Ever After Ch. 4
Chapter Four

Morning crept around to find the man and boy wrapped in each others arms. Sighing, Snape woke up slowly as yesterdays events came flooding back at a remarkable speed.

Trying to be as gently as he could, he removed Potter from his arms.

Instantly sensing the withdrawal, Potter started searching for the warmth that left him cold as it was removed. Not finding it within his reach, he started shivering as violently as he did yesterday. The boy was shaking as bad as he was sobbing; and all the while, still asleep.

"No…" he murmured as he flipped onto his other side. "Please don't!"

Snape watched the display with a mixture of regret and anger. It was all he could do not to take off back to the Dursley's and kill each one of them.

"Please, Uncle Vernon! I promise to be good!" Harry cried in his sleep, tears running down into his hair. "Stop it! Please, not again!"

Getting back on the bed, he tried shaking Harry awake. "Harry, wake up! You're just dreaming! Please, wake up!"

The boy didn't seem to hear him. Sobbing uncontrollably, he continued screaming. "Stop it! Please! Please! PROFESSOR SNAPE, HELP ME!"

Unable to take it anymore, Snape pulled Harry into his arms and started rocking him like one would do a child. Slowly the boy's tremor was down to a minimal and he was on longer thrashing.

As he continued to rock him, Snape began analyzing Harry's reactions. It seems that whenever he is away, Harry's subconscious takes over and scares the crap out of him. "That means that Harry has some how formed a bond with me. But why me? It should be because I saved him, but I have a feeling it goes much deeper than that. What could it be? This is so frustrating! Albus, I need you!" he called out.

"Yes, dear Severus?" Dumbledore asked apparating into the room.

"Did that witch tell you just how far and how deeply this attachment ran? I need to know so that I could figure out how to deal with this situation."

"She's not exactly sure but she has the general idea," he said vaguely with that damn twinkle.

"Well!" Snape snapped.

"Well, as you know, Harry has always had trouble facing things. All he ever wanted was to be accepted. At home, he didn't get that. He turns up being the savior for the wizarding world, when all he wanted was to be a normal teenager… well as normal as a wizard teenager… he couldn't get that at home. So when the letter from Hogwarts came in, he thought that this would be his chance. You can imagine his disappointment when he found that there was not one person in our world that didn't know who he was, especially when he, himself, didn't even know. But he still prevailed.

While everyone held him in reverence, you held him in contempt. When everyone was praising his name, you were too busy trying to fail him. While everyone…"

"Is there a point to this, Albus?" Snape cut in.

"Don't interrupt. Its rude," he said clearing his throat before continuing. "As I was saying… While everyone was stomped on how to help him, you ended up saving his life on numerous occasions. In his eyes, you were never the 'greasy old git'; no, you were his savior… his one constant… and you could do no wrong. You never changed, you were never afraid, you are his one and only person that he could really count one. He knew that whatever happened, he could rely on the fact that you would never change."

"I never knew that he held me I such high regard," he said once he got over some of his shock. But I treated him like shit! It doesn't make sense!"

"And that was part of your charm. You were too busy failing him in class and saving his life. It was as it should be. It was also the reason that I always had him in your groups. Someone had to keep an eye out for him and well, it might as well be his savior."

"But I failed him…" he said sadly.

"No you didn't. He's here, isn't he? He's alive and in your arms, is he not? Don't sell yourself short, Severus."

"So you planned all of that?"

"Not all of it," he said vaguely. "Just some of it. I kept hoping that you would form a bond with him… But after watching him with you and how you interact, I realize that you do have a bond. The kind of bond that only a boy and his savior could have. Harry loves you, Severus. Do you think that you could open your heart and let him in…?"

Snape was deep in thought.

Smiling, Dumbledore continued. "I have a feeling, that, that will be no problem- seeing as he is already there. It wouldn't hurt to let him know once in a while," he said leaving Snape to his thoughts and apparating out of the room.

Severus had a tornado of thoughts swirling through his head, but at the eye of the storm was one thought he couldn't get out of his head. Harry loves me?

It was too wondrous to let go. He loves me, He loves me, He loves me, He loves me, He loves me, He loves me, He loves me.

He was so into his thoughts that he wasn't even aware that Harry had stirred.

"What are you thinking about, Severus?" Harry inquired.

Snape jumped clear out of his skin. "Good god, kid! Don't you have anything better to than scare the shit out of me, boy!" he said holding his chest and gasping for breath. "I think I'm getting old."

"Kind of hard to do anything else while I'm in your lap," he piqued happily. "So what were you thinking about? I've never seen you look happy before."

Blushing, Snape set Harry down on the bed, stood up, and started for the door.

"Aren't you going to tell me?" Harry asked.

"No!" Snape snapped closing the door behind him.

Smiling softly, the boy laid down. He hadn't been this happy since Ron finally got up the urge to ask 'Mione to be his girlfriend.

A/N I wrote this story over a year ago and I'm just getting around to submitting it. This isn't a WIP. The only reason its taking so long to update the chapters is because I have to type it out using the University's computer. Mine has a virus and the story is on the hard drive and not a floppy. slaps hand as punishment Bad tricey!

Thank you so much for the reviews!

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