Walk Away and I stumble

Chapter sixteen

Severus picked Harry up bridal style as the boy fainted, he couldn't bear to think that his lover, the man that he wanted to marry was hurting. Dumbledore however instructed Severus to lie Harry down; the potion professor looked quizzically at the headmaster as he did what he had been instructed.

"We must see what was done, we cannot leave Tom up there, his followers may try to resurrect him, we must make sure that it isn't possible."

"Albus, it is extremely unlikely that that will be the case, look around, no deatheaters have come to aid him."

"They may not have been alerted Severus."

Severus rolled up his sleeve to show his marked forearm, what he saw was probably what a forearm would look like if both black ink and acid had been poured there, Snape gritted his teeth as the Dark Mark was burned viciously from his skin.

"Each and every witch and wizard marked by Voldemort will know of his demise, they will not come back because they know that he is now gone for good."

"Still, I would prefer to be safe than sorry, if we can spare Harry this heartache again then I believe that you and he will live a happy life with Kayla."

"Where is my daughter?"

"She is with Minerva, that is why she is absent and I am here, I asked her to summon the Order members and any other wizard that would be willing to help."

As if right on cue about a hundred witches and wizards all sporting the mark of the Order, a phoenix rising from the flames, their wands ready to fire at the first sign of trouble, they all gasped and stumbled back as if in unison upon seeing Harry on the ground.

"What happened?" One order member asked, this being the question on everyone's lips.

"We must check to see whether Harry has killed Voldemort, I want six of you to proceed carefully upstairs and check if the deed was done, the rest of you, search the house, if any Deatheaters show up capture them if possible and take them to the ministry." The Order members nodded and the headmaster turned to face Severus, "Take Harry to Poppy, I will follow shortly."

Severus picked Harry up once more and apperated away and appeared seconds later in the infirmary at Hogwarts. Poppy was immediately upon them, she removed Harry from Snape's arms and put him on one of the empty beds.

"What has happened to him?" The medi-witch asked as she withdrew her wand.

"He killed Voldemort, please, help him."

"I will do everything in my power Severus, I am not about to let him die, I suggest that you go and find your daughter, I think Harry would like to see the both of you when he wakes up."

"But he will wake up right."

"Yes, he will if you leave and let me get on with getting him better."

Severus did as Poppy had instructed and against his better judgement he left the hospital wing, Dumbledore had mentioned that Minerva was taking care of Kayla so he first headed to her chambers.

It was indeed where the Transfiguration teacher had decided to take Kayla, his daughter was keeping the elderly teacher very busy indeed, mainly because she wouldn't stop crying, when she opened the door to let Severus inside she looked practically relieved.

"Oh Severus, thank Merlin, I don't know what's wrong, I've fed her, changed her and done everything I could think of, she just won't stop crying, please help me." She begged in a way that was so an uncharacteristic it was almost funny, the stern woman had turned into what would almost classify as a blubbering wreck.

"Hand her to me" Minerva did just that, Severus took her and began to rock her slowly and rhythmically in his arms, it took her a little while but seeing her father and experiencing such a soothing motion soon calmed her.

"You seem to be a natural at that Severus, Harry is very lucky to have such a wonderful partner and Kayla is just lucky to have two parents that love her."

"For a while I wondered, could I love her, I never wanted children, I do however want Harry and even though it does not come naturally to me I will learn to love her because that is what Harry wants of me."

"You never did strike me as the one that would ever settle down and have children, your past is littered with heartache but you have come through it all and the result is beautiful and something for you to be proud of."

"I very much agree with you Minerva but I must return to the hospital wing, Harry will be wanting to see this little one when he wakes up."

"How is he, I have had no news from Dumbledore, or the others come to that."

"I believe that Voldemort is dead, although Dumbledore was making sure, Harry is alive and in the hospital wing, Poppy is treating him as we speak, I realty must go to him."

