Hiding Under the Ninth Earth
Book 03 : Epithalamium
Part III : The Beginning of Forever
Chapter Twenty Nine : When Dreams Turn Into Reality
Edited for FFnet--401 sexy words were sacrificed on the altar of the rating gods. I apologise if this feels choppy in any way, but coitus writus interruptus is never a pretty thing. Remember, if you are of age, the full version is available at my site.
25 and 26 October 2003
"I'm fine," was followed by a tired yet impatient sigh.
Harry shook his head, trying hard not to laugh at the petulant tone. Instead, he concentrated on placing one foot in front of the other without falling over. Now that they were alone in the corridor just outside the Room of Requirement (and he thanked every god he could think of that someone had the foresight to leave them alone) he finally could give in to the urge he'd had all evening to coddle Severus. His own fatigue running over him like an insulted Hippogriff, he drew Severus' arm about his shoulders and put his other arm around his lover's waist to steady him.
"Will you stop fussing?" came next with a fierce bark, but no bite.
Harry rolled his eyes at Severus' latest request, settling his weight half on his shoulders. "Certainly, love, just as soon as you stop weaving like a drunken spider."
A snort his only reply, Harry drew breath to earn another irritated comment (concerning how little Severus had eaten at the reception) when he felt a telltale tingle. With the next careful step, they found themselves only a few feet from their front door.
"Well, it looks like I'm going to have to take back everything bad I ever said about the old bugger," Harry remarked with a grin.
"Don't even think it!" Severus said sharply. "It's not that special, and Albus owes us far more than a measly Wizarding space connection directly to our quarters." He glanced over at Harry with a half-smile. "Although, I must admit I am surprised he was sober enough to remember your half-soused musings that night you let him in."
Harry chuckled, thinking privately that regardless of how it had occurred, it was probably all to the good; the way they were stumbling, anyone watching would think them three, possibly even five sheets to the wind from imbibing too much of the Muggle champagne (which Severus had dryly remarked was just like Albus--a little sweeter than he normally liked).
"I heard that," Severus growled. "I am not inebriated."
"Didn't think you were," Harry replied reasonably, "although you should be, considering how little you ate. And don't tell me you're not famished; your stomach's rumbling in harmony with mine."
"Wasn't all that hungry," Severus muttered. "Well, at least not for what could be publicly consumed."
Harry glanced in mock alarm at Severus and sniggered as he watched him struggle to contain his smile.
His arm, snug around Severus' waist, tightened as he opened the door. All joking aside, he couldn't decide who was more fatigued, him or the man with half his weight leaning on him. And to his mind, this presented a problem. Despite their suggestive banter, Severus was functioning on almost pure magic and nerve. Other than a token glass of champagne for toasting, he'd drunk only water, and had eaten nothing that Harry knew of. There was a dullness to his thoughts quite opposite his normal sharpness. He could feel the cramps pulsing across his new husband's back and shoulders echoing in his own; if the sharp pains and hint of lead invading his legs were any indication, Severus was moving about as well as a nutcracker left up in an attic too long.
And he couldn't heal him, not yet. Quiesta and Dumbledore, both quite urgent, had pulled him aside during the reception to tell him that, until the curse was broken, he could do nothing.
However, the weariness they both felt did not stop the bond from burning through them, making them ache with a different, albeit more pleasant, kind of discomfort, and he wondered how he was ever going to temper his desires long enough to let Severus get the sleep the practical side of his mind knew he needed. He needn't have bothered.
Severus knew he was fast reaching the end of his patience, among other things. He couldn't fathom why everyone was kicking up such a fuss; so he'd spent some time in the infirmary. If he had a Galleon for every time he'd awakened there... Still, though his energy reserves were almost non-existent, the bond buzzed urgently through his veins, making sluggish blood flow faster, causing aching muscles to twitch with arousal. And he intended to do something about that. Now.
