DISCLAIMER: I own nothing you recognize.

WARNING: This WILL EVENTUALLY be SLASH, meaning Male/Male relations, and implied MPREG, meaning Male Pregnancy.

SUMMARY: This is gonna be based on the novel "Girl With The Pearl Earring", sorta. Eventual HPSS, though SSBW (Bill Weasley) and LMBW implied. Back when Harry was 11, his aunt convinced him that the letters he was getting were from bad people who wanted to kill him. So he wished they never find him and this wish made him unfindable. No one who has the purpose of finding him will do so. Now Harry is 16, and totally oblivious to the magic world. Meanwhile, Lord Voldemort is on the rise. And Severus Snape finds himself practically on Harry's doorstep. Read on to find what happens!


Chapter 3

His mind reeling with plans of bringing Harry to Hogwarts, Severus brought the cup to his lips and steeled himself. He knew good-tasting potions were rare. His own anti-Cruciatus potion was by no means good. Tasted like old socks, really. With a big gulp Severus emptied the cup. And was once again struck speechless. He goggled at Harry, his mouth still savoring the delicious aftertaste of the mixture.

Seeing his facial expression, Harry threw back his head and laughed loudly. "You didn't think I'd make you drink something horrible, did you? What did you expect, old socks?"

Snape blushed and mumbled something unintelligible.

"But tell me," Harry's expression became serious. "Is it working? I can never be completely sure."

Snape cocked his head and focused on his body. "Incredible..." he finally whispered. All traces of the Cruciatus were gone. He felt better than he had in days! For the first time, Snape looked at Harry and saw not just a boy, but a master of his craft. "Thank you..." he said softly and smiled.

Harry's smile could light a thousand suns.

Meanwhile, Snape decided to talk to Harry in the most direct way possible. He couldn't afford weaving nets or speaking in less-than-plain language. He had to get the boy to believe, and to come to Hogwarts, immediately.

"Harry..." he began. "When you were eleven...did you...get a Hogwarts letter? It would be on old-fashioned parchment, with fancy cursive writing? It would depict exactly where you..." Snape found himself trailing off as Harry paled greatly and slowly backed away.

"No..." muttered Harry, "you couldn't be one of them..." The boy looked...scared almost. But of what?

"One of who?" questioned Severus carefully. He couldn't frighten the boy.

"The bad people," stuttered Harry. "My aunt said... she said the people who wrote the letters...they were evil. They killed my parents and wanted to kill me." His hand went to his forehead. "Tell me you're not..." he was becoming almost hysterical. "Tell me you're not one of them!!"

Snape was lost. Slowly he rose from the couch and approached Harry. The boy backed away.

"Harry..." tried Snape. "Listen to me. You have it wrong. Yes, I'm with Hogwarts, but we're not the bad people. Yes, an evil man killed your parents, but we are working against him!"

Disbelief was evident in the boy's face.

"Harry, you listened to my body," said Snape in desperation. He couldn't lose the boy! "Did you hear evil?"

Harry looked him in the eye. "You've done evil things before. Horrible things." But something changed in him. He was starting to calm down.

"Please listen to me," pleaded Snape. "I'm telling the truth."

For a moment, Harry was still, contemplating something. Then, slowly, hesitantly, he led Severus back to the couch and made him sit down. He silently kneeled before him.

"Talk," he whispered, and gazed deep into Severus' coal-black eyes. Assaulted by a brilliant fiery inferno of the boy's eyes, Snape started talking. He talked about magic, about Hogwarts, about the beautiful Lily Evans and the ever-so-popular James Potter, about Lord Voldemort and the prophecy, a tiny boy, and a lighting bolt shaped scar. In him, a hope was being born. But Harry turned away.

"I can't see," he whispered. "It's a closed door." He started moving away.

"No, please!" Severus grabbed the boy's arm. "I'll open it. Please."

Harry consented. Again he looked into Snape's eyes.

Through sheer force of will, Snape let go of his Occlumency skills and – for the first time in decades – laid his soul out for someone to see. As he gazed into Harry's eyes, time seemed to slow down as he melted into something unimaginably intimate – a sense of closeness he had never felt before. Inside the boy's emerald eyes a fire was burning – a fire so bright and strong it could burn anything in its path if it was not so...gentle...even loving... The fire was captivating, and Severus knew he was lost, drawn like moth to the flame, and consumed in his entirety by...passion.

Slowly, Harry blinked and broke the eye contact. A small smile was spreading on his face.

"I believe you," he whispered softly. "When do we leave?"

----------------------------------------------------

Collecting Harry's things didn't prove too difficult. In a half hour, they were ready to go. After taking the boy's potion, Snape was sure he could dual-Apparate them into his chambers.

Almost shyly, Harry took Severus' hand and held it tight. He was trembling ever so slightly. Snape stifled the urge to hold him close.

"Close your eyes," he whispered. The boy obeyed instantly.

With a soft pop, the two men disappeared to reappear split seconds later in a private room deep in the heart of Severus' chambers.

"Okay," said Snape. "We're here."

Harry opened his eyes in wonder. They were in a small, empty room, with one door and a coat-hanger. Under his questioning gaze, Snape shrugged. "It's only for Apparating into or from."

From the depths of his heavy robes, Severus fished out a small key and fitted it into the lock.

"You ready?" he asked softly.

Harry nodded.

With a soft click, the door was open.

As the two men walked out into a dimly lit chamber, a flurry of red threw itself onto Severus. Or, rather, himself.

"Sev!!" exclaimed a tall thin man with freckles and wild bright red hair. "You're back!! I was so worried." Severus cringed ever so slightly as he was kissed soundly by the read-head.

Harry looked at him in confusion. Snape ducked his head in shame, unable to meet the boy's eye after they'd shared something as intimate as that less than a full hour ago.

"Harry..." he cleared his throat and hesitated, cheeks burning.

"Meet Bill," he forced out finally. "My...lawful......husband."


RF's note, please read: Now I know what you're thinking. You can't Apparate into Hogwarts!! And technically you're right. But this isn't a mistake and it will be explained in the near future. A couple things I wanted to say: First of all, I am sorry but the chapters probably will not get longer. I sort of have these places where I feel I MUST break off the chapter. So I'm sorry. Also, I'm sorry to say that I will NOT be updating every day as did with these first 3 chapters. I'm pretty busy, so though I will update fairly often it will not be every day. Plus, I want to give each chapter at least two full days to be reviewed. Which means that I will never update more often than every other evening. Sorry, guys. As far as the story goes, the next chapters will see a shift to Harry's POV, though I will not recount the story but will just pick up where this chappie leaves off. And now the main point – thank you so much, all my wonderful amazing reviewers!!!! You make me VERY VERY happy!!!!

People who have reviewed Chap 2: lmill123, Wolflady, Miki23, Lady FoxFire, SuziJ, Quashi, ldypebsaby, blubb-blubb, ClothoLachesisAtropo, Tigris T Draconis, barbarataku, DeathzBeauty, Jazzylady, severusdraco, Lady Phasma, athenakitty, SailorBaby16, SerpentSlaveChik, SheWolfe7, Winnie2,and RtisTykSyko!

Again, thank you guys so much!! And please review the next chappie too?

And if anyone out there is reading the story but not reviewing, then please review? Even if you have nothing really to say, just drop a short review saying you read it? Thanks everyone!! Remember, the more reviews I get the faster I'll write!!