"Yes, I imagine that you should, you are a very lucky man Severus, I hope that you never forget that." Minerva said, Severus nodded and turned to leave, he was eager to get back to the infirmary, he wanted to be there when Harry awoke. Severus sat and waited by Harry's bedside, Kayla sleeping silently in his lap.

Five hours after the final battle between the boy-who-lived and the Dark Lord their saviour awoke, he was so relieved to see Severus sitting there but as he remembered what had happened he felt anger rise within him.

"Why did you do it Severus, why did you go to fight him?" Harry asked, his eyes fixed upon the older man who hadn't noticed Harry was awake.

"I wanted you to live, it was s simple as that, there is nothing written anywhere to say that it had to be you, it didn't have to be, you deserved to live so much more than I did so I thought that I could save you, it always seems to be you saving everyone else."

"But Severus …"

"I know and sorry always seems the hardest word to say but I'm going to say it over and over again until you forgive me, I only did it for our daughter, she needs you so much more than me and I'm so sorry."

"It's okay, I forgive you Severus and I understand why you did it, I don't approve it either but I do understand why but it did have to be me, not because of prophecies or even because I felt that it was my job to kill him, it had to be me because if it wasn't then I would never believe that he was gone, I would never be at piece with myself but now I know, he's gone."

"I thought that I had lost you when you demanded me to leave, I was so stupid, by killing him I could have killed you as well, nothing will ever make me forget that, I just wanted you to be alive and to be happy."

"I am alive and I am happy, I told you Severus, I would never leave if I didn't think that I would be back for you and for our daughter, I want to live and even though that at some points in my life I would never have said that but now is a completely different matter, I love you and I want to marry you."

"Now the war is over I suppose that it is entirely possible that we can marry and live out our lives without argument or danger."

"Without argument? When have we ever lived our lives without argument, the thought is laughable but I agree that we could try, maybe we could set a date." Harry mused as he watched Kayla sleep in Severus' lap, as much as he wanted to hold her he knew that if he did then the connection with her and Severus would be broken, okay that really wasn't the reason, only an excuse, the real reason was that he didn't want her to wake up.

A week past and Poppy allowed Harry to leave the confines of the hospital and he was so relieved at that, it drove him made, all those white walls and how clean it was, reminded him of mental institutions.

Kayla was growing up nicely, she was an extremely pleasant little girl who loved life, they were going to use her as the bridesmaid, the couple had decided that they wanted to be married as soon as physically possible.

So in a weeks time they were going to hold the ceremony in the great hall, it was going to be a small collection of friends, neither of the couple had family that they wanted to invite so that wasn't a problem.

All of Harry's school friends had already been invited and Dumbledore was to conduct the small service, all the teachers were of course going to be in attendance and all there was left to do was to arrange the outfits and the couple were in a slight disagreement over that matter.

Harry wanted them to wear white robes but Severus was very fond of his black and wanted to marry Harry wearing all black however the younger wizard was adamant that his wedding would not look like a funeral.

"Please Severus, it means a lot to me, why can't you wear the white?"

"Because it would make me look like an idiot!" Severus protested.

"But black makes you look dead!" Harry responded heatedly.

"Then pick another colour but I really don't want to wear white."

"Why not, I don't understand and please do not say that it would make you look like an idiot because I think that it would make you look dead sexy, no man could resist you." The Harry paused, "Second thoughts, lets not wear white, your all mine."

"Really, shame, you just persuaded me into wearing them, all males admiring me, something that I really wouldn't turn down." Harry closed the gap between them and kissed his soon to be husband feverishly. "Changed my mind, you're the only man I want admiring me."

"Good, because if anyone so much as looks at you in the wrong way then I will kill them!" Harry said threateningly, however his actions spoke a little louder than his tone. It was working its way down his lover's chest and towards his groin as they kissed once more.

"What about Kayla?" Severus asked as Harry's hand reached its destination and began to massage gently.

"She's with her Auntie Hermione and Uncle Ron, she won't be back until after dinner, we have a good three hours, although, thinking about it, I don't actually think that that will be long enough."

