed uncomfortably. 'Our relationship scares me. I fear that it will threaten the life I have managed to make for myself - threaten it even more than my past threatened to do, more than this ugly glyph upon my arm ever did. You could ruin me, Harry. Or, I should say, not you specifically - because, I hope you realise, that you are wonderful and dear and special to me - but who you are, WHAT you are in our world, could ruin me. And to be perfectly frank, I don't see how we could render the situation differently. I don't see how you can continue to be Harry Potter and still share your life with me, or vice versa. I cannot see any way for us to remain ourselves whilst also remaining together.'

The emerald eyes had become increasingly watery as Snape spoke. Severus was worried the swollen lips would part only to tremble and wail in response to his admission. Instead, he found he was watching Harry compose himself completely, blinking away the moisture in his eyes and licking his dry lips as he lifted his chin resolutely.

'Then we find a way.' Harry's voice was strong and adamant, undeniably adult and not to be questioned.

Snape felt himself frown slightly in response. That was not an adolescent resolve to ignore the facts and blunder on regardless he had just heard. That wasn't even a typically Gryffindor throwing of caution to the winds.

What he had just heard was the tenacity of Harry bloody Potter, the most powerful wizard in the world, the most formidable wizard of the age. There was no other option to be brooked - Severus nodded. 'Yes,' he agreed and let Harry kiss him possessively.




'Mister Potter?' Minerva stared up at Harry in fleeting shock, a spoonful of porridge dripping, momentarily forgotten, above her bowl.

Snape saw Harry's smirk and shook his head in amusement. 'He wouldn't listen to reason, Minerva. Even threatening to levitate him into the floo wouldn't work.'

Potter pulled out a chair at the staff table and flopped down into it, eyeing the platters piled with breakfast foods like a ravenous man might. 'I was a guest of the school last night, wasn't I?' He shrugged nonchalantly as he slid some fried eggs onto his plate. 'Honoured guests are often put up for the night and make their way home the next morning. The students won't think anything of it.'

Minerva gave Snape an amused look and went back to her porridge. Snape busied himself with a strong cup of tea and some careful observations of his Slytherins.

'Good morning, everybody!' Albus greeted his staff members in a jovial tone. He pushed up the long sleeves of his canary yellow robe as he sat down in his throne-like seat. 'Ah! Harry, my dear boy! Slept well, I take it?'

Potter met the Headmaster's twinkling gaze confidently. 'Yes, sir, thank-you. I did. It was like being home again, really.'

Albus gazed at him over the tops of his glasses as Harry dug himself further into his breakfast. After a moment, Severus saw Albus' blue gaze travel to himself. Snape nodded curtly as he often did at the breakfast table, before moving his attention to some French toast.

High above them, dozens upon dozens of owls swept into the Great Hall, depositing packages and envelopes all along the various tables. Severus ignored them as usual, his concentration taken up with little more than the pleasures of breakfast and of Potter's knee rubbing against his beneath the table.

'Oh, I say!' Minerva's surprised tone brought Severus back to the owls. Four identical owls were perched on the staff table. There was one enjoying getting its head stroked by Albus, another pulling at Hagrid's beard, another being shooed away from Minerva's porridge, and the fourth stood glaring at Snape from beside his cup of tea.

'I think I know what might be tied to that leg,' said Potter.

Severus reached forward and plucked the cylinder from the still glaring owl. 'I don't carry owl treats,' he told it, glaring back. Then he relented and pulled a lump of French toast from his plate and held it out. The bird took it and flew away again.

'Blimey!' rumbled Hagrid's voice from further down the table. 'Second class! I weren't expecting tha'! I thought maybe Third, like. But Second! Tha's just luvly!'

Snape looked down at the cylinder in his hand and blinked.

'Open it, Severus,' Harry whispered at his side.

Snape uncapped the end of the cylinder and a scroll of very good quality parchment fell out, narrowly missing landing in his breakfast. He picked it up and slid the decorative ribbon from around it and the scroll seemed to unroll itself in the air in front of him.

The Order of Merlin (Second Class). Awarded to Severus Snape in gratitude for services to the fine and decent society of Wizarding Britain.

He glanced to his left. Minerva's was the same. Even Albus' was a Second Class. The Ministry of Magic had awarded Snape at the same rank as Albus Dumbledore. It was… beyond imagining.

'Well done, Professor.' The voice belonged to Neville Longbottom, peering cautiously around Potter, his expression being held back to just the safe side of terror as he waited to see Snape's reaction to his congratulations.

'I… thank-you. Professor Longbottom.' Severus looked at Harry, who was grinning so wide his jaw must have ached.

'You did it,' Harry said through the grin. 'I knew you'd get one.'

They were interrupted by a second owl, a tiny one, jumping excitedly up and down in front of them, trying to get Snape's attention.

'Pig?' queried Potter for some reason. 'Oh, no, you're not Pig, are you, little fella? You just look like him.' He stroked one finger down the owl's little back. 'I think he's here for you, Snape.'

Severus put down his Order of Merlin with an impatient noise and reached forward for the envelope the midget bird was holding out for him. He pulled another piece of French toast free from his plate and pushed it at the little pest. The lump of sweetened bread looked comically huge in its tiny beak as it took flight and left the staff table again, leaving Snape looking down at the strange handwriting on the envelope with a frown that only got deeper as he opened it and read the single page of parchment within.

Chapter Ten

Harry stole a glance at the letter as Snape read it at seeming lightning-speed. It wasn't in English though and breakfast was still too fascinating at the moment.

'I must to Munich,' Severus muttered under his breath. 'At once.'

'Huh?' Harry looked up from his eggs. 'What do you mean - ' he realised he was speaking too loudly and amended his voice to a much lower and discreet volume. 'What do you mean, you have to go to Munich at once? What's happened?'

'Here.' Snape pushed the sheaf of parchment over a few inches onto Harry's portion of the table. 'Read for yourself.'

Harry glanced down at the letter, lying on the tabletop. "Sehr geehrter Herr Snape, Mein Name ist Elise Werner und ich schreibe Ihnen im Namen meines Nachbarn, Herrn Draco Malfoy." Apart from Snape's name and Draco's name the thing was written in gibberish as far as Harry was concerned. 'I can't read it,' he protested lamely. 'It's in some other language.'

Severus glared and looked like he desperately wanted to call Harry every variation on the word "idiot" he could think of. And Snape knew plenty. 'Pick it up, Potter,' he growled lowly, 'and read it.'

Harry tried for a suitable glare back at his lover, but decided not to make any more of a scene. Sighing, he put his fork down and reached for the unreadable letter. As soon as he picked it up, however, the words seemed to slide into focus for him. "Dear Mr. Snape, My name is Elise Werner and I am writing to you in the name of my neighbour, Mr. Draco Malfoy." Harry looked from the letter up to Snape, knowing that he must look pretty stupid right now. 'I thought it was in another language,' he murmured in his defence.

'It is, Potter. It is written in German.' Black eyes flashed. 'But written upon translator parchment. If someone who only reads in Swahili were to pick up this letter they would read it perfectly.' Severus shook his head slowly at Harry's lack of knowledge.

Harry bristled. 'Okay, so you know more magic than me, we both know that. No need to get shirty.'

'Shirty?'

Harry bit his bottom lip softly, trying not to let out the snort of laughter that rose inside him at Snape's whispered indignation. To avoid any worsening of relations, he dipped his head over the letter and continued reading.

"Mr. Malfoy holds you in high esteem and talks of you in the highest tones. The situation is urgent, even though Mr. Malfoy denies this and has forbidden me to get in contact with you. About Mr. Malfoys health all is not well. After losing his family, this does not make one wonder. I plead you, if you hold Mr. Malfoy dear, please come to München. He needs you. Respectfully Yours, Elise Werner."

Harry looked up, clearly seeing the concern in Severus' eyes. 'I'm coming with you.'

'You most certainly are not.'

'If you're going, I'm going. What if it's a trap? Maybe Draco's still chummy with some of the Death Eaters who got away, and they all know now that you were spying all that time, don't they?' Harry handed the letter back to Snape. 'You're not going alone, Severus. And if you try to fight me on this, I'll start shouting about it really loudly right now, in front of everybody.' Harry grinned, a mixture of mischief and deranged hope that he wasn't pushing his luck too far. 'Including all of the Slytherins.'

Snape's left hand clenched into a fist beside his breakfast plate. 'Leave now,' he ground out.

'Why?' Harry tried to keep at least some of the hurt he felt out of his voice.

The glare was back in Severus' onyx eyes. 'Stuff your pockets with breakfast treats if you must, but leave now so that we won't be seen leaving here together, you utter twit.'

'Oh.' Duh, Harry thought to himself.

'Use the floo in the staff room. I shall collect you from Grimmauld Place shortly. Pack light.'

'Okay,' Harry muttered. 'See you soon.' He forked a disgustingly over-large mouthful of egg into his mouth, then exchanged the fork in his hand for two bits of toast as he pushed his chair back and stood up. 'I'll just be off, then,' he tried to say around the mound of egg before realising he really shouldn't open his mouth at all while there was that much food in it. He shrugged his shoulders in the only attempt at an apology he could make under the circumstances, and headed for the side door the teachers normally used out of the Great Hall. As he left, he could hear Severus embarking on a short conversation with Dumbledore about the letter from Munich.




Harry still hated travelling by portkey. And he'd never travelled by any mode of magical transport this far before. Come to think of it, he'd never travelled this far by any non-magical mode of transport, either.

'This is the furthest from home I've ever, ever been,' he said, when they arrived in an alleyway in the Haidhausen district of Munich.

'Kindly keep in mind that we are not here for a holiday.' Severus pocketed the now-dormant portkey within his voluminous robes and began striding toward the mouth of the alley.

Harry felt a sudden juvenile urge to poke his tongue out at his lover's back. Instead, he slung his black backpack lightly onto his shoulder and trudged after Snape, wondering half-seriously if there was any reason for him to feel jealous of Draco being in trouble making Severus treat Harry so off-handedly.

'So, do you know where we're going?' Harry fell into step beside Snape and quickened his pace slightly so that he could stand a chance of keeping up with the man's stride.

'The address was on the letter, Potter.'

'Yeah… but do you know where we're going?'

Black eyes darted sideways at him briefly. 'It is not far.'

'So you know your way around Munich?'

'A little.'

'Man of surprises, aren't you?'

'You've managed to bring one or two of them to the fore.'

Harry smirked. The street they were walking along was lined with impressive houses, most of them about five or six storeys high, beautifully old but impeccably kept. Then turned left into another street, and then left again into another, the houses somewhat smaller here but no less impressive. When they took a right turn into a much narrower street where the houses looked even older, Snape took the letter from one of his many pockets and checked the street-number of the address. He crossed the quiet street to the other side, Harry close by his side.

Number 37 was made of red brick with white stone surrounding the door and windows. The large brass door-knocker with which Snape now knocked loudly was cast in the shape of a bear.

'Is this Draco's house?'

Snape cast a look first to their right and then their left. 'No. Draco lives at either number thirty-five or number thirty-nine. This house is where our letter came from.'

Harry hardly had time to feel a tiny warmth at hearing Snape refer to the correspondence as "our letter" before the door swung open and a stout, grandmotherly-looking woman stood there, appraising them with a stern expression.

'Frau Werner?' Severus enquired, pronouncing the W as a V.

'Ja?' the woman answered him suspiciously.

'Professor Severus Snape,' Snape announced and executed a bow so perfect and impressive that Harry almost expected him to click his boot heels together as he did it.

The woman's expression broke into a relieved smile. 'Ah! Herr Snape!' She took a step back and gestured them into the interior of the house.

'Sprechen sie Englisch, Frau Werner?' Snape asked as soon as they were inside.

'Yes,' she smiled. 'I speak some English. I cannot write it, but speaking…' she shrugged and smiled again.

'Excellent,' nodded Severus. 'For my German is horrendously schoolboy, I'm afraid.' He placed his right hand on Harry's shoulder. 'May I introduce my assistant? Mister Harold Evans.'

Harold Evans? Harry glanced sideways at Snape before looking back to their hostess. 'Hello,' he smiled at her.

'Hello, Mister Evans,' she smiled back. 'Welcome to Munchen.'

'Thank-you. It's very nice. Er, what I've seen of it so far.'

'Please, come through.' Frau Werner led them both down to the end of the hallway and into a large, welcoming kitchen with a roaring fire and tempting cooking aromas.

Harry and Snape were ushered into seats at the table while their hostess fussed over the making of a pot of tea and producing an assortment of shallow sweet dishes overflowing with an enticing selection of sweets and treats.

'I make these myself,' she told them proudly, setting yet another bowl of deliciousness down on the table. 'I have a shop. Please try them.'

Harry happily dove in and sampled practically everything. God, it was all amazing stuff! Dumbledore and Ron would've loved this. It was like being a guest in the home of Mrs Honeyduke herself! It was only when Severus delicately plucked a dark chocolate truffle out of one of the dishes that Harry realised he'd never seen Snape eat any sweets other than desserts at dinner. The Potions Master had certainly always done nothing more than glare at Dumbledore's repeated offerings of lemon sherbets and boiled sweets. Harry found himself fascinated (and, embarrassingly turned on) by the sight of his lover discreetly sucking chocolate off his long, pale fingers. Damn, being a horny teenager could be inconvenient at times…

When Frau Werner finally sat herself down at the table with them, Snape wasted no time getting to the reason for them being there.

'May I ask how Draco is?' he asked her. To Harry, it sounded like Snape's voice was as dark and delectable as the chocolate he had just been eating. He crossed his legs under the table.

'Such a beautiful young man,' she said sadly, shaking her head over her tea.

Harry's natural reaction was to laugh or scoff at the description of his old nemesis, but he held himself in check and sipped his tea quietly.

'These Malfoys,' Frau Werner continued, 'A wealthy family, I assume?'

Snape was still for a moment before giving one, short nod in the affirmative.

'And they have lost much with this war you English have just had?' She didn't wait for any agreement from Snape this time. 'The Dragon tells me his father is in prison. And his mother…' Frau Werner sighed. 'Well, he does not seem to know what has become of his mother. Poor lamb.'

Harry was glad for the fruit pastille he had just popped into his mouth, because he was sure he really would have laughed out loud at hearing Draco described as a "poor lamb". As if.

Frau Werner tapped her stubby fingers against the side of her teacup. 'I don't think his mind is well, Herr Snape. And his body, too. So thin. So little sleep. For days, sometimes, I hear him next door, as though sleep has left him for good.' She glanced at Harry for a moment, then looked back to Snape. 'Should your young man hear such things?' she asked.

'What things?' asked Harry.

Snape gave him a look that Harry recognised as his "Silence!" glare from class, then turned his attention back to the woman. 'Mister Evans can hear whatever I hear, Frau Werner.'

She nodded, gazing into the depths of her cup for a moment. 'I believe the boy has taken to… debasing himself. Perhaps others, as well. Drink and other vices. Darker vices. Sometimes I hear other voices from the house, though he swears to me he is living alone.' She leaned forward slightly, pinning Severus with a no-nonsense stare. 'Gigolos,' she almost whispered.

Harry felt his eyes widen at the word. Draco was buying male prostitutes? Surely not? Draco was straight! Wasn't he? He'd certainly bedded most of the Slytherin girls at Hogwarts in the last year or so of school. And a fair portion of girls from other Houses, too, for that matter. Certainly never went begging for female company, that's for sure. Perhaps Severus knew otherwise though, 'cos he wasn't acting like he was surprised by the information in the slightest. But then again, he wouldn't, would he? Even if he was shocked beyond imagination. Harry took a slow mouthful of tea and watched on silently.

'I see,' was all Snape said, as Frau Werner took up her drink again and sat back further in her seat. Severus looked in Harry's direction briefly before speaking to the woman again. 'I think I should go see Mister Malfoy now. May I ask which house is his?'

'Thirty-nine,' she told him, gesturing to the wall to her left. 'Shall I accompany you?'

Snape stood up from the table, shaking his head. 'Thank-you, but no. Mister Evans and I shall proceed alone.'

Harry drained his tea and set his cup down, taking Snape's cue to stand up and push his chair back in to the table. Frau Werner also stood, following behind Snape as he led the way back into the hallway.

'Thank-you, dear lady,' Severus said when they all reached the front door, 'for bringing all this to my attention. And for sending for me. I shall let you know of our progress.' He gave a shallow bow.

Frau Werner promised more sweets on their next visit as she held the door open for them and bid them goodbye, smiling particularly at Harry as she waved and closed the door again.

Harry turned and followed Snape to the next house along, a thousand questions crowding his brain. Snape was peering along the street, first in one direction and then in another, no doubt checking for passersby. Then he took out his wand and tapped it against Draco's front door.

'No wards, Malfoy?' Severus muttered under his breath. 'What are you thinking?' Then he pointed his wand at the deadlock and incanted 'Alohomora' quietly. The lock clicked and the door swung open silently before them.

The house seemed to be set out as a mirror image of the Werner house next door - a long hallway with various rooms leading off it on one side and a large kitchen at the end. Finding no sign of anyone on the ground floor, Severus and Harry crossed to the staircase and ascended to the upper level. Several rooms were empty even of furniture, though one looked like it was being used as a loungeroom, albeit the sort one would expect to find in a share-house populated by teenaged Muggles, rather than one aristocratically-raised wizard.

There, surrounded by empty wine and beer bottles, takeaway food containers, compact music discs and various paraphernalia, slumped a thin, blonde figure, his head resting on his arms which were propped on a messy table.

'Is he asleep?' whispered Harry.

'I very much hope so,' was the terse reply.

Snape kicked an empty bottle out of his path and strode across the room. Gently, he lay one hand onto Draco's rather bony looking shoulder and gave a tentative shake. The blonde head shifted slightly and Harry was sure he could hear a soft groan. He let out a slow breath; so Malfoy was alive, at least.

'Mister Malfoy?' Severus shook the shoulder a little more roughly. 'Malfoy, wake up!' There was another groan and Draco moved just enough that his head fell off his arms and thunked onto the tabletop. That looked to be about as awake as he was likely to get in the next little while. Snape made an impatient noise and pulled his hand back from the boy's shoulder. He reached forward and, gathering up a fistful of blonde hair, pulled Draco's head up off the table so as to see his face.

Draco looked terrible. Extremely pale, even for a Malfoy, and with purple bags under his closed eyes. His lips were dry and cracked and his cheekbones, always delicate and chiselled, now looked too sharp, due to the extreme thinness of his face. Snape eased Draco's head back down to the tabletop and instead moved his attention to the boy's left forearm.

Harry moved further into the room, coming to stand beside Severus as the older man gingerly eased the sleeve of Draco's black shirt up to the elbow. 'Fucking hell,' whispered Harry, looking down at the mess of Draco's forearm.

Like Snape's own Mark, Draco's Dark Mark had faded. Harry supposed that every former Death Eater still alive must have noticed their Mark fading since Voldemort had fallen. Unlike Snape's Mark, however, Draco's was criss-crossed by slashes and cuts, wounds old and scarred, wounds barely healed and wounds fresh and still bleeding. To Harry, it looked like Draco had been trying to scrape the Mark off his skin by sheer force.

The sound of Severus sighing seemed to fill the room. 'Stupid, stupid boy.' Snape's voice was low and cheerless, emotion threatening to spill over at any moment. Harry wouldn't have been able to articulate precisely why, but the thought of the usually so reserved man being moved by this pathetic scene made Harry's heart ache. He watched as Severus took Draco's forearm in both his hands, one cradling the elbow the other holding the thin wrist tenderly, as he stared down at the overly abused flesh. 'That doesn't work, Draco,' he whispered to the unconscious blonde. 'Nothing works.'

Harry managed to tear his eyes away from the morbid fascination of Draco's arm to look up at his lover's face. The way Severus had said those words… Harry moved to put his arms around Snape's waist from behind and pressed his face against Severus' back, sensing how tense Snape's shoulders were.

'Come away,' Harry whispered against the rough fabric of heavy robes. He stepped back, one hand moving up to Snape's shoulder. 'Come away,' he said more firmly. Slowly, he managed to exert enough pressure that Severus relinquished his hold on Draco's arm, and allowed Harry to steer him back toward the hallway.

'It'll be okay,' Harry said soothingly once they were back outside the room. He stroked the long, lank hair back from Snape's face and looked into his love's fathomless black eyes. 'We're here now,' he cooed softly, 'we can help him. He'll be alright.'

Snape stared at Harry for a long, still moment, his expression unreadable. Then he was leaning in and pushing his mouth against Harry's, a kiss as possessive as it was bittersweet. Caught off guard, Harry found himself pressed against the hallway wall, Severus looming over him as the kiss deepened. Harry grabbed up handfuls of robe as he pulled the larger body solidly against his own, fancying that he could actually kiss Snape's tension away if he could only make the kiss as perfect as possible.

'You'll stay with me?' Severus murmured against his lips, using the exact question that Harry had asked before they turned to face Voldemort in the final battle.

'I'll stay with you,' Harry mouthed back, using Snape's response to that question as his own now.

Severus pulled back from the kiss and pressed their foreheads together. 'Thank-you.'

Harry moved a hand to the back of Severus' neck, groping through the tendrils of black hair until his palm and fingers were against the warm skin at the nape. Applying some gentle pressure, he brought Snape's mouth down to his own again.

You can never tell how days are going to turn out, Harry found himself thinking. Not even midday, and I'm kissing Severus in a strange house in Germany. He stroked Snape's tongue with his own and hummed into the heat and wetness of the mouth he loved so much.

Chapter Eleven

'Draco? Is that you out there?'

Severus lifted his face from Harry's and looked in the direction from which the voice had come. The hallway he and Potter were standing in ended with a door to whatever room overlooked the street below, most likely Draco's bedroom, seeing as no other room they had thus far seen had contained a bed of any description.

Whilst Potter was still looking flushed and kiss-bruised from being soundly snogged for the last few minutes, he at least had the wherewithal to have already drawn his wand and edge slowly toward the closed door. Snape drew his own wand, wiping his mouth hurriedly with the back of his other hand, and stepped around Harry so that whatever lurked on the other side of the door would encounter himself first, not his lover. Slowly and as quietly as possible, Severus turned the door handle and eased the door open. It was indeed Draco's bedroom, the drapes pulled shut over the one large window. There were few furnishings other than the four-poster bed, though plenty of clothes were strewn about the floor. Severus supposed that Malfoy had become such a prize slob, the instant there were no longer any house elves on hand to pick up after him.

'Draco?'

The young male voice was coming from the bed. Snape waved his wand at the sconces along the two longest walls and the room was suddenly brighter, starker.

'Oh…' Potter exclaimed quietly at Severus' side as they both stared. A young man was lying face down amid the bedclothes, a thin blanket half thrown over his apparently naked form. His legs were spread and each ankle shackled to a bottom corner of the bed frame. Shackles also held his wrists, both held together by a thick chain that disappeared into the bedhead.

'Who's there?' he asked, feebly trying to turn his head enough to see over first one shoulder and then the other. 'Where's Draco? Who are you?'

Severus crossed purposefully over to the bed's side. 'Do not be alarmed,' he told the young man. 'We are friends of Mister Malfoy. We wish you no harm.' He crouched down as the youth turned his head toward his voice and looked at him. Severus swallowed. 'My name is Severus,' he said in a thick voice. 'And my assistant over there is Harry. Should I unchain you?'

'Please,' the stranger nodded. 'I'm bloody freezing. The blankets moved during the night…'

Snape passed his wand over the manacles and they sprang open. Sitting up slowly, limbs obviously aching, the youth dragged the blanket around himself and did his best to burrow underneath some of the other covers as well. He was a good looking lad, about nineteen years, with brown hair and eyes, a wiry build and probably about Harry's height. He had tattoos on his arms and needed a shave.

'I'm Andrew,' he told them. 'I, I recognise both of you.' His cheeks flushed slightly and he looked down rather than meeting their eyes.

Severus and Harry exchanged a surprised look. Harry moved over to one of the few other pieces of furniture in the room, a solitary wooden chair, and picked up a small pile of what looked to be photographs. Snape saw Potter's eyes getting wider and huger as he moved through the stack. Suddenly, Harry's head snapped up and he stared at Snape in shock before slowly looking down at the picture in his hand again. Severus went to stand beside him and peered over his shoulder. All of the photographs were of Draco having sex with various people in this very room.

'They aren't moving,' Severus noted softly.

'Muggle photos,' Harry explained. 'A type called Polaroid. The camera spits photos out as it goes.'

Snape nodded but his mind was hardly concerned with the workings of the Muggle device. Not when he was looking at scene after scene of Draco fucking Ronald Weasley, Oliver Wood, Neville Longbottom and… Harry Potter.

'I swear, Severus, this isn't me! I swear to you!'

'Well, of course it isn't you.' Snape took the batch of photos into his own hands and sorted through the last few. 'Hm. I rather doubt that the governors of Azkaban let Lucius out to pay a conjugal visit to his only son, either.' He held up the photo in question so that Harry could see it.

'His own father?!' The look on Harry's face would have been funny if this entire situation weren't so sordid and unsettling.

'No, you twit, of course not. No more than this one is you, or these others are your friends.' He glanced down at another of Draco mounting Oliver Wood and gave a slight shrug. 'Mister Wood, on the other hand, is not someone whose movements I can attest to quite so confidently.'

'Do you think it's… Polyjuice?'

Severus looked down into Potter's emerald eyes. 'Can you conceive of a better explanation for this?' He waved a Polaroid of Harry sucking Draco's cock in his lover's face, watching Harry's blush spread.

'But why would Draco even want to do that?' Potter whispered in confusion. 'I don't think he even likes me! And I always thought he was straight anyway!'

'He doesn't. And he is. As for the Why… I'd wager it's Draco's rather twisted idea of private revenge. It probably makes him feel better about himself, on a base level, for a short while at least. Afterwards, he no doubt feels wracked by guilt and self-loathing. And thus starts a vicious circle.'

'Revenge? But he's having sex with us!'

'Sex can sometimes be used for decidedly unromantic ends, Harry. And people don't always have sex only with those that they like.' Severus watched Potter's face for a moment as he struggled to take in these alien concepts. He passed Harry another photo. 'He's not making love to you, Harry. He's fucking you.' Snape squeezed Harry's shoulder briefly then returned to the bed.

Andrew had crawled out to retrieve some clothes while they were going through the photos, and now sat on the edge of the bed, a cigarette hanging out one corner of his mouth, his shaking hands trying to get a lighter to work. Severus took it from him gently and ignited it, holding the flame steady while the young man puffed the cigarette into life.

'Thanks,' Andrew croaked as Snape extinguished the flame and handed the lighter back.

'Did Mister Malfoy get you to drink something before these photos were taken, Andrew?'

Smoke billowed out of the youth's mouth. 'How'd you know that's me?'

'I assumed.'

Andrew nodded. 'Yeah. Polyjuice potion. Draco's got a few different bottles of the stuff.' He gestured vaguely toward the wardrobe. 'Each one's a different person.' He looked Snape square in the eye but inclined his head toward where Harry stood on the other side of the room. 'One of his favourites,' he murmured, just for Snape's ears.

Severus felt his jaw clench at the mumbled confidence. 'Does Draco pay you for your services?'

'Handsomely. Treatment's not always the best, obviously, but it's a better gig than most I've had.'

It was Severus' turn to nod. 'Are you hungry? Or thirsty perhaps?'

Andrew smiled, an expression that changed his entire face, made him look younger. 'Yeah. Cuppa'd be great.'

'Harry?' Snape called. Potter was still staring at the stack of photos. 'Put those down, for Merlin's sake! Would you please go to the kitchen and see about making us all a cup of tea or some such?' Harry nodded absent-mindedly and shuffled toward the door, leaving the photographs on the wooden chair where he'd found them.

'I've been you, too,' Andrew told Snape once Harry had left. His gaze flickered down Snape's body and back up again brazenly. 'There's no photos of that though. It was different to the other times. When I was you he let me do other things to normal.' The youth tilted his head to one side as he looked up at Severus. 'That's the only time he'd let me top him. Did you used to be lovers?'

'Not in the slightest. I was his teacher.'

'Oh. Right.'

'Are you a wizard, Andrew?'

'Not really. Squib.'

So that's how the lad knew what Polyjuice potion was, then. 'I see. And you are English?'

'Originally. Been here a few years.' His thin shoulders shrugged. 'Travel around quite a bit.'

'Very well. Why don't you go down to the kitchen now? I'll make Mister Malfoy comfortable and join you presently.'

'Sure.' Andrew stood up and crossed to the door, arms folded tight to his chest. 'Thanks, by the way. He doesn't normally leave me that long like that but, you know, he obviously indulged a bit more than he meant to last night.' He shrugged and headed out to the hallway.

Severus let out a long breath. Draco had a lot of fucking explaining to do. He ventured back into the grotty loungeroom and pointed his wand at Malfoy's slumped form. 'Mobilicorpus!' he incanted and watched the inert body float up from its sitting position. Draco's knees banged into the lower lip of the table on the way up, but Snape was too angry to care much right now. Slowly, he levitated the unconscious boy out of the room and through the doorway of the bedroom, unceremoniously dropping him onto the bed once there. He removed Draco's boots and rolled him onto his stomach, arranging his body in such a way that if Draco were to vomit in his sleep, he would at least not suffer the ignominious death of drowning in it. He pulled the covers over his former student and took a moment to simply look at him. The Malfoys had undeniably gotten Draco out of harm's way by sending him out of Britain when the war worsened - but at what cost now?

'Stupid, stupid boy,' he said to the back of the blonde head, his voice containing far more venom than when he'd said the same words earlier, upon seeing Draco's bloodied Mark. He drew his wand again and placed an alarm spell on Draco's sleeping form, a simple alert system that would let Snape know when Draco awoke. Although he knew precisely what he would find there, he opened the wardrobe door and checked that indeed, yes, there were six potions bottles standing on the floor there, four labelled with Gryffindor names, two with Slytherins. Disgusted, he gathered them up and walked out to the hallway. Turning in the open doorway, he enveloped the bedroom in a protection ward - more to stop Draco from leaving than for actually protecting the boy from anything. Satisfied now that Malfoy couldn't drown in his sleep, wake up or try to leave without Snape knowing, Severus pulled the door closed and headed back downstairs and through to the kitchen.

Potter and Draco's gigolo were discussing tattoos over cups of coffee, Harry perched atop one of the kitchen benches, Andrew standing and leaning against the table in the middle of the room. Draco obviously had not got around to purchasing dining chairs. Just as well that Severus was in the mood for a spot of pacing, really.

'Couldn't find any tea, sorry,' Harry told him when he walked into the room. 'I made a pot of coffee though.'

'Thank-you.' Snape set the Polyjuice bottles down roughly on one of the spare benches and poured himself a cup of steaming blackness, rather conscious of the fact that his scowl felt like it was now permanently attached.

'I guess I should go,' muttered Andrew, walking to the sink to rinse his cup out. He looked over at Severus. 'I can go, right?'

'Are you owed any money by Mister Malfoy at the moment?' Snape asked him.

'Nah, he's all paid up. Usually pays in advance.'

'You have a regular arrangement here?'

Andrew nodded and shrugged at the same time. 'Most weekends and sometimes during the week. Draco hasn't really got any friends here, you know?'

'His loneliness must cost him quite a bit.'

'Well, I'm not cheap, if that's what you mean. Especially not when there's potions involved.'

Snape nodded. 'And quite right, too, I should think.' He couldn't help but admire this young man's self-dependency and forthrightness. 'You should be aware that we'll probably be taking Mister Malfoy back to Britain with us as soon as he's well enough to travel. You may have to seek other customers, I'm afraid.'

Andrew grinned. 'That's not hard. Been thinking of moving on to Berlin, anyhow. Thanks again.'

'Take care,' Severus murmured.

'Will do.' Andrew shoved his hands into his jacket pockets. 'Thanks for the coffee, Harry.'

Severus noticed Harry's blush as the gigolo turned and loped out of the room. A moment later brought the sound of the front door opening and closing again. Snape took a drink of his coffee but found he had difficulty swallowing, his jaw was clenched so tight.

He wanted… to hit something, or hex something. He wanted… to drag Malfoy out of his bed and his slumber and kick him down the staircase, throwing his bottles of Polyjuice and sordid photographs down after him. He wanted… to push Potter up against the nearest wall and force his cock into his body, pounding and throbbing inside him until they both collapsed. He wanted… to beg his lover to make love to him, to absolve him of all his mistakes, to blank out his mind, to hold him and soothe him. He wanted… Harry.

Snape put his coffee cup down and ran both hands through his hair, momentarily pressing the pads of his fingers against his temples as he did so. He definitely had a headache threatening. He looked over at Harry and crossed his arms over his chest defensively. 'Any thoughts, Potter?'

'About what?'

He resisted the urge to roll his eyes. 'About all of this? Malfoy, the Polyjuice, the photos? Everything?' He paused, feeling that annoying little twitch under his right eye make its presence known again. 'Me?' he added quietly.

'I feel sort of…' Potter's green gaze flickered to the six bottles standing on the bench and then away again, as though he found them too vile to look at for long. 'Used, I guess. Even though it wasn't me. I feel a bit, I dunno… dirty?'

'Defiled?'

Twin spots of colour darkened Potter's cheeks. The green gaze fell to the floor tiles. 'Even though it wasn't me,' he repeated. 'Yeah, I think I do.'

Snape nodded vaguely. 'After you left the room Andrew told me, well, one of those,' he pointed a long finger at the bottles, 'is me. I share your feelings on the subject.'

'Wouldn't Malfoy have needed some of our hair or something?'

Severus used all his self control to not call his love an imbecile. 'Draco lived in the same building with us for seven years, Potter. His opportunities would have been endless.'

They were both silent for some minutes, the kitchen clock sounding appallingly loud all of a sudden.

'I would like to make love to you, Harry.'

Verdant eyes locked onto his. Was there fear there? Apprehension, at best? Severus watched Potter's throat move as the boy swallowed. 'I, I don't know. Don't know if I want to right now.'

'I think you should.'

Blink. 'Why?'

Snape took a few steps toward his lover. 'Because it's important that you should reinforce for yourself the difference between what we do and what Malfoy's been doing with us. The sooner the better, I believe. And also because I, too, would appreciate that same reinforcement right now.' He was surprised to see a small smile move hesitantly over Harry's pale features, and instinctively raised an eyebrow in response.

'That must be the most unromantic romantic thing anybody's ever said.' The small smile got fractionally larger.

'I want to make love to you,' Severus repeated, whispering.

Harry nodded and stepped forward a few paces, pulling at his jacket already. Snape cupped both hands around Harry's face and brought their mouths together. He was vaguely aware of Potter undoing his belt and jeans as they kissed, and he felt his body swell with relief and anticipation, happiness too. He pushed one hand down the back of Harry's trousers and pulled the smaller body up tight against his own. He kissed the boy deeper, with all the hunger he could convey, then peered over Harry's shoulder at the kitchen table.

Breaking the kiss, Potter turned his head to see what Severus was looking at. The table was full of junk - empty tins, newspapers, dirty dishes and cutlery, Merlin knew what else - but it was a fairly agreeable height, at least. Making his mind up, Snape bent slightly and swept his free hand across the nearest couple of feet of tabletop, brusquely knocking everything from that section onto the floor in a disordered heap. He looked up from the mess to see his lover smirking at him.

Harry pointed at more mess a little further down the table. 'I don't think I really fancy being bent over with my nose too close to all that lot, you know.'

'Indeed?' Severus removed his other hand from Harry's clothing and picked the younger man up at the waist, depositing him into a rough sit on the table's edge. 'Is facing me more acceptable, then?'

Emerald eyes glinted. 'Get these off me.' Potter was already leaning back and lifting his hips up, trying to get his denim jeans down his legs. Severus supposed that was an adequate enough answer to his question and crouched down to pull Harry's trainers off so that the jeans could follow. Gods, the boy looked painfully erect inside his y-fronts. Snape gently helped Harry get those off, too, his own body straining with want and need. Potter pulled his thin tshirt over his head and suddenly there was all that nakedness, all that warm, goose-bumping flesh, all that hard cock and musky odour of arousal. Severus felt an almost uncontrollable compulsion to worship.

Oh, Merlin… He had to bend a bit to snog the boy now, accidentally knocking their noses together in his eagerness. 'What can we use?' Harry mumbled against his mouth, ending the sentence with a careful nibble along Snape's bottom lip and a stabbing lick at his tongue.

Severus reached into one of the many pockets in his travelling robe and produced a small tube of his homemade lubricant. Normally, he would have tried to say something vaguely amusing and in a mock-imperious tone, but the events of the day thus far, coupled with Potter licking at his earlobe right now, rendered Snape incapable of levity. He set the lube on the tabletop and pulled his robe off, setting upon the buttons of his black jacket even before the first garment had landed on the floor. Two smaller hands joined his on the task of getting his unbeautiful body sufficiently uncovered.

'Fucking buttons!' cursed Harry, his laugh falling into Severus' mouth as they shared another, sloppier, kiss.

Snape's fingers smeared gel between Potter's spread legs. 'Open for me,' he whispered at Harry's ear.

Potter finished pushing Snape's jacket and shirt off. 'Yes,' he sighed, leaning back a little so that he could move his legs further apart.

Severus traced the shell of Harry's ear with the tip of his large, hooked nose, his eyes closing as he felt the smaller body taking two of his fingers in. Oh… His mouth found its way back to Harry's and fed on him there, their breaths moving in and out of each other's lungs.

Harry's arms were around him, one hand splayed between his shoulder blades, the other pulling him forward, encouraging him to bring their bodies together. Yes. Snape jolted as Harry took him in hand, pulling on his hard length insistently. His tongue didn't want to leave Harry's mouth, and now his cock was leaking onto another entrance into that lovely body. Severus blindly exchanged his fingers for his erection, feeling it twitch as the head slid snugly into the hot grip of muscle.

Potter's legs wrapped around him, ankles crossing in the small of his back, pulling him down, pulling him in, willing him to fall into Harry's body. Let go, Severus, let go and fall… he'll catch you…

'I love you.' He smeared the words along Harry's throat with his lips. He moved his feet slightly, rearranging his weight against Harry and against the table properly and then, with one arm curved around Harry's hips and the other around the back of his neck so that Harry's head could rest in the crook of his elbow, he began to thrust slowly, firmly.

Potter folded his arms around Snape's shoulders and held on, opening himself up, making a gift of himself, angling his pelvis as best he could. 'This isn't as easy as I thought it might be,' he growled.

'Lean back further,' Severus instructed him, simultaneously scooting Harry's arse closer to the table's edge. 'Lean back and I'll hold you.'

'Don't let me fall on all that rubbish, will you?' Harry leaned back tentatively a few inches, his body tense.

'Let you fall?' Snape looked down into Harry's eyes as he felt his cock slide fully into the welcoming hold of his lover's body. 'Never.' He pulled out a little way and thrust back in again. 'Never,' he repeated and welded his mouth over Harry's, sensing the tension in Harry's posture fade away.

Chapter Twelve

'Oh. God.'

Harry gazed blankly up at the ceiling of Draco Malfoy's kitchen, his chest heaving, his head cradled by one large hand that held him secure, holding him just inches off the assortment of crap that littered the table upon which he was by now practically lying. Snape's lips were mouthing softly at Harry's left collarbone, sweat-damp black hair tickling Harry's throat. Slowly, Severus raised his head from Harry's body and gazed down into his face, an almost-smile threatening at the corners of his thin mouth. The black eyes seemed to glisten as Harry returned the gaze, moving one of his hands from Severus' shoulder to smooth a swathe of hair back.

'I would rather not have to move right now,' Snape murmured. 'But I don't know how much longer I can keep both of us in this position.'

Harry grinned. 'I guess that's why fucking in beds is so much more popular than on kitchen tables.'

'Indeed.' Severus kissed him again and then began to ease himself back, sliding his spent cock out of Harry's body and helping Harry to sit up properly again.

Harry felt very achy. He was certain the backs of his thighs would develop twin bruises in short order, formed there by Snape's sharp hips banging against him. And his tailbone ached from being pressed down on the hard timber of the table. That his arse ached from the pounding it had just endured barely needed noting. Every other muscle in his body seemed to be letting him know of its existence, too. He noticed Severus rubbing his red-sore elbows and realised his lover probably ached even more than he did right now. The love making had been worth it, though. Snape had been right - they'd both needed that. It had been sweet and hard and loving and brutal, and they'd shagged so intensely that the other end of the table lost an empty drinking glass to the slate floor and an advertising pamphlet for Thestral agistment had vibrated its way under Harry's right shoulder and stuck there.

Severus cast a cleansing spell over both their bodies before spelling the smashed drinking glass back together and depositing it in the sink. He passed Harry some of his clothes before starting on his own dressing.

'Hey,' said Harry as, still sitting naked on the edge of Malfoy's table, he watched Severus re-buttoning his trousers. It wasn't often that he got to see Snape's body in light this good; usually they were either in the gloom that still permeated 12 Grimmauld Place or within the windowless environs of Hogwarts' dungeons, at least two storeys below the murky lake. To be able to look at Severus in daytime, with no artificial lighting at all, was a rare treat indeed. Harry reached both hands out and pulled Snape closer, running his fingertips up the surprisingly strong wiry arms, across the sparsely-haired chest, down onto the slightly concave stomach. He traced a couple of white scars with one index finger, lingering longest on one that cut down Severus' left breast, only narrowly missing the dark nipple there. How had his lover sustained all of these scars, he wondered? Had this one been carved here by someone attempting to get to his heart? Harry suppressed a shudder. It was probably best that he never find out the full details of all the stories Snape's body could tell.

'I am sorry that I can't be a little… lovelier, for you.'

Harry looked up at the sound of the dark voice, his brow creasing into a frown. 'You're the loveliest thing I've ever seen,' he told the man and watched the pale lips press together in consternation. 'You are,' he reiterated, 'Just accept it, okay?' He ran his hand up to Snape's throat and slipped it around to the back of his neck, gently pulling him down to his own upturned face. 'I love you,' he muttered as he pressed their mouths together fleetingly. 'And bloody HELL, we're amazing together!'

Snape pulled back, an amused smirk telling Harry he agreed, and continued dressing himself. 'I should go next door and let Frau Werner know of Draco's condition.'

'Anything you want me to do?'

Severus' black gaze travelled appreciatively over Harry's naked form. 'Perhaps you should think about getting dressed?'

'Seriously.'

Snape tucked the tails of his white shirt into his trousers. 'Waving a wand over all this mess wouldn't go astray. Disagreeable as it might be to even ask you to clean up after Malfoy...'

'It's okay. I don't mind at all. We're here to help, right?'

Severus nodded, buttoning up his black jacket and attempting to smooth his hair down. 'Do I look presentable?'

'I preferred the way you looked on top of me ten minutes ago.'

Eyebrow. 'ARE you going to dress yourself? Or should I strip again and give you another going over?'

Harry's cock lifted its head up in interest. 'Um,' he was surprised to feel himself blushing.

Snape's laugh was soft. 'Incorrigible brat,' he murmured, shaking his head a little. 'I shall be back shortly. Do try to put some clothes on while you're cleaning, won't you, Cinderslut?' He smirked again and walked toward the door into the hallway.

Harry jumped down off the table and scurried to the kitchen door himself, socks sliding on the slate tiles. 'Hey!' he called down the long corridor. 'What do I do if Malfoy wakes up while you're gone?'

'I've put an alarm charm on him, so I shall know,' Severus called back over his shoulder as he reached the front door. 'I'll Apparate back straight away if it goes off.' He cast another smirking look down the hall to Harry, standing naked except for his socks in the kitchen doorway. 'My brat,' Harry thought he heard Snape mutter, and then the front door was swinging open and depositing the Potions Master into the street.




Cleaning up the kitchen and the loungeroom hardly took any time at all, thanks to the efficiency of "foolish wand waving". Harry was pouring himself a glass of water when he was suddenly startled by a loud thudding noise coming from upstairs. Almost simultaneously, it seemed, Snape appeared in the kitchen.

'He's awake, I take it?' Harry passed his wand over the front of his tshirt, making the water he'd spilt there disappear.

Snape was already striding out of the room though and didn't bother answering Harry's rhetorical question. Harry put his glass of water down and trailed after him. He came to stand behind Snape at the end of the second storey hallway, the sound of Draco banging on the bedroom door remarkably loud as it reverberated off the close walls.

'Mister Malfoy!' Severus shouted at the door. 'Cease that racket this instant!'

The thudding stopped immediately. 'Pr-Professor Snape? Is that you?'

'Yes, Mister Malfoy, it most certainly is. May I come in?'

'There's some sort of ward on the room, sir. I don't know if you can.'

'I put that ward on your room, Malfoy. Kindly go and sit on the bed, if you please.' Snape took out his wand and turned to Harry. 'Perhaps,' he whispered, 'it might be best if Draco doesn't see you at first, Potter.' He nodded toward the loungeroom doorway. 'Wait there for the time being.'

'Okay.' Harry tried not to pout as he took just a couple of steps into the next room and hovered near the door. He wanted to be able to hear what went on, afterall. He heard the bedroom door open.

'Where's my wand, sir?' Malfoy demanded straight away.

'I have it, Mister Malfoy. And I shall be keeping it for you until you can convince me that you are a little more mentally stable.'

'Mentally stable? How dare you!'

'I'd watch my mouth if I were you, young man.'

'You can't order me around now, Snape, you're not my teacher anymore.'

'No, but I am still your elder and you WILL show me due respect. Besides which, you are still an alumnus of Slytherin House, are you not?'

Harry figured that that little reminder must've cowed Draco sufficiently, because his voice had a less antagonistic timbre to it when he next spoke.

'How did you even find me?'

'I received a letter from a concerned friend of yours.'

'I don't have any friends.'

'You may not think so, but I can assure you there are people who care for your welfare.'

'So what, then? You've come here to take care of me?'

'In one way or another. Actually, I intend to take you home to England.'

'And what if I don't want to go?'

'I shall persuade you that you do.'

Harry wished he could see Draco's expression in response to that.

'Look, Snape, it's nice that you're concerned and all that but honestly, I'm an adult now and I think I can take care of myself.'

'Don't be a fool, Malfoy. And don't presume to treat me like one, either. You're living in squalor here. Your house is a mess, as are you. Just look at the state of yourself, boy! When was the last time you ate a proper meal or had a decent night's sleep? And what about all that rubbish you've been putting up your nose and your arm?'

'I - '

'And these!' Harry guessed that Snape was holding up the stack of sordid photographs for Draco to see. 'What is your explanation for this? This… depravity?'

'They're just a bit of fun. Besides, they're only Gryffindors.'

'Oh? I'd like to see you say that to Lucius.' Harry could guess which photo was being held up to illustrate that comment.

'That's… that's personal.'

'So personal you chose to share it with a whore and a photographer?'

'There wasn't a photographer! I spelled the camera to operate itself. Hey, where IS Andrew anyway? What'd you do with him?'

'Unshackled him and let him be on his way. Wonderful hospitality you display to your guests, Mister Malfoy.'

'I paid him well enough.'

'I should most certainly hope so.'

'Can I have those back, please?'

'I don't think so. It is unfair to these young men to have their likenesses starring in such pornography without their consent. Incendio!'

'No! You bastard! Those were my property!'

'The photographs may have been but the likenesses within them were not. Lucius, however, I think I might let you keep. The thought of this particular item maybe one day making its way into Azkaban, or perhaps even the Daily Prophet, fairly warms my black little heart.'

'Burn it.' Harry could just imagine Draco's baulk at the thought of anybody else - especially Lucius - ever getting to see that photo.

'Hm. Incendio!' There was a pause, then Snape spoke again. 'May I enquire… why your own father?'

There was a short rustling sound, like Draco was shrugging. 'Made me feel better. I enjoyed making Lucius scream.'

Snape sighed softly. 'Mister Malfoy, these are not the thought processes of a healthy young man. You do realise that, don't you?'

There was that rustling sound again. 'Everyone thinks I'm the bad guy anyway. It's something to live up to, at least.'

'Just because other people might think you the villain does not mean that you are obligated to prove them correct.'

'Speaking from experience are we, Professor?'

Pause. 'I did what I had to do.'

'You betrayed people you'd sworn allegiance to.'

'You swore the same allegiance I did, Mister Malfoy, but you won't find my Mark looking like I've tried to cut it off.'

Oh, touché, Snape! Harry smiled.

'Yeah, well,' Draco mumbled. 'Not much point in having it NOW, is there?'

'If you'd only leave it alone, you'd be able to see clearly that it is in fact fading. They've been doing so since Voldemort fell.'

'You never used to say his name!'

'Not while he was alive. Thanks to the heroics of Mister Potter, however, it is now safe to do so.'

'Humph. Not JUST Potter, from what I read.'

'Meaning?'

'Meaning that Potter reckons he couldn't have done it without you. YOU brought down the Dark Lord, Snape. You ended the dream.'

'That was no dream, you stupid boy, it was a nightmare as deranged as the mind that created it. And as I said, I did what I had to do.'

'I even tried getting a tattoo put over it, you know. It, it ate it.' Draco's voice was very quiet.

'Enough of all this for now. How about we try forcing some decent food down that scrawny neck of yours?'

'I am a bit hungry…'

'One other thing, Mister Malfoy. I am not alone on this little mission. I travelled with a companion and I expect you to treat him in a gentlemanly manner. Do I have your assurance that you will do so?'

'I have still got my good breeding, you know.'

Harry imagined Snape's eyebrow arching up at that comment.

'Do I have your assurance, Mister Malfoy?'

'Yeah, yeah, alright. Who is it?'

'Mister Potter, would you come here, please?'

Harry stepped into the hallway and leaned against the doorjamb of Draco's bedroom. 'Hi, Draco,' he murmured softly.

'You MUST be kidding me!' Draco spluttered.

'What was that about your good breeding, Malfoy?' asked Snape in an amused tone.

Draco glared at his former teacher, then glared at Harry for good measure. 'Welcome to Munich, Potter,' he sneered.

'Harry's cleaned your house for you today,' Severus told the blonde boy. 'Be civil to him.'

If anything, Draco's glare got darker. 'You better not have touched anything, Potter.'

'No, I did it all by wand,' Harry grinned, knowing it would infuriate Malfoy more if Harry didn't rise to any of his bait.

Snape began ushering the two younger men towards the doorway. 'Move, you two. Let's go find a decent restaurant.'




All through dinner, Harry found he could hardly stop smiling. It was juvenile of him in a way, he supposed - the fact that it amused him so much that he was sitting here with Snape and Malfoy, and Malfoy was acting like he was close to Snape just 'cos he'd been Snape's pet pupil and a House Prefect and all that, and yet in reality it was Harry that was closest to Snape, so close that he and Snape had been shagging on Malfoy's kitchen table that very afternoon and Malfoy didn't know. Harry grinned into his wine glass and tried to tell himself to grow the fuck up. But he couldn't help it.

'What are you so bloody happy about, Potter?' Draco finally demanded to know.

