A/N: I realized belatedly that the last line of Chapter 13 might be more ominous than I intended, considering my past history of blowing up characters and whatnot... I decided to go ahead and finish editing Chapter 14 before going to bed tonight. I hope you guys enjoy it! Please let me know if I missed any typos.

— CHAPTER 14 —

Severus had planned on seeing Harry over lunch but one of his idiot students sustained third degree burns by trying to move a hot cauldron with his bare hands. Severus had had to escort said idiot to the infirmary. Severus was in such a foul and resentful mood by the end of lunch that the student had started crying again - and not because they were in any physical pain.

"It's not exactly an expression of confidence to have the house elves check up on me every half hour, Severus."

Severus was relieved to see Harry step through his bedroom door. Harry looked tired but not as tired as Severus had expected. Severus grudgingly admitted, "I didn't expect you to notice the house elves."

"Obviously," Harry replied, but his stern tone betrayed a hint of humor. "I also heard that you made some poor student cry over lunch. You shouldn't be mean to students just because you're sexually frustrated."

Severus frowned and deflected with a question, "How did you know that?"

"The house elves who reported my condition back to you would then report your condition back to me," Harry replied smugly.

Severus should have known. He'd had the foresight not to send Dobby but apparently all of little creatures were overly fond of Harry. He sighed and said, "I was worried about you."

"Certainly, but you were also sexually frustrated," Harry replied knowingly.

Severus refused to admit it but he didn't have to. Harry stood beside the bed and he began to strip. Severus stared, unable to look away as more and more skin was revealed. Then Harry was standing before him, naked and entirely unembarrassed. Not that the young man had anything at all to be embarrassed about.

Harry glanced down at himself in an almost curious manner then looked at Severus, tilting his head questioningly as if he thought it was possible that something might be wrong. Severus swallowed and extended his hand to Harry, "Come here?"

He didn't mean it to sound like a question but Harry smiled and crawled onto the bed with him. Severus ran a hand lightly down the length of Harry's side. Harry asked, "What's that expression for? You haven't looked at me quite like that before."

Severus shook his head, unable to put his feelings into words. Harry reached for the ties of his bathrobe and Severus hastily caught his hands. Severus said quietly, "Maybe we should wait till next weekend."

Harry's expression fell with disappointment and Severus hated himself for it - for disappointing Harry but also for denying his own desire.

"Oh, alright," Harry replied agreeably, without pausing longer than a couple seconds. "Let me go take out this toy and get dressed for bed then."

Harry stood and turned away. Severus sat up and gripped Harry's hip, stopping him. Harry looked at him over his shoulder, "Severus?"

Severus touched the small of Harry's back and ran his hand down over the curve of Harry's ass. Then he slowly removed the toy and set it aside. Harry shivered and murmured gently, "Make up your mind, love. You can't reject me and then tease me."

Severus sat up on his knees and wrapped his arms around Harry's lean, strong torso from behind. He rested his forehead between Harry's shoulder blades and whispered, "I wish I could make you understand how beautiful and wonderful you are."

"Severus…"

"I can barely bear it."

Harry tried to turn but Severus held on tighter. He couldn't say these things to Harry's face. He could hardly speak them aloud. He whispered, "Harry, you are everything I want and everything I don't deserve."

"I feel the same way about you, Severus."

The simple truth in those words shocked Severus and he didn't know what to say. Harry placed his hands over Severus's, "You know what I've realized recently? If everyone in this world got exactly what they deserved, no one would be ever be happy. We must all take happiness wherever we can find it and do whatever we can to hold onto it. You make me happy. Don't I make you happy too?"

"You know you do," Severus replied, wondering how Harry had come to be so much wiser than Severus when he was half Severus's age.

"I think that should absolve us both of guilt. Let me love you."

Severus's grip slackened. Harry turned, then bent at the waist and kissed Severus passionately. When he broke the kiss, his eyes were practically glowing, "When did you remove yours?"

It took Severus a second to realize what Harry was asking, then he smirked, "I didn't."

Harry gaped at him and then started to laugh, "You dirty cheater! If that's why you took mine out, I'm going to throttle you!"

Severus was thoroughly amused too, "It is not cheating if you let me do it."

"Only because I thought the game was already over!" Harry insisted. "I thought you'd already removed yours!"

"You assumed wrongly," Severus replied offhandedly, in a way he knew would antagonize Harry to no end. "Since we did not determine what the winner would get, I think I should be able to decide."

"What?" Harry scoffed. "Oh no, you're crazy if you think I'm going to let you-"

"I want to fuck you."

Harry stopped and his eyes widened a little then he grinned, "Oh! Well, in that case… How do you want me?"

Severus was still very conscious of how weak and fatigued Harry was. He had no intention of letting the young man overexert himself, not for the next few weeks at least. He replied, "Lay on your back and spread your legs."

Harry knew Severus preferred that particular position and he cast him a look that said he knew why Severus was asking for this from him. Severus didn't care if Harry suspected his true motives. He only cared that Harry did as he asked and Harry did.

