A/N:  'ello all!  Wow thank you so much for all the reviews!!!  Sheash, I was really shocked I have gotten so many, so big hugz to you all, especially to Lina Inverse the Dramata and every one else who is having a crap day, cos crap days suck. 

Well, I'm not sure when I'll have the next chappy out, hopefully tomorrow, if not Saturday sometime, writers block is a bitch.

Chapter nineteen:  Fig Jam 

    Harry woke up as Severus slipped quietly out of his arms and got up to get dressed.  Harry whined in protest, partly at Sev leaving but mostly because he was exhausted.  Why did the git have to get up at 6am any way?  He would have had a sum total of half an hours sleep and he was not going to be able to sit through class for the life of him, but just as unlikely to be able to get back to sleep now he was awake. 

    Harry rubbed at his bleary eyes for a moment, before looking round the room.  His eyes flitted over the clock.  Hold on, that couldn't be right, it sad seven thirty.  Severus religiously got up at six; it was a sort of life rule for the man who liked the order of it.

    Harrys sight finally came to rest on Severus just as he was pulling on his robe, Harry swallowed hard as the last of Sevs pale chest was covered in the black fabric. 

    "It's late."  Harry murmured, still groggy, even if it was seven thirty he'd only had two hours of sleep.

    "Yes, I trust you slept well?"  Severus held no tone to his voice, giving Harry a sum total of zero to work with.  He grinned quietly when he realised what Severus had done.  The man had deliberately stayed in bed longer to give Harry longer to sleep without the chance of waking him up.

    "Yes, thank you, very well."  Harry smiled at him and sat up, the sheets pooled around his waist and he felt a blush rise in his cheeks.  He was not exactly clothed.  Severus looked at him, the corner of his mouth twitched in a smirk and he threw Harry the discarded Gryffindor robe on the floor from the night before.

    Harry forced himself out of bed, he was more tiered than when he went to sleep he decided as he dressed.  Severus retreated to the bathroom as Harry put his clothes on. 

     Harry finished dressing and sat on the bed.  He could here the taps running in the bathroom.  God he was really tired.  The sleepy Gryffindor looked at the pillow longingly and slowly lay down resting his head on it.  He would only stay like this for a few minutes, just resting.  It would not be like last time, he promised himself.  There was no way he was falling asleep this time. 

    Severus returned from the bathroom to find Harry fast asleep on the bed.  He looked at his sleeping dancer and reached down to stroke his cheek.  Harry looked a lot like James, it was true, but there was a certain something that made Harry a vision in himself, he was not James, he was not Lilly, he was a perfect blend of the two that made him truly unique. 

    Yes, he would give what ever 'this' was a chance.  He had decided that first thing this morning when he had woken up to the slumbering raven hared seeker wrapped around him and discovered that he would rather Harry be happy than anything in the whole world and had lain there watching him until it was absolutely necessary to wake him up.  However, he would give this chance on his own terms, and he would have to find a way to keep the boy safe beyond anything, if there was even a chance Harry could get hurt he wouldn't risk it.  He would rather have Harry alive and just watch him from afar than dead but forever his.  Damn, he was starting to sound like a Gryffindor, damn that boy, he was already turning him into a sentimental moron.

    "Harry."  He said quietly shaking Harrys shoulders gently. 

    "Muummmhhuuuu?"  Harry mumbled trying to claw back the last remnants of sleep.  Severus sighed, the boy wasn't going to make it through the day, hardily surprising really, last night had been a little… energetic.

    "Here." He handed Harry a glass vile from the bed side table that Poppy had thoughtfully left out for Severus the night before, it was a pepper up potion.  Harry looked at it, and then at Severus and back again.

    "Aren't you going to need it?"  He asked, pushing aside his tiredness for a moment.

    "I have plenty down in my lab, it looks like your going to need this now." Harry drank it gratefully and felt better instantly.

    "Um, about last night," Harry suddenly became nervous.  Sev walked briskly to the door. 

    "We'll talk about that tonight, right now; we have to face the music."  He straitened his robes and beckoned Harry to the door.  Harry reached out and grabbed the invisibility cloak.

    "How about another plan?"  Harry said throwing it loosely around his shoulders.  The Slytherin head looked at him appraisingly.

    "Sneaking out when no doubt Pomfrey and Albus are looking for answers?  Very Slytherin of you Harry."

    "Don't I know it!"  Harry replayed, softly sighing in contentment as Sev slipped his arms around his waist so both of them could fit under the cloak comfortably.

    Harry pushed the door open slightly and both of them as light footed as possible walked out, passing Poppy who was lying down on one of the patients beds looking rather spaced, continuously babbling about how she was going to 'knock some sense into the boy.'  Harry suppressed a snicker, he knew exactly what had brought about Poppy's temporary drugged state.

    He had discovered that Albus had two supplies of Sherbet lemons, the ones he gave you at first, that convinced you they were just sweets, and the rather charming ones that semi sedated you for a couple of hours, leaving Albus time to do what ever is was he did, while you were slipping in and out of reality.  Harry had learned the hard way, and was as adamant about not taking candy from Albus as he was from Fred'n'Gorge.   

    They escaped into the corridor un-noticed, Albus no where in sight.  Harry pulled the cloak of them and made a smirk worthy of Draco. 

    "Fig Jam!"  Harry looked gleeful at evading the inevitable interrogations for a while.

    "And pray tell, what does that mean?"  Severus asked sarcastically.

    "Fuck I'm Good, Just Ask Me."  Harry replied, good spirits not dampened bye Sev's tone. 

    "Yes," Severus said sceptically.  "Well, you had better get to breakfast."  With that Severus did his swooping thing and headed off to get a pepper up potion.  He was barley standing by the time he got to his rooms, he was exhausted and still in a measurable amount of pain from all that had happened and was really, really in need of that pepper up potion.   

    Harry walked quickly to breakfast, he would have to go up and collect his things before class. 

    Today was a very good day.  He had done all sorts of wonderful things to Sev, he had gotten away without the 20 questions he'd been dreading from poppy, he was going to have one hell of a story to tell Draco, and to top it all off like a glittering crown, Severus had said that they would talk about things tonight, so he was going to get to see Sev sooner than he had thought.  Oh yes, today was a damn good day.

    Now if only he could come up with a good excuse for not doing his Charms homework.  'I was to busy worrying about Professor Snape, and then later on with buggering him to do the work.'  Though had the potential to be hilarious probably wouldn't go down too great with the knee high wizard. 

~*~*~Tbc~*~*~