'Nothing,' Harry lied, smirking. 'Just thinking about what a good kitchen table you have, Malfoy. Good German construction, that.'

'Mister Potter.' Severus tapped his fingers on the tabletop, looking down his long nose at Harry. His voice held all the warning and threats of terrible physical harm that Harry needed to hear.

'Sorry,' Harry mumbled, trying to will his grin away.

'Fucking nutter,' Draco murmured.

'That's enough of that, Mister Malfoy,' said Snape in his best teacher's voice. 'Now then. We should discuss your return to England.'

'Do I have to?'

'I believe it would be in your best interest.'

'But where would I live?'

'Wiltshire, I presume. There is a rather large abode with your name on it, is there not?'

Draco scowled down at his gravy-smeared dinner plate and dirty utensils. 'I'd really rather not. Mother could turn up at any time for all I know. And besides, I just… I'd just really rather not be there, alright? It's not exactly a place full of happy memories you know. Couldn't I stay with you?'

'I have work, Mister Malfoy, not to mention finally being able to enjoy a private life for the first time in many, many years. Regretfully, I cannot be at your sole disposal.'

Draco seemed to find that slightly amusing. 'A private life?' he repeated. 'Well, good for you, Professor, you needed to get laid.' Harry could actually see Severus' jaw tighten, but if Draco noticed Snape's reaction, he didn't let it show. 'So, what IS to become of me, then?'

Severus seemed to be contemplating their options for a short moment. 'I would like Madam Pomfrey to give you a thorough medical examination.' He speared Draco with a sharp look. 'And whatever detoxification she deems necessary. You shall remain at Hogwarts until I can secure better lodgings for you.'

'So I will be staying with you afterall?' Draco grinned smugly.

Snape pursed his lips. 'I had an interesting conversation with your gigolo, Mister Malfoy.' The smug grin slid off Draco's face. 'I know that not all of your Polyjuice-fuelled romps were photographed.' Draco blushed. 'You will not be "staying with me", Mister Malfoy. You will be sequestered in Hogwarts' guest quarters. The further from me, the better, as far as I am concerned. If you will excuse me…' Snape pushed his chair back and rose from the table, giving them both a slight nod before crossing the restaurant to attend to the bill.

Draco was staring at his empty plate, his cheeks fairly burning with shame.

'You're an idiot, Malfoy.' Harry shook his head.

'Not everybody can be a saint like you, Potter.'

'Give it a rest.'

'What are you doing here anyway?'

Harry pushed his glasses further up the bridge of his nose. 'I asked.'

'Asked? How did you know to ask to come here?'

'I saw the letter about you.'

'How? Who showed it to you?'

'I was there when Severus received it.'

'Oh?'

'Gentlemen,' Snape's deep voice fell back over the table. 'Are we ready to leave?'

Chapter Thirteen

Severus leaned against Draco's bedroom wall, arms crossed, frowning as he watched the young Slytherin trying to pull his bed linen into some sort of order. 'Are you going to tuck the edges in at all?'

'Why bother? They're just going to come untucked again, aren't they?'

'Suit yourself.' Snape pushed away from the wall and removed his wand from his robes.

'Do you have to put those wards on me again?' Draco asked him when he saw the wand. 'Sir?' he added as he looked up at Snape with a pleading look.

'They are for your own protection as much as anything, Mister Malfoy. I shall take them down again by seven in the morning. Our portkey home is due for activation at eight. Do try to get a good night's sleep.'

The blonde seemed to accept his lot and plonked himself down onto the edge of his bed. 'I'm sorry there's no guest rooms, Professor.'

'Mister Potter is taking care of the transfiguration requirements as we speak. Do not trouble yourself about it.'

'Do you really trust him as much as you seem to, sir?'

'He has… earned my respect. And yes, I trust him.'

'It was him you betrayed the Dark Lord for, wasn't it? In the first war, I mean?'

'Mister Malfoy, I think this conversation can wait for anoth - '

'I've fucked up really badly, haven't I?'

Severus let his gaze travel over the formerly proud young man. Draco no longer even sat up straight or held his head high. Shoulders slumping and eyes downcast, young Malfoy presented a pitiful sight. Snape allowed himself to cross the distance between them and briefly lay a hand onto a rounded shoulder. 'You've made some bad choices, Draco, that is all. At your age, I made many of the same. It does not mean that you are damned forever.'

Silver eyes looked up at him. 'I always defended you to my father, sir. Just so you know.'

Snape removed his hand from Draco's shoulder and took a step away. 'Thank-you, Draco. Sleep now. I shall see you in the morning.' He retreated to the doorway again and began enveloping the room in a series of protective wards. 'Goodnight,' he said simply when he was finished and pulled the door closed behind him, adding one last ward onto the locking mechanism before stepping into the loungeroom.

'Did you include a silencer?' Harry whispered to him when he entered.

Severus nodded, looking around the room with veiled interest. Now that it had been tidied and cleaned, this room was actually fairly pleasant. Harry had transfigured the couch into a low-lying double bed and had lit floating sconces around the walls, lending the room a soft light. Snape pointed a finger at the bed. 'What do you call that, Mister Potter?'

'A futon!' chirped Harry. 'It's a Japanese bed. I tried one in a shop once when my Aunt wasn't looking. They're really firm. Quite nice.' Snape didn't doubt the bed's comfort, but right now he was considering that the words "quite nice" couldn't possibly be applied to a mere item of furniture when a naked Harry Potter was lounged within it so fetchingly.

Severus gave a half-hearted glower. 'I thought I told you, quite succinctly in fact, to transfigure us separate beds?'

'You trust your own wards, don't you?'

'Of course.'

'Well, then. Draco won't know. And everything'll be back to normal before you let him out in the morning.' Potter grinned up at him cheekily.

'Brat,' Snape muttered and closed the loungeroom door, putting a rudimentary ward and silencing charm onto this room as well. He then placed his wand next to Potter's on the coffee table currently being used as a bedside table, pointedly ignoring the tube of lubricant that Potter had placed there.

'I've just realised something!' Harry told him excitedly.

'Indeed?' Severus removed his robe and draped it over a nearby armchair. 'Do tell,' he said flatly.

'I've had sex in Germany now!'

Snape rolled his eyes. 'You mean to tell me you didn't realise this while you had my cock in your arse this afternoon?'

Potter shot him an amused look. 'You know what I mean. It's the first time I've had sex in a different country. That's something new for me.'

'You are forgetting Scotland, you prat. Germany is in fact the third country you've had sex in.'

A broad grin slid across Harry's face. 'Hey, you're right!' He very nearly bounced up and down on the bed in his overabundance of excitement. 'Sex in three different countries! I feel like James Bond or something!'

'James Bond?'

'Oh, he's a really famous Muggle character in movies and books. The greatest spy in the world. He leads this COMPLETELY exciting life and travels around the world, blowing up bad guys and shagging heaps of women.'

'In order to gain information, one presumes?'

'Yeah, and to stop the bad guys taking over the planet and all that.'

'Interesting. I was always led to believe that women were kept out of most positions of power in the Muggle world?'

'Huh? Um… I guess so. It's changing slowly, I s'pose, but yeah… Why?'

Severus removed his jacket and unbuttoned the top few buttons of his shirt. 'In these Bond stories, it's always women he has to sleep with in order to glean information? Never men?'

Harry's head tilted to one side as he thought about this for a moment. 'No, never men. He's like, THE most heterosexual character EVER.' Harry grinned. 'I guess he's kind of a jerk, really.'

Snape nodded vaguely, continuing to disrobe. Potter appeared to have sunk into either some deep thoughts or a protracted staring session as he watched Severus undress for bed. Perhaps both. When Snape lifted the covers and slid onto the firm cotton mattress, Harry still had his head propped up on one crooked elbow, gazing at Severus with an unreadable expression.

'Did you…'

'Yes, Potter.'

'I mean, did you have to…'

'Yes.'

'Oh.'

'This Japanese bed is actually quite comfortable, Harry. Well done.' Snape glanced sideways to find Potter still looking at him. 'What?'

'While you were spying for the Order… for us… you had to… do stuff like that?'

'It's a common enough spying tactic, Potter. Don't tell me it never occurred to you before?'

'I guess I never really thought about it properly, about all the ramifications, I mean.' The boy was quiet for a moment. And then, softly - 'So, sometimes at least, when you needed to get information out of some Death Eater or other…'

'Yes.' Severus stared straight up at the ceiling.

'I don't want to know who, do I?'

'I think not.'

A hand crept across the mattress, under the covers, until it touched him, the backs of the fingers rubbing lightly against his side. 'I'm sorry.'

Snape closed his eyes. 'Sorry for what, Potter?'

'Well, that you had to do stuff like that, of course. For us. For me…'

'For the cause, Harry.' Severus opened his eyes again and turned his head on the pillow so that he could look into his lover's face. 'I owed Albus much. Whoring myself for him seemed a very small price to pay and was often the very least of my concerns while I lived that life.' He groped blindly under the covers until his hand was wrapped around the one Harry had just been stroking against him. 'It is nothing to upset yourself over, I assure you. It didn't happen all that often anyhow. And it was nothing, nothing like what I share with you - I really shouldn't have to explain that.'

'There's so many different types of sex, isn't there?'

'You're only just coming to realise this?'

'I'm still a teenager, Snape! A male one. As far as my brain's concerned, sex can only ever be brilliant and amazing and the only thing worth thinking about.' Harry gave quite a self-deprecating smile. 'I need to grow up a bit.'

'Don't try to do it too quickly.'

The green eyes widened slightly. 'Is this the same man who taunted me for years about learning some responsibility and growing the hell up?'

'I am merely warning you against trying to force the process.'

Potter suddenly leaned over and pressed his lips to Snape's. It was a perfunctory kiss, but Severus appreciated the gesture nonetheless. For sixteen years, there had been even fewer kisses in his life than orgasms. What was it Draco had told him at dinner? That he had "needed to get laid"? Precocious little sod. If anything, it had been a snogging, rather than a shagging, of which Snape had been most in need. Certainly worked to Potter's advantage that strange afternoon in the library at Grimmauld Place back in January…

Merlin, Severus, just listen to yourself! Harping on about kissing like some lovesick witch's novel! Snape pulled back from the kiss and looked at his companion with hooded eyes. 'If you're planning on molesting me, Potter, I suggest you get on with it. I do intend to have as good a night's sleep as possible tonight.'

'Mmm,' Potter nuzzled his face against Severus' throat. 'Can I suck you?' he whispered, pulling on Snape's earlobe with his teeth.

Well, Severus' cock certainly thought that sounded nice. 'If you wish.'

'I definitely wish.' And Harry disappeared under the blankets, leaving Snape staring up at the ceiling, wondering vaguely how he'd gone from locking one boy in a room against his wishes, to confessing to another how he had prostituted himself for the war effort, to missing kisses even while he was receiving one, to now feeling his cock harden in the mouth of the second boy while the first lay on the other side of the adjoining wall, unable to sleep according to the charm Severus had placed on him. Life had surely been more simple before Harry bloody Potter reached puberty…




When he awoke at six-thirty the following morning and looked at the young man sleeping in his arms, Severus briefly considered returning the previous night's favour and disappearing under the blankets to wake his lover up in a more intimate manner than a brusque shaking. But there were things to do, and lounging around in bed, lavishing oral attention upon a beautiful youth was not one of them, unfortunately. Snape sighed across the top of Harry's head and tightened his embrace around the smaller body for one more minute, then pulled back and shook the boy awake.

'Potter. Harry, wake up.' A warm hand was immediately on his morning erection, closing around it automatically, even as the little incubus himself was still largely unconscious. 'Unhand me, Potter. And wake up!'

'Nuhh?' Slowly, emerald eyes opened and focussed on his face as best they could without the help of spectacles. Harry's sloppy grin eased itself into being. 'G'morning.' The hand on his cock squeezed a non-verbal greeting.

'Stop that. We've got to get up.'

'You're already up.' A wet tongue flicked over his right nipple. 'And hey, so am I.'

Severus suppressed a groan as Harry began to rub his own stiff cock against Snape's thigh. 'Really, Potter, we haven't got time for this.' Reluctantly, he batted Harry's hand away from his groin and extricated himself from the frotting menace. The way Potter's eyes raked over his body as he stood up from the low bed very nearly made him change his mind and get back in again, but Severus Snape was nothing if not a dutiful man, and he calmly set about dressing himself. After a moment, Harry sighed loudly and rolled out of bed himself, begrudgingly clambering into his Muggle clothes and outer robe.

'I shall go and retrieve Draco,' Snape announced. 'Please have this room back exactly as it was before he emerges.'

'Won't take a moment,' Harry assured him, smiling.

Snape retrieved his wand from the coffee table, also pocketing the lubricant before one of them could forget it. By the time Severus had opened the loungeroom door, Potter had already transfigured the bed back into a couch and made the sconces he had added to the walls disappear. It was frightening, just how good a wizard that boy could be when he made even a tiny effort.

The next hour passed in a blur of breakfasting, packing up Draco's "essential" belongings and refereeing the ongoing antagonism between Potter and Malfoy. A brief visit from Frau Werner, bearing bags of homemade sweets and numerous hugs for "the Dragon" was the only respite from the teenage squabbling; somehow, the woman's grandmotherly presence made both boys turn instantly into the charming young gentlemen Snape knew them both capable of being. Which only made it all the more frustrating for the man when the three of them were alone again and Malfoy and Potter immediately reverted to their schoolboy personas.

'Today is Saturday, gentlemen,' he spat at them at one point. 'I am not supposed to have to be a TEACHER today! Especially not when dealing with two supposedly adult wizards who have actually left fucking school!' He noticed Draco's pale eyes grow wide. 'Yes, Mister Malfoy, I just said "fucking". I advise you to get over it. ARE we ready, gentlemen?'

Draco and Harry exchanged an amused look. Oh, so that's all it took for the group dynamic to shift, was it? If he'd known, Snape would've swore like a Knockturn Alley fishwitch sooner. Remarkably, the two managed to cease their sniping long enough for Severus to herd them swiftly through the few streets they had to navigate after leaving Draco's house. They arrived, with just a few minutes to spare, in the alleyway he and Harry had appeared in yesterday morning, and had time for one last slanging match between the two teenagers before the portkey whisked all three of them away to the front gates of Hogwarts.



'Get off my foot, Potter! Honestly, you're clumsier than a mountain troll. A BLIND mountain troll!'

'Shove it, Malfoy!'

Having had enough, Severus simply strode ahead, his long legs quickly leaving the bickering boys behind. Within half a minute, there was the sound of running and jostling on the path and the two youths fell into awkward step beside him as they approached the school's main entranceway. He wasted no time in heading straight for the infirmary wing, his charges (well, one charge and one… boyfriend? gods, he shuddered even at the thought of the word) doing their best to keep up with him.

'Severus!' Poppy Pomfrey greeted him as she looked up from a student's chart. She smiled her ever-so-slightly-dirty smile at Harry. 'Mister Potter. Nice to see you again.' Then her demeanour became all business as she took in Draco's sorry state. 'Ah, Mister Malfoy. The Headmaster told me I should expect to see you today. We are a bit of a fright, aren't we?'

'Can you give him a complete medical, Poppy?' Snape asked, his voice quiet so as not to announce Draco's problems to other inhabitants of the ward. 'Paying special attention to developing a detoxification regime, if you feel it is warranted.'

Pomfrey nodded and pursed her lips at Draco. She pointed to a bed at the far end of the ward, next to her office. 'Up there, Mister Malfoy. We can give you the greatest privacy there.' The blonde nodded and shambled in the direction she pointed.

'See you later, Draco,' Potter called after him.

'As if YOU care,' Malfoy hurled back, not bothering to look toward either Harry or Snape as he went to claim his bed like a condemned man walking to his fate.

Pomfrey shot Severus a sympathetic look and bustled after her newest patient. 'Oh, Mister Potter,' she turned on her heel in the middle of the ward and looked back toward them. 'You might wish to procure yourself a copy of this morning's Daily Prophet.' She glanced briefly at Snape and then back to Harry again. 'I have a feeling you won't like today's front page.' She turned again and gave her attention over to Malfoy, pulling the screens around his bed with professional flair.

Severus arched an eyebrow in reply to Harry's enquiring look and together, they quietly left the hospital and headed for the empty staff room, which was the closest place they could be certain to find the most recent copies of the nation's newspapers.

'Oh god no,' moaned Harry, as soon as he spotted the Daily Prophet lying on one of the tables.

"MY AFFAIR WITH HARRY POTTER!" screeched the headline on the front page.

Severus stood behind Harry and scanned the article over his lover's shoulder.

"Following recent reports that The Boy Who Lived was romantically linked to the Minister of Magic's niece, Miss Felicity Fudge, the Daily Prophet has this week been contacted by a Miss Athena Green, 18, who claims to have been involved with Harry Potter since they met at his eighteenth birthday party last July. Miss Green, a pretty shop assistant from Kent, describes Mr Potter as "a passionate lover but a perfect gentleman". "I've been in love with him from the moment we met!" she tells our reporter…"

'This is such RUBBISH!' Harry spluttered. 'It was ONCE! One lousy fuck, one crappy lousy fuck! That's ALL. I've never even SEEN her again!'

Snape's right hand moved automatically to his face, his thumb and index finger pinching the bridge of his nose. He didn't need this. And he didn't need a migraine, either. 'Harry.'

'I swear, Severus, this is all crap!'

'I know it is. You don't have to convince me, Harry.' His lover turned around to face him and Snape saw the utter outrage and panic in Harry's eyes. He hated to have to do this to him right now… 'Harry, listen to me. I can't cope with all this at the moment. Are you listening, Harry? I need to go and talk with Albus about Draco. Then I need to talk to my Prefects, and then with whomever covered my classes yesterday. Then I need to go to my quarters, lock the door and abuse my brain with a whisky bottle for the rest of the day.'

Potter looked slapped in the face. 'Can't I stay with you? Especially after this?' he scrunched the newspaper in his hand in frustration.

'I'm sorry. Please, Harry, just give me a day off. Go and rant at Lupin about it, hm?'

Oh, shit. Correction - NOW Potter looked slapped in the face.

'Are you, are you pushing me away because of this? Because of what this stupid bitch's done?'

'No, no,' Severus held his hands up. He just wanted to run away to his dungeon, that was why he was pushing Potter away. 'I have things I have to do, I have a raging headache thanks to you and Malfoy acting like children all morning, and I, I just want some time alone right now.' He found it hurt to swallow as he looked into the dewy green eyes. 'I'm sorry. You can floo home from here. I'll come see you tomorrow. Is that agreeable?'

'Sure.' Harry's face was white with fury and he virtually spat the one word out as he screwed the paper in one fist and turned toward the fireplace.

'Harry. POTTER!' His lover turned around and glared at him. 'Harry. It's just until tomorrow. I'll come to you then and we'll plan our counter-attack for the Prophet and Miss Green.'

'Sure,' Harry spat again and turned back to the grate, snatching up a handful of floo powder and throwing it in with so much force that a cloud of acrid blackness rose up.

Snape's headache got noticeably worse as the fire flared and snatched his Harry away from him. Fuck.

Chapter Fourteen

Remus Lupin banged a little harder on the closed door to Harry's room. 'Please, Harry!' he called through the thick wood. 'Come down to dinner! You haven't eaten all day and you can't stay in there forever!'

'I'm not hungry!'

'You must be! Please come out and talk to me!'

'I already told you what happened! I don't wanna talk about it anymore!'

'But you're still obviously upset! It's not healthy to dwell on things like this!'

The door suddenly flew open and Harry charged out. 'Fine!' he said petulantly as he stormed along the hall and stomped down the stairs. When he reached the dining room, he threw himself onto a chair at the table and was busy glaring at the vegetables in their various serving dishes when Remus drifted in and took the seat directly opposite.

For several minutes, neither man spoke as they spooned foodstuffs onto their plates and began dinner. Remus poured a little wine for himself and for Harry, taking a few sips before daring to engage the angry young man in another discussion. 'Did,' he stopped and cleared his throat. 'Did Severus say what time tomorrow we can expect him?'

Harry shook his head, desultorily pushing a roast potato to and fro with his fork. He didn't look up, even when he heard Remus sigh softly.

'Is it just anger, Harry?' his surrogate parent asked him, his voice kind. 'Or is it something else as well? Something that you're using all this anger to try and cover up?'

'Like what?'

'Like, for instance… are you scared, perhaps? Scared that this business with the Prophet will threaten your relationship? Or scared that Severus won't want you anymore?'

Harry looked up but only briefly met Lupin's eyes before trailing his gaze over to the fireplace. He shrugged.

'It's okay to be scared, Harry. Being in love, as well as being remarkable and empowering, also brings with it a whole slew of vulnerabilities. Severus is probably feeling every bit as vulnerable and scared as you are right now. That is… I'm sorry, Harry, that was very presumptuous of me.'

Harry looked back to Remus, frowning slightly. 'Presumptuous?'

'Well, I'm presuming that Severus is in love with you.' Remus looked rather uncomfortable saying the words. 'Neither of you have told me if he is or not. I'm only aware of your feelings. Forgive me if I spoke out of turn.'

'He is,' Harry squeaked and reached for his wine. He was determined he wasn't going to cry, damn it.

Remus looked a little shocked. 'He has actually told you that he is? Expressly told you?'

'He's told me he loves me.' Harry stabbed the potato he'd been toying with earlier. 'Several times.'

'Remarkable.'

Harry looked up. Remus was sitting back in his chair, cutlery poised over his dinner plate as though he'd forgotten he was holding it, trying to hide a slight smirk and evidently failing. 'Remarkable,' he said again.

'What is?'

'Just the thought of Severus Snape being in love, I suppose.' Remus shrugged his thin shoulders briefly but then seemed to try to pull himself together. 'I mean, the man's not made of stone, I know that. And who wouldn't fall in love with you, Harry, if they had the opportunity? It's just…' he paused and smiled wistfully. 'Well, it's charming, is what it is!' He shook his head slightly in amusement. 'Poor Severus.'

Harry's mouth fell open just a little. 'Poor Severus?! HE'S the one who pushed ME away today, remember!'

Remus looked like he was trying to rein his amusement in a bit, but was having a hard time of it. 'I just can't help thinking… well, it can't be easy for him, can it?' Remus must have noticed the increasingly stricken look on Harry's face, because he raced to appease the sting of what he'd just said. 'I don't mean you, Harry! I'm not saying that you're difficult or anything at all like that. No, I'm trying to empathise with the, well, the whole situation from Severus' point of view. He's a fiercely private, resilient, self-contained man, Harry. Having the Boy Who Lived bounding through his life must be fairly rocking his foundations.'

'I don't bound,' Harry pouted.

Lupin chuckled. 'I'm sorry, Harry. Of course you don't.' He just looked at Harry for a short while, his usual tender smile never far from his lips. 'Perhaps Severus is a little out of practice where situations like this are concerned,' he suggested quietly. 'He shouldn't have pushed you away when you needed his support, I agree. But you also have to try and meet him half-way on things like this.'

'Such as?'

'Such as understanding that Severus has different ways of coping with new situations than you do. Asking you for a little time alone in order to relax and get his head around things isn't such an outrageous request, surely? Especially from a man with the type of temperament we're discussing here?'

Harry shrugged at his vegetables, but he had that creeping, uncomfortable feeling that Lupin had at least part of a point. 'He could've at least hugged me for a little while before packing me off into the floo.'

'In the staff room at his place of employ?'

Harry sighed heavily. 'So what am I supposed to say to him tomorrow, then? That he was completely right and I'm sorry I got so upset over lies about my life being splashed all over the newspapers and I'm such a horrible person for asking my lover for support after I've just supported HIM through something he had to do?'

Remus regarded him calmly and didn't say anything.

Picking up his wine, Harry took a long drink of the cloying fluid and set the goblet down again. 'I know, I know,' he said petulantly. 'Meet him half-way. So, is it like haggling or something? I tell him I'll concede on the bit about his right to ask for some space, if he'll give me the right to ask for support?'

'Not a bad analogy,' Remus grinned. 'Sorting out a relationship is a form of deal-making.'

'But even if we both agree to the conditions, what do we do when something like today happens? When him needing space and me needing support happen at the same bloody time? Who gets their way then?'

'Neither, I would think. Not totally, at any rate.'

'I didn't get my support but he's got his time alone, hasn't he?'

'I'm sure it isn't the relaxing wind-down he was hoping for, Harry. Do you honestly think that, right this moment, Severus isn't worrying over many of the same things that you are?'

Okay, so Harry hadn't thought of it like that. He stabbed several peas onto the tines of his fork and brought them to his mouth, even though he really wasn't hungry and certainly wasn't hungry for peas. But chewing them at least gave him a moment to think.

'By his very nature,' Remus continued, 'Severus is a calculating man. And calculation takes a little time and doesn't mix well with interruptions. Surely you've noticed though, Harry, that he is also a very loyal man. If Severus says that he will be here tomorrow to help you with, as he puts it, your "counter-attack", then I am certain you can rely on him to not only keep his word, but to have already thought the situation through and plotted a strategic plan. You've fallen for a Slytherin remember, Harry. You can count on Severus' support if you choose to fight this latest attack on your private life, but you can hardly expect the style of his support to be the same as that you receive from myself or Hermione or the Weasleys.'

Harry felt himself smile for the first time since that morning. 'You sound like you know what you're talking about.'

Lupin grinned. 'Gryffindor-Slytherin relations have always held a little fascination for me, I must admit.'




'Oi!'

Harry looked up from the book he was reading to see the head and shoulders of one of the Weasley twins poking out of the livingroom fireplace. He was grateful for the interruption. Since dinner had finished he'd found himself feeling at quite a loss as to what to fill the hours with before bedtime. He missed Snape and he was vaguely horny and he missed Snape.

'Oh, hi - er…'

'George,' said George.

Harry grinned. 'Sorry. George. Come through.'

The tall redhead stepped out of the flames and dusted himself off before falling into the armchair opposite Harry. Harry looked into the fire expectantly before looking back at his visitor. 'On your own tonight? No Fred?'

'He's taken Hermione to visit Mum and Dad.' George pulled a face. 'Don't fancy being in his shoes tonight.'

Harry thought about the implications of that for a short moment. 'Oh… Oh! So it's Fred's?'

George nodded, grinning. 'We're both going to be the father though, really. We'll still share all of that. Just have to let the Oldies get used to the idea slowly, we reckon.'

'Oh, well. Yeah. Congratulations, by the way.'

'Ta, mate. Look, it wouldn't be possible to get a drink of something, would it?'

Harry pushed his book onto the nearest table. 'Sure! Sorry!' he laughed at himself a little. 'My manners are so crap.' He levitated a bottle of scotch and the carafe of wine he'd brought in here after dinner and forgotten to finish off. 'Which would you prefer?'

'Scotch, thanks.'

Harry summoned a tumbler and a wine glass, pouring a scotch for George and a wine for himself.

'Cheers,' George clinked his glass against Harry's.

'Cheers,' echoed Harry. 'And congrats again.'

George grinned wider. 'Dead exciting, innit?' He took a large gulp of his scotch. 'Cor, that's good! Snape's got nothing but Firewhisky again at the moment.'

Harry spluttered, part-way through swallowing a mouthful of wine. 'Huh?'

'That's where I've just come from, mate. I was looking for you actually. Tried his place first, didn't I?'

'Why would you try there first?'

'You know, that's exactly what he wanted to know?' George smirked. 'When are you two going to tell everybody, eh? We all know, you know. Well, most of us do anyway. And why wouldn't I try there first? It's a fifty-fifty bet each way, innit?'

Harry blushed a little. 'I guess so,' he mumbled and drank some more wine.

'Can I ask you something personal?'

'Er, I guess…'

'He's a brilliant shag, isn't he? PLEASE tell me he is! I've always suspected, you know.'

Harry's blush deepened.

'I knew it!' crowed George. 'I bloody knew it! The crafty old sod! How'd you do it, Harry? How'd you get him in the first place?'

'I snogged him,' Harry shrugged.

'What, just out of the blue?'

'I guess. We were talking and I just… threw myself in his lap, really.'

'Brilliant!' George beamed at him proudly. 'Didn't I always say, if you wanted to find out what blokes were like you just had to do it?'

Harry laughed, remembering the seemingly long ago conversations he'd had with George and Fred, when the twins would fascinate and tantalise him with hints and suggestions of another world, another way of being. 'Thanks for all that, by the way. You guys really helped me sort some of that stuff out.'

'Our pleasure, Harry. Just wish we'd known a bit sooner, like. When we were still at school, maybe.' George winked at him. 'Could've shown you a few things, we could.'

A jumble of thoughts and sensations suddenly assaulted Harry's mind and body. If he wanted to, if he was at all inclined toward it, he could fuck George Weasley tonight. He just knew it. He didn't know HOW he was so sure about it, he just was. Even though he was involved with Snape, and even though George was with Hermione (and Fred!), he just knew that tonight could easily end up with the two of them having a few drinks, flirting a bit, and then a lot, and winding up doing stuff. Harry was glad he already had his legs crossed, because having to cross them right now would have been a bit of a give away. Just the thought of the possibility of it all was exciting, and Harry hoped with all his might that his sudden arousal wasn't making itself obvious. As soon as his brain started asking him to wonder if George might prefer to be on the top or the bottom, Harry cleared his throat and decided to steer the conversation back to safer waters.

'So, er, Snape asked you in for a drink or something? He didn't just tell you to fuck off and look for me at my own house?'

'Oh, he did at first of course. "Enlighten me, Weasley G, as to why you might possibly think I would be storing stray Gryffindors about my lodgings?" Or words to that effect.' They both laughed. 'But I told him he looked like he could do with a drink and he told me he was already having one and before you know it, we're halfway down a bottle of Ogden's finest. Shiteful stuff.'

Harry felt slightly kicked. Snape hadn't wanted to spend time with him, but he'd happily spent an evening getting pissed with a Weasley twin? George obviously noticed Harry's sudden glumness.

'Hey - the majority of the conversation was about you, okay? You know, Harry, if he was anybody else but Snape, I'd say that bloke was absolutely smitten with you. If you're up for it, I'd say you've got him for the long-haul.' George took another drink of scotch. 'Just my totally unqualified, unprofessional opinion, of course.'

'Of course,' agreed Harry, his heart thumping in his chest, his blood happily scintillating through his body. Absolutely smitten! Got him for the long-haul! He loves me, Harry thought, trying not to grin too much. It was like magic, the way he had suddenly and completely forgotten that he was supposed to be angry with Severus and spending the evening in a sulk. He fiddled with the stem of his wine glass for a moment. 'Did he, um, did he say anything about being angry with me today?'

George swallowed down the rest of his scotch. 'He's angry with you?'

'I thought he was…'

'He's all concerned about that stupid bint in the Prophet this morning. Honestly, what is that woman ON? It was a one night stand, for fuck's sake!'

'And not even a good one,' added Harry.

'Exactly. You've gotta call her on it, Harry. Demand they retract or something. You could sue them for stress on your relationship!'

'I'd have to tell them about my relationship. Don't know if Severus would want that.'

'He wants everybody to let you get on with your life. That's what he wants.'

Harry's gaze lingered on George's serious expression for a moment. 'Why were you looking for me tonight anyway?' he suddenly thought to ask.

George looked for a second as though he'd forgotten. 'Oh! Party invite! We're gonna have a bit of a do up in York next week. Friends and family, get everyone together and announce our big news to everybody in one go, like. Everyone's invited. I expect you and Snape to be the perfect couple again by next Saturday.'

'Again?' queried Harry. 'What d'you mean, "again"? Have we ever been perfect?'

George shrugged. 'Perfect enough to save the world, Harry.' George put his empty glass down on the side table and stood up. 'I should get going. Eight o'clock next Saturday, okay? Oh, and tell Lupin, too, yeah?'

'Sure.' Harry stood up as well, actually wishing that George would hang around a bit longer. He put his wine glass down and looked up at the tall, good looking man George had become. 'Um…'

'I know,' George said softly and pulled Harry into a clumsy hug.

Wow. Harry definitely hadn't been expecting that. He'd never properly hugged any Weasley except Ron (once or twice), Ginny (once, embarrassingly) and Molly (very often). George was slightly taller than Severus, but with a surprisingly similar build which Harry had never even noticed before. It felt… really nice, being held so close to another man. And George smelt nice, as well, a mixture of sweets and scotch and something mildly explosive. George gave him a squeeze and then pulled away. 'See you next Saturday, then.'

'Y-yeah,' Harry murmured and handed George the floo powder.

'Looking forward to seeing you and Snapey give the Prophet hell,' George smirked.




Harry lay in the dark in his bed that night, trying to ignore his erection and pondering on just how queer he actually was. It wasn't just Snape, then - he'd at least worked that much out now - because the thought of fucking George had been, well, extremely appealing, to put it mildly. But he still noticed pretty girls, too. How was he to know if that one night with that bloody Athena girl had just been crap because she was crap? Or more likely because it was his first try at sex, ever, and he was crap?

He couldn't wait to see Severus again. He wasn't exactly looking forward to some of the stuff they had to work out, but he knew that they could pretty much get over anything as long as they did it together. "Perfect enough to save the world", George had said. Harry smiled into the darkness and let his fingers trail lightly up and down his straining cock. Perfect.




Remus and Harry were in the middle of breakfast next morning when the fireplace flared and deposited an imposing Potions Master into the kitchen.

Harry stood up at the table. 'Severus,' was all he managed to say before he was swallowed within swathes of black robe and kissed hard enough to make him drop his toast.

'I'll just… put the kettle back on,' said Lupin.

Chapter Fifteen

'I had a Weasley twin offer to blow the offices of the Daily Prophet into the Thames for me last night.' Severus paused, reaching his right hand out for the mug of tea Lupin had poured him. 'If all else fails, we can always go with that.'

Snape's other hand rested on the backrest of the chair to his left at the breakfast table. Harry's chair. They weren't technically touching - though Snape's fingers were long enough that he had only to stretch a couple out to graze against Harry's shoulder or back - but the fact that he was sitting there with one limb lounged in the boy's personal space was proprietary enough. Severus considered that he had already stunned the werewolf sufficiently with his snogging-the-Saviour-on-sight entrance anyhow. Anything further now would simply be gauche.

'You shouldn't joke about things like that, Snape,' Harry told him, with a slight smile.

'I doubt we shall have to stoop to such grand gestures, Potter. What I would like you to consider, firstly, is which party concerns you more - Miss Green or the Prophet itself?'

'Urm, the Prophet, I s'pose. She's probably just a fruitcake stalker or something who needs help anyway. And they didn't HAVE to print her delusions for everybody else to see, did they?'

'Quite. You have the right to demand a retraction. Shall we engage a Legal Wizard on your behalf?'

'Er, do I need one?'

'It's probably best, Harry,' offered Remus from the other side of the table.

'Okay, then. I guess. But what if they won't retract?'

Severus ran a finger around the rim of his mug of tea. 'Then you politely ask them again to retract, this time adding that you will sue them out of existence if they choose to ignore your request. You should have a strong enough case for public humiliation, psychological stress - '

'Stress on my relationship,' Harry murmured.

Snape stilled his finger on the rim of the mug. 'Indeed,' he intoned softly. 'Which brings us to another possible option. You could, if you felt adequately supported in doing so, go to the Prophet, or another publication if you wish, with the damning truth.'

'Th-the truth?' The green eyes had grown huge behind the spectacles.

'It's a simple enough concept, is it not, Potter? You counteract their pack of total lies by making the truth public. That you only knew Miss Green for a matter of hours and have not seen her, nor had any desire to see her, since. That you have, in fact, spent the last three months in a relationship and it has most assuredly not been with Miss Green. Or Miss Fudge, for that matter.'

'You, you want me to come out?'

'Come out of what, Potter?'

'The closet?'

'Ah.' Snape found himself looking at Lupin. The werewolf was looking about as surprised as Severus suspected he himself must be looking. 'Well,' he cleared his throat softly. 'It would certainly put an end, would it not, to this constant witch-hunt the media is involved in on your behalf? If you'll pardon the expression, gentlemen.'

'Yeah, but then they'd just start doing the same thing with every wizard I ever meet, as well.'

'Hence, the need to inform them that you are already in a stable relationship.'

Lupin smiled at that. Snape looked to his left and saw Harry grinning tentatively as well.

'Stable?' the boy repeated. 'Is that what we are?'

Severus dropped his gaze to the tabletop. 'As stable as such matters have ever been for myself. I suppose.'

'Would I have to tell them who, do you think? I mean, could I get away with telling them I'm in a stable relationship without telling them who with?'

Snape felt his jaw tighten. 'If that is your wish,' he said gruffly.

'Well, I'm trying to think of what your wishes might be, actually.' Harry pressed a hand onto Snape's nearest knee. 'I didn't think you'd want your name splashed over the papers like that. If we can avoid it for you, that'd be good, right?'

The tension in Snape's jaw relaxed as quickly as it had formed. 'Unfortunately, the press being what they are, I doubt that they would let you make a statement that didn't name names without proceeding to try and find them out.'

Harry blinked. 'So, you're saying we should tell them? About you? About us?'

'It is an option.' Severus drank some of his tea. 'You may decide to pursue some other. You may, for instance, decide to ignore the entire thing and let it blow over.'

'Ah, so that's what you'd really prefer me to do!'

Snape smirked. 'Perhaps. But whatever you decide to do, I am, in case it had slipped your notice, here. For you, that is.'

'Well said, Severus,' murmured Lupin.

'I guess I'll have to have a bit more of a think about all this.' Harry removed his hand from Snape's knee and leaned both elbows onto the table's edge, propping his chin in his hands. Severus had an urge to remove his arm from the backrest of Potter's chair and rub his hand over the boy's slumped back. He held the urge in check, however.

'I might retire to your library for a short while,' Snape said and stood up. 'If I may?' Harry looked up; Severus didn't miss the way the emerald gaze travelled a little slower than was necessary as it scaled Snape's body. He forced a smirk away.

'You don't have to ask permission, Snape.'

'Very well, then.' He pushed his chair in and nodded at the werewolf. 'Lupin.'

'Severus.'

Snape didn't bother taking his leave of Potter. He knew there was little point. As soon as he turned to go, Potter's chair was scraping back and the dull sound of the boy's trainers on the kitchen floor followed him out of the room, just as he had known it would.




No sooner had the great doors of the library closed behind them, than Snape was set upon by a green eyed incubus. Harry had grown hard as soon as Snape kissed him at the breakfast table, Snape knew this, but he had calmly seated them both and engaged in a rational discussion about Harry's legal options against the Daily Prophet - they still had other things to discuss today, of course, but Harry's panic on the front page issue seemed the most pressing in his lover's mind. That done, it was time to address the earlier issue. As Potter backed him up against a bookcase, mouth gnawing upon his in urgency, Severus roughly cupped a hand over the boy's crotch. Hard as steel. He knew it.

'Mm, rub me,' Potter moaned against his mouth, stroking their tongues together.

Severus deftly opened the fly of Harry's jeans one-handed, then insinuated that hand inside to feel that the front of the boy's y-fronts was already damp with his eagerness. His other hand cradling Potter's skull, Snape kissed him deeply, rubbing the solid cock through wet cotton.

'Get me out,' Harry hissed. 'Suck me.'

'Demanding, aren't we?'

'Missed you.'

Using the bookcase behind him for support, Snape crouched down and freed Harry's prick from his pants. The boy took a good hold of it before he could, though, and Snape obediently kept his head still and let Harry guide the leaking head over his mouth a few times, smearing his lips with precome. When Severus opened his mouth a little wider, Harry pushed his cock head in a short way and pulled out again.

'God,' Potter gasped, green gaze fogged by lust as he stared down at Severus' face. 'Can I fuck you like this?'

Snape felt a brief jet of bitter fluid on his tongue and closed his mouth around the turgid shaft. He looked up into Harry's eyes and nodded.

'Yeah,' Harry whispered, and braced his hands upon the bookcase behind Severus. Slowly, jerkily, he began pumping his hips at Snape's face, working his cock in and out of Snape's mouth, watching each movement hungrily.

Severus concentrated on breathing steadily through his nose and sucked at the cock as best he could with so little control over the motions. He tried to make his mouth as tight as possible for the boy, knowing how pleasing that would feel to fuck into. He closed his eyes and gave himself over to the sensations, listening to Harry's breath becoming more laboured, enjoying the pull of Harry's cock as it slid out of his mouth's grasp, enjoying even more the feel of it being shoved back in.

'Bloody hell,' Potter whispered. 'I'm fucking your mouth!'

Snape would have said something quite scathing about the sheer obviousness of that remark, if his mouth wasn't currently occupied with, well, being fucked. He opened his eyes again, his entire field of straight-ahead vision being stomach and damp, dark hair. He looked upward and saw Harry gazing down at him in wonder.

'Oh,' Potter murmured when their eyes met. 'Oh.' He shifted his feet slightly and changed his angle a little, pushing his cock into Snape's throat and out again in a mounting rhythm.

We didn't ward the door, Severus suddenly thought, straight away thinking that it was odd he should be able to think of anything else besides the fine art of sucking cock at this precise moment. He relaxed his mouth and throat, giving his concentration over to thinking clear thoughts of Harry's bedroom upstairs. Then Snape wrapped his arms securely around Harry's hips and cleanly Disapparated them both out of the library.

'Fuck!' As they appeared in Harry's room, Potter swore and stumbled backwards, his cock pulling slickly out of Snape's mouth. 'Shit, what just happened?'

'I should think that much is obvious, Potter. I just Apparated us both into your room.' Severus stood up from the inelegant sprawl on the floor in which he'd landed when Potter stumbled away from him, and removed his wand. One ward and silencing charm later, he turned back to a blushing Harry. Snape couldn't help a smirk. 'Sorry if that alarmed you. I've never Apparated whilst fellating someone before.'

'You could have splinched me!'

'Oh, please!' Severus removed his robe and ran his wand down the buttons of his jacket, then his waistcoat, then his shirt. This was no time to bother doing things the old fashioned way. 'Would you like me to continue?' he asked, as he pulled the garments off his body.

'Strip and get on the bed.'

'I beg your pardon?'

Potter was practically tearing his own clothes off. He looked over at Severus and smiled shyly. 'Strip and get on the bed, please?'

A retort worked its way to Snape's tongue but he quickly decided he'd much rather have something else there. He quickly divested himself of the rest of his clothes and approached the bed. 'Any particular way you want me?' he asked imperiously.

Harry actually winked at him. 'On your back, of course.'

Eyebrow. Severus got onto the bed and lay flat, waiting to see what Potter had in mind. As the boy climbed onto the bed and scrambled on top of his former teacher facing the other way, Snape had to concede that his young lover had actually managed to surprise him.

Harry stretched himself out over Severus' body, managing to keep his lower half up on his knees for a little while longer as he simultaneously positioned his cock back at Snape's mouth AND opened his own mouth and took Snape's cock in deep. Severus placed his hands around Harry's hips and pulled the boy's pelvis down onto his face more, getting a better mouthful of prick and a better faceful of bollocks.

The minx, Severus thought, where on earth has he learnt to soixante-neuf?! Right, you little bugger... He reached one of his hands up to Harry's arsehole and teased at the entrance while he undulated his tongue against the now only shallowly thrusting cock. Snape's own legs were together and he was planning on keeping them that way for the time being. To be extra sure that Harry couldn't tip him over any edges before he was good and ready to do so, Severus virtually closed off the parts of his mind that were registering Harry's careful ministrations upon his own cock. You're coming in the next thirty seconds, Potter.

As soon as he started pushing the tip of one finger inside the boy's arse, Harry's hips stilled. Snape took advantage immediately, curling his tongue around the cock head and pulling lightly on the flesh before uncurling it again slowly. He moved his head forward a little further and managed to get an inch or so of Harry's prick into the back of his throat. He pushed his finger further up the tight channel above him and hooked it into a curve. Potter's mouth immediately left his cock as the boy raised his head up and groaned deeply.

'Bastard!' Harry moaned, spilling himself over Severus' tongue.

Child, Snape thought fondly as he swallowed over and over.

'Git,' Harry murmured, kissing at Severus' thigh. 'Ohgod.'

In slow motion, their bodies moved around one another, limbs slinking, skin sliding. Snape took his mouth and his fingers away from Harry's body and helped move the dead weight of a languid, post-orgasmic Potter around until they were both lying the correct way up on the bed. The kiss then was a soft movement of lips against lips, tongue-tip against tongue-tip.

Potter's hands came up to Severus' face. 'How do you do all this to me?' Thumbs rubbing gentle circles over Snape's temples.

'Do all what to you?'

'Reduce me to such a, such a mess?'

'Only ever a beautiful mess, Potter.'

Kissable smile. 'I guess.'

'I give you what you want, perhaps?'

'But how do you know?'

'You tell me how.'

'I do?'

Severus felt his mouth curl into a rare, wide smile. 'Most assuredly.'

'Mm, okay. So what am I telling you to do now, then?'

Snape rolled over onto the smaller body, taking his weight on his straightened arms before lowering himself down slowly until they were chest to chest. He kissed a trail across the arc of Harry's cheekbone until he could bury his nose into the bird's nest of black hair, press his mouth against the delicate shell of ear.

'Fuck you,' he whispered with his lips against that delicacy, happy to feel Harry's body shake faintly with giggles of pleasure beneath him. Snape breathed in deeply and sighed.

Indeed.

Chapter Sixteen

Harry had heard Severus laugh his sharp, cruel, oh-everyone-DO-look-at-this-fetid-soup-Longbottom-dares-to-call-a-potion laugh. And he had heard him laugh his humourless, bitter, gods-I-hate-myself laugh. And he had even heard him laugh his quiet, private, I-can-hardly-believe-I'm-doing-this-with-you-of-all-people laugh. But he'd never heard Severus laugh a proper, uncontrolled, unreserved, no-other-word-for-it cackle.

'I've come to a realisation,' Harry gasped against Snape's throat, tasting the salt of clean sweat there as his lover drove into him again and again in a forceful rhythm.

A black gaze bore into him from above. 'Yes?'

'I love cock.'

Snape's laugh was as dark as his eyes and his hair. A deep, resonate sound, masculine and hedonistic, full of harsh, untold pleasures. Not only was the sound itself strangely beautiful, but the vibrations it caused through Severus' body and straight into Harry's were intimate and… sexy. Severus stilled his hips while his body fought the comedic assault, his face buried in Harry's neck. With each gulp of laughter, his cock jerked lazily in Harry's arse.

'You're not laughing at me, I hope,' Harry pouted semi-seriously.

Snape took a breath and tried to calm himself. 'Not at all. Gods.' He lifted his head and looked down at Harry with shining eyes, thin lips valiantly trying to pull the amused mouth back into an expression more seemly than gales of laughter; inevitably, the expression settled into a smirk, though definitely a very amused one. 'Forgive me,' Snape's gaze flickered down to their pelvises and back up to Harry's face once more. 'Your timing is impeccable, Mister Potter.'

Harry grinned and tightened his arms around Snape's shoulders. 'I didn't think I was being all that funny.'

Severus lifted his hips, allowing his cock to slide almost fully out of Harry's body, before thrusting back in again, just hard enough to make Harry swear softly. Snape's eyes seemed to darken as he gazed down at him hotly. 'As if I need to have you tell me that you love cock, Potter.' He gave another, deeper thrust. 'I've known from the first time I fucked you.' He lowered his face to Harry's neck once more, nuzzling his nose and mouth just under Harry's ear. 'But, please, do continue. Tell me what you love about it.'

'Mm, being stretched?'

'Yes.'

'And feeling filled, uh, feeling complete?'

'Definitely.'

'And feeling…' Harry gasped as Snape slid against his prostate. 'Feeling you move in me.'

'Ohfuckyes.'

One large hand cupped Harry's chin and held his head steady while Snape pushed their mouths together again, a hard kiss that matched the increased force of his prick in Harry's arse. Harry pushed his hips up as much as he could, trying to get more of that hardness, more of that slick length, more Severus, more cock.

'More,' he tried to say around Snape's tongue.

'Hm?' Snape pulled back just far enough to allow Harry room to speak, his breath playing over Harry's lips.

'More,' Harry whispered and gave in to a sudden urge to lick Severus' face.

Snape lessened his hold on Harry's chin but stroked his fingers along the jawline. 'I can give you more, Harry.' He watched Harry nod dumbly. 'You'd better hold on.' Harry obediently wrapped his tired limbs securely around Snape's body, ankles crossed behind his back, one arm around his shoulders, the other stretched down Snape's spine and ending in a firm, grasping handful of professorial arse. 'Tighter with that one, Potter.' Harry dug his nails into the beautiful flesh, the look on Snape's face telling him that was exactly the right thing to do.

'More,' Harry demanded again and jet eyes flashed at him.

'Must give Harry bloody Potter what he asks for.' Snape started moving his hips again - long, blissfully hard strokes that sent pleasure careening through Harry's bloodstream. 'And if Harry Potter demands a solid buggering, then of course he must be spread open and given one.' Harry screwed his eyes shut, experiencing nothing but Snape's body on him and within him, and That Voice at his ear. 'What a cock hungry little fucker you are, Potter. I could pound you for hours and you'd still beg me for more, wouldn't you?'

Harry's back arched off the mattress and a moan travelled up his throat. 'Yeah. Yes.'

'Open your eyes, Harry.'

It seemed to take a great effort, but Harry complied, gazing up at Severus from behind a screen of steam. Snape deftly snatched the glasses from Harry's face and put them - somewhere. Harry neither knew nor cared at the moment, all he cared about was this glorious fuck that he and Severus were sharing. And besides, their faces were so close, so completely inside one another's space, that he didn't need his glasses in order to focus on Snape right now.

Snape was looking at him like he was some obscure and complicated potion - something he was determined to work out and couldn't help but admire. When he spoke, The Voice was softer and slightly… broken, somehow.

'My cock hungry little fucker.' The corners of Snape's mouth twitched up into a hesitant smile. 'If it were at all possible, Harry, I'd stay inside you forever.' He kissed Harry again, lips deliciously soft, and then he was crying out, emptying himself into Harry's body, making Harry's cock pulse in sympathy, the heat of Harry's release spreading between their bodies.




'What do Muggles do on Sundays?'

Harry lay on his back, stroking Severus' hair as the man lay half upon him, his head resting on Harry's chest. 'Um,' Harry tried shrugging a little but it was rather difficult with so much recovering bloke on top of him. 'Some go to church. Some do stuff around the house. Or garden. Go shopping. Read the Sunday papers. Visit relatives. Maybe go somewhere, you know, Sunday driving.'

'No, I don't know. Haven't the faintest idea what you're on about, actually.'

'Can you drive, Snape?'

'You mean an automobile?'

Harry smiled at the dark head lying on him. 'Yeah. A car.'

'Why on earth would I want to do an absurd thing like that?'

'Dunno. Guess I'm just used to grown-ups all having cars.'

Severus snorted. 'Not in our world.'

'Mister Weasley's got one!'

'You mean that death trap you stole in your second year?'

'It's a Ford Anglia, actually. Nice car, that.'

