TITLE: Silver Lining

AUTHOR: Eledhwen

PAIRING: SS/HP

RATING: PG

FEEDBACK: Please! angel_eledhwen@hotmail.com

DISCLAIMER: JKR's, not mine.

SUMMARY/CHALLENGE: Hogwarts has an anti-magic spell thrown on it. How do the residents of Hogwarts reverse it?

NOTES: Part of "From Dusk til Dawn - the Harry Potter/Severus
Snape Fuh-Q-Fest" at http://www.kardasi.com/HPSS.

ARCHIVE: Anyone who wants it, just ask.

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It was getting late, and Harry was becoming anxious. Sev really should have been back by now. After all, he'd only gone to check the wards. With Albus and Minerva away, the two of them were in charge of Hogwarts. However, he resisted the impulse to go and look for Sev. His lover had probably just gotten sidetracked by one of the other professors, and Harry had a not too inconsiderable amount of marking to finish. He was beginning to understand why Flitwick had decided to take early retirement and let him take over as Charms teacher.

About half an hour later, the door opened. Harry looked up, a smile spreading on his face, but it stopped abruptly at the look on Sev's. He looked furious, and beneath it, a little scared, although of course only an expert eye would have been able to see that.

"What's the matter, Sev?"

"Feeling particularly stupid today, Potter?"

Harry sighed loudly and dramatically. The man was so damn difficult to live with. Why did his reaction to fear always have to involve snapping at Harry? "Maybe I am. Care to give me a hint?"

"Tried looking at a picture recently?"

Harry repressed another sigh and looked over at the picture on the mantelpiece. It had been taken on their first anniversary. Sev was teaching him to ice-skate, and Harry had fallen into his arms, laughing. No matter that the picture moved, it always showed their happiness. Wait a second. It wasn't moving. "Sev?"

"Why not try putting out the fire?"

"Nox." The fire continued flickering merrily, taking no notice of Harry's command. "Sev, stop asking me questions, and tell me what in Merlin's name is going on!"

"It appears that Hogwarts has been placed under an anti-magic spell. Our wards are still up, but everything inside them is slowly being depleted of magic. As far as I can tell, the spell was placed roughly an hour ago. The pictures and staircases have stopped moving already. We have to get the house-elves and all magical creatures out before their internal magic runs down."

Harry took a few minutes to digest the flood of information before he asked "Internal magic?"

"You really should know this by now, Harry. All magical creatures by their nature have a magical field that can sustain their existence for a period of roughly 24 hours in a non-magical environment. However, after that they...cease to exist."

"Oh." A pause. "Wait a second! You mean they'll die if they don't get out?"

"Yes, Harry. It's not a problem, though. We can still leave Hogwarts. However, it is advisable that we find a solution soon, as there are several sensitive magical items and experiments in the school that cannot be removed, and which will be damaged if not maintained in a magical environment. We have perhaps a week."

"Well then, why aren't you waking everyone up? And did you owl Albus?"

"Let them sleep, for now. We'll need everyone to be functioning well tomorrow. Also, our owls rely on magic too, Harry. We can't get a message out through them, and a person on a broomstick would not be able to find Albus. We're on our own."

"Oh." Harry was silent.

After a while came a soft "I'm sorry."

"What?"

"I did it again. I'm sorry for snapping at you, earlier."

"It's okay, Sev. Although, how about you show me how sorry you really are?"

"A good idea, Harry."

And he did. Eventually they fell asleep in each other's arms, resting so they could face the problem in the morning.

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Severus woke early, as was his habit. He woke Harry too, and asked him to have the house-elves wake everyone and make sure they were all in the Great Hall in two hours. Meanwhile, he went to investigate further.

The spell had to be anchored somewhere, and if he could find it, then the spell should be relatively easy to remove. Of course, nothing was ever that simple. All he knew that the anchor could be anything the size of an apple or larger, and must be silver. There were an awful lot of things in Hogwarts that fell into that category, and he had no magic to aid him. All his knowledge of combating anti-magic spells was theoretical, and very little that he knew would be of any practical use.

He made it back to the Great Hall just as everyone was beginning their breakfast. He felt a peculiar sensation as he realised that the ceiling showed plain vaulting, instead of mimicking the sky outside. Others had noticed the lack of movement in the pictures, and the room was filled with a buzz of conversation in speculation on the reason for it and for the early call.

Thankfully, it was the Easter holiday, and the school only contained about a quarter of its pupils. When everyone had eaten, Severus waited for silence, wishing he could cast the spell that would make it certain that everyone could hear him. He was grateful that the house-elves had ensured that everyone was seated close to the head table, although of course he would never tell them that.

"Some of you may have noticed that certain magical effects have been fading from the school. The reason for this is that Hogwarts has been placed under an anti-magic spell." The buzz of conversation rose again, faintly panicked. Severus spared a moment to be thankful for the fact that very few of them would understand the true severity of the situation unless and until he chose to clarify it for them.

"Silence!" he said after a couple of seconds in a tone that cut straight across the hubbub. "Of course, we will try and combat this situation. Professor Potter and I will require the assistance of all fourth years and above. Remain here for further instructions. Third years will be in charge of looking after first and second years. The house-elves will of course be leaving Hogwarts, after clearing breakfast. Anyone with experience in Muggle cooking should tell Professor Vector." The professor in question blinked at finding herself so nominated, but merely inclined her head in assent. Apart from Harry, she was the only professor with any experience of Muggle life.

