Chapter Forty-Six

Severus scowled as Sirius stormed into his work room, wearing a furious look on his face. He tried to ignore the animagus as he continued to make a version of Dreamless Sleep Potion that he'd found in his new Potions book.

"I want you to leave him alone," Sirius glared at the Potions Master.

"I won't leave him alone until he tells me to. I promised him that," Severus added an ingredient to the cauldron. Sirius looked surprised for a moment at the calm nature his colleague was displaying.

"Well, I'm telling you for him!"

"You don't have a clue as to what he wants," Severus stirred.

"And you do?" Sirius spat.

"No, I don't. And I don't claim too, either. Only Harry knows what Harry wants, and no one can ever know what he truly wants at any given time, so I suggest talking to him before trying to pull us apart."

Sirius seethed. "You're just using him for your sick fantasies."

Severus raised an eyebrow and went back to his potion. "I love him, and Harry professes to love me.''

"So you don't know if he loves you or not." Sirius smirked at the Slytherin.

"He says that he loves me, and I believe that he believes that he does."

"You're too old for him, and you're a Death Eater."

"I know. That's what I told him, but he says that there's a bigger age difference between Dumbledore and McGonagall, and that I was a spy." Severus took the potion off the fire and began to bottle it immediately.

"What are you making?" Sirius asked suddenly, watching as the other man corked each of the phials.

"A less addictive Dreamless Sleep Potion for Harry," Severus answered, as he began to label the bottles. "The last thing he needs is to get addicted to something."

Sirius was speechless for a moment as Severus began to rant. "I want to kill that bastard for what he's done. Harry's worked so hard to get as far as did, and Malfoy, the sadistic bastard, has put him back almost six months! I hope he died when he hit that wall, so I can say I killed him," Severus snarled, and threw an empty phial at the wall so that it shattered.

"I hope he didn't. If he did, we can't torture him for revenge," Sirius said. Severus thought about it for a moment, and then nodded in agreement.

"Skin him alive and then pour lemon juice on him. Then put him in a sarcophagus and stick flesh-eating scarabs in with him. Leave him for a couple of hours, and then make him beg Harry for forgiveness, and then kick him off of a cliff with sharp pointy rocks at the bottom," Severus muttered as he waved his wand at the glass shards on the floor. The phial flew back together and set it on the shelf as Sirius nodded to everything the Slytherin had said.

"You really do love Harry..." Sirius said quietly, as if he hadn't heard a thing Severus had said before his plans of torture for Lucius Malfoy.

Severus's reply was to reach into his robes and pulled out something. He set it in front of his lover's godfather.

"You're going to ask him to marry you?" Sirius asked incredulously. The Potion's Master nodded. Severus took a small sense of pride as Sirius gaped like a fish. He couldn't be completely proud, not when his beloved was lying in the Hospital Wing.

"I was going to ask later today, but now..." Sirius nodded understandably.

"I-I don't like you, Snape, but for Harry's sake..." Sirius trailed off.

"Thank you," Severus said.

***

Remus and Draco gaped as Severus and Sirius walked into the Infirmary, side by side. Sirius even held the door open for the Potion's Master, who had potion phials in his hands.

"Oh, don't look so shocked," Sirius muttered. Remus smiled slightly at him, and kissed the animagus.

"I'm proud of you," the D.A.D.A. professor whispered to his husband.

"McGonagall came by, and said that Minister Weasley would be here in a few hours," Draco spoke quietly, trying not to look at his friend.

Severus sighed, conjured up a chair, and sat down heavily. Then he suddenly stood.

"I forgot something," was all he gave for an explanation. He left the Infirmary. Draco shrugged at his fathers.

***

Severus looked around his bedchambers, painfully aware of the fact that his Harry had been lying in his bed, grinning up at him as they made love only hours before.

Severus growled and kicked the wall in anger. He punched his wardrobe. He stepped away quickly and surveyed the dent in the oak wood. The Potion's Master was vaguely aware of his hand throbbing.

The obsidian-eyed man ran his hand over the pillow on the right side of his bed. Harry's side. He couldn't take it anymore, and Severus slid down the side of the bed and onto the floor. He let his head fall into his hands, and again for the second time in countless years, he cried. Sev cried for the boy who had managed to break through his walls. He cried for the man he loved.

***

At the same moment in the Hospital Wing, tears began leaking from Harry's closed eyes. Draco tugged on Remus's sleeve when he noticed. Sirius gasped when he saw his godson's bruised, tear streaked face. Harry started whimpering when Sirius took his hand, trying to offer the unconscious boy comfort.

