— CHAPTER TWO —

The following evening at Grimmauld Place, every member of the Order gathered in response to Albus's urgent summons. As per Harry's request. Harry watched as Albus explained the situation to them and he watched the expressions of the crowd. Mostly he saw shock and pity but there was also unmistakable trepidation in some, especially as Albus spoke of the ritual that Harry would be using. Harry noted how Ron and Hermione's hands found each other and squeezed tightly. He swallowed the lump in his throat and wondered how could they imagine that he might separate them.

Belatedly Harry realized that Albus had stopped talking and it was time now for the bonding ritual. Everyone was staring at him. Harry cleared his throat and he was careful to keep his face blank but he could hear his thunderous pulse in his ears. There was a moment where he nearly put a stop to everything, then that moment passed and his voice filled the room, calm and sure.

"I, Harry James Potter, as heir to the Gryffindor Lordship, do hereby invoke my right to a bondmate of my choosing. If their magic is inferior to my own, they shall be mine evermore."

The air was taunt with anticipation and a low thrumming had begun - the sound of the ancient magic of the ritual, more felt than heard. Harry's magic surged within his veins in answer to that call, threatening to slip its leash and explode from beneath his skin. No one spoke. No one so much as breathed. Harry's eyes shifted over the crowd slowly and alighted on one particular, familiar figure standing at the back of the room. The man looking weary and highly irritated to be present but not afraid. Never afraid.

"Severus Tobias Snape."

His magic tore from him like a beast and there were screams from the crowd as they felt it pass. Harry felt the magic struggle briefly with Severus's own before crushing all opposition - forcing submission - then twining and twining with Severus's… until the two became indistinguishable from each other.

There was another bond that held Severus but it was not a mating bond and it was comparatively weak in comparison and also deeply perverse in nature. Harry knew what that ugly bond was and his magic destroyed it in an instant.

He came back to himself and registered that Severus had collapsed on the floor, unconscious. Harry felt as though he might faint as well. He had not felt such true and complete fatigue since his childhood.

Everyone was talking in a loud and overly excited clamor but Harry ignored them. He stepped across the room to his fallen bondmate and knelt by his side. He caught Severus's wrist and apparated up from the first floor of Grimmauld Place into the master bedroom. He locked the doors with a wish and threw up strong privacy wards.

He cast a lightening charm, lifted Severus into his arms and placed the man onto his bed. He paused for a moment then cast a few diagnostic charms. The spells told him Severus was overly exhausted, magically, but that he should be fine.

Or rather, he should be fine physically, Harry thought with a wry, grim grin. Harry knew the potions master was going to be furious beyond all belief when he woke.

He sank down on the bed by Severus's side, studying the unconscious man. Severus looked so much younger when he slept, without the lines of stress and unhappiness that were present when he was conscious. His hair was still as greasy as ever, his skin was unattractively pale and stained from potions brewing, and his features were harsh. Not much had changed since Harry had last seen him.

Severus Snape was not a beautiful man and certainly not a pleasant man, but when Harry had been faced with the choice of who he wanted to spend the rest of his eternity with, this man was the only one he could imagine doing so with. He knew it wasn't a sane decision. He knew that Severus had only ever hated him and would only hate him more now that he had been forced into marriage with him.

Harry stilled himself against his despondent thoughts and took Severus's left hand gently in his own. Then he quietly spoke his wedding vow to Severus, a vow that Severus would never let him speak if he'd been awake to hear it.

"I, Harry James Potter, Lord of Gryffindor's Bloodline, take you, Severus Tobias Snape, to be my beloved husband. I will be at your side in sorrow and in joy, in the good times and in the bad, and I swear I will love you unconditionally and cherish you always. I take you as you are, with all your faults and your strengths, just as I also offer myself to you. I am foolish and horribly flawed and I most certainly have have wronged you by making this choice for us," Harry's voice broke and he paused for a moment before continuing, "but, Severus, I will do all in my power to protect you and ensure your happiness from this day forth. With my magic as my bind, I promise you this from my heart, for all the days of my life and in death and beyond."

Harry took a ring from his pocket. He had made it before the ceremony, forming the band by weaving of tiny strands of silver and gold together - none bigger than the width of a hair. He slipped the ring on Severus's left ring finger and bowed his head to press a kiss to that finger, over the ring. He raised his head and said, "This ring is merely a token of my promise to you, Severus. I do not expect you will want to wear it any time in the near future, but I pray that one day… it will mean something to you."

Harry stared down at Severus for a long time, then, at last, he placed Severus's hand back down on the bed and stood. He took out his wand, pressing the tip to his temple and focusing on the memory. He drew it out and conjured a small glass bottle to keep it in, sealing it securely and placing a powerful unbreakable charm on it. He placed the bottle in his trunk, in the box with his other important memories. No matter what came next he wanted to remember this day.

He drew a chair up to the bed and settled in to wait, ignoring his own exhaustion and nagging hunger. He was responsible for what had happened to Severus and he needed to ensure that the man recovered. Harry would take care of himself only when he was certain that Severus was well.

Severus woke eleven hours later and Harry was still sitting by his bedside. He had more patience than anyone gave him credit for, even those who claimed to know him best. Severus's eyes moved beneath his dark lashes and his breaths came slightly faster but then he went completely still, his breathing resuming a slow and even pattern, as if he were asleep. For a moment, Harry doubted himself, then Severus's black eyes snapped open and fixed upon him, and he had a wand digging into his chest, hard enough to bruise. It took all of Harry's willpower to withhold his knee-jerk impulse to defend himself and to keep his magic contained - to just be still and non-reactive.

Severus hissed, "I should kill you."

