Hiding Under the Ninth Earth
Book 02 : A Bit Of All Right
by I Got Tired of Waiting

Part I : Severus
Chapter Seven : The Place Within

Saturday : 7 August 1999 (Continued)

Snape climbed over the ledge at the door to the battlement, a feeling of déjà vu sweeping over him as he stepped out into the pouring rain. 'Yes, there he is, in the same place as before.' He got a sense of urgency and it was with some surprise he felt Harry's back to him when he reached over the spot where he knew Harry was sitting and put his hand on his invisible shoulder.

He felt Harry start and said over the noise of the deluge, "We have to stop meeting like this, Potter. Have you not noticed the inclement weather, or have you decided the illness you could contract would be a gentler way to go as opposed to just 'tipping over the edge'." He was already soaked through.

Harry laughed mirthlessly. "I hate being sick almost as much as I detest being a coward--I'm not brave enough to end it all, anyway."

"It's all too easy to end it, Harry," Severus said in earnest, shouting to be heard, "The real question is whether you're strong enough to keep on living even when you're quite sure you don't want to."

He felt Harry turn to eye him, checking the motives behind the words, the hood falling off in the process. Severus nodded in answer to his unspoken question, 'Yes, I too have considered it many times.' He said to him over the rain splashing on the flags, "Now, come down from there and let's get back inside where it's warmer and drier."

Harry scooted out of the crenelation. His movements revealed his sodden legs under the cloak and he scrunched them up and pivoted, swinging them onto the battlement side of the wall. He jumped down, his feet disappearing as the cloak resettled. They squelched their way back to the door and once inside were relieved at the sudden silence. A quick drying spell made them both more comfortable. "Leave the cape on and follow me; it wouldn't do to be seen disobeying Albus at this early date."

Severus huffed as they made their way down the stairs, "I'm most upset you've broken your promise so soon after making it."

"What promise is that?" Harry asked, trying to keep up with Severus' ground-eating pace.

Harry almost ran into him as Snape stopped and turned to face him, a neat trick since he couldn't see him. "The one you made when you said you'd come talk to me if there was a problem. Now I may be mistaken, but sitting in a downpour contemplating more than your navel strikes me as the act of someone with more on their mind than just the current weather report."

Harry chuckled, a welcome sound to Severus' mind. "Yes, I suppose I did, although I've not seen you knocking on my door either."

Snape raised his brow. "Perhaps that is because I have had no 'life-altering' thoughts recently."

Harry seemed to catch his double meaning. The hood fell back as he dipped his head in embarrassment. He looked quickly away and muttered, "Perhaps we should keep moving," As he replaced the hood on his head, Snape caught the small smile on his lips as he said, "You look pretty silly talking to yourself in the hallway. What will people think?"

Snorting his disgust, Snape lead him, without further comment, to his quarters in the dungeon.

****

While he poured them both a brandy, Harry laid the cloak to the side over the back of an old chair in front of the fire and sat in it. Severus handed him a snifter two fingers full, and settled in the other chair. Harry sipped his brandy, feeling it slide warm down his throat; Severus quietly did the same, not breaking the silence. He'd learned long ago to let silence work for him. 'Talk to me, Harry.'

Despite the bright heat from the small fire, Harry was starting to shake from the aftermath of the day's and previous night's events. 'I need to leave soon. I can't control it.' He stood, placing the snifter on the table saying, "Thank you. It was pretty stupid to sit up there. It's much more comfortable inside. I-I really must be going." 'Please don't let me go.'

Severus still said nothing as he stood up as well. 'Don't go. I know you're not ready to go, yet.' Harry finally looked at him and in that instant of compassionate eye contact, Severus reached out and put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed it gently.

It was Harry's undoing. 'Where's your sarcasm? I can't take your kindness.' With a muffled cry, he tried to turn away, 'I'm not ready,' but Severus reached out and stopped him, his hand on his upper arm. Harry could feel his considering eyes on him and before he knew it, Snape made a low sound and with a gentleness he would never have credited him with, pulled him into his arms, holding him tightly, the pain of his separation from Draco keen and fresh despite their earlier distance. His head nestled comfortably as his body trembled beyond his control. Feeling vulnerable with his inability to stop his lingering panic from the night before, he thought, 'Don't hurt me, please,' his hands grasping Severus' heavy robes like a lifeline, the cloth surprisingly supple under his hands. 'Love him out of me.'



