"Take that and don't eat anything until I come home."
Harry looked at potion phial that Severus had given him strangely. It was a clear potion, resembling vertiseum. Didn't Severus believe him about the vomiting?
"What will it do?" Severus scowled at him.
"Never mind that. Do you want to keep vomiting or not?" Harry knew the answer to that without even thinking about it. His throat still burned from last night.
When Severus left for work about half an hour later, Harry looked back at the potion. It wouldn't hurt him. Severus might have been nasty sometimes, but he wouldn't poison him. He cared for him, despite what his friends thought. He'd seen it in his eyes once. At least he hoped that's what it was. Besides, what would be the good of killing him?
He downed it, a sickly sweet taste catching his throat, before he climbed back into bed.
When he woke about an hour later, he yawned and rubbed his eye, looking at the empty bottle of his bedside table. He didn't really feel any different and after a quick shower, got dressed before heading out to go grocery shopping.
It took about another hour, but as he looked at the food in the trolley, felt a small twinge of hunger. He hadn't expected it. After everything over the past few days, he thought he'd never want to look at food again. It was easy to push down and he headed into the vegetable section
But after that, about three hours later, he was ravenous. It felt like he hadn't eaten for weeks. He hurried home and had a packet of biscuits out and open when he remembered Severus' words.
Severus had said that this would help. And if it worked it would make Severus happy. He put the box down, instead settling for flying on his broom in the backyard.
He wanted Severus to be happy.
Harry found various ways to occupy his time until Severus came home, staying far away from the kitchen. When he finally heard the door close behind his husband, he leapt up out of his chair, abandoning his letter to Ron and Hermione, and ran to him.
Severus didn't stop him as he kissed him passionately, his hands going to Harry's hips instead. Harry moaned softly. He could taste the remains of Severus' lunch in his mouth and savoured it.
As they pulled back, Severus looked at him and smiled. Well almost. Harry honestly thought that he'd be scared out of his mind when he saw Severus smile.
"You took the potion?" Harry nodded. "And you ate nothing?" He nodded again.
"Not a crumb."
"I didn't expect your willpower to be that strong." Severus said, sounding surprised while Harry beamed. "And how do you feel?"
"Starved." He gave a laugh, a rare thing from him, and caressed his cheek. It seemed Severus was in an excellent mood or the world had flipped upside down. Harry had never seen him act like this. And though he found it disconcerting, he liked it.
"Just hold on a little while longer while I prepare dinner." Harry nodded and Severus disappeared into the kitchen. Harry already felt like he was going to keel over if he didn't eat, but over the next hour as delicious smells started wafting out the kitchen, his stomach growled, almost as though shouting at him to feed it.
Finally Severus called him to dining room and he leapt from the couch and rushed into the room, stopping and looking at the table. He sank down onto the chair, his eyes wide and his mouth watering. A cough came from above him. He looked at Severus.
"Set the table Harry." Harry was disappointed, but decided that the quicker he did it, the faster they could eat. He got the cutlery and crockery and laid out his and Severus' places before looking at him again. The older man shook his head.
"Do it right. Remember those lessons." He whined and received a glare in return. Looking down, his hands shaking, he started to move it around into the right order. It took him a half hour and three more attempts before he got it right.
Severus sat down at his own place and Harry stared at food once more. If he'd been more in his right mind, he would have wondered how Severus did all of this in such a short time. Instead, he looked over it hungrily. Forget feeding a small army. This seemed like enough to feed all of Britain.
Severus spooned some salad onto his plate and Harry took this as a cue, moving straight onto main course and putting a pile of it onto his plate. As he lifted the