Disclaimer: I do not own HP.


Severus sat stiffly in a chair next to his bed at Spinners End, where he had brought Harry. The boy…no, the man had been asleep for two days, and still showed no signs of waking up. Upon returning with the unconscious Harry, he had contacted Draco and told him to take care of Mathew's body, but not to bury it. He knew that Harry would want to attend the funeral. He also made sure that Draco hadn't told Hermione what had happened, knowing that a upset Hermione would cause him a lot of trouble with her wanted to watch over Harry every second of every day.

He hoped that Harry would wake up soon, he didn't want to deal with having to take care of him for much longer, and it was trying his patience. Poppy had enough work to do with helping with her granddaughter's birth, and he knew that taking Harry St. Mungo's would cause too much unwanted attention with the media.

So he was stuck here, on his own, taking care of the annoying brat who reminded him too much of James Potter. Though everyone told him that Harry was different than James, he couldn't get past it. They looked too much alike for their personalities to be different. Harry had to be just as arrogant, just as despiteful, just as mean as James.

But James did save your life that once, a quiet voice said in the back of his mind.

But that was only because he and Black would get sent to Azkaban if I had died.

The voice was silent for a moment, then it said, Severus, you've watched Harry closely over the past few years. The only time Harry had put someone's life in danger was when he would lead them into battle, and he had always tried to get them to stay away during those times. They chose to follow him.

I don't care! It's still Potter!

One of these days, you'll see the mistake you made in being so biased. You'll become even more bitter than you already are.

Leave me alone!

He waited for what seemed like hours, but was only a few minutes, until he was sure that the voice wouldn't speak to him again before bringing his attention back to Harry, who's forehead was covered in sweat and groaned slightly from whatever he was dreaming about. When he started thrashing and crying out, Snape jumped up and started to shake him awake.

"Potter! Wake up! NOW!" He yelled, angrily. When that just served to make it worse, he forced his voice to sound calm, if not kind. "Potter, wake up. You're having a nightmare. Come on, wakeup."

After a minute, Harry's eyes fluttered open, then widened in shock when he saw Severus. "What are you doing here? Where's Mathew?" He asked as he sat up.

Severus sighed. "You're boyfriend died, Potter. I'm sorry."

"No, he can't be dead," Harry said, tears coming to his eyes. "That was a dream. You shouldn't lie about things like that, Snape. It isn't funny."

Shaking his head slightly, Severus continued speaking. "Bellatrix used Avada Kadavra on him after he shot Goyle. Draco is taking care of his body, but not to start on the funeral plans until you were able to tell us what you want to be done."

Harry's tears worsened and he brought his knees up and laid his head on them. "He can't be dead! He promised he wouldn't leave me! That he would never hurt me!"

Severus sat down on the bed next to him. "People can't control when they die. If we could, we would all live forever. Life is…well, I wouldn't say fun…I guess, unpredictable when there's death. If no body died, then wars would go on forever and no one would have morals since they wouldn't need to repent. I'm sure that Mathew didn't want to die, but it was his time."

Harry glared at him. "Stop trying to cheer me up, Snape, you're terrible at it."

Severus smirked. "Who said I was trying to cheer you up. I'm just trying make you see that your boyfriend is dead, just as Weasley is (you still need to cope with that too), and there's nothing you can do about it. You need to try to get over their deaths. I'm not trying to say you shouldn't mourn them, but you can't have their deaths control your life."

"I don't! Now shut up and leave me alone!"

"I need to tell Draco you're awake now so that he can talk to you about the funeral preparations. Do you want Gra…Hermione to come with him?"

"NO! I don't want to see anyone! Not Hermione! Not Malfoy! And especially not you!"

"Then I'll tell him not to bring her. She doesn't know about what happened. I didn't want another member of the Golden Trio forcing her way in my house, let alone my room."

Harry finally looked around and realized that he wasn't in his apartment anymore, but a large bedroom with black carpet and dark green walls. The only window in the room had black curtains covering it, blocking out the majority of the light outside. The king-sized four poster bed he was sitting on had green hangings that matched the walls exactly, the blanket was black, and the many pillows varied from the same green, black, and a few silver. Across from the bed was a long dresser with intricately carved designs on it and had a large mirror on top.