After a long while, when his legs began to tire, Severus led a shaking Harry to the couch where he sat him down and let him get it out, still holding him. The glimpse of Harry's dry-eyed anguished face had been his undoing and as soon as the young man was securely tucked in, he'd briefly fought and sternly mastered a deep fury with Draco. He calmly stroked Harry's hair and, every now and then, placed a soft kiss on the head buried in his shoulder, his other hand comforting with small circles on Harry's back naturally and without thought. Eventually, Severus felt the shudders lessen and finally stop. 'Are you ready now?'

Harry felt different, cleaner somehow. 'You make me feel good.' He was bereft when Severus released him slowly as his hands eased their tight grip on the older man's shoulders. 'I shouldn't burden you with this.' As Harry pulled away, he settled back on the couch facing him and said, "I'm so--"

"Don't you dare apologise," Severus interrupted him. "You're eminently over-qualified to redefine 'A Rough Day'." Wanting to reach out to him again, he denied the movement, thinking, 'What did he do to you, Harry?'

Harry whispered, "Thank you," feeling awkward. 'Why is it I only let loose around you? Why do I trust you?'

"You're welcome." Suddenly unsure, he asked, "You are feeling better?" He eyed Harry's tense face. 'Please, say I helped.'

Chuckling weakly, Harry replied, "Yes, would I dare not feel better after all that?" Realising Severus was as uncertain as he was made him feel much more settled. 'You have no idea, do you, what I feel around you, how safe I am?'

"Good," he said with a small smile. 'Why do I want to protect you so much?'

"It's just this whole thing with Draco. Last night, the duel this morning, the meeting with you and Albus--I'm mostly upset that someone could have been hurt by my stupidity. I only thought--" Harry stopped unable to continue. 'If Dumbledore hadn't stopped me, I probably would have killed him, then myself. Gods, it hurts.'

Severus wasn't buying the explanation, but he chose to accept Harry's words at face value. His gut told him differently, but now was not the time to push for unwanted confidences. "You only thought what?" he asked quietly, taking the opening Harry had left him. 'Tell me, Harry. You can trust me.'

"Not much, I just--" his voice trailed off. 'He hurt me last night.' Unbidden came to his mind the hatred on Draco's face this morning. "I don't know, wasn't thinking much at all." He felt again this morning's resolve. "I just wanted it to end." His body hurt. 'He won't let go. He says he'll see me dead first.'

"I thought you had ended it," Severus said perplexed, watching the distressing thoughts flicker across Harry's face. 'I may have to kill Draco yet.' The thought left him stunned with its implications, which he quickly suppressed.

"You saw what happened this morning!" Harry exclaimed. 'He can't let me live after last night. He tried to kill me.'



"Yes, I saw two young lovers break up a relationship, rather violently I might add. Was I supposed to see more?" He tried to compel him with his eyes. 'Come Harry, tell me. I know it was more than that. He hurt you but how?'

"No, that's all it was," he said dejectedly, turning away from the severity and unspoken questions in Severus' gaze. 'I can't tell you; I'm so ashamed at what he did.'

Severus was exasperated, but hid it well, 'This is getting us nowhere. I will have to be patient.'

****

Horatio chose this moment to uncoil from his place near the fire beside Severus' chair, his thin forked tongue flicking in and out, testing the air. The warmth from the hearth felt good on his scales even if it came from fire. He was curious. The Master's unusual reactions to this human were identifiable but odd--he could taste them hanging in the air--the sour scents of frustration and anger overlaid with the sweet musky smells of courtship. Not a combination he'd ever tasted before from him.

