§ About an hour later, at the place, where the final battle against Voldemort had been fought §
"What do you mean there is a magical energy barrier? Why should there be such a thing?" Severus asked, pinching the bridge of his nose, in an attempt to get the major headache he was sprouting to lessen somewhat.
"If you won't believe me, come here and test it for yourself." Harry shouted back. "I can't move any further in this direction, because I keep hitting and invisible wall, ergo it has to be made of magical energy. At least according to what I have read in that book about the theory of magic, Dumbledore gave me."
"It is theoretically possible, though I have never heard of something like that occurring in reality. But if you insist it is there." Severus forced his tired body to get up from the large rock he had been sitting on and slowly walked to where he'd heard Potter's voice coming from.
He stood next to him and stretched out his arms until his hands, to his surprise, really hit something invisible.
"See, I told you so, there is something there." Harry said haughtily.
"Maybe it is only in this particular place and we will have more luck a few meters to the side." Severus said, already walking further away. He tried again more to the left, but the outcome was the same, his hands hit a solid barrier. After he had repeated this on the right, with the same outcome, he had to admit his defeat.
"Well, it seems that the barrier is larger than I assumed. It might be a previously unknown side effect of the spell you cast. After all, you were the first one to cast it successfully since Merlin and he wasn't known to make detailed notes about the spells he discovered. Whatever it may be, we can do nothing about it tonight. It will be dark soon and we still need to find a sheltered place to rest," Severus said.
"Actually, I think I saw something that would fit on our way here. It looked like there was a cave entrance near this clearing we passed earlier." Harry said. "Also have you noticed that our surroundings seem to be different than before, when we followed the Death Eaters to Voldemort's hiding place?"
"Indeed, I have," Severus answered courtly. "However, I am tired and want to reach that cave before darkness. We will have the opportunity to resume this discussion tomorrow, after we have slept."
"Good, let's go then," Harry said and began to walk in the direction of the clearing, not bothering to look back if Snape would follow him, or to wait for the other man to catch up with him.
Severus sighed heavily and walked after him.
Prior to discovering the barrier they had wandered around and looked for their fellow Order members, with no result. They hadn't even found a trace of their fellow fighters ever being there. No blood, no torn off pieces of clothing, no tracks, nothing at all. It was like no one had been here before, wherever here was. The land they had walked through didn't even remotely look like the one they had been in earlier. It was vaguely familiar, but there were obvious differences.
There were trees and large rocks, where none had been when they had followed the Death Eater's tracks. They had also come across a little lake, which Harry would bet his Firebolt on, hadn't been there before. It was confusing, to say the least.
They didn't even know exactly, in which country they were. They had apparated to the general area where Voldemort and his followers would meet, using a complicated tracking spell. They could still be in Scotland, or in Norway, or even in Bulgaria for all Harry knew. He probably should have had paid more attention during Geography lessons in the muggle school the Dursleys had sent him to, maybe then he would have had a clue on where they were.
Much to his amusement Snape was as clueless about their whereabouts as himself. The Potions Master had never attended a muggle school, but had been home-schooled by his mother. He never had learned much about geography, other than where the largest wizarding communities were situated, as he had hesitantly admitted to Harry, once asked if he knew where they were.
The only thing that mattered to Harry, at the moment, was that it was getting cold, icy cold to be more exact and the torn rugs, which his clothing mostly consisted of, did nothing to warm him. He was glad, that he had worn muggle jeans and a T-shirt under his robes. They had, unlike his destroyed robes, survived the fight to some degree, but they weren't exactly fitting for the temperatures here and the holes and rips they had, didn't help matters either.
At least Snape had refrained from commenting on the state of his attire.
Harry walked faster to warm himself up a little. He dearly hoped that the thing he had seen earlier was really an entrance to a cave and that it would be warmer in there. Maybe somehow they would even manage to produce a fire.
After another quarter of an hour of walking, Snape trailing, grumbling along, behind him, they reached their destination. It turned out to indeed be an entrance to a cave. The cave itself was fortunately large enough that the two of them could stand upright in it and even walk around a bit. Its floor was dry and they would be sheltered from wind and rain in there.
Another positive thing about the cave was, that there existed a stream of water, which disembogued into a small pond, on the other side of the clearing. So, fortunately, they wouldn't have to walk far to get water and in case they had to stay here longer than a night, they could also use it to bathe and wash their hair. Harry doubted if Snape ever washed his, deducing from the look of it.
Harry used the opportunity of having water, to get rid of the mud, still covering his face and hands. After his skin was clean once more and he had drunk some of the water too, he walked to the cave entrance, into which Snape had already disappeared.
Once inside the cave again, Harry slumped down with his back leaning against a stony wall. He felt not simply tired, but completely drained by all that had happened on this day. Soon he began to tremble. The cave was rather cold, not as icy as outside, but still not warm enough to let him feel comfortable.
"We need a fire." Harry said to the Potions Master, who was sitting at the opposite wall of the cave in a position resembling Harry's.
"Unless you are able to perform wandless magic, I see no way how we could light one. Or maybe you know about a muggle way to make fire, Potter?" Snape answered, his typical sneer firmly in place.
"You know, well enough, that the spell drained my magic too much, to even think about doing anything wandless for at least a month." Harry said. "But I think I do remember something I saw once on the muggle television."
