SUSPICIONS
When Severus finished the Peace Draught, he was feeling a little better, but not enough to keep his mind off the morbid possibilities. He made his way to the stove area where he managed to dig out some useful ingredients and a cauldron. He set to work brewing Wound-Cleaning Potion, Burn-Heal Paste and Bruise-Removal Paste. All the while keeping his ears sharp for any noise, other then from Mrs. Weasley's obsessive cleaning, that might alert him to someone's arrival.
It wasn't very long and two of the three potions weren't even completed when he saw a flash of green and heard, what reminded him of a heard of cattle traipsing around the entry room. As fast as was humanly possible, Severus had spun around and was at the kitchen door, looking out at the scene. There were so many voices it was hard to discern one from the other, but he did hear Harry's name called out several times.
"SILENCE!" Dumbledore's voice boomed over the heads of the exhausted and injured. Severus looked up to see the man standing halfway up the stairs, arms raised high, commanding attention. He didn't realize he was blocking Mrs. Weasley's way, who after a minute of restless waiting, shoved passed him and quickly ran to her children.
After everyone was quiet and staring up at the headmaster, Severus was scanning the crowd for one face, but couldn't find him. It made his heart race, what if something had happened?
"Harry?" Dumbledore asked, his tone softer, as he lowered his arms.
The crowd shifted, stepping aside to allow a beaten figure to come forward. Severus could only see the boy's back, but it was reassuring, none the less.
"First of all allow me to say this one thing. You are not to blame for any of tonight's outcomes." said the older man.
Severus could tell that Harry was about to object, because Dumbledore raised a single palm to silence him.
"For those of you who waited behind for us here," he started, his blue eyes falling on Snape. "Thank you for your bravery and patients. I'm afraid, however, to report some rather bad news."
"Sirius?" squealed Molly Weasley, who had been counting heads and trying to figure out who was missing. Her terrified expression raised up to meet the consoling ones of Albus Dumbledore.
"I'm sorry I cannot tell you everything, I was not present. I do need to return to the school immediately. I apologize for leaving you all in such a rush." He said taking the few steps down to the floor. He walked up to Harry and placed a heavy hand on the boy's shoulder. "Get some rest. I don't want to see you back at school for at least a week." he looked up and found the other children in the group, who no doubt had gone with Harry to help. "You all either." with that he hurried to the fireplace where he flooed back to Hogwarts to reclaim his office.
As soon as he disappeared the voices resumed, loud and hectic. Severus kept his eyes on his lover as best he could, and noticed him trying to sneak away upstairs. He heard a few of the order members volunteering to take Longbottom and Lovegood home. He also heard Ms. Granger decline her offer, insisting she was going to stay here with Harry.
When he saw Harry disappear on the top landing, Severus moved quickly, worming his way around the crowd. He took the stairs two and three at a time until he reached the right landing. He scanned the hallway and found the only closed door. Choosing that as his target he approached and lightly knocked.
"I want to be alone right now." Harry's voice sounded weak and tired, the sound of it seemed to stab the man in the chest.
He reached down and tried the doorknob, discovering that it was locked. But he could feel no magical wards. It seemed Harry hadn't learned his lesson. With a flick of his wand the potion master had the door unlocked and swinging open. He stepped inside silently and closed the door behind him, not only locking it but throwing up several protective wards; one of which being a silencing charm.
The boy must have sensed the magic and turned around to investigate. He was sitting on the farthest side of the bed with his back to the door, only now his swimming green eyes fell on concerned onyx ones.
"Severus!" his voice was anguished as he rose to his feet and hurried around the bed to his lover. "It's so awful! Sirius, I couldn't help him! I couldn't stop them! I tried! But Voldemort, he-"
"Shhh…" The man placed gentle fingers to chapped lips. "It's alright Harry, there was nothing you could do."