'You almost cost Arthur his job.'

Harry winced with guilt, inwardly as well as outwardly. 'Why are you suddenly curious about what Muggles get up to anyway?'

Severus sighed deeply. 'I am human, Potter. Even I am not always impervious to the inane compulsion to natter about nonsense in the afterglow.'

'Is that what we're doing?'

Snape shifted his head on Harry's chest a little. 'I should think that much were obvious.'

'Does anyone ever call you Sev for short?'

'Why in Merlin's name are you asking that?'

Harry attempted another lying down shrug. 'Inane compulsion to natter about nonsense in the afterglow?' He could actually feel Snape smiling against his skin.

'The Baron tries to get away with it.'

'The Bloody Baron? You talk to him?'

'Of course. You used to chat with Sir Nicholas, did you not? And the Baron IS the most senior Slytherin at Hogwarts, by virtue of his age…'

'Anyone else? Call you Sev, I mean? You don't like it, do you?'

'No, I do not. So don't go getting any ideas, Potter.' There was a pause. 'My mother. Occasionally.'

'What was she like?'

'Oh? Forgotten our little trip through my pensieve already, have we?'

'How many times do I have to apologise for that? Sorry.'

'Hmph. My parents were remarkably alike, I suppose. Deathly quiet the majority of the time, and expecting me to be the same, with occasional visits into psychotic violence and histrionics.'

Harry bit back the impulse to add a repeat of "…and expecting you to be the same". He'd moved beyond such juvenile attempts to rile Snape, and besides, this was the first time the man had ever offered up any information on his family, other than to say he was not his father.

'My parents would have hated you,' Severus suddenly told him. 'Father especially. He would have absolutely loathed you.' Harry was on the verge of telling his lover that, yeah okay, he GOT it, could he please stop saying things like that, when Snape continued on in a quieter voice. 'Almost as much as he loathed me, probably.'

What was he supposed to say to something like that? Harry went back to stroking Severus' hair. 'You don't think they liked you much?'

'I know they didn't.'

'Were, were they on Voldemort's side?'

Snape moved his cheek against Harry's chest, pushing his head back into Harry's stroking touch. 'They approved of his ideas.'

'So… they were happy about you joining him, then?'

'No.' Another pause. 'The night I first came home with my Mark… well, that was the last time I let my father hit me.'

'B-but why didn't they approve, if they liked what he was on about?

'A Snape isn't supposed to follow anybody.'

'Oh.'

'Such a pity they're both dead.' Snape's voice had regained its strength. 'How I would have loved to flaunt you before them.' He gave a short, brittle laugh. 'Just the thought of Father's face if I were to tell him how I let you mount me! And I would, you know. In gleeful detail. That I let you penetrate me and fuck me… Oh, and the ultimate disgrace, of course,' Severus lifted his head from Harry's chest and looked him steadily in the eye. 'That I have fallen somewhat hopelessly in love with you.'

Too many emotions and reactions were conflicting in Harry's mind. He tried to settle for a little levity. 'Just so long as you're not just doing it to spite them.'

He noticed Snape's eyes narrow fractionally and then return to normal. 'No. The somewhat hopeless falling is completely for my own benefit.'

Harry smiled shyly. 'And mine.'

Severus nodded. 'And yours.'




Remus stood in front of the livingroom fire, swirling the wine in his goblet. 'And how is Draco Malfoy doing now, Severus?'

Snape leaned back in his armchair. 'Poppy wishes to refer him to Saint Mungo's for a full psychological assessment.'

Remus looked crestfallen. 'That is… sad news.'

Harry looked from one to the other of the two older men and sipped his wine quietly. Although Snape always seemed to want people to believe he disliked Remus intensely, they actually got along rather well, all things considered. And Remus always seemed to act like he and Snape were good buddies, blithely ignoring the fact that Severus treated him so rudely most of the time. What an odd pair.

'Sad, Lupin? Draco is a spoiled and stupid boy. He brought all this upon himself.' The crease between Snape's brows deepened. Harry knew Severus didn't believe what he'd just said. He figured that Snape just didn't want Remus knowing how deeply Draco's condition had affected him.

As usual, Remus carried on as though Severus hadn't just snarked. 'I wonder what we can all do to convince the boy he still has some worth? That not everybody has written him off as no good?'

'You could offer him some chocolate.' Snape knocked back a goodly portion of his wine.

Remus just smiled. 'If you think it might help, Severus.'

Severus ignored the smile and the comment. 'He needs a job, probably. Something to occupy his time and his mind, give him something to get up for every day no matter how much he detests it.'

'And help him feel a bit that he's needed, too,' Remus suggested.

'He's actually got quite a good brain on him,' Severus continued without acknowledging the other man's suggestion.

'Perhaps you could sound Albus out about a possible assistant's position at Hogwarts?'

Snape stared at Remus like he'd just grown another head, but then quickly collected himself. 'Perhaps,' he said softly.

Harry cleared his throat. 'Um.' Both men turned their heads to look at him. 'How do you think Draco's gonna react when he finds out about us? Do you think he'll hate me even more than he already does? Or, I dunno, get angry at you or something?'

'Yes and yes, most likely.' Severus drained his wine and set the empty goblet on a side table. 'Are you proposing to inform him of our relationship?'

'Wha - no!' Harry blanched. 'I mean, god! But, you know, if we decide to go ahead and tell the press…' Something new suddenly occurred to Harry. 'What about your students? All the Slytherins? Will they, will they still respect you?'

'That would remain to be seen, would it not?'

'Bloody hell.' Harry took a big gulp of wine. 'I'm sorry, Snape, I honestly hadn't thought about all the implications of this.'

'Should I be surprised?'

Harry looked up, expecting either a glare or at the very least a smirk, but Severus was looking at him rather fondly. Well, fondly for Snape. 'Thank-you,' Harry told him.

Eyebrow. 'For?'

'For at least allowing me the chance to give this some thought.' He sighed into his goblet. 'I think I'll find myself a Legal Wizard tomorrow morning and see about asking the Prophet for a retraction. It'll be a start, at least.'

'Good for you, Harry,' smiled Remus. 'I can help you search for an advocate, if you like.'

Harry grinned back at him. 'Thanks. That'd be good.'

Severus checked the time and stood up from his armchair. 'I should be getting back to school. Can you firecall me in my office at, perhaps, one o'clock tomorrow? Let me know how the legalities are progressing?'

'Sure.' Harry got up and went to his lover. Seeing as Snape had snogged him in front of Remus, right in the middle of breakfast this morning, Harry figured he wasn't going to allow the man to back-pedal at all anymore. He put his arms around Severus and briefly pressed their mouths together. Snape's posture told him how uncomfortable he was with the gesture, but he allowed it nonetheless. Harry stood back again, smiling hugely and feeling his cheeks warm up. 'Goodnight, then.'

'Goodnight.' The onyx gaze held him for an extended moment before sliding away toward the fireplace.

Remus stepped to the side of the mantel and handed Snape the floo powder. 'Goodnight, Severus,' he said cheerily.

Snape took the proffered powder and threw it into the grate. 'Quite,' was all he said, flatly, to Remus before instructing the floo of his destination and stepping into the green flames.

Chapter Seventeen

Severus threw one last detention at the retreating group of First Year Gryffindors and Slytherins (at a Gryffindor student, naturally), and waved his wand to make the classroom door give a most satisfying BANG! after them. He took a short moment to compose himself, then gathered up the parchments that had been left on his desk and stepped through to his office.

'I could hear you terrorising those poor First Years from here, Snape.' The top half of Harry Potter was poking out of Severus' office fireplace.

Snape dumped the homework parchments onto a chair. 'I would thank you not to listen in on my classes, Potter.' He leaned against his desk and crossed his arms, glaring at the figure protruding from the flames.

'Can I come through?'

Black eyes flicked toward the closed office doors and then back to the fire again. Snape nodded once. 'You may.'

Almost six foot of Saviour tumbled out onto the rather worn office hearthrug, grinning up at him quite… charmingly. Damn it. Severus stepped forward and held one hand out to help Potter up off the floor. As soon as the boy was hauled to his feet, he was pressing himself against Snape's body, smelling good enough to lick and looking good enough to make saner men than Severus say outrageous things.

'Don't.'

Potter froze, his face mere inches from Snape's. 'Don't what?'

'Don't kiss me. Not here. Not during school hours.'

'Um, okay.' The verdant gaze bore into him. 'Can I imagine it, at least?'

Severus purposefully walked away, rounding his desk to sit in the chair at the other side. 'I do hope it hasn't escaped your notice, Potter, but we do rut on a regular basis. You don't actually need to flirt with me.'

The boy pushed the straight-backed, wooden chair that usually sat in front of Snape's desk aside and dragged a nearby wingback into its place, grinning at Severus all the while. 'Speaking of which, that was some excellent rutting yesterday, by the way. I could still feel my arse when I got up this morning!' He flopped down into the wingback, casually placing his right ankle atop his left knee, and leaned back felinely.

Snape ignored the comments (and the compliment regarding his bedroom prowess) completely. 'What did the Prophet have to say for themselves?'

'Ah.' The wide grin faded away. 'Let's face it, they really don't like me all that much. Apart from the fact that I can sell a lot of papers for them, of course.'

'They refused to retract, I take it?'

'Point blank. Pretty much.'

'Did you engage an advocate?'

'Septimus Stringer. Of Stringer And Family.'

Snape nodded. 'They are well regarded.'

'I guess. Half the company seem taken up with defending the Tutshill Tornadoes match-fixing case at the moment. But as soon as you say the name Harry Potter…'

Severus suppressed a smirk. 'Quite. And what do they recommend from here?'

'They're putting a more detailed request for retraction into writing. That'll get to the Prophet tomorrow morning. If that's rejected,' Potter shrugged. 'I sue. I guess.'

'And our relationship shall come into the open then anyhow.' Snape sighed softly.

'Do you think so?'

'It would be inevitable, would it not?'

Potter slumped, eyes on the floor.

Severus watched his lover for a moment, steeling himself to verbalise the thoughts that had seemed to coalesce for him over the past few hours. Whilst marking quietly in his quarters last night, whilst watching his Slytherins at breakfast this morning, whilst trying to stop his First Years from blowing their own hands off in class today - his recurring thoughts had been with Potter, with the relationship he and Harry shared.

'May I make a proposal?'

Harry looked up at his words, eyes wary. 'Okay,' he said slowly.

'Tell them,' Snape said straight away, before his fear could get the better of him.

'Tell them?'

'All of them. Tell them everything.' Severus paused for a second. 'Except the part about the illegal potions brewing. If you don't mind.'

'We can avoid having to do any of that, though! It may not even go as far as a court case, they might seek a settlement!'

'It may. They might. Harry, there is only one way we can guarantee to be completely in control of this situation and that is, by leaving nothing to "mays" and "mights". If this ends up going to court, and our relationship comes out then, as I am quite sure it would, it will look as though we tried to hide it, that we were ashamed. If we go public on our own terms first, we don't look as though we are trying to hide anything AND we do it without running the possible risk of losing a court case.'

Potter's eyes had grown steadily huger as Snape spoke. Finally, he blinked. 'You want… YOU want to make us public?'

Severus nodded slowly.

The momentary shock seemed to leave Potter's face all at once, to be replaced by a slight grin. 'What else?'

Snape purposely kept his outward expression blank. Inside, however, he was revelling in watching Potter actually put it all together, watching the boy think.

Harry's grin widened. 'I'm in love with a Slytherin, Snape - I know there has to be something else.'

'Indeed?'

'Indeed. Tell me what you want.'

Severus placed his elbows on the edge of his desk, steepling his fingers. 'You will recall, I trust, what I told you recently about my… trepidation in regard to your celebrity and my coping abilities or lack thereof?'

'Yes.' Potter's voice was very quiet.

'I am prepared, Harry, to go public with you on this. To meet the media with you, together, as a united force. To be your partner.' He watched Potter nod once. 'But then we walk away.'

Blink. 'Walk away?'

'Many times, over your years in this castle, Harry, you tried to convince me that you hated your fame. That you wished for the media to leave you alone. Were you lying to me?'

'No!'

'Or has your attitude to the media changed, perhaps? You like them now?'

'No, of course not - specially not after this Athena Green business! How can you even think th - '

'So walk away, Potter. Leave it all behind. Even better - leave on your own terms. Let us go to the media together, set the record straight once and for all, and then simply turn our backs on them. Stop agreeing to their interviews, Harry. Stop doing the photo sessions. You fulfilled your destiny and your supposed obligation to the Wizarding world. Now you deserve to have a private life. Demand it of them. Demand it and take it.'

The boy's lower jaw hung open for a moment until he remembered to close it. 'But, but don't you see that if we go to them and say "Hey lookee here, guys - Boy Who Lived and ex-Death Eater, in love and lovin' it!" then they're just gonna want MORE of us? It'll get WORSE! They'll be after us the whole fucking TIME!'

'You've just engaged the services of one of the most highly regarded legal firms in the country, Potter. Let them be your face to the media world.' Snape leaned back in his chair. 'Yes, we would cause a sensation. I am not blind to how such things work. But without fuel, fires burn down and eventually go out. If the press have nothing - and KEEP having nothing - they will eventually be forced to report something else.'

'Humph! They'll just make shit up instead!'

'For a time. Yes. How long you think they might persist would be dependent upon how much imagination you credit them with having.'

They were interrupted by a knock on the office door. Severus sat back even further in his seat. 'Enter!' he called.

The door creaked open a few feet and a tumble of long, chestnut brown hair, followed by a heart-shaped face appeared around the edge. 'Professor Snape, sir?'

'Miss Sutton. Come in.'

'Mister Filch asked me to deliver this detention roster to you.' The girl stopped in front of the desk, level with the wingback chair Potter had claimed. 'Sorry for disturbing you, sir.'

'No need for apologies, Miss Sutton.' Snape held a hand out for the roster parchment. 'You will remember Mister Potter, of course?' He inclined his head toward his guest.

The girl looked down into the wingback for the first time. 'Oh, oh of course. Hello, er, Mister Potter.' She started to blush but hid it admirably.

'Hi!' Harry sat up straighter.

'Miss Sutton was a few years behind you, Potter. She has become one of my Fifth Year Prefects this term.' Severus ran a disinterested eye down the long list of detainees Filch had prepared.

'Congratulations,' Harry said to the girl, flashing one of his winning public smiles.

Sutton smiled back warmly but directly gave her attention back to Snape. 'Will that be all, sir?'

'Yes. Thank-you. You may go.'

'Thank-you, Professor. Goodbye, Mister Potter.'

'See you.'

Severus watched Harry watching the girl leave. 'Miss Sutton is growing up into a fair young lady, is she not?'

'Hm? Oh, I hardly remember her, actually.'

'But she had your attention just now.' Snape opened a desk drawer and dropped the detention roster into it, allowing it to snap shut again a little louder than was truly necessary.

'What's that supposed to mean?'

Severus gazed at his lover steadily. 'It means, simply, that you noticed a pretty young girl. Nothing more. Nothing less. Should it have more meaning than that?'

'I wasn't perving on her, if that's what you're trying to say.'

'I am saying nothing of the sort. Simply that you noticed her. Why does that upset you so?'

'It doesn't! I just don't want you to think…'

'Yes?'

'Don't want you thinking that I'm casting my eye about. You know. Or not thinking enough about you. Or something.'

'Harry, the vast majority of people on this earth will notice a pretty girl when they see one. Totally regardless of their sexuality or their relationship status. It simply means you have eyes in your head and an appreciation for aesthetics, boy. That's hardly anything to get upset about.'

'I'm not upset!'

'You're still curious. Aren't you?'

'Pardon?'

Snape sighed. 'You are young and have had just two lovers, Harry. The first can hardly be counted a successful tryst. And the second was, well, me. I will understand if you wish to try a heterosexual liaison again. You need to be sure about what you want, after all. Most especially if we are to go ahead and declare our relationship to the world.'

'I can't believe I'm hearing this.'

'What? That I can be magnanimous?'

'That you can just tell me to go off and shag somebody else and you won't care!'

'Who says I won't care, you idiot child? Of course I would fucking care! But I want you to be sure about us - I NEED to know that you are sure about us.' Severus stood up and began pacing. 'Merlin. I have just done telling you I will put everything on the line for you, that I will risk public humiliation and slander to tell the world that I love you. And you turn and accuse me of not caring because I say I will understand, should you need to satisfy any possible doubts you might have?'

There was the sound of a chair scraping on the stone floor, and then strong arms were grabbing hold of him, pulling him against Harry's body. 'I'm a prat,' Potter told him. 'That wasn't what I meant. I'm sorry. It came out all stupid. I'm sorry.'

Then kisses. Brutal, unrelenting kisses. Kisses in Snape's office. During school hours. With two unlocked doors. Severus pulled the smaller body in even tighter against him and kissed Potter harder than he often fucked him. When they finally broke apart and stepped back, they both looked thoroughly shagged.

Potter wiped at his mouth with the back of one hand and wandered back to the chair he'd sat in earlier, this time standing behind it, leaning forward onto the upholstered back. He silently watched as Severus rearranged his robes and seated himself once again at his desk, back straight, chin high.

'I don't want to be unfaithful to you,' Harry told him.

'If I give my blessing and my permission, how can it possibly be unfaithful to my wishes?'

'I don't think I want to have sex without you being there with me.'

Eyebrow. 'What are you suggesting, Potter?'

'I'm just saying that, that I'm bonded to you. And I'm not just talking about our Wizard's Life Bond, either. I mean, god, we've had THAT since my first year at school. But I'm… connected to you, Snape. Inside, I mean. It's like you're a part of me these days. I can't imagine doing anything exciting or adventurous or whatever without you sharing it with me, without the two of us being able to talk about what we saw afterwards, what we experienced. It'd be like… going off somewhere exotic on a holiday and having to leave you at home. I'm not gonna leave you behind anywhere.'

Severus almost fancied he could feel Harry's smile in the very marrow of his bones, it melted through him so. 'Go home,' he said quietly. 'Go home and think about everything I've said today, everything I've asked. Consult your attorney again if you wish. But please, Harry, think about what you want, what you truly want, and what I have told you I'm prepared to do. Work out if it all fits together for you in your heart.'

'You really do love me, don't you?'

'Stupidly, yes.'

'Can you visit me tomorrow night?'

Snape was about to assent but then remembered tomorrow was a Tuesday. 'I'm sorry. House duties. Is Wednesday agreeable?' Harry nodded at him. 'Very well.' His gaze fused with Harry's and he sensed the younger man's power, suddenly, radiating about him. Severus had to close his eyes momentarily. 'Use the time to think,' he implored.

When he opened his eyes again, Potter was grinning that charming grin he'd beamed up from the hearthrug half an hour ago. 'Can't I at least wank a little bit as well?'

'Will you be thinking of me?'

'Find it hard to think of anybody else these days.'

'Hm. Then how can I refuse you?'

Chapter 17.5

A gaggle of Gryffindor students shot the Potions Master suspicious looks as he knocked loudly on the closed door of their Head of House's office. He leaned menacingly against the wall to the door's side and glared at them. 'Curfew is about to fall, is it not?' he asked imperiously. 'Or are you all lacking time pieces in Gryffindor Tower?' He held back a smirk as he watched them scuttle away down the corridor as quickly as they could.

'Severus. Must you insist on scaring my students witless?'

He was about to give some lame rejoinder about Gryffindors not needing to be any more witless than they already were, when he caught Minerva's steady look and thought better of it. Snape stopped leaning on the wall and stood up straight as McGonagall tut-tutted at him from her office doorway, looking for all the world as though she were about to give him detention. She stood aside and ushered him in, banging the door shut behind them.

'I feel like I'm sixteen again,' the man drawled. 'Being summoned to McGonagall's office for a talking-to.'

'We should all be so lucky to feel like that again!'

Snape pulled a face. 'I despised sixteen. Miserable existence.'

'Tch. Has there been ANY age you've actually deigned to find enjoyable, Severus?'

He smirked almost cheekily. 'Thirty-nine hasn't been too bad so far.'

Minerva's cheeks coloured ever so slightly. 'Yes, well, it certainly looks like thirty-nine is your year. The end of the war. Release from bondage. AND a nubile young man in your bed!'

Snape smirked again. 'Not necessarily in that order.'

'What do you mean?' Minerva suddenly held her hands up defensively. 'No, no, on second thought, I don't think I wish to know! There had better not have been anything going on while Potter was still a student here though, Severus, or Merlin help me!' She flashed him a tight-lipped glare.

'Well, if you're going to be like that, Minerva, I shall just take this Cabernet Sauvignon back to the dungeons - '

'Och! Sit, you silly man!' McGonagall shooed him into a tartan-covered wingback by the fire, a round table beside it already containing two wine glasses and a corkscrew. She pulled her teacher's robes about herself and sat in the matching chair opposite. 'Kindly do the honours,' she instructed, indicating the table and its implements.

Snape cast a wary glance at the corkscrew. 'With that Muggle weapon? Not a chance.' He ran the tip of his wand gently around the perimeter of the cork and the stopper levitated smoothly up out of the bottle neck, bouncing onto the tabletop as it fell.

'Show off,' muttered Minerva.

'Hardly. Showing off would be to then bother with an instant aeration charm.'

'True. Oh, just pour the damned thing. To hell with letting it breathe.'

Severus laughed softly, poured two generous glasses of dark crimson wine and handed one to his hostess. He placed the bottle on the table and took up his own glass, leaning forward to clink it delicately against Minerva's.

'Cheers,' said McGonagall.

'Prosit,' murmured Snape.

'Now then - about young Potter…'

'How did I know?' Snape sat back in his chair and crossed his long legs.

'Please tell me nothing was going on while he was still under our care, Severus.'

'As if you even have to ask.' Snape looked up from his glass to see McGonagall fixing him with a stern gaze, obviously not content with his response. He sighed. 'No, Minerva, there has been absolutely, categorically, positively NOTHING of a sordid nature happen between myself and any student here, Potter or otherwise. Ever.' He paused a moment. 'Since I ceased being a student myself, that is, of course. I would hope that you didn't seriously entertain the notion that I ever would?'

McGonagall's expression softened until she looked quite penitent. 'Forgive me, my dear. Of course, I'd never seriously think you capable of such a thing.'

Snape inclined his head slightly to one side in acceptance of Minerva's apology. He took a sip of his wine. 'It's not like I haven't been expecting a lecture for some time now, though. From somebody.'

'Lecture?' Minerva asked innocently.

'That I'm too old for him? Too male for him? Too Slytherin for him? Too… ME for him?'

'It hadn't crossed my mind to say any such thing, Severus. I actually invited you here to congratulate you, if you must know.'

'You may wish to hold off on such pleasantries for a day or two.'

A light brown eyebrow inched upward. 'Oh? And why would that be?'

'You saw Saturday's Prophet, I assume?'

'With that silly little girl from Kent laying claim to our Harry?'

'Yes. That one.'

'All lies, obviously.'

Snape winced a little. 'Not entirely. She did indeed… assist Harry with a certain rite of passage, shall we say? On his birthday last year.'

'Oh, I see. So, Harry isn't… ?'

'A screaming pouffe?' Snape shrugged. 'No more than I am.'

Minerva shook her head in bemusement. 'Such interesting lives you young people live these days.'

'Oh, please.' Snape took a long drink of his wine and settled further into the comfortable seat, letting the combined warmth of the fire, the libation and the playful conversation sink down to his bones.

'But this doesn't threaten your relationship in any way, I hope?'

Severus peered over at his colleague. 'Have you ever known me to be an optimist, Minerva?'

She smiled warmly. 'I seem to recall a nervous little boy crossing his fingers before sitting under the Sorting Hat.'

'That wasn't optimism, you old harpy. That was dread.'

'I stand corrected.' McGonagall looked very much as though she were trying not to laugh out loud. 'So, what happens in a day or two that I'm supposed to wait for before bestowing congratulations upon you both?'

'Potter is exploring his legal options with regard to the Prophet. They've already refused one request for retraction. And I, well, I have made a proposal to him regarding the matter - '

Minerva spluttered her wine in surprise. 'You PROPOSED?!'

Snape rolled his eyes at the ceiling. 'Calm yourself, woman. Don't have kittens.' He grinned lopsidedly at her. 'I said I made a proposal, not that I proposed. For the love of - anyhow. I proposed that Harry and I set the press straight on the issue of Potter's love life, and then turn our backs on the media forever more.'

'You mean to say that you'd happily tell every newspaper in the land that you're boffing The Boy Who Lived?'

Severus tried not to choke as he swallowed a mouthful of wine. 'Boffing?! Where on earth have you picked up a word like that?'

Minerva waved her hand, and the almost-empty wine glass clutched in it, dismissively. 'One of the students, no doubt. It's a good one, isn't it? Rather evocative, I think.' She suddenly pinned him with a serious look. 'I still think proposing's a lovely idea.'

'You can honestly see me and Harry bloody Potter getting married? Dear gods! I suppose I should be thankful that you can't seriously suggest offspring as well.'

'What pale little things they'd be!' McGonagall started on a giggling fit.

Eyebrow. 'Little? I should hope they'd inherit their height from me, thankyouverymuch.'

Minerva giggled some more, wiping one bony finger at the corners of her watering eyes. 'Oh deary me…' She managed to compose herself long enough to levitate the wine bottle over both their glasses again. 'Deary, deary me…' she continued to mutter under her breath until she set the bottle down once more. 'Really, Severus, I should think the combination of those two sets of DNA would produce quite handsome offspring.'

'Hmph. All nose and green eyes? Please - they'd look like hawks.'

McGonagall set to giggling again at the mental image while Snape sipped his wine and waited for her to rein her amusement in sufficiently. 'Oh, forgive me,' she finally sighed. 'I haven't had a good giggle fit for weeks.' Her eyes were glistening as she looked over at him. 'And hawks be damned! They'd be beautiful children!'

Snape cringed a little. 'If they took after him, perhaps.'

'Or you.'

'Spare me.'

'I'm sorry, Severus, but I've always considered you a most striking young man.'

'Striking, yes. Like a slap in the face.'

Minerva tilted her head to one side as she contemplated him. 'And not even the attentions of such a man as Harry Potter will convince you otherwise?'

'He's young and full of hormones. Filch could have his undying devotion if he gave him good enough orgasms.'

'Severus!'

'Well, it's true, is it not?' Snape uncrossed his legs and recrossed them the other direction, turning his body slightly away from the fire's intensity. 'Perhaps I was lucky for the first time in my life and was simply in the right place at the right moment?'

'You expect me to believe that after you've told me you propose to tell the whole world you love the boy?'

'Well. That won't happen unless Potter agrees to it.'

'And why wouldn't he?'

'Because he has to be sure, Minerva. I won't allow him to take this course unless he can convince me he knows what he's doing.'

'And just how is he supposed to convince you of that?'

'I, I'm not sure. Yet.'

McGonagall nodded, her expression now all seriousness. 'And what is Potter doing tonight?'

'Thinking, I hope. But more likely wanking.' He glanced up from his glass. 'Oh, don't look at me like that! He's a teenager! It's what they DO!'

Minerva smirked. 'Maybe you should give him something else to do, then?'





Ten minutes later found Snape striding down the dungeon stairs, mind so much elsewhere that he almost collided with one of his Fifth Year Prefects as he turned the corner at the bottom.

'Professor! Sorry!'

'Miss Sutton. My apologies. I wasn't looking where I was going.'

'No, no, my fault, sir. I should've kept to the other side of the staircase.'

'Well. Goodnight, in any case.'

'Goodnight, Professor.'

Snape got several more paces down the passage before turning around again. 'Oh, Miss Sutton? Thank-you for your assistance yesterday, by the way.'

The girl smiled. 'That's… Anytime, Professor. Glad to help. G'night.'

Snape nodded and turned away once more, marching up to the door of his quarters and taking down the wards hastily. Inside, he set the wards back in place and allowed himself a moment to take a breath and slow down. Satisfied that he wouldn't look like he'd been hurrying, he took a handful of floo powder and threw it into his fireplace.

'Twelve Grimmauld Place,' he spoke into the grate and stepped through.

Chapter Eighteen

For a little while now, Harry had taken to lying down on his front when he felt like a longer, more luxurious wank than usual. It could get uncomfortable at times, he supposed, trying to manoeuvre his fist over his cock when he was actually lying on the thing. But despite occasional wrist cramp - and arm fatigue, sometimes, if he went at it too long - the feeling of thrusting into his fist repeatedly was perfect, and the rasp of bedsheets against nipples and cock head was exquisite (at times, exquisitely painful). Just being face-down, on its own, made the masturbation better. He could truly lose himself in thoughts of fucking; either imagining a lover below him taking his thrusts, or thinking of one stretched out upon his back, pushing his face down into the mattress and pillows as he rode him.

'Thinking of me, Potter?' The dark, sultry voice was so low at his ear that it might have been just part of the fantasy. But the large, cold hand that kneaded a cheek of his arse was most definitely real. Harry turned his head and opened his eyes to see a blurry black figure standing beside his bed.

'I told you, I find it hard to think of anybody else these days, Snape.' Harry saw a blurry smirk and grinned in response. 'I thought you had House stuff to do tonight?'

'I have done it.' The wire frames of Harry's glasses were stingingly cold as they were slid onto his ears and the bridge of his nose. The blurry Severus slid into focus. 'Get dressed. I'm taking you out.'

'Wouldn't you rather join me here?'

'Hm, not tonight. Up. Dress.'




Harry stood beside Snape in the tiny alcove of a secluded doorway, waiting for whoever it was on the other side of the heavy door to decide that their images on the security camera looked whatever enough to be allowed entrance to wherever it was they were.

'Four rules for tonight, Potter.' Snape's voice was quiet beside him. 'Be a perfect gentleman at all times. Do not use nor mention magic. No surnames once we are inside. And no kissing the staff.'

'You what?'

'Professional sex workers don't kiss their clients, Harry. It's how they manage to compartmentalise their working life from their private life. So, don't try kissing them.'

So that's what sort of place it was. And Harry suddenly knew why Snape had foregone his usual travelling robes in favour of a far more Mugglish black greatcoat. Oh Merlin help him.




'Relax,' was Snape's soft instruction. They were drinking straight double scotches on a red velvet sofa, Snape all casual elegance with his long limbs and austere expression, and Harry terrified and fidgeting, perching on the edge of the seat because his endocrine system was kicking his Flight Or Fight programme into gear already. 'Relax,' Snape repeated, laying a hand on Harry's knee briefly.

An older woman approached them, somehow managing to look extremely businesslike, welcoming and no-nonsense, all at the same time. 'Good evening, gentlemen.' Snape swept to his feet at once, glaring reproachfully at Harry until he jumped up, too, following Snape's lead in shaking the woman's hand. She motioned for them both to be seated again and sat primly in the matching red velvet armchair that faced them. 'Now then,' she smiled. 'How may we assist you this evening?'

Harry's empty whisky glass was refilled by an obviously psychic barmaid. He clutched gratefully at the crystal tumbler while his lover said such outrageous things as "Happy to accommodate us both" and "Brunette, definitely" and, most mortifying of all, "With a substantial bosom, if we may".

The woman nodded very matter-of-factly as she left, and not five minutes later one of the most beautiful girls Harry had ever seen slinked over to where they sat, smiling radiantly. Harry guessed her age to be about five years older than himself, possibly a bit more. Dressed in a short red shift dress, black stockings and black high heels, she was pale with very dark blue eyes, and black hair piled up on top of her head, making her long neck positively swan-like. Thoughts of swans made Harry realise exactly what the girl reminded him of - a ballerina. Tiny and petite, she'd be lucky to come up to Snape's nipple level without her heels on. Harry had never seen curves like hers on any ballerina, though, and certainly never a "substantial bosom" like that.

'Gentlemen,' she smiled. 'I'm Christobel. How do you do?' Snape stood and Harry followed automatically. He watched Snape briefly brush his lips over the back of her outstretched hand.

'Pleased to meet you, Christobel,' Snape purred. 'I am Severus and this is my friend, Harry.'

Harry knew he'd never be able to successfully pull off the hand-kissing thing. He just wasn't as suave as Snape. A smile and a squeaky "Hi" was all he managed as he shook her delicate hand limply.

'If you'd both like to bring your drinks,' Christobel took a step back, 'we'll just go somewhere a little more private, shall we?'




Just go with it, Harry thought to himself. Act cool. Don't make a fool - Ohfuck, she's touching me!

Christobel smiled and threw his tshirt onto a nearby chair. 'It's okay, honey,' she murmured, steering them both toward the king-sized bed in the centre of the room. 'I'll be gentle with you. I promise.' She stopped a moment and reached behind herself to unzip her dress. It pooled at her feet and she stepped out of it gracefully. The stockings and the shoes were the only other items she wore. Oh god.

Harry glanced over at Snape who was sitting casually in an armchair, legs crossed, fingers steepled in front of him. A little help here? His beseeching was silent but his lover obviously read it in his eyes. 'Harry has been intimate with a woman precisely once before now,' Snape suddenly announced into the room. Oh yeah, thanks for that, Harry thought sarcastically. 'But I doubt the young lady in question showed him anything beyond the basics.' He stood up from the armchair and approached them where they stood, resting one hand gently in the sweeping curve of Christobel's lower back. 'Perhaps you could assist me, my dear, in instructing Harry in a few of the more advanced techniques?'

It was fascinating to Harry, to watch another human being respond the same way to Severus' voice as he himself did. Christobel tilted her lovely face up to the tall man and smiled incredibly sweetly at him. 'Where should we start?' she purred.

Snape took a step closer to them both, curling an arm around both of their naked waists. 'Harry is very talented at fellatio.' His black gaze travelled appreciatively over Harry's chest and up to his face. 'But perhaps it is time he added cunnilingus to his repertoire?'

Harry felt his eyes widen. Severus wanted him to… put his face… there… and lick her? What would she taste like? What would she smell like? He'd only ever smelt… that… once before, on his fingers, the morning that he woke up aged eighteen-years-and-one-day. It had been alright, he supposed, though it was kind of hard to tell, what with all the other smells clinging to his body that morning - spilt beer and cigarette smoke and crisps and kebab. What if he got his face in there now and found that he didn't like it all that much? What on earth would be the etiquette then? Be a perfect gentleman, Severus had told him. But how does a perfect gentleman say "I'm terribly sorry, my dear, but I find your twat rather repulsive - mind if I don't?"? The large hand on his waist rubbed in a soothing motion. Harry took a deep breath. It was okay - Severus was with him. It'd all be okay.

Breaking away from their little clinch, Christobel kicked her shoes off and lay back on the bed, her large breasts looking even larger as they settled on her chest. Snape pressed a quick kiss to Harry's forehead before moving away to kneel beside the bed. 'Christobel,' he said and Harry envied the girl for how lovely her name sounded on those lips. 'Are fingers permissible?'

Christobel grinned. 'Sure they are.'

Severus nodded and caressed his left hand smoothly down the side of her body, rounding the curve of her upper thigh and sliding in between her parting legs. He looked only at her face while he was doing this, while he was trailing his fingers lightly back and forth between her thighs, pressing slowly and shallowly inside her with one finger. 'And if I give Harry some instruction,' he continued softly, 'will you please forgive me any formality in my tone? My instruction may sound clinical and detached but I have no wish to objectify, I assure you.' He slipped a second finger into her as she smiled and acquiesced. Snape nodded and turned his head toward Harry.

It took some effort to drag his gaze away from the juncture of Christobel's legs, where Snape's long, graceful fingers slid smoothly in and out, but Harry forced himself to look to Severus' face and meet his lover's eyes.

'Would you join us, Harry?'

Harry stepped blindly toward the bed and had one knee up on the edge before Snape's soft tutting stilled him. 'Shoes,' Snape rebuked him. Harry obediently toed off his trainers and pulled off his socks, leaving himself clothed in just underwear and his jeans. Again, he approached the bed, and Severus made no move to stop him this time.

'What do I do?' Harry asked, kneeling between Christobel's spread legs, watching Snape fingering the girl gently. He swallowed, his mouth feeling suddenly very dry.

'Get yourself comfortable first,' Severus told him. 'And try resting your head here, perhaps.' He patted Christobel's inner right thigh with his free hand.

Okay. Eesh, this was close. Before Harry could think too much else about the situation, Snape's wet fingers were brushing against his mouth, gliding slickly over his lips. Harry looked up at Severus. Eyebrow. Of course. Tentatively, Harry poked his tongue a little way out and ran the tip of it along his bottom lip. Hrm. It didn't really taste like much at all, really. He pulled his bottom lip into his mouth and then his top lip, sucking the fluid off them and swallowing. Okay, then. He could do this. One last look up at Snape, and then Harry moved his head forward, closing his eyes and hesitantly nuzzling his nose into folds of hot hot flesh.

'Simply think of it as… snogging, for a while,' Snape told him quietly. 'Many of the motions are similar.' Harry figured that made sense. For what felt like a few minutes, Harry was allowed to simply treat the action like a kiss, moving his lips against heat and wetness, opening his mouth and stroking his tongue into the corresponding opening. He could indeed smell Christobel's intimate scent, but there was nothing distasteful about it. She smelt merely clean and sharp, just like her taste. If anything, the most discernible flavour to her was something vaguely metallic. Harry began to relax and think that this really wasn't so bad after all.

'Remember you have fingers as well, Harry.' Snape's voice didn't sound like it was coming from beside the bed now. More like it was behind him. 'You can learn to use your chin for further stimulation as well. And even though your nose is positively diminutive, I am confident you should be able to learn to do SOMEthing useful with it.' Harry tried inserting a finger alongside his tongue, but didn't really want to think too much about what Snape might've used his nose for in the past. He shifted his head slightly, his own nose sliding against a little bump, and he heard Christobel give a soft gasp. 'Ah, I assume you just found the clitoris, Harry. Well done. Millions of men go their entire lives never having found that.' Some part of Harry's brain was starting to wonder what Severus might be doing behind him. 'The clitoris is akin to the head of your cock, Harry,' Snape went on. 'It contains the same amount of nerve endings as your cock head. If you can imagine all of that feeling compressed into such a small area, you will begin to understand why not all women can endure direct stimulation onto the unhooded clitoris. This is something you will have to learn to gauge with each individual lover.'

The bed behind where Harry crouched dipped, and he knew that Severus was now kneeling behind him. He felt familiar hands on his hips, then felt them move to his belt and jeans fastening. As Snape undid the buckle, the button and the fly, his melodious voice continued its delicate lecture. 'Many women also enjoy a finger inserted into their anus, simultaneously with their vagina. However, I think we shall leave that for another time perhaps.' Harry's jeans were opened then and eased down over his hips, along with his underwear, until his arse was completely uncovered. Severus pushed the garments down to Harry's knees.

Until now, Harry's dick had been rather limp with nervousness and the fact that he was concentrating so hard on something utterly un-cock-focussed at the moment. But as soon as he realised he was crouching down with his arse on display and Snape kneeling behind him, Harry's cock rose solidly to attention. He moaned for the first time tonight, hearing a corresponding groan from Christobel - no doubt reacting to the vibration against her sensitive flesh. Then Harry felt hot breath on his arsehole, and then large nose in his crack, and when Severus completely pressed his face against Harry's backside and opened his mouth on him, Harry leaned forward into Christobel harder and moaned as deeply as he had in ages.

Time seemed to stretch for a little while then. The wet sounds of licking and sucking, and the softer sounds of murmured approval and enjoyment, filled the room. When Severus pushed a finger into Harry's arsehole, Harry inserted a second into Christobel, and proceeded to plunge them in and out of her to the same rhythm as Snape set on Harry. It all seemed to be working quite well, really.

After a further minute or so, Severus moved away again. Harry's arse suddenly felt rather cold, but he ignored that and continued his attentions between Christobel's legs. He could hear water running in the hand basin tucked into one corner of the room, and guessed Severus was washing his face and hands.

'Shall we move on to something else?' Snape asked, back at the side of the bed once more.

Harry lifted his face from Christobel and looked up at his lover. Severus was kneeling beside them again and the look he was giving Harry right now was so tender that Harry almost forgot that he still had two fingers inside a beautiful young woman. Everything he'd ever wanted was in that look Severus was giving him right now. He removed his fingers from Christobel's body and absent-mindedly brought his other hand up to his face.

'No, Harry, don't wipe your face.' Severus leaned in and kissed him. Hard. Interspersing his kisses with broad sweeps of his tongue over Harry's chin, nose and cheeks. Bloody hell, Harry thought, he's kissing her off me! He sighed deeply, tilting his face up more, loving the feel of Severus' breath on him, mouth on him, lips and tongue on him. Snape reached down and pulled lightly on Harry's erection, easing his face back from Harry's a few inches. 'On your back, Harry.'

God. Harry suddenly recalled, as clear as though it were only yesterday, Severus saying those exact words to him the very first time the two of them were in bed together. We trust him, Harry's brain told him. Harry nodded and made a move to stand up from the bed, Severus' hand sliding away from Harry's cock as he did so. He stood and removed his jeans and pants, then crawled back up onto the bed, flopping down onto his back beside Christobel. A square of foil landed on Harry's chest and he picked the item up.

'Please assure me you know how to put one of those on?' Snape was looking down at him with an ever so slightly bemused expression. 'And,' he said a little less bemusedly, 'that you in fact used one last July?'

Harry felt a bit of a blush flare up in his cheeks. 'Yeah,' he mumbled.

Severus walked around to Harry's side of the bed and sat down on the edge. 'Here.' His voice was soft and quiet as he reached out to pluck the glasses from Harry's face and proceeded to clean the lenses on the untucked tails of his white shirt. 'That must have felt like you were looking through a Vaselined lens,' he almost chuckled, and put them back on Harry tenderly. Snape glanced over at Christobel, who was now kneeling up on the bed at their side. 'His glasses stay on,' he told her. Then he leaned over and whispered something to her that Harry couldn't hear. When Christobel nodded, Snape patted Harry's hand and moved away, retreating back to the armchair on the other side of the room.

Christobel straddled Harry's legs and leaned over. He was about to tear the foil packet open and set about sheathing himself when the girl's cleavage suddenly swallowed his erection. Wide-eyed, Harry looked down his torso and watched as Christobel used her hands to push her breasts tighter around his cock and then started to rock slowly back and forth over him, massaging his swollen prick with, well, with her tits.

Harry looked over at Severus, who was watching impassively, then back at Christobel, who grinned up at him. 'Do you like how that feels, honey?'

Harry swallowed. 'It's, um, well, it's, it's surprising.'

'Mm. How about you get yourself all rubbered up now and let me ride you for a while?'

Harry distinctly felt his cock twitch as it slid between her breasts. 'Uh, sure, okay.' He tore the small package open and fumbled the oily contents out. Christobel moved far enough off his cock to let him roll the condom down his solid shaft, then no sooner was it in place than she was back over him again, gripping his waist with her stockinged knees and rolling her hips over him until his cock was positioned at her entrance. When she sank down onto him, Harry's shoulders left the bed and his stomach clenched. Fuck, she was HOT. And wet! And… velvety. She fucked herself down hard onto him, using her internal muscles to alternately grip and release him. Harry figured that Christobel was very good at her job. When she leaned over and pushed her tits into his face, he gladly opened his mouth over one of her large nipples, sucking on it harder than he ever did on Snape's - maybe it was because they were so much larger, they seemed more robust somehow.

The fucking was hard while Christobel was in charge. Amazingly, when she clamped Harry's hands onto her hips and arse and then stilled herself, the fucking actually got even harder, as Harry was given free rein to thrust up into her. Harry felt his balls pull up in readiness - they'd been waiting for some release since he'd gone to his room for a wank a couple of hours ago. He turned his head and looked over at Snape. Harry and Severus locked gazes as Harry thrust up as hard as he could and came with a hoarse shout.

Harry's face was covered by breast again as Christobel leaned forward and let his cock slip out of her body. 'There now,' she whispered down at him. 'Did we enjoy that?'

'Yes. Thank-you.' Harry decided he rather didn't like having a condom on. Especially not when it was full of come that had nowhere to go.

Christobel smiled her lovely smile and rolled off him, sitting cross-legged on the bed and watching as he gingerly slid the condom away from his penis and tied the open end off in a knot. What was he supposed to do with it now, he wondered?

'Just leave it on the floor for the time being, Harry,' Severus instructed.

Harry sat up and swung his legs over the side of the bed, pulling a handtowel from a small shelf on the bedside table and using it to wipe his face and then his cock. He coughed a little. 'Is there something to drink in here?' Snape stood and brought a glass of water over to him. Harry noticed that, at some point, Severus had removed various items of clothing until he was now clothed in just his black trousers and white shirt. Harry stared down at the man's alabaster white feet, remembering the first time he'd seen them, on that first night they'd spent together. Why were so many things about this evening reminding him so vividly of that night back in January?

'What about you, Severus?' Snape and Harry both looked at Christobel. Harry looked back at Snape and watched something unreadable flicker through the onyx eyes, the man's Adam's apple moving as he swallowed.

'It is not necessary.'

'Nonsense!' Christobel chirped. 'You certainly sounded like you knew what you were talking about…' She grinned cheekily. 'And I wouldn't mind finding out if I'm right.'

Severus glanced up at the overhead lights and then down at his shirt, folding his pale hands together in front of himself. Harry's heart fluttered about in his chest. He stood up and put his arms around his lover, kissing the side of the long neck. 'It's alright,' he whispered. Then he stepped away and crossed to the door, where he took hold of the dimmer switch on the architrave and slowly turned the lights down by a few degrees of intensity.

Snape was looking at him as though he'd just done magic. Harry made a point of indicating the small white button and saying, 'Dimmer switch. For the lights.'

Severus nodded, understanding. 'You wish for me to do this?'

'Yeah, I do.' Harry came back to Snape and caressed the man's face. 'I'd love to watch you.' He pressed his mouth to Severus' briefly. 'I know you'll look so beautiful. I'd like to see that.'

The mouth tensed momentarily. 'Very well, then.'

A thrill coursed through Harry at Severus' acceptance. His lover was going to have sex with the woman that he'd just had sex with. And he was going to be watching! He felt extremely decadent and debauched all of a sudden. He disentangled his pants from his jeans and put them back on, going to sit, otherwise naked, in the armchair from which Snape had been watching.

Christobel was undoing the buttons of Snape's fly while Severus unbuttoned his shirt. In no time at all, the Potions Master's pale body was completely naked, his large cock pointing at the ceiling already. Harry might've almost expected the girl to say something flippant about men with big noses, and he was glad for her professionalism when she didn't. In fact, from the moment Snape had made the defensive gesture of folding his hands in front of his body a moment ago, Christobel had become very serious, her professional expertise obviously coming to the fore.

'How do you want to do this, Severus?'

It struck Harry that Christobel didn't address Snape with any pet names, like she had used with Harry. Severus Snape was not a man to be called "honey", quite obviously, and Christobel was canny enough to have grasped this.

Snape looked to Harry for an answer to the girl's question. 'Face to face,' Harry replied, hoping that was okay. Face to face was how Severus most often made love to Harry, and Harry wanted to see how the man looked when he was doing that.

Severus nodded his assent and kneeled onto the edge of the bed, reaching out to Christobel's legs and slowly rolling the black stockings down her thighs, over her knees, down her smooth calves and off her dainty feet. Harry hadn't even thought of that. He hadn't known for sure if it was allowed or not for a customer to remove any of the hostess' clothing. Besides, he'd sorta gotten off a bit on the whole naked-except-for-black-stockings thing - not that he'd want to admit that to anybody, of course.

Christobel retrieved another square foil packet from the bedside table and held it out to Severus, then lay down on her back, gazing up at him expectantly. Snape opened the wrapper carefully and rolled the sheath onto himself, doing all the little things that Harry, in his haste, had forgotten, such as squeezing the reservoir at the tip to expel any captured air, and holding the base securely as he moved forward for entry.

'Forgive me if I am a little out of practice,' Severus told Christobel softly. 'It has been seven years since I last made love to a woman.'

Christobel raised her arms and wound them around Snape's neck. 'You'll do just fine.'

Snape's dark gaze flickered toward Harry as he sank down onto the tiny body beneath him, the large cock disappearing between Christobel's thighs. Harry shifted in the chair. The difference in size between the two bodies he was watching was quite marked. Christobel couldn't be more than about five-foot-one, meaning Severus was more than a foot taller than her. His hands, as he reverently moved them around her body, looked enormous. His entire physicality, from the width of his shoulders to the length of his legs, seemed exaggerated as he began to move gently over her. It seemed that Christobel had to spread her legs even further apart, just so that she could tilt her pelvis upward and clasp her ankles in the small of Snape's back, her thighs now spread wide to encompass Snape's hips.

As the two began to move against one another, Harry felt warmth travel up from his groin, through his chest and up the flesh of his throat. His lover was beautiful. Harry could barely close his eyes long enough to blink, he was so mesmerised by the sight of Snape thrusting his hips carefully, running his hands over the girl's smooth skin, nuzzling his huge nose into her long black hair. Oh yeah, Harry thought, her hair had smelt really nice. He'd hardly noticed at the time, but the memory of it filled his olfactory sense now as he watched Severus breathing it in.

Snape shifted more of his weight onto one arm, moving the other under his body as he found a steady rhythm. Displaying suppleness that Harry obviously found all too easy to forget the man possessed when he wasn't actually in bed with him himself, Snape bent his head to Christobel's chest and closed his mouth around the peak of her left breast. Harry's mouth salivated sympathetically as he watched Severus suckling on the girl, hips starting to move fractionally harder but still holding the same rhythm. When Snape lifted his head and straightened his spine again, he continued to caress her breast firmly with his hand, rolling his thumb over the dark, stiff nipple as he began to fuck her harder.

Harry began to wonder just how hard such a delicate little body could be fucked. Afterall, he knew how passionate and forceful Severus could be, but Harry was a bloke - a sportsman! - and his body could obviously take what Snape could deal out. But Christobel… Christobel was tiny. Harry even had a sudden, rather ugly, thought as to just how far up her Snape's cock must be right now. Guh. Surely, if Snape were to fuck her as hard as he sometimes fucked Harry… well. Mightn't he do her some serious damage? Inside, like? Just how accommodating WAS the female body? Still. Snape had had female lovers before. Surely he must know how far he could take any of this…

Christobel groaned and splayed her hands over Snape's scarred back. Snape wrapped both arms around her again and kept his rhythm, angle and force steady, gazing down into her face seriously.

'There?' Harry heard Severus whisper.

'Yes. Yes.' Christobel unclasped her ankles from around Snape's back and stretched her legs out along his (not that they reached all that far). From what little Harry had learned and otherwise gleaned about human anatomy, that movement meant that both pelvises were now pressed flat against one another, that Christobel's was no longer tilted upwards. That must have changed the direction Snape's cock was going in a bit, mustn't it? All too soon, it was clear that that obviously didn't matter, because Christobel's body seemed to go stiff all over and the little, breathy moans that she'd been making ceased as she pressed her now screwed-up face to Snape's chest and keened.