During his last summer at the Dursleys, there had been this special about survival training on the BBC, which he had been able to watch, while he was dusting the living room. Dudley had found it boring, of course, but as his favourite TV show had been cancelled on that day, he had watched it anyway.
If Harry recalled correctly, you needed something made of metal. The Swiss-army knife, Sirius had given him for his eighteenth birthday should do, if he hadn't lost it during the battle. He reached into his jeans' pocket and happily discovered that it was still there. He pulled it out and flipped the tiny knife open.
Now, he only had to remember what else was needed. Wood, of course. They could go gather some outside, he had seen a lot of dried branches littered over the ground of the clearing and in the forest surrounding it would surely be more. They would also need dried grass, which could probably be found near the secluded cave entrance. But he didn't know where they could find the most important thing, flint. Maybe Snape would know, as pulverised flint was an essential ingredient for some potions, if he remembered correctly.
Snape had watched him, puzzlement clearly visible in his gaze, as Harry had pulled out the knife. The Potions Master couldn't guess for what Potter would need it. The boy, or rather young man, did surprise him even more with his next question.
"Do you know where we can find flint here?" Harry asked.
"Why would we need a potion ingredient, which is most commonly used for potions to cure burns, now?" Snape countered.
"Because flint, when it's hit against the knife here, produces sparks, with which we can light a fire." Harry said.
How interesting, Severus thought, he would never have guessed that muggles had found a way to light a fire like that. He also hadn't known that flint could be used in such a way. Well, he hadn't needed to know, because usually he would use his wand for this purpose.
Which he couldn't now, thanks to his rotten luck. Why him? Why had he to be the one, being trapped here with Potter for the night and without his wand. As if either alone wasn't bad enough, but combined it was the most horrible situation he could imagine.
He was so consumed by his thoughts that he nearly forgot that Potter was still waiting for an answer. "I think we can find some flint, either near the pond, or somewhere in here," Snape finally said.
"Good," Harry said, sounding relieved. "We also need wood and dried grass. Let's go now to gather it, before it's completely dark."
With a muttered curse, Severus got up. He was exhausted and would have preferred to remain sitting here, but Potter was right. They wouldn't be able to find the things they would need for making fire in the muggle way in the darkness, without a Lumos spell to illuminate their surroundings.
Fortunately they found everything they needed soon and after some failures, Harry managed to produce a spark, which was big enough to enkindle the dried grass. Not much later they had a fire burning that was sufficient to warm them up a bit.
The half-hearted suggestion to go looking for something edible, Harry made then, was rejected. Frankly, both of them were way too exhausted to get up and leave the cave once again.
They both lay down onto the hard floor of the cave. In silent agreement, they chose opposite sides of the fire, as close to the flames as they could get, without themselves or their clothes catching fire. They didn't speak. Both weren't fond of Smalltalk and neither of them could think of any save topics to discuss, which wouldn't lead to a fight between them.
Despite the warmth, the fire emanated, Harry soon began to shiver again. He had nothing, despite the torn remains of his robes to cover himself with and the fire wasn't able to entirely keep off the coldness of the night.
Severus, of course, noticed that his companion was shivering and after thinking for a long time forth and back for a way to warm him, that wouldn't involve them being physically close, he gave up. He stood up and lay down next to his least favourite ex-student, spreading his large, red battle-cloak over both of them. It would be sufficient to warm them both, if they lay close together.
Harry was surprised to say the least, shocked would probably be a better way to describe it, when Snape got up and came over to him. He was even more shocked, when the other man lay down so close to him that he could feel Snape's warm body touching his. After Snape covered them with his cloak he lay frozen, not wanting to think about the fact, that he was this close to the cold-hearted bastard.
But once sleep caught up with him and his mind was overcome by the fuzziness of falling asleep, he relaxed and had to secretly admit that it felt rather nice, to lay there, his body touching Snape's lean, tall body in some places. Of course, he still hated Snape, but that didn't keep him from enjoying the closeness.
After all, he hadn't been this close to another person very often in his life. His continued fight against Voldemort had left him no time to even think about love, let alone to look for a lover. Sure, there had been some snogging in empty corridors or broom closets, during his time at Hogwarts, but nothing like laying this close to someone. If he concentrated he could hear Snape's steady breathing, it was oddly comforting.
Normally, Severus would have had problems, sleeping next to another person, something he wasn't at all accustomed to. He wouldn't admit it, even under the influence of the Cruciatus Curse, but it felt rather nice to feel Potter's body touching his in some places. It had been years since anyone had been this close to him and he secretly savoured the feeling.
Of course, he still hated Potter, but that didn't hinder him from enjoying the closeness. Potter radiated body heat and this close he could clearly see the way the flickering fire seemed to enhance the boy's natural beauty. It was odd, but he liked the way that the flames drew moving shadows on Potter's face. A thought which disturbed him very much. Liking anything about Potter, where had that come from? He closed his eyes, to keep himself from further looking at the boy and let his mind fall into the realms of dreams.
They both were soon sound asleep, unconsciously moving even closer to one another, so that their position could be described as snuggling. They both would have been horrified if someone had watched them and pointed out the fact, that they were indeed snuggling, to them. But as they were alone in the cave, without any watchers, they simply slept and enjoyed the feeling of closeness and warmth.
A/N: Read it? Enjoyed it? Please review!