He stopped at the feet of the new human, one he'd seen before but had never met. This one was a cornucopia of odors, the strongest being the bitter tang of fear. He had the same whiff of anger the Master had, but it was deeper, entwined with the lingering scents of injury--of blood and healing tissue. He smelled fresh, though, his essence clean, as if these scents were as new to him as the sex scents of mating surrounding the whole. And there was something else different about him, but for now, he couldn't quite figure out what it was, but part of it was light and pleasant, the other was more like the emanations from the Master's closed room--very dark and something to avoid.

****

Horatio reared up his head so he could see over the Harry's knee and hissed a greeting, [*Greetingsss human.*]

Severus saw him and without thinking said, "Harry, don't move. Horatio is quite harmless most of the time but can bite."

Harry threw him a disgusted glance and sitting forward looked the snake in his bright black eyes saying, [*Greetingsss, Horatio.*]

Severus felt stupid. 'Parselmouth, of course. I forgot. This should be interesting.' He mumbled, "Forgot you could talk to him. He might actually like it."

Horatio reared back, as surprised as a snake ever gets and was about to climb up in Harry's lap when he said, [*Pleassse forgive my poor mannersss. May I come to sssee you, human?] he asked politely.

[*Yesss, of courssse you may.*] Harry was obviously fascinated, his face holding none of its earlier dread. As Horatio made his way up his leg and into his lap, he turned to Severus, eyes gleaming with excitement, "He's beautiful. What breed is he?"

"Horatio's an exotic from America--a Black Eastern Kingsnake. He's a constrictor, so he's relatively well-behaved, bites more than he should, and eats anything that moves, including other snakes," Severus replied, rather proudly. Horatio was one of his better kept secrets since he rarely stirred out of their quarters.

Harry felt the weight of the snake settle into a coil with bits of him draped over the arms of the chair as well. "He's big and heavy. What do you feed him?"

Severus said, "I import rats and some mice for him; he seems to like the ones from Sussex best. He cleaned out our quarters a very long time ago and usually won't leave to go outside, the lazy sod."

At the same time, Horatio replied, [*Ratsss. Big juisssy ratsss. Thossse are the bessst, although mousssesss have their meritsss asss a light sssnack. But I prefersss ratsss. Or birdsss, if I can getsss them. And I am not lazy! There are too many peoplesss out there. They makesss high pitched noisssesss and ssstep on my tail.*]

Harry laughed, as if he couldn't help it. "You do know he understands you?" At Snape's blank stare and shake of his head, Harry chuckled and continued, "He just said he's not lazy--he just doesn't like getting his tail stepped on by a bunch of screaming people. Oh, and he prefers birds and rats over mice." He looked around. "How does he get birds?"

Snape was bemused and with his voice and mind elsewhere, he said, "During the spring and summer I let him out to hunt. I think he's part pig with all the food he eats."

Horatio turned bright eyes to look at his master and then back to Harry. [*Or, I could eatsss the Massster if he keepsss thisss up. It isss jussst a bigger bite.*]

At Harry's chuckle, his head snapped around to look at them both. "What did he just say?" he asked suspiciously.

"You don't want to know--however, he's taken exception to being called a pig. I have to admit, the image of you sliding down his distended maw is most amusing." He laughed at Snape's harumph as he looked at all the stone walls and floors of the dungeon rooms. "It's awfully cold down here in the winter. Where does he sleep? Or does he hibernate?"

Severus hesitated, eyeing Harry long enough he started to squirm. 'Should I show him? Only Albus has been there. Well hell, why not--he's been in my bottom drawer and has never really given me any reason not to trust him.' Out loud he finally said, "Horatio either get off his lap or get ready to travel. I want to show him where you live."

Horatio turned his head and regarded Harry with bright laughing eyes. [*May I travelsss with you, human?*]

[*Harry, my name isss Harry and yesss you may travelsss with me.*]

His tongue sampling the air, Horatio said politely, [*You're very ssskinny and still hurt. I will try not to ssstrangle or harm you.*]

Stunned, Harry stared at him. Snape could tell he was holding something back when he said, "Your snake is very considerate, Severus. He's promised not to throttle me."

Deciding not to disturb the fragile happiness he could see on Harry's face, Severus rose from his side of the couch and waited for Horatio to settle himself on Harry's shoulders. "Don't you believe it. He can't help it. Try and get him draped over your arms. He sometimes forgets himself and squeezes too hard."