The second the latch snicked shut, Severus swung around and pulled Harry roughly into his arms, leaning them both against the door. Dimly he heard himself mutter something about 'second winds' before he claimed the kiss he'd been wanting for hours. When they started to sag, he turned them until he felt Harry half-lying on him, his own back to the door for support. Then he got serious about it.
Harry felt his knees start to buckle under the onslaught of Severus' impatience, grateful for the leg Severus propped up slightly on the door moulding on which he braced himself. There was nothing gentle about their kiss, their bodies pulled oh so close. This was not simple gratification, this was about separations and reunions and joinings. Severus' hands gripped hard, pulling Harry relentlessly against him.
Severus tore his lips away as one arm snaked around Harry's shoulders. When Harry's head leaned back on it, Severus dipped and, with low growls, suckled the soft skin under Harry's ear.
"This is your--" Harry choked out as Severus sucked hard against the skin right beside his jaw, "--second wind?" He gasped as Severus pulled him closer. "Ahhh, gods, it burns." Harry pressed up against his lover, trying to mould them into one body. "Want to see--ahhh, yesss, right there--your first wind."
His wet mouth feasting greedily on the vibrations from Harry's cries, Severus added his own with a low "Mmmm hmmm," as his uncontrolled magic started buttons popping off Harry's high-necked inner robe. Demanding lips chased down the newly revealed skin of Harry's throat, eagerly wandering lower to softer territory, relishing the painful grip of Harry's hands buried in his hair. Harry arched against him, his head falling back further in complete abandon. Spurred by the sight of Harry's wanton surrender, Severus tasted every inch of the offering beneath his mouth, his appetite whetted by the soft mewling noises Harry was helpless to stop.
One hand, untangling from silky strands, slid under Severus' outer robes, fastening securely around his waist. Tightening his arm, Harry pulled his lover even closer. With ripples of raw sensation running rampant through him, Harry couldn't take it anymore and, with a husky, "Oh gods, I love your mouth," he roughly pulled on Severus' head, his hand still fisted in his hair, bringing that delectable mouth back up to his own. Beginning his own exploration, he returned Severus' ardour in full measure.
The bond pulling at them both, Severus fell into Harry's possessive kiss. Dizzy, he felt them moving inexorably towards the completion of something wrought long ago, but only recognized tonight. Compelled beyond anything he'd ever known before, he angled his head, deepening it. He knew without a doubt what he wanted, and he wanted it now.
Bodies straining against each other as much as their mouths, they balanced precariously as each clutched the other closer. Harry thought he would implode with the sensations running so strong, but it wasn't enough, not nearly enough. With one hand, Harry tugged at the collar of Severus' outer robe, intent on ripping it off if he had to, when dimly, and then with a growing, reluctant awareness, he felt a powerful surge of magic emanating from elsewhere within their chambers. And he obviously wasn't the only one feeling it. Dazed, Severus broke off the kiss, groaning as he rested his forehead against Harry's. "What the fuck is it now?" he groaned, gasping for air.
Taking a moment to reorient himself, Harry took a deep gulp of air, trying to slow his breathing, only to release it fruitlessly in a long drawn-out sigh. "I don't know," he panted, "but maybe if we ignore it long enough it'll go away?" he asked, nibbling tenderly on a swollen bottom lip.
"I doubt it," Severus murmured, taking Harry's mouth in another heart-stopping kiss. Harry moaned; while tender and nothing like their predecessors, it renewed the desire flooding him. However, the foreign magic curled around them, soon breaking their concentration again. "Damn. Whatever it is, it's growing," Severus growled. He moved his arm from around Harry's shoulders. Using the leg braced against the door, he pushed himself upright, wincing.
Pulling away and straightening, Harry put a hand on his arm. "Sev, stay here. I'll go see what's up; you get ready to rescue me."
