Chapter two

Severus showed Harry his bathroom, 'Come straight up to the headmasters office when you're done. He will have food and drink for you.'

'You're going to leave me alone in your personal rooms when you never left me alone in your classroom?'

'I believe you will respect my belongings Potter,' Severus turned and left the room.

Harry stood staring at the door that Snape just walked through before he finally stepped into the spacious bathroom. He stripped off his clothes and stood under the warm water, he groaned with the pleasure of feeling clean. He couldn't remember the last time he had washed. He knew it had been about two weeks since he was able to bathe in one of the streams they camped near, otherwise they would wash in the basin that was in the small bathroom of the tent.

Harry walked slowly up towards the gargoyles, 'Can I go up?'

'The headmaster is expecting you Mr. Potter,' the gargoyles moved aside.

'Thanks,' Harry stepped onto the moving staircase.

'Come in Harry,' Albus smiles kindly.

Harry steps in and sees Snape sitting on one of the chairs, so Harry sits on the other before he looks up at the headmaster, then glances at the now empty portrait behind him.

'So that was faked as well?'

'Oh yes, charmed to make everyone believe I was dead. Now you can eat while we talk, Miss Granger explained how long it had been since you ate.'

'Yeah, it's been a while,' Harry picked up first his glass of juice, drinking the whole thing before picking up a sandwich, 'So you made me believe Snape killed you?'

'Professor Snape Harry.'

'Okay, professor Snape.'

'Yes, you kept refusing to believe you could do the job to fulfill the prophecy. Severus and I spoke quite a lot, we both realised that you would keep turning to me for advice, for assistance and for help when it had to be you alone in the end.'

'Because of that being inside me?'

'Yes, but the prophecy as well, it was you or him. Once you accepted this only then could you find your strength and courage to do what you must.'

'Alright, so have you been hiding here all this time?'

'Yes, my room is still here, Severus made it look like he resided in the headmasters rooms. As you would have seen, his rooms are still down in the dungeons, where he likes them.'

'Yeah, I noticed. Okay, I get all this even if I hate being lied to. You always did what you could to end this war, you did help me. So why didn't you tell me about that being inside me?'

'Harry, do you realise how you would have taken that bit of news? You might not realise it, but your mind was very fragile. First because of hearing how your parents died and the reason behind their deaths, and that was saving you. Then the poor treatment you received from those muggles. Sirius' death was the hardest on you and that is when I realised how close you were to finally being pushed too far. If you heard that a piece of Tom lived inside you and that you had to allow Tom to kill you, I believe your young mind would have finally snapped. Even if it did not happen right then, as you destroyed another it would have occurred to you that you were moving closer to your own death.'

'Okay, I was in shock when I found out, it took me ages to get myself up and go do what I had to. Now why did I survive? You said I had to die, I was ready to die, I was prepared.'

'The horcrux or soul kept the killing curse from killing you. I was not positive that would work, so Severus and I thought if I told you it would give you false hope. That soul could have been destroyed by anyone, but as Tom did it, it gave you the protection you needed. Naturally if you were hit again by the killing curse you would have died. But you worked out that he was using a wand that belonged to you, so like what happened in the graveyard, the two wands would meet, but instead of recalling the dead, your simple disarming charm was powerful enough to stop your other wand killing you. Wand lore is complicated and unpredictable.'

'You always seem to have an answer to everything. Okay, I hoped that since I owned that wand my spell would stop it killing me, I wasn't sure about anything really, but it worked. When I first woke up in the forbidden forest I thought it didn't work, that there must be more than we thought. But I waited until the snake was dead before I could sense anything, I couldn't, only him, his last bit of soul.'

'Yes, but tell me, how did you work out where the diadem was?'

'Flitwick said no one in living memory had seen that diadem. So I sat down to try to work out if it was that, where it might be or if it might be something else. But Flitwick's words kept repeating over and over in my head.

'You spoke with the grey lady,' Severus said.

Harry turned to face Snape, 'Yes, the grey lady is Helena Ravenclaw, Rowena's daughter, she took her mother's diadem and hid it in Albania where Voldemort had been rumoured to be at one time. He spoke to her when he was still a student, charmed that bit of information out of her, then turned it into another horcrux before bringing it here and hiding it in the room of requirement,' Harry turned to Dumbledore, 'Did you know she was Rowena's daughter?'

'No, I had no idea. I do not know when she became the ghost of Ravenclaw, she has been here for a long time. That should tell you Harry that you had what was needed to accomplish the task, you worked out something that even Filius never did, that I never did. So the locket we got was a fake, I found that out after you left. Where was the real one?'

'Originally it was at Grimmauld place, but Mundungus stole it after Sirius died. Then Umbridge basically stole it from him, so we broke into the ministry. I stunned her, that felt good, then we got out, Ron ended up splinched but considering how many supporters and death eaters he had in the ministry, splinching is the best we could have gotten.'

'Yes, you are quite right. Do you know how it ended up at Grimmauld place?'

'Yeah, Regulus Black found out what Voldemort had done and wanted to stop him. He took the real locket and replaced it with a fake. He died in that cave, but he ordered Kreacher to destroy it. He couldn't, it needed to be opened and it could only be opened by speaking snake language.'

'You can tell me the full story about that later. Was the cup the other item?'

'Yeah, it was in Bellatrix Lestrange's vault at Gringotts.'

'Then explain how you were able to get into a Gringotts vault?' Severus asked.

'I rescued Griphook from Malfoy manor, we worked on some plans. I told him I needed to get into a vault but not to steal, only remove something that didn't belong to Lestrange. He agreed to help if I gave him the sword of Gryffindor. I was careful with my words, but promised he could have it, I just never said when. But he turned on us after we got into the vault. Hermione had the dumbest idea anyone could, she jumped on the back of the dragon that was down there, so Ron and I followed, we escaped with the cup. That was right before we turned up here and Aberforth let us in through the tunnel. You know it all now, so can you explain why I had to give blood to save Snape and not you, not that I mind, I just want to know why?'