[*Only when I wantsss to, never by accident,*] the snake hissed smugly. Harry laughed. Horatio draped himself all over Harry's neck and twined around his arms; there was still a lot of snake left hanging off.

Snape walked up to a blank wall. Before opening the wards there, he looked at Harry with speculation. "Indulge my curiosity, Harry. Can you sense the entrance?"

Harry walked up to the dull stone and waved his wand over it, the snake heavy on his arm. He placed his hand over a spot at eye level to his left and after a few moments murmured, "Patefacio". The wall shimmered and disappeared leaving a plain door in its place. "Don't change the password much, do you?" Harry smirked.

Severus was dumbfounded and annoyed. "Impressive. But don't tell me you've already forgot your lessons--Patefacio is rather like Alohomora--it's a general unlocking charm. However, unlike Alohomora, it requires intent and the Schema to open anything."

He opened the door and Harry preceded him into a different world. He was in a huge hidden greenhouse; hot and humid, full of plants of all shapes and sizes, many of which he recognised on sight.

[*Ah! Home!*] Horatio said as he slithered off of Harry and disappeared into the underbrush. [*Goodbye, Harry,*] he called out from the shadows, [*I will ssseesss you sssoon.*]

[*Good night, Horatio.*] he called out, smiling when the snake mumbled a reply.

Harry walked around the room, studying the different plants, some in pots with strange smelling soils, some planted in the ground, even more depending from hidden sources from up in the ceiling to fall gracefully to the floor like green waterfalls. Severus silently approved as he unconsciously stepped around several 'clear' areas where the soil was enchanted and stayed to a subtle path of grey stones set to let one traverse the room without stepping on anything. Harry turned around to face him, "Quite amazing. You grow your own 'herbal' stock?"

"Only those plants I have to have fresh or are too exotic for the apothecary to carry." He gave Harry a sidewise glance. "Of course, there is the odd plant or two in here I don't want others to know I have."

"Hmmm, I see at least three that are illegal--" Harry quirked a brow at him.

Snape fidgeted a bit, uncomfortable. "Hmm, well, yes, there is that too--but useful--they are necessary in some of the darker and healing potions."

"True, some can either kill or cure." Harry mused. "Speaking of which, you've no foxglove here."

He hesitated before answering, "Ah--foxglove is not a proscripted plant--"

Snape hoped Harry understood the risk he was taking even showing him this room. One of the plants, Cruento Lacum or 'Blood Pool', was dangerous; like a benign bromeliad, the dark blue flower held a deadly blood-red poison in its cup. Just owning one could get you sent to Azkaban without the proper permits from the Ministry; he somehow doubted they would willingly give one to a former Death Eater no matter how reformed. Harry stepped up near it, but stayed well away; even just a tiny bit could kill. "A Blood Pool--I've never seen one before."

Severus thought about stopping him from going too close, but Harry had done so before he could say anything.

"So lovely, so deadly. The colours are amazing--the red is so vivid." He paused, clearly admiring the plant, its insides painted a pale butter yellow, the poison lurid inside. "I am assuming Horatio stays away?" Harry said as if discussing the weather, even though Severus could see he was nervous.

Snape shrugged. "It wouldn't matter if he did; he's impervious to it and most other poisons."

Harry put his hands behind his back and continued to wander around the glass room, Severus a few steps behind him; there were a few vines in here with minds of their own. One of them was reaching for Harry even as he thought about it. Severus waved his wand and the vine retreated. Harry startled, stepped back, and tripped on another vine sliding across the floor falling heavily into Severus.

Luckily, Snape was braced for it and didn't fall. It took a few moments for Harry to right himself and stand away, moments Severus was blindingly aware of him pressing against him. Unsettled by the contact, he said, "I think we need to leave. The Night Creepers are too active tonight and while used to me, they do like fresh prey."

Harry shivered involuntarily and eyed the dark green vines creeping across the stone floor, their long, white roots and shiny leaves extended towards him. Night Creepers this size could easily kill him. As they were leaving he asked, "Why Night Creepers? What potion are they used for?"

