Quondam 7

Author: Taligator
Disclaimer: I own none of the characters or fictitious locations; they belong to J. K. Rowling. All original plots belong to me.

Summary: He lived in silence and solitude, outcast. Then, fate dropped in and changed his life.

Harry shuffled up behind Severus as he was shutting the front door behind Remus. Quivering, he reached and pushed away Severus' hands. "I need to do this."

Severus moved off to the side and let Harry lock, unlock, and then lock all the locks on the door.

Harry looked at the locks again, resisting the need to repeat the process. Muggles called it obsessive compulsive disorder, he called it control. He could control the locks and make them do as he wished. They were his locks. They didn't belong to anyone else.

Severus laid his hand on Harry's then clutched at it as though understanding the compulsion. He turned to smile at Severus and they both jumped when a whooshing noise came from the fireplace in the front room.

"It will be the potions ingredients I ordered earlier." He turned and began to pull Harry along behind him.

"You gave someone my floo!" Harry stumbled as he tried to keep Severus' pace.

Severus turned a dark eye on him but said nothing. He dropped Harry's hand and knelt on the floor, picking through the various paper wrapped packages inventorying what had arrived. With a creak in the knees, he stood and headed straight for his laboratory, ignoring Harry completely.

Harry laughed softly to himself before calling out, "Severus." He waited until the man turned to him. "I need to take my walk."

Severus gave a distracted nod and continued on his way while Harry gathered up his second-best cloak and boots.

He peeked out the peephole to assure himself that there was nobody on the other side before undoing the locks. He stepped outside and smiled at the gloom of the day. It was just as grey today as it had been yesterday and yet today it was as beautiful as a day of sunshine. He walked with a slight spring in his step as he traversed the well-worn path around the perimeter of his property. His mind was as light as his step today and he did not entertain the maudlin thoughts of becoming mist as he did normally. He thought of nothing but the feeling of waking in the arms of another, even if those arms belong to Severus Snape, someone he didn't used to like.

Much sooner than normal he returned to his home and shed his outdoor clothing and padded barefoot to the kitchen. He cocked his head to the side listening for Severus and realized he was in the basement, a place he'd never been too.

He opened the door and peered down into the dank room. "Severus, I'm back."

"Come down here, the first of your potions is ready." The voice was slightly muffled.

"I can't."

There was silence and then a change of the shadows as Severus glared up the stairs. "You can't, what do you mean Mr. Potter, you can't? I've spent my time preparing a potion for you and you will take it. You need a keeper and I am here doing that for you, the least you can do is appreciate it."

Harry felt a flash of anger but let it slide away. "Stairs."

"Hmpfh," Severus moved out of sight again and then marched up the stairs with a small vial of yellow potion. "Drink it in one swallow then go drink 8 oz. of water. Lay down on the couch for an hour." He turned on the step and silently went down the stairs as quietly as he'd ever done it.

Harry followed his instructions and with his water sloshing in his stomach he maneuvered into a reclining position. Almost immediately his eyes closed of their own volition and he began to daydream.

flying

laughing

a life without pain

freedom

He started and tensed at the hand on his shoulder that woke him from the first pleasant sleep he'd had in years. Blearily he opened his eyes and smiled as he saw Severus hovering over him. "Hi."

Severus gave him a small smile. "It'll be a few days before the rest of your potions are finished. How are you feeling?"

Harry pushed his fists against the couch and struggled to sit up but the quivering in his arms caused him to fall back against the couch cushions. He looked beseechingly up at Severus, "help?"

Severus frowned and slid his right hand down Harry's back and grasped Harry's forearm in his left and push pulled until Harry sat upright. "Is this normal for you? Are you normally able to sit up on your own or do you not ever lay on this couch?"

Harry could tell that Severus was in Potions Master mode and adding this latest incident to his list of 'things to fix on Harry'. He swung his legs over the edge of the couch and rocked back and forth gaining momentum and then wildly stood up and wavered in place as he balanced. "I don't think I've sat on the couch before." He turned to Severus and smiled in a way that made Severus' eyes light in a way that was becoming more and more the norm.

