Chapter IX

Harry saw everything through Severus's eyes, as if he was Severus at the time that the terrible childhood horror happened. He snuggled closer to the warm arms and cried Severus's tears for him. He felt the man's cool hand stroking his head in a calming way, to the point where he nearly fell asleep…that's when he remembered…

"It was you!" Harry whispered loudly, his head shooting up so that he could look into Severus's eyes.

Severus looked at him curiously.

"You were the one who whispered those soft words to me last night, who held me and promised safety. My nightmare faded into a memory because of you! For once, the night wasn't horrible. My…night…night has never…ever…been pleasant…but…because of you…it was…sweet," Harry began sobbing tears of happiness into the man's shirt again.

"And it was you…you gave me the present…you…make me so…so…happy!"

Severus gaped at Harry before responding, "Yes. Yes. It was me."

Harry, without thinking, sat up on Severus's lap, the tears gone from his eyes, and he lightly pressed his lips to Severus's.

Snape couldn't help himself. He deepened the kiss by putting one hand around the boy's waist, the other on the back of Harry's head.

Harry linked his arms around behind Severus's head trying to press himself closer to the man who was healing him.

A tongue passed over Harry's lips, seemingly asking for entrance, so Harry opened his mouth wide and the tongue slipped in immediately, rubbing and caressing anything it could touch.

Harry moaned into the kiss, feeling himself get hard. This seemed to break the spell over Severus.

He peeled himself off of Harry immediately and stared at the shocked green eyes in front of him.

"We can't do this, Harry. I can't do this. Not to you. I don't want to hurt you. I don't want to set you back in any recovery from the past. I want to protect you, not harm you," Severus told him, his eyes pleading with the boy.

Harry eyed him, noticing the lust that still clouded his dark black eyes. Then he smiled.

"I'm honored that you want to protect me and you don't want to hurt me, but the only thing that could ever hurt me, Doctor Severus Snape," Harry said, his voice dripping with love and lust for the man on whose lap he sat on, "is if you intentionally rape me, beat me, or if you turn me away and don't accept me. I know that you mean me no harm, and I don't want you to think that you're taking anything from me…because I've already lost all my innocence. But I can give you the one thing that I've never given anyone else, and that is my heart; and I know that I've already given it. So if you wish to turn me away, I'll never make any advances, and I'll probably never heal. But if you accept me and my feelings, then I'll never leave your side. I love you Severus. And I trust you."

Severus stared at the boy, never once expecting that he would say something as powerful and meaningful as that. And it made all the sense in the world to him.

He stared into Harry's eyes again, trying to find a hint of unease, but he found none.

"Do you accept me?" Harry asked again.

Severus couldn't think, but he pulled Harry to his lips and began kissing him in a slow, passionate, love-filled way.