The only personal object in the room was a single picture of a younger Severus, looking to be in his twenties, sitting on a couch with a mans head using his lap for a pillow as Severus ran fingers through the man's dark blonde hair on the bed side table. There was a gentleness in Severus' eyes as he looked down at the man that Harry had thought the potions master incapable of.

Noticing where Harry was looking, Severus quickly stood up and put the picture in the table drawer. "Don't think of asking questions, Potter. And I would appreciate it if, in future, you don't go snooping around."

Harry pushed the blanket off of him and moved to stand up. "You don't have to worry about that," he replied coldly. "I'm going home." When he got to his feet, he became dizzy and started to loose his balance.

Refraining from rolling his eyes, Severus gently pushed him back onto the bed and covered him once again. "You won't be going anywhere. Not only can you not tell up from down, but you need to be somewhere that you can be protected. There' only three places that can protect you. Hogwarts (but nobody there knows that you have been found), Malfoy Mansion (there you would have Hermione hovering over you twenty-four seven), or here."

Harry's fists clenched. "I can go anywhere I want to, Snape! Don't try to dictate me!"

"I wouldn't dream of doing so. Everyone knows you're incapable of doing as others tell you to. You have to be the one giving orders, not the other way around. As it is, though, it would be in your best interest…"

"I don't give a damn about my best interest! Everyone says they want to do what's best for me! Well, what's best for me would've been to die after killing Voldemort! That was the only thing I was good for!"

It was clear that Harry could, and would, go on for a while, so Severus covered his mouth firmly with his hand, not wanting to use magic on him. "Stop gripping, it doesn't suit you. Listen to me, if I ever hear you talking of being better off dead, it's a one way ticket to Hermione," Harry grimaced. "And since you won't listen to reason and choose where you want to stay, I will choose for you. Since you don't want to see Hermione, and all of the Wizarding World would know if you were to go to Hogwarts, you will stay here. No if, ands, or buts about it.

"At the moment, the guest room is a bit dusty," the look on his face clearly said that that was an understatement, "since I don't have many guests, but I can have it cleaned up by tonight if I get started on it after I speak to Draco. You have to talk to him so you can plan the funeral." Without another word, he left and went down to his kitchen, where a fire was always going.

He took some floo powder from a jar on top of the fireplace and threw it in. Kneeling, he put his head into the fire and said, "Malfoy Manor, Draco's Study." The chimney started to spin and when it finally came to a stop, he saw Draco sitting behind his desk and Hermione on his lap, kissing. He cleared his throat and the jumped apart, Hermione blushing and Draco shaking his head in regret. "Gra…Hermione, I need to speak to Draco alone for a few minutes."

"Why can't I…"

"It's personal."

"Oh, alright." She climbed off Draco's lap and walked towards the door, but turned around before leaving. "If you have to go anywhere, Draco, remember to be back for supper. We need to talk."

As soon as the door closed, Draco groaned. "Nothing good ever comes when she says those words."

"Potter's awake."

Draco looked up at him. "Since when?"

"About thirty minutes ago. I'm hoping he isn't mad enough to try destroying my room. I don't think he liked the news of his boyfriends death."

"Please say you broke it to him gently."

Severus hesitated, then said, "I probably could've been a bit gentler."

Draco sighed. "No wonder he hated you at Hogwarts. Let me change into something more suitable, then I'll come talk to him."

"Alright…would you mind lending me a house elf? My guest room needs to be cleaned."

Draco's eyes widened. "You're letting him stay with you?"

"It seems the only choice since he doesn't want to be around Hermione right now."

"I'll send Millie. She might try cleaning up everything else though."

"I won't be complaining about it, as long as she stays out of my room. Potter's already being nosy."

"You shouldn't have left the picture out in the open then."

"I didn't say…"

"You didn't have to," Draco said, rolling his eyes with a smile. Glaring at him weakly, Severus pulled his head out of the fireplace. With a pop, a small house elf appeared before him and bobbed a curtsy. "Master said Millie was to help Sir Severus."

"I need my guest room cleaned, Millie."