"Insufferable Gryffindor," Severus replied with no heat. "Go to your doom, I'm too damned tired to argue with you." As Harry moved off with a quick kiss and a grin, his wand cautiously drawn nonetheless, Severus murmured, "Probably some 'thing' or other Albus left us to make our night just as entertaining as our day has been. Cheeky bugger." Sighing in frustration, he could feel the powerful surge of energy he'd been enjoying a few moments before starting to wane. He leaned his shoulder against the wall of the entry, waiting for Harry to call for help. Relaxing a bit when all remained silent, he lost his battle with the impending exhaustion he could no longer hold at bay; it didn't take long for his head to fall to his chest, his eyes slowly drooping closed.
A few minutes later, Harry was by his side, waking him gently when he lifted his face with a cupped hand and a chaste kiss. "Uh, Sev? You've got to see this to believe it." Snorting sceptically, Severus wearily pushed off the wall, leaning just a bit onto Harry by his side.
He could smell it long before he saw it--clover and freesia and a myriad of other 'green' smells he associated exclusively with springtime and Harry. It brought to mind that first spring they'd gone together to collect the clover. He'd always done it alone, but Harry had insisted he go with him that year and when they'd arrived, he'd known why, too. Harry had wanted to watch his reaction when he'd seen Harry's 'gift' to him; the entire field, heavily laden with plump heads of purple clover, had also been seeded with freesia, undoubtedly Severus' favourite flower.
Now, like then, he closed his eyes, breathing in the delicate scent of clover overlaid with the heavier sweetness of the red and yellow freesia blossoms which bore the most fragrance; the white ones never came close to this heady perfume. Every spring from then on, Harry had harvested the freesia along with the clover, always keeping vases of the tall stems in every room for as long as they lasted, their lengths covered with the hanging bell-shaped flowers all lined up like little children waiting for class; he always came home lighter of heart for having them there.
Now, though, he stepped from the hallway into a meadow, their bed an incongruous sight in the middle of the full blooming field. "Hmmm. Dobby I presume?"
Harry laughed. "That would be my guess. Has a certain house-elf feel to it, doesn't it?"
"Amazing what they remember," Severus mused, taking in the sight of all the pink and green filling the room from the window seats to the fireplace, neatly stopping at both doors into the chamber. The telltale surge of magic that had drawn them here in the first place was fading fast now that its task was complete, leaving behind it a warm room filled with soft breezes--a small haven of spring in the middle of a cold Scottish castle. He was about to comment about the amount of magic required to do something this immense when a pair of warm arms wrapped around him from behind, softly nosing his hair out of the way to lay wet kisses on the back of his neck.
Severus was tiring; Harry could feel it strongly, and while he wouldn't say he felt energised, he also wouldn't say he was really all that weary anymore. Severus was not the only one with a second wind. Trailing his hands along his mate's body, he came around to face him, their mouths joining in a serious kiss, their senses filled with the scents of pleasant memory. Severus tightened his arms around his mate when he received the vision Harry couldn't hold in of Severus bearing him down to the ground that first spring, of spending their pleasure amidst the tall grasses surrounding them, hidden from the casual observer.
The kiss broken, soft nips of lips followed, ending with Severus burying his forehead in Harry's neck to hide a huge yawn. When Harry chuckled ruefully, Severus pulled back to look at him, apologetic. "I'm afraid I'm not up to much more tonight. Can't figure out," another yawn interrupted, "awwhh, why I'm so bloody tired." Eyes watering he loosed a hand from around Harry to wipe at them. Harry smiled at the child-like gesture when Severus mumbled, "Feel like an energy vampire got me."
"Come, love, I think it's time for bed," Harry said, a wry grin on his face, leading him through the field.
Severus couldn't even summon the energy for a leer. Standing by the side of the bed, it was all he could do not to just fall into it, clothes and all. Content to let him do the honours, Harry started to tug on the outer robe, intent on pulling it off; it wouldn't budge.
