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harry potter, snape/harry

snarry_games Fic: The Upper Air Burst into Life, part 2

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Day Ten:

“Yes… mmmm, s’good…”

Oh no, not again. Harry pressed his face into his pillow and tried to ignore the sounds coming from the lower bunk. Didn’t Snape know how to take things in hand so that this sort of thing didn’t happen? Harry hadn’t had a wet dream since he was thirteen!

A moan, then, “H-H’ry…”

Harry jerked upright, banged his head on the ceiling, and fell back to his bed with a whimper. Fuck, that had hurt. He rubbed his head ruefully as the bed continued to shake and the room was filled with Snape’s moans. In the time it took for Harry’s head to stop throbbing, it was obvious that Snape was nearing completion… Harry dropped his hand to his crotch and stroked himself lightly, just for a second. He hadn’t wanked since the day before, and his hard cock strained towards his hand, as if greedy for more.

Had Snape just said his name? While having a wet dream?

When Snape came an instant later, Harry felt a phantom pulse go through his own cock. He pressed the heel of his hand against himself and turned onto his stomach, intent on forgetting the whole incident and getting some sleep.

**********

When Severus woke up, it was to the feeling of sticky pants. Again. Merlin, was he twelve years old? He’d thought that his wet dream two nights ago had been nothing but a strange anomaly, but this…

A flash of green eyes.

He hadn’t been dreaming about… Had he?

He could hear Harry breathing steadily in the bunk above, so he got out of bed as quietly as possible and moved to the lav, a change of clothes and wand in hand. Maybe he could get one good cleansing charm out of the damn thing.

When he made his way back into the bedroom, dressed for the day and pants successfully cleaned, he noticed a slight movement in Harry’s bunk. When he looked closer, approaching the bunk to straighten his bed linens, he could see nothing out of the ordinary, so he left Harry to sleep in a bit longer. He’d be back to get him before breakfast was served. Right now, he wanted to go up to the deck and watch the sun rise over the water.

**********

The minute Severus left the room, Harry returned to his wanking with fervour. That had been close; he’d almost been caught with his hands down his pants when Severus exited the lav. He hadn’t known the bastard was still in the room–

“Oh, oh yes,” Harry panted, fucking his hand frantically. Something about the way that Severus moaned in his sleep turned Harry on. It was so wrong. He knew it was wrong. But just thinking about what had woken him during the night had him hard as a rock.

He tried to think about Ginny. About the few times they’d managed to be alone together. The way she sighed in pleasure, the way her breasts had felt in his hands.

But as he tugged on his cock, his hips jerking and his moans filling the small bedroom he shared with Snape, all he could think of was Snape’s moans. And the sweep of his neck. His fingers. The hard length visible under his sheet that first night…

“Fuck!” Harry shouted, his orgasm hitting him with the force of a train. Come shot from his cock, splattering his stomach and even hitting the ceiling above his bunk bed.

Fuck, indeed…

**********

Breakfast was a strained affair once again. Severus had come back to retrieve Harry for the meal, and had found him in a rather compromising position. Harry knew that his face was red just thinking about it, and he stabbed his scrambled eggs with more force than necessary. Apparently after wanking, Harry had fallen back asleep, and when Severus had re-entered the room it was to find Harry, asleep on his back with the sheets kicked to the end of his bed and his cock out.

“So, uh… how have you been feeling lately? I mean, your throat and all…”

Severus wouldn’t look at him, intent on the piece of bacon in his hand instead. “I believe that the salt air and regular diet has affected my overall health somewhat.” He took a bite out of the strip, and Harry watched as a bit of grease ran down his finger. “My… other problem has not improved in the slightest, however.”

Harry nodded. He’d been a witness to Severus’ unsuccessful attempts at magic. He usually made ten attempts each night before bed, and then recorded his successes or, more often, failures in a small journal. “You think this Blanch bloke can help you, then?”

Severus’ black eyes met his for an instant, no more. “Yes, yes I do.”

And then he popped the last bit of bacon in his mouth and licked his fingers. Harry squirmed uncomfortably in his chair and tried to think of something to say. Something not related to the way Severus had woken him up that morning, face red and eyes fixed on the wall beside Harry’s head.

“I still have your memories, you know. They’re… um… in my trunk. If you… I don’t know, wanted them back?”