"There's everything we could do!" the boy shouted. "But no one will listen to me! Everyone keeps saying it's too risky, and foolish! But we can't just leave-"
"Hang on, first, stop yelling. I may have set up a sound proof ward, but it's not perfect. Second, what are you going on about? It sounds to me like you want to go charging into the death eaters' base and take revenge out on the lot. That is foolish, Harry."
"Not revenge." He answered quickly, the volume in his voice lowered dramatically. "To rescue him."
"Rescue?"
"They captured Sirius." Harry said pouring every ounce of dread his body could muster into those three words.
"Captured him? I thought-"
"You thought he was dead? Of course not, Sirius wouldn't go down that easy."
Severus was taken aback. He had misunderstood, and like always come to the wrong conclusion. "But Harry, that's…" he took a breath to give him a moment to think. Being captured was far worse then being killed. They would torture Sirius into madness, until he begged for death. Severus had seen a man kill his wife and infant daughter just so he could be allowed death's sweet release. He understood Harry's desperation far better then he realized. "Dumbledore knows what he's doing. Even if sometimes he seems a little eccentric. Harry this is going to be hard, but you're going to have to be patient. I'm sure saving Sirius is a top priority now, okay?"
He could tell Harry wasn't satisfied, but the boy didn't make a move to argue anymore. He was exhausted. Severus reached up and wrapped his arms around his love, "I'm just glad you're okay. I was so worried. I thought, I might never get to hold you like this again."
A smile touched his lover's otherwise torn face. "Can we sit down?" he asked motioning to the bed.
"Sure." Severus let go of the boy just long enough to take his position at the head of the bed. Harry crawled on behind him and leaned against him. "Are you too tired to tell me what happened?"
"We…we went there to save Sirius, like I told you in Umbridge's office." He started, but Severus interrupted him.
"How did you get away from her?"
"Hermione lied to her about having some secret weapon, so she wouldn't torture me with the cruciatus curse. We led her into the forbidden forest, and she was carried away by centaurs. I found it rather entertaining."
"She was going to-? That bitch! She deserves whatever they do to her." he growled. After a moment of silence he looked down to see Harry smiling up at him. "What?"
"I remember when that look on your face used to scare me." he said simply, then continued on with the story. He explained how they had gotten into the Ministry building itself, which was disturbing to Severus how easy it was. Then he explained the ambush, which Severus had expected. However Harry managed to skip over the part where Sirius was captured, which the professor had taken notice of but didn't comment.
"I chased after them. The two that had Sirius and Bellatrix. The ones with Sirius reached the floo before I could stop them, but I managed to grab her. Well…I did something I'm not proud of. I was upset."
"What did you do to her?" Severus encouraged.
"I used a very weak cruciatus curse on her, anyway she dropped." Severus didn't say anything, he knew he shouldn't, but he was pleased. He would've loved to be witness to that. "Then…something happened. I felt strange, and I could hear Voldemort's voice in my head. He was telling me to do it, to…kill her. He was trying to make me like him." Severus was taken by surprise, he hadn't expected the Dark Lord himself to be present at the attack. The potion's professor had been left very much out of the loop, and that frustrated him. "Then he was there." Harry continued. "I tried to stay in control of myself but I was…slipping. Then Dumbledore showed up. And he and Voldemort started fighting. I didn't notice when Bellatrix had gotten away." Harry interrupted himself with a mighty yawn and resituated himself against the older man. "Severus, he used Legilimens on me. I tried to use your training, but he was too strong and he got through my mental walls."
Severus dark eyes widened in terror. "What did he see?"
"Don't worry, he didn't see much…just a little bit, but I don't think he understood. I don't think he, from what he saw, that he put two and two together." Harry explained.
"But what exactly did he see?"
"An Occlumency lesson…and when I set the classroom on fire on accident. Besides various other memories that had nothing to do with you."
"Okay, you had me worried he saw…us."
"Then I would be freaking out."