"I think they used some kind of spell--" yawn "--to keep them from slipping off because they're--" and another "--not quite touching my skin," Severus remarked, his hand over his mouth. "Sorry, it's the hour, not the company."
Chuckling, Harry remarked, "Glad to hear it. Wouldn't do to be boring you this soon, now would it?" He raised his wand. "Finite Incantatum," he spelled. Nothing happened. Shrugging, Harry tried once again to pull off Severus' robe. It was still stuck. Biting his lip, Harry cast the usual spell for removing clothing. "Hmmm. That certainly worked well," he said dryly and burst out laughing because now Severus had no shoes and socks and all the frogs down the front of the inner robe were undone, but the rest of it was still firmly in place. At the affronted look Severus gave him, he chortled, "Although I have to admit, the view is rather fetching," as he parted the robe in the front, giving him a nice eyeful of Severus' lower half.
Not able to resist the tempting sight in front of him, Harry slid his hands under the robes. "Mmmm, this is what I've wanted all evening," he murmured and gasped as he felt an echoing sensation trail along his own torso. Curious now, he trailed his hands over Severus' back; his own body responded as if he'd been the one touched.
"This is decidedly unfair and one sided, I'll have you know," Severus groused good naturedly.
Harry sighed and, abandoning his experiment a moment, he slid his hands up Severus' sides and up to his shoulders under the heavy silk, trying to shift them off. "Never seen a man so loath to undress," Harry muttered, pulling his wand to cast another spell, and another, until he'd exhausted his supply. Severus was by now swaying in place, half-asleep. "I'm sorry, Severus, I can't see any other way around it, unless you have something else I can try?" When Severus shook his head, Harry cast a banishing spell. The robes disappeared with a wisp of smoke. "Oh well," he said wistfully, "we can always get others."
It only took a small push for Harry to get Severus sitting on the bed. It was a matter of a few movements to get his own robes and footwear off; he left them where they fell. He'd no more turned back towards the bed, when Severus' long arms snaked out and pulled him down for another kiss.
As Harry pulled away to join his lover on the edge of the bed, thinking of the joys of being horizontal, Severus hissed in pain, bending over.
Harry felt an ache ripple in his own back and realised Severus had over-extended muscles still too stiff to stretch much. He immediately dropped to his haunches, his arms around his lover as he helped him straighten and, with the soft candlelight in the room, Harry found himself staring into the most hate-filled pair of eyes he'd ever seen. He cried out, instinctively falling back on his bum in the soft grass of the field; he knew he'd seen the curse marks in his visions, but nothing had prepared him for what they actually looked like in person.
His desire gone, he pulled himself up back onto his knees at the same time Severus looked down. "What the hell?" Severus began, his hands rising from the bed.
"No!" Harry cried, pulling his hands away. "Don't touch it," he continued, "I don't know--"
"What is it?" Severus asked urgently, interrupting him.
Incredulous, Harry tilted his head at him. He took Severus' hands in his own as he asked, "Don't you remember?"
Shaking his head, Severus replied, "No, I think I would remember that," he looked down again, "whatever that is."
Harry could feel their pulses pounding in his hands. He lifted one of his own, and sitting on the side of the bed, his hand cupped the side of Severus' face, turning it towards him. "I'm not sure what it is, but I was told it's the mark of a Confundus Desparo curse. Does that help any?" Severus face drained of any remaining colour. With alarm, Harry leaned forward, taking him in his arms. Awkwardly, still holding onto him, he stood and gently laid Severus down on the bed on his side, climbing in quickly next to him.
"Who?" Severus choked out.
"Avery."
Severus' eyes closed, his breathing harsh as he tried to get his involuntary reaction under control. It took a few seconds for Harry's, "Quiesta and Dumbledore contained it; it's dormant for now," to register in his numb brain. Dormant? How the hell does one make it dormant? The only thing a curse of Avery's making meant to him was domination and a messy death.
