Harry woke up with a groan the next morning. He was confused. As he put his glasses on he looked around at a room that was definitely not his dorm in Gryffindor. It took a few moments to remember the soulmate ceremony on Valentine's Day and his wedding last night. He was in his husband's bed.

He sat up and groaned as his head swam and he had to sink back against the pillows. "I'm never going to drink again."

A cold voice snapped his eyes open. "I expect you could be in use of this."

Harry took the vial from his hands with a bit of reluctance. "What is it?"

Severus smirked. "A hang over potion."

Harry was still sceptical. "Really?"

"Yes Mr Pot...Yes Harry. I'm not going to have my new husband show up to class hung over. And I did not poison it."

Harry drank down the horrid tasting liquid and handed the vile back to his husband, a word that made him shutter. "Thank you."

Severus pointed at the door to the right. "I suggest you hurry for a shower and dress or you'll miss breakfast in the Great Hall."

With that Severus had disappeared from the room and Harry climbed out of bed and headed into the bathroom. He took a hot shower and by the time he came out the combination of water and potion had him feeling much better. He got dressed, thinking breakfast would clear up the rest of it.

Severus was already gone when he came into the sitting room so he grabbed his books and headed up to the great hall. He slipped into a seat next to Neville and Ron.

Neville turned. "Luna told me how it went last night."

Ron looked at him. "Hey how come Luna got to be your best man and not me?"

Harry shrugged. "Sorry. Luna just understood what I was going through."

Ron seemed a bit hurt but he nodded. "So how is it being married to that greasy bat?"

Harry shook his head. "Talked about me being tutored for potions, and then went to bed. He was gone when I was up this morning."

He did not tell his friends about the fact that he had got drunk with his husband the night before or that Severus had to give him a hang over potion to help him get ready for the day. He knew Hermione would be all over the alcohol to minors and a student at that.

"He didn't try to jump your bones or anything did he?" Ron asked.

Hermione elbowed him in the ribs. "You don't ask someone a question like that Ron."

Harry shot a thankful glance at Hermione. "No" was his simple response.

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Albus called Severus to come speak to him after breakfast as he did not have a class the first block. Severus was hoping it was to talk about tutoring for his husband for potions but while they covered the topic first, it was not why Albus called him up.

"How did it go last night?" Albus finally asked.

Severus decided to be honest. "I got him drunk to calm his nerves. Then we spent a platonic night in my bed together."

Albus shook his head. "I will not mention the alcohol; I'll imagine I did not hear that. Could you not have used that to get the boy into bed?"

Severus was shocked by what he had heard. "I'm not going to trick the boy into bed by getting him drunk."

Albus sighed. "You know what you have to do and soon. Harry needs to be convinced one way or another."

"I am going to continue to think that Harry can defeat this like he has all other odds. I'll not take advantage of him when he is drunk or force myself on him."

"Severus you care about the boy, I can tell. Is it that bad to have sex with him?"

Severus was livid. "You're right, I do. That's even more reason for me not to force him. I'll not rape that boy after all he has been through."

"I hope your right and you have time but I doubt you do. There will come a time when you'll have to make the choice for Harry." Albus said.

Severus stood up to leave. "He had survived the death curse twice, he can beat this. I'll not force him."

Albus stopped him. "If he can't defeat this and there is no other choice, will you rather him die then to do what is necessary?"

Severus turned to look at the old man. "No."

He stormed out of the office. He knew that Albus was just trying to make him see that there was a serious chance that he would need to go through with this but he could not face it right now. He could not force the boy who he felt himself attracted to before their bond and now even more. He'd either have to hope Harry could defeat this or that he could seduce the boy quicker then he had ever thought.

"Shouldn't be to hard, I'm quite the catch." Severus said with a sarcastic sneer. "What young man wouldn't want to be forced to wed and then be bedded by me?"

As his first class was with the sixth years he was glad that his husband could no longer be in his class for he could not take seeing the boy right now. He saw many of the Gryffindors staring at him and not paying attention to their potions.

"Five points from Gryffindor Mr Weasley, keep your attention on your cauldron. We don't want you blowing up the classroom." Severus barked.

Perhaps this wouldn't be too bad. He loved having a good reason to be taking points away from Gryffindors. It was the best part of his day. He was obliged though to take points from Draco and Pansy who were also shooting him looks and smoke had risen from their cauldron as they had not been to attentive.