They fell silent and after twenty long but pleasant minutes of Severus holding the boy close to him he could hear Harry's breathing slow and even out. He looked down at his little lover and saw his heavy lids closed over those mesmerizing green eyes, and mouth gaping slightly in sleep. Severus smiled softly and stayed a while longer like that, before deciding he better hurry up and leave before anyone found them. He carefully crawled out from under Harry, slowly laying him back against the pillows. The potion professor leaned forward and lightly pressed a kiss to the boy's scar and whispered, "I love you."
Harry had just finished packing his trunk and was heading to the great hall to say goodbye to his friends he knew he wouldn't see again until after summer. As he rushed down the stairs he could hear the low roar of the entire student body yelling over each other.
"Potter!" He heard as he had started running down the corridor. He slid to a stop and turned around to see Draco Malfoy step around the corner. "I was wanting to talk to you earlier this semester, but I guess you never got my message."
"No I got it, I just didn't care." Harry said flatly. "Well since you've managed to catch me alone, what is it you want to tell me?"
Draco's steely eyes narrowed in a fierce glare. "Shut up Potter and listen to me. I know Professor Dumbledore issued you some private tutoring with Professor Snape. Is that to continue next year?"
"As far as I know."
"I'm sure you didn't know this, and it really isn't any of your business, but…professor Snape is my godfather. And I noticed something strange this year during potions. It's the way you look at him while he teaches. I don't like it. And I don't like that you're spending all this extra time with him either."
Harry was instantly defensive. "What are you getting at Malfoy?"
"If you're trying to somehow besmirch my uncle's good name, you're going to have to answer to me. I'll be keeping my eye on you." snarled the platinum blonde as he shoved past the bespectacled brunette.
Harry just stood there, facing the staircase he had practically flown down, earlier. Hedoesn'tknow. he told himself. Hedoesn'tknowforsure. once he finally came to his senses he realized he had to go find Severus and tell him about Malfoy's suspicions.
He took off back towards the great hall. Severus should be there performing his teacher~ly duties, ushering the students to the carriages. But just as he was about to reach the doors a strong pair of arms wrapped tightly around him and pulled him back into a familiar shadowy alcove.
"Hey there." his silky voice whispered in Harry's ear, his hot breath brushing against his cheek.
"Severus, I-"
"Me first." the man interrupted. "How you like to spend a week with me, during summer?"
"Like…at your house?"
"Yeah. I already got the okay from Dumbledore, and my house has already been prepared with strong wards, like your uncle's house, it's enough to protect you from surprise attacks. Though no one will know you were there anyway. And besides from the memories of your life there, I was determined to get you to spend all summer with me, but Dumbledore wouldn't allow it, he'd barely give me a week. I said it was in order to catch up on your Oclumency lessons."
"Really? That's great! I'd much prefer the whole summer of course but at least I get a week."
"Great, then it's settled. It'll be mid July though, so I'm afraid you'll have to suffer until then. I'll send you an owl. I'm afraid I have to go though, they'll be missing me. You better hurry to the carriages." He leaned down and pressed a quick kiss to the boy's lips. "I love you, I'll write to you." he reached up and pushed the Harry's hair out of his face and then pulled him forward to kiss his scar, a habit he had recently taken up.
"I love you too." was all Harry could get out before the man was rushing back to the great hall. Well he didn't get to talk to him about Draco, but it was confirmed that they were going to get to spend a whole week together, with no interruptions. That thought alone pushed all other worries out of the way and he practically danced his way to the carriages that were being pulled by the Thestrals.
A/N:Heyguys! SorryittooksolongIgotmarriedandthenwegotourownhouse, andwestillcan'taffordinternet, butwe'reworkingonit. Thankyoueveryoneforbeingsopatientandloving. IknowIpromisedtokillSiriusbutthereweresomanyproteststoit. Considerthisagiftasathankyouforbeingsopatient. Idon'tknow…Imightstilldoit, butlater. We'llsee. SonextchapterI'mjustgoingtoskiptotheweekatSeverus'house. Anyway, thatwaschapterSanjuuroku (36). StaytunedforSanjuunana (37).