Little things that hadn't added up throughout the evening suddenly began to make sense. Quiesta checking to make sure it was still 'intact', the worry he'd seen in Poppy's and Albus' eyes, the way everyone had treated him like he was made of glass, his cycling exhaustion despite the pull of their bonds. He opened his eyes to return the concerned gaze of his husband.
At first angry that they'd held this little tidbit of information from him, he suddenly let out in one huff the breath he'd gathered. "Well, that certainly explains some things, and before you get upset on my behalf," he said noting the gathering clouds in Harry's eyes, "I truly don't remember anything, and it was probably a wise idea not to tell me. I know what they are, have seen first-hand what they can do, and am fully cognizant of Avery's skill in casting them. My knowledge of it could have interfered with our bonding tonight." He hated to admit it, but it was true. "No, it was probably best this way." He forbore to mention what it meant for the future. Tonight was not the time to discuss it, not when the exhaustion was returning with a vengeance.
He searched Harry's face, seeing fear and feeling a sense of inadequacy wash over him. "What's wrong, love," he asked gently, running his fingers down his husband's cheek.
Harry swallowed hard and, rolling over, gazed unseeing at the canopy overhead. "I'd never even heard of it before today and yet I'm told I'm supposed to heal it, break its hold on you--and I have no idea how to do so." He turned his head to look at Severus, whispering, "I'm so afraid I'll hurt you."
Severus propped himself up on his elbow, hope warring with his bitter knowledge and, leaning over, gave Harry a soft kiss. "You can't, Harry, ever. That's the nature of the bond. Even if you wanted to, you could not harm me." He gave him a small smile. "Which could be grossly inconvenient should you ever tire of our relationship, but in this case, something to maybe make you feel better?"
Harry nodded and pulled Severus down to him. The ensuing kiss was sweet, but the fire and the bond lay banked. Which Harry thought was probably all for the best. So many ups and downs today, so much of himself expended, he knew he couldn't stay awake much longer. He broke off the kiss with a murmured, "I'll ask Quiesta tomorrow what I need to do."
Harry' fatigue mirroring his own, Severus rolled them over into their normal sleeping position, pulling him close. He thought of all the things he could say, but he didn't want to lie and settled instead for a simple, heartfelt, "I love you."
Harry lifted his head from his shoulder and their lips met in a serious kiss. All the fears and frustrations of the day washed away in the clean tide of Severus' love. Harry whimpered and Severus broke off the kiss, flooded with Harry's jumbled emotions, the strongest being relief and love. His hand framing Harry's face, he murmured, "Hush, love, I know. It's been a long day. We'll both feel better with some sleep, you'll see. And in the morning--"
Harry held him fiercely, as tightly as he could, his face buried in his shoulder. "Gods, I thought I lost you today. I couldn't find you. I wanted you so badly and you were there and I was here--" Barely under control, he breathed, "I love you. And I didn't really know just how much until today."
Severus understood, he'd been in this same position, only years before. "It's never easy, is it?" was all he said, his face contorting as he smothered a yawn.
Harry nodded and, pulling loose from Severus' arms with a relieved smile, sat up. With a wave of his hand, and a muttered "Nox," the candles in the room dimmed, leaving a velvety darkness. He lay back down, snuggling close. Severus folded him in his arms, placing a soft kiss on his forehead. A few moments later, "And in the morning?" Harry asked, almost asleep.
Severus murmured drowsily, "We'll face it--together."
Lucius leaned forward as he talked to Avery, who was sitting next to him by the fire. "You can do it?" Lucius asked, his eyes intent on the other man.
Avery dismissed the incredulity in the question with a wave of hand. "Did it all the time with his Scaliness and he never put any personal effort into it, was always either me or The Pet who called them back." He shrugged. "Even without the Dark Mark, I don't see why we shouldn't be able to reactivate it. Must admit it's a shame the Potter brat managed to block the damned thing, but--"
"Potter didn't." At Avery's questioning glance, Lucius continued. "My source says that Potter was in his quarters for most of the afternoon. They brought in Quiesta to break it."