Severus looked at him then, too stunned to say a word, and then he smiled. It was… weird. “Yes, I’d – I’d like that very much.”

Harry smiled back cautiously and then focused on his breakfast once again.

Maybe today wouldn’t be totally awful after all.

**********

Day Twelve:

The last two days had passed quite well. Harry had wanked twice more since being caught out by Severus, and he hadn’t thought of the other man at all. He hadn’t. And Severus hadn’t had any more wet dreams to arouse and confuse him.

Things were going fetchingly.

Severus even seemed strangely happy after getting his memories back, and had let Harry have a chance at beating him in chess by giving himself a handicap during their daily game. It hadn’t helped, but Harry was pleased by the concession nonetheless. The two of them had also managed a few polite conversations about the Ministry and what would happen in the Wizarding World now that Voldemort was dead. It seemed like they had finally become accustomed and attuned to each others’ presence in ways that they’d never managed in the past.

Harry should have know it was too good to last…

**********

Day Thirteen:

“Your table manners are deplorable, Harry. Could you please just chew with your mouth closed for once?”

Harry looked up from his lunch, perplexed. “Um, yes. Sure, Severus.”

Severus huffed and cut off another piece of his fish filet. “You know, it’s almost as if you were raised by animals. No table manners, and no manners to speak of when you first came to Hogwarts… yes, being raised by animals could very well explain it.” He slid the piece of fish into his mouth and chewed it thoughtfully, as if the subject were an interesting puzzle that he’d been contemplating for some time.

Harry was starting to get pissed off now. He pushed his plate away, and levelled a glare across the table. “And what the bloody hell crawled up and died in your bum this morning?”

Severus glared right back. “Your manners? They’re practically nonexistent. Were you, or were you not, raised by animals?”

Harry seethed. The tableware began to rattle, and he took one moment to check that the entire crew had left the galley before turning his attention back to Severus. Snape.

“What is your problem? And I’ll have you know that how I was raised is none of your business! Nobody made it their business then, and I’ll be damned if you make it your business now!” Harry stood up so quickly that his chair flew back and toppled behind him.

Severus looked shocked for a moment, but quickly recovered. “I don’t know why you’re reacting so violently, Harry. It was just a question.” His voice, while not raised in anger, was low and dangerous. “And I rather do think it’s my business, as I’ve been forced in close proximity with you this past fortnight.”

“Doesn’t give you the right to –”

His black eyes flashed. “And one would think that you were an animal the way you pleasure yourself constantly within my hearing!”

Severus’ words rang out in the empty galley, and Harry just stood there, too stunned to move. “W-wait. What?!”

“You heard me,” Severus spat out, face red.

Harry’s eyes gleamed. “And you think I haven’t heard you? Wet dreams! At your age!”

“Y-you! How –”

“FUCK YOU, SNAPE!” Harry shouted, before leaving the galley in so high a rage that the windows rattled and the hinges of the door cracked.

Severus watched him go, face white.

**********

After two weeks of sunny skies and warm weather, storms brewed on the horizon. Severus watched the clouds form from his usual spot on the deck, too intent on avoiding Harry to move inside for shelter, and played with the hem of his borrowed cargo shorts. Thinking about what had happened earlier in the galley, he knew that he was wrong to have provoked Harry. But he’d been feeling rather ill, not to mention unhappy and nervous about seeing Blanch…

He’d also been feeling extremely tense after overhearing another masturbatory interlude by Potter. Harry had been doing quite a bit of that lately, and it always seemed to be right when Severus was coming to find him for lunch, or making a trip to their room to use the loo, or waking up—yes, he had heard Harry as he’d tried to masturbate silently in his bunk just above him, and he’d had to wait until the inconsiderate jerk had reached orgasm and fallen back asleep before he could move to the lav and take a damn cold shower.

Damn that mannerless boy to hell.

He watched as the storm gained force and momentum. The increase in humidity and air pressure had probably been the cause of his migraine this morning, he thought, watching the choppy waves and waiting for the occasional flashes of lightning that appeared farther out to sea.

If only –

“Thought you might be hiding out here.”

Severus jerked in surprise, and immediately turned to scowl at the intruder. “What do you want?”

Harry scowled back. “I wanted to set things right, but if you’re going to be an arse –”

“Fine. They’re set right. Now leave me alone.”

Harry sat down in his own deck chair and folded his arms across his chest. Severus felt the irritation rise within him, unbidden. “No offense, but nothing seems set right to me. You’re still pissed off at me and I’m still pissed off at you. Only thing is, I’ve got a reason to be pissed off, and you haven’t. Correct me if I’m wrong here, but –”

“I haven’t got a reason to be pissed off?” Severus stood and threw the card table between their chairs aside. Somewhere, deep down, he knew he was overreacting, but this had been building for too long and he was powerless to stop it. “Excuse me, but you’re the one driving me mad with all your – your masturbating!”

“I’m a teenage boy!” Harry roared, standing up himself and kicking his chair further behind him. “What do you expect! I wasn’t trying to –”

“Trying to what?” Severus asked, voice suddenly low.

Harry shivered. They were standing inches from each other, and, as wrapped up in each other as they were, they did not notice when the storm moved over them.

“Trying to seduce me? Make me hard and wanting and then deny me your young, perfect body?”

Harry, though blushing and trembling under Severus’ dark stare, would not look away. Rain began to spatter his glasses. “I wasn’t –”

“Did you think it was funny? Because I’m so ugly? Too ugly to ever touch you? I’m sure it got you so hard, knowing how much I wanted you and then rubbing it in my face at every –”

“Nooo,” Harry moaned, expression anguished. But by this point Severus didn’t see him. Didn’t hear him. Years of denial and reproach and want…

A brilliant flash of light and then a loud clap of thunder shook them. Rain starting pouring down from the skies, drenching them. And still Severus ranted.

“Every opportunity!” he shrieked, and then grabbed Harry by the collar of his shirt and pulled him close. “Merlin, but I’ve never been more humiliated in my life,” he growled, so close to his face that Harry closed his eyes in fright. “You’ll help me get well, but at the cost of my dignity. My pride! And you’ll rub my nose in it, won’t you? Rub my big, ugly nose in to the fact that you would never –”

Another flash of lightning, followed by another, and another, and Harry remembered later that it was if the sky was spilling fire…

Thunder, so loud and booming, and

And something snapped in Severus.

And he pulled Harry the rest of the way against him.

And took his mouth in a kiss, harsh and hot and

And oh… oh…

He did not see the way Harry’s eyes shot open and stared at Severus’ face as they kissed, shocked but so, so turned on, nor the way his eyes fell closed again as Severus brought his thigh against Harry’s cock and rubbed…

But he did relish the feel of Harry’s hard abdomen against his cock, and when he moved his mouth to Harry’s neck, the taste of his skin.

Harry, overwhelmed, just moaned and sighed and cried out…

And it was as if his cry had awoken Severus, and, so abhorred by what he’d done, he shoved Harry away from him.

Harry stumbled backwards, tripped over his deck chair, and sprawled across the wet deck, stunned. Rain lashed them both and Severus… Severus moaned, a gut-wrenching sound.

“Oh Merlin, what have I done? I’ve… I’ve… with a boy.” And then he was fleeing into the darkness, too mortified to even help Harry up from the ground.

“Severus!”

He could not get away fast enough. He stumbled into the railing quite a few times as he ran, the storm rocking the ship and the deck slick with rain and the dark all-encompassing, and he almost… he almost wished that he could fall overboard into the roiling sea and lose himself in the black waves.

*****Part Three: Falkland Islands*****

Day One:

Harry woke up the next morning, head fuzzy and throat sore. He’d managed a drying and a warming charm last night, but had fallen asleep on top of his bed, too exhausted to get under the sheets. Dimly, he heard the crewmen shouting to each other and moving around outside the cabin door, purposeful and upbeat. They must be near land.

He leaned over the edge of is bed and peered down at the lower bunk. Either Severus had already gotten up and straightened his sheets, or he hadn’t spent the night in their room. The git had probably spent the night out on a covered part of the deck, and would be sicker than a dog.

A memory, of being shoved away and falling over his deck chair, flashed before him, and he grimaced. The bastard deserved to be sick. What the hell was wrong with him? A snog was a snog, and Harry wasn’t a boy anymore. He was a man.

He fell back against his bunk bed and stared at the ceiling. What the hell is wrong with me? he pondered. Severus, although he had a few good points, was an ugly bastard. And a man. A man!. And even though Harry had told Ginny that he wanted another break, he’d always thought that he’d go back to her. Buy a nice cottage. Make a family with her.

Would their children have red hair? Or would they look like him? Would they have his green eyes? Need glasses?

He closed his eyes and tried to picture life like that. With Ginny. Kids. It would be great, wouldn’t it? And he’d be an Auror, him and Ron together. Exactly what he wanted…

He remembered the way it had felt last night, pulled against Severus’ tall, lean body. The strength in that body, and the desire, and the way it had been pressed to him and poured into his mouth. And the way Severus had licked his neck and rubbed his cock and rubbed his own…

Harry moaned and pressed his hand against his cock, hard and aching just from the memory of Severus against him.

Turns out I’m not as much of a family man as I thought… And then Harry was pushing down the sheets and taking his cock in hand.

**********

Severus woke up to the sounds of seagulls cawing and members of the ship’s crew shouting to each other over crates and oil drums. Hooks and ropes and pallets were being checked and double-checked before reaching port –

Port!

Severus opened his eyes and was confronted with the sight of Stanley’s port approaching fast. Land! They were finally going to get off this bloody boat!

He escaped his makeshift bed, a small life boat and the blanket from its kit, with little injury, though his neck flared with pain. He rubbed it carefully, the bunched scar tissue ugly under his fingers.



A crewman called out to him, told him that they’d be ashore soon, and that he should gather his belongings. Severus just nodded and made his way back to the room he shared with Harry. He felt too under the weather to worry about how Harry would react to his presence.

A drying charm would have been wonderful last night…

**********

Harry was just finished packing his trunk when Severus came into the room. His clothes were rumpled and his eyes were red and Harry wanted to say something. Something like “Are you feeling okay?” or maybe “Are you bloody mad for running off like that last night?!” But he didn’t. He just nodded at the other man and moved past him out the door, trunk in tow.

**********

Severus finished packing his meager belongings, some of which included clothing he’d borrowed from Harry, and headed out onto the deck. Harry was waiting for him at the gangplank, which had been lowered an instant before, with his face averted, and Severus moved towards him quickly. “Let’s go,” he said gruffly, before shoving past Harry and leading the way onto the dock. If the bastard wouldn’t look at him, he wouldn’t try to be nice.

Or apologize for the night before.

It had obviously been a mistake, assaulting the boy, but what did he expect? He’d been flaunting himself like a common whore, and so he’d been treated as such.

“Come on,” Severus said over his shoulder. “Keep up, or you’ll be lost. And I won’t come back for you.”

As they moved through the press of pedestrians walking along the pier, Harry didn’t answer, and Severus somehow felt vindicated. Yes, it was all Harry’s fault, what had happened last night.

He hailed a taxi once they reached the main road running past the docks, and gave the address for Master Blanch’s house.

**********

The Falkland Islands were beautiful. Harry stared out the taxi cab’s window, taking in the sights as best he could as they travelled. It was better than trying to clear the air inside the taxi, which was stifling to say the least.

For his part, Severus spoke sparingly to the driver when he attempted to engage them in conversation. After a few moments, the driver seemed to sense their tension, because he picked up speed. They moved quickly out of the small town on the water’s edge, and Harry only had a few minutes to appreciate the modest houses with their white-washed faces and colourful roofs. Then they were past the main town, and moving along a road just at the water’s edge. Over the next quarter hour, he could see penguins frolicking on the beach and in the waves, and a few groups of seals sunning on the rocks.

Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad spending time here. He could go out on the beach, observe the natural wildlife, and avoid Snape, who obviously regretted last night. Harry regretted it, too.

At least, he regretted that nothing had come of it. It seemed like he’d thrown his ideas about a wife and family to the wind for nothing. But once thrown, they were irretrievable. Maybe once he was back in England, he could have a talk with Hermione. She was good at that sort of thing… talking. Figuring things out.

The taxi turned off the main road and bumped along a small drive, and Severus pulled out his wallet and rifled through the bills Harry had transfigured on the start of their journey. A white-washed wooden house loomed further up the drive. “Just stop right here,” he ordered, and the driver nodded.

“Yes, sir. Right here.”

Severus handed him a fistful of money and opened his door. “No need to help with the luggage. Just open the boot.”

“Yes, sir.”

Harry thought that Severus was being a bit rude, but wasn’t in the mood to be nice, himself. He just got out of the taxi and went around to the boot.

They were right on the shore here, and the drive leading up to the house was cracked and covered in sand in places. The taxi driver waited for them to close the boot and then he was off, probably eager to get back to the tourist areas nearer Stanley.

“Well, follow me, Potter. And don’t say anything. Let me do the talking.” And then he was off towards the house.

Harry seethed at Severus’ back, but remained silent. The sound of waves hitting the shore was rhythmic and soothing, and he focused on it as they walked around the side of the large house. It faced the sea, and as they came around to the front they saw a man, hair grey but body fit, sitting at the high-tide mark in a pair of swim trunks.

“Master Blanch!” Severus called out, and the man turned his head. His face was tan and lined, in a rugged way, and he looked surprised for a moment before a large smile stole across his features.

“Master Snape!” he answered, voice jovial. He stood then, and Harry watched him approach warily. This man was nothing like he’d imagined he’d be… “You know to call me Jacob, Severus,” and then he was embracing Snape, who stood still for a moment but then dropped his bag and wrapped his arms around him in turn.

“Jacob,” he whispered, and his voice cracked a bit.

Jacob rubbed his back for a moment and whispered in his ear, and Severus nodded before dropping his arms and moving back from the embrace.

Harry turned away as Severus’ face turned towards him, cheeks red, and stared at the waves. He’d never seen Snape like this. Never.

“This is Harry Potter. He accompanied me here at my request,” Severus introduced, and Blanch moved towards him with his hand extended.

Harry looked back towards them then, an uncertain smile on his face, and took Blanch’s hand in his.

“Nice to meet you, Harry Potter. I’ve heard many good things.” His eyes twinkled in a manner reminiscent of Albus as Harry shook his hand and Harry gulped.

“Nice to meet you, too, Master Blanch.”

“You can call me Jacob,” he answered happily before turning back to Severus. “I see that rumours of your death were grossly exaggerated. I’m glad. Would you like to come inside for some tea?” He looked between them both for a moment and then frowned. “And perhaps a cold cure?”

**********

“I suppose it’s a bit odd, but I like it here. Beautiful isn’t it?” Blanch asked, staring out the kitchen window. All of the rooms in the front part of the house had large windows facing the sea, and it was very bright and airy.

“Yes,” Harry answered. “It is. I saw some penguins and seals on the way here.”

“Of course you did, they’re everywhere! And the island has very strict laws about interfering with the wildlife.”

“That’s nice,” Harry said, a bit uncomfortable because of the older man’s enthusiasm. Severus just sat at the table and stared into his teacup, and Harry was a bit annoyed. Hadn’t they come here so that Severus could ask for help?

“Yes, and all the food raised here is also organic. It’s a wonderful community. I think I may be the only wizard in the entire population, but I do like my solitude. The only downside is the minefields, of course. But they’re all properly fenced off and signed –”

“Oh, enough, Jacob!” Severus huffed, finally looking up from his tea. “You know that we came here for a reason. Why not just ask?”

Blanch smiled at him. “I was waiting for you to bring it up, of course.”

Severus sighed and took a fortifying gulp of his tea. “Very well…”

**********

Harry spent that day on the beach watching the seal family near Blanch’s house. They were interesting animals, almost like dogs in their enthusiasm for companionship and play. He didn’t really want to be inside, where Severus was explaining his illness and what measures he had taken himself to find a cure. The journal filled with his cramped writing just reminded Harry of the many nights they’d spent cataloguing Severus’ condition, and, oddly enough, it brought to mind the potions book of his that Harry had pilfered.

After a day of lounging on the beach and thinking about the way Severus had run away from him, he headed into the house, intent on getting some answers.

But after dinner that night, when he told Severus that he wanted to talk to him about what had happened the night before, the other man simply turned away and went upstairs to his room.

Harry watched him go dejectedly, and then headed out the front door to sit on the porch and watch the last of the sunset.

Blanch, who’d been in the den reviewing Severus’ notes, had observed the exchange with interest.

**********

Day Two:

Severus was very much aware of Harry’s growing discontent. Just this morning over tea, Harry had tried to engage him in conversation and Severus had ignored him until Blanch appeared and rendered the stupid boy mute.

The fact was that he had no desire to speak with Harry about the incident on the boat, and was more in favour of helping Blanch discover a cure for his condition.

Surely that was understandable? Why Blanch had given him a sly, sideways glance after Harry left the house in a huff Snape had no idea. It was ridiculous, the entire situation. And if Harry wanted him to apologize, he could just forget it.

**********

They were working on Severus’ cure again today. Harry dug his toes into the sand and watched a whale play in the waves just a few yards away from him. The sea air was bracing, and he could tell that a storm was coming, but he didn’t want to go inside. Maybe he’d just sit on the porch huddled in a blanket and watch the rain.

He shook his head and looked back over his shoulder at Blanch’s house. He was being ridiculous, he knew, pouting like a child. If he actually wanted to explore this… thing with Severus, he needed to be try something else… A fleeting smile stole across his face, and then Harry was turning his back on the sea and heading for the house, a bounce in his step.

**********

Severus walked up the stairs to his bedroom, weary but hopeful. The potion that he and Blanch had left to simmer overnight may be a step towards the cure he needed to stabilize his magic, and Blanch had already suggested a few other potions to help heal his neck and vocal cords.

He was walking past Harry’s room, contemplating a bath, when he heard it: a low moan. He stopped, head cocked to the side.

“Oooh, yeah…”

At the sound of Harry’s voice, a surge of red-hot heat—of anger—overcame him in an instant. To think that Harry would pleasure himself again in his hearing, after –

“Oooooh, oh oh please… fuuuuck…”

Severus was shaking now. He placed a hand against Harry’s bedroom door and leaned close to the wood, cursing the terrible cocktease in the next room. It felt like fire was pooling in his belly, burning him. The stupid –

“Oh God! Don’t… mmm… don’t stop!” Harry was gasping, obviously close to orgasm, and the fire was spreading. Severus’ cock was heavy with heat and desire—Severus shuddered as Harry cried out again, consumed with wordless pleasure. He didn’t know whether he wanted to fuck or kill the man in the next room. Perhaps both… “S-Severus!”

And then Severus felt it spilling over. The fire was not passion, it was anger, and he threw Harry’s door open with such force that it hit the wall with a bang! “You bastard!” he shrieked, and, blind with rage as to what was before him, he advanced on Harry’s naked form.

Harry, who’d been pleasuring himself on top of his bed covers, scrambled for cover. “What the bloody hell –” The pot of lube that he’d been using knocked over and oozed onto his pillow.

“You knew I could hear you again, didn’t you? Wanted to mock me further by saying my name? Do you have no shame?”

Severus was leaning over Harry now. Could smell his sweat and his… manhood. He was not a boy, he was a flushed, aroused…

“Oh for fuck’s sake, Snape. Just –”

And then Harry was pulling him down onto the bed, and Severus was too weak to resist. The smell, the sight of him…

They kissed, and it was perfect and so, so arousing, but not enough. Severus shoved away the sheet that Harry had covered himself with and pressed against him, hungry.

“Oh Severus, want you so bad.”

Severus’ head was reeling. This couldn’t be happening. He couldn’t really be revelling in the feel of Harry’s hands as they moved across his back…

“Your clothes –” Their kisses grew sloppy as Harry fumbled with the clasps on Severus’ clothing. Severus helped undress himself as best he could, but Harry’s mouth was so distracting, and he wanted to feel the planes of his chest and his nipples…

Harry gasped when he brushed his fingers across his nipples, and, overcome, Severus grabbed Harry’s face and sucked his tongue into his mouth and tried to steal the sweet flavour of Harry, Harry, Harry…

Harry broke away, gasping for air. “I want this, Severus.” His green eyes were glowing and intent on Severus’ face. “I don’t know why, or what it means. But I want this.”

And Severus, fortified by Harry’s declaration, pulled off the rest of his clothes.

And pressed Harry down against the bed.

And, once on top of him, rubbed against him until he begged for more. And licked his neck. And his nipples, one by one. And his cock…

“Severus, oh Merlin, oh please.”

Severus let Harry’s cock slip out of his mouth and backed away, trying to exert some control over himself. His neck twitched and pulled with pain. What was he doing? How had this happened? He – “What do you want?” he asked breathlessly.

Harry spread his legs further and arched his back. “Want you…”

A rush of sound—his heartbeat?—drowned out all thoughts, and Severus looked his fill, enjoying the way Harry turned red and squirmed under his gaze, before moving up Harry’s body and reaching for the spilled pot of lube at the head of the bed. There was enough left inside—he coated his fingers and then turned to Harry, who came into his arms with an ease that seemed practiced.

“Severus, I don’t know how to…”

“Shhh,” he soothed, not truly surprised by Harry’s inexperience. How could he have thought of Harry as a whore? It seemed stupid now. “I’ll take care of you, Harry. Don’t I always?”

“Except when I take care of you,” Harry answered.

Severus kissed the smirk off his face and then began to prepare him. He pressed his fingers inside slowly, one at a time, kissing Harry’s lips and face and neck while the younger man squirmed in his grasp.

“Oh, that’s – oh!

Severus chuckled. “Your prostate,” he whispered into Harry’s hair. “Let me…”

And then Harry was crying out in renewed pleasure as Severus moved his fingers inside him. And Severus was rolling them so that Harry was fully on his back, a pillow under his hips. And he was rubbing lube onto his cock, which seemed to pulse under his hand, and Harry was groaning in pain and pleasure as he entered him, hot and wet and…

“Oh… oooooh, you’re so big. So. Big!”

“Merlin, Harry. You’re so tight. I can’t –”

“Move! Please, just – yes!”

“Oh, Harry, oh… oh, Harry…”

“Yes! Fuck, don’t stop. Don’t you fucking stop!”

“I – I…”

“Harder! Oh God, harder!”

“I… ngh! Okay! I’ll…”

“Harder!”

“Yessss, is that – is it Hard. Enough. For. You?”

“Ooooooooh…”

“Harry –”

“Ooooh, God. Severus! Oooh… I’m coming. I’m coming –”

“Harry, I’m –”

“Fuck!”

“Harry!”

“Severus!”

**********

Day Three:

Severus looked across the breakfast table and smiled.

Harry smiled back and took a sip of his tea.

Blanch watched it all from the kitchen doorway, eyes twinkling. “So, have either of you heard of the miracle of Silencing charms?”

Harry dropped his teacup onto its saucer, narrowly avoiding chipping the porcelain. Severus just turned to look at Blanch with wide eyes.

“You didn’t.”

Blanch smiled at Severus. “I’m afraid I did, my friend.” Harry flushed bright red and raised a hand to his face to cover his blush. “But don’t worry about what I did or didn’t hear – I’ve got a potion ready for you to try.”

Severus nodded and Blanch moved forward, extending the steaming goblet in his hand. He took the goblet, his black eyes searching Blanch’s face for any sign of reproach, but finding none. “Cheers.”

Harry and Blanch watched him drink the potion, Harry with a stupidly optimistic expression on his face. “Did it…”

“Work? Well, we’ll see,” Blanch answered. He sat at the kitchen table and opened Severus’ journal, then gave Severus a pointed stare. He was obviously waiting for Severus to pull out his wand.

Severus turned to Harry. “If it has any effect, it will probably be minor. This is just the first attempt of many to isolate the –”

“Just give your wand a wave then, Severus. There’s a good chap,” Blanch interrupted, sounding a little anxious.

Severus sighed and drew his wand. “Very well.”

**********

Six Weeks Later:

The waves broke on the shore and the water raced up the sand, eager to catch their toes. Harry jumped out of the way just in time to spare his trainers. “Whoa!”

“Be more careful, Harry,” Severus chided, pulling Harry close and laying a hand on his opposite shoulder.

“Yeah, sure –”

Seals barked a few metres away. Dolphins could be seen in the distant water, playing. The sun peeked out from behind a cloud, trying to shine through the overcast sky.

“So, now that you’ve found a cure, were you planning on –”

“Leaving?”

Harry swallowed hard. “Um…”

Severus looked out at the water, Harry still tucked under his arm. “I don’t know, Harry. There are so many things I left unresolved back in England. And I’m sure that you –”

“No, Severus. Don’t make this about me.”

“Of course it’s about you,” Severus retorted. He pulled Harry closer.

Harry rested his face against Snape’s neck. “I don’t want to leave you, Severus. Whatever you need to do, I’ll –”

Severus’ voice was low, barely more than a breath of air. “You’re so young, and you’ve never… had another lover. How do you know –”

“I just know.”

“Then –”

“We’ll figure it out together.” Harry pressed a kiss to Severus’ throat, where the scar tissue had been mostly healed. “After all we’ve been through this last two months…”

“Yes, I suppose we can handle it.”

And then Severus was pulling Harry into a full embrace. And kissing him. And holding close the most precious gift he’d ever been given. Forgiveness. Redemption. Love…




The End.