"Millie will get to it right away, Sir Severus!" She said with another curtsy and disappeared.

"Sir Severus?" Harry's voice came from behind him. "That makes you sound older than Professor Snape did."

Turning around, Severus glared at him. "I won't reply to that."

"But it's so much fun to ruffle your feathers," Harry said. "It had always been one of my favorite pastimes."

"And here I was, beginning to think you didn't deserve all of those detentions I gave you," Severus said sarcastically.

"Of course I didn't. You would've known that sooner if you had a sense of humor."

"I won't reply to that either. Now, what are you doing out of bed? Three minutes ago, you couldn't even stand."

Harry gave him a sickly sweet smile. "Are you worried about me? That's so sweet!"

"Don't even start with me, Potter. Now, get back up to bed."

"Can't."

"Why not?"

"I need to use the bathroom and have no idea where it is."

Only for a second did Severus wonder why it hadn't occurred to him to tell Harry where the bathroom was, then said, "First door on the right when you go up the stairs. Then get back to bed. I'll bring some food up for you."

Widening his eyes, Harry said, "Now I'm scared."

"Contrary to rumors, I'm not just some greasy old potions master. I do have to know common knowledge in order to live."

"And you don't even do that well."

"Depends on what your opinion of well is. I believe that we have to completely different definitions of it. Now go so I can get some work done."

Harry rolled his eyes and went back upstairs. Severus waited until he heard the bathroom door close before he began to put together a small meal of eggs, bacon, and toast, though it was nearly time for lunch. He needed to go shopping since Harry would be staying there.


Harry looked at his reflection in the mirror. His face was pale and there were dark circles under his dull eyes. It also looked like he had lost weight since he had last been awake, and he noticed that he was no longer wearing his muggle clothes, but pajama's that seemed to be a few sizes too big and were spelled to hold up. His hair looked even messier than usual.

Hopefully, he hadn't mad Severus too mad when they had spoken. But he had needed something to take his mind off of what had happened and Severus had been there. It easier to take his anger out on someone who didn't like than to take the chance of being caught crying in despair, though something told him that Severus wouldn't have judged him because of it.

He began to wash his hands and face as he wondered about the picture he had seen and why Severus didn't want anyone to know he had been human at least once in his life. He shrugged it off though as he grabbed a towel and dried up.

He passed an open door on the way back to Severus' bedroom and looked in. He saw a small house elf cleaning what he guessed was the guest room. Though a bed and small dresser sat in the room, mostly it was tables with cauldrons, potions ingredients, and books sitting on them. Shelves were placed on the walls, all holding different sized vials of potions. It looked as though Severus had turned the room into a workshop.

Looking at the house elf, he thought to himself, I should've known he wouldn't clean up on his own. He went and got a house elf and would've probably taken credit for it.

Shaking his head, he went back to Severus' bedroom and climbed onto the bed. After he lifted the blanket to cover up, he sat there thinking. He wasn't tired, he refused to let his grief for Mathew overtake him until he knew no one was around, and he didn't have anything to do. Severus had just sentenced him to who knew how long of boredom in bed. Before he could do anything about it, though, there was a pop and Draco appeared at the foot of the bed.

"You have no idea how strange it is to see anyone, let alone you, laying in Sev's bed," Draco said.

"I don't want to talk to you."

"Don't you? Knowing Sev, he won't let you out of bed and give you something to do while your in bed. I'll probably be the only person you'll have to talk to…unless you decide to let Hermione come see you."

"No."

"Alright, then…she's going to kill me for not telling her though…wait, what if she already found out? She did say she needed to talk to me at supper."

"If she had found out you were helping Snape hide me, you would've already heard about it."

"Oh, right. Wherever she's concerned, I get all worried. It seems that she finds about everything I'm planning on doing…sometimes before I plan on doing it."

"You haven't gotten used to it yet?"

"Of course not. It's too eerie to get used to."

Harry shrugged, "Kept me from getting into more trouble then I would've. So, have you two had any kids yet?"

"No, but not for the lack of trying."

"I didn't need to know that."

Draco hesitated before saying, "We really need to start on the funeral plans, Harry…you don't mind if I call you Harry, do you?"

