Disclaimer: I own naught.
Warnings: Specter!Harry. Slash.
Pairings: Lily/Sev friendship. Severus Snape/Harry Potter slash.
Note: The use of 'tender' in the title is completely intentional. I do not mean 'tenterhooks', I assure you. Please no more messages about that.
Tender Hooks
By: Bucket/Replacement for the Stars/filthyfreedom
Chapter One:
Rise of the Sun
The sun is rising
The screams have gone
Too many have fallen
Few still stand tall
'The Howling', Within Temptation
(O.o)
Year: 1967
Date: January the Second
The wide-eyed boy sat on the edge of Severus's rickety bed, swinging his bare feet absently as he watched the thin form hunt through the pile of blankets across the room. "Yo' know," the green eyed boy informed the thin body, "If yo' jist pick'd up th' blank't…it'd f'll 'ut." The green eyes crinkled as his adept use of the English language, although Severus's full-body shudder implied the thin boy did not agree.
Small black eyes glanced at the boy over a worn sweater that was slipping off his bare shoulder, entirely unperturbed by the sudden presence of the small boy. Severus sighed to himself and clenching his jaw, he lifted up the edge of the thinning top blanket and threw it up, the book he had been searching for immediately falling to the ground. The green eyed boy giggled and swiveled off the bed, stepping over on fairy toes to stand next to Severus, who turned and scowled at him. "Nessie"—for the boy did not have a name, so Severus had proudly taken up the mantle—"you should not be here. Father will not be pleased."
Nessie scooped up the fallen book and cradled it in his small hands, caressing the coverless pages and the spidery handwriting that was indecipherable. He shrugged off Severus's concern as he handed the thick book to his friend, who turned immediately around and dropped his too-thin body on top of his sagging bed. Nessie curled up next to him, nearly on top of the older boy, not that either of them seemed to mind. "'Snot lik' y'ur f'ther cin see me, 'nyw'y, Sevvie," Nessie informed the taller boy, who acquiesced with a soft sigh. He adjusted himself slightly on the bed, pushing up so that his back was resting against the wall, Nessie moving so that he was in Severus's arms, and the young man opened his book and quietly read out loud, his young companion quickly falling asleep.
To those who didn't see the message at the top: the use of 'tender' in the title is completely intentional. I did not mean 'tenterhooks'. Please no more messages about that.