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"That man took 40 points from us in one class." Ron grumbled as he slumped onto the grass later that afternoon after their last class.

Harry turned to his friend. "I assume you are speaking of Snape."

Ron nodded. "Your husband, taking his anger of the situation out on us."

Hermione sat down. "Come on, Professor Snape has been taking points off of us for years. Nothing has changed."

Luna was looking over at Harry every few moments and she noticed when Harry started to scratch at one of his arms. She thought that it was quite strange. Standing up she looked at Harry.

"Would you mind walking me inside? Your rooms are close to the Ravenclaw entrance." Luna asked

Harry was surprised she had not asked Neville but he nodded. "Of course. I want to drop my things off before dinner anyways."

As they were walking inside Luna turned to him. "What is wrong with your arm?"

Harry shrugged. "I think I must have come in contact with some kind of plant in herbology, I feel a bit itchy."

Luna had her doubts. "If it gets worse I would go and see Madam Pomfrey about it."

Harry agreed and when Luna headed into her rooms he went down to the dungeons and dropped off his book bag there. He went into the bathroom and noticed his arms were red from where he had been scratching them. He had been itchy ever since that morning and he had no idea why.

"Great got some rash from sleeping in the dank dungeons for only one night." Harry muttered.

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Luna had left her tower quickly and had headed to the classroom where she knew Professor Snape would be even after his classes were done. She knocked on the door and waited until she heard his voice call to enter.

"Miss Lovegood." He acknowledged.

"Professor I had a question about last night." Luna said.

He looked at the girl and motioned her to take a seat. "Of course. As Harry's witness you have the right to ask."

Luna took a deep breath. "Professor was it a full physical bond?"

Severus finally looked at her. Of course she might know about this, knowing her mother. "Yes, Miss Lovegood it was."

Luna did not seem to surprised. "I assume that since the bond moved fast, so will the physical part."

"Have you noticed something Miss Lovegood?"

She nodded. "Harry has been itching his arms all day. He said it was something from herbology but I don't think it was."

Severus was worried but he hid it as best as he could. "Thank you for letting me know Miss Lovegood. You are a good friend."

Luna scurried off from the room, content that she had let Severus know as she knew Harry would not. "Look after him." Luna said as she left.

Severus slipped into the stool. It was moving faster then even Albus had mentioned. He had thought Harry would not feel any effects for at least three days and it had been less then 24 hours since the bond ceremony. He thought for a moment that it could have been a herbology accident but he knew he was grasping at straws.

"Damn that boy. I don't want to force him, but I can't let him be driven mad either." Severus said in anger.

He wrote a letter and took it to the owlery. He needed advice from an old friend. Lucius was out of the country but he needed someone to speak to. Draco could stand in for the wedding ceremony but Draco was to close to Harry. He could not bring his godson into this part of the conversation.

Looking at his ring he swore under his breath again as he headed for dinner. "Give us more time. He's a child."

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That night he came into the room as Harry was in his pyjama bottoms and was about to put on a shirt. He noticed the red on Harry's arms and could see the color was not a rash but was from the itching. His fears were of course answered from seeing this.

"What happened to your arms Harry?"

Harry turned around. "Harry? What ever happened to Potter?"

"You're a Snape now. I can't very well go around calling you Snape can I?" Severus snarled.



Harry agreed. "I guess not."

"So answer my question what happened to make your arms so red?"

Harry shrugged "Just a reaction to one of the plants in the greenhouse, nothing to worry about Madam Pomfrey told me."

Severus knew he had not gone to the matron but did not say so. "Let me put some salve on them and see if we can get the itching to go away."

It was not the salve that gave Harry relief. It was the warm massaging touch of Severus' hands on his bare arms. The physical contact was minor but enough for now to relieve the stress Harry was exhibiting. Brief contact would work for now but Severus knew as the days passed the urge for physical contact would grow more and more and touches like this would bring no relief, at least not until after they had consummated the marriage once.

Harry thanked him. "My arms are not itching any more. Thank you."

He watched the boy crawl into his side of the bed and fall asleep almost right away. He crawled into bed but his thoughts were plagued by what he was going to have to do. He was grateful that Albus had not told Harry the whole truth. Harry deserved what little peace he could gain.