Avery wheezed in laughter. "Ha! Stupid bitch. She didn't break it then, she just contained it. Most annoying, of course, but I can get around anything she put in place. Once I reactivate it, it's a simple matter of taking little Sevvie on a walk off the Tower--I hear the sudden stop is quite amusing."
"No! Albus promised he'd be safe!" Severus' sudden cry broke Harry's concentration.
He'd awakened earlier with Severus' thrashing, held in the throes of a nightmare. Harry had seen glimpses of the dream, his stomach turning as he watched Avery cut the eyes into Severus. Given what he'd seen in that brief glimpse, he was grateful Severus had suppressed the memories; they definitely would have prevented their binding had they emerged during the ceremony.
When Severus failed to calm down, Harry had got up and sat cross-legged on the bed, his knees by Severus' side. He'd gently rolled his lover onto his back and placed his hand in the center of his sweat soaked chest, hoping to reach him via their ward. With an unexpected twist of perspective, he'd felt himself falling into Severus, finding himself abruptly in what he'd first thought was his lover's dream, but after a while, with its feeling of cold reality, he'd finally realised he was actually seeing Lucius and Avery. Unnerving to say the least, but he'd held onto whatever had drawn him here, his previous experience chasing Voldemort through his dreams more an asset now than it had ever been before.
Harry hazarded a glance at the clock--almost dawn, when people sleep the deepest. He knew the choice of time was no fluke; they'd counted on Severus and Harry being so sated from their bond-mating that they would never awaken in time. Harry chuckled grimly. He supposed their failure to complete that aspect of their wedding night had served a purpose after all.
Closing his eyes, he used his free hand to take Severus', smoothing the back with his own, trying to comfort his husband through his continuing nightmare, which he now knew was different than what he was experiencing. Given the little he'd seen so far, he was convinced he was witnessing something impossible; somehow he'd joined the link Avery had wrought to communicate with the curse. As he had when Severus' nightmare had first awakened him, he fell back into their new bond and waited. Within moments he entered the white nothingness of the ward; frustrated, he was about to back out when he felt him, Avery, his presence as evil as the curse Harry could now see forming before him like a dark cloud obscuring his vision. He tried to go to the place where he'd been before and, with a wrench, found himself back in Lucius' study, only this time, he sensed he had control of the ward as well. His return was timely.
Avery was standing now, one hand braced on the mantel while, with closed eyes, he recited the components of the curse. "Mar, Chebel--" As the words poured forth smoothly, the curse stirred and then awoke, blazing forth with a black fire. Overwhelming, it soon spread to cover the former whiteness with a darkness deeper than midnight. Finished, Avery laughed. "See, I told you it was child's play. Now all I have to do is--"
Harry had seen enough. Severus, who had been moving as if trying to run away, suddenly lay still as if dead. Harry quickly ascertained his health was intact, but could not be so certain of his mind, which was closed to him. He paid no heed to the incoherent words Severus was mumbling, firming his touch on his lover's chest over the ward as much as to hold him in place as to give himself better contact with it. He sank back into the ward and pursued the connection Avery had made--as visible now as the line Dumbledore had made him follow earlier--right back to its genesis. Within seconds he saw the source and, with reckless ease, snapped the thread connecting Severus and Avery as if it were made of finely spun glass.
Harry realised with a keen sense of triumph that he could just as easily break the fragile life he now confronted; to kill Avery where he stood would be as simple as breathing. Greatly desiring what he'd sworn to do, he reached into Avery's heart with the Sanos and held it still.
He stopped, his rapidly paling face arrested in dawning fear. With a thin wail of pain, Avery's body went rigid, his breathing laboured. Falling to his knees, his hand clutched his upper left arm as he started to turn a fine shade of blue. Lucius leapt from the chair and sat Avery down. Drawing his wand, he cast a spell, but it brought no relief. Puzzled, Lucius sat back on his heels and watched his minion dying.