Harry woke up quickly and yanked his hand from the Transfiguration professor's hand. He seemed to shrink away from his family as the world came into view through his glasses. Without a word to his brother or fathers, the Boy-Who-Lived shakily stood before the entrance to his lover's rooms, and spoke the password with a raspy voice, that developed only from screaming until his throat was raw.

"Life," Harry stepped into the Potion's Master's rooms, and Draco, Sirius, and Remus followed. The Gryffindor sat next to his lover's shaking form and pulled him into a hug. The crying Severus clung to him, knowing immediately who it was.

Draco closed the bedroom door and pulled the two Marauders to sit on the couch.

***

In the bedroom, no words were spoken as Severus and Harry held each other on the floor by the bed. Their faces were close as they cried, and they couldn't tell their tears apart as they ran down both faces.

"I heard you. You came to save me," Harry whispered. Severus nodded.

"I was too late," Severus murmured fearfully, as if saying so, Harry would leave.

"They didn't kill me," Harry returned. "He would have, but you saved me."

"How can you be so strong? I would never have lasted through anything like what you've been through," the Potion's professor muttered into his hair.

"I've got you to make me strong," the Boy-Who-Lived replied. "I've got you to keep me alive. You, Draco, Sirius, and Remus are my reason for living."

Severus pulled away slightly and took Harry's face with his hands. Harry flinched slightly, but then he forced himself to relax. Severus wiped and kissed away the tears on his lover's face.

"I love you, Harry. I couldn't bare it if something happened to you again," Severus whispered.

"How can you stand to be with someone so dirty?" the Gryffindor asked, fearing the answer for a reason he couldn't even begin to fathom.

"I love you. And the only reason you're dirty is because you haven't taken a bath," Severus said to him. Harry was covered in dirt and blood, and other things he didn't want to think about. Harry smiled slightly.

"I don't want to be dirty, so I need to take a bath," Said the seeker.

"Do you want me to join you?" the older man offered. Harry looked terrified at the idea, and he quietly shook his head no.

"I'm sorry...I-I..." Harry stuttered. Severus quieted him by kissing his hand.

"It's alright, love. Even now, I'm going to hold to the promise I made. We'll go as slow as you need, Harry," Severus rubbed his thumb over Harry's knuckles.

That statement brought tears to the seventh year's eyes. "Thank you, Sev."

Severus nodded, and stood pulling his Harry up with him. "I'll go run your bath."

Harry squeezed his hand once before letting go. The Slytherin walked into the bathroom to draw Harry's bath, and the Gryffindor sat on the bed until he came back.

"Do you want me to stay with you?" the Potion's professor asked as he helped Harry peel away his bloody, torn cloths.

"Would you?" Harry looked up at his lover.

"Of course. I'll stay as long as you want me," Sev told him as he threw the cloths into a corner of the room.

"Burn those," Harry requested suddenly.

"Right now?" Harry nodded. "I'll be back in a minute."

Severus gathered the ripped garments and walked out. He left the bedroom, went into the fireplace, and watched as the flames engulfed them.

"What's Harry doing?"

The Slytherin Head of House turned. "He's taking a bath." He went back to the bathroom without another word.

"I should go tell Poppy where we are," Draco stood suddenly, and Remus nodded.

***

Harry jumped slightly as the bathroom door opened. He mentally kicked himself; it was only Severus. Severus gave him a reassuring smile and sat down near the edge of the swimming pool-like bathtub that Harry was floating in.

"How're you?" Harry asked his lover, giving a slight ironic grin. Severus rolled his eyes and handed the soap to his lover when he requested it. The cloth Harry used to clean himself turned red as he began scrubbing himself. Severus had to look away for a moment as his heart cracked with pain for the last Gryffindor heir. He only turned his head back when a damp hand took his own.

The Potions Master looked up into green-eyes that were most surely mirroring the emotions in his own dark eyes. Sev kissed the palm of Harry's hand, which was covered in self-defence wounds from fighting Lucius off. Harry gave him a small smile and returned to cleaning himself, without taking his hand from the Slytherin's.

End Chapter Forty-Six

Bow to the typest! Bow to Emilea! lol. Em typed this chapter, as well. Shhh, she's taking a nap. She stayed up all night again last night!

Spring Break, whoooowhoooohhooo!!!!!! Ten days of doing nothing......We got out at 2:00 on Thursday, and didn't have to go Friday! Em came over Thursday, and won't leave....^__^ She has to go tomorrow, though, cause she's going to her aunt's and then to her other aunts'. Her aunts', as in two....never mind.....

I'm trying to get Em to write more to her second chapter of Mind Reading Can Be a Good Thing, but she's sloowwww. Go read it if you already haven't. It's Harry/Lucius. NC-17ish...so wee ones, beware.

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