"Anyone who complains in my hearing will find themselves writing me twenty inches on living like a Muggle for a week." Satisfied at the effect this pronouncement had on the once again rising volume, he concluded. "Now, third years, take your charges back to your towers. Remember that we have no healing spells or potions, so do try not to be as clumsy as usual, or you may find yourself healing like a Muggle too. If you have any questions, see Professor Potter or myself. Dismissed."

As the younger years left, Severus indicated that the others should gather in a corner of the Great Hall. He could see Athyra gathering a small group of students in the opposite corner, and allowed himself a small smirk. They were going to have fun trying to cook for everyone. He caught Harry shaking his head at him – of course, he knew what Severus was smiling about, and shrugged unapologetically. Then he began to instruct the students on what to look for.

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Three days later, Severus was almost ready to admit defeat. They had been searching the castle every waking moment. He'd been stretching himself even further than anyone else, despite the fact that it increased the chances of missing something important. The lack of light spells made everything twice as difficult. As much as he hated to admit it, even to himself, he was really hoping that Albus would return soon, so that he could hand over the responsibility to him. Of course, he wasn't looking forward to the smug twinkle in Albus' eyes when he explained the problem. Then, knowing the old coot, he'd snap his fingers and put everything right.

Although…Severus did have an exceptionally powerful wizard of his own. He shook his head regretfully. Attempting to break an anti-magic spell was highly dangerous, especially when the strength of the spell caster was unknown. Harry's magical abilities were far more irreplaceable than any of the magical items and experiments that could not be removed from Hogwarts.

Dejectedly, he made his way back down to their quarters. He was exhausted, and he just wanted to spend an hour or so in Harry's company before falling asleep. Of course, none of that showed in his posture. He indulged himself by snapping at a few Gryffindors as he passed them in the corridor.

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"No luck, I take it," said Harry after one look at Sev's face as he entered their quarters.

"And none for you either." Sev replied, walking over to kiss him hello.

Harry settled for "Mmm," because, as always after one of his lover's kisses, he was momentarily speechless.

"I'm going to bed. Coming?"

"In a moment. I want to finish looking at this." He indicated the book on anti-magic spells he was consulting in hopes of a revelation.

After about half an hour, Harry was ready to quit. He stretched in his chair, casting his eyes around the room, falling automatically into the trance-like state that Sev had taught them, which was required to detect the anti-magic spell.

Hang on…what was that? He blinked to clear his vision. Clearly he was so tired he was hallucinating. That was his Quidditch World Cup trophy. But there was something not quite right…

"Sev!"

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Severus was teetering on the edge of sleep when he heard Harry's call. Hard-wired reactions over the years of fighting Voldemort had him, wand in hand, at Harry's side in seconds, reacting automatically to the urgency in his voice.

"What is it?" he queried, not noticing any immediate threat.

"Look. No, not normally. In the detection trance."

"Oh. OH!"

"Yeah."

"That's your trophy."

"I didn't put that spell there, and I really hope you didn't. Which leaves only one other person who can enter here. Get the feeling we've been set up, love?"

"Albus!"

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After that it was the work of moments to remove the anti-magic spell, although it took Harry much longer to calm down his understandably irate lover before they could get started.

"Look, I'm sure he had a very good reason."

"I don't care about his reason. I'm going to kill the meddlesome old…coot!"

"Sev. We've got to get this off first, before you can go anywhere and kill him."

"I suppose."

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At the end of the week Minerva, and more importantly Albus, returned. Severus didn't miss the fact that Harry made sure he stayed close, just in case his still seething irritation got the better of him.

"It's okay Harry, it's not like I'm going to murder him and devour his still-steaming carcass. Really."

"Sev, the simple fact that you just uttered that sentence ensures that I'm not going to leave you alone."

As Albus walked up to them, Sev smiled. Harry knew that smile. It was the one he'd worn as he caught sight of Harry behind Voldemort, and drew the Dark Lord's attention – and curse – to himself. Oh shit.

But Sev greeted Albus cordially, or as cordially as he ever was, anyway. They exchanged pleasantries on the holiday, the weather and other inanities.

"So, any complications while we were away?"

"Oh, nothing we couldn't handle."

Albus' eyes twinkled.

"No, I don't suppose it was."

After a while, in an extremely aggrieved tone. "Why?"

"Oh, because I thought it would be good for all of you to not have magic for a while."

"You thought."

"Yes."

Sev stalked away, head held high, back very straight, every inch of his bearing announcing that he was disappointed, hurt, and very, very put out.

"Oh dear."

"Yes," agreed Harry.

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Later that night, Harry turned to him. "You know, Sev, maybe that wasn't such a bad thing." Severus just raised a sceptical eyebrow. "Well, they do say that every cloud has a silver lining."

"I will be forever amazed if even you can manage to find a silver lining to all this."

"Well…we did get to find out how Muggles manage without lubrication spells."

A thoughtful pause. "A very good point, my Harry. Perhaps we ought to practice, just in case Albus decides to try that trick again."

"'Always be prepared'? A good motto that."

It seemed there was only one way to shut Harry up, and so Severus used it.

A silver lining indeed.