"Don't perform any magic," Severus added as he took of his robe. "Do you understand?"

"Fine," Harry acquiesced reluctantly.

Harry was plenty ready for him and Severus was able to enter him immediately in a smooth, deep stroke. Harry drew him down and whispered by his ear, "You're going to do something for me now."

Severus shivered slightly at Harry's tone. He couldn't help it. Harry tugged at Severus's earlobe gently with his teeth then murmured, "Enchant that damn toy in your ass to fuck you exactly like you're fucking me right now."

Harry pressed Severus's wand into his hand and Severus obediently cast the spell.

Severus already felt as if he could cum. The combination of physical sensations mixed with the ever-present overwhelming awareness that it was Harry he was doing this with… it was intensely arousing.

Harry lay back and watched Severus. His skin was flushed and his eyes were heavily lidded. He reached down and gripped himself firmly, stroking quickly. When Harry came that was all it took to push Severus over the edge too.

When they were laying together afterwards, Harry said quietly, "I never thought I'd be able to have sex with you in this body. It's so much better than I imagined. I didn't think it would make that much of a difference, in a transfigured body, but it did. I feel like I'm finally yours completely. To finally be free of guilt feels so amazing."

Severus wished he could say such things with the ease that Harry seemed to. He thought about it for a moment then said, "I may… have been worried for nothing."

Harry smiled at him and kissed him. They lay together quietly for a few long minutes and Severus finally said, "I can also admit, I did not expect so much good to come from being blown in half."

Harry lifted his head and glared at him. Severus smiled and said, "Relax, I'm kidding."

Harry rolled his eyes and muttered, "It's too soon to make jokes about that."

He dropped his head back down onto the bed and added, "I might feel slightly better if I could just figure out who sent that damn package."

"I'd feel better if I knew who leaked the story about us to the papers in the first place," Severus replied darkly, his good mood souring slightly.

He felt Harry stiffen a little beside him and Severus sat up immediately, spitting out incredulously, "You know?!"

Harry held up his hands, "Don't get angry! I didn't say anything because I thought you knew already. I figured he would have talked to you before me even."

"He?" Severus snarled, "Who exactly-?"

"Albus, of course."

"What?" Severus breathed.

Harry shrugged and said, "Yeah. I had to tell him who I was when I asked him for the DADA position. I made him swear an Unbreakable Oath not to reveal my identity. I should have made him swear to stay out of my business too because he was always after me to reveal myself. Anyways, he was keeping close tabs on me and I suppose that's how he figured out we were in a relationship. He thought I was doing it to hurt you and I was just so angry with him I let him think the worst of me. It's mostly my fault that he felt like had to take drastic measures in order to break us up."

Severus listened, feeling numb with disbelief. Albus had been the one to leak the story to the papers. Albus's meddling had nearly gotten Severus killed once again.

Harry was still talking and Severus struggled to focus. Harry said, "I actually forgave him. I mean, he gave me the best apology I'm probably ever going to get from him and I think we actually understood each other for once. It's just… I try my best not to hold onto negative emotions when I have the opportunity to let them go, you know?"

Severus understood that. It was the best possible course of action for Harry, considering his mental illness and the fragile state of his mind. Harry continued, "I mean, he even apologized for everything he did to me as a child. I never expected him to actually admit that he intentionally placed me with the Dursleys in order to be able to manipulate me better later on."

"What?" Severus questioned. "How does that correlate?"

Harry frowned at him curiously, but he wasn't picking up on the emotions Severus was working hard to hide from him right now. Harry said, "You know, because the Dursleys were abusive. I told you about my Aunt, Uncle and Cousin… Remember? Our first date? I wasn't making that up. I always tried to be truthful with you whenever I could be."

"I remember," Severus said quietly, careful to keep his tone neutral. He recalled now the details of abuse that Harry had told him about when Severus had thought Harry was Dominic. Severus hadn't made the connections until now but the entire awful picture was finally coming together in his mind. Albus had known that the Dursleys would not care for Harry. Albus had known about the abuse that Harry had endured, for the majority of his life. Albus had done it to control Harry. Little wonder Harry had always felt so alone and hopeless, when the man who was supposed to be his mentor had betrayed him so cruelly instead of protecting him like he should have.

Harry yawned and curled up against Severus's side, "Maybe it would help if you talked to him too. He promised not to interfere in my life anymore, but I think he still owes you at least one apology, for leaking that story. I can't believe he hasn't already talked to you about that…"

Severus kept his fury coiled in a tight ball in his chest. He could see how tired Harry was and he was loathe to upset him. Harry had been tired when he'd come into the bedroom and he was exhausted now. He needed all the sleep he could possibly get while he was still recovering.

Severus stroked Harry's wild dark hair until the younger man fell asleep. There was no chance of Severus sleeping tonight - not when he was thinking about how he would get revenge on Albus Dumbledore.

He was going to leak a story of his own.