"Long enough for the time being Harry, I am getting older by the day and as much as I crave to have the days back where I could go all day and all night, I unfortunately said goodbye to that a long time ago."

"We'll see about that." Harry said cheekily, he grabbed Severus by the hand and led him to the bedroom where they fell onto the bed still locked together in a passionate embrace.

Clothes were lost almost immediately, it was the only barrier between their bodies and it was soon in piles all around the room.

Three hours later and they were still at it, Ron and Hermione arrived to drop Kayla but were surprised to find that Severus' chambers empty and the clear sounds of love making coming from the bed room. Both Ron and Hermione exchanged looks of horror and hurried from the room taking Kayla with them.

They met up with Dumbledore in the great hall, explained to him what had happened, his eyes immediately began to twinkle with amusement and agreed to take Kayla and take her down to her parents in an hour or so, he had not forgotten all those incidents where they had been shagging for days on end.

Severus collapsed next to Harry breathless and completely worn out, his breathing was fast and his heart was going at three times its normal rate. Harry was in a similar state however the difference was that he was ready to go again whereas Severus would probably have a heart attack if they did.

Lucky for the older wizard there was a knock on the bedroom door just as Harry was about to suggest a different position. "Enter" Severus called out, Harry looked utterly disappointed and then even more so when Dumbledore entered.

"Sorry to interrupt what I expect was going to be the undoing of my potions professor but your friends came round to drop your daughter off and thought that you could do with a while longer, I took the liberty of taking guardianship of her until I could return her to you. Mr and Mrs Weasley-Granger also would like me to pass on the message that they will see you at your wedding."

"Umm, thanks Professor, if you put her in her play pen we'll be right out, your welcome to stay for tea, could you give us a few minutes first though so that we might freshen up."

The headmaster nodded and left taking Kayla with him, both Harry and Severus immediately got out of bed and cast showering spells on themselves as they really didn't have time for an actual shower and then scrambled to get dressed.

Once they were ready they exited their bedroom, Harry went straight to his daughter and picked her up and gave her a cuddle while Severus went to talk to the headmaster, the potions master conjured up tea and biscuits, not to mention some apple juice for Kayla so that they could sit and talk.

"Albus, I have been meaning to talk with you," Severus began, "I have been thinking that maybe it is time that I retire and spend some more time with my family."

"I see, is young Harry pregnant again?" Dumbledore asked.

"No, not yet anyway, well, I don't think I am."

"No, my decision has nothing to do with that, I just think that it is about time that I retire and spend more time with Harry and Kayla, after all I can't expect them to stay at Hogwarts with me all the time and I don't think I could bear to be away from them for long." Severus explained.

"I see, when were you thinking of leaving us?" Albus asked.

"Not until after the marriage, we're going to be moving into the cottage that Harry owns for the time being until we find somewhere a little bigger."

"That part you never mentioned to me." Harry said, raising a questioning eyebrow.

"I'll explain later" The potions master promised.

"I will arrange for everything to be finalised then and I will send the papers that you need to sign over first thing in the morning, I hope that you two have the best life available to you, I really do, after everything that you have been through you certainly deserve it."

A week later and Harry and Severus were married, Harry wore red robes and Severus green to represent their houses, as a wedding present Dumbledore brought the ghosts of James, Lily and Sirius from the afterlife so that they could see the wedding.

A month after that Harry discovered that he was pregnant once again, this time with twin boys. By the time Llewellyn and Jim-Bexley were born the happy couple had purchased a large six bedroom property as Harry had convinced Severus that there were going to be more children to come and of course he was right.

After Llewellyn and Jim-Bexley came Carlene a year later and then two years after that their final child Alicia-May.

All five children attended Hogwarts and each caused just as much trouble as Harry had during his school days but fortunately there were no Dark Lords to disrupt the fun.

The End

I hope that you all enjoyed this story, leave me a review telling me what you thought and which story that you would like me to finish next. Also there will be no sequel to this as I already have at least two sequels on my to-write list. Sorry to disappoint anyone.