Snape laughed wickedly. "They're here for defence. Someone might get in, but they will not leave." He picked up a strand across their path, the remainder of the plant quickly travelling to where they stood, poised and ready to enfold a new victim.

"Give me your hand and hold still," he said. Harry didn't hesitate and held out his hand, palm up. Severus took it and flipped it over so that the back was exposed. He spared a glance and seeing Harry's open trust, he laid the vine with its curling roots across Harry's hand, his own underneath holding it steady. He watched closely as the tendril's coils dug quickly through the tender skin.

Without thought, Harry commented, "Hey, it doesn't hurt. It actually feels pleasant"

Judging the moment right, Severus raised his wand and said "Specialis". The vine gave a convulsive shudder and retracted; the tendril, when exposed, bore tiny spots of Harry's blood. Shaking his head, he gave Harry his best 'I-can't-believe-you're-being-this-obtuse glare while mildly replying, "Surely it occurred to you that any plant killing by contact could not exactly repulse its victims if it wanted to survive? Your hand will heal quickly and the vines will not touch you now." Harry watched in amazement as the vines retreated from more places than he'd seen and the tiny, bloody pinpricks on his hand disappeared. "They now have your scent and taste and know you as a friend."

Harry grimaced. "Thanks. Makes me glad I'm not a vegetarian." He eyed Snape, an almost shy smile lighting his face.

Inwardly pleased that his deliberate words about friendship seemed to affect Harry deeply and not unpleasantly, Snape chuckled, released his hand, and they continued on their way out. Near the door, Harry stopped suddenly, peering closely into the vegetation near the door. Looking perplexed, he ventured, "Uh, Severus?"

"Yes?" Snape asked, turning away from the doorway he was about to go through.

"Why are there two chickens in here?" Harry asked.

Snape snickered, "Eggs. Horatio loves eggs. He eats them almost as fast as they lay them--won't take them from the farmers unless he steals them. And there are more than two chickens in here. I'm surprised you saw them at all. They're fairly good at hiding, although every now and again the vines grab one, but by and large there are usually five."

A sibilant hiss came out of nowhere, [*Yummy eggsss. I likesss them fresssh. The othersss were too old. Nasssty vinesss ssstealsss my chickensss.*]

Harry laughed, "Seems Horatio agrees," and they continued out the door.

****

When they got back to the sitting room, Harry yawned and said, "It's late and I'm tired. I really should be off to bed," and thought, 'Preferably in yours. I trust you as much as you obviously trust me.'

'Stay the night. Stay with me. We need each other tonight.' Severus was confounded by his thought and became aware of his body's long-ignored clamour for attention. 'Stand down, I'll talk to you later,' and surprisingly it did.

"Probably not a bad idea," he feigned a yawn; the last thing he really wanted to do right now was sleep. 'Would you really stay if I asked?' "Make sure you keep the cloak on. I have no doubt Draco is up and about; his promise to Albus to stay put probably isn't worth a toss." 'He hurt you, I know. Don't let him hurt you anymore.'

Harry took the cloak off the chair back. 'Ask me to stay--I don't want to leave. I need you--I need something--kind tonight.' Before putting it on, he caught Severus' eyes and said, regret in his voice, "Thank you. I feel ever so much better." He threw the cloak on and left the rooms before Severus could reply.

He sank back into the cushions of the couch, "What the hell was that all about?" he asked himself. "Bloody hell!" He was most upset with his body right now. 'He's just a child and will you just shut-up!' It was not letting him be; he was definitely aroused. 'For pity's sake, leave me be. Hold someone in comfort one time and you think it's an invitation to bed them.' He was most disgusted with himself.

Unbidden came to his mind the softness of Harry's hair, the kisses he'd unknowingly bestowed, the warmth of his body next to his, the feel of hard muscle under the robes he wore, under his hands, Harry's weight against his body, the feel of his fingers in his. It overwhelmed his senses and he relived it. 'No, no longer a child. A young man and, the gods help me, I want him.'

On his way to a very cold shower, he drained both glasses of brandy still standing on the side table. Defeated and unable to scold himself anymore, he finally made his way to his lonely bed.