The rage in those black eyes was a frightening thing to behold and nothing less than Harry had expected. Harry considered his former teacher for a moment then replied, "It would be your right. I won't try to stop you but, as you should already know, my death would change nothing. We are bound and what is done cannot be undone."

Severus gave an animal snarl and then Harry was writhing on the floor under the evil thrall of the torture curse. He screamed and sobbed and thrashed but he could not spare a thought for the suffering of his body. It was agony but he had felt agony before. When agony was unbearable it was best to ignore it. Immediately after he recognized the syllables of the spell, he sunk down into the recesses of his mind. He focusing all of his attention on keeping his magic from lashing out and accidentally harming Severus. Eventually the pain ceased and Harry resurfaced to the forefront of his consciousness. He found that he was panting and trembling.

He raised his eyes to Severus. The man still looked deranged with fury. It was particularly unnerving for Harry, since he had never seen anything genuinely phase the characteristically impassive and self-possessed double agent. At the moment Severus was well and truly beside himself.

"Idiot child!" Severus shouted. "You have damned us both! And for what? Some sort of petty, ill-conceived, and utterly convoluted vengeance? Do you actually have any idea what you have done?"

Severus's eyes caught on the ring on his finger and he tore it off with a snarl, throwing the ring as far away from himself as he was able. It clattered across the floor noisily. Harry forced his body into motion and he sat up, still just watching Severus. The potions master stalked forward, biting out lowly, "Answer. Me."

Harry swallowed the blood in his mouth - he must have bitten his tongue while he was convulsing under the influence of the torture curse. He replied hoarsely, "Sorry. I thought those were rhetorical questions."

Severus's face contorted. He jerked Harry up by the shirt and punched him in the face. Harry staggered and fell back to the floor, unable to catch himself. Severus growled, "You are insolent even now. Still such an infantile, recalcitrant child."

Harry worked his jaw experimentally then said stoically, "Do you want an answer or not?"

It was a simple question, delivered without infliction. Severus was silent, though his hand spasmed by his side as if he dearly wanted to strike Harry again. Harry drew in a deep breath and said, "I chose you because I wanted to."

"Obviously," Severus spat acerbically, barring his crooked teeth in a snarl.

Harry closed his eyes briefly then mustered his famed Gryffindor courage and met Severus's lightless eyes. He clarified, "Because I wanted you, Severus."

Those black eyes widened slightly then, immediately after, a heavy shutter fell behind those eyes and his face smoothed of all traces of emotion. He whispered dangerously, "You test my patience, Potter. Do not address me so informally and do not speak such ridiculous lies."

"I had to choose someone and I wanted you," Harry replied earnestly, thinking he had nothing left to lose. "I was selfish and I took your choice from you and for that I am so sorry… but I do not regret choosing you."

When Severus said nothing, Harry continued, "You hate me now but you hated me before. If you think about it logically, this marriage is to your advantage. Your bond with Voldemort is broken, you will no longer be forced into the role of spy, and as my husband you will face no further recriminations for your actions as a Death Eater. Furthermore, what is mine is yours and, apparently, I have just become quite wealthy."

When Severus finally replied, he was much calmer than he had been before and he started by saying, "I do not want your money."

He spoke the word as it disgusted him. He continued coolly, "I want nothing from you, Potter. Whatever your true motives for your choice, it no longer matters. As you have said, what is done cannot be undone. So long as you understand that I despise you and will never forgive you for this, we can move forward and do what is necessary. After that, we shall have as little interaction as possible."

"What is necessary?" Harry questioned.

Severus sneered and gritted out slowly, as if talking to an idiot, "You need an heir."

"Oh," Harry whispered, feeling a creeping sense of dread now.

Severus scoffed with contempt, "Yes. Oh. Had not thought that far, had you?"

"From what I understand about same-sex marriages in the wizarding world," Harry began, in a vain attempt to salvage Severus's opinion about his intelligence, "if adoption is not an option, then one of the pair temporarily changes their sex."

"Very good, Potter, ten points to Gryffindor." There was enough acid in the words to peel off the wallpaper.

Harry sighed and said, "I will do it - carry the child."

Severus stared at him for a moment, with an unreadable expression, then said, "The potion takes time to prepare and many rare ingredients. Luckily for you, I already have a bottle of it in storage."

Harry raised a brow incredulously, "You keep that kind of potion on hand?"

Severus ignored him, stepping past him towards the door, "I will return with the potion this evening at seven. We will do what must be done, with aid of arousal-inducing potions and potent fertility potions, then, with some clever time magics and an advanced prenatal potion regimen, we can safely speed the gestation time and expect a full-term birth in three months time. There are many well-documented studies."

"Whatever you think is best, Severus," Harry replied quietly.

"Do not call me that," Severus snapped at him.

"What would you prefer instead?"

"That you not speak to me at all, if you can help it. However, if you must address me, you will use 'sir'."

Harry nodded and replied subduedly and without sarcasm, "As you wish, sir. I will see you at seven."

Severus scowled at Harry for a moment then turned and stalked out of the bedroom. Harry sat down on the bed, his muscles still weak and shaky and aching. He knew he would need to cast healing spells before tonight and certainly before going out on any missions with the Order again, but for now, he would let the injuries linger. It felt right that he should suffer a bit, even if only temporarily. There were consequences for his actions, as he had expected and as was only right. Really, he was just grateful Severus was taking it as well as he had. It could have been much worse, but… well, Severus was nothing if not rational. It hadn't taken him long to control his anger and accept his fate. Harry respected that - how many times had he had to do the same?

He only hoped that tonight, after Severus had had some time to think things over, he would be more inclined to talk to Harry and not less. It was very unlikely, but it helped Harry fall asleep.