Above her, Severus smiled one of his rarest smiles and moved a hand to the back of her skull, cradling her head against him, all the while still thrusting, never changing a single thing about his angle or his pace. After about twenty seconds, Christobel seemed to regain herself again and Snape gently lowered her head back down onto the bed. She grinned up at him in a way that very nearly made Harry have jealous thoughts, and stroked Severus' pallid face.

'I told you,' she said, her voice a little breathless. 'Fuck, it's been a good couple of months since a client's managed that!' Harry's cock pulsed with envy. 'What about you now, Severus? Anything special you want?'

Snape lowered his mouth to Christobel's ear. Harry had to strain to hear the barely hissed words. 'Pound you.'

Christobel nodded and reached down to her legs, simultaneously raising them so that she could grip the backs of her knees. As soon as she did, the force of Snape's thrusts increased. He straightened his arms, hands splayed on the bed for maximum support and began to fuck into the tiny body beneath him with long, hard strokes that had Harry panting quietly in no time. Christobel rocked under the increased pressure, murmuring her encouragement and obviously not in the least bit fased by the treatment. Harry's respect for the toughness of women's bodies increased tenfold. God, he wanted to be the one getting fucked like that right now. Harry noticed Snape's right hand kept returning again and again to Christobel's breast, as though he wanted to keep playing with them and kept stopping himself.

Then Severus grabbed hold of Christobel's hand and pressed his mouth into her palm, muffling his swearing and groaning as his body found its release. Harry's stomach muscles clenched again as he watched his lover coming, as he watched Severus - there was no other word for it - snogging the woman's hand, kissing it and tonguing it. When Harry heard his name being moaned against her hand, he could stand being the voyeur no longer. He stood up and fell to his knees beside the bed, wrenching Severus' face up from Christobel's hand and pushing his mouth against Snape's as hard as he could.

Chapter Nineteen

Snape lay on his back, in the dark, staring up at where he knew the canopy over Harry's bed was, listening to Harry staring up into the dark, too. It had been a subdued journey back to Grimmauld Place, both men intent on their thoughts. Harry had smiled at him every time their eyes met, but he hadn't said very much. Snape had been asked to stay the night and he had agreed. The better part of an hour later, neither of them had found sleep but nor had they sought to fill the time with anything else.

It was hard to tell how the evening's activities had affected his young lover. The kisses the boy had bestowed upon him whilst Snape was still inside another's body had stolen his breath away in more ways than merely physical. He felt humbled by the youth's obvious passion for him, and frustrated by his own inability to see their relationship clearer. When they had bid Christobel goodbye, Harry had seemed a little awkward, even blushing as they had walked through the red velvet lounge area again on their way out. Honestly, Potter, it's a brothel - of COURSE these people know what you've just been doing! Why torture yourself with getting uncomfortable about it? Snape was glad he had merely thought the admonishment and not said it out loud to Harry, as his previous instinct might have led him to do.

Snape blinked into the darkness. "Previous instinct"? Gods, Harry Potter had changed Snape's instincts. Three months ago, the boy had plonked himself down into Severus' lap on a mere whim and managed to make the entire Earth lurch on its axis in the process. I am not the man I used to be…

'Lumos.'

A dim glow radiated from the tip of Potter's wand, just enough light for Snape to be able to look into the boy's eyes and see them twinkling.

Twinkling. They all bloody twinkle at me. I am surrounded, out-numbered, out-gunned, by twinklers.

'Did I thank you?'

'What for now, Potter?'

'For tonight. Did I remember to thank you for taking me out?'

Snape made a show of rearranging the blanket's satin edging against his chin. 'You may have mumbled something incomprehensible.'

Harry balanced his wand on the edge of his bedside table and scooted closer to Snape, snaking two limbs - one upper, one lower - over the top of his body and snuggling up. The messy head fit perfectly into the curve where Snape's shoulder met his throat. Of course it did. Everything about the brat was a perfect fit, was it not? Snape manoeuvred an arm under the smaller body and curled him in toward himself more, his other hand moving down to hold Harry's thigh where it draped across him.

'Thank-you,' Harry whispered against his skin.

'What is it you believe I am to be thanked for?'

'I told you I didn't want to do anything without you. And you listened.'

'So you are thanking me for listening to you?'

'Well, yeah!' Potter was smiling against Snape's throat. He could feel it. 'And you made… that easier for me. Look, I wouldn't have even thought of going to a, a professional like that. And I can't try to get a bit more experience with any girls in the Wizarding world, can I? They all know who I am and I'd be terrified the whole time that they'd be running off to the Prophet or Witch Weekly as soon as I was out the door. I can't trust any of them.'

'There are any number of eligible females in the Muggle world, Potter.'

'Yeah, I know that. But that's a whole other kind of scary again. No I, I reckon you had the right idea. Still feels a bit weird, sure, but at least I know I'm safe from anybody kiss-and-telling, and I got to share it with you, and GOD you were so amazing in there!'

May not have been so amazing with a lesser professional, Snape thought to himself, remembering Christobel's whispered entreaties to him to "think of Harry". And he had been thinking of Harry, of course. He never stopped thinking of Harry these days, it seemed. Only brewing - his first, and until now greatest, love - was sufficient to elbow the young man out of his thoughts at all. Not even enjoying the obvious pleasures of a woman of Christobel's calibre had been enough; though pleasure there had certainly been. Seven years between the feel of soft female skin had perhaps been a little long, he thought wryly, only to have his very next, unexpected thought be - but now I never will again.

Severus felt the nighttime crowd in on him, then. Felt the unfamiliar sensation of both realising he was in control of his choices and knowing, TRULY knowing, what choice to make next. Vividly, he saw himself at twenty-one, cutting up his left forearm with a shard of broken mirror and catching a glimpse of his dead black eyes in the cracking reflection. A Wizard's Life Bond hadn't been enough to make him go crawling back - he had laughed at the weak tug on the invisible cord from time to time over the years - it was the empowering knowledge of control and certainty that finally did it. That had him stand, bleeding, with wands and crossbow trained on him for hours while the consequences of his choice became apparent.

'Snape? You okay?'

How was he to know? He'd just had an epiphany. "Okay" really might not be the adequate description right now.

Snape grabbed up the arm that lay over him and pressed his mouth against the warm palm. 'Mm,' he murmured noncommittally. He turned slightly toward his lover, letting Harry's arm down to drape upon him once more, and looked into the pale luminescence of Harry's face in the minimal light.

'I told you yesterday that I was prepared to risk everything for you,' he said in a low voice. 'Is it too early for me to ask of your thoughts on that admission?'

The beautiful lips that he had kissed so much in the last months and ached to kiss more, parted slowly. 'It… it all fits together for me. In my heart.'

Severus smiled cautiously as he recognised his own words from the very conversation to which he had referred. 'You listened.'

'Are you gonna thank me for it?'

'Hm. I might, if you please, hold off until you've listened to some more.'

The lips and the eyes smiled in unison. 'Okay. Now?'

Snape shook his head slightly on the pillow. 'I really must try to sleep. I am expected at Saint Mungo's before school starts to collect Draco and take him back to Hogwarts with me.'

'Can I help with anything?'

'Yes. You can not be offended when I ask Lupin to accompany me in the morning.'





The werewolf was hunched over on an unfeasibly uncomfortable looking chair, reading what looked to be an article on Chinese horoscopes in Witch Weekly. Current for the Year Of The Dog. 1994.

Snape stood to the side in the waiting area, arms crossed, left shoulder beginning to freeze into position on the wall against which he leant, dark eyes glaring at the stopped hospital clock on the opposite wall. At the time the clock had ceased to operate, a Doctor Spalding had apparently been due for an internal enquiry and the entire Geriatric Department had been hexed by a vicious bout of Colostomy Curse. Snape decided that if there was anything more worthy of hate than hospitals in general, it was hospital waiting rooms. And while other sections of Saint Mungo's received grants from the Ministry and gifts from rich benefactors, the Adolescent Psychiatric ward seemed somewhat down-at-heel. That is, if its visitor waiting room was anything to go by.

A dowdy witch in beige robes and horn-rimmed glasses appeared behind the glass of the small reception area and looked desultorily from one to the other of the two men.

'Parents,' she whined.

Snape turned his head slowly toward her nasal voice, eyebrow already arching in reply. Lupin glanced up from his magazine article. 'I beg your pardon?' he called across the room.

'Parents.'

The werewolf looked at Snape and shrugged his thin shoulders. Snape kicked off from the wall he had been leaning against and stalked over to the reception glass. 'We were told to wait here for the release of Mister Draco Malfoy,' he enunciated as calmly as possible.

'Parents?' the witch whined again, at least this time managing to make the word sound like a question.

Snape turned his head to share a rare "Can you fucking believe this?" moment with the lupine one before turning back to the whiny bint. 'Mister Malfoy's father is in Azkaban and his mother is missing,' Snape said slowly. And, he thought menacingly, if you dare to infer that the mangy canine behind me and myself could POSSIBLY be a couple, I will tear out your liver for use in a batch of Bile Surprise potion.

The witch narrowed her eyes at him. 'Paperwork?' she whined next.

'It's. Been. Done.'

Lupin suddenly appeared at Snape's shoulder, pressing thin hands onto the counter and leaning forward chummily toward the glass. 'Actually, the nurse… ah, she came out and spoke to us about twenty minutes ago, she took all the paperwork away with her.' The werewolf tried a smile. 'We were told Mister Malfoy would be brought out forthwith.'

The witch just stared.

'Honest,' Lupin added hopefully. Just when Snape was beginning to think that not even former Gryffindor prefects could charm their way through this system, the witch nodded once, slowly, and edged away.

'Prepare,' she announced ominously as she left.

The two men exchanged a glance. 'Maybe she's cursed?' suggested Lupin with another shrug. 'Can only speak words beginning with P?'

'Fuck knows,' Snape muttered under his breath and moved back to his section of wall.

Lupin retreated again to the inhumane chair. The old copy of Witch Weekly remained, open, on the seat beside him however. 'Would you mind me asking, Severus - '

'Probably.'

Lupin smiled, ploughing on regardless. ' - why you asked me to assist this morning? Surely you don't think Draco will be violent or unmanageable, do you?'

'Of course not.'

'Hm. Well. Why, then?'

Severus had felt a knot in the base of his throat for most of the morning. Since asking the wolf to accompany him here over breakfast, funnily enough. He was still quietly patting himself on the back that he'd actually managed to give the invitation voice at all in the cold light of day. Snape cleared his throat softly, trying to dislodge the imaginary knot. 'It was nothing to do with Malfoy, actually.'

'Oh?'

Snape glared at Doctor Spalding's visage of innocent surprise on the opposite wall again. Did the internal enquiry get you, you old bugger? Snape wondered vaguely. Shit. Any moment now, surely, the swing doors were going to open and Draco would be deposited into their care, and Snape would have wasted all of this waiting-around time steadfastly ignoring the person he had actually asked to come along with him in the hopes that they could… he sneered slightly… get a chance to talk.

Severus took a deep breath. Now or never, he figured. 'Have you any inkling,' he began, 'as to precisely what Potter's feelings toward you are?' He crossed his arms again and glared around the room for a short while, so quickly running out of things to glare at that he was forced to look askance at Lupin.

'I am… Well, I… like to think Harry and I are very good friends, Severus. There isn't a problem with that, is there?'

'Should there be?'

'Well, of course not. But you're the one asking the questions… ?'

Fuck it. Snape turned just enough that he could swap which shoulder leaned against the wall, ending up more or less facing where the other man sat. 'You are the only connection he feels he still has to his parents,' he blurted out. 'And, obviously, the only connection he still has to his wretched godfather.'

Lupin nodded sadly.

'Apart from Arthur and Molly who, Merlin knows, have enough of their own spawn to surely satisfy the parental drives of one couple, you are the closest thing Potter has to a parent figure.'

'I suppose that's true, Severus.'

'And,' Snape sighed in frustration, 'while Arthur and Molly have appointed themselves Potter's surrogate parents, you would appear to be the only adult that, that Potter - '

'Yes?'

'That Potter has actually chosen himself as a surrogate parent.'

'That's very sweet of you to say.'

'Don't push me, Lupin.'

'Sorry.'

'Regardless. As Harry's surrogate parent, there is a matter I would wish to discuss with you. A delicate matter, I trust you will appreciate. Personal. Obviously.'

'Obviously.'

'For fuck's sake, Lupin! This isn't EASY, you know!'

'Well, if I knew what it is you wish to discuss, Severus?'

'It's more a case of "asking", I suppose…'

'Very well, then. What is it you wish to ask me?'

'I… That is, I wish to - '

'Professor Snape! Professor Lupin?'

Both men started as though they had been sprung doing something they shouldn't have, both heads snapping toward the direction of the swing doors beside the reception area. Draco Malfoy stood there, a male psych nurse standing guard beside him. Draco looked a dozen times better than he had looked last time Snape had seen him, though he was still too thin by far and lacked the healthy glow of his schooldays, when Malfoy money had kept him better fed and in better health than most of the free world.

Snape took several steps toward the youth, holding out his right hand. 'Mister Malfoy.'

Draco stepped forward, too, and shook his former Professor's hand solidly. 'Thank-you for coming to collect me, sir.'

'Think nothing of it, Malfoy.' Snape met the eyes of the male nurse and nodded once. The uniformed man turned and went without bidding Draco any form of farewell.

Draco was looking at Lupin somewhat suspiciously. 'What's he doing here, sir?' he asked Snape in a confidential tone.

Snape sniffed imperiously. 'I requested Mister Lupin's presence this morning. If you don't mind, Malfoy, I am now running considerably late for my morning classes.'

Draco hefted a small overnight bag onto his shoulder. 'Sorry, Professor. Shall we?'





'Who says I need a job?!'

'Everyone who cares about you, you imbecile,' Snape snapped at Malfoy, ignoring the Headmaster's silent plea for peace.

'Draco, my dear boy,' Albus attempted to soothe, 'try not to think of it as a job. Rather, think of it as accommodation and a per diem in exchange for sharing many of your talents with the Hogwarts community while you convalesce.'

The blonde exhaled hard enough to puff the fringe up off his forehead. 'And what talents did you have in mind, sir?'

Dumbledore leaned back in his chair and cracked a lemon sherbet loudly in his mouth. 'You were an excellent Potions student, Draco, and a Seeker for your House Quidditch team. And Professor McGonagall informs me you were none too shabby in Transfiguration in your senior years. Some of your Defence Against The Dark Arts teachers reported you had certain strengths, too. You are familiar with the responsibilities of prefects also, don't forget, Draco, and there may even come a time soon when Professor Snape may wish to have a fellow Slytherin to whom he can deputise various House duties.' Albus peered over the tops of his spectacles and grinned at the scowling blonde and the scowling Potions Master. 'I am confident we can find you any number of areas in which your particular skills and expertise can be useful to the school and the student body. Perhaps the title of Teachers' Aide might be most appropriate? That way, you can lend assistance wherever it is needed, across the Faculty?'

Snape glanced sideways in time to see Draco slump in his seat.

'Fine,' Malfoy sighed with a shudder. 'Fine, I'll do it. Can somebody just PLEASE show me to my quarters, now?'





'Ah, Severus - you were going to ask me something earlier?'

Snape glared at the werewolf, jostling an armful of homework parchments from one arm to the other. 'Lupin,' he drawled, 'my classes have already been disrupted enough this morning, I believe.'

'Right you are. Shall I wait in the staff room until morning break, then?'

Fuck you, wolfie. Snape glared into the far distance of the corridor in which they were standing and sighed heavily. 'His hand,' he mumbled.

'Pardon?'

Snape glowered at Lupin as fiercely as he knew he was able and took a few menacing steps into the other man's personal space. 'You heard me, lunatic. You are Harry's chosen parent. Whether you asked for it or not, you are the one the boy has designated as family. I wanted… FUCK!' Snape raked his gaze one way down the deserted corridor and then the other, wishing to any gods listening that he wasn't loaded down with marked essays and didn't have a class to get to right this moment. 'I haven't the time for this now, Lupin! My class is waiting.' He whirled away down the hall, muttering 'Probably blown themselves to bits already,' as he stormed off.

Chapter Twenty

Septimus Stringer wasn't a dry or boring speaker, even when discussing some of the finer points of litigation law. It really wasn't his fault that many of the furnishings in his office reminded Harry of similar items he and Severus had used to their, er, mutual satisfaction. He'd been trying to give his lawyer his full and complete attention. Honest, he had. But then he'd happened to catch a glimpse of his own reflection in the glass doors of Stringer's bookcases and Harry's throat had constricted in embarrassment. It was all downhill from there, really.

There was a green leather Chesterfield couch, much newer than the comfy one in Snape's sittingroom, true, but still a very vivid reminder of the "victory fuck" they had enjoyed on their knees, Harry sprawled forward over the couch's cushions, after the final battle. Beside Stringer's fireplace was a rather nice reading chair, very similar in shape to the one in which Severus had been sitting in the Grimmauld library the first time Harry had kissed him. And while Stringer's desk was nothing like Snape's desk, Harry discerned, after a few minutes of staring at it, that it was made from the same type of wood as the thankfully sturdy table in Draco Malfoy's Munich kitchen. Oh dear.

'Would you like a drink, Mister Potter?' Septimus Stringer suddenly asked him. 'A cup of tea, perhaps? You're looking a tad peaky all of a sudden.'

'No, I'm fine. Thanks. I just, um…' Harry cleared his throat. 'Can I run an idea by you?'

'Certainly. That is what I'm here for, after all. To listen to you.'

Harry smiled. 'Okay. Well. If I wanted to walk away from the public completely, if I just turned my back on the media totally, for instance, and refused to do interviews and became a recluse or something… how successful do you think that might be? Would they leave me alone?'

Stringer ran one hand through his dark blonde hair as he sat back a bit from his desk. 'Ah. Is that what you would like to do?'

Harry pushed his glasses a little further up the bridge of his nose. 'I'd very much like to stop being The Boy Who Lived now. And I don't just mean that because I'm not a boy anymore. I mean that I feel like I've fulfilled my destiny now, I've played my part and did what everybody wanted me to do, now I'd like to be NOT famous and just be let alone to get on with my life. You know?'

The lawyer nodded thoughtfully. 'We can't prevent people from being interested in you. It's not like we can demand to have your name struck from the history books, Mister Potter. But we can certainly seek to protect you from media intrusion into your private life. You are most definitely within your rights to refuse to cooperate with the media and, should they ignore your wishes, we can take legal action against the transgressors - even to the point of taking out restraining orders against repeat offenders, if it should come to that.'

'Sounds good to me.' Harry grinned.

'Can't say I blame you. Especially with the Prophet proving so intractable.' He glanced down at that morning's letter from the Daily Prophet editorial office, rejecting the second request to retract the Athena Green story.

'And there's another thing.'

'Yes?'

Harry shifted in his chair nervously. 'Before turning my back on it all, before walking away for good, I'd like to set the record straight first. Make a statement or something.'

'You risk stirring up more interest with that than if you merely slipped away, you realise?'

'Yeah, I suppose so. But there's a few things I really do want to say… tell people about…'

'Such as?'

'The truth?'

Stringer regarded him with a steady, serious look for an extended moment. Harry held the man's gaze as confidently as he could. Finally, the lawyer nodded. 'Very well, Mister Potter. Will this statement of yours be something for which you require this firm's services?'

'Um, I don't think so. I won't be saying anything libellous about anybody or anything like that.'

'Slanderous.'

'Pardon?'

'If you say it, it's slander.' Stringer smiled.

'Oh. Okay,' Harry smiled back. 'But I'd like to have you guys become my "face to the media" or something like that. Can you do that? Like, if someone from the press wants a piece of me, they have to go through you first?'

'Absolutely. It would be an honour.'

Harry blushed a little at that. It was kind of nice to think of such an old and well respected family as the Stringers having his back, running interference for him, looking out for his concerns. 'Excellent,' he murmured.

'Would you like me to make arrangements with the media for you to make your statement?'

'You mean like a press conference?'

'If you wish. We can set that up for you, if you like.'

'Well, that'd be great, actually. I mean, I wouldn't have the faintest idea how to go about organising one. Do you invite the various papers and things?'

Stringer nodded. 'We'll put out a general announcement to various press corps and media outlets. Do you have a preference for venue? Or date?'

'How long does it take to set up?'

Stringer glanced at a desk calendar that floated a couple of inches above the surface of his desk. 'Wednesday afternoon now… and considering how everyone jumps at the name Harry Potter… Friday afternoon would not be out of the question. If you wanted to do this so soon, of course.'

Harry sighed a little. 'What about Monday afternoon instead? Give me a few extra days to sort out what I want to say?' And time to make sure this was all okay by Snape, he added in his thoughts.

'Monday afternoon it is. Venue preferences?'

'Um… dunno… somewhere kinda nice? And that we can get out of quickly without reporters following us?'

Stringer tilted his head to one side. 'Oh? Explosive stuff in this statement, is there?' He grinned sharply. 'I think I'm rather looking forward to this now. So, somewhere without anti-Apparition wards, then. I'll find you somewhere appropriate, Mister Potter. I'll owl you by tomorrow evening with the details.'





So. That was all that sorted, then. Back home at Grimmauld Place, Harry made himself a cup of tea and wandered into the library. He was currently part-way through at least half a dozen different books. It was an odd little by-product of his relationship with Severus - he appeared to have finally discovered the joy of books and reading for pleasure. Harry grinned to himself. He'd have to be sure to make Hermione aware of this aspect of Snape's influence - she'd probably hug the man in gratitude, and that would certainly be something worth seeing.

He set his cup down on the table, remembering to accio a coaster to go under it, and settled down to read until Remus got back from Hogwarts. Surely whatever had been required to get Draco out of St. Mungo's and back into his alma mater couldn't have been taking all this time? But, eh, he could wait.

After almost an hour, Harry closed his book and stood up for a stretch. Honestly, it must be almost four o'clock by now! What could possibly be taking so long? He meandered around the library for a little while, reading book spines here and there, occasionally running his fingers over the tactile surfaces of the old leather and cloth covers. Finally, a huge Atlas of Britain and Her Isles caught his eye and he lugged it down off its shelf and onto one end of the table. By the time Remus and Severus stepped out of the floo at around five-thirty, Harry had plotted the route of the Hogwarts Express from London to Scotland, had figured out how far Sirius had walked in dog form from Azkaban to Hogsmeade, had found all the current Quidditch towns, had tried to work out what highways the Knight Bus would use most frequently, and discovered a little dot near Leeds that delighted and intrigued him.

'God, you two took your time!' he beamed at the two men as they flicked soot off their robes. 'Don't tell me Draco was SURLY or something?'

Remus gave a bright smile. 'Draco was hardly any trouble at all.'

'Oh? I would've expected you back sooner, in that case.'

Remus exchanged a look with Snape before looking back at Harry. 'There were some other issues to sort out first. Sorry, Harry, I should've let you know I'd be a little while.'

'That's okay,' Harry shrugged, standing up from the table and walking over to Severus. 'I kept myself amused.' He slid an arm around Snape's waist and gave a brief squeeze. 'And it didn't even involve masturbation, you'll be pleased to hear.'

'Positively thrilled,' Severus monotoned.

Harry laughed and let his arm fall back to his side. 'How was your day?' he suddenly thought to ask.

'It likewise didn't involve masturbation.'

Remus, who was already on his way out of the library, could be heard laughing all the way up to the first floor. Harry shook his head at Snape in barely contained glee. 'How did I manage to go seven whole years thinking you had no sense of humour?'

Severus merely shrugged. 'You had no desire to observe one in me.'

'I'm sorry about that.'

'It is of no matter.'

'Oh, but hey! Come and see what I've just found!' Harry grabbed up Snape's closest hand and dragged him over to the table and the huge atlas open to the North East of England. 'Look at this - there's a town called Snape in Yorkshire!'

Severus looked down at Harry's finger tracing a vague circle on the map. 'Not so much a town,' he said quietly. 'More of a village, really.'

Harry looked up from the atlas to meet Severus' jet eyes. Of course. Why hadn't that occurred to him? 'That's where you come from?' He watched Severus incline his head just the slightest little bit. 'You're… you're a Yorkshireman?'

Eyebrow. 'Is that a problem?'

Harry couldn't hold back his grin. 'I'm sorry, it's just… I just find it kinda funny, that's all. I never would've picked you for a Yorkshireman, I guess. Though,' he put his head to one side, 'I suppose you are kind of dour…'

'Ten points from Gryffindor for the laziness of falling back on cultural cliché.'

Harry leaned against the table and gazed at his lover. 'You're so amazing,' he whispered.

'I thought I was dour?'

'You can be both.' And Harry pulled the man closer to him and brought their mouths together. You can be everything, he added in his thoughts as Snape's tongue caressed his own. He stood up straighter and wound his arms around Snape's neck. Everything to me.

Severus broke the kiss to nuzzle his nose against Harry's ear. 'Can you come back to Hogwarts with me, Harry? Have dinner with me?'

'In the dungeons?'

'In the dungeons.'

'Just the two of us?'

'Just the two of us.'

'And can I spend the night?'

'If you wish.'

'Now?'

'Now, Harry.'

Harry took a half-step away. 'I'll just let Remus know I'm going out.'

'He already knows.'

It was then that Harry realised something was happening. Severus had discussed with Remus his plans for an evening alone with Harry? That hardly seemed right. 'What are you up to, Snape?'

Severus rolled his eyes. 'I'm the Head of Slytherin, you silly boy. I'm up to everything!'

Harry gave a mock pout. 'Fine, then. Don't let me in on your little schemes.'

'Have you not learnt by now?' Snape steered him toward the fireplace. 'My schemes are rarely little.'





The sittingroom of Snape's dungeon quarters, at first glance, looked like removalists had been through. All of the usual furniture, with the exception of one armchair, had disappeared some place. Replacing it all was a small square table with a crisp white cloth and two very elegant dining chairs with upholstered seats. The table was set with china, crystal and silverware. Around the room, dozens of round, red candles floated in the air. Harry looked at one a bit closer - Gryffindor red. He swallowed thickly.

'Wow. This is… well, this is romantic, is what it is.'

There was soft music tinkling away in the background, but Harry couldn't tell where it was coming from. Snape undid the clasp of his robe and hung the garment on a hook near the door. 'Would you like a drink, Harry?'

'Huh? Oh! Yeah. Yes, please.' He smiled shyly as Severus walked back toward him. 'Got anything older than I am?'

Severus stroked Harry's cheek with the back of one hand, the long fingers trembling just barely enough for Harry to notice. He held his other hand out. 'Accio scotch.' And a decanter of whisky appeared from nowhere and smacked gently into his hand.

Harry looked around, trying to figure out from where the decanter had taken flight. Slowly, he began to realise that a lot of the room's usual contents must indeed still be around somewhere, they were simply hidden by some form of cloaking spell until they were summoned or needed.

Snape poured generous sploshes of the amber fluid into two crystal tumblers on the table and set the decanter aside. Passing one drink to Harry, he took the other for himself and looked up expectantly. 'Would you care to make a toast, Harry?'

'To us?'

'Predictable.'

'Oi!'

'But appropriate,' Severus smirked, black eyes glinting. 'To us.'





Harry had never shared such an intimate meal with anyone before. Ever. And he doubted that he had ever seen Severus so relaxed or unmasked - outside of the languor of a shared afterglow, that is. The usual black jacket had been draped upon the back of Snape's chair and the sleeves of the white shirt were rolled to the elbow; something Harry had only ever seen his lover do whilst brewing. They told each other about the day's events, Severus informing Harry of the arrangements made for Draco's immediate future and Harry telling Severus about his visit to Septimus Stringer. They discussed their visit to the Muggle brothel briefly and plans for Monday's press conference at some length. Harry wanted to ask what the village of Snape was like but by then Severus was talking about potions and once he got on his favourite topic, it was a little hard to steer him away from it again. Harry leaned back in his chair, feeling very full of excellent food, and gazed adoringly at Snape while he enthused about ingredients and mixtures. Harry decided he rather liked seeing his lover so interested and engaged by a subject - this was probably about as excited as Snape ever got in conversation. If "excited" could be the right word to describe someone who chose their words so carefully and spoke with such beauty.

'Experimentation is often necessary, of course. Some ingredients work well together so naturally that the combination is obvious, but there are others that need to be tried and evaluated. Certain combinations are not always entirely obvious at first.'

How did I ever think he was ugly?

'Some of the most powerful combinations are found purely by accident.'

That voice of his can even make potions sound sexy.

'And when one is visited upon by such happenstance, when one is led by pure serendipity to such a perfect and powerful combination, one is rather loath to tamper with what so obviously works well.'

I wonder if he would've liked me the same if we'd met when he was a teenager as well?

'So, in light of finding myself faced with the undeniable reality of just such a happenstance - '

Where'd that decanter of scotch go?

' - I feel it only proper to humbly request your consideration of myself as your, for want of a better word, husband.'

'You what?'

Snape sighed. 'Have you not listened to a word I've just said?' Shaking his head, Severus dug a thumb and forefinger into one of the slim pockets of his black waistcoat and produced a simple band of what looked to be white gold. He slammed it down onto the expanse of white cloth between them on the table. 'I just asked you to marry me, you prat.'

Harry stared down at the ring in utter shock. Oh god, I'm such an arse… Slowly, he looked up until he was looking into Severus' black eyes. 'You were talking about us?'

'Of course. What did you think I was waffling on about?'

A nervous giggle bubbled out of Harry as he glanced down at the ring again. 'Potions,' he muttered.

Snape frowned at him. 'Idiot child.'

'You, you really want to marry me?'

'Well, I'm having second thoughts now.'

Harry grinned and picked up the ring. 'Make all this disappear,' he said, nodding his head at the remains of the evening's meal. Snape frowned a little more but took up his wand and did so. When there was nothing left on the table but the white cloth, he set his wand aside again and arched an eyebrow at Harry.

Ring clutched in his left hand, Harry pushed his chair back roughly and clambered up onto the tabletop, sliding on his knees as he launched himself at Severus.

Chapter Twenty-One

'Have you any intention of actually providing me with an answer?' Snape's neck was craned back as far as it could go, his head resting on the high back of his dining chair, his shirt collar undone and Harry Potter feeding upon his throat as though he hadn't just enjoyed an exemplary meal.

'You think I can think straight at a time like this?' Lick, nibble, suck, lick, kiss, lick.

'I should think the notion of "straight" shouldn't really enter into the equation.'

Bite, lick, soft laugh against his sensitised skin. 'Would we be "husband and husband", or what?'

Severus sneered. 'Surely the word "partner" shall cover a multitude of sins?'

'Mm, sins…' Potter, straddled upon Snape's lap as he was, rolled his hips sensuously and managed to let Severus know just how sinful his thoughts were getting, despite his brain obviously doing its best to cover some of the issues he should be considering. 'Do wizards have big, fancy weddings? Or discreet little Ministry services?'

'Either or. The choice is entirely our own.'

'And people don't consider it weird for two wizards to get married?' Kiss, lick.

'Why the devil should they? What business of anyone else's is it what two people decide between themselves?'

'I love you. I think the Muggle world needs to do a little bit of catching up in some areas.'

'Quelle surprise.'

'And what about our names?'

'What of them?'

'Well, how would people address letters to us? I can't be Mrs Snape, can I?'

Severus rolled his eyes. 'Professor Snape and Mister Potter should not unduly tax the owls.'

Suck, nibble. 'And where would we live?'

'That would need to be discussed with a little more sobriety than you appear to be exhibiting right now.'

Potter finally lifted his face from Snape's throat and grinned hugely at him. 'How sturdy do you reckon that table is?'

Incorrigible. Severus cupped Harry's face in both hands and kissed him hard, finding the sensation of the boy trying to wriggle ever closer far more arousing than such an uncoordinated movement had any right to be. Mid-snog, Severus suddenly stood up and let the horny youth fall to the floor.

'Hey!'

'No tables tonight, Potter. And I'm not shagging you on a dining chair either. Come along.' And he strode through to his sleeping quarters, hearing Harry already starting on clothes divestment as he followed. He watched as Harry smiled around the room at more of the floating red candles, stepping to the side that Snape had begun to think of as "Harry's" and reverently set the white gold ring down on the bedside table there. Then, in what seemed to be the very merest of moments later, there was nakedness and sprawling and grinning beauty. Severus removed the rest of his clothes swiftly and lay on his side next to his lover, stroking a hand lazily over the flat, warm belly, bending his face to a protrusion of collarbone and sucking. He flipped them both over after a minute or two, stretching himself out on his back and encouraging Harry to crouch over him. 'Hm… hand me that lubricant, if you please, Potter.'

Still grinning, Harry stretched over a little and snapped up the homemade lube that, these days, seemed to always be sitting on Snape's bedside table, and handed it to Severus. Snape squeezed a small amount onto his fingers and Harry put the tube back, immediately waving his arse in the air as he leaned over Severus again and forced their mouths back together. For long, long moments, Snape let the boy kiss him and feed on his throat and lave his chest and kiss him more - all the while, Severus slowly and gently fingered him wider.

'Teasing me,' Harry breathed against Severus' mouth eventually.

'You wish for me to stop?'

Harry raised his head and stretched his lovely pale neck, eyes closed in bliss, sighing deeply. 'Make love to me.'

Severus removed his fingers from the smaller body. 'Lie on your side. No, the other direction, Potter. Face away from me.' Gods, the boy's back was as perfect as the rest of him - spine straight, shoulders square, hips slim and rounding enticingly onto the swell of firm buttocks. The skin was smooth, fair and unblemished. Unscarred. Un-Snapelike.

Snape curled up close to Harry's back, pushing his knees into the crooks of Harry's, pushing his chest against shoulder blades. Potter stretched and strained, moving his body languidly until he was touching as much of Snape as he could, until he was as spread open and offered up as this position could allow.

'Hold still,' Severus whispered at the boy's ear as he ran a hand down the smoothness of Harry's flank, taking hold of the curve of hip and moving his own hips in closer.

'Yes,' Harry sighed as Severus pushed the head of his cock easily into the very well prepared and welcoming entrance. Barely two thrusts were required to get him in all the way. Harry stretched his throat again, moaning as Snape began kissing him there. 'Want you so much. Severus.'

Snape closed his eyes and wrapped his arms around the younger man. 'You've got me, Harry.' Potter moved his topmost arm back and curled it over Snape's hips and thigh, fingers digging into his flesh as they began to move slowly against one another. Severus had always quite liked this position, having such easy access to the other's front while he drove himself in and out of them from the rear. And he was tall enough - and what lovers he'd had over the years usually sufficiently shorter enough - to be able to lean far enough around to kiss them at the same time if he wished. And, oh, how he wished with Harry.

'Uh, yeah,' Harry mumbled, as Snape took hold of his chin and moved his head such a way that their mouths could come together. 'Fuckyes. God - ' When Snape moved his hand to the straining cock Harry had been so good as to keep his own hands off so far, Harry groaned and fucked Severus' mouth with his tongue.

Snape had been anticipating a slow, lazy grind of a fuck but Harry was already slick in his hand, breaths starting to hitch in the way Severus had learnt some while ago meant the boy was close. Should he ease off and keep his young lover away from the edge longer, only to tease him back up to the precipice when he was ready to join him? Or should he let Harry have his release now?

Harry lifted his own leg higher, giving Severus more room to thrust up into him harder. It was obvious that Potter was lost in the fuck already, so… right then. Severus managed to get the arm that was under Harry to an angle that allowed him to rub the hard chest and pinch one of the tiny, dark nipples. His other hand increased its pressure and pace on Harry's leaking cock. Snape sucked so hard at Harry's shoulder that the sucking turned into a bite as he pushed his pelvis at the boy's arse again and again, cock ramming the tight, slick hole as Harry pushed his head back against Snape and came. Severus held Harry close as his body clenched and rocked, the vice-like grip on Severus' cock almost threatening to pull a premature orgasm from him.

'Mmseverus… fuck… fuck…'

'Shh, I've got you.' Snape wiped up the bulk of the boy's mess with a hastily accio'd handtowel. Then he pulled out of Harry's body and manoeuvred him onto his back, shoving his aching prick back in as hard as he knew Harry liked. 'Hold me, Harry. Kiss me.'

'Severus?'

'What?'

'Yes.'

'Yes?'

'Yes!'

Snape pressed his chest down onto his love's, and came and kissed and came.





'So, can I call you my fiancé now?'

'I would really rather you didn't.' Severus felt Harry shudder against him in a silent laugh. He was sitting up, resting his back against the headboard with one arm around a slouching Harry who sat curled up against him.

'Do I have to buy you a ring now, too?'

Snape cleared his throat softly. 'I thought we might perform a replication on the one I have given you.'

'A twinning spell? That's a nice idea.' A quick kiss was pressed against the base of his throat. 'Who knew you were such a romantic?'

'No one, I should hope.' He squeezed the smaller body briefly.

'Have you ever thought about getting married before?'

'Never.'

'Why me?'

Why him, indeed? Severus rested his chin on the soft raven hair. 'I believe you told me once that we make sense.'

'God, you DO listen to everything.'

'Would have made a very ineffectual spy if I didn't.'

He felt a grin against his chest. 'So, do you remember everything about me? Everything I've said and done? Every bit of information?'

'Certain things stick in one's memory better than others.'

'Such as?'

Such as Harry taking on a fully-grown Hungarian Horntail, Harry sprawled on his office floor during Occlumency lessons, Harry finally getting it right and shocking him with the force of his pushing back, Harry standing his ground in Advanced Potions and glaring back at Severus like he wanted to kill him, Harry's eyes looking so sad and lost on his final day of school despite his smiles, Harry dragging his newly-eighteen-year-old self around Grimmauld Place looking shagged out and thoroughly confused, Harry smelling so intoxicatingly good as he kissed Snape for the first time, Harry shyly poking his head around Snape's door and slipping quietly into the room, Harry laughing delightedly underneath him, Harry gazing into his eyes as The Dark Lord flickered out of existence beside them, Harry, Harry, Harry.

'Come on,' Potter prodded. 'What info about me sticks in your head? What side is my scar on?'

'The right.'

'What's my favourite dessert?'

'Bread and butter pudding. With custard.'

'Where'd I grow up?'

'Surrey. Little Whinging. Privet Drive. Number Four. The cupboard below the stairs for eleven years and then the smaller of the three bedrooms for the next seven.' He could feel Harry smiling against him again.

'When's my birthday?'

'July thirty-first.'

'Fucking hell.'

'What now?'

Harry's head shifted against him. 'I just realised that I don't know half those things about you.'

They were both quiet a moment and then Severus spoke softly. 'My scars are on all sides, a glass of fine scotch goes well after a good meal, you've already found Snape in your atlas, and my birthday is the ninth of January.'

'Ninth of January? Hm. I've missed it already.'

'You were there. For part of it, at least.'

'Most of last Winter is a total blur for me. Holed up in Sirius' house for months and months. I didn't even know what day it was half the time. I'm sorry, Severus. Your birthday just glided right by and I didn't even know.'

'Gliding right by is precisely what it does most years. This year, in fact, the occasion was actually quite marked. I almost got myself killed defending a dead Muggle and I shared a drink with Harry bloody Potter.'

Harry's head lifted swiftly, green gaze immediately boring into him. 'That was the ninth? That was your BIRTHDAY?! I kissed you the very next day!'

'You gave me a lot more than a kiss that day, Harry.'

'Bloody hell!'

The wards on the door to Snape's quarters went off around them. Buggeration. It was at least half an hour after midnight. That usually meant one of two things - someone had been doing something stupid and got caught, or someone had been doing something stupid and got trouble. Sighing, Severus pressed a fleeting kiss to the right side of Harry's forehead and slipped out of the bed. He hastily dressed himself in pants, nightshirt, and heavy dressing gown. 'I'll be back as soon as I can,' he told his lover, sliding his feet into slippers and, casting one last look back at the little smile Harry was giving him, walked out of the room.

'This had better be good,' he drawled as he opened the front door to his quarters a moment later.

'Sorry to disturb you, sir,' Draco Malfoy drawled back, silver gaze darting briefly around the section of sittingroom he could see before Snape stepped forward into the corridor and pulled the door shut with a bang and re-warded it.

'What is this all about, Mister Malfoy?'

'Madam Pomfrey, sir, she's requesting your presence in the hospital wing. Two Slytherins were found suspended outside the kitchens.'

Snape began striding up the hall, Malfoy hurrying to keep up at his shoulder. 'Suspended how?' Snape asked.

'Looks like a prank. Probably a levitation and an Impedimenta and then just left there. Pomfrey was hoping they might tell you who did it. They won't talk to anyone else.'

'Hm. And they were found by whom?'

'Me, sir.'

Severus glanced sideways as they climbed the dungeon stairs. 'What were you doing sneaking around at this time?'

'I wasn't sneaking! Sir. Merely making a trip to the kitchens. I was under the impression that IS allowed for staff members?'

Snape sniffed disdainfully. 'Which two students? And what were they doing out in the first place?'

'Tunn and Fielding from Fifth Year. They, er…'

'What?'

'Well. Most of the students know about them, sir.'

'Know what?'

'You know. They go about together.' Draco stuffed his fists into the pockets of his robe. 'Maybe it's not common knowledge, then. I should think most of the boys know though. Word usually spreads pretty fast about the shirt-lifters.'

Severus didn't let his stride or his demeanour falter. 'You might do well to choose your terminology a little more carefully, Mister Malfoy. Stones and glass houses and all that.'

'I'm not queer!'

'Oh? And I thought the camera never lies…'

'It wasn't like that. I'm not into blokes, sir!'

Eyebrow. 'Technically, at least, you've most certainly been IN one. So, pray, enlighten me - if you're not "into" men, Malfoy, what the fuck were you playing at in Munich?'

Draco blanched under Snape's accusatory glare. 'I wanted to feel dirty,' he murmured. 'I felt dirty to begin with and I wanted to feel dirtier. It was cheap and nasty and horrible and it was what I felt like I deserved to feel.'

Severus stopped walking and looked at his former Prefect. 'And what about when you made your gigolo become me?' he asked, his voice quiet and dangerous. 'Was I supposed to make you feel dirty as well?'

The blonde head shook. 'It wasn't like that,' Draco repeated, a distinct whine edging into his voice. He glanced up at Snape and glanced away again. 'It was how it started out. With the others, I mean. It made me feel more horrible and in some bizarre way that made me feel better about myself for a little while. It wasn't like I was enjoying the sex part of it, you know. Not beyond the fundamental level, at any rate. But then one night our timing was off somehow and Andrew changed back while we were still… attached.' Malfoy glanced up again, eyes slightly wider as he spoke. 'Have you ever shagged anyone on Polyjuice, Professor? Merlin, when they change! The entire body shifts and changes around you! I've never felt anything like it. I, I started liking it a bit more after that.'

Snape glared at him until he went on.

'I decided I wanted to see what it felt like from the other side. But I wasn't going to let it be any of them! Even though I knew it was Andrew underneath it all. That just wasn't going to happen. But I thought of you, sir. I trusted you. Felt safe enough to try it with you.'

'Oh, no, you're not queer at all, are you, Malfoy?' Severus sneered sarcastically.

A glint of something passed through the pale eyes. 'I'm not the one reeking of come and lube right now, sir.'

Severus stepped closer, backing Draco up against the cold stone wall. 'At least I'm not hard right now.' The blush that bled over the pale cheeks told him just how correct he was. He moved fractionally closer, his voice one-part sex and three-parts danger. 'You're a dirty little shirt-lifter like the rest of us, Malfoy. Get out of my sight.'

Snape turned abruptly and strode away, leaving Draco behind as he hastened to the infirmary.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Harry woke up, a little confused at first, as a cold body slid against him. He'd been dreaming of Fred and George teaching a miniature version of themselves how to take a firework apart while Hermione sat nearby, reading a book called How To Bring Up Hubby. It was a nice dream. The very unconventionality of the relationship made the twins and 'Miony seem almost, well, braver, in a way. That they were prepared to live with people's whispers and comments about them, that they were prepared to put up with the disapproval of strangers, in order to make a life together - the relationship must be truly worth it, to put up with all that. Harry opened his eyes smiling.

'What time is it?'

'Almost one-thirty, I'm afraid. Sorry to wake you.'

Harry cuddled up to his lover. His betrothed, his brain reminded him. 'You've got a nightshirt on!'

'Well, I wasn't going to go out there naked, was I?'

'Yeah, but you're here again now. Take it off.'

'I'm cold.'

'And I'm warm. Take some of my heat.'

Severus huffed a bit but sat up and pulled the shirt over his head anyhow, letting it drop onto the floor beside the bed before sliding back down under the covers.

'Mm, much better,' Harry murmured, rubbing his cheek on Snape's chest. 'Is everything okay out there?'

'Children are such utter monsters to one another. Vile, sadistic little monsters.'

'What happened?'

Harry stroked Severus' arm while he listened to what had befallen the two unfortunate Fifth Year Slytherins. Snape didn't verbalise the connection himself, but the description of what had been done reminded Harry far too uncomfortably of what he had seen his father and Sirius do to Snape in the pensieve.

'Did they tell you who did it?'

'Less than a year out of school and you've forgotten the Unwritten Students' Code already?' Snape sighed. 'No, of course they didn't, Potter. They won't tell a teacher who the perpetrators were. However,' he buried his nose into Harry's hair. 'I have a feeling they might tell Draco if I assign him to oversee their detention.'

'You're giving them detention?!'

'They were out of their dormitory after curfew, Harry. I must.'

'S'pose,' Harry pouted. 'Not a horrible one though?' He heard the word "Gryffindor" muttered into his hair and couldn't help a little smile against Snape's chest. 'They were probably just trying to find somewhere private to be alone together,' he thought out loud.

'It's late, Harry. Go to sleep.'

Just trying to get some privacy so they could be together… The thought kept going over and over in Harry's mind as he snuggled against Severus and willed himself back to sleep. He dreamed again of the Weasley twins, in the cramped bathroom at the Burrow, and Ron kicking at the closed door in an attempt to hurry them out of there. "Honestly," they said together as they emerged. "Can't get a moment's privacy in this place", said George. "But you're in there together!" Ron pointed out. "Two people can be private," Fred informed their little brother. "Honestly!" they said in unison again.





'You ARE coming with me to the party in York Saturday night, aren't you?' Harry asked over a quiet breakfast in the dungeons next morning.

Severus gazed at him blankly for a moment. 'Ah. The big expectancy announcement. Do you require my presence?'

Harry rolled his eyes. 'You're invited too! Everybody in the Order is. And besides,' he grinned across the table. 'George told me explicitly that he expects you and me to be there as, and I quote, "the perfect couple", unquote.'

Snape's eyebrow arched. 'Weasley G described us as perfect?'

'Perfect enough to save the world, he told me.'

'Indeed? Well. Merlin forbid we should disappoint anyone who knows as many uses for saltpetre as he does.'

Harry grinned a little wider. 'You like George, don't you?'

'What do you mean?'

'Just that - that you like him?'

'It is nothing for you to feel threatened by - '

'I don't mean like THAT!' Harry laughed softly. 'You are allowed to like people, you know. The big, bad Death Eater exterior is allowed to soften around the edges a bit now. War's over and everything, Severus. It's not dangerous for you to have friends anymore.' For a moment, Harry feared that he'd said something wildly inappropriate, for Snape's gaze became hard and flinty, as though his temper was getting ready to boil over inside him. But then, in a heartbeat, the hardness was gone, replaced by a look that Harry could only interpret as melancholy.

'I'm sorry,' Harry whispered.

Snape composed himself and cleared his throat. 'You have nothing to apologise for.' He took up a knife and proceeded to spread orange marmalade over a slice of toast. 'This party on Saturday. It's not,' he shuddered theatrically, 'a baby shower, is it? Because I would rather Cruciatus than that.'

Harry chuckled. 'It's nothing like that. Don't worry.' He just sat there for a little while, watching his love and smiling happily to himself. 'You've got House stuff tonight, haven't you?'

'Indeed.'

'So, can I see you tomorrow?'

'We should write down some thoughts for our little chat with the media on Monday, should we not?'

'Uh, yeah. God. Okay, yeah - should we do that tomorrow evening, then?'

Severus nodded. 'I shall have dinner here in the Hall, then come to Grimmauld Place, if that is acceptable?'

'Okay. I'll miss you tonight though.'

Black eyes smiled at him. 'Don't get sappy.'





Harry had only ever visited the Order base in York once before, when he and Ron helped Hermione move some of her belongings there when she moved in. That had only been a matter of months ago, back when the three of them had finished school at Hogwarts for good, but somehow it felt like years and years had passed since Harry had last stood in the charming little Tudor house with its uneven floors and narrow, leaning doorways.

He and Severus had Apparated to the party and were promptly split up upon their arrival. No sooner had Hermione welcomed them and taken their cloaks, and Fred had procured them a couple of drinks, than Bill Weasley and McGonagall had dragged Snape away, insisting he settle a debate they were having with Remus and Arthur Weasley about some song that was apparently popular around the time of the first War. Harry watched his Severus disappear into the crowd and sighed happily, just as he felt a strong arm curl around his shoulders.

'Don't worry, he'll still be in one piece when he comes back to you.'

Harry looked up into George's face and grinned. 'Hey,' he said quietly. 'How's things?' George's arm, he noted, didn't seem to be going anywhere, and Harry really didn't mind. It was chummy and comforting and casual and… really, really nice.

'Brilliant,' George told him. 'How's things with you, as if I even need to ask?'

'Bloody brilliant,' Harry replied, trying not to grin too hugely. 'What do you mean, "as if you even need to ask"?'

George winked at him and leaned his mouth down to Harry's ear. 'You've got a ring on!'

Since when had any Weasley got so observant? Harry blushed and took a sip of his drink.

'It's okay,' George said, standing up straight again, his arm around Harry's shoulders moving until he was merely leaning his elbow lightly on Harry's nearest shoulder in a very companionable manner, like he and Fred did to Ron sometimes. 'You'll tell us all when you're good and ready, we know.'

Harry barely had time to question that last "we" before an elbow appeared on his other shoulder. 'Yeah, we know,' Fred told him, wearing the twin of George's smile.

'What're you two Weasels doing with my best mate?' an indignant voice demanded from behind them.

'He's our mate, too!' the twins chorused as Ron came to stand in front of them all. 'And such a cute one!' added Fred. 'Shame he's taken, really,' agreed George. 'Things we could do!' they chimed, eyes sparkling at each other over the top of Harry's head.

Ron shook his head at his brothers and pulled Harry from between them. 'Honestly, you two! Keep it in your pants, why don't you? You ARE about to be parents, remember! RESPONSIBLE adults?'

'Shit, only you could make it sound like a death sentence, Ronnie!' Fred shook his head bemusedly and took hold of George's hand. 'Come on, we've got drinks to administer to the needy.' Both twins smiled at Harry and their little brother. 'See you later, Harry!' they smirked and returned to their party.

Ron watched them go with a strange look on his face. 'Why do you let them do that, Harry?'

'Do what?'

'Treat you like a piece of meat like that?'