'I can explain and let me say this first, you will not like it, but this is very old and very powerful magic. Severus was dead, only one thing could bring his soul back, that one thing was a magical bond that was performed on him not long after you were born, a bond that was performed on him by your mother,' Albus and Severus let that information sink in first before they explained what this bond entails.

'My mother performed some bonding magic, like the unbreakable vow?'

'In a sense, yes, Severus, I think you should explain how this came about before we explain what it means.'

'Very well Albus,' Severus turns and faces Harry, 'I went to your parents, I told them what I had done in regards to the prophecy. I let your father hit me, your godfather hit me, even Lupin did. I explained how I went to Albus so he could protect Lily, then all of you. I explained to your father and godfather that I was willing to do anything to protect you, protect Lily's son, that I was now Albus' spy and no longer a death eater, Albus confirmed that for them. Lupin came up with this idea, your father and godfather refused, at first, but when Lupin explain more about this bonding, they turned to ask Lily what she wanted to do. I had already said I would do anything as it was my fault the dark lord knew about you, or knew about a boy. Lily asked to speak with me alone, reluctantly, your father allowed her to, so we went for a walk. You saw my memory, you know your mother was my best friend, that we were close, until that day in our fifth year.'

'Yeah, you were the one that told her she was a witch.'

'Yes, I did, we were as close as brother and sister, closer really. So we walked down to the park not far from your parent's home. We sat on the bench, not talking, I knew Lily was considering this bonding spell, so I stayed quiet and let her decide if she wished me to be the one.'

'So there was a choice at others doing this bonding, whatever it is?'

'Yes, but your parents and godfather had to think of what would happen if they died. They put a lot of plans in order, lots of spells, protection spells, you were already bonded with your godfather, and that is a naturally occurring bond when the naming ceremony is performed. Lupin explained that having someone outside the family or circle of friends bond with you could be just the answer they needed. Now this bond works both ways, either I save you or you save me, we can save each other's lives, depending on who needs it. So all your years here at Hogwarts, I protected you. Even though I did want to, whenever you were in danger, life threatening danger, the spell activated you could say. I would get this feeling in my chest; that let me know you were in danger. The first time it happened was when you were playing quidditch and you almost fell off your broom. You never felt it earlier as right as I was dying you had Voldemort calling for you to surrender.'

'Yeah, he said I was letting my friends die for me and the broom, Quirrell, he told me it was him.'

'Yes, it was. So I knew what was happening due to what I was feeling. So I kept saying the counter-curse. If he ended up stronger than me, I could have saved you like you did to me, using my blood before you soul disappeared from your body, but luckily it was not needed.'

'So all those near death experiences I had, you could have saved me. I wish I knew sooner.'

'The blood bond transfer spell should only be used if either of you died, but it does have, for want of a better word, a side-affect.'

'Side-affect, but I'm fine and Snape looks fine, so it mustn't be that bad.'

'Professor Snape Harry.'

'Sorry, professor Snape, so what's this side-affect?'

'Since it was your blood that saved Severus' soul, that means he has a life debt to you, which is part of the bond.'

'A lift debt, okay, what does that mean; that he has to save my life for it to cancel out or something? Which is strange since he's already saved my life a few times, so it should cancel out anyway.'

'No, this never cancels out as you put it. What this means is you own Severus' life, but it's more than that. You are officially and legally bonded Harry, meaning you are legally married to Severus, and you are the head of your family since he has his life debt to you. So from now on, Severus is known as Severus Tobias Snape-Potter, you are known as Harry James Snape-Potter.'

Harry sat staring at Dumbledore, he turned to Snape, then back to Dumbledore but words seemed to have disappeared as he took in what he had heard. Severus Snape was his husband; he was married to Professor Severus Snape.

'So once again any decision about my life has been taken out of my hands. What if I want to marry some other person? Shouldn't this be my decision, not some bonding spell that was decided when I was a kid. No, you find a way to fix this, I will not let any more choices be made about me without my knowledge or consent.'

'There is only one way to fix this as you say, you can break the bond and Severus' soul will leave his body. It's a fairly quick and easy spell to do, do you wish to do it now? I can make sure Severus is comfortable before he dies.'

Harry growled loudly, 'That is fucking great,' Harry got up and ran from the office slamming the door behind him.

'That went well, at least I'm alive, even though I don't think I will be for long.'

'Do not underestimate Harry, Severus, he will not allow you to die. Let him calm down and take all this information in. But you are going to need to treat him with respect, with affection, with tenderness, with kindness but most of all you must show him love. Lily thought of everything, she wanted to make sure if this bond was called for, then you would have no choice but to go back to that innocent kind young boy you were when you first met Lily.

'Yes, Lily knew what she was doing; I can't believe I agreed to it when she told me what she expected. I knew she could be sneaky and underhanded when it came to what she wanted, but that surprised me. Do you think I should go talk to him?'

'Yes, you will have to go to him anyway, but just show him the new Severus Snape. Harry has always lacked any affection, real affection, only Sirius gave that to him, now you must and once he sees and feels cared for and loved, he will come around.'

'I don't know if he will, but I do not have a choice either. The moment I woke up I felt it, felt how much I cared for him. Oh this relationship is going to be explosive, you might need to warn Poppy that a bed will be needed in her hospital for me and quite often as well.'

Albus watched Severus leave his office, but he couldn't help chuckling because Severus was right. Sometimes Harry just went off before he thought about what was going on. He only hoped that Harry didn't go too far and Severus didn't get too hurt in this new and unusual relationship.