"Since it's only a matter of time before Hermione finds out about Mathew and that I'm here, we'll probably be seeing a lot of each other. So I guess it's better if we try to be friends, Draco…That sounded weird. It'll probably take some getting used to for me, I never thought that I would have to see you again, much less have to be nice."

Draco gave him an odd look. "Are you sure about that?"

"What do you mean?"

"Why did you leave Hermione with me on the day of the last battle? We both know that if I could've killed her, that you had no reason to trust me to watch her. Still, you left her with me."

Hesitating a moment, Harry replied, "You gave her the same look Ron did, like she was something rare and beautiful that you had never seen before. I remembered that you would look at her like that in classes sometimes, but I never thought about it since you were always mean to her. When I left you two, I didn't really know what the look meant, only that it would help her…now, though, I know it's love. After all, why else would someone put up with all of the stuff she says and does."

Draco had to chuckle, "Yeah, well, you put up with it for seven years, I've only had to for five. Now, about the funeral."

"Do we have to talk about this now? I'm still trying to get used to the fact that he's gone."

"Could you at least give me the names of his parents so that they could plan it?"

Harry shook his head, "His father ran out on him when he was ten and his mom died three years ago. Everyone else in his family disowned him for being gay. Besides a few friends, who would think it odd if they were asked to plan it, he only had me."

Draco looked shocked, then said, "I guess I can see why you two were drawn to each other."

Harry nodded and said, "Do you think it could wait just another day? I promise I'll talk about it then."

"Alright, I'll come back to talk tomorrow afternoon…Sev didn't get any of your clothes, he was in a bit of a hurry. Do you want me to go to the apartment to get some for you, or do you want to do it yourself, that way you could get everything you want or need."

"There isn't anyway that Snape would let me go there by myself, is there?"

"No, he takes his duties very seriously. He's spent the past five years look…"

"Draco," Severus said as he entered the room with a tray. "I could only carry enough up for Potter on this tray. Come help me get some for us, too."

"But I'm not…" His voice trailed off when he saw the look in Severus' eyes. "Okay. We'll be back up soon, Harry." He swept by Severus and left the room. Before following, Severus handed the tray to Harry, who looked down at it suspiciously.


"What did you think you're talking about, Draco? You can't just go pouring your heart out to Potter about my personal life. Make a fool of yourself as much as you want, but don't make me suffer the consequences with you," Severus said as he put together two more plates.

"He's going to learn of it sooner or later, Sev. Once Hermione hears about him being here, she'll force her way in to see him and tell him everything that's happened since he left…that is, if she doesn't kill him for being rude to her when we went to see him."

Severus put the plates and drinks on two trays and handed one to Draco. "I don't care if you've already eaten or not, you're going to eat some of it. I doubt Potter will touch the food unless he sees that we're eating it, and he needs to eat. I put a potion in his so that will help him regain his strength."

Draco lead the way back up to Severus' room, where they saw Harry glaring at the untouched plate.

"It's not poison, Potter," Severus drawled.

"I'm not too sure about that, though it does look edible enough."

Severus sat down in the chair next to the bed and took a bite of his food. Following his example, Draco sat on the edge of the bed and ate some. With a sigh, Harry took a small bite of bacon, and when he didn't fall dead, he ate more.

When the plate was finally finished, Harry said, "At least it's a bit better than Mathew's charcoal diet." His eyes were bright with unshed tears, but he held them in.

"Do you want me to take you to the apartment so that you can get your stuff?"

Harry nodded slowly. "That'd be good."

"Sev, you can stay here. You'd only make Harry more distraught if you were to come." Severus glared at him and was about to remark when Draco stopped him. "You should help Millie clean up…or at the very least make sure she doesn't break your vials."

Without a word, Severus turned and hurried towards the guestroom.

"Of course he doesn't realize that Millie is one of my best house elves and has never broken anything in her life," Draco said before he took Harry's arm and apperated them.


I hope you liked it. I know this chapter doesn't have humor like the ones before it, but that's to be expected until Harry overcomes Mathew's death. I'll try to put more in the next chapter though. Review!