Harry blinked. 'Um… I wasn't aware I was. Or that they were, for that matter. I quite like the way they treat me, actually. It's just kinda… flirty and fun. And nice.'

'They're weird sometimes.'

'Not weird,' Harry countered. 'Just… queer.' He managed to keep a straight face for all of about two seconds, before he and Ron dissolved into cackles, soon having to lean on each other for support as they gasped for breaths between laughter.

'Oh god,' Ron groaned, 'my stomach hurts! Stop making me laugh!'

'Can't help it!' Harry groaned back, clutching at the stitch in his side.

'Ronald Weasley!' Hermione's voice was stern beside them suddenly. 'If you're STILL making fun of my morning sickness, I'll slap you!' That, and Hermione's overly serious expression, sent Harry and Ron off on another, painful round of uncontrollable laughter.

'God!' Ron gasped, pointing through the crowd. 'Outside!'

Harry, still holding his sides, managed to nod and, still bent almost double, the two young men shuffled away through the gathered throng. By the time they stepped out onto the back porch, they'd both managed to bring their laughter and mirth under control. Gratefully, they both sank down onto the first stone step that led from the back door of the house down into the yard, and sat there, looking up into the night sky and enjoying the sort of quiet moment that, since leaving Hogwarts, had been all too rare for the two friends.

'How's training going?' Harry eventually asked Ron's quiet form.

'Yeah, good. It's hard though. But good. Glad I got to do it.' There was another few moments of silence. 'How about you, Harry? How's things with you?'

Harry wrapped his arms around himself as he sat on the stone step beside his friend. 'Pretty excellent, actually,' he said quietly. 'You, er, you might wanna keep an eye on the papers Tuesday morning. I'm doing a press conference on Monday afternoon…' His voice trailed off, as Harry realised he didn't quite know what else to say about the situation.

'You're up to something,' Ron smiled. 'I can tell.'

Harry smiled back. 'Can I tell you something exciting and secret, Ron?'

'Course! You know you can!'

'He's asked me to marry him.'

Ron's mouth fell open and his gaze immediately dropped to Harry's hands, specifically to his left, where the platinum band looped around Harry's third finger. 'And you've said yes.'

Harry nodded. 'Don't tell anyone yet, okay? It'll be all over the place by Tuesday but, you know, just keep it to yourself until then.'

'Wow.' Ron's shoulders hunched over slightly as he rested his elbows on his knees and put his chin on his knuckles. 'Hermione's having a baby. You're getting married. Everybody's growing up except me!'

'It's not like that, Ron. You're doing grown-up stuff, too. You've got all that responsibility and all that training and stuff. Hey, I haven't even got a job!'

Ron laughed a little. 'Lazy layabout, you,' he teased. 'Swanning about your mansion all day, waiting for your house elf to get dinner ready and your mysterious lover to give you a good seeing-to.'

'Oi!' Harry laughed and gave Ron's shoulder a gentle punch. 'I don't even have any idea what I want to do anymore,' he sighed after a moment.

'You could always get a job in the Muggle world, if you wanted to.'

Harry hadn't thought of that. He looked sideways at Ron and nodded. 'That's a good idea, actually. I'll have to think about that.'

Ron grinned mischievously. 'In between getting gloriously fucked and licking Snape's scars and flirting with my brothers and visiting the dungeons and sucking - '

'What did you say?'

'I'm just joking, Harry.'

'Yeah, I know that. But what was that bit before your brothers?'

'I said I was just joking!' Ron's voice contained just the slightest waver, as though he was suddenly scared of something.

Oh fucking hell. Harry stared at his friend in shock. 'What did you do, Ron?'

'What? Nothing! God, I was just joking!' But he wouldn't meet Harry's eyes as he said it.

'How do you know that Severus has scars?'

'I don't! I was just mucking about, that's all!'

Without really thinking about it, Harry took his wand out of his jacket and pointed it at his best friend. 'Legilimens,' he said calmly.

The memory was right there. Right at the front. Almost like it was burnt indelibly onto Ron's frontal lobe. Harry on his back in his bed at Grimmauld Place, Severus between his spread legs, holding his hips and fucking him hard. Really hard. Harry moaning "Fuck me" with his hands fisted in the twisted sheets. Severus pumping Harry's cock until he came. All of this seen from the angle of someone standing near the foot of the bed, a bit to one side. It took Harry a second to recognise the filmy sheen that seemed to cover the whole vision - of course, he was looking out from under an invisibility cloak.

'POTTER!' Snape's voice dragged Harry out of Ron's mind at once. 'What the HELL do you think you are doing?!'

As soon as the Legilimency between them was broken, Ron and Harry both fell slightly back from one another, Ron slumping against the banister at the side of the steps and Harry staggering to his feet and storming down into the backyard.

'He watched us!' Harry shouted, pointing his wand at Ron again, though this time only as an extension of his hand as he accused his friend. 'He watched us shagging! Took my bloody cloak and stood there in my room watching us fuck!'

Severus, standing on the top step, looked down at Ron with a blank expression. 'Mister Weasley? Is this true?'

Ron looked like he was trying to make himself smaller, wrapping his arms around his legs and pulling them in close to his body. He mumbled something softly, under his breath. Harry stormed back across the yard and came to stand halfway up the stone steps, looking down at Ron angrily.

'Put your wand away, Harry.'

Harry's head snapped up at the quiet instruction. Severus was giving him the sort of look that meant he would not put up with any disobedience. Harry stuffed his wand inside his jacket again, crossing his arms over his chest and glaring down at Ron.

'Mister Weasley?' Severus tried again. 'Have you anything to say?'

Another unintelligible mumble came from Ron.

Harry made an exasperated noise. 'God, no wonder you told me you couldn't get the image of me and Snape shagging out of your head! It wasn't just that you were imagining it, was it? You really had the image in there! Fuck, Ron! How could you do that to me? How could you invade my privacy like that?'

'You haven't exactly been a paragon of virtue where respecting the privacy of others is concerned, Harry,' Severus quietly reminded him.

Ignoring the reminder, Harry kept on at Ron. 'How long did you watch for? How much did you see? Stop ignoring me, Ron! I want to know how long you watched us fucking!'

Ron mumbled again and then suddenly lifted his head. 'You weren't fucking,' he mumbled a little louder.

'Oh, quit being in denial, will you?' Harry spluttered. 'We were FUCKING, Ron! Get the hell over it!'

'You weren't,' Ron said, louder again. 'You weren't fucking, Harry.' He looked his friend steadily in the eye. 'You were making love. I realise that now.'

All of the wind seemed to be knocked out of Harry's sails in one go. All of his bluster and outrage evaporated in the split-second it took for his brain to think "Aw, Ron".

Ron stood up and leaned against the banister, glancing over at Snape before looking at Harry again. 'It was the wrongest wrong thing I've ever, ever done, I know that. And I'm so sorry! Really, I am, Harry!' He turned his head and looked at Severus again. 'I'm… sorry, sir.' It looked like he was forcing himself to look Severus in the eye as he said it, and managed to hold the look long enough until Snape nodded once in response.

'I was worried about you, Harry,' Ron continued, looking back to Harry once more. 'You'd been acting so… weird, toward the end of the War and I was just planning on… I dunno… seeing what I could find out. And when I got into your room and saw what was happening, well, I, I couldn't move again! I told myself I should go. Honest, I did! I knew I shouldn't be watching. I just couldn't look away…'

'When was this, Mister Weasley?'

Ron shrugged. 'About a week after Belvedere's Hump? Maybe a bit more?'

'You left without saying goodbye the next day,' Harry murmured, putting the timeline together in his head.

'Sorry about that, too, mate.'

'Shit.' Harry turned around and walked down into the backyard again, staring up at the stars and shaking his head from time to time. 'I can't believe you did that, Ron!' he called back over his shoulder. 'I'm so fucking angry with you about this!'

'I know,' Ron said miserably.

'That is still no excuse for Harry to have used Legilimency upon you,' Severus informed him.

Harry whirled around, ready to defend his actions, but Snape was already holding a hand up in a silent gesture for peace. 'I should think that little invasion of Mister Weasley's privacy should help balance some of your indignation at his having invaded yours, Harry.'

'But, but it was yours as well! It was OURS! OUR privacy!'

'Indeed. And in light of that, perhaps your friend would welcome an opportunity to make it up to us?'

The look on Ron's face was priceless. 'You wouldn't make me do anything… kinky, would you?'

The look on Severus' face went beyond priceless. 'Mister Weasley, I have just consumed one of your mother's excellent jaffa cakes. PLEASE don't cause me to bring it back up.'

Harry couldn't help grinning at that, nor at Ron's bashful expression.

'Miss Athena Green,' Snape enunciated clearly to Ron. 'Shop assistant. Lives and works somewhere in Kent.'

'Yeah, and shagged Harry on his birthday last year. Everybody knows.'

'Perhaps, with some of your newly acquired skills, you may be able to track Miss Green down and help her to recognise some of the errors she made in the story she told the Daily Prophet?'

Ron shuffled his feet. 'Uh, yeah. I s'pose. Why though?'

Severus looked like he was doing his level best not to call Ron anything derogatory. 'So that you then might be able to convince her to go tell another? Another in which she admits how much she got wrong in the first account?'

'Oh! Oh, yeah, good idea! I can do that.' Ron grinned - something Harry had certainly never expected to see his best mate do whilst talking to Severus Snape.

The crowd noises from inside the house suddenly changed. 'We should go back in,' Harry pointed out. 'Sounds like someone's about to make a speech.' He walked up the stone stairs and squeezed in between where Ron and Severus were standing at the top, brushing his hand lightly against Snape's thigh as he passed and crossed back over the threshold.

'I really am sorry, Harry,' Ron called after him one last time.

Harry, just inside the backdoor, turned and smiled. 'I know, Ron.'

In a movement so fast that Harry barely even saw it, Severus suddenly had one large hand gripped around Ron's throat. 'EVER do anything like that again, Weasley, and I'll let Harry do whatever he wants to your mind.' He leaned in close to Ron's face and dropped his voice to a dark whisper. 'And after he's finished, I'll have some fun of my own. Understood?'

Ron, red in the face, managed to nod his head roughly. Severus abruptly let go and moved away, ducking his head slightly as he walked through the short doorway.

Harry looked back at Ron and gave a grim smile. 'Come on, Ron. You don't want to miss your brothers' announcement.'

Still somewhat red-faced, Ron shuffled back into the house and joined his friend. Harry squeezed his shoulder once. 'Sorry about all that, mate.'

Ron shrugged. 'I deserved it.'

'Yeah, you did,' Harry agreed, unable to help a bit of a smirk. 'Come on, they're starting.'

Chapter Twenty-Three

'Thank-you, everybody, for coming along tonight.' Bill Weasley was standing on a temporarily enlarged coffee table, now being used as a makeshift dais in the livingroom, holding a bizarre looking cocktail and addressing the gathered throng. 'Thanks for being here, showing your support for the lovely Hermione and my little bratters tonight. Thanks also for risking being blown up by anything the brats in question might've slipped into the food, stowed in the toilet cistern or otherwise left lying about. It means a lot to the whole family to have so many of our loved ones here with us. Truly. So, without further ado, I'd like to hand you over to Fred - it IS Fred, right? - and Hermione.'

Severus leaned against a patch of wall, as he always seemed to find himself doing when surrounded by too many good guys, and watched Bill and Fred swap places and help Hermione up onto the dais as well. The girl was looking quite well, Severus noted, the so-called "glow" of pregnancy obviously agreeing with her. She tucked in easily under Fred's left arm, the two of them looking for all the world like any healthy, happy, normal couple. The fact that, barely two months ago, the both of them had been dodging hexes and throwing curses at masked Death Eaters during the final battle didn't show on their young, cheerful faces. Severus looked around the room surreptitiously - did it show on anyone's face, other than his own and Harry's? Hm, Albus. And the werewolf. Moody went without saying. Maybe Molly and Arthur - though perhaps it was merely the usual parental concerns that lined their faces, as they were both smiling. Severus gave his attention back to Weasley F.

'Er, Bill?' Fred was saying. 'Just be careful not to swizzle that swizzle stick widdershins in yer drink, okay? Just a friendly warning, mate.' Fred winked at Bill's baulk and turned back to the room. 'Some of you already know our exciting news…'

A body pressed against Snape's, a hand splayed over his lower back, fingers pressing over the curve of his arse. 'I love you,' Harry's lips murmured into his hair, hot breath reaching his ear. Then the pressure against his body was gone and Harry was merely standing beside him, seemingly as attentive to the speech-making as every other attendee. Severus glanced sideways at the pale profile, automatically clapping when everyone else did - obviously the actual expectancy announcement had been made - but barely managing to register the presence of others when the man he loved was standing right there. Wide green eyes flashed toward him, mouth open in a laugh, cheeks slightly rouged by levity and drink and proximity to so many other people. And all Severus could think of was taking him in his arms and kissing him for hours on end. Damn the spectators, damn the whispers, damn the disapproval.

'Of course, some of you may have noticed from time to time, that I tend not to undertake any new adventure or endeavour without my other half by my side.'

Severus managed to pull his gaze away from Harry and forced himself to look ahead.

'Well, this wonderful, exciting and, dare I say it, slightly terrifying, adventure-endeavour is no different, and I'm chuffed as all hell to say that my darling George has agreed to share this responsibility and joy with me, too. Get up here, George.'

Weasley G stepped up onto the dais as well, sliding under his brother's right arm. Where Hermione had one large, freckled hand already resting on her waist, now an identical one curled on her shoulder as well, helping to pull her in even more securely to Fred's side. Fred and George knocked foreheads together in an affectionate headbutt, and then Fred looked down to where Mr and Mrs Granger were standing close to Molly and Arthur. 'Try not to think of it as losing a daughter,' he told them mock-seriously, 'but simply gaining two sons that you'll never be able to tell apart.'

As the room laughed, Severus leaned away from the wall and stood up straighter. He reached out and pulled Harry toward him, positioning them both so that he was standing behind his love, arms wrapped around him, his cheek pressed against flyaway raven hair. Snape was vaguely aware of Ron Weasley standing close by, practically "standing guard" for them, if Severus wasn't mistaken. He pressed his face a little more against the side of Harry's head and whispered "Love you, too" without even moving his lips. If anyone wanted to take note of them standing there like that, well, let them.





'That's one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen in my life,' Harry sighed, lying on the twins' sofa, sprawled out with his head resting on Snape's thighs as Snape sat at one end. Facing them was a matching armchair onto which both Fred and Hermione were squeezed together, Hermione asleep with her head on Fred's shoulder. George stood behind the armchair, leaning over, tilting Fred's face up gently and giving his brother a slow kiss of such depth and sensuousness that every conscious person left in the room sighed to some degree or another. Severus suspected the sighs of Ron and Charlie Weasley were more of the slightly exasperated variety than Harry's awed and dreamy sort.

The twins' older brother cleared his throat softly. 'Perhaps you two should give it a rest when you've got visitors?'

'We're all friends here, Chaz,' George grinned.

Severus looked down into his lap and fell into inviting green pools. If the titillating display of the twin boys hadn't already piqued his body's interest, then the blatant "I want a fucking and I want it now" look that Harry was giving him would certainly have done it. Severus couldn't help wondering how events might go, were there not two heterosexual and slightly disapproving Weasley brothers in the room right now. Harry appeared to be picking up on at least some of Snape's thoughts, as he deliberately but gently rubbed the back of his head against Severus' stirring groin. Snape swallowed. 'Perhaps we should be heading home now, Potter?'

'You could stay here,' chorused identical voices at them.

Snape gave the twins an appraising look. 'Most… hospitable of you, gentleman. But I really must return to Hogwarts.' He was gratified to receive only the minimum of pouting from his young lover as they accio'd their cloaks and made their farewells. The three younger Weasleys, plus a groggy Granger all gave their word to be in attendance at Harry's press conference on Monday. "Immoral support", the twins dubbed it, wearing their trademark grins.




'God, can you imagine them together?' Harry's mind was obviously still full of the kiss George had bestowed upon Fred, even as he rubbed his cock against Snape's thigh and tongued at Snape's ear.

'I have seen them together,' replied Severus, splaying his large hands over the two halves of Harry's arse and pushing their bodies harder against each other with a quiet grunt.

'You've what? How?!'

'I caught them countless times during their latter school years. Usually with a third party. But, ah, not always.'

'Bloody hell!' Harry's eyes were sparkling with lust and wonder as he began to thrust his cock alongside Snape's. 'Did you ever catch them actually fucking each other?'

'Yes. Once.'

'Gawd… can you put THAT in a pensieve for me to have a look at?'

'Incorrigible brat.'

'Git.'

'Child.'

'Bastard. Uh, can I fuck you? Please? Want you around me…'

Snape tried answering but his mouth was suddenly full of tongue. He reached sideways, groping blindly for the tube of lubricant, his handing it to Harry his agreement to Harry's suggestion.

As Harry knelt up and began working greased fingers in and out of Severus' body, he grinned down at him lopsidedly. 'I know you were angry with me about Legilimising Ron earlier. Shh! I know, okay? I shouldn't have done it, but anyway. You know what?' The boy slicked his other hand up and down his rigid shaft as he spoke. 'I got to see us in there. Even if it was just for a little while. I got to see us fucking, saw you on top of me…' he leaned down for a short, clumsy kiss. '…saw my arse stretched around your cock, watched you thrusting in and out of me… saw us moving together and joined together…' Harry pulled his fingers out of Severus and guided his leaking prick forward in one smooth motion, pressing his shining cock head to Snape's arsehole and pushing into the tight ring. 'I got to see the look on my face when I'm full of you, when I've got you inside me…'

'You look beautiful like that, Harry.' Snape grabbed hold of Harry's hips and steadied the boy, helping to slow his overeagerness sufficiently that he could slide down into Snape's body gracefully, stretching him and filling him completely with lovely, impatient cock.

Harry gave a shallow thrust of his hips, watching Severus' face intently as he did so. 'About as beautiful as you look right now.' He dropped his mouth to Snape's ear, breaths becoming noticeably more ragged. 'Wider,' he hissed. 'Take me deeper, love.'

Severus pulled his legs up higher and stretched his thighs further apart, causing Harry to moan into his ear. 'Oh, that's it, god…' Harry squirmed a little, touching on Snape's prostate fleetingly and then again, when he realised what he'd done. The messy head came up from Severus' throat and he smiled wickedly down at him as he held his angle and began to thrust hard into Snape's body. 'There, yeah?'

Snape managed a nod, winding his arms around Harry's strong shoulders and pulling the boy down onto him for a hungry kiss. Severus knew he wasn't going to last long like this, he was walking the knife's edge of release already, just minutes into the act, and tried to get a hand to his neglected erection.

'Do you want me to make you come?' Harry whispered. 'I want to. Let me do it for you.' And there was a smaller hand on him, wrapping around his aching cock, moving on him just the way he liked. Severus tried to arch up into it, but his spread-wide position didn't allow him too much movement - and Harry had his hips pinned to the bed, fucking at his stretched hole like a man possessed. Which, when Snape gathered up enough higher brain function to think about it, he was. A man possessed with lust and love and an overwhelming desire to make them both feel good.

Within moments they were walking the knife's edge together and then stepping over it, moaning into each other's mouths as various parts of their bodies clenched and spurted and twitched and burned.

'Mine!' Harry growled over him.

'Mine,' Severus growled back and clamped a hand to the back of the man's skull, pulling his fuckable mouth down onto his own yet again to share their mutual possession.





Severus looked down at the hands on his chest, one his own, the other Harry's, the two sets of fingers interlaced, intertwined together. There was a ring on his finger. He knew the twin to that ring was secure on Harry's other hand. He looked up at his canopy and listened to Harry's soft, sleepy breathing. I love, he thought to himself, not for the first time. Harry's leg shifted against his and Severus found himself smiling into the dungeon gloom. I love.





The Slytherin Common Room was warm and buzzing with student chatter. Snape had asked Draco and his Prefects to make sure the entire House was gathered together after Sunday's evening meal. He stepped through the doorway with the Bloody Baron floating through the wall at his side. 'If I could have everyone's attention, please!' He swept through to the fireplace, taking up the straight-backed, hands-clasped-behind-the-back stance on the hearthrug that began most of his House addresses. 'Thank-you all for gathering for this impromptu meeting. I apologise for taking up some of your Sunday evening. I shall endeavour to not monopolise too much of your free time.'

He cast a paternal look over the gathered students, sitting, standing, slouching about the room in their little groups. 'I have not prepared a speech,' he told them, hoping desperately that the unfamiliar nerves he was feeling were not showing. 'So you will please forgive me if this oration isn't my most sparkling.' He swallowed a little uncomfortably. 'I felt it only fair to gather you all together tonight and forewarn you of some events that are about to take place in the next forty-eight hours or so.'

'Are any of us in trouble, sir?'

Snape's black gaze zeroed in on the source of the question. He forced his expression to soften. 'No, Mister Fielding, none of you are in trouble. Your Head of House, on the other hand…' he tried for a small smile but quickly realised his face wasn't ready for it yet and decided to try starting on a different tack.

'For the very first time in my life, ladies and gentlemen, I find myself the most fortunate recipient of, of love and affection. Since January of this year, I have been involved in something rare and sadly unique in my life. That is, a successful romantic relationship.'

A small ripple of whispers and giggles washed across the room. 'Yes, yes,' he said lightly. 'The greasy git Potions bastard has actually managed to fall in love. It happens to big, bad Slytherins as well, you know!' Severus felt that small smile try its luck again and found it fitted a little better this time.

'Good for you, sir!'

'Yes, thank-you, Mister Stark. And if we could have enough of the kissy noises now, thank-you, too, Mister Coldstream. Now, normally, of course, my having something worthwhile and remarkable in my life would be absolutely nobody else's damned business but my own. However. I am sure it should come as no great shock to any of you to hear that, even in my private life, there isn't exactly anything conventional about your Head of House.'

'Wouldn't bloody well want there to be, Snape!' laughed the Baron, causing a wave of laughter throughout the students.

Severus held a hand up for quiet. 'No, of course not. We'll leave the mundanity and dreariness of normal little lives to the other Houses, shall we not?' He was answered by a roar of approval from his Snakelings which coaxed his little smile out for another, longer stay. He waited for them all to compose themselves and then re-clasped his hands behind his back. Ploughing ahead, Severus, ploughing ahead…

'Not only is my partner another man,' he said quickly, 'but he is also quite famous. Extremely famous, as a matter of fact - stay right where you are, please, Mister Malfoy - and tomorrow, that is, tomorrow afternoon, myself and my partner shall be holding a press conference to tell of our relationship and certain details about the end of the War which have been so far kept from the public.' He looked around at the suddenly deathly quiet room. 'We shall also be announcing our intention to marry.'

A chill passed through Severus' shoulder as the Bloody Baron attempted to slap him manfully on the back. 'Congratulations, lad!'

'Thank-you, Baron.'

'Y-yes, sir, con-congratulations.'

'Thank-you, Miss Sutton.' Snape worried for a moment that the girl looked like she was about to start crying, but he chose his Prefects better than that, and she pulled herself together swiftly.

Ploughing ahead… 'The reason I am telling you all of this is to forewarn you and apologise to you in advance. The warning, naturally, that once the press conference hits the newspapers - probably Tuesday morning - every moron in the other Houses, and there are plenty of them, will begin flaunting their immaturity and ignorance by teasing all Slytherins over the actions of this one. And for that,' he bowed once and straightened again, 'you all have my most heartfelt apologies.'

'Sir?'

'Yes, Miss Burning?'

'Aren't you going to tell us the lucky man's name, sir?'

'I can assure you, Miss Burning, that "the lucky man" is indeed I.' He noticed several of the young girls smiling at that, no doubt thinking it a terribly, terribly romantic thing to hear a man say. He took a deep breath. 'As to the name of my partner, my… intended…' Severus felt all of his courage suddenly leave him as he looked at the sea of upturned, interested faces. If he couldn't say "I love Harry Potter" to these children, what hope would he have tomorrow when he had to tell the whole fucking world? His mouth felt full of ash all of a sudden and his stomach gave a sickening lurch.

An elegant hand appeared on Snape's shoulder and squeezed once before letting go. 'Only the most powerful wizard in the world is worthy of your Head of House, don't you think, Slytherins?' Draco's voice was loud and crystal clear, ringing off the stone walls like a bell as various heads nodded in agreement across the room. 'Nothing but the best for Severus Snape!' he added, causing several enthusiastic students to break into spontaneous applause.

Severus stared at the young blonde in barely contained shock. Draco looked back at him with a steady gaze and nodded just slightly enough for Snape to read it. Snape swallowed again, desperately trying to generate some moisture in his mouth, and looked out over his children once more. Flanked by the Bloody Baron on his right and Draco Malfoy on his left, Severus steeled himself and lifted his chin.

'I intend to marry Harry bloody Potter!' he told the room and actually felt his mouth grin in response to the cheers and mad clapping that erupted from the Slytherins.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Harry looked out over the crowd of heads and quills and cameras and felt his insides try to vacate their premises. Septimus Stringer was welcoming the roomful of journalists and telling them there would not be any Q and A session following the statement to be made, but Harry hardly even registered the words. The only things keeping him in his seat were the small band of familiar, smiling faces he could see up against the back wall, and the glowering presence beside him.

Septimus, Harry and Severus were all seated at a long trestle table on a small stage, the entire table enveloped in a variation on the Sonorous charm that would amplify the voices of anyone at it. They were in a hotel ballroom, fairly similar in size and décor to the one the Ministry had hired when they presented Harry with his Order of Merlin. Harry fiddled with his tie and wondered yet again how he could get himself out of here and escape. He glanced sideways and marvelled at Severus' innate ability to look composed and dignified, no matter the circumstance.

'Ladies and gentlemen,' Septimus announced, 'I give you Mister Harry Potter.' The assembled journos applauded briefly, staring up at him with expectant, intensely interested looks. Harry glanced down at the parchment on which his hands were resting.

'G-good afternoon.' Damn, he sounded panicky. Harry cleared his throat and told himself to get it together. 'Good afternoon,' he tried again. Much better. He took up the parchment and looked at it intently. Just read it, Harry. Get all this over and done with and you can walk away forever. Walk away with Severus. Just read.

'Not every detail about the Battle of Belvedere's Hump has been made known to the public. Today, in addition to making one or two personal announcements, Professor Severus Snape and myself come before you to furnish the public record with a little further detail on Voldemort's final demise.' Harry cleared his throat swiftly and read on. 'There were two spells used to bring the enemy down that day in February. The second was the Avada Kedavra I used against him at the end. The first had been a Culmen Densus that Severus and myself used in order to increase and share our powers before we went into battle.'

Several loud whispers zapped around the room at the mention of the Culmen Densus. Like all sex magic, it was not exactly common and very rarely mentioned in "polite society", but obviously there were enough people gathered here who knew what it was. Beneath the table, Snape's leg pressed reassuringly against Harry's. His eyes refocussed on their place on the statement and he continued reading.

'When Voldemort attempted to murder me as a baby, he inadvertently created a connection between the two of us. Once Severus and I had bound our magical forces to one another through the use of powerful sex magic, we were able to generate the energy required to bring down a wizard of Voldemort's potency and channel that energy through the connection Voldemort had unwittingly created himself.' Harry risked a glance up at the assembled throng and found all those gathered were hanging on his every word. He looked down again at his statement. 'Had I not been bound to Severus on that day, I don't know how the battle might have gone. When I say that I couldn't have done it without him, I'm not using a tired and meaningless cliché - I am TRULY saying that I could not have done it without him.' Harry glanced sideways, briefly meeting the obsidian gaze of the man he loved.

'More than my ally in battle,' he continued, his voice wavering slightly, 'Severus Snape is also my friend, my mentor and protector and, since January of this year, my lover.'

The entire room exploded with excitement. Journalists were madly dictating to quills racing to keep up with them, camera flashes went off so continually that half of Harry's field of vision was completely whited out. Several people were talking rapidly into devices that reminded Harry of the hand mirrors his father and Sirius used to use to communicate to each other when they were apart - obviously editorial offices all over Britain were being told to hold the front pages.

'Keep going, Mister Potter,' Septimus Stringer hissed at his other side. 'They'll settle down when they realise they might miss something.'

Harry cleared his throat again and took Stringer's advice. 'There have been many reports in recent months concerning the state of my love life.' The din of the assembly subsided a little. 'I want to make it absolutely clear that the only romance in my life since leaving school has been that which I have shared with Severus Snape since January. I have NOT been romantically involved with any of the people whose names have been linked to mine in the media. I met Miss Athena Green just once, last July, and have never seen her again since - nor had any desire to. The Daily Prophet, which published Miss Green's claims, has been asked twice to retract the story, and its refusal to do so has prompted the course of action Severus and myself are taking here today.

'This conference you are all witness to today is the last time The Boy Who Lived shall be dealing with the media. As of today, all media requests shall be directed to and handled by my legal counsel - Septimus Stringer, of Stringer And Family, Propriety Limited, of Diagon Alley. When the houses of Potter and Snape are joined together in matrimony, the ceremony will be witnessed only by our loved ones - there will be NO media access to our marriage. All attempts to make contact with us through any of our known associations, including Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, will be handled by legal counsel. Continued attempts will be treated as harassment and dealt with accordingly.'

Harry paused and looked out again over the agitated room. He felt a smile threatening. 'Shall I give you all a quick re-cap?' he asked jovially. 'Potter queer, Potter fulfils destiny with help of lover, Potter and Snape to marry, want to be left alone now, thanks.' Grinning wider, Harry pushed his chair back and stood up, flinging the piece of parchment out toward the audience of reporters. 'Copies of this statement are available upon request to my legal counsel,' he smirked.

To his right, Severus stood up as well, glaring his best teacher's glare at the gathered journalists. 'Ladies and gentlemen of the press,' he intoned silkily in his darkest voice. 'This is your last photo opportunity before I take Harry Potter away from you forever - I suggest you make the best of it.' And with that, he turned and scooped Harry into his arms, pressing his mouth to Harry's while what felt like a million flashbulbs went ballistic all around them.

When Harry was finally able to drag himself up out of the knee-melting bliss of Severus' kiss and open his eyes again, he found himself in one of the hotel's largest and most opulent suites. In quick succession, Ron, Hermione and the twins Apparated straight in after them, all of them laughing in delight.

'That was so fucking cool!' George beamed at Harry and Severus, throwing his arms around both of them where they stood, still in each other's arms from their snogging Apparation. Fred stepped up and mirrored the action on their other side.

'Sweet fucking Merlin,' Severus swore in a near-whisper. 'I'm being hugged by Weasleys. Somebody get me a drink!'

'Way ahead of you, Snape,' yelled Ron from across the room, the loud pop of a champagne cork punctuating the end of his sentence.

Laughing, the twins moved away and Harry found himself being hugged by a rather emotional Hermione. 'I'm sorry, Harry.' She dabbed ineffectually at her face with the sleeve of her robes over his shoulder. 'I get teary so easily these days. Hormones, you know…' By the time Hermione had pulled herself together and finished hugging him, Ron was standing ready with a flute of champagne to hand over.

'Oh, cheers, Ron, thanks!' Harry smiled at his best friend for a moment, watching Ron smile back at him, then the redhead stepped forward and crushed Harry in a tight embrace.

'That was bloody excellent, mate,' Ron said gruffly at Harry's ear. 'Bloody brilliant.'

Harry hugged Ron back single-handedly, trying to keep his other hand steady enough to not spill too much of his champagne on the hotel's nice carpet. 'Thanks, Ron,' he whispered. 'Thanks for being there.'

'Anytime, Harry.' Ron took a couple of steps back again, blushing slightly and thankfully taking a glass of champagne that Fred was holding out to him.

When everybody was holding a champagne flute, George looked around at all their faces and held his glass aloft. 'To the houses of Potter and Snape!' he saluted. 'May they be united for a very long and happy time indeed!'

'Hear, hear!' saluted Fred.

'Hear, hear!' agreed Ron and Hermione.

Harry blushed, feeling like he simply could not stop grinning to save his life, and took a sip of his drink. His eyes flickered toward his lover, finding Severus already looking at him, the black eyes shining in a way that Harry had never seen before. He reached up with his free hand and briefly cupped his palm to Snape's cheek, running his thumb across the sharp cheekbone.

'A most successful press conference, gentlemen!' Septimus Stringer, freshly Apparated, dumped his briefcase onto the nearest piece of furniture and advanced on the little group, running one hand through his dark blonde hair. 'Congratulations, Mister Potter, Professor Snape.'

Ron accio'd the champagne bucket and set about pouring another flute for the lawyer.

'Please,' said Snape, 'it's Severus, Septimus. And Harry.'

Stringer fairly beamed at the invitation to given names. 'Thank-you, Severus.' He held his champagne up slightly in a low-key salute. 'To your futures, gentlemen.'

'Now, there's a question…' Everyone looked around to Ron, who was looking into his drink as though it might contain an answer to whatever it was he had suddenly thought of. He looked up and saw everybody looking at him. 'Um.' He hesitantly let his gaze wander to Snape.

Eyebrow. 'Yes, Mister Weasley?'

'Er… What, I mean… What am I supposed to call you? Now, like? Er, sir?'

Harry nodded a little to himself and turned to his lover. 'He's got a good point, you know. My friends can't keep calling you "Professor", can they?'

'Ginevra Weasley will while she is still in school.'

'Severus.' Harry raised an eyebrow at Snape in a near-enough imitation.

Snape sighed resignedly. 'They may call me by my name,' he said into his drink.

George nudged his shoulder against Severus'. 'You'll always be "Snapey" to me, sunshine.'

Hermione giggled behind a hand. Ron tried to hide a smirk with his glass.

'Okay,' Harry announced, 'I can't stand not knowing anymore. What IS it with the "Snapey" thing with you two?'

George grinned at Severus. 'Shall I tell? Or will you?'

Severus glared a little. 'It is merely a throwback.'

'To?' prompted Harry.

The little line between Severus' brows deepened fractionally. 'To… the night of your second task in the Tri-Wizard fiasco, actually. By using that positively appalling little pet name, Weasley G is reminding me of something. And by not hexing him beyond even Weasley F's recognition, I am letting him know I remember.'

Harry tilted his head to one side, smiling softly. 'What happened on the night of the second task?'

'We were trying to get our ends away,' said Fred.

'I HAD my end away, thank-you!' George smirked.

Severus rolled his eyes. 'I was the unfortunate staff member who discovered these two…' he coughed lightly, 'gentlemen indulging their vices with a member of my own House atop the Astronomy Tower.'

'Blaise Zabini,' the twins said together, identical eyes glittering.

'He was in my year!' Ron scrunched up his face in distaste. 'You perverts!'

'Well, we DO try,' Fred muttered.

'Snapey appeared from around a corner RIGHT when things were just getting interesting,' sighed George.

'Probably had a wank for a bit first,' Fred added, flicking the merest of glances toward Severus, as though to gauge just how far he could take such a joke.

Severus accio'd the champagne bottle to himself and topped up his glass whilst giving a most disdainful snort. 'Please,' he sneered, 'I haven't wanked in the Astronomy Tower since I was thirteen.'

Harry felt like he suddenly had some sort of out-of-body experience, looking at this little scene with a very detached view. Here he was, in a plush hotel room with a bunch of his very closest friends and SNAPE and all of them were having a good laugh at a story being told by the Weasley twins and Snape himself. It was beyond bizarre. It was unbelievable, unthinkable, unreal! It was wonderful, beautiful, perfect! How had it all come about? How had they all got to this point? How had HE? A loud knock on the door brought Harry back into himself before he could even begin to think about concocting any vague answers to his questions.

Hermione put her barely touched champagne down on a side table. 'I'll get it.'

When the door swung open, Harry choked slightly on the swallow of bubbly he was in the middle of taking. Into the suite walked Professor Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall, Remus and bloody Draco Malfoy. Hermione closed the door after them, looking at the little procession almost as warily as Harry himself was.

'Severus?' asked Dumbledore. 'Is what I hear from Mister Malfoy true?'

'That would depend entirely upon what Mister Malfoy has said, Albus.'

Dumbledore peered over the tops of his half-moon glasses. 'How could you ask me for the afternoon off and not tell me what news you were planning on unleashing upon the world, my dear boy?'

Harry noticed Remus grinning in his direction and, when he realised Harry was looking at him, gave Harry a distinct wink. Beside Remus, McGonagall looked like she was about to burst if she had to hold her excitement in a moment longer.

'Albus,' Snape was saying, 'Harry and I have done what we considered best for ourselves. I apologise if we have disappointed you in any way - '

'Disappointed me, Severus?' Dumbledore's thin shoulders trembled slightly as he chuckled. 'I may have tried to dissuade you from your chosen course of action, but disappointment would not have been my motivating force, I assure you.' He stopped chuckling long enough to give Severus quite a sombre look, considering he was still actually smiling. 'I'll be wanting to talk to you both, of course. Privately. It can wait.'

George was moving between the new arrivals, bestowing champagne flutes on them all. When Draco received his, the rightly suspicious Slytherin diligently checked the glass for abnormalities and sniffed the contents before taking a gingerly sip, all the while eyeballing the reactions other drinkers were having to their tipple.

'But is it TRUE, Severus?' McGonagall practically shouted in frustration. 'Are you and Potter actually doing what I suggested?'

Snape smirked a little. 'Oh, so it's all your idea now, is it, Minerva?'

McGonagall fixed him with a stern look. 'I distinctly recall telling you I thought proposing was a lovely idea.'

Harry smiled to see that even a mouth as thin as Severus' could pout quite successfully.

Dumbledore clinked his glass against McGonagall's. 'I should've known you would have something to do with all this, my dear.'

A hand touched briefly to Harry's right elbow and he looked around to see Septimus Stringer holding his briefcase again instead of a champagne flute. 'I really must be off now, Mister Pot - er, Harry,' Septimus grinned. 'Please don't hesitate to contact me if you need anything, anything at all. The company will be in contact with you in a few days at any rate, just to check how things are going.'

'Ar, yeah, the shit'll definitely be hitting the fan by then.' Harry gave a slightly amused but still grim smile.

Septimus nodded. 'You've quite set the press alight, Harry. However,' he grinned sharply, 'I happen to know that there is some positively electrifying news regarding the Tutshill Tornadoes match-fixing case that will be released to the media by Thursday morning.' He tapped his nose with an ink-stained finger. 'That should help take a little bit of heat away from you and your beloved, at least for a short while.'

Harry remembered how, on first approaching the firm of Stringer And Family, he had been told everyone was far too busy defending the Tornadoes in the massive Quidditch scandal to help him - until he had allowed his fringe to move slightly on his forehead and had happened to let his name slip. He smiled slyly at his lawyer. 'What House were you in when you were at school, Septimus?'

'My family have been Ravenclaws for centuries,' was the reply. 'But the Hat put me in Slytherin with barely a second's thought. Why do you ask?'

Chapter Twenty-Five

Severus and Harry bid goodnight to Albus and Minerva, then Harry was again ensconced deep within the fold of his friends and Lupin, all of them lounged around the room's furniture and lush carpets in various stages of sobriety. Harry held a beckoning hand out toward Severus but Snape shook his head slightly in response, his gaze moving to the French doors and the balcony outside, where the only other Slytherin in attendance was standing on his own in the now rather chilly evening.

'Mister Malfoy?' Snape closed the French doors softly behind him and crossed to Draco's side, handing the younger man another flute of champagne.

'Thank-you, sir.' Draco took the offered glass and continued leaning on the balcony's stone wall, gazing out over the lights of the city.

'Perhaps,' Snape leaned his elbows upon the stone wall, too, 'in light of the fact I have given the Gryffindor brats permission to address me by my given name, it is only right that my newest Slytherin colleague be cleared to do so as well.'

Draco swallowed a small taste of champagne and nodded once. 'Thank-you, Severus.'

'Thank-you, Draco, for the support you showed me during my House address yesterday.'

Slim shoulders shrugged. 'Part of my job, isn't it? To back you up? Besides, it was only the truth.' The blonde head turned briefly toward the windows and the sound of loud laughter coming from within. 'Don't expect me to say anything like that in front of them though.'

'No. I would not expect that.'

'Can I ask you honestly, Severus - do you really believe it will work? The most-Slytherin and the most-Gryffindor? Together?'

'I can assure you I've spent the last few months asking myself those very questions. The only answer I keep coming to is, quite clearly, yes.'

'And he's going to turn his back on all of it, just to be with you?'

'You think me undeserving?'

'Of course not, sir! Severus. But I'm hardly HIS biggest fan, am I? Maybe I don't think he's so deserving of you.'

Snape took a drink of champagne and fixed his gaze on the play of city lights. 'We have our reasons for believing we deserve one another.'

'I wasn't suggesting you hadn't thought things thro - '

Severus held up his free hand. 'No, of course not. But I have no wish to consider some of the possible deeper implications of your words, Draco.'

Somehow, Malfoy managed to pale even further. 'I did mean what I said the other night, sir, I'm really not into blokes. All that Polyjuice stuff was just something I was trying out - just like the coke and the speed were.' He obviously caught the look in Snape's eyes because he raced to continue before Severus could say anything. 'The bit with you WAS different, yes, I admit that but… but it's not like what you think. Yes, the thought of you had a different effect on me than those other prats. Obviously the whole thing with Father was different again, but I'm not going to go into that now. The thing with you was about a level of comfort, sir. And, yes, I responded to that - of course I did. And, yes, it's a bit confusing for me now, trying to disassociate you, the real you, from a comfort I was able to find in Munich with that fake you, but I'm not blinded by it. I know I'm confused and messed-up, but at least I DO know it!'

Severus could see how eager the younger man was to convince Snape of this summation of his current mental state. Malfoy's reasons for wanting so much for Snape to believe this line were still unclear to him - perhaps Draco was merely trying to hide his more vulnerable emotions, or perhaps he wanted to convince Severus he would pose no threat to Snape's relationship with Harry (whatever reasons he may have for that), perhaps he even spoke the truth. But regardless of the boy's motives, Severus could at least accept that Draco apparently wanted to distance himself from the idea of having a crush (even just a sexual one) on his former Head of House. And that was something Severus was pleased to accept.

'If I can be of any assistance in helping you over your confusion, Draco, please let me know. I shall be happy to reinforce my reality for you at any stage.'

Malfoy laughed a little at that and seemed to relax marginally. 'You know he flirts with those twins?'

'Yes. And they flirt with him - something they persist in doing to me, also, and yet I give them no such reciprocation.'

'Humph. Never thought any Weasley would have the balls of steel required to flirt with you!'

'Charlie Weasley once tried to give me a bunch of roses in order to win a bet.'

'What did you do?'

'Transfigured them into a dozen Lichanura trivirgata while he was still holding them.'

Draco frowned slightly, muttering the words "Lichanura trivirgata" under his breath, then smiled. 'The Rosy Boa? The one with the skunk-defence?'

'Twelve of them.'

'You're brilliant!'

Severus inclined his head in acceptance of the compliment. 'Thank-you.'





Harry was already passed out by the time Severus bid the last of their guests goodnight and prepared for bed. The Saviour of the Wizarding World was lying facedown diagonally across the covers of the king-size bed, glasses askew, snoring and drooling onto the bedspread.

'Still beautiful,' Severus murmured, delicately removing the spectacles and placing them on a bedside table. He undid Harry's trainers and removed them, finding himself wondering vaguely when his lover might actually start wearing proper footwear, and then rolled the boy over so that he could remove the denim jeans. When he manoeuvred Harry's dead weight under the covers, the green eyes fluttered open momentarily.

'Mmsevrus?'

'Yes, Harry.'

'Cuddle?'

'I don't cuddle, you silly boy.' Snape began undressing.

'Fuck me?'

'I don't think so. You're far too drunk.'

'No not!'

'You can't even speak properly at the moment. Go back to sleep.'

'You do cuddle. You've coddled me.'

'I have never coddled you.' Severus smiled to himself. 'I may have cuddled you at some point. Conceded.'

'Fuck me?'

Snape sighed. 'You've already asked that! Go back to sleep.'

'Like it when you fuck me…'

'I am quite sure you do.' Snape flicked his wand toward the main lamps and turned them off.

'So… fuck me?'

'For the love of - no! In the morning, Harry. When you're a little more sober.'

'Promise.'

Severus slid into the bed. 'I promise to fuck you in the morning. Now go back to sleep.'

'Mmsevrus?'

'What?'

'Love you.'

Snape extinguished the last lamp and straight away found himself cuddled by a sleepy Harry. 'Love you, too, you prat.'

'Brat.'

'Yes. Yes, you are.'





'Hey! I've just remembered something!'

Severus smoothed his wet hair back off his face and peered out of the steamed-up shower glass. Harry was standing on the other side wearing nothing but his glasses.

'You promised me last night that you'd fuck me this morning!' Harry took his glasses off and set them on the marble vanity surround, then slid the shower door aside to step into the recess.

'I'm surprised you remember anything after about seven o'clock.'

Harry poked his tongue out. 'I'm not letting you just run off back to school without keeping your promise this morning.'

'I am intending to have breakfast at Hogwarts - '

'Yeah, I know. So you'd better start with the fulfilling now or you'll be late. God, this is the hugest shower I've ever seen!' Harry noticed the shaving razor on the soap shelf. 'You shave in the shower? By feel?'

'I try to limit the amount of time I spend looking in mirrors.'

'That must be hard though?'

'I don't find it particularly difficult.'

Harry rubbed his cheek on Snape's. 'Well, you're obviously good at it.' He wrapped his arms around Severus' waist and moved languidly against him, rubbing their chests together. 'Mm, this feels nice…'

"Nice" was an appalling understatement, Severus thought, as Harry's wet body pressed against his own. "Nice" had no place in a description of drenched teenaged flesh, nor in the feel of it being rubbed upon him. It was definitely inadequate to describe the feeling of instant arousal he experienced the moment Harry joined him - Harry with hard nipples and hard cock, Harry wet all over, Harry wanting to be kissed and touched and entered, Harry eager for cock up his arse, Harry humping his leg already. Severus opened the shower door a little way and stuck one hand out while Harry sucked at his throat. 'Accio lubricant!'

'Aren't we slippery enough?'

The lube landed in Snape's hand and he closed the shower door again. 'Water is not sufficient lubricant for… what we want to do.'

Harry grinned widely. 'So you're keeping your promise, then?'

'Definitely. Turn around.'





Halfway through breakfast in the Great Hall, Severus still found it hard to think of anything else but the feel of Harry's body clenched tight around his cock, of water cascading over them as they moved together, of moans reverberating off tiles, of his hands sliding on wet hips as he worked the boy on his prick. Harry had come without so much as a stroke, spunk splattering the wall as he groaned his encouragement for Severus to fuck him rougher and harder. Snape drank his tea sedately, enjoying the memory of just how enthusiastically he had complied.

His enjoyment was cut short by the sight of dozens of owls swooping into the room. Ah, yes. That.

Every student in Slytherin, it seemed, had made a point of ordering this morning's Daily Prophet. More faculty members than usual were taking delivery, too, leading Snape to wonder if Albus and Minerva had told one or two confidantes where they had disappeared to yesterday afternoon. To Snape's right, Malfoy unhooked a rolled newspaper from a brown owl and tossed it a strawberry along with the five knuts.

'Hm,' Draco grunted over his paper. 'Did I REALLY want to see this whilst eating?' He glanced up at Snape with a small grin.

Severus mentally prepared himself and looked down at the front page. The photograph versions of himself and Harry were wrapped around each other, snogging away as though concepts so tawdry as oxygen and breathing were of no great import. Above the photo, bold black lettering declared "IT'S LOVE! (APPARENTLY)".

Charming.

The decibel level in the room was steadily climbing. Excited whispers and shocked voices could be heard from every section of the hall. Severus avoided looking up for some minutes, black eyes still watching the miniature versions of he and Harry refusing to come up for air.

In an announcement that has shocked the wizarding world, Severus read, HARRY POTTER has declared his love for former Death Eater, SEVERUS SNAPE, Potions Master at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. At a packed press conference at the Wildemere Hotel yesterday, The Boy Who Lived broke the hearts of witches everywhere by stating his intention to MARRY his former Professor. Snape, a one-time follower of YOU KNOW WHO, announced he was "[taking] Harry Potter away forever". The couple then Apparated mid-kiss (photo, above) to an unknown location.

The caption to the still-snogging photo included Harry's conference wrap-up - "Potter queer, Potter fulfils destiny with help of lover, Potter and Snape to marry, want to be left alone now, thanks".

'Be a while before the students let you live this one down, Severus,' Madam Hooch said from his left.

'Indeed,' Snape sighed and looked up for the first time since the owls had arrived. At least half the student body were gaping in his general direction, breakfasts forgotten. No doubt wondering if it's all some sort of joke on Harry's part, he considered. The angriest looks being shot his way were coming, predictably enough, from the Gryffindor table.

'Blimey!'

Everyone at the staff table looked toward the exclamation and the sound of something being knocked over that accompanied it, and saw Hagrid mopping up spilt pumpkin juice with his napkin. The half-giant glanced up, flustered, and blushed as he dabbed at the orange puddle. 'Sorry bout tha'. Jus' a bit of a shock, is all. Congratulations, Professor!'

'Yes, congratulations, Severus!' Madam Hooch patted the back of Snape's hand lightly.

The noise from the students had grown beyond whispers and mutterings until the entire hall was abuzz with animated chatter, laughter and howls of protest. Severus began to weigh the pros and cons of getting from his seat to the door. But which would be worse - remaining here and sitting out the attention, or walking out knowing that the attention was worsening by him leaving?

Minerva pushed her chair back and walked the few feet to Severus' chair. 'Congratulations, Severus!' she smiled warmly and leaned down to press a kiss to his cheek. The uproar from the Gryffindor table ratcheted up by degrees. Dear gods.

'Come on, Snape,' Malfoy suddenly said, standing up and tucking the newspaper under his arm. 'Shouldn't we go and prepare your classroom now?'

Severus nodded immediately. 'Indeed. Absolutely.'

As soon as Severus stood up, every student at the Slytherin table rose to their feet as well, all of them turned toward he and Draco. The action momentarily stilled Severus, and he allowed his gaze to sweep up and down the long table, looking into the face of each of his children. Their gesture helped ease some of his discomfort amid all the attention, shoring up his nerves sufficiently that he felt compelled to bow to his House in gratitude before turning abruptly and striding toward the staff door with Draco close behind.

'Thank-you for that,' he told Malfoy as they walked toward the dungeon stairs.

'Don't mention it.'

'You know,' the Bloody Baron stepped through a wall at the top of staircase, 'I always suspected that Potter lad would be up for a good buggering…'





'If today's effort is truly the best you can manage, I harbour very little hope for any of you achieving an OWL come June.' Severus sat at his desk with his arms crossed, watching several Fifth Years cast longing looks toward the classroom door. 'With one or two obvious exceptions, of course. Very well, then - dismissed. Miss Sutton, kindly stay behind for a quick word.'

Severus straightened a stack of handed-in essays on his desk while the clamour of the retreating class subsided. When there was only himself and his Prefect remaining in the room, he closed the door with a wand-flick and went to lean against the student desk beside Miss Sutton's.