Just a few more seconds was all it would take; however, something, his conscience he supposed looking back on it later, held him back. To kill Avery in cold blood, using the very powers he used to heal, would be wrong--an anathema to his soul should he succumb. With a disgusted sigh aimed at himself, Harry regained his control and let go.
Avery was on all fours on the floor, his head hanging down as his sides bellowed with the air he gulped in. "Fucking brat," was all he got out. Lucius looked thoughtful as he glanced around the room as if making sure they were alone.
Harry may have had a bout of conscience about killing Avery, but he knew it would not stop him from seeking some kind of retribution for the bastard's actions of the day against his mate. This he could do coldly, with a relatively clear conscience. Concentrating, he once again called on the Sanos and with deliberate care, grabbed hard at Avery's pain centres.
Avery arched off the floor, his body twisting into grotesque poses as he rose involuntarily and danced across the room trying to escape the agony flooding him from everywhere. Relentless, the pain pulsed into him. His eyes bulged, his breath hitched as muscles rippled and bunched. His body bent double as his diaphragm went into spasms only to shoot upright as the tendons in his back contracted mercilessly. For the better part of an hour it went on as every part of Avery twisted and turned in his desperation to escape. For brief moments, it would seem to let up, only to resume with double the force as bones bent and straightened, skin swelled and shrunk; it would seem his tormentor intended to leave no cell in his body untouched.
Lucius' face was one of fascinated horror, and a small blood-thirsty smile crossed his lips as Avery cried out with keening wails. One time he murmured, "Harry Potter, I didn't know you had it in you," as he watched Avery's torture. With one last scream, Avery's whole body went rigid as every pain receptor in his body fired at once and, suddenly going limp, he fell in a still, ragged heap on the floor.
Lucius stood and walked over to the fallen man, his fingers unerringly searching for a pulse. When he could see Avery, unconscious, taking a breath, he started laughing. "Well, I must admit, that was the most entertainment I've had this whole cursed day, Mr. Potter. My thanks to you. Too bad you're too cowardly to finish him off; a life for a life. Quite the dilemma there, isn't it--especially seeing you won't rid our esteemed Potions master of his little affliction unless you do so. I assure you it's quite permanent as long as Avery is alive. All you've done is delay the inevitable." With a short bark of laughter, he chortled, "I suggest you go back to your husband, such as he is, and enjoy him while you can."
Dizzy, Harry broke the connection. The effort had brought him no joy and sickened him now; he felt a deep shame he'd abused the Sanos the way he had. And he knew he would tell Severus; this was not something he could hide and, although he suspected Severus would understand, he knew he probably wouldn't approve.
But first he needed a husband to whom he could tell the tale. Lucius' assurances rang in his head with a truth he couldn't deny, leaving Harry with no doubts that he needed to break the curse--now. He couldn't wait until Severus was recovered enough to stand it as he'd originally thought, nor could it wait until he was ready.
He crawled over to the bedside table and, after struggling with the drawer, pulled out a vial of the restorative. He looked at it speculatively. Did he dare take it now? Would it make him sleep? Resolved, he broke the seal, drinking the potion down, trusting in his own urgency to counteract any inclinations to doze off from it. It flowed warm through him, almost like having Severus inside him. Within moments, he felt better, less disoriented, the dizziness leaving him.
He gazed at his bondmate, now quietly sleeping, and felt an overwhelming surge of love and fierce protectiveness towards him. No matter the personal cost, he'd vowed, and he meant it. Not daring to even touch him lest he wake him, and with a lighter heart, Harry cast a staying charm on Severus to keep him from leaving the bed and an alarm charm on his wand to sound a warning should Severus be in distress again.
Creeping quietly out of his marriage bed, Harry wasn't really sure what he'd expected on his wedding night, but he was quite certain this was not it. Donning his dressing gown, he made his way to the library.
TBC