So this is currently another potential oneshot or to be continued. I do enjoy the lead up to beautiful sin, just the hint of a tease.

This was rattling around in my mind, the dedication it took for Snape to do his job. And how could Harry not be in awe and in love with him?

Disclaimer: All mistakes are my own. Characters are owned by J. , but I am toying and warping them to my own ends!

Enjoy and drop a comment!

It had been six months since the defeat of Lord Voldemort and Harry was worried about how to approach him, his saviour. It had always been him; the silent protector, the harsh teacher, his worst judge yet the one whose judgement meant the most to him.

Clinging to the shadows Harry approached the dark grotty ancestral home of Severus Snape. His footsteps light, wand at the ready in case he should be attacked, for one could never be too sure how the old Professor might react. Reaching out to knock on the door, Harry barely suppressed a flinch as the door swung open on its own accord.

"Hello..? Snape?" he called, pushing his way into the dimly lit house, all available wall space was decorated with shelves that held great tomes about all magical matters. Exactly how he imagined the home of Severus Snape to be.

As he cast his gaze around the rest of the room, the elder man stood in the doorway his eyes dark making it hard to read them in the minimal lighting, yet his skin glowed paler than normal, dragging Harry's full attention to him. The patch of flesh from where Nagini bit him was a livid crimson; its mark took up the whole side of his neck, a reminder to Harry at how close he had been to losing this man.

"Potter?" he questioned, his body held rigidly upright, arms crossed over his chest.

It was a defensive position, suspicion in the inky depth of his eyes and a hint of hostility in his smooth voice. For now, Snape made no movement out of the comfort of the shadows, waiting instead for his Ex-Student to explain the sudden visit.

Harry stood there awkwardly; what could he possibly say to a man that given him so much? He died for him, right in front of his very own emerald hued eyes. The feelings that had coursed through the young hero had almost floored him, the breath stolen from his lungs as he watched the man he had hated and loved in equal parts perish in his arms.

Truth be told, Harry had no idea how Snape came back to life, in fact the man hadn't been forthcoming with that information, or any sort of communication since the end of the war. It was like he had retreated to the dank hovel that was his home, and shut his self away from the rest of the magical world.

Harry had experienced a lot of trauma over the years, losing people that he had loved in the form of friends and family, yet never had he been as emotionally numb as when he saw Snape stagger back to the school, his eyes haunted as he stared back into the eyes of Lily Potter's son.

It was like the universe was giving him a second chance, to finally say everything he needed to get off his chest. Perhaps they could lay to bed all the resentment that resided from the Hogwarts years, and move forward and define a relationship that wasn't shrouded in so much history Harry wasn't exactly clued into.

"I feel I should thank you for everything that you did for me... but I can't, where do I even start? So maybe it's better if I don't try."

Harry crossed over to the decanter on the side table, filling them both a tumbler of fire whiskey. He needed to keep his hands busy, do something to bridge the silence that was coming from the two survivors of that night.

Everyone had lost someone that night; be it a family member, a friend, or just the loss of their innocence finally. No one had walked away without some sort of scar, and something these two men had shared was that they had both died that night, only to come back to carry on fighting.

Taking a large gulp Harry shuddered as the liquid burned his throat, his fingers shake slightly as he pushed his unruly hair from his eyes as he speaks softly.

"Truthfully I'm angry that there were so many lies in my life. I know I shouldn't be, not anymore. That I shouldn't hold it against anyone... But it still eats away at me." He breaks his speech only for a moment as Severus finally moves away from the door frame to stand in front of the fireplace. "I was made to grow up so quickly yet everyone insisted on treating me like a child."

The brunt of Harry's bitterness still lay with Dumbledore. After all, he thought that they had held a connection, a deep understanding for all things to do with the Prophecy, and losing his parents. Unfortunately, it seemed that Dumbledore himself wasn't being particularly honest with the Boy Who Lived, and their meeting in the white train station when Harry had passed over, had in fact been bitter sweet.

As if Severus knew what he was thinking, he finally pipes up, holding out his hand so Harry hands over his tumbler. "Dumbledore was a brilliant man with an exceptional mind... But he was also a bastard who made many mistakes. He did care for you, for me, for us all in his own way. He just forgot that sometimes, he asked more than anyone should be willing to give."

Harry's eyes avoiding his own for a moment, ashamed he was harbouring such ill will still to the greatest Headmaster Hogwarts had ever had. He nods his head, shifting almost nervously, not knowing why he felt the need to tell he man any of this.

He had no family left, none to call his own. Lily, James, Sirius, Remus, Tonks... He had lost them all. The Weasley's were his adopted family, and now they were to be his real family. "I finally proposed. I'm engaged to Ginny Weasley."

Severus nods with an unreadable expression on his face, his head tilts slightly as he stares into the depths of this tumbler. The amber liquid swirls as he rolls the crystal in his grasp, voice soft when he finally speaks. "Congratulations. Your mother would have approved."

Harry swallowed the lump in his throat at the mention of his mum. "I love her. I have done for a long time. We've been through so much and she never abandoned me, never questioned my sanity. And... You're the first person I've told outside of the family."