Severus placed an arm around Harry's middle and pulled him close as they began to walk to the kitchen. Harry fit beside him, eerily well.

As they passed the front door a loud banging on it startled them both.

"HARRY POTTER! OPEN UP IMMEDIATELY!" An unidentified voice echoed through area.

Harry whispered to Severus, "basement, hide."

Severus began to protest but the hard look in Harry's eye made him rethink his objection and he released Harry and ran to clean up the kitchen and lock himself in the basement.

Harry turned to the front door and looked through the peephole, seeing 20 Aurors on his front stoop was not something he was used to seeing and certainly not something he wanted to see. He unlocked the door, forgoing his need to lock and unlock them again in favor of getting this over with.

He swung open the door, leaning heavily on the side as though it was just the doorframe that kept him in place.

A tall muscular man in his early twenties stepped forward with a look on his face that was harsh and unforgiving. "Potter, we have reason to believe you are harboring a fugitive on these premises. We demand that you step aside." He poked Harry with the tip of his wand. "Do not make me move you or else."

Harry shuffled to the left and opened up the door to them Aurors. He wasn't expected to speak so he didn't. He watched as they swarmed into and around his house like a horde of pesky bees. He watched with distant eyes, he'd allowed them too much but now wasn't the time to stand up for himself. He wasn't strong enough yet.

In just a few short minutes the swarthy head Auror stepped back up into his face. "Where is he?"

Harry attempted to look innocent and shrugged his shoulders, "who?" He croaked out roughly, making it worse than it was. He couched on the man while trying to hang onto the wall and his balance.

The Auror stepped backward with a look of distaste on his face. "Severus Snape. He was reported to be here. He is a prisoner of the system. He is a danger to this world and I will bring him with me, whether you help or not. If you help, perhaps we won't station Aurors here full-time."

Harry swallowed and motioned to the dining room where a tablet of paper lay. He moved slowly to the table and sat down heavily on the chair. He began writing in a quick scrawl, "Who told you he was here?"

"I don't have time for this. Where is he?"

Harry glared up at the man, "WHO TOLD YOU?"

"Lupin, who else, that mangy werewolf friend of yours couldn't wait to get back to the Ministry quick enough to rat you out." A greasy smile lit the features of the Auror.

Harry stiffened his spine at the words, he'd known Remus wasn't all that he appeared but to give up this was just one more stab in his back. The use of the word rat hadn't been lost on Harry either. "He left. He hates me anyway. He left after Remus did and said he hoped that I enjoyed the rest of my painful life."

The Auror clearly didn't believe him but as he and his team couldn't find Severus anywhere on the property or in the house he decided to drop it. "If you are lying to me, I will make sure the rest of your life is more painful than it already is you murderer." He turned on his heel and with a quick motion him and the rest of his team apparated out of the house.

Harry felt tears prick at his eyelids but he remained stoic. He stood up and the blood rushed upwards to his head as he moved toward the kitchen. Where the basement door normally stood was a picture of a forest glade. He knocked on the wall, "Severus?" He moved backward to sit against the kitchen table as the wall shimmered and the door appeared.

Severus poked his head out around the edge of the door. "They are gone?" He moved fully out of the door and began to check Harry over.

Harry nodded and picked up the pad of paper, too distraught to speak. "They said you are a prisoner of the system and that I'm harboring a fugitive. Are you?"

Severus snorted, "I suppose that I am. Like you I'm locked in my home and watched constantly. If I choose to leave my home I have at least six Auror's with me at all times. They couldn't deny my part in the war but that didn't mean they trusted me." A final brush to the fringe on Harry's forehead and he leaned in closer, pulling Harry up against his tall frame, squeezing him gently.

Harry relaxed in the hold and sighed. He had no idea what they'd do but for now he was content for perhaps the first time in years.