'I really should get to my next class, sir. Professor McGonagall's been terribly irritable with late-comers recently.'

'I shall write you a pass for Professor McGonagall.' He crossed his arms again and looked down at the pretty girl, standing beside her desk with her schoolbooks clasped in front of her as though they offered some sort of protection. That she had not met his eyes once during the entire class was suspect enough, but when added to the fact she had entered the classroom having quite obviously been crying, Severus was worried. 'May I enquire as to whether something is bothering you?'

'It's nothing, sir. Really. I'm fine.'

'People who are fine tend to not look like they've been crying, Miss Sutton.' The girl gnawed on her bottom lip and stared at the floor. This wasn't like her at all. 'Please do me the courtesy of looking at me when I am speaking to you.'

Slowly, she lifted her chin and her gaze until their eyes locked, then she abruptly looked off to the side, pulling her schoolbooks in even tighter to herself.

Severus sighed. 'Are you in trouble at all, Miss Sutton?' She shook her head. 'Is another student bothering you?' Another shake. 'Perhaps one of the staff, then?' No. 'Are you in reasonable health?'

'Yes, Professor. Thank-you.'

'Well, what is it, then? I have no wish for any of my Prefects to mope around like Hufflepuffs - particularly not in my own classes!'

Ohgodsno - that wasn't a chin wobble, was it? Snape willed his voice toward a more gentle timbre. 'Please, Miss Sutton, this concerns me.' As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Severus realised what he had said. Yes, of course. It did concern him. It was all about him…

'I'm fine, sir, really. Can I go now? Please?' She tried to step forward, but when Snape stopped leaning on the nearby desk and stood up straight she seemed to be ambushed by a rush of nerves and dropped two of her books. Onto the stone floor fell One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi and Goshawk's Standard Book of Spells, Grade Five. From out of the latter fell the front page of that morning's Daily Prophet - photograph Harry and Snape still passionately deeming oxygen to be overrated.

Severus stooped to retrieve the books and the newspaper article. Sutton stared at him, moisture welling up in her eyes, as he tucked the page back into the Goshawk book and held the two tomes out to their owner.

'I, I'm,' the poor girl blushed and stuttered. 'I'm so sorry, sir. I couldn't help it.'

'It's quite alright,' Severus assured her as she took the books back. He knew she wasn't apologising for having dropped the texts. 'It happens.' He wasn't talking about the books either.

'I'll get over it,' she murmured, almost as though she was hoping her words were too quiet to be heard.

'Yes,' Severus tried a small smile. 'You will. And be all the better for it, I assure you.' He took out his wand and waved it to produce a piece of parchment with the word "PASS" in large letters across the top and a pre-written explanation. He accio'd his quill and added a scratchy S.S. before handing it over. 'Kindly give Professor McGonagall my apologies for having kept you.'

'Y-yes, sir. Thank-you.'

Severus stood aside and watched her scurry away as quickly as she could without breaking into a run - the trials and self-consciousness of adolescence were such complete fucking torture, he thought sadly.

Chapter Twenty-Six

'Not one Howler, Severus!' Dumbledore poked around in a bag of boiled sweets until he came up with a peppermint humbug, which he dropped back into the bag and delved in once more. 'I don't know how you did it, dear boy. But well done all the same.'

Harry and Severus shared a glance before both turning their attention back to the rummaging Headmaster. 'We have very good legal reps, sir,' Harry ventured. 'All of our mail - '

'Except that which originates from a select group of people,' interrupted Snape.

'Yes,' said Harry, 'except for a few exceptions, all the rest of our mail is going through Stringer And Family. Severus gave them rather, erm, clear instructions of what to do with any Howlers that arrive.'

Dumbledore popped a wine-red sweet into his mouth and leaned back in his seat. 'Hm, I can rather imagine Severus' idea of "clear instructions".' The long silver beard moved as the old wizard chuckled. 'Septimus Stringer, isn't it, Harry? Your legal representative?'

'Yes, sir.'

'Wonderful young man. A Beater on the Slytherin Quidditch team for several years, if memory serves. His sister, Octavia, played opposite him for Ravenclaw - oh, fierce old battles in those days! You know, I do believe the Stringers might be the largest family to ever pass through this castle? Even the Weasleys only have seven, and there weren't even any multiple births in the Stringer family. Poor old Bertha must have spent half her life pregnant or breast-feeding…'

Severus cleared his throat softly. Everything about his posture, it seemed to Harry, suggested the man was not comfortable about having been summoned to the Headmaster's office for a discussion about their now-public relationship. Not that Harry blamed him, of course. Harry himself felt, more than a little, as though he was somehow in trouble, as though he and Severus had been sprung having a bit of a grope on top of the Astronomy Tower after curfew.

'Albus?' Severus tried, 'You did say you wanted to speak with myself and Harry regarding recent developments?'

Dumbledore stroked his beard absent-mindedly for a moment. 'Ah! Yes, of course, Severus.' The blue eyes twinkled. 'You're both happy with the course you have taken, I presume?'

'Of course,' Severus ground out.

'Yes, sir,' Harry murmured, wondering where all this could be leading.

Dumbledore was nodding, almost to himself. 'Excellent. Excellent.'

Harry and Severus waited, expecting the Headmaster to expand on his assessment, but no expansion was immediately forthcoming.

'Albus?' Snape finally said, somewhat testily. 'What was it you actually wanted to say to us? IF I may be so bold as to ask?'

'I wonder,' Dumbledore muttered, almost as though Snape hadn't even raised his voice slightly, 'if you have both given any thought to where you shall co-habit, once you are bound together?'

From the corner of his vision, Harry could see Severus cross his long legs carefully and clasp his elegant hands in his lap, sharp black elbows resting on the upholstered arms of the chair. 'Of course, Albus. And we are eager to discuss these thoughts with you.'

'The twins,' Harry found himself blurting out suddenly, and blushed when a pair of blue eyes and a pair of black eyes turned upon him. 'They, er, Fred and George - and Hermione, too, of course! - they, um, want to go back to London. I mean, they need to open their shop again now that the war's properly over and they've got a family on the way and everything.' He stopped and forced himself to take a shallow, quiet breath. 'So, er, they were saying to me the other day that maybe, maybe Remus could take over the York house from them. Obviously though, only if the Order's okay with that. Obviously. And, you know, I'm happy for the Order to keep using Grimmauld Place if the Order thinks that's the place it really needs, but if it IS possible for Headquarters to be moved to the York house, I mean, now that the War's over and everything…? Just so long as Remus always has a place to live, of course!'

Harry forced himself to shut the hell up for a moment. Dumbledore was nodding vaguely in response to the torrent of words that had just spilt out of Harry's mouth. Severus was sitting so perfectly still that even his breaths were barely discernible.

'The Misters Weasley had informed me they were eager to re-open their business concern,' Dumbledore nodded some more. 'And, in fact, they had already broached the subject of a swapping of Order venues with me… why, it must have been at least two weeks ago now, I'm sure.'

Two weeks ago? Harry was mentally counting back the days in his head. How had Fred and George known two weeks ago? No… it had to be merely coincidence, of course - that the twins simply needed to get back to London and had thought to suggest Remus as a replacement for them in York. It was obvious, really.

'I must admit to a little surprise to how traditionally you went about all this, Severus.' Dumbledore cracked the sweet in his mouth rather loudly at the end of his sentence. 'Even going so far as to ask Remus for Harry's hand. And with Harry already of-age, too - most gallant, dear boy! Most gallant, indeed. And here I thought Minerva and Gilderoy were the only romantics I had ever employed!' Harry chanced a look in Snape's direction, hoping desperately that the Headmaster would stop his current line of conversation before Severus exploded in a fit. Thankfully, Dumbledore apparently knew how far he could tease Snape. 'And what about during term, Severus? Heads of House must be available to their students at all hours, of course.' Dumbledore's voice was businesslike once more, as though he hadn't just been comparing Severus to Gilderoy Lockhart.

'Naturally, Albus. My adherence to House and teaching duties will not be affected, I assure you. Harry and I would like to seek permission for Harry to treat my bedchamber in the dungeons as our bedroom during term time. He would floo between Grimmauld Place and my sittingroom.'

'I'd just treat the fireplace like the stairs, really,' Harry added, grinning.

Dumbledore was nodding slowly. 'And what of meal times, gentlemen?'

Severus glanced at Harry before answering. 'I would take as many of my meals here as I do now. Essentially, Albus, as far as my presence during term is concerned, there will be no change. I will continue to treat the dungeons as my place of abode during term and Harry will treat his house similarly. He will simply be using my chamber here to sleep in, as opposed to his room at Grimmauld Place.'

The Headmaster was twinkling so mischievously that Harry very nearly expected him to make a cheeky comment about just how much "sleeping" Harry would probably be getting during his nights here. Thank god he didn't, Harry thought, because surely he and Severus would keel over from embarrassment if he did?

'Very well, then,' Dumbledore once again rummaged in the bag of boiled sweets. 'I shall talk with Remus about moving Order Headquarters to the base in York. Everything else seems to be quite in order, gentlemen. Congratulations.' Dumbledore exclaimed over a pink sweet and popped it into his mouth with glee. 'Oh, and might I say Well Done, Severus, for your work with Draco Malfoy? You know, I do believe a job was almost all the poor boy really needed?'

'Then you should be thanking the werewolf for the suggestion,' said Snape curtly. 'The thought of spending every day around Malfoy was certainly not my idea. However, the occupation does appear to have grounded him somewhat.'

Harry was reminded again of how a job or a career was precisely what he needed to occupy his days as well. He wasn't planning on being a housewife, after all. He fidgeted with his fingers and looked at the portrait of Phineas Nigellus, who scowled back at him quite unnecessarily, Harry thought.

'Perhaps Draco can move out of the guest quarters and into the dungeons now, Severus?'

Snape's jaw tensed. 'I would prefer if that did not come to pass, Headmaster.'

'Oh?'

'Personal reasons,' Snape sneered. Harry felt the need to reach over the space between them and squeeze Severus' arm, but he decided against it.

'Oh well,' the old wizard shrugged, 'so be it. Thank-you both very much for taking the time to visit me today.'

Harry and Severus looked at each other again and then back at the Headmaster. 'Are we dismissed, Albus?' Snape asked.

'Dismissed? Oh, my dear boy, it's not like you're both in trouble, is it now?' Dumbledore grinned at them. 'You are free to go whenever you wish.'

'But weren't you going to tell us something about wanting to talk us out of doing the press conference?' prompted Harry, frowning a little.

Dumbledore clasped his hands together on his desktop. 'Too late now, is it not?'

'Well,' Severus tilted his head slightly, 'what would you have said?'

'I merely would have wished to ascertain that you both knew precisely what you were doing.' The blue eyes shined upon them both. 'It would appear that you most certainly do. Congratulations again, Severus, Harry. May you have many years of happiness together.'





'I'm still not entirely sure what that was all about, you know?' Harry slouched forward onto his elbows on the desktop before him, watching Severus working on the other side of the potions lab. How he loved watching Snape brewing - with the absence of robes and the rolled up shirt sleeves and the hands and the concentrated calm and, bloody hell, Harry wanted to be bent over this desk again, like last time he'd been in here while Snape worked.

'Albus merely needs to feel… informed.' Severus held a slim beaker up to the light, assessing the consistency of the off-white substance within.

A quiet knock on the laboratory door made both their heads lift up. 'Do you want me to hide myself?' Harry whispered.

Severus checked the time and shook his head. 'That's not necessary, Harry.' Harry grinned broadly at that and enjoyed the view as Snape walked by and went to answer the door.

'Miss Sutton?' Snape's voice sounded vaguely surprised.

'Sorry to disturb you sir,' the girl's voice said. 'But I thought you might be interested in seeing this.'

Severus moved to the side slightly as he took whatever it was the prefect was offering him. Harry stood up at the desk and waved at the girl. 'Hi again!' he called.

Sutton looked at him with her eyes a little wide. 'Oh. Oh, hello. Mister Potter. Um, congratulations, by the way.'

Harry didn't know why the girl seemed so much more uncomfortable in his presence than she'd been last time they met. He flushed a little at the mention of congratulations. 'Thanks,' he smiled.

'This is indeed very interesting, Miss Sutton.' Snape was holding a magazine. 'Thank-you very much for bringing it to my attention. May I keep this for tonight? I can return it to you tomorrow morning, if you wish.'

The girl smiled up at him. 'Sure. Keep it as long as you need to.' Harry thought her voice sounded a little breathy.

'And you are feeling better in yourself, I hope?'

'Yes, sir. Thank-you for asking.' That was definitely a blush. 'Well, goodnight then, Professor.'

'Goodnight… Emily.'

The prefect positively beamed when Severus said her name. Harry watched her take a couple of steps back into the corridor, her eyes never leaving Snape's face until she finally turned to her right and walked away. Severus waited another moment and then closed the laboratory door, walking back toward Harry whilst scanning an article in the magazine the girl had given him.

'She's in love with you.'

Snape's head snapped up at Harry's words. 'What makes you say that?'

'I could just tell.' Harry shrugged a bit and re-seated himself at the desk. 'Weird, really. I've never been able to read girls that well before. Maybe, maybe I recognise the look now 'cos I know it's how I look at you…'

'Indeed. Well.' Severus cleared his throat softly. 'Crushes happen from time to time. Every teacher has to deal with them. Some more often than the rest of us, obviously. Anyhow - here.' He threw the open magazine down onto the desktop for Harry to see. 'Thanks to Ronald Weasley's efforts, and Miss Sutton's thoughtfulness, you should find this rather cheering.'

Harry looked down to see a miniature version of Athena Green blushing deeply and trying to avoid his eyes. The magazine was glossy - the latest issue of Witch Weekly - detailing how Miss Green had been duped by an unscrupulous Daily Prophet reporter who, she insisted throughout the article, had twisted the story she told him and made up outright lies that she would never have dreamt of saying about her one-off meeting with Harry Potter. There was also a photo of Harry, probably taken during his last interview with the publication, plus a small version of the snogging one of he and Severus taken at their conference the other day. He smiled as he watched the tiny figures kissing.

'I've yet to see a version of this photo where we AREN'T snogging, you know? They don't even break for air, I swear!' Harry prodded one finger at the tiny, occupied version of himself. 'Hey!' he demanded of it. 'Do you do anything else?!' His little doppelganger lifted one hand from Snape's shoulder and made a swatting motion, as if to tell Harry to bugger off and leave them alone. Harry laughed and looked up at Severus. 'Insatiable little fuckers, aren't they?'

'They are in love.' Severus moved back toward the bubbling cauldron and his beakers and stirring rods.

Harry pushed the magazine away from himself a few inches and propped his elbows on the desktop again, resting his chin in his hands as he went back to watching his lover brewing. 'Can I ask what you're working on?'

'You can. You also may, if you wish.'

Harry rolled his eyes a little. 'May I ask what it is you're working on?'

Snape seemed to smirk slightly before catching himself and schooling his features back to concentration again. 'It is something for our bonding ceremony, if you must know.' He pushed his hair away from his face with his free hand as he stirred the mixture slowly. 'Somewhat archaic, perhaps, but will nonetheless add a further element to the proceedings for you and I.' Black eyes looked up at Harry, a distinct sparkle in their inky depths. 'Not something to be discussed in polite company though, so I would urge you not to mention it to, particularly, Molly Weasley - I doubt she would find its concept as appealing or charming as do I.'

Not to be discussed in polite company. Harry only needed a moment to work out what Severus was hinting at. 'It's some sort of sex magic?'

Snape's hair fell back over his face again as he nodded once. 'It is called the Draught of Nodus amans.' He arched an eyebrow at Harry, as though waiting to see if Harry could work out the Latin phrasing.

'It's, er, something to do with lovers, that's the amans bit.' Harry saw Snape nod slightly again. 'And, um… nodus… node… something about a knot? A draught of a lover's knot?'

The black eyebrow arched up even higher. 'Clumsy. But strangely accurate. It has something very fundamental in common with the Culmen Densus spell as well.' There was another expectant pause while Snape waited for Harry to put two and two together.

Harry suddenly remembered the off-white substance whose consistency Severus had been checking earlier. He felt his eyes widen a little. 'You've put our come in there?' A nod. 'And we're gonna drink that at our wedding? How, ugh, romantic, darling.'

Snape allowed himself a full smirk this time. 'Don't be so prudish. It's not like either of us hasn't already drunk the other down in copious amounts already, Potter.'

Harry giggled quietly. 'I know. It's just… I'm going to be swallowing your come in front of all our friends and family?' He pulled a bit of a face.

'Not just mine, Harry.'

The face Harry was pulling pulled a little more. 'In front of everybody?'

'They won't know. And I promise I'll make it taste like strawberries or chocolate or some such if you so wish.'

Harry grinned at the thought. 'So, when did you collect it? I mean, obviously, your own's easy enough for you to throw in, but what about mine? I don't remember you getting me to jizz in a beaker or anything?'

'What do wizard-kind know about their bodily fluids that Muggles do not?'

'Huh? Oh. That they're really powerful? And we shouldn't let other people get hold of them because they can use them against us and stuff?'

'Indeed. Do you honestly think I would leave two prophylactics full of my seed and your own - dear Merlin, the essence of Harry Potter himself! - in a Muggle brothel for anybody to find?'

Harry blinked. And blinked again. The brothel… the condoms they'd used when they were with Christobel… of course. Harry flushed as the memories of that night tumbled over him. He watched Severus lower the flame under the cauldron and continue stirring slowly. Constant vigilance - his lover had had the wherewithal to pocket the condoms before they left, so that the contents could not possibly be used against them. How Snape had managed to think so clearly after the intensity of what had gone on in that room astounded Harry.

As though he could sense what Harry was thinking, Severus' deep voice floated across the room to him. 'That was the night when all my thoughts about you coalesced, Harry. When I knew you weren't just playing around with me. When I realised that I, that I wished to be with you always.' He swapped hands on the stirring rod and commenced a counter-clockwise motion. 'You may check the timing with Lupin, if you wish to verify.'

Harry shook his head. 'No need,' he said softly. They were both quiet for a moment, before Harry all but whispered, 'Just how powerful do you think I am?'

'The most,' Severus responded without hesitation. 'Can you possibly still doubt this?'

Harry considered that for a little while. The conclusion came to him that, no, he supposed he didn't doubt it anymore. Strange thing was though, that he felt the most compelling piece of evidence for this wasn't that he had brought down Voldemort or that he could fend off the Avada Kedavra or resist the Imperius curse, but that he had managed to capture the heart of a wizard like Severus Snape. 'I guess not,' Harry murmured, his gaze falling back to the magazine on the desk. Athena Green had obviously decided the embarrassment of facing him again was too much, for she was now absent from her photo.

'I am somewhat surprised to see that you gave your heterosexual virginity to a blonde, I must say.'

Harry looked up at Snape. The stirring rod had been wiped and set aside and Severus now leaned against his workbench, firm forearms crossed over the front of his white shirt.

'I thought you were a brunette man all the way, Potter.'

Harry blushed a little. 'I think I am. Though I like some redheads, too…'

'Hm, yes.' Smirk. 'I can think of one or two who've piqued your curiosity.'

Harry's blush deepened fractionally. 'I'm pretty sure I like black hair best, though.'

'Just as well.' Severus began rolling down his shirt sleeves. The faded Dark Mark was almost impossible to see from where Harry was sitting.

'Do you think Christobel was beautiful?'

Snape looked momentarily taken aback by the question, but hid it quickly. 'Undoubtedly. Yes, she was a very beautiful young lady.'

Harry nodded. 'It's a bit pathetic, really, I guess. She was the most beautiful girl I think I've ever seen, and I only wanted to keep looking at you.'

Severus sniffed imperiously, extinguishing the flame beneath the cauldron. 'Am I to feel flattered by that, if you've just deemed it a bit pathetic?'

'I didn't mean it like that.' A pause. 'Emily Sutton's very beautiful.'

'Yes, I believe I remarked on this in my office, the day that she stole your attention away from me so completely.'

'But she couldn't care less about me. She's in love with you. A beautiful girl is in love with you and who are you fooling around with? Me! With my glasses and my knobbly knees! And I'm short and skinny and pale!'

'Miss Sutton is fifteen and my student!'

Harry gave a cheeky grin. 'Is that all that's stopping you?' Six months ago, he never would've had the nerve to say something like that to Snape. Hell - less than six months ago!

Severus glared at him, black eyes flashing dangerously for a second. 'Your knees are not knobbly!' They stared at each other while Snape's last words died between them in the stone room. Harry felt the twitch of another grin teasing the corners of his mouth, but fought to keep his composure. 'And furthermore,' Severus' voice rose up again, 'I happen to like pale skin.'

Harry let the threatening grin emerge. 'Just like you like my glasses?'

'Indeed. Don't you ever dare get rid of your spectacles. And don't ever get a suntan. I'll divorce you on the grounds of false advertising.'

'Can you do that?'

Eyebrow. 'Do try not to be so incredibly naïve, Potter.'

Harry smiled wide and stood up from the desk. 'Git,' he teased, sidling up to Severus and draping his arms around the man's slim waist.

'Child.'

'Bastard.'

Harry's mouth was covered firmly by Severus', one long-fingered hand tilting his chin just-so as the thin lips moved on him. He opened his mouth a little and Snape's tongue slid into it, making Harry groan faintly and press himself harder against the tall, thin body that made him feel so safe and protected, so loved and loving, so hard when he felt so soft inside.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Snape couldn't look away. Harry's hands were on him and he couldn't stop watching. Not even the gentle thrusting in and out of his body nor the tonguing at his ear could distract him. He lay on his side with Harry curled up tight behind him, gazing down his body where one pale hand rubbed circles over his chest and another slid slowly up and down his damp cock.

'Want you,' Harry whispered, lips moving against his earlobe. 'Always.'

Severus pressed his body back against his lover's. The tilt of his pelvis pulled Harry's cock in deeper, dragging soft moans from both men. Snape watched as the hand on his prick moved down to his balls, trembling fingertips smoothing gingerly over the velvety flesh.

'Want you,' Harry whispered again, 'all ways.'

The last two sentences the boy had spoke were virtually identical, but Severus discerned the differences in meaning. He lifted his arm above his head and bent it around behind himself, managing to make contact with the back of Harry's head. He craned his neck and his head until he could push his lips, somewhat awkwardly, against Harry's. The tongue and the groan that were shoved into his mouth were ample reward for the discomfort of the physical effort - as was the corresponding rough jerk of cock in his arse. It occurred to him that this was probably the longest length of time for which Harry had ever managed to fuck him; the teenager was a good twenty minutes or more into a slow, languid grind by now. Most impressive for a young man awash with hormones.

'You're not getting sore, are you?' Harry asked him when their mouths moved apart once again and Snape had twisted himself back to a more comfortable direction. Obviously, their current duration hadn't escaped Potter's notice either.

'You think I would be allowing you to continue if I were?'

There was a breathy laugh at his ear. 'You feel too good. Wanna stay inside you forever.'

'Ah, but then how would I ever pleasure you?'

'You'd have to reach behind me and do me with a fake one, I guess.'

'I'm surprised you even know of such things, Mister Potter.'

There was a subtle change in Harry's rhythm. Indeed. The mental image the boy's suggestion had just evoked was compelling.

'I know about all sorts of things.' Harry licked at Snape's shoulder briefly. 'But that's the only idea I've come up with yet that would allow us to fuck each other at the same time.' He took his hand from between Snape's legs and stroked down the length of his thigh, taking hold behind Snape's knee when he reached there and lifting the leg up higher.

Severus looked down his body again. The hand on his chest hadn't moved - fingers splayed wide, palm resting over his heart - and the other hand was largely obscured by his knee, just the fingers curling around, gripping and pressing. He reached down to his knee also and placed his own hand over Harry's, helping to lift his leg higher so that Harry could get a better angle, a closer fit, a deeper thrust. With his other hand, Severus took hold of his aching cock. He didn't stroke it yet, just wanted to hold it, squeeze it rhythmically in time with the no longer entirely gentle fucking he was being given. It felt good in his hand and he thought of holding it like this when he was preparing to enter his lover, when he was guiding himself forward toward Harry's wicked heat and tightness or, at times, toward the wet taboo of Harry's young mouth.

'Potter?'

'Yeah?'

Severus threw a quick glance over his shoulder. 'Fuck me harder now.'

'Definitely.' And Snape suddenly found himself pushed over onto his front, Harry's firm body following him over, a knee and a hand spreading his legs further apart.

Yes! Severus practically shouted the word inside his mind, though he would never articulate it out loud to his love. Yes, move me like that, manhandle me, put me where you want me, push me and spread me and fuck me fast and hard - gods, Harry, ride me, make me take it.

He didn't need to articulate it, really. Harry was already sliding a little way out of his arse and then slamming back into him again, the voice at his ear now mumbling a steady stream of filthy encouragement. Severus began to feel his sense of self slipping away. Being a man of such normally rigid control, this was not an indulgence he often allowed himself, to be lost so completely in the feeling of being used by another. But with his lover, with Harry, Severus could trust, could be confident in the knowledge that any show of weakness or surrender would not be turned against him. He could let go, if he wished. He could put aside control for a short while and fully enjoy the tender mercies of another man.

Harry was swiping at Severus' hair, moving the dark strands away from Snape's shoulder and neck so that his mouth could ravage the pale skin. Both his forearms worked under Severus' torso, bent back toward Harry, so that Harry could grab Snape's shoulders from the front and pull the older man against his chest as he fucked. His assault on Snape's body was intense and relentless - but he was still taking his weight on his elbows like a gentleman should. Severus smirked into the sheets. Fucking Gryffindor…

'You'd better - ohfuck,' Harry hissed with his lips against Snape's throat. 'Shit. Touch yourself. I'm gonna come soo- '





'Sorry about that.' Harry stroked Severus' hair as they lay together, facing each other, their foreheads pressed against one another.

'Once again, I have to ask what it is you are actually apologising for?'

'Coming before you did.'

'It matters not. Sex is not an exact science, Potter.'

Harry's wide, floppy grin eased across his face, the emerald eyes shining up at Severus as he rolled his forehead across Snape's a few inches to one side and back again. 'Will you teach me how to shave by feel? Like you do?'

The sudden change of subject surprised Severus, though he didn't show it.

Potter lifted his face away from Snape's and lay back against his pillow. 'No one's ever actually taught me how to shave.'

What a strange thing for a young man to say.

'I mean,' Harry continued to caress Severus' hair as he spoke, 'who taught you?'

Well. Granted. Maybe not such a strange thing for a young man to say, after all. 'Does one actually need to be taught?' Severus brought one index finger up to Harry's face and stroked it along the lovely jaw line. 'You've obviously fumbled through with adequate results.'

'Shaving charms, mainly. But doing it properly makes me too nervous. Too scared of cutting myself.'

Eyebrow. 'Rudimentary healing spells were developed for such eventualities.'

Harry blushed slightly. 'Men are supposed to know how to shave properly. I, I don't feel…'

'You feel less of a man because you rely on shaving charms rather than razors? Really, Potter, I think you attach too much significance to an act that is nothing more than necessary ablution.'

'It's masculine ritual though. It's a rite of passage thing, isn't it? Fathers teaching their sons how to shave…'

'In the Muggle world, perhaps. But with wizards, it's usually a quick run-through on the depilatory charms and you're on your own.'

'So how come you still use a razor, then?'

Damn. Snape harrumphed and shifted his position in bed to give himself a little thinking time. 'Very well, then. I shall give you one - ONE - lesson in "masculine ritual", as you so loftily put it.' He glanced sideways at Harry's beaming smile. 'But do not dare say anything further about fathers teaching sons and all that rot. I will NOT be confused for a father figure by the man who sucks my cock on a regular basis. Is that clear?'

Harry's smile took on a cheekier air. 'Crystal.'

Severus steadfastly ignored the cheeky grin. 'When do you wish to receive this instruction?'

'Um, well not tomorrow morning. It's the twins' birthday tomorrow, so I'll have to be out of here quick-smart in the morning. Meeting Ron and Hermione and planning something special.'

'Oh gods, April Fool's Day,' Severus sneered. 'Somehow, I had blissfully allowed myself to forget its approach.'

'You don't like April Fool's Day?'

'I doubt there is a teacher on the face of this planet who likes the fucking thing.' Except Albus, perhaps, he thought to himself.

Harry settled his head onto Snape's shoulder and sighed softly. 'I hadn't thought of it from a teacher's point of view. Sorry.'

'Hrm. I must admit, I get less attempts on my dignity than my colleagues do.' He could feel Harry grinning against his skin. Merlin, he loved that feeling.

'Being a complete git has its rewards, then?'

'Watch it, Potter.' He felt Harry's grin stretch wider and was surprised to feel his cock twitch in response to it. Mm. 'Harry?'

'What?'

Severus paused a moment, long fingers toying idly with a silken lock of the boy's wild black hair. 'You wouldn't be averse to letting me fuck you now, would you?'





Harry was so beautiful, straddled over him like that, face contorted in ecstasy as he came hard onto Severus' stomach and chest, his orgasm making his arse squeeze so tight around Snape's cock that Snape actually yelped out loud. Severus dug his fingers into the flesh over Harry's hip bones and held the boy down tight over his cock, thrusting up into him as hard as he dared, over and over until he emptied himself. Gods, it felt like his heartbeat was hammering in his ears, his body was so tightly-sprung.

Harry tipped forward, hands sliding on Snape's shoulders as he tried valiantly to hold his suddenly heavy form off the man below him. 'What's that banging?'

Severus gulped for air. Banging? Oh, fuck! That wasn't his thudding heartbeat he was hearing - it was someone pounding on his door!

'Off! Someone's at the door! Move!' With a wince, and a highly distasteful squelching sound, Severus pulled his softened prick out of Harry's body. He stood up from the bed as soon as Harry had scrambled away to the side, then he grabbed up his wand and cast the quickest cleaning charm he knew over his lower half. He pulled his discarded boxers on roughly and Harry threw him a nightshirt which he managed to drag down onto himself as he strode out of the room.

The banging finally ceased as Snape threw the door to his quarters open, ready to eviscerate the person on the other side if their excuse for disturbing him at this time of night wasn't good enough. The person in question turned out to be a stricken looking Minerva McGonagall, her tartan dressing robe buttoned on the wrong buttons as she had obviously thrown it on in some haste.

'Minerva? What is - '

'Sorry for disturbing you Severus, but you must come to the infirmary at once! Mister Malfoy appears to have taken an overdose of something! Something of a Muggle nature, we think - '

Snape was already groping blindly at the coat hook beside his door, grabbing up the black robe that hung there. 'Accio wand!' he called back over his shoulder and his wand came hurtling out of the bedroom to smack into his hand. He stepped into the corridor with Minerva and pulled his door shut with a loud bang behind him, flicking his wand at it just enough to set the quickest and simplest of wards in place. Then the two professors were marching along the hallway, Snape barely even registering the freeze of the flagstones on his bare feet as he shrugged his robe on awkwardly.

When they reached the hospital wing, it was to find Poppy Pomfrey looking uncharacteristically at a loss. 'If only I knew what he's taken, Severus!'

'Symptoms?' Snape snapped, crossing directly to Draco's unconscious form. He didn't really need to hear the mediwitch reel them off - he could see for himself that Malfoy's breathing was so shallow as to be practically useless, that the boy's lips and fingernails were blue and his tongue was discoloured.

'His blood pressure is dangerously low, too, and he's had two episodes of muscle spasm since we brought him in.' Poppy finished her list as Severus dragged one of Malfoy's eyelids up and saw how tiny the pupils had shrunk.

'Opioid,' he murmured and pushed the left sleeve of Malfoy's pyjama top up beyond his elbow.

'Oh my.' Minerva's voice was shocked and pitying, her eyes no doubt fixed upon the tortured Dark Mark that still marred the youth's flesh.

Above the clawed-at Mark, the crook of the elbow was slightly bruised, one tiny, bloodied hole the only remaining evidence Severus needed. He looked up at Pomfrey. 'Looks like a heroin overdose. A strong narcotic many Muggles abuse.' He watched her nod curtly at this. 'We need to get a combination of naloxone hydrochloride, glucose and thiamine into him as soon as possible.' Snape felt his stomach roil. The glucose and the B vitamin were simple enough to lay their hands on; they were in a hospital after all. But the naloxone? Dammit - where did the stuff come from? Think, Severus.

'Poppy!'

'Yes? What is it?'

'No, not you - poppies! The same plant that makes the drug makes the counter-measure as well - a substance called thebaine, from which I should be able to extract naloxone. Floo Longbottom immediately. We need opium poppies.' Minerva ran for the fireplace in Pomfrey's office. Snape watched her retreating back for a moment before turning to Poppy once again. 'What laboratory equipment have you on hand?'

'Just the basics. You can summon an elf to bring you anything else you need, I'm sure. But, Severus, how long will this take?'

'Only a matter of minutes, once I have those plants. Do we know how long he's been unconscious?'

Pomfrey shook her head, then looked beyond Snape. 'Mister Fielding said he was in this state when he found him.'

Severus hadn't even noticed there was another person in the room until now. 'Mister Fielding?' The Fifth Year Slytherin stood up from where he'd been sitting all this time on one of the other hospital beds. He looked pale and scared, obviously confused about just what was going on. 'How did it happen that you found Mister Malfoy like this?'

Dark brown eyes slowly rose to meet his gaze. 'I was walking along the corridor where the guest quarters are - '

'At this time of night? What were you doing out of your dormitory?'

'I, I was… walking, sir…'

Snape dropped his voice to a low murmur. 'Meeting your friend, Mister Tunn?' The boy blushed and dropped his gaze to the floor. Severus sighed. 'I thought I made it perfectly clear after your last mishap, Mister Fielding - oh, forget it. Tell me what happened with Mister Malfoy.'

'I heard a noise, sir. Like a chair knocking over on the floor. Then everything was quiet. Really quiet. I, er, I knocked and when there was no answer I got worried. Mister Malfoy's always been nice to me, sir.'

Severus elected not to tell the boy how Draco had once referred to him and his friend as shirt-lifters. 'What time was this?' The boy looked at him blankly. 'Come on, Fielding, think! Mister Malfoy has most certainly NOT got all night!'

'About… twenty-five minutes ago, sir?'

Snape nodded. 'Very well. I will tell you in the morning how things have gone here. Thank-you, Mister Fielding, you should return to your dormitory now. Do try and stay there this time.'

'How do you know so much about these Muggle drugs, Severus?' Poppy asked him as they both watched the young boy leave the wing.

Severus turned and looked at the mediwitch and then back to Malfoy lying unconscious on his bed. 'I made a point of reading up on the major ones when we returned from Munich.'

'Well, thank Merlin you did!' She looked worriedly toward the patient and pursed her lips. 'What do you want me to do?'

Snape pushed up the sleeves of his robe and his nightshirt. 'Just make sure he keeps breathing.'

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Harry had cleaned himself up and lay in Severus' bed for almost an hour, unable to sleep and staring at the canopy as if that length of fabric could possibly tell him when his lover would return. It was no good. He didn't have any nightwear in Snape's chambers - not even a dressing gown - so he had to completely re-dress himself in his clothes before grabbing up Severus' slippers and letting himself out of the dungeon quarters and heading for the hospital wing.

What he saw when he arrived at the infirmary doors was… strange and touching and inflaming, all at the same time. Harry stood there in shock, staring down the length of the room, to where Severus, perched on the edge of Draco's bed, leaned close over Malfoy's supine and drowsy form. They seemed to be murmuring to each other intimately, Draco's face showing all the tell-tale signs of having been crying. As Harry moved quietly into the room, he watched Draco's arms slither up around Snape's neck. Harry knew what was coming next. He just knew it. But he continued to walk silently up the long, wide aisle of the hospital, his eyes unable to look away as Draco lifted and pulled and brought Severus' mouth down onto his own. Harry's heart was somewhere in the back of his throat as he watched the kiss. He could see the strain in Draco's weakened body. He could see the barely perceptible shudder of control and holding back that pierced through Severus' body, onyx eyes still open, lips hardly moving. He watched Draco's forearms tighten about Snape's neck, as though trying to force a reaction from the man he was kissing, but then what little strength the younger Slytherin had managed to dredge up suddenly left him and he sank back onto his hospital bed.

Severus hadn't moved. His gaze bore down into Draco's. 'Don't ever do that again,' his dark but curiously gentle tones told the blonde, and Harry exhaled loudly.

Malfoy's silver eyes flickered toward Harry and his reaction to seeing him standing there chilled Harry clear through to his bones. Draco's face reddened and his eyes screwed up. 'Gods,' he squeaked, with a rough voice. 'Gods no, I'm sorry. I'm sorry.' And then he pushed his own face into his pillow with one hand and sobbed like Harry had never heard another male sob in his life.

'Harry.' Severus stood up from the bed. 'What are you doing in here?'

'It's okay,' Harry whispered. 'It's okay. I, I thought your feet'd be cold.' He put the slippers down on the floor at the foot of Draco's bed, somehow managing to act as though there weren't the pitiful sounds of a wailing Malfoy drowning out every word he said. 'It's okay.' He backed away a couple of steps, his eyes trying to convince Severus of the words he couldn't stop repeating. 'It's okay.'

'It's okay,' he said out loud to the darkened library at Grimmauld Place when he flooed in there a few moments later, with no immediate recollection of how he'd made his way out of the infirmary or to a fireplace. He trotted lightly upstairs and went into his bedroom, only just having got some sconces lit before a loud banging sounded on his door.

'Harry!' Snape bellowed from the other side.

He could hear Remus' bedroom door fly open. 'What on earth's going on, Severus?'

'Harry!' Snape yelled through the wooden door again. 'Harry James Potter! You are my first choice AND my last! Do NOT doubt me! Open this door at once!'

Opening his door quietly, Harry looked out with great calm. 'I don't doubt you,' he said. 'It's okay.'

'Will you STOP repeating that ridiculous Muggle expression?! What does that mean anyway - "okay"? Talk to me, Potter!'

Harry blinked. 'You're expecting me to be upset.'

'Well, of cour - you mean you're not?'

'Um,' Remus hovered at their side, 'Dare I ask what's happened? Or is it completely none of my business and I should just go back to bed?'

Harry smiled. 'Severus saved Draco's life tonight and Draco kissed him afterwards and I saw it and Severus thinks I'm angry about it. At least… I think that's what's happened.' He tilted his face toward Snape and smiled wider. 'I'm your first and last choice?'

Severus cast a long look in Remus' direction, then put his right hand flat to Harry's chest and pushed him back inside his bedroom, moving forward to follow him in. 'Inside,' he snapped. 'Now.'

'Night, Remus!' Harry managed to yell before Snape slammed the bedroom door shut and snogged Harry so fiercely he felt sure his bottom lip must be splitting under the force. Harry wound his arms around Snape's neck, rather like Draco had done, and held on for dear life.





They were awakened early the next morning by Hedwig stomping up and down on them through the covers of Harry's bed, a note from Ron clutched in her beak.

'An effective alarming device,' Severus mumbled against Harry's throat. 'Though a clock tends not to step on one's testicles quite so often.'

Harry sat up and extracted the note from Hedwig's beak, shooing her away to her perch on the other side of the room. 'Ron and Hermione want to meet me in the Leaky Cauldron at nine o'clock. Bloody hell! I thought they could've at least given me until lunchtime.'

'Just as well.' Severus dragged his hair back off his face as he sat up and leaned against the headboard. 'I should be getting back to school.' The obsidian gaze flickered sideways briefly. 'Check on Malfoy before breakfast.'

'Severus, about that - '

'I am sorry you had to witness it. I assure you I did not reciprocate it.'

'I know that you didn't! I witnessed it, remember?' Harry grinned at his love. 'Honestly, I'm fine with this. He was grateful and… troubled, I guess. I understand why he wanted to kiss you in that moment.' His grin turned into a soft smile. 'And I understand why you let him. That was really nice of you, you know.'

'He had been conscious for less than two minutes. His confusion was, as you say, understandable.'

'Do you know why he did it? The overdose, I mean? I thought he wasn't doing any of the drugs anymore?'

'He hasn't been. At least, he says he hasn't been, and I am somewhat inclined to believe him on this point. The marks over his veins had practically healed.' Snape shrugged slightly. 'A one-off revisitation that went wrong, in all likelihood. Might be for the best in the long run. Perhaps it has frightened him enough for his own good.'

'Just as well you were around to save the day. Again.'

'Don't try to make me a hero, Potter.'

'I don't have to try,' Harry murmured.

Snape ignored his comment and swung himself out of bed, sliding his feet back into his slippers and reaching for his black robe. 'May I ask just one more thing about last night, Harry?'

'Sure you can.'

'If you understand both Malfoy's motives and my own so well, and are so understanding about it, why did you appear to run away as you did?'

'Didn't mean to. I just didn't want to be intruding… it was obviously an emotional moment for you both.' He looked up into Severus' eyes. 'I shouldn't have been there in the first place. Not really. I just, I just didn't want you to be cold. Sorry for sticking my nose in.'

Severus nodded once as if to say "That's the end of it" and finished buttoning his robe. 'Loath as I am to suggest it,' he ventured, 'I suspect Draco might benefit from a quiet word with you in the next day or so. Not that he would ever admit it, naturally.' Snape's look was quite intent. 'Would you consider approaching him? For me, if not for him?'

'Uh, okay. What do you want me to say to him?'

'Nothing particular, if you don't wish to. Merely… gods, I can barely believe these words are about to tumble from my mouth!' Snape sighed. 'Just try to be his friend, Harry. I don't know if you've noticed or not, but Mister Malfoy doesn't actually have any to speak of. I'm the closest thing he's got, and I doubt I have to point out that that's hardly an ideal situation?'

Harry nodded. 'Yeah, I see what you mean. Will he still be in the infirmary tomorrow morning? I can swing by, maybe - '

'He will, but I don't have any classes until the afternoon tomorrow. I thought you might wish to receive that shaving lesson you were harping on about.'

'Oi! I wasn't HARPING!' Harry grinned. 'Okay, then - morning in a steamy bathroom with you, afternoon in an awkward conversation with Malfoy. How's that?' He felt the bed dip at his side.

Severus had one knee on the edge of the bed, leaning across to stroke Harry's cheek with the back of one hand. 'Idiot child,' he whispered, and brushed his lips across Harry's before standing upright again. 'I must go. Take care of yourself in the big, bad world today, Mister Reluctant Celebrity.'

'Hmph. Watch out for the April Fools.'





Harry was very pleased that part of Hermione's birthday gift to the twins was a rather neat series of Wizard Space spells on the flat over their joke shop. If the rooms had been just their old, regular size, things would've been decidedly cramped - especially with the entire Weasley clan, sans Percy of course, in attendance. As it was, Harry found himself sitting in an extremely comfy armchair with his legs stretched out in front of him, an almost-finished pint of bitter in one hand and an empty plate (that had contained several of Mrs Weasley's excellent jaffa cakes) in the other. He felt exhausted, having been dragged from what felt like one end of London to the other by Hermione as she hunted down all the bits and pieces she was adamant she needed to help the twins' birthday be perfect. Harry glanced across at Ron and saw him rubbing absent-mindedly at his left ankle while arguing with Charlie about some Quidditch team or other. Harry considered that Ron's feet probably hurt about as much as his own did right now.

'Now, there's a man who obviously needs another drink!'

Harry looked up as Fred stood over him with a large bottle of beer. 'Lemme top that up for you, O Saviour of the Wizarding World!'

'Give over,' Harry laughed at him, holding his pint glass at a slight angle while Fred poured. Once the pint was full again, Fred wiggled his bottom onto the wide arm of Harry's chair and took a swig of what was left in the bottle.

'Throws a good gathering, our lass, don't she?'

'Yeah. Miony doesn't like doing things by halves.' As soon as the tired old saying was out of his mouth, Harry realised just how inappropriately it could be taken, given Hermione's relationship with the twins. He blushed in embarrassment.

Fred's eyes gleamed mischievously. 'As my brother and I have discovered to our great joy and delight, I assure you.'

'God, I didn't mean it like THAT! Honest, Fred!'

'No mind, little brother. It's the truth, isn't it?' Fred took another swig out of the bottle and winked.

'Can I ask you something personal?'

Fred leaned in closer. 'Please do! Just be sure to give me one of those sexy innocent blushes of yours when I answer you!'

Harry tried not to blush at that. 'You and George. You know. Does everybody know? I mean… do your parents - '

'Fuck no! Though I wouldn't mind betting that mother of ours suspects things sometimes. Damn suspicious woman, that.' Fred smirked. 'Brothers all know though. And Ginny.'

'And they don't get angry with you about it or anything?'

'We'd only get angry with them back, so what's the point?'

Harry nodded a bit. 'What about the whole concept of… I don't wanna offend you by saying this, okay? It's just an honest question…'

'Go ahead.'

'Well, the whole concept of it being natural or unnatural. I mean… you're brothers.'

'It's not like we're gonna get each other pregnant and be responsible for an entire branch of Weasley inbreds now, is it?'

Harry had to laugh at Fred's pragmatic response. 'No, I s'pose not.'

'Look, Harry, me and George… we have a different relationship than any other person in this room has. We spend half our lives inside each other's minds. We're genetically the same person, just… cleaved in two. And we like that! We like knowing exactly what the other one's thinking and - '

' - feeling and wanting,' George finished the sentence, seating himself on the other arm of Harry's chair.

Harry looked around the gathered people for a moment, making sure no one was listening in, before continuing his conversation with the twins. 'At your party in York, Charlie told you guys to stop kissing.'

'That was only 'cos you and Snapey were there.' George waved his hand dismissively. 'He thinks if we can't keep our hands off each other, we should at least try to control it in front of guests,' Fred continued. 'Hmph! As if you and Snape cared!'

'Rather got off on it, I reckon.' George elbowed Harry in the shoulder with a lascivious look. 'Oi! Where is the sexy bugger? He should be here!'

Harry shrugged. 'House stuff tonight, probably. Or held up with detentions - you know what day it is.'

Fred was picking at the label on the beer bottle. 'So… this would be the perfect opportunity for us to seduce you while he's away, then, eh?'

The bottle was suddenly snatched out of Fred's grasp by a large, pale hand. All three of them looked up to see Severus looming over them, taking a long drink from the bottle, the elegant throat working beautifully as he drank. Snape drained the last of the beer and shook the empty container desultorily. 'I suggest, Weasley F, that any attempted seduction you and your brother have in mind for my betrothed should be made right under my nose, so that I may have ample opportunity to hex you both back to the Burning Times.'

George grinned. 'There'd be quite a bit of room under there, Snapey.'

Harry sucked in a breath, waiting for Snape to explode at the remark. All Severus did was hand the empty beer bottle to George and request another. 'In fact,' he added as he summoned another armchair over to sit opposite Harry's, 'you had better make it a couple.'

'I was joking, Severus,' Fred was quick to say as George left for the kitchen.

'Only half joking,' Snape corrected him, crossing his legs and smoothing down the front of his robes.

Harry let his gaze wander over Severus' body and sighed happily to himself. I must be the luckiest bloke in the world, he thought. He slowly dragged his gaze along the row of neat buttons that led up to Snape's throat and imagined himself undoing each one, undoing Snape's admirable control along the way. He looked up a little further and fell into the blackness of Severus' eyes, watching him with the sort of look that told Harry Snape knew exactly what he'd just been thinking. Harry blushed, then recalled what Fred had said about his blushes, and blushed more.

'Aw, bless him, he's blushing again!' George returned and handed beers around, before re-taking his seat at Harry's side. 'You didn't tell him how sexy that is, did you?' he asked his twin accusingly over the top of Harry's head.

'It might've slipped out,' Fred smiled.

Snape levitated the cap off his bottle of beer and saluted the twins. 'Happy birthday, gentlemen,' he monotoned. Only Snape could make a birthday wish sound like a curse, Harry snickered to himself.

'Thanks, Snapey.'

'You know,' Fred pointed out cheekily, 'it's supposed to be customary to give presents on people's birthdays.'

Severus rolled his eyes melodramatically. 'I am not now, nor have I ever been, the gift-giving sort, Mister Weasley. I am gracing you with my presence, am I not?'

Harry and the twins all laughed at that and the deadpan manner in which Snape had said it. It felt nice, knowing that his friends were getting to know when Severus was being funny. Well, "his friends" being at least Fred and George. And Remus, probably. But it would likely be a long way off, still, before Ron relaxed enough around Snape to learn to read the man's humour.

'Having said that, though,' Severus nonchalantly flicked a piece of lint from his trousered thigh, 'I have brought something along with me this evening. I think it might be best, however, to wait until all your other guests have departed before presenting you with… it.'

The twins exchanged a certain look. 'Wonder how soon we can get everybody to fuck off?' hissed George.





Hermione hugged Fred and George and Harry, and then Severus fleetingly when she realised she couldn't very well not do by that point. 'You boys can all stay up if you want, but I'm completely bushed.' She smiled wearily. 'Your family wears me out, loves. Goodnight, all!' Fred went with her into the bedroom for a short while to make sure she was comfortable, then came back out to the livingroom and grinned at his brother and two remaining guests.

'So, then!' Fred closed the bedroom door and looked at Severus expectantly. 'What've you brought for Show and Tell, professor?'

'Yeah,' said George, leaning against Harry on the couch. 'Cough up, Snapey!'

Eyebrow. Severus took out his wand and waved it over the coffee table. A stone basin blinked into existence in the centre of the tabletop. 'No, Weasleys, I am not giving you a pensieve. My gift to you is what I've put inside it.'

Harry tilted his head to one side. 'You're giving them a memory?'

'A showing thereof, at any rate.' Severus smirked a little. 'It's one I wouldn't mind keeping hold of, actually.' He held a hand out to Harry. 'Would you care to join us?'





'Shit, it's like a nightmare!' laughed George. 'Yeah, back at school!' agreed Fred, with a mock shudder, 'I thought we escaped?'

Harry was looking around. 'This is the Astronomy Tower.'

George sighed. 'One of our favourite night spots…'

'Indeed, gentlemen.' Severus nodded in the direction of some shadows.

'Oh, bloody hell,' murmured Fred. 'This is our sixteenth birthday, isn't it?'

'Very good, Weasley F. Shall we move a little closer?'

George was already ahead of them, marching purposefully into the most shadowy spot and giving a low whistle. 'Amazing,' they could hear him say. Harry shot Snape a quizzical look and then walked into the shadows with Fred, Severus a couple of steps behind them.

Another George and Fred were already in there, one of them bracing himself against the stone wall, the other behind him, both of them with their school trousers around their ankles. Harry swallowed as he took in the scene, remembering how Severus had told him that he had caught the twins having sex together once. George had said it best - bloody hell.

'Which,' Harry's voice was coming out squeakier than he would've liked, and he cleared his throat. 'Which of you is… which?'

'I'm fucking,' George told him, his hand reaching out to take hold of Fred's. 'And I'm being fucked,' added Fred. 'Rather well, too, I might add.'

Harry looked across at Severus. His lover was standing apart from them, back straight, arms crossed over his chest, black eyes watching his memory intently. His memory… Harry spun around in a circle, trying to see where Snape was in the memory. 'Where are you? Severus? Where are you in all this?'

Snape merely pointed to a spot in the shadows a few feet away from where he stood. The three younger men followed his point and, sure enough, there was another Potions Master, so well hidden in the inky nook that none of them had even noticed him there.

George's head snapped back toward Severus. 'How long did you watch us before letting us know we were sprung?'

'Long enough to know what you sound like when you're coming, Weasley G.'

Harry's cock pulsed at Snape's words. Against the wall, memory-Fred turned his head to the side and whispered to his brother to kiss him. Memory-George stilled his hips for a moment and pressed his mouth against the other urgently, their identical quiet moans floating through the night air. When the kiss ended, the thrusting resumed with renewed force, memory-George slamming himself into his brother's arse with long, hard strokes.

'Gods,' Fred leaned his head against George's, 'We're so fucking beautiful like that.'

"Fucking beautiful" was exactly right, Harry thought as he watched their bodies moving together as one. The soft sounds of their love-making seemed to fill the immediate vicinity, even though they were actually being fairly quiet.

'You, er,' Harry lost his train of thought for a second, as he watched memory-George lick his palm and wrap his hand around memory-Fred's hard prick, giving just a couple of quick caresses before giving the shaft up to its owner. 'You, um, you're both pretty quiet at this…'

'Large family,' said Fred. 'Small house,' said George. 'Thin walls,' they said in unison.

'Uh, Fred!' memory-George hissed against his twin's shoulder. 'Love you… fill you up… fuck!'

Memory-Fred tugged on his cock as his brother pounded him. 'Just a bit longer!' he whispered.

'Can't!' his twin whispered back and buried himself deep, his body shuddering as he muffled his cries against memory-Fred's neck. 'Fuck… fuck… ohbloodyhellFred…'

A moment later, memory-Fred whispered George's name and came against the wall, the splash of spunk on the flagstones looking eerily white in the gloomy surrounds. 'Love you,' he whispered, arching his head back onto memory-George's shoulder. 'Love you.'

'Most bizarre notion of brotherly love you Gryffindors have.' Everybody, including the sixteen-year-old twins, turned toward the other shadows, where memory-Snape was emerging in all his gitty glory. 'I'll give you the choice of two months of detention, plus points of course, or a very interesting letter home to your family.' His upper lip curled as he sneered at them. 'Kindly make yourselves decent. Weasley genitalia was not high on my list of things I most wanted to see before I die.'

George and Fred, the real ones, looked at each other and then looked at the horrified expressions on their sixteen-year-old faces and promptly burst into gales of laughter. Harry laughed too, walking over to his lover and whispering the word "Git" at Severus' side. Snape looked down at him and smiled softly. 'Did you enjoy this?' he asked quietly.

Harry's cock pulsed again, letting him know what the answer to that question was. He nodded, eyes shining. 'Can't wait to get you home,' he whispered.

All around them, the environment was moving and next thing Harry knew they were all once again standing in the livingroom of the twins' flat, the pensieve sitting on the coffee table between them.

'That was amazing!' said George, with a huge grin.

'Bloody brilliant!' agreed Fred.

'But you,' George pointed a finger at Snape accusingly, 'are a fucking PERVERT! We didn't know you saw that much!' He shook his head at his former teacher, still unable to stop grinning so hugely.

'I bet you used that as wank material for bloody ages afterwards, didn't you?' Fred was also grinning at Severus. 'Pervy git.'

Snape simply raised an eyebrow imperviously at them both. 'The memory wouldn't have been quite so interesting to show you if I had only arrived for the afterglow, now would it?'

George snaked one arm around his brother's waist, gazing into Fred's eyes. 'I'm ready to fuck you where you stand after watching that,' he whispered hotly before looking over at Harry and Snape. 'Repeat performance, you two?'

'I believe Harry was having some other ideas, actually.' Severus lay a possessive hand on Harry's shoulder - such a simple gesture, yet Harry felt like it was the equivalent of Snape fucking Harry's mouth in the middle of Diagon Alley during the Halloween Sales.

Harry nodded at the twins. 'Mind if we use your floo?'

Chapter Twenty-Nine

The floo journey back to Grimmauld Place was the hottest Snape had ever endured for more reasons than just those concerning temperature. Centripetal force was a common enough phenomena when flooing in company, but flooing in the company of a randy teenager who - as Potter kept insisting - "Wants you so bad", brought whole new and delicious levels of pressed togetherness.

Severus doubted he had ever observed Potter step out of a floo so elegantly as he managed when they arrived in the darkened library of the former Black family residence. Strange, that any elegance the boy possessed should only come to the fore when he wasn't actually trying - when he was flying, for instance, or fucking or, it occurred to Severus now, single-mindedly intent upon fucking. Any clumsiness the body still retained could be circumvented by an adrenalin surge and the lower brain functions taking over.

'Stop just looking at me like that,' Harry smiled. 'And get over here and fuck me senseless.'

Eyebrow. 'Any sense in particular you are looking to be rid of?'

Potter wasn't much in the mood for jokes, it would seem, for the younger man gave a soft growl and dropped to his knees at Snape's feet, fumbling under Severus' robe and opening his trousers. Severus looked down as he felt hot breath on his suddenly freed cock, but Harry was hidden beneath his robe. There was nothing for it, really, but to stand there and let the incubus do as he wished for a few moments. And what he wished, it seemed, was to give Snape the hardest erection of his life.

'Easy, Potter,' he grumbled down at the shape moving under his robes. 'I'd like to still have that attached when you're done.' He closed his eyes briefly. 'And you'd better take that finger away from there if you seriously expect me to do anything to you in the next half hour.'

There was a frustrated noise and much robe-battling, and then Harry's even messier than usual head appeared from beneath the heavy black fabric. 'So what DO you want, then?' he asked rather pointedly.

Severus stared down, for a moment or two, at a glistening spot on Harry's full bottom lip. Drool? Pre-come? A little of both? Whatever it was, Snape wanted to taste it. He gripped his hands around Potter's upper arms and hauled him up onto his feet, pushing their bodies hard together once they were both standing again. 'I want,' he said in a low voice, grinding his hips against Harry's, 'to use this.' Under his robes, his cock was still out of his trousers, and as he pressed himself against his lover, the heavy clothes rubbed abrasively against the sensitive head. 'Seeing as you were so kind as to provide me with it.'

Harry grinned and brought their mouths together. Mm, so the gleam had been pre-come, then. Snape's cock twitched against the roughness of his robe again. He broke the kiss to bring one of Harry's hands up to his face, nuzzling his hooked nose into the palm, sliding his tongue along the meetings of fingers, nipping at the base of the thumb. His gaze sought Harry's as he sucked the index finger into his mouth and then pulled back again.

'Shall we repair to your room, Mister Potter?'

The dark head shook. 'No. Here. Now.'

'Very well. Floor or furniture?' Severus smirked slightly.

'Furniture. Definitely. That one.' Harry pointed at one of the chairs in front of the fire. The very one that Snape had been reading in when first attacked by a snogging Saviour. Ah, the boy was such a romantic.

'As you wish, then. Strip.'

Green eyes widened momentarily in the fire light then narrowed on a wave of obvious arousal. Hands immediately pulling at shirt and jeans, feet already kicking the trainers aside across the rug. Severus warded the door and set a quick silencing charm before setting about his own divestment. By the time he had got all his layers of clothes off, a naked Harry was practically bouncing from one foot to the other with impatience.

'Want you in me right now.' Harry threw a small vial toward Severus and crossed to the chair by the fire, proceeding to kneel upon it with his legs apart, hands gripping the upholstered back. The pose was at once the most submissive and most demanding Snape had ever seen the boy strike. He looked down at the vial Harry had thrown to him. Definitely demanding. He pulled the stopper out of the tiny bottle, emptied the contents into the palm of his left hand, and let the container and stopper fall to the rug soundlessly.

Severus prepared his own body minimally, fearful of touching himself too much at this stage, then prepared Harry as much as the impatience of the younger man would allow. He performed a quickly whispered cleaning spell on his hands to dispel the excess lubricant, and then Snape was kneeling onto the cushion of the chair, too, in between Harry's spread knees and moving forward.

It was less than twenty-four hours since they had last made love, and yet the first touch of cock to hole felt like a much anticipated homecoming, with a heat so intense as to be vaguely shocking. The light from the fire played across Harry's back and shoulders like waves of gold, encouraging Severus closer, reeling him in, making him bend his face to smooth skin and attempt to lick the gold up with a pointed tongue tip. He held tight to warm hips and eased himself inside, Harry's body tightening around his cock head as he pushed in.

'I'll never get used to this,' Harry murmured, leaning more heavily onto the back of the chair. 'I mean… I'll never take this feeling for granted.' The long neck stretched sensuously. 'More? Please?'

The grip around Snape's cock head eased off a little at that, and Severus surged forward in a sudden smooth glide, inch after rigid inch disappearing between firm, golden mounds of lickable, suckable, fuckable flesh. Severus closed his eyes and imagined the view of them kneeling together like this, joined tight, his bollocks swaying just behind Harry's, and a ragged moan escaped him. His mouth sought out shoulder and latched on.

'Fuckyes,' whispered Harry, arching his spine to press back against Severus as hard as he could.

The pads of Snape's fingertips pressed harder into the warm skin over Harry's hipbones as he brought their bodies firmly together, chest to Harry's smooth back. Severus released the right hip and curled his arm across Harry's chest. He was… touching all over. Touching Harry Potter. Inside, as well as out. Then the touching became fucking, moving, loving, working their bodies upon and around and within each other. Every nerve ending alive and electric.

Mm, to thrust into Harry's body, to push inside him, to plunge again and again into his heat and intensity, to fuck his tightness, to fuck moans out of him, to fuck him, fuck him…

Harry's sensitive, responsive form did things under Snape's hands that Snape knew it never, ever did under anyone else's. Harry did things with Severus, felt things with Severus, that no other being, alive or dead, knew about. He said things he never uttered to anyone else. He demanded treatment he trusted no other to give. He loved as he never had, nor ever would, again.

'Love.' Severus spoke the single word softly into Harry's ear - so softly, it was lost under the boy's passionate groans and had to be repeated.

'Yesss,' Harry hissed back when he finally heard. 'Love.'

Snape pulled out of Harry's body quickly, right hand flying to the base of his cock and his balls, squeezing just a little too hard, staving off the orgasm that had been so almost, almost there.

'Wha - ?' Harry peered over his shoulder quizzically. 'What's up?'

Severus willed his body to calm down before daring to look directly into the verdant gaze. 'Nothing. Almost came. Didn't wish to just yet.' Still holding his cock, Snape put his feet back down on the floor and stood up from the chair, taking a deep breath as his black eyes took in the sight of Harry's pose once more. 'Get on the floor,' he said, somewhat more sternly than he intended.

Harry scrambled to obey, lithe body moving fluidly from the chair down onto the rug, onto his back without even being told, limbs falling wide and beckoning. Severus sank to his knees between Harry's spread legs and lay down over his lover. The boy's damp prick pressed into his belly as the legs raised up to allow him closer. His cock was already part-way back in, knowing where it wanted to be, desperate to be moving in that slick channel once again.

It had to be quick now. Severus needed to come, hard and urgent, but he needed to do it while Harry's lips pulled at his, while their tongues slid against one another, while he could feel breath on his face and watch green eyes looking up at him. He manoeuvred a hand between them and stroked Potter's cock as he rammed the boy's hole harder and harder, grazing the nub of prostate with every thrust. The smaller body jolted underneath him, just about lifting clear off the floor as Harry came - and Snape was right there with him, his shout of fulfilment accompanying the soaking of Harry's arse.





Fucked. Wet. Spent. Severus only managed to come up out of the haze of immediate post-orgasm when heated hands cupped his face and Potter kissed him passionately. Wet. Spent. Weary. One hand moved from his face to his hair, plunging into the limp black tresses and pulling his head down more as the kiss spiralled. Spent. Weary. Joyous. A bare foot was rubbing up and down over his naked calf, massaging the taut muscle. Weary. Joyous. Fucked. Can I bed you now? Severus thought into the centre of the kiss.

'Bed would be nice,' Harry murmured against his mouth, making Snape wonder stupidly if his love could read his thoughts while their bodies were still coupled.

Severus lifted himself up on his elbows and looked down into Harry's flushed face. 'You had better not have been thinking about one of those Weasleys just now.' The effect of his dark timbre was ruined by a smirk that he found he couldn't hold back. Most annoying.

Emerald glittered below him and Snape tilted his head to one side as he watched the boy's face, the wide grin and the crinkled mirth at the sides of the eyes. 'Oh yeah,' Harry said in a mocking tone, 'that was definitely Fred's black hair that was falling over my face just now. And George's sarky voice ordering me onto the floor. And it's just freckles all over the place, isn't it?'

'Shut up, Potter.' Snape could feel a very real smile on his features. He allowed Harry a few minutes of kissing it away, before disengaging their bodies properly and setting about cleaning them both up and getting to bed.





'So, how come it's called a "safety" razor?' Harry asked him next morning. 'You could still cut yourself or kill yourself with it…'

Severus met Harry's gaze in the bathroom mirror and rolled his eyes. 'Is that a serious question or some attempt at humour?'

Slim, bare shoulders shrugged. 'A bit of both?'

Snape took the bladeless shaver out of Harry's hand. 'I thought you wanted a proper lesson?'

'I do!'

'Well, then.' He turned the knob on the back of the shaver. 'Turn this here. That loosens the holding mechanism of the shaver head. Clear?' He barely waited for Harry's nod. 'The new razor blade drops into this bay here. Turn the knob again to close the holding mechanism. The blade is quite secure now. Secure, hence, safety.'

'Muggles use plastic throwaway ones these days, you know.'

'Yes, and ruining the bloody planet with the sheer amount of such disposable inventions, so I'm given to believe. One decent safety razor should last a man a whole lifetime with only the blades needing to be replaced.' He positioned himself behind Harry, continuing to talk into the mirror in front of which they stood. 'Besides, proper shaving accoutrements are far more elegant and stylish. More masculine. More accurately weighted. More aesthetically pleasing. More - '

'Fetishistic.'

Eyebrow. 'Is that what all this is about, Potter?' Severus reached his free hand swiftly under Harry's towel for a quick grope. 'Hm. No. That doesn't seem to be the case.' Smirking, he let the towel fall back around Harry's legs and prepared to resume the lesson.

'You have to admit, there are fetishistic elements to this entire ritual.'

'Do I, indeed? And where have you gained this amazing knowledge of the dynamics of fetishism, dare I ask?'

The pale shoulders shrugged again. 'Black family library.' The murmured answer brought the smirk back to Snape's thin mouth.

'Hm. Shall we proceed? You need to soap your face now.'

'Should I take my glasses off?'

'No, you'll be needing your eyesight at its best. Besides, you don't plan on shaving anything above your nose or ear level, do you?' There was a dazzling smile in the mirror and Severus had to look down quickly to stop himself being blinded by it. 'Warm water, remember. Just this side of comfortably hot.' He watched quietly as Harry plugged the basin and filled it to half-way with hot water before taking up the shaving brush and soap. 'Soak the brush a little first,' Snape instructed. 'Then lather it on the soap. Now to the face - don't push so hard, just twirl it gently over the surface. What's so funny?'

'Hearing you give instructions like "twirl it gently". Sorry, love, but it's just not you!'

'Fine. How about "rotate in a series of circular patterns in a not entirely furious manner"? A little more me? Stop giggling, Potter, this is supposed to be masculine ritual.'

'Then stop being so bloody funny!'

'That should be enough soap now.' Severus handed over the safety razor and watched Harry's face intently in the mirror. 'Each man has his own preferred starting point. Do you - ?'

'Dunno. Where do you start?'

Severus reached around and placed his right hand over Harry's, guiding the razor gently to the underside of the younger man's bottom lip. 'Here.'

'So, you don't start at one side and work your way to the other?'

'It's shaving, Potter, not reading!'

'Uh, the head bit tilts!'

'It's supposed to do that. It enables you to cut in both directions with just the tiniest of hand movements. Don't go in that direction when you're so close to your lip though. Just… down, yes. Like that.'

'Can you not rest your hand there, please?'

'Where?'

'On my hip like that. It's really distracting.'

Snape looked down at his hand resting on the fluffy white towel, the curve of Harry's hip swelling under his splayed fingers. 'How is this distracting?'

'You hold me there when, you know, when we're together.'

'We are together now, you idiot child.'

'I mean together-together.' In the mirror, the green eyes widened slightly and Harry made a frustrated noise. 'You hold my hips when you're fucking me! It's DISTRACTING right now, okay? There, I said it!'

Severus couldn't help but rub the hip under his hand before reluctantly letting go. Yes, I hold his hips when I'm fucking him. Yes, it certainly is distracting right now. He cleared his throat softly and took a half step back from the body he wanted to just keep on touching and appreciating.

'This head thing's weird.'

'You appear to be getting used to it though. Can you feel the different ways it cuts? Feel the difference between cutting upward and cutting downward?'

Harry looked like he was about to nod but then remembered he had a razor blade held to his face and quickly opted not to move his head. 'Yeah,' he said instead.

'Lift your chin a little more, yes. You should be able to just glide the blade - perfect.' Severus felt, as well as observed, Harry suddenly freezing. 'What is it? Have I said something else wrong?'

'You said…' the safety razor pulled back from the pale face. 'You said "perfect".'

Snape gave a curt nod. 'You got the action precisely right. Should I not have told you?'

'If I didn't have all this mess on my face right now, I'd kiss you for that.'

Severus allowed himself a slight scowl. 'I am capable of administering praise, you know.'

'Yeah, but it's not something I ever got a chance to get used to.'

'I distinctly recall, on more than one occasion, telling you that you, in fact, are perfect.'

There was a slight nod. 'When we've been making love.'

'Indeed. I'm pleased to see you remember.'

'People say all sorts of things during - what was it you once called it? - "the act of congress"?'

Severus took the shaver out of Harry's hand, rinsed the head in the basin and handed it back again. 'Well. I can assure you I meant it. Just as I meant it just now when I said you had performed a perfect action in clearing your chin of stubble.' He caught Harry's amused glint in the mirror and managed an approximation of his classroom glare. 'Do try not to swoon, Potter,' he deadpanned.

As Harry's smooth shoulders began to shake with laughter, Severus forced himself to look away quickly before the shuddering amusement caused him a sympathetic reaction.

Chapter Thirty

Draco Malfoy looked even paler than usual, if that was possible, his complexion almost as white as the stripes on the hospital pyjamas he wore. Harry poked his head around the edge of one of the three privacy screens pulled around Malfoy's bed. Malfoy was asleep, apparently, lying on his side with a book in the process of slowly sliding out of his hand. Any minute now, the hardback tome was going to fall away completely and drop to the tiled floor, probably waking its reader up as it did so.

Harry moved forward quietly and reached his free hand out to pluck the book away before it fell. No sooner had his fingers closed on it than Malfoy's silver eyes sprang open and the suspicious voice demanded, 'What the hell do you think you're doing, Potter?'

'Your book was about to fall. Would've woken you up.'

'So you decided to wake me up yourself instead?' Draco dragged himself up into a half-sitting position.

Harry let the book go. 'Sorry. Didn't mean to.'

'Hmph.' Malfoy threw the book onto the metal table beside his hospital bed, not missing the surprised look Harry was wearing as he caught a glimpse of the cover. 'I can read, you know, Potter!'

'Course. Didn't know you ever lowered yourself to reading Muggle books, though.'

Thin, pyjama-clad shoulders shrugged rather elegantly, considering. 'Passes the time until Pomfrey will finally see that I'm perfectly fine to leave.' He glanced up at Harry from beneath his rather dishevelled blonde fringe. 'What were you doing poking around in here anyway?'

'Came to visit you.'

'Visit me?' Harry couldn't blame Draco for giving him the incredulous look he was currently shooting his way. 'What on earth would Harry bloody Potter come to visit ME for?'

Harry shrugged a little. 'You're in hospital. People visit people when they're in hospital.'

'Friends and family visit people when they're in hospital,' Malfoy corrected him. 'Which are you labouring under the delusion you are, then?'

Harry forced himself not to sigh out loud. He'd known this wasn't going to be easy, hadn't he? He silently placed a packet of chocolate cauldrons on top of the book on the table. 'I'm neither, I guess,' he said flatly.

Malfoy looked from the chocolate offering, up to Harry and back again. 'And I've got neither,' he muttered, crossing his thin arms over his chest.

'You've got people who care about you.' Harry, for want of something to do, shoved his hands into the back pockets of his jeans and leant one hip against the footboard of the hospital bed for support. 'Just look at the other night - that Fifth Year kid, and then McGonagall, raising the alarm about you, Severus and Pomfrey working so hard to keep you with us, Neville rustling up stuff from his greenhouses in the middle of the night for you!'

'I'm sure nobody in the school community wanted a death on their hands.'

'Is that what you were trying to do?'

Malfoy glared at him for a moment before averting his eyes. 'It was an accident. Stupid fucking accident. That's all.'

'I'm, er,' Harry looked down at the toes of his trainers, 'sorry about interrupting, by the way. About poking my nose in here afterwards. I should've stayed away.' When Malfoy didn't make any sounds of having heard him, Harry looked up again warily, only to find Draco looking at him in unmasked disbelief for a split-second, before the expression shuttered again.

'So,' Malfoy said slowly, 'you've not come here to punch me for having kissed your girlfriend?'

Harry laughed a bit at that. 'You SO wouldn't dare say that if Severus was on the other side of these screens.' He laughed a little more when he saw Draco's gaze flicker toward the screens briefly in panic. Oh, it was juvenile of him to tease like that, he knew. But Malfoy could be just so easy to play sometimes. The two young men had been adversaries for almost half their lives - they knew each others' strengths and weaknesses a little too well. 'Sorry,' Harry mumbled, barely even audible.

Malfoy relaxed once more and rested heavily against the headboard and pillows. 'I didn't mean for that… that is, that shouldn't have… Fuck it, Potter - I'm sorry, alright? Don't expect me to ever say that again, but I'm sorry.' The pale cheeks flushed with a rosy hue that did nothing to help make Draco look any healthier.

'It's okay. I know.' Harry smiled ever so slightly. 'Just don't ever try it again, yeah?'

'Please. As if I'd be dumb enough to risk THAT wrath!'

'Don't pretend you're scared of me, Malfoy…'

'It wasn't YOUR wrath I was talking about.'

They both laughed until they realised, practically at the same instant, that they - Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy - were sharing a joke together. They both calmed themselves fairly quickly and a silence settled between them.

'Um,' Harry ventured after a short while, 'Snape told me about, well, how you supported him when he gave his House address to Slytherin. That was kinda cool of you.'

Malfoy shrugged again. 'Slytherins are loyal, Potter. Sooner or later you're going to have to realise this.'

'Are you so sure they'll remain loyal to Severus once he's bonded to me, though? I thought you all hated me?'

The pale eyes narrowed fractionally. 'It's hardly anything so personal, Potter. Well, except with me, I guess - I do bloody hate you most of the time. But the House in general?' Malfoy shook his head. 'What Slytherin hated most of all was that the most powerful wizard in the world was so fucking set against us. That makes people nervous, you know? Makes them wonder what the hell's going to become of them once you've triumphed and are ruling over us in the new world order. If you'd only seen things from our side just a little, if you'd just not hated us quite so much or so blindly, you would've seen first hand a long time ago just how steadfast those of Slytherin can be.'

Harry hung his head, a tiny slither of shame heating the skin of his throat.

'Having you bonded to our Head of House,' Draco continued softly, 'will give Slytherin a firmer footing in the Wizarding world than we've had for quite some time. Practically everybody trusts you, y'see, they all think you can do no wrong. So, if you choose to align yourself with a senior Slytherin, then you're as good as telling everybody that we're with you. This is good for us - especially after the battering we've taken in recent years. Surely even you can see that?'

Harry nodded stiffly.

'How long did it take you?' Malfoy asked, making Harry look up.

'How long did what take me?'

'To realise that Severus was loyal to you, you twit. Saved your life in First Year, didn't he? During all that rubbish with Quirrell? That's what the castle walls were saying, at any rate.'

'Yeah.' Harry couldn't help but let his head hang down a little again. It had taken him years to realise Snape's loyalty. Years in which he had continued to hate the man he now loved so much. Years in which the bedrock of his hatred had been simply that the man was considered so ugly. The heat in the flesh of his throat spread up onto his face and across his cheeks, burning shame into his expression.

'So, you realised it back then? Or what? You certainly seemed to make a good show of still hating him for ages after that. I wouldn't have thought you were so good at hiding your feelings like - '

'Shut up, Malfoy.'

'What? What did I say?'

'Just… shut up, will you.'

The silver eyes lit up suddenly. 'You DID still hate him, didn't you? The man saved your pathetic bloody life and you still fucking hated him! Merlin, you were a piece of work, weren't you?'

Harry sank down onto the edge of the bed, narrowly missing Malfoy's feet under the covers, and clasped his hands loosely in his lap. 'I was a little shit, alright? Happy now? I was blind about half the people around me and put way too much store in what some of my friends told me - especially if going along with what they said meant I didn't have to think so much about things I didn't really want to think too deeply about, okay? Satisfied?'

'Oh, no, I think there's more in there to come out yet…'

Harry glared at Malfoy. 'I was wrong about Snape,' he finally ground out. 'For years and years. I wanted to believe he was a bad guy, so I kept on believing it 'cos that was easier than facing up to the truth. There. Now will you shut the fuck up about this?'

Draco looked very satisfied with himself. 'Have you said any of this to your beloved? Does HE know what a blind little twat you were?'

'Course he does. He knew how blind I was while I was still being it, for godsake. But he, he never tried to force the truth on me. He let me hate him while I needed to.' Harry stopped and sighed. Hell, if the sharing of a silly joke earlier hadn't been weird enough, now he was having a heart-to-heart with Malfoy as well! He pushed his glasses further up the bridge of his nose and sighed softly. 'You should've seen some of our fights, Malfoy.'

'Impressive?'

'Bloody impressive.'

'Miss 'em, do you?'

'Hardly. Though they were certainly passionate…' Harry smirked a bit.

Draco held up his hands. 'Stop right there! I don't wanna go down the path that particular conversation may lead us, thankyouverymuch.'

Harry found himself laughing again. 'So you don't wanna hear about your kitchen table in Munich either, I s'pose - '

'Oh, for fuck's sake, no! You didn't?! You dirty couple of sods! We had BREAKFAST on that table before leaving!' Although he was trying to sound disgusted, Harry could tell that Draco was barely containing his amusement. It occurred to them that they were both almost-laughing. It was kind of weird…

Harry shrugged as he stood up. 'Breakfast was good, the shagging was better though.'

'Gods, I'll have to burn it when I go back. And that was a good table, too! Cost me a lot of dosh, that did!'

'You're going back?' Harry surprised himself, realising that some small part of him was beginning to get used to having Malfoy around.

Draco crossed his arms over himself again and gave another of those elegant shrugs. 'Can't leave it shut up like that forever. It's a nice house.'

'You've still got your mansion in Wiltshire.'

The blonde head shook. 'Don't want it. Never want to set foot in it again, if I can help it. But Munich… that's MY house, you know?'

Harry nodded. Suddenly, as though Severus were standing beside him right now and saying the words again, he heard Snape telling him that Draco had no friends. He looked at the other young man as if for the first time, and felt a wave of… connection?… move over him. Then, just as suddenly, he had a flashback to two eleven-year-olds standing facing each other, the blonde boy holding his hand out in greeting, and the dark-haired boy refusing to shake it. Malfoy had wanted to be his friend. Harry had never thought about it like that before. Oh, god.

'I, er, I should be off. Let you get back to sleep.' He moved swiftly to the break in the screens once again.

'Thanks.' Malfoy's voice rose up behind him. 'For the chocolate cauldrons,' he added hastily.

Harry stopped at the edge of the screen and looked back over his shoulder. 'That's okay. Thanks for the chat.' He noticed Malfoy's eyes widen slightly in surprise. 'You know, the Slytherin stuff. Useful. Thanks. See you 'round, Draco.'

'Bye, Potter.'





'Madam Pomfrey discharged Draco from the Infirmary late this afternoon.' Severus added another sliver of soft butter onto his sliced carrots and beans before taking up his knife and fork.

'Well, that's good news,' Remus smiled, pouring wine into the three goblets on the dining table and setting the carafe down again.

'He told me he'd had a visitor just after lunch time.' Snape said this rather pointedly, as though waiting for Harry to speak up and tell him about it. As if he doesn't know, Harry thought to himself, making fork patterns in his mashed potato.

He took a breath and looked up. 'Yeah. I popped in to see him.'

'Very thoughtful of you, Harry,' Remus praised him.

'Severus' idea,' Harry mumbled and reached for the wine Remus had poured him. 'I told him we shagged on his kitchen table.' He didn't know what on earth possessed him to suddenly blurt that out over dinner, but the words were tumbling out before Harry could even think about stopping them. He watched Snape's hands still over his dinner plate, hearing Remus swallow his mouthful of food awkwardly and reach for his own wine goblet. 'Sorry,' Harry blushed. 'Don't know what made me say that.' He smiled tentatively, letting his line of sight come up slowly from Snape's hands until he was meeting his lover's unblinking gaze.

'And what was Mister Malfoy's reaction to this indelicate admission?' Severus asked darkly.

'We, er, had a bit of a laugh, actually.' He noticed Severus exchange a brief look with Remus, then Snape resumed his dinner as though nothing had happened. Harry shot a shy sideways smile toward Remus, too, then took Snape's lead and carried on with his meal.





'Wouldn't you rather be out with your friends on a Friday night than sitting here with me?'

Harry snuggled further onto Severus' lap and buried his face more against the flesh of the man's throat. 'I saw them all last night at Fred'n'George's anyway.' He pressed his lips over Snape's pulse point. 'I'd much rather be here with you. Doing this.'

'We aren't doing anything.'

'Yeah. But we're together while we're not doing it.'

'And Albus has the gall to accuse ME of being a romantic - '

Harry silenced Severus by putting their mouths together firmly. How was it that kissing - just plain old kissing - could still feel so good to do? Now that he knew about fucking and fellatio and rimming and frigging and all those other wondrous things that Severus had shown him? How could a simple kiss still be so exciting and fulfilling?

Of course… a "simple" kiss still involved having Snape's tongue inside him, and those large hands cradling his head or his face, those long fingers caressing him… Little wonder, then, really, that a kiss could fire Harry with such electricity, give him such satisfaction. Even, occasionally, a "simple" kiss with Severus could involve - he trailed one finger lightly around the shell of Snape's ear and ah, there it was - a deep groan of longing that seemed to curl up out of Severus' chest against the man's own will.

'I don't know how I lived,' Harry murmured against Snape's wet lips, 'going so many years without knowing what kissing you felt like.' He darted the tip of his tongue into Snape's mouth briefly. 'I was always such a blind little twat when it came to you. How can you ever forgive me?'

Severus dipped his face a couple of inches and sucked at Harry's throat loudly. 'I forgive you,' he said against the now damp skin. 'Do you remember the first time you tried to tell me you thought me beautiful?'

Harry tilted his head a bit, trying to give Severus more room to lick and kiss and suckle his throat. 'Umm… not really. I can remember… no. Tell me, then, when was the first time I told you?'

'Voldemort had disturbed our love-making that afternoon.'

Ah, yes. Harry remembered THAT, alright. The searing pain coursing through both their bodies, through Harry's scar and Severus' Mark, bringing a very abrupt and rude end to what had, up 'til then, been so tender and ohgodglorious.

'There was a war council after that,' Severus continued, still lavishing attention upon Harry's throat between sentences. 'Then we retreated here to the library and I began the research that would lead me to the enhancement potion we used in the final battle.'

Harry remembered now. He smiled as he held Severus' head gently. 'You ordered me to get some sleep and I said how perfect we'd been before Voldie interrupted us. Told you you'd been so beautiful,' he finished in a near-whisper.

'Indeed.' Severus lifted his face from Harry's neck and their gazes locked upon one another. 'I believe I forgave you everything in that moment. Every possible transgression.'

'But you just waved me away to the sofa and kept reading!'

'The research was important, Harry. So was your need for sleep.' He took hold of Harry's left hand and lifted the fingers to his lips. 'But I knew then that I was following you into whatever came next - regardless of whether I found a potion to aid us or not. I knew I would be by your side when you faced him down. You must understand, no one,' his black gaze pinned Harry, 'NO ONE had ever used that word to describe me before you.'

'But your previous lovers - '

'Had never used that word. Oh, I'd had compliments, yes, of course. But never that one. It's fool vanity, naturally, and I should really be above such silliness.' He took Harry's ring finger into his mouth, sliding his lips slowly down until his crooked teeth knocked against the simple platinum band that rested there.

'Beautiful,' Harry hummed over his bent head.

Chapter 30.5

'Do you miss him terribly when you're not together?'

George lowered his mug of coffee and gave a little smile. 'So much it hurts,' he said quietly.

Harry and George were sitting very close together in a dim booth of a funky little café bar in Muggle London. They'd been on their way to see one of the twins' stock contacts when the heavens had opened over London and sent them dashing for cover. From the looks of the gloom out there, the sudden downpour wouldn't be abating anytime soon. The bar was dark and opulently decorated, reminiscent of the interior of a Gypsy's caravan or a Bedouin's oasis encampment. The rich aromas of strong coffee and burning incense mingled overhead with the low volume refrains of something Middle Eastern spilling out of hidden speakers.

Harry lounged against some cushions and gave George a sympathetic look. 'Is it like Fred's your phantom limb or something?'

'My phantom body, more like!' George set his coffee down on the low table in front of them and leaned back against the cushions, too. 'It's just… a dull nagging sensation that there's something missing.'

'Are you in love? I mean - I know you love each other. Obviously. But, you know, are you IN love as well?'

'I can't remember a time when I wasn't.' George spoke with such conviction that Harry felt his stomach give a small flutter. He knew what it felt like, now, to be so certain about love.

'And you're happy to share him with Hermione?'

'It's more a case of sharing Hermione with Fred, really. We share everything.'

'But you're not worried about being left out in any way? You know, with the baby coming along and all?'

'Fred wouldn't do that to me.'

'You guys are beautiful, you know?' Harry nudged George gently with his elbow. 'I mean it.'

'Look who's talking.'

Harry blushed slightly. 'Give over. You know what I meant.'

George crossed his legs and snuggled a bit closer. 'Yeah, I know, mate. Thanks.'

'Do you have that weird psychic thing, too? Like, do you know what Fred's doing right now?'

'It's nothing so clear as that. But I know that he's okay. If he was in trouble, I'd know about it. Comes in handy, that. And there's times when we just know stuff, stuff that we can't explain how we know.'

'Like what?'

George seemed to be watching the relentless rain lashing against the bar's streetfront windows for a moment while he thought of a decent example. 'Remember when we got our Quidditch ban from Umbridge?'

How could Harry forget? He and George fighting with Malfoy on the Quidditch pitch while the rest of the Gryffindor team struggled to hold Fred back from joining in. Then he and George being marched up to McGonagall's office and having a lifetime ban from the sport handed down to them by Dolores Umbridge. She banned Fred, too, which really hadn't been fair.

'I was fucking livid about that,' George said. 'Well, obviously. For us, yeah? But I was even more angry about Fred getting the ban as well. He wasn't even in that fight! He wasn't even there when she banned us! I mean, what was Fred actually banned for, eh? For being my twin! I could've throttled her, you know. It took everything I had to keep standing there beside you and not throw myself across the bloody room at her. I wanted to hurt the bitch so bad for doing that to him, really wanted to make her suffer. Nobody hurts my Fred…' his voice cracked slightly with the indignant rage he obviously still felt. 'Anyway. Lee told me later on that Fred had told him he was banned for life. Told him while they were still down there at the pitch.' George shrugged. 'Fred just knew. He knew it because I knew it. Just how it works, I guess.'

'Must be amazing, having that sort of connection with another person.'

'S'pose.' George leaned forward to retrieve his coffee mug, then leaned back against the cushions and Harry's shoulder again. 'You and Snape set a date yet?'

'Early May.'

'A month away? No point in waiting around, now you've decided, eh?'

'Yeah well, it's not like it'll be a big, fancy do or anything. We're keeping it small and private.'

'Aw, you'll be a Spring Bride!'

Harry chuckled. 'Enough of that.'

George let his head fall onto Harry's shoulder and gazed up from under his ginger fringe. 'Nervous, love?'

'A bit. I guess. Not about the getting bonded part though. But the ceremony part. I'm worried I'll get something wrong and look like a complete knob in front of everybody.'

'Performance anxiety's pretty normal, I should think. You'll be fine. How's Snapey holding up?'

'Nothing ever seems to phase him…'

'No one should be allowed that much dignity,' George grinned, then sighed melodramatically. 'And then you'll be off-limits for good. Forever!'

'I already am.'

'We both are, mate.' The grin faded and George rubbed his cheek against Harry's shoulder softly. 'Bit of a pity we never got a chance together though, innit?'

Harry disturbed his friend's snuggling momentarily while he shifted his shoulder and arm, moving so that he could drape his arm around George and pull him in closer to his side. He even slid down a little further in his seat so that he could rest his cheek against the red locks. He surprised himself with the gesture - they were two blokes and out in public, after all. But he always felt just so comfortable with George. And with Fred. What was it about the friendship of the twins that always made him feel so secure and able to do anything that felt right? 'We never would've worked anyway.'

'How come?'

'I'm not your Fred.'

'Ah, but Harry, the sharing would've been something else!'

A distinct wave of lust washed over Harry at the suggestion, imagining himself being taken by first one and then the other of his identical friends. Definitely an image to conjure up next time he was getting himself off. 'Just knowing you'd like to do it,' he found himself saying softly, 'is something else, as far as I'm concerned.'

'You're lovely, Harry. Never stop being our friend, yeah? Promise me?'

Harry was touched to hear how young George's voice suddenly sounded, speaking words of uncharacteristic insecurity. 'I promise,' he whispered. 'I'll never stop being your friend, Weasley G.'

The use of Snape's nickname made George laugh quietly, then the two young men lapsed into a companionable silence, cuddled there together, watching the rain against the windows.





'I, um, might have a job…'

Severus looked across the dining table. The two of them were dining alone at Grimmauld Place, Remus having taken Tonks out again to the little Spanish place at which they seemed to be becoming semi-regulars. One sleek, black eyebrow arched at Harry's statement. 'About bloody time,' Snape finally said. 'Dare I ask why you are announcing this in such a tremulous tone?'

'Well, I'm not sure that you'll approve.'

'Is it something illegal? Or licentious? Or - dear gods no - please tell me Albus hasn't offered you the fucking Dark Arts post?'

Harry laughed at the mixture of faux and genuine outrage in Snape's expression. 'No, no, nothing like that.' He grinned down at his dinner before raising his eyes coyly once again. 'Licentious? What on earth sort of job do you think I could do that would be licentious?'

Severus sniffed regally. 'I am quite sure you could make an annual fortune on your back or your knees.'

'Am I that good at it?' A glare told him to get back to the original topic. He put his cutlery down and took up his wine goblet. 'No, it's in a shop, actually. Not very glamorous, I know, but it's a start. And I think I might even quite like it.'

'What sort of shop?'

'A magic shop.'

Severus' expression didn't seem to change at all. 'What's magic about it?'

'No, not a shop that's magic - a magic shop. Kind of like Fred'n'George's shop, but with more magic tricks and props and, er, far fewer explody bits. It's a Muggle thing.'

'Ah. One of those quaint Muggle places with the ridiculous hats and sticks they call wands.'

Harry smiled. 'And lots of cards and boxes for sawing women in half and top hats and sprays for discouraging rabbits from pissing in your coat pockets - '

'So, where is this shop? And how did you manage to convince them to employ you?'

'They offered. It's called Bruno's Magic Shop. Run by this funny little fella called Bruno Zim. He's the contact Fred and George use to source all of those Muggle tricks they stock in their shop. God, Mister Weasley would have a ball in that place - '

'So that's where you went today?'

'Yeah, I tagged along with George.'

'And what would your duties be?'

'Various stuff… help out in the shop, stock control, ordering, doing the bank run and, er, teaching little kids magic tricks.'

Eyebrow.

'Only Muggle magic!' Harry hastened to point out.

'Muggles don't have magic, Potter.'

'You know what I mean. I wouldn't be doing anything that would give me away. I'd be teaching them card tricks and rope tricks and stuff like that.'

'With a stick you'll call your wand, no doubt?'

Harry smiled. 'Yeah. And using the magic word.'

'"Please"?'

'No! Abracadabra.'

Severus' already pale complexion paled further. 'You mean to tell me that Muggles use that… corruption of an Unforgivable as some sort of children's entertainment?'

Harry had honestly never thought of it that way, but bloody hell, Snape was right! He supposed that was a throwback to a time long ago, when Muggles had been more aware of the wizards in their midst and magic all around them. He nodded and took another sip of wine. 'Weird, huh? So anyway, what do you think?'

'I think the irony is quite delicious. The Boy Who Lived, the most powerful wizard in the world, is going to be working in a "magic" shop where nothing is magic, where he will use a variation of the Killing Curse on children on a daily basis, where no one will know he is a wizard - nor believe him if he ever told them - and where his wand will be a stick. A stick, Harry.'

Harry tried hard to suppress the smirk he could feel threatening. 'It might have some glitter on it.'

Severus stared at him in barely concealed horror for a short moment, then his deep, dark laughter was spilling out of him. It was only the second time Harry had heard that unreserved, hedonistic sound and it surprised him briefly that he found it every bit as sexy here, at the dinner table, as he had the first time he'd heard it - in bed, with Snape in the process of pounding him through the mattress. Even as he laughed along with his lover, his cock gave a definite twitch and he wondered if he'd ever be able to hear Snape laugh again without thinking of them fucking. He figured - probably not.

'Merlin,' Severus muttered softly into his wine goblet and shook his head. 'It's perfect, Harry. I can't think of any other job in the Muggle world that would be so bizarrely appropriate.' The onyx eyes fairly gleamed. 'I look forward to being dazzled by your rope tricks.'

Harry poked his tongue out and drained his wine. 'Okay then. If you approve, I'll call Mister Zim tomorrow and tell him I accept.'

'You must procure one of those ridiculous hats for Albus. He'll probably wear it to the wedding.'

Chapter Thirty-One

Dreams of Death Eater meetings were nothing new. Nor were nightmares of same. Waking up alone in the Dungeons after one of the latter used to be just how things were, but for it to happen now, when Severus had softened sufficiently to allow himself to get used to the warmth and security of a bedfellow, was unsettling. To say the least.

He had allowed himself to become used to it quickly, too, hadn't he? Accustomed to covers being stolen, and to drool, and to enthusiastic morning erections, and to sleepy noises that - no matter what the actual words may be trying to be - all translated to "I'm here" and "You are not alone".

Monday morning, first week of the Easter holiday, and Severus Snape found himself feeling an emotion he had not felt for some time now. Fear. An irrational instance of it, to be sure; brought on as it was by a mere dreamscape. But fear nonetheless. Severus cast a whispered Lumos and checked the hour with the timepiece beside his bed. Barely six-thirty in the morning.

'Nox,' he muttered and burrowed back down under the covers, wand still clutched in his right hand.

All those young faces… Goyle and Baddock and Parkinson and Montague and Crabbe and Bulstrode… too many to name, really. His children. His little Snakelings. Not a one of them failing to shoot him an accusatory glance as their Marks were burnt into them. But he had tried, for fuck's sake! He had TRIED to dissuade them all. Every last one of them.

As best he could.

And Malfoy. Dear gods. Draco Malfoy sucking up that pain so admirably and then walking out of the room, back straight and head held high, to vomit violently onto the marble staircase outside, pristine Death Eater mask screwed tight into a shaking left fist. Kicking aside the house elf that ran to clear up the mess, ordering that it be left there for his mother and aunt to find… Snape had never felt so proud of the haughty brat as he had in that instant.

Severus lay quietly with his thoughts for a quarter of an hour or more, until the images of the nightmare had lessened slightly in their intensity and he could contemplate releasing his wand once again. Then he rose and took a leisurely shower - halfway through which, he suddenly realised what he had been thinking. He was proud of Draco Malfoy. How curious.





'Professor? I mean, Severus, sorry. Good morning.' Draco rubbed his eyes with one hand. The boy obviously hadn't been up for long; he was dressed, but his mind seemed to have been left in his bed.

'I thought I might walk you to breakfast,' Snape announced.

'Uh, sure. Just let me get my robes on.'

'Teaching robes aren't required during holiday periods, Draco. You can come as you are, if that is comfortable for you.'

Draco looked down at his dark blue shirt, black jeans and the Muggle boots he called "Doctor Martin", for some unknown reason, and gave a combination shrug and nod. 'Okay, then.' He slid his wand into a back pocket and stepped into the hallway with Severus, pulling his door shut behind them.

The two Slytherins walked in silence for a minute or two, descending many steps down from the guest quarters. Severus was wondering how to broach the subject of what he wanted to say, and Malfoy was no doubt wondering what Severus was playing at.

'I feel I owe you an apology, Draco.' That was a good start, surely?

'Apology for what?' Hrm, and that was a good question.

'I feel that I, well, that I failed you. During the war, that is.'

'I don't see how - '

'I should never have allowed you to join them, Draco! None of you. I knew what the process involved, I knew what awaited each and every one of you. And you all trusted me - as much as Slytherins ever trust an authority figure, at any rate. And I failed you all. I failed you, Draco Malfoy.'

The younger man had stopped walking several words ago, and Severus stopped and turned. His mouth fell open slightly as he saw the last two buttons of the blue shirt being undone.

'Draco? What on earth are you doing?'

'Remember I told you I always defended you to my father?' The blue fabric slipped away from the slim shoulders and Draco turned his back toward Snape. The pale flesh was dotted with small round scars, each one no more than half an inch across, all of them deathly white and slightly puckered. Burn scars, like one would expect to be made by a red-hot poker. 'Each time I did so, sir,' Draco said over his shoulder. 'That didn't stop me from speaking up again the next time.' He shrugged the shirt back up onto his slight frame and turned around again as he re-buttoned it. 'You owe me no apologies and no explanations.' The silver eyes met Snape's. 'The only people who failed me were my family.'

Severus closed the distance between them and clasped his hands before himself as he composed his thoughts. 'Draco, would you do me the honour of being my witness on the second of May?'

'Your bonding ceremony? You want ME to be part of your wedding day?'

'Well, you were invited anyhow, were you not? You were always going to be a part of it. I am merely asking you to sign a couple of documents while you're there. That won't be too taxing, will it, Mister Malfoy?'

It was good to see the smirk that glided across Draco's features then. The atmosphere between the two men became noticeably lighter with the affectionate teasing, and they resumed walking at a gentle pace toward the Great Hall.

'I suppose I could wave a quill or two for the sake of good grace. Only for you, you understand? I wouldn't do it for that bit of Gryffindor arse - '

'That choice bit of Gryffindor arse, if you don't mind. That IS my betrothed you're talking about.'

Draco made a choking sound but ended up laughing. 'We should've all conspired to get you laid years ago, you know? The last few years of school could've been so much more fun, with this New Improved Snape around.'

Severus shot Malfoy an impervious look as he held open the door to the Great Hall's staff entrance and ushered the younger man through. 'Improved?' he drawled. 'Please do make a point of telling Potter this theory. He enjoys a good laugh.'





'For gods' sake, Harry, I told Draco you enjoy a good laugh - not that you put hyenas to shame!'

Harry slumped down onto the couch next to Snape, still holding his belly and trying to curb his laughter. A few feet away, sitting primly in the very chair Severus and Harry had fucked on so recently, Draco Malfoy arched one blonde eyebrow at Harry's mirth and took another sip of his wine. The Headmaster, the werewolf and a smattering of Weasleys around the Grimmauld library were finding it difficult not to be infected by Potter's amused response to being told how "improved" Snape was since taking up with him. Honestly, the reaction was enough to make a man feel slighted.

'I'm so, I'm sorry,' Harry managed to gasp between gulps for breath. 'Oh god, that hurts.' He rubbed at his side and valiantly tried to calm himself. 'I'm sorry, Severus,' he repeated, 'it's just too funny!'

Snape tried a glare and held his wine glass up for a refill by a passing twin. 'Thank-you, Weasley F,' he murmured over the replenished beverage.

'What did you just call my son?' enquired Molly Weasley.

'It's alright, Mum,' Fred got in quickly. 'Me and George and Snape all have nicknames for each other. He doesn't mean anything by it.' He winked slyly at Snape before moving away to refill Albus' glass.

'Yes, but how does he know which one of you's which? That's what I'd like to know!'

'Why, Molly - need a few pointers?' Snape suppressed a soft yelp as Harry dug a viciously sharp elbow into his ribs for his comment.

Molly looked like she was about to go into full bluster mode, but Arthur calmed her with a pat to her knee. 'Should we get down to the business at hand, perhaps?' he asked the room in general.

'Good suggestion, Arthur,' agreed Lupin. 'Maybe Harry and Severus can run us all through the general flow of things on the day?'

'Gods, it's not going to take all day, is it?' Snape sneered.

'No, it won't,' Harry said with a big grin, giving the impression that he knew Snape's sneer was merely put on. 'And you damn well know it!' He set his own wine glass down on the small table at the side of the couch and sat back more comfortably. 'Everything gets underway at four-thirty in the largest dungeon - '

'Harry, love,' Molly wrung her hands a little, 'do you really want to start married life in a dungeon?'

'It's their wedding, Mol,' Arthur gently reminded his wife.

'It's a nice dungeon, Mrs Weasley,' Harry smiled. 'Honest! Isn't it Ron, Hermione?' His two friends nodded in agreement, Ron giving a half-shrug at the same time. 'The three of us went to a party in there once,' Harry continued. 'Sir Nicholas' five-hundredth deathday party. It holds far more people than we'll be needing, but obviously isn't as huge as, say, the Great Hall or something…'

'Plus, Molly,' Albus spoke up, 'you must remember that the school population will be in full force, and Severus and Harry do not wish for all of those curious children to know what's going on. A suitably sized room, sufficiently out of the way of the general population is just the thing, really.'

'And it won't look or feel like a dungeon, once we've finished decorating it!' Hermione promised. Snape arched an eyebrow at the young woman, but thought better of saying anything. He supposed he would have to trust in Harry's judgement that their wedding venue would not end up looking like a box of bon-bons or Lockhart's wardrobe.

'So, yeah, anyway,' Harry made it clear he wished to continue. 'All of the guests should be assembled by four-thirty, which is when Severus and I, plus Ron and Draco, and Remus and Professor Dumbledore, will arrive. The celebrant witch will say a few words, I guess - '

During which time, Snape thought to himself, I shall be trying my level best not to sneer or roll my eyes, lest Harry catches me and declares our marriage over before it's even begun.

' - then,' Harry continued, 'she'll ask Professor Dumbledore and Remus to make the magical pledge that they verify Severus and I are entering into all this by our own free wills. Then we're gonna share a special potion.' Harry glanced sideways at Severus and grinned in a downright cheeky manner, Snape thought. 'Then comes our vows and the spell thing that gets done to our wedding rings. I mean, you know, the spell that changes these rings into our wedding ones? And then the celebrant witch formalises our bond and gets us to sign the documents. Ron and Draco witnessing, of course. Then it's "you may kiss the bride" and everybody party!'

'Can we kindly cut the references to "brides", Potter?'

Harry's eyes were fairly twinkling as he smiled at him. 'Sorry. "You may kiss the groom"?'

Snape almost expected Ron Weasley to make some sort of groan or "Blecht!" expression at the talk of kissing, but then remembered that particular Weasley had witnessed he and his lover doing a damned sight more than merely snogging.

'But who kisses who?' Arthur surprised Snape by enquiring.

'I am confident Harry and I can approach such a task with equality,' Severus said calmly.

Molly was up and encouraging Harry to his feet. 'Harry, love, come and tell me and Hermione what you had in mind for decorations, dear,' and proceeded to lead a slightly terrified-looking Saviour away to the long table in the middle of the room to discuss such horrors as garlands and centre-pieces and other grotesquery.

Severus heaved a sigh of relief that the reason for the "get-together" had now been dealt with, and stood up from the couch to advance upon the Weasley twins and wrest the bottle of wine from them.

'Mum likes you really, you know,' George told him.

'She just likes Harry better,' Fred honestly sympathised.

'Once you're family,' George added. 'Because, you realise, that's what you'll be?' put in Fred. 'She'll treat you like the rest of us!' they finished together.

Snape lifted his black gaze heavenward. 'Open another bottle.'

George opened two.





Severus awoke the next morning, curled on his side in Harry's bed at Grimmauld Place, both of his heads throbbing. Behind him, Harry had pushed that morning's enthusiastic erection between Snape's thighs, and was gently rubbing the head of his cock over Snape's arsehole, along his perineum, nudging up to his bollocks, and then back again.

'Are you awake yet?' a soft voice whispered against the nape of his neck.

'Unless this is a dream…'

'Mm. Sorry if I woke you. I just… you know…' The voice trailed off into a lust-laden sigh.

'Wanted to rub yourself off on me?'

There was a chuckle and a lick to his earlobe. 'May I?'

'Gods! He's actually learnt the correct word to use!'

'Oh, shut it!' The slide of cock over his hole seemed to have a little more pressure behind it this time. 'It'd be nice to come like this. Between your legs,' the tongue at his earlobe licked some more. 'All over your balls…'

Snape's body was certainly telling him it approved of the idea. 'But what's in it for me, Potter?' By way of response, a hand suddenly gripped his cock and pulled on him steadily, rhythm perfectly matched to the constant thrust and glide between his cleft and thighs. 'Hm, I see. Where's your other hand?'

'I'm lying on it.'

'Get it up here. Under my head.' Obediently, Harry's other hand moved to where he wanted it, and Snape moved it some more until he was able to get a couple of fingers into his mouth.

'Fuckyeah,' Harry sighed against the side of his throat. 'Do you want me to come like this? Make a bit of a mess of you?'

Severus, his mouth busy with Harry's fingers, nodded. He felt Harry's pace and intensity pick up, the boy's hips working the swollen cock back and forth precisely so that it seemed to touch almost everything of any sensitivity in that area of Snape's body. A much more satisfying way to start the day, he considered, than the previous morning's terrors and aloneness.

'Won't last long,' Harry hissed into his hair. 'Want me to get you there with me?' He stroked harder at Snape's cock as he said this. 'Or suck you off after?'

He was expected to make a choice like that this early in the day? Severus eased up the suction he was giving Harry's fingers just a little. 'Surprise me,' he said darkly, then closed his lips firmly around the wet digits once more, dragging a most pleasing moan from the frotting menace he… adored.

Chapter Thirty-Two

Having made a mess of them both a little sooner than even he thought he might, Harry opted for cleaning Severus up with his tongue.

'Sorry about that,' he murmured with his lips pressed lightly against Snape's balls.

'Stop apologising,' came the quiet reply. 'Though vocalising with your mouth in its current location is certainly…' The sentence faded away as long fingers pushed into Harry's hair. Harry smiled in between licks to his lover's flesh; cleaning, lapping, swallowing down his own spilt fluids.

The fingers Severus had been wetly mouthing were suddenly very useful, too. Harry worked two of them back, finding Snape's entrance slippery with come he hadn't licked up yet, and slid in easily. With his other hand, he gripped the base of Severus' hard, hard prick and guided it to his watering mouth. He heard the intake of breath as his lips closed around the head, and the long fingers in his hair tightened.

'Unless you're anticipating a VERY quick recovery and intend to fuck me, Potter, perhaps you shouldn't, ah, prepare me…'

Harry gently probed the two sheathed fingers in a little further before regretfully letting them slide out again. He pulled his face back from Snape's cock for a moment. 'But you feel incredible… so nice!'

'Gods, I hate that word.'

'Incredible?'

'Nice, you idiot child.'

Harry grinned and planted a loud kiss onto the tip of Severus' cock. 'Just you and me then, Professor,' he whispered to the erection. A soft growl from further up the bed made him smile a bit before he opened his mouth wide and took in every inch.

'If you ever call my penis that again, I shall send nude photos of you to Witch Weekly.'

It was difficult to suck cock properly whilst trying not to laugh, but concentrating on the task, Harry calmed himself and set to lavishing the attention he wanted to give. He'd realised, quite a while ago now, that he absolutely loved sucking Snape off. He loved drooling all over that hard flesh, and tasting the brief spurts of pre-come on his tongue, and letting Severus fuck in and out of his mouth if he wished. It surprised him, occasionally, just how much it turned him on - even when he wasn't touching himself at the same time, he could get so ridiculously horny, just by pleasuring Severus in this way.

For a short while, Harry'd almost had himself convinced that there was something particularly Gryffindorish about wishing to please a lover orally. It seemed such a selfless act, after all, purely concerned with a singular focus on the other's pleasure and release. But then he had reminded himself that this was the first sexual act Severus had ever performed on him, and he had blushed, even though he'd been alone at the time this occurred to him.

'Hum, Harry.'

Yeah… He let his lips retreat back up the shaft until his mouth contained mainly just head, then he sucked hard and hummed softly at the same time. Severus liked that. Harry knew. He closed his eyes and leaned in to his task, squeezing his hand rhythmically at the base of Snape's cock as he flexed his tongue over and over against the thick vein he could feel pulsing. Fuck, if he hadn't only just come, he'd be half-hard again already, just from doing this.

Below him, Severus spread his thighs a little further apart and thrust up roughly into Harry's mouth. One of the hands in Harry's hair splayed to its considerable full span and pushed at the back of his skull, pushing his face down upon the length of thrusting prick. Mm, Harry could feel Snape's balls - slick with drool and tighter in their sac now - nudging against his chin.

'Harry!' was all Snape could manage before his body emptied into Harry's throat. 'Harry - '





'And are you mentally prepared for beginning work tomorrow?' As he spoke, Severus' breath lightly tickled a few hairs on Harry's chest.

A weak sun attempted to fully infiltrate the bedroom as they lay together; Harry on his back, head propped on pillows, with Snape's head resting over his heart. 'I'm sort of… nervously excited,' Harry replied, stroking the greasy locks absent-mindedly. 'If that counts as mentally prepared.'

'Just be punctual and attentive and polite at all times. Don't be afraid to ask questions.'

'Were you "polite at all times" when you first started teaching?'

'We are not discussing my career.'

Harry could feel a smirk graze his left nipple. He stretched his left arm and let his hand rub lazily down Severus' side. Someone should bottle the feeling of an afterglow, he thought to himself seriously, then smiled when he realised he was currently wrapped around the man most likely to achieve such a thing.

'You're smiling again.'

Harry's smile widened. 'So?'

'You do seem to do an awful lot of it. Are you quite sure you're not simple?'

'My teachers generally thought me above average,' he responded with as straight a face as he could manage.

'Did they, indeed? All of them?'

'Most of them. One or two exceptions…'

'Oh?'

'Usually as a result of a personality clash, I think. Take my Potions Master, for instance - '

'Careful, Potter.'

' - brilliant man, but a bastard to Boys Who Live.'

'Well, Boys Who Live can be damnably difficult, you know. The man has my sympathies.'

It didn't escape Harry's notice that Severus had completely ignored the fact he had just called him "brilliant", even allowing for the context of a playful conversation such as this. He began to idly trail his fingers over Snape's back, fingertips tracing words or runes that Harry's conscious mind wasn't registering. 'What IS this thing with you and potions, anyway?'

An eyebrow quirked. 'Is this a serious question, or are we still indulging in silliness?'

'It's serious.'

The tip of Snape's nose nudged Harry's chest briefly. 'Do you remember the first time you flew?'

'Of course. How could I ever forget something like that?'

'Well, this thing, as you put it, with potions is, I suspect, quite like your thing with flying. Discovering that you have a genuine and natural talent for something. An innate ability that you barely even have to work at in order to be better than those around you.'

'Yeah, but flying's EXCITING! And fun! And makes me feel free and alive - !' Harry broke the sentence off when he saw the gleam in Snape's onyx eyes. 'Oh. Oh okay… I get it now.' His strokes on Severus' back had changed to longer, more linear sweeps back and forth. 'You're one of the best, aren't you? I mean, out of the whole world?'

'It has been suggested. Were you wanting to ask about my scars?'

Harry blinked. 'Huh?'

'You've been stroking them for the past five minutes. I thought perhaps you might be working your way up to asking how they came to be?'

'Was I? Shit, sorry. I didn't mean to.' He moved his stroking hand to Snape's shoulder, cupping his palm over the smooth curve.

'It doesn't bother me, Harry. Continue, if you wish.'

'It's okay. I didn't mean to draw attention to them or anything.'

The head on his chest moved and Severus tilted his face up toward Harry more fully, chin pressing onto Harry's sternum. 'Voldemort ordered me beaten as punishment for providing him with only part of a certain prophecy. Lucius Malfoy, being perceived as one of my closest allies at the time, was the one ordered to carry it out. Lucius… knows many punishment hexes. Something you may wish to consider, next time you find yourself thinking ill of his son.'

Harry swallowed. 'I'm sorry,' he said softly. 'What, what kind of punishment hex was it?'

'A whiplash hex. That should be obvious by the nature of the scarring, surely?'

It was. 'And nobody healed it for you afterwards?'

Severus moved again and re-settled his head on Harry's chest. 'Sadists often feel that punishment is barely worth meting out unless it carries a permanent reminder.'

Harry's eyes flickered briefly toward his hand at those words, but he looked away again before acknowledging the reminder of Umbridge's detentions that lurked there. 'The, er, the one over your heart…'

'Much more recent. All the Death Eaters sport that one. Well, all the ones who were current at the time of Voldemort's rebirth, that is. Those were our… hrm, our welcome back gifts from our Lord and Master when he returned. Karkoroff missed out, of course. The fucker.'

Harry lost himself in his thoughts for some moments, remembering the end of his Fourth Year and Dumbledore sending Severus back to the hell of the Death Eaters. He thought about the start of his Fifth Year, considering that, by the time the summer holidays were over and the school year had begun, his despised Potions teacher already had that slash of a scar over his heart.

'They're… all because of me,' Harry murmured. 'They're all my fault.'

'And how have you arrived at that remarkable conclusion?'

'You were whipped because of a prophecy about me. And Voldemort was only able to cut you on his return because my blood had brought him back.'

Severus shifted completely, rising up to straddle over Harry, sitting on Harry's thighs, gazing down into Harry's face with a look both sorrowful and furious at the same time. 'Don't ever say that! Don't even think like that! Whatever that madman did, it was never your fault, Harry. NEVER.' Then he leaned down and kissed him fiercely, cradling Harry's head as he crouched over him.

Harry wound his arms around Snape's thin body and pressed his hands onto the scarred back as he returned the kiss as hard as he could.





'Kids are bloody exhausting! Thank god my first week was only three days long!' Harry spooned up another mouthful of boysenberry pie and grinned across the dining table at Hermione and the twins. 'I hope you lot know what you're in for.'

'Yeah,' said George, 'but at least it's only the one.'

Hermione's smile was a bit tired-looking. 'But if it takes after its fathers it'll feel more like half a dozen!'

'Those two are just big kids anyway,' Ron remarked from beside Harry. 'You're gonna have at least three children to pick up after, Miony.'

'Oi!' Fred pointed his dessert spoon at his little brother. 'We're modern-thinking wizards, I'll have you know! Hermione won't be left being the sole pick-up-afterer of anybody.'

'Very good to hear, Fred,' commended Remus from the head of the table. 'We'll drag wizarding society out of the nineteenth century yet!'

The door banged open and Severus strode into the dining room in an impressive billow of black. 'My apologies for being so late,' he drawled, briefly laying a hand on Harry's shoulder as he passed by. Dropping gracefully into the empty chair at the other end of the table, he summoned the wine carafe and sloshed a healthy portion into the goblet at his setting. 'I assume I haven't missed anything of great import?'

Remus grinned. 'Fred and I were just laying plans for dragging the wizarding world, kicking and screaming, into the Modern Age, Severus.'

'Indeed? Well, I doubt wizards get much more "modern" than the Weasley twins or a werewolf who courts a Ministry Auror. I would say your labour is already well underway.' The black eyes moved firmly onto Harry as Snape took a drink of his wine. 'You are at the beginning of your first proper weekend, Harry. How does it feel?'

Ron frowned. 'Proper weekend?'

'A weekend is something only truly appreciated by those who have to work, Mister Weas - Ronald.' Snape looked as though he was forcing himself not to roll his eyes as he corrected himself on Ron's name.

'It feels great,' Harry answered. 'I can't believe how bloody tired I feel though. Why didn't anyone warn me how draining it is, having to go to work?' Severus did roll his eyes at that. Harry smiled at him, then returned his attention to the boysenberry juice swirled through the melted icecream at the bottom of his dessert bowl. 'So how come you're late, anyway? Something up at school?'

'Several of my students have remained behind for the Easter break. There were one or two matters to attend to.'

'Nothing serious, I hope?' He looked up to find Severus watching him with an almost affectionate expression - considering they had company.

Snape gave a small, elegant shrug. 'Merely a couple more modern wizards for Lupin's crusade.'

Harry pushed his empty dish aside and reached for his wine goblet, smiling to find the carafe hovering in front of him already. He flashed Severus a grin of thanks and refilled his drink.

'What do you know about scurvy-grass, Snapey?' George suddenly asked.

'Looking to get someone feeling a little reckless, are we?'

George's smile was downright wicked. 'Only for professional reasons. You understand.'

'Naturally,' Severus smirked. 'Are you using it in powdered form or pre-liquified?'





'All quite family-like, really, isn't it?' Remus sat onto the couch next to Harry and leaned in to whisper his observation.

He's right, thought Harry, looking around the library where everyone had repaired after dinner. Severus was still deep in conversation with George and Fred about the uses of scurvy-grass and its apparent instability if kept in liquid form through too many full moons. Hermione and Ron were playing wizard chess by the fire, Hermione's hand resting on the bump of her belly. And Neville and Draco, who had flooed in from Hogwarts a little while ago - via the Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade, where Hagrid had dragged them to a staff Easter party - were actually having a civilised discussion about something to do with Hufflepuff House. From time to time, Malfoy would lean down to mutter something at Hermione's ear and as a consequence, the game she was playing against Ron was the best Harry had ever seen her play. He suspected that Draco's motivation was more to see Ron defeated than Hermione victorious, but all the same, it was good to see.

Harry shook his head in wonder. 'Incredible,' he whispered back to Remus in agreement.

'Ooh, are you conspiring?' George was standing behind the couch and bending down over Harry's shoulder all of a sudden. He nuzzled his nose against Harry's ear fleetingly before clambering over the sofa-back to plonk himself down at Harry's other side.

'Remus and I were just remarking on, um, well - seeing this particular collection of people together and getting along.'

George's brown gaze swept the room then re-settled on Harry. 'Slytherins and Gryffindors,' he murmured. 'I see what you mean.'

Remus stood up and set about replenishing everyone's drinks. Harry was telling George what sort of boss Bruno Zim was proving to be when he felt someone sit down beside him again. He turned his head slightly, only to see Draco meticulously flicking invisible lint from one of his shirt cuffs.

'Ah. Potter,' Malfoy said, when he determined that he'd got Harry's attention. 'May I have a word?'

'Er, sure, Draco. What about?' Silver eyes darted toward George then back to Harry.

'I've gotta go for a slash anyway,' George grinned, squeezing Harry's knee as he stood up. 'Carry on, Malfoy!'

Draco watched George leave, then swivelled slightly so that he was facing toward Harry more. 'I want to ask you something and get the truth from you, okay?' Harry nodded. 'And you won't laugh at me or anything?' Harry shook his head. Draco was looking at him very intently, though not giving any clue as to what all this was about.

'I won't laugh at you,' he assured Malfoy. 'And if I actually know what the answer to your question is, I'll answer it truthfully.'

Draco gave a curt nod. 'It's about the Mark,' he said quietly, looking around quickly to check that no one was listening to them.

'What about it?'

'The truth now, Potter. Honestly - how can you bear to see it on him?'

'What do you - '

'How can you love someone with that burnt into their flesh? I know he says it's faded quite a bit but I mean, really...' Draco ran a delicate hand through his blonde hair, a slight tremble of the fingers indicating his rising agitation. 'It's under his skin, you know. It never goes. Every time you're in bed with him, you're in bed with IT as well.' His pale eyes were wide by now. 'How can you? How can you love that?'

Harry was vaguely aware that Severus' attention was now upon them, even though he appeared to still be in conversation with Fred.

Bloody hell, what was he supposed to say? He took a deep breath, acutely conscious of the necessity to choose his words carefully. Malfoy was obviously seeking assurance that his Mark hadn't doomed him to a life alone. That if Snape could find love - and with the Saviour of the world, no less! - then surely there was still hope for the last Malfoy as well?

'Draco,' Harry began.

'The truth, Potter.'

'This IS the truth. I don't see the Mark when I look at the person I love. My eyes might register it, sure, but I see beyond it.'

'How?'

'By trusting in what my feelings tell me, I suppose. I feel that he's a good man, and I trust that feeling, no matter what marks might mark his body. I don't know how else to explain it, Draco, and it sounds corny, I know, but love works its way around things like that. It just… works.'

Draco was staring at him with that intent look again. So intense, in fact, that Harry felt the need to employ a quick spot of Occlumency, just in case Malfoy had picked up Legilimency somewhere along the line. Then the silver eyes blinked slowly and Draco seemed to relax by degrees as Harry's words sank in fully. He nodded. 'That's… I see. Thank-you.'

Wow. That was the second time in as many weeks that Draco Malfoy had thanked Harry for something. What was even more astounding was that, on both occasions - first, at Draco's hospital bed and now, here, in the Grimmauld library - Harry believed his former nemesis.

'You're welcome,' he smiled. From out of the corner of his eye, he could see Severus nodding.

Chapter Thirty-Three

Severus had been lying awake in the pitch black of the dungeon dark for the last few hours. Beside him, Harry snuffled in his sleep and pressed ever closer and closer; he'd started out on his own side but then it was inchings nearer and an arm flung here and a leg pressed there and pretty soon Severus had been forced to curl one arm around Potter and allow him to snuggle up even more. No doubt the little brat would end up completely on top of him before long.

Harry burrowed his nose alongside Snape's right collarbone and laughed softly in his sleep. What are you dreaming about? Severus wondered to himself. Harry laughed again and then quietened. Once of a day, Snape shared a bed occasionally with another who used to laugh in his sleep like that. Early on, at least. Not toward the end. How odd - he hadn't thought of that for years. He was glad Harry didn't do it on a regular basis.

Gods, how long had he been lying awake here now? He stared up into the darkness and sighed shallowly. His brain just would not shut down tonight, for whatever reasons. And he was finding himself thinking about some of the strangest things! How Percy Weasley had been the only Second Year student in his year to brew a perfect Swelling Solution. And that stupid shirt Sirius Black was wearing when Gryffindor won the Quidditch Cup in Fourth Year. Why on earth either of those two should suddenly be in his thoughts was a mystery to Snape, aside from the fact he was in fairly intimate contact with relatives of them both.

When will Molly finally crack and allow her remaining children to actually talk about their lost brother?
How long does Narcissa have to be missing before Draco can dispense with the family assets if he chooses?
Granger doesn't come across as such an insufferable know-it-all these days; the twins have obviously shown her that there were indeed things she didn't know about.
And really - who wouldn't be humbled by the concentrated attentions of two men such as Fred and George had become?
Does it ever occur to Harry that, if not for his godfather's will, Draco would legally inherit the house on Grimmauld Place?
What did Harry ever do with all of Black's belongings anyhow?
Maybe the werewolf hoarded them all…
Longbottom can actually teach!
Reg always refused, point blank, to believe the laughing-in-his-sleep thing.
Harry will just smile when I tell him he was doing it.
Minerva wants to have a word about Emily Sutton - why does the mere notion of that fill me with such cold fucking dread?
Draco really had been quite a good Seeker; such a pity for him he was unlucky enough to be born in the same year and same country as Harry bloody Potter, really…

'Severus?'

Snape tightened his arm around Harry's shoulder and lifted his head far enough to press a brief kiss to the scarred forehead. The boy snuggled ever closer and nuzzled his face against the side of Snape's throat, lazy hand smoothing over Severus' ribcage.

Weasley F had been to see him during the day, while Harry was at work; he and Granger and George had decided to call the baby Harry, if it's a boy, obviously, and they wanted Snape's opinion. Did he think Harry would mind? No, he was certain Harry would be appallingly pleased. Would he mind them naming their child after his lover? No, he was certain Harry would be appallingly pleased - therefore, it was perfectly acceptable to him. Could Fred get a quick snog while Harry was out? No, he most certainly could not. Well, how about when Harry got back, then?

Incorrigible. He could see why Harry loved them so much.

Severus breathed in the scent of Harry's hair. Flesh so silken, and so warm. My sleepy brat, he mouthed into the bird's nest, tendrils of flyaway sticking to his lips and tickling his nose. Harry murmured something unintelligible against Snape's throat and then turned around abruptly, pushing himself back against Severus suggestively. Was the boy even awake?

'Harry?'

'Severus…' The firm arse ground back against his hipbone. Hrm, definitely awake.

Snape reached for the boy's hips and rolled onto his side, scooting up close. The arm that had been curled around Harry earlier was now underneath the younger man, and Severus used this to his advantage, pulling the smaller body tighter against himself. Snape's cock was responding already, just from the feel of their bodies pressed so close. He could feel it hardening, pulsing faintly, and he positioned it between the cheeks of Harry's arse to swell further there.

Harry "Mmm"ed and pressed back even more. Well. It was fairly obvious where all this was going. Severus didn't want to break the mood with a Lumos or an accio, so he was pleased to feel that he could reach the bedside table easily from where he was. Even allowing for the pitch blackness and the blind groping, the tube of lubricant was easily found.

As soon as he pressed a lubed finger to Harry's arsehole, he was rewarded with a quiet moan and an eagerly received entry. He kissed and sucked at the sweep of Harry's shoulder as he worked another digit into the boy and fingered him as deeply as their positions would allow. His other arm, wrapped around Harry's chest, allowed him to feel the accelerated pace of his lover's breathing. Cock swelling to full hardness, Severus tongued the boy's ear and pushed a third finger into the stretching hole.

Could he stretch it far enough to have his prick in there at the same time? A slight fumble and a gasp of pain later, Harry pulled away a little. Very well, so he couldn't stretch his lover that far at the moment. Snape stroked the boy's chest soothingly and mumbled an apology, extracting his fingers and re-positioning his cock for a smoother entry.

Harry suddenly pulled away again and shifted his position completely. Severus patted his large hands over various limbs and smooth planes of flesh until he could work out the new pose, the new arrangement of the delectable body.

Potter was on all-fours. Knees wide apart.

Fuckyes.

Snape pushed the bedclothes right down to the bottom of the bed and got up onto his knees. His left hand held Harry's left hipbone, helping to keep Snape's bearings in the darkness as he moved himself behind and between Harry's legs. His right hand was holding his stiff cock, thumb smearing pre-come all over the head as he moved forward to mount the boy.

As lovely as it always was to be able to see his lover during sex, there was also something to be said for being totally deprived of the optical sense. He could actually feel the ring of muscle around Harry's hole quiver as he pushed his prick into it. The slow, burning slide into the slick channel felt all the more intense for the lack of visual stimulus. Severus could only feel and listen, and the feeling made his balls ache and the sounds made his pulse quicken.

Harry's voice always sounded best when it was moaning, when his muscles were tense and his arse was being plundered. Severus pressed all the way home and stilled, letting the vice around his prick adjust to accommodate him. How he loved this sensation. And how he loved sharing it with Harry. Other partners might have tried telling him he was a decent lover in the past, but only Harry Potter had properly convinced him of it. Harry was an honest man - if he reacted as though being buggered by Snape was the most amazing thing he'd ever felt, then that was the truth.

Severus reached around to fondle Harry's balls as he began to thrust shallowly. Dear gods, the sounds the boy was making were delicious! Snape swept his hand up and down the young erection and thrust a little harder. Oh… perfect.

The first night they had spent together, they had fucked like this in the dead of night, Snape kneeling behind Harry and taking him with long, firm strokes. Unlike then, their rhythm together now was an easy, familiar business - they knew each other's bodies better, could better anticipate preferred angle and depth and speed and intensity. They had learnt one another.

Harry began to sink down onto the bed and Severus followed, soon lying over Harry's back. So intimate, touching so much of Harry's body with so much of his own. When had his fingers become entwined with Harry's, their hands grasping and gripping as their bodies tensed against one another? Snape sucked at the boy's neck as he continued to thrust at him, mind beginning to swim with a flood of endorphins and hormone. Not yet. Not yet.

Severus let go of Harry's hands and pushed himself up, sliding out of the boy's slicked body carefully before manhandling him over onto his back. He bent his head down until he felt the damp cock against his face and sucked it up greedily. Harry cried out, reflexes making his thighs clench around Snape's head, orgasm spilling into Snape's mouth as he moaned Severus' name over and over.

When Snape settled himself over Harry's body again, it was to share the boy's own climax with him in a searing kiss. His tongue pushed Harry's come into his mouth as they kissed, while his cock pushed back hard into Harry's arse.

Now, his body and mind told him in accord, and Snape came so hard he feared, for a moment, doing Harry's occasional trick and blacking out.

Sleep, finally, found Severus not too long after that.





Harry was drooling into his pillow when Severus awoke the next morning. His right hand and Harry's left were clasped lightly together still. Even in the early morning gloom, he could quite clearly see a large, purplish bruise blooming on Harry's throat.

In two days time, Harry Potter would be Snape's bonded partner. In two days time, Severus Snape would freely give himself to Harry. The threads of their Wizard's Life Bonds would be altered and integrated into a new filament, one even stronger and more magic-laden than its predecessor. The Draught of Nodus amans would allow them to share in one another's emotions on the day, at least until the arcane potion wore off. Of all the guests who would stand witness to the event, Severus suspected that only the Weasley twins might fully understand the enhanced state.

The smaller hand in his flinched slightly and Severus stroked it with his long, stained fingers. He could see Harry's eyes darting beneath their lids as the boy dreamed. You have to wake up soon, he thought to his lover as he watched him. You have work to go to. He glanced at the timepiece beside the bed and decided to allow Harry another five minutes before waking him. Another five minutes during which I can watch you and wonder at my good fortune.

I could have been the worst choice you ever made, Harry. I could have used you and hurt you, humiliated you, even betrayed you. I could have been responsible for your failure, I could have been responsible for your destruction. But, in the end at least - when it really mattered - you were right about me.

I never thanked you for that, did I? I will though, Harry, you have my word. Every day, for the rest of my life.

Severus squeezed the hand he held, lifting it to his mouth and kissing it lightly.

'Harry.' He watched the pale features frown a little as the slumber was disturbed by his voice. 'Harry.'

The long lashes fluttered and the emerald behind them lit up Snape's morning. 'Severus.' The boy wiped at his mouth sleepily and cuddled closer, face pressing into Snape's hair, lips against his throat as he hummed.

'Severus.'

Epilogue

There was just one thing that Harry Potter really, REALLY wanted to do right now. As he waited outside the largest of Hogwarts' dungeons, trying not to wipe his damp palms on his beautiful new robe, Remus standing quietly beside him - all Harry could think of was vomiting.

Remus gave his shoulder a brief squeeze. 'It's natural to feel a little nervous. Just concentrate on breathing for a bit, Harry. You'll be fine.'

Breathing. Yeah. Okay. Harry looked down at his hands and took a deep breath. He felt a sudden urge to clean his glasses, though he knew perfectly well they were spotless and it would just be gauche to wipe them on this lovely expensive robe. Was that even the right word? "Gauche"? That HAD to be a Snape-word. Harry didn't even know what it meant! Music started up from inside and Harry swallowed uncomfortably. Severus and Dumbledore must have just entered from the other end of the dungeon. Breathe, Harry…

The door in front of them suddenly cracked open and Harry choked a bit in shock. 'Hiya, Harry!' Ron whispered through the crack in the door, his wide grin immediately dripping away when he saw Harry's face. 'You look bloody awful, mate!'

'Yeah, thanks, Ron.' Harry's heart hammered. 'I'm fine. Really.'

'Good, 'cos we're all set to go now. Snape's just come in.' Ron stood back and opened the door fully.

Fucking hell! Harry's stomach seemed to be trying to tell him that it was full of pixies. 'Deep breath, Harry,' Remus murmured at his side, and then they were walking together, shoulders almost touching.

I can't feel my legs, Harry thought to himself. He hoped he was smiling. As they advanced into the room, his brain told him he recognised lots of people they were passing, but he barely registered any of it. He could hear, from behind him, Ron muttering a very quiet "Geddorf!" and knew that they must have just passed a gently teasing Weasley brother. Ah, okay - he was smiling now.

Severus and Harry had decided on matching robes for the day, black raw silk with black velvet piping at cuffs, hem and collar. But where the silk of Harry's robe displayed a subtle crimson lustre as the fabric shifted, Snape's gave a shimmer of dark green. Harry had been all for Snape tying his hair completely back, but Severus preferred something to hide behind, so a compromise had been reached. Harry had to admit - Severus looked especially gorgeous like that, with just a few dark tresses framing his face and the rest of his shoulder length hair gathered at his nape with a black silk bow.

Severus and Harry moved to stand side-by-side, facing the dais at the front of the room. Dumbledore (who, true to Snape's prediction was indeed wearing a "wizard's hat" that Harry had given him from Bruno's Magic Shop) lined up behind them with Remus, and then Draco and Ron fell in behind as they all walked forward. At the top of the steps, Harry and Snape turned and faced one another, the Celebrant Witch between them but back a bit and facing the gathered guests at whom she smiled serenely. Remus and Ron stood a few feet back on Harry's side, Dumbledore and Draco did likewise on Snape's. The music softened, and the guests all quietened in anticipation.

'Good evening, one and all,' the Celebrant welcomed. She was a tall, willowy woman with long blonde hair that coiled atop her head like a crown of gold. 'We have all come together today to witness the bonding of these two wizards, a public celebration of the love they hold. The fickle hand of fate stirs all things in its path, leaving few certainties beyond chaos and change. Yet, despite these uncertainties, the wizards before you have found one sure element to carry through the exciting, terrifying chaos that is life. Regardless of the circumstances, Harry,' she beamed a smile upon him, 'knows that he can always rely upon his champion to rise for his cause, fight for his honour and love him without question. Likewise, Severus,' she turned her beaming smile upon the very UNsmiling Snape, 'knows that whatever beach the sands of fate shall wash him upon, he will have a hero, a valiant defender, a man to love him without question.'

Harry imagined it must be taking all of Severus' considerable will power to not roll his eyes at any of that. Harry felt a smirk threatening as he watched his lover's face but managed to hold it back.

'Who vouches for these two men?' the Celebrant asked loftily.

Remus and Dumbledore stepped forward on their respective sides. 'We do,' they said together.

'And do they undertake this ceremony willingly and voluntarily?'

'They do,' came the in-stereo reply.

'And will you make pledge of this before these gathered witnesses?'

'We will.'

'Wands, please, gentlemen.' The Celebrant held her own wand straight up in the air over their heads, incanting softly under her breath. From out of the tip of Dumbledore's wand, Harry watched a bolt of purple light emerge and dart up to touch the wand held aloft. Simultaneously, another purple bolt, obviously from Remus' wand, joined it, and both lights drained down into the Celebrant's wand as one. Smiling, she put her wand away and nodded her thanks.

'As a special request,' she announced, 'I have been asked to incorporate a sharing of potion.' At this, Hermione approached the dais, carrying a golden chalice with great care. She passed it to the Celebrant, sneaking a grin at Harry, then turned and retreated back to Fred's side. The Celebrant smiled after her and murmured, 'A pregnant woman as part of your ceremony, gentlemen! I would declare it a portent of fertility in your union under different circumstances.'

It took every ounce of control Harry had to not double over in laughter at first the quirked eyebrow and then the look of distaste on Severus' face as the witch's comment hung between them.

The chalice was offered first to Severus, who took the cup carefully into his elegant hands. His obsidian eyes locked onto Harry's as he raised the potion to his mouth and drank. Their hands touched as the vessel passed between them. Oh god, thought Harry, this had better taste okay! He felt the colour rising up in his cheeks as he brought the chalice to his mouth, knowing, as he did, that he was about to drink down a mixture of his own semen and Severus' - here, at their wedding, in front of everybody they knew. The cool fluid washed against his lips and he panicked for a short moment.

Chocolate. Snape had somehow made their come taste like chocolate. In fact, if Harry wasn't mistaken, it tasted almost exactly like the chocolate Honeydukes used on their peanut brittle.

I loved Honeyduke's peanut brittle as a child.

Harry blinked as he felt the chalice being removed from his hands. He hadn't thought that. He hadn't even known about Honeyduke's - let alone their peanut brittle - when he was a child. His gaze met Snape's again. Eyebrow.

I'm so impressed with that crafty bastard right now!

As soon as he'd thought it, Harry knew Severus knew, too. So, this was what the Draught of Nodus amans did, then. It was tying their emotions together. They were sharing, if not exact words or thoughts, at least the emotion that accompanied them. Severus felt a nostalgic love for a Honeyduke's treat, so Harry felt it, too. Harry felt impressed by Snape's remarkable talent, so Severus felt it also.

Wow, Harry thought to himself. "Wow", he saw Severus mouth silently.

"Wow", Severus mouthed sardonically at his lover, trying not to let his smirk be too obvious. He could feel wave after wave of love crashing over him and it was quite… disconcerting, actually.

When the Celebrant Witch waved her wand this time, Severus found himself being literally and very much NON-metaphysically bound to Harry's person. Long loops of soft golden rope banded about them, pinning their arms to their sides and pushing their bodies close together. They had just sufficient distance between their faces that they could still focus upon each other. Just enough room, too, Severus noted, to keep the frotting menace from getting too distracted by the new proximity.

Harry giggled quietly. Hrm, yes. Bloody Nodus amans.

In order that she could still be seen adequately by the congregation, the Celebrant levitated herself a foot or so into the air, giving the illusion that she now towered, head and shoulders, over the two men. 'Severus Tobias Snape?' she intoned in a suddenly more serious voice. Severus glanced up at her. 'Do you take this man as your partner and protector? Your lover and friend? Your equal and ally?'

Another wave of forceful, careening love broke over him and Severus swayed slightly. He looked into the emerald depths before him. 'I do.'

'Harry James Potter?' Harry looked up sharply, expression fearful, as though a teacher were reprimanding him in class. 'Do you take this man as your partner and protector? Your lover and friend? Your equal and ally?'

Severus concentrated on what he was feeling right now, knowing that Harry would be calmed by it.

Harry nodded vigorously. 'I do!' His smile was so wide and so happy, it made Severus' insides clench.

'A marriage between magical persons,' the Celebrant went on, 'creates a bond of ancient power. It enhances any bonds of prior standing between the two, and forges a new union of shared strength and understanding. There is a pre-existing Life Bond here, is that correct?'

'Several, actually,' Harry mumbled, sending a murmur of amusement through the gathered guests.

The Celebrant grinned. 'And a pre-existing physical bond?'

Severus watched the blush spreading over Harry's cheekbones and recalled how the twins had declared it so sexy. He sighed a little; they were right. He and Harry both murmured "Yes", gazes locked. He sensed that Harry felt slightly embarrassed, being asked in front of everybody if they'd shagged out of wedlock. That feeling of embarrassment changed to intrigue, as subtle shivers of sensation began to course through them. Their bond was being re-arranged… The golden binding that wrapped them together began to dissolve into thin air as the process advanced. Neither of them made any motion to step back from the other, however.

So loved.

'Please raise your left hands before you, and rest them together so the rings are touching.'

Finally, they were both forced to take a small step back, so that they had enough room to carry out the instruction. Harry's hand looked so small when he splayed it against Snape's. Severus felt the urge to interlace their fingers together and hold on, but resisted it.

The Celebrant checked their betrothal rings were indeed resting against one another, then resumed in a very serious tone. 'Severus, if you would repeat after me. "I, Severus Snape, take you, Harry Potter".'

Gods, this was it. The actual moment of avowing himself, of promising his life, to this young man. 'I, Severus Snape, take you, Harry Potter - ' The room fell deadly silent as Snape repeated all the words asked of him. ' - for my lawfully wedded partner. I take you with all your flaws and all your qualities. I give myself to you as I am and as I will be. For the rest of our days on this mortal plane, and in whatever may lay beyond.'

Sappy rubbish, really, Snape thought. But the intent is true, at least. And he knows I mean it.

The entire congregation seemed to hold its breath as one, as Harry made the same oath; only as the boy's last word faded did the room seem to breathe again. Severus blinked, looking into Harry's eyes.

Want to cry…

The twin rings morphed into one another, forming one larger band which wrapped around both fingers together before separating once more. When Severus looked closely, he saw their plain betrothal rings were now meticulously etched with runes of love and commitment. Harry gave in to Snape's earlier impulse and intertwined their fingers together, grasping his hand firmly.

Love.

A flat-topped lectern snapped into existence in between the top of the steps and where they stood. Upon it sat two inkpots with red quills and two large pieces of parchment. Their marriage certificate. In duplicate. The Celebrant motioned them forward to sign in the allotted spaces.

As he completed the final "e" of his name, Snape's left forearm burned, a brief but intense ache that made him gasp softly.

Pain. Relief.

Harry's green eyes were wide with understanding. Snape's thoughts flashed back to the night before the final battle, he and Harry standing together, holding each other quietly. The words he had spoken to his lover then came to the fore of his thoughts now - "I once bonded myself to a powerful wizard. I now seek to bond myself to one even more powerful." He was free at last.

Weasley's hand shook terribly as he, too, signed the documents, but Malfoy's poise allowed him to perfectly mask whatever he was feeling at that moment. As the two witnesses stepped away again, Draco raised a perfect eyebrow at Severus, as though to say "Well, you've done it now, haven't you?".

As soon as the Celebrant Witch had signed her name to the parchments, both documents rolled themselves up and levitated as the lectern and inkpots disappeared. The Celebrant plucked the certificates out of the air and smiled serenely at Severus and Harry.

'I hereby declare this wedding bond complete! You may share your first bonded kiss.'

Cheers and applause reverberated off the dungeon walls as Severus and Harry threw themselves together forcefully, mouths so perfectly aligned that no clumsy bumping of noses got in the way of the kiss they were hungry to share. And in front of all these people! Appalling public display, really…

It was all downhill from there. A blur of faces and excited voices and hands and backslaps and red-rimmed eyes and attempts at kisses and - worse! - successful attempts at kisses.

They were married. Severus looked to his left and fell completely into verdant pools.

Secure. Safe. No need to panic. Free.

'This is the best party I've EVER been to!' Harry wobbled a bit as George tried to move his leg.

'Sorry, Harry. Just trying to get some circulation back.'

Harry pressed his cheek onto George's hair and hugged his head. 'Everybody's so lovely! And I love all of you! I'm so happy today!'

'How much has he had to drink?' asked Ron from nearby.

'I'd say quite a bit!' came George's muffled voice.

'Ah. Potter. Married mere hours and I already find you squirming atop a Weasley twin.'

Harry lifted his face from the top of George's head and grinned up at his husband. 'It's not my fault Georgie's so comfy to sit on!'

Severus looked like he was trying not to smile, which only made Harry's grin get wider.

Love.

'If I could steal you for a moment, Harry.' Snape held out a beckoning hand. 'There is someone who wishes to be introduced to you.'

'Introduced? But I know everybody here!'

'Be that as it may, we do indeed have a guest with whom you have never conversed.'

Harry frowned a little as he grasped Snape's hand and was hauled to his feet. George immediately started punching his own leg in an attempt to regain bloodflow. 'I'll be back later, guys,' Harry said over his shoulder as Severus led him away.

It really was the best party Harry had ever been to. Everybody was smiling and tipsy and having a great time and the food was great and the room was gorgeous, and Harry felt nothing but loved and loving and lightheaded with happiness. He smiled at Septimus Stringer and Remus as he and Snape passed by where they stood, talking. 'Never seen so many Howlers in my life!' Septimus was saying with an amazed expression.

'Harry,' Severus pulled him to a halt. 'May I introduce you to The Right Honourable The Lord le Despencer.'

Harry found himself staring into the grim, grey face of the Bloody Baron.

'Harry James Potter, my Lord,' Snape finished the formal introduction.

A silver-bloodstained hand extended toward Harry. 'You will forgive me if I can't shake hands, young Potter.'

'Er, sh-sure,' stammered Harry. 'Um, I mean, sir, my Lord, sir, Baron, er - '

'The correct address is "my Lord", Harry,' Severus informed him. 'But the Baron is quite amenable to "Baron", however incorrect it may be.'

'If one hangs around with enough thousands of children, one soon gets used to informality.'

Harry knew he was staring, but he really couldn't help it. He'd never heard the Bloody Baron speak before. Severus had once told him that he and the Baron had entire conversations, but that was the only time Harry had ever heard anybody say that they'd heard the Baron speak. 'I'm honoured to make your acquaintance, sir,' he found himself telling the Slytherin ghost.

The Baron bowed to him in response. 'Likewise, I am sure. So,' he straightened again, 'you've thrown your lot in with us at last, eh?'

'Um… us?'

'Slytherin, dear boy! We should have had you eight years ago, should we not?'

Harry averted his eyes for a moment. 'The Sorting Ceremony. I, yes. The Hat wanted to put me in Slytherin.'

'But it made the right decision in the end.'

The comment surprised Harry. 'You really think so?'

'Everything worked out for the best, did it not? Then it was the right decision!'

Harry smiled. 'I guess so.'

'Besides,' the Baron continued, 'had you been one of his own children, I'm sure Sev would've found it so much more difficult to bring himself to bed you.'

'Don't call me that.'

Harry couldn't help laughing. 'You've got a dirty sense of humour!' he told the austere ghost mock-accusingly.

'Sadly, it's the only sort of dirty I can get these days. What with the non-corporeality and all.' The ghost sighed dramatically. 'God, I miss the fucking - '

'Has anyone seen the Bloody Baron?!' McGonagall's voice suddenly rang out across the room. 'Peeves is laying waste to the Prefect's Bathroom again, so I'm informed!'

The Baron rolled his eyes and affected the air of being greatly put-upon. 'My apologies, young Potter. Duty calls.' He bowed once again. 'May you have many decades of making my Head of House a happier man.' And with that, he blinked out of the dungeon.

'Wow.' Harry turned to Severus. 'He doesn't seem nearly so grim when he's actually talking to you!'

'He knows how to use personal theatrics to great effect,' Snape agreed.

'Like somebody else I know,' Harry smirked. 'Is that a Slytherin thing?'

Snape gave a small shrug. 'Not strictly.'

'So, he actually is a real Baron, then?'

'Indeed. Executed for treason in 1326.'

'Treason? What did he do?'

'Supported the King in a time when it was unpopular to do so.'

Sympathy.

'Hardly seems fair.'

'No,' Severus agreed simply.

'He likes you.'

'Certainly manages to give that impression.'

'And he wants you to be happier.'

'His wish is already granted.'

Snape allowed himself an indulgent moment of simply gazing at his new husband. Harry was dancing with the Weasley girl - all blushes and clumsiness, as though he didn't know how to act around delicate hands and sweeping skirts. Nearby, Molly Weasley dabbed her eyes with a handkerchief as she, too, watched the young couple. No doubt crying for the lost opportunity of having Harry as her son-in-law…

'Are yeh not having a dance wit' Harry, Professor?'

Snape looked up at Hagrid's ridiculous question. 'I think not.'

'The two of yeh look grand t'gether, I mus' say.'

Severus inclined his head slightly. 'Thank-you.' Just when, precisely, had Snape become so… bloody amicable?

The music changed and Harry hugged the youngest Weasley before escaping the dancefloor, green eyes immediately scanning the room until they lighted upon Severus.

Wonder. Wonderful. Awe.

'Aye, and it's grand to see Harry so happy, n' all.' Hagrid's voice sounded a little gruffer. 'Yeh done him the world of good, Professor. That yeh have.'

Snape was suddenly aware of a tugging on his robe and looked down sharply. Potter's house elf was looking up at him with a beseeching expression. 'Yes?' Severus asked it slowly.

'Begging your pardon, sir. Dobby wanted to let you know… Dobby wanted to tell you…'

'Spit it out, then!'

The elf swept its hat from its head and executed a long, low bow at Snape's feet. When it stood upright again, it was smiling hugely at him. 'Now that Harry Potter is being married, Dobby is having TWO masters now, sir!'

'Aye,' rumbled Hagrid at his side. 'Tha' makes sense.'

I am standing here with a half-giant and a house elf, Severus stupidly found himself thinking. Why haven't I got a drink?

'Can Dobby be getting you anything, sir?'

Well now, that's opportune…

'How about something to drink?' Snape asked. 'Something exceedingly alcoholic, but light on the palate.' He glanced sideways at the games keeper. 'Hagrid?'

'Oh no, nowt for me!' He held up a gigantic bucket-sized beer. 'Got one on t'go already!'

Snape turned his attention back to the elf. 'Just the one, then, if I may. Thank-you.'

The elf looked up at him with a watery gaze. 'Oh, sir! You have the manners of Harry Potter himself!'

Merlin forbid.

The misshapen hat was jammed back onto the tiny head, and then the elf was away, on a mission to procure Snape the perfect tipple. Severus could perhaps get used to having a house elf around…

Lust.

Snape rolled his eyes. Honestly. The brat notices me being civil to a house elf and he gets all hot and bothered over it? He glanced around for the messy raven hair. Harry was talking to Malfoy, but his feelings, as far as Snape could tell, were utterly engaged in longing for sex. Severus excused himself from Hagrid and wandered slowly toward where the two young men were talking.

'Just make sure you never betray him, Potter,' Malfoy was telling Harry, his back to Snape's approach. 'If I ever find out you've hurt him, or you've been running about with one of those twins - '

'Or both of them,' Harry helpfully offered. He could plainly see Snape advancing toward them, but he wasn't going to give that fact away to Draco, apparently.

'Both of… For fuck's sake, Potter! You're a bloody pervert!'

'You're a fair one yourself, Malfoy.'

'Don't change the subject.'

'Didn't realise I was.'

'Anyhow, as I was saying.' Draco massaged the side of his neck with his right hand. 'Just… be good to him, okay? Merlin knows what he sees in you, but obviously he's rather taken, so… make sure you're worth it.'

'It's okay, Draco. I have no intention of hurting him. You don't have to worry for him.'

'Well. Good.'

'What's good, Mister Malfoy?' Severus lay a hand on Draco's shoulder as he finally made his presence known.

Draco hid a rising blush admirably. 'The food, Severus. Hogwarts' house elves have outdone themselves for you.'

'Indeed. Though I rather think it's Harry for whom they've made such an effort.'

'Oh, come on, Snape!' Harry teased. 'They upheld your request for no carrots!'

Potter's house elf snapped back into existence beside Severus and silently handed over a fancy glass goblet before disappearing again. 'Quite,' Snape agreed, taking an experimental sip. Mm, that was excellent.

Lust.

Yes, yes, Potter, I know. Snape took a longer drink and swallowed carefully. 'This particular dungeon is not used for classes.'

'You what?' Harry frowned slightly at the sudden announcement.

Snape enjoyed another long sip. 'Classes, Harry. This dungeon isn't used for them.'

'Okaaaay…'

'Which means,' Severus replied slowly, 'that the ingredients cupboard in this dungeon is empty.' Harry just looked at him blankly. 'Empty, and spacious,' Snape tried again.

'Pathetic,' Draco scoffed at his side, blonde head shaking in bemusement.

'I don't get it,' Harry frowned further.

'You're such a moron, Potter, I swear! He's telling you he wants to hide in the stores cupboard with you and indulge in a bit of the other!'

'The other?'

Draco made an exasperated noise. 'How you ever managed to actually get laid in the first place, I'll never know. Thank gods you won't be passing those imbecile genes of yours on, Potty!'

'Draco,' Severus pretended to reprimand, 'that is my husband you are talking to, remember.'

'Yeah, so why don't you just grab hold of your husband and drag him into that cupboard and show him exactly what a bit of the other IS, then?'

Eyebrow. 'An excellent suggestion.' Snape handed his empty glass to Malfoy and reached forward to grasp Harry's nearest upper limb. 'If you're not amenable to standing guard for us, Draco, would you kindly ask Ronald Weasley to do so?' And with that, he ushered Harry toward the unassuming door cut into the stone behind them.

Lust.

Lust.

Harry, at last, appeared to be catching on. 'Do you really not mind the idea of Draco and Ron, of all people, standing outside here while we're in there doing… you know?'

Severus checked no one was observing them before opening the cupboard door and pushing Harry inside. 'Of all people?' he echoed. 'Of all the people here, Harry, those two are the only ones who not only know precisely what you and I look like naked, but what we look like when engaged in congress, as well. Are there any people here better suited to watching over us?'

Inside the stores cupboard, the only light trickled in from under the door. It was just enough light to be able to see Harry's pale face and hands in the gloom. Severus cupped his own pale hands against Harry's cheeks and captured the younger man's lips with his.

Love. Awe. Free.

As the kiss ended, Severus pulled the hem of Harry's robe up, groping underneath to find all his favourite parts.

'God, I love you,' Harry whispered.

'I know.' Severus licked the spot of flesh where Harry's collar ended. 'My brat.'

His husband laughed softly and pushed his hips toward Snape's. 'Git.'

'Child.'

'Bastard.'

'I love you, too,' Severus breathed and brought their mouths together again.

The End

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