It felt like such a big deal to say it to Snape of all people, yet he didn't want to put it in a letter only to have it burnt or left unanswered. Whatever the Wizard's reasoning, Harry believed this sort of news deserved to be said in person. And perhaps a piece of him wanted to gauge his reaction.

Harry takes this moment to turn to face Snape fully, heart practically in his throat by this point. He wanted to clear something up, to confirm something he had felt for so long, yet he had been scared to explore. "Yet I needed to see you, to talk to you... I'm not going mad, right? Tell me you feel this too?"

Harry stepped closer to his old professor, his eyes almost manic as they dart across the Ex-Death Eater's visage, hoping to see some kind of sign. There had been so much hostility and lies in their past, how were they supposed to know what was real anymore?

Snape had done something so selfless for him, and part of the young Auror had always wondered if Severus was just satisfying a promise he had made to the memory of the woman he had loved years ago, or if it meant more. Wishful thinking most likely, but Harry needed to make sure. He wasn't one for leaving things to drag on, to allow them to remain unresolved forever.

"Tell me you imagine me on my knees for you," Harry barely whispers, his trembling fingers reach out to stroke the injured side of Snape's throat feeling the damaged flesh, at how cold the area felt like there was still poison in his system. Harry's lips close to his, almost brushing the other man's as he groans softly, "I want you so fucking much it hurts. I've wanted you for years."

Severus turned his face away from Harry, his black hair hung down past his shoulders now as he looked into the roaring fireplace, eyes haunted. He hadn't pushed the younger man away from him, yet neither had he entertained the touch, the closeness.

"Harry, go home to your pretty little fiancée. Go plan your lives together, dream of children with your jewel coloured eyes... and her fire red hair." He pushed away from Harry finally, not too roughly but enough to be a warning. His long fingers clutch onto his tumbler tighter, slowly lifted the glass to his lips so he can down the liquid in one go. The empty crystal glass then lay discarded on the mantle of the fireplace looking lonely, very much like how the Professor always looked.

Harry stood there studying him, his heart heavy and his body in a heightened state of arousal despite it all. He never thought he would be honest with the man, never thought he would even get this far before he was tossed out into the grim street.

Yet Severus wouldn't look at him. Instead he remained stoic, silent, shrouded in darkness and flame, making the Chosen One long for him. Crossing the room Harry reached out for his arm, turning him around abruptly Harry shoved his fingers into the thick curtain of silky hair that tumbled over his shoulder.

"Don't push me away, if you do this Severus I'll never come back." Harry's voice was painfully quiet; in fact the room was deathly silent.

"Harry, stop this foolishness!" Severus practically growls, inky depths of his eyes almost burning like embers of a flame. "What would you want with a miserable old man like me? You have your whole life ahead of you! I am cursed with this half life..." he grunted, trying to push Harry away again but the boy held firm.

"What are you talking about?" Harry gasped, eyes wide with fear.

"I'll never recover from Nagini's poison... I'm dying Harry. Now can't you see why I didn't write back to you?" he pushed against Harry harder but he held steadily onto him, his frame pushed against Severus' as he placed his tumbler on the mantel piece next to Snape's empty one.

Crushing his lips against the man's suddenly, he felt the burning need to close the gap between them, to let Snape know that he couldn't be turned away, even though Harry sobbed sadly as he pushed his hips against the other man's.

"Please no... No no... Say this isn't true..." Potter begged, his nose brushing against Snape's hooked one.

Harry grabbed his robes into two fistfuls, his nostrils flaring as he kissed him again, his lips trying to coax the older man to respond, anything as long as he could feel that he was alive and with him.

"I haven't got this far to lose you now! Can't you see how much I love you?!" Tears course down Harry's face, his glasses long been a thing of the past as he finally opted for magical treatment. He blinks away the teardrops clinging to his eyelashes, both fists in the Potion Master's hair as he kisses him over and over.

Severus groaned and finally relented, his lips opening to accept the boy's questing tongue that brushed over the thin line of his lips. Snape's long fingers reached down and cupped Harry's backside, crushing him against his solid frame, lifting him up higher onto his toes so that the kiss was more intense, his own raging erection brushed against Potter's as he slammed Harry into the wall beside the fireplace.

The boy who lived wrapped his long legs around the slender waist of the man he loved, his lips parting from his kiss slowly, hot breath caressing Severus's face as he watched with hooded eyes as Severus released the buttons on his jeans, sliding them down just enough to reveal Harry's lack of pants as his shaft sprung free from his material confines.

"I can't give you anything Harry... I can't promise you time, or happy memories. I'm a bitter, twisted man. You shouldn't be here, wanting me as you do." His voice was a little raspier then before, his dexterous digits wrap around the younger man's length as he leans forward to nip at his bottom lip. This simple action alone was like a hotline directly to Potter's arousal, whose whine echoes in the room as he clings onto Snape's robes.

"I-I want you. All of y-you. Please do not deny me this. Let me make up for my cowardice and all the time I've missed with you," He groans, his hand closing over Severus' guiding his movements slowly, sharing this intimate moment with the man who had been through as much, if not more than him.

"You're a fool, Harry," Severus murmurs, lips ghosting along Harry's parted ones. Inviting, desperate for more. For the Ex-Death Eater to give him everything he's been yearning for.

"But I'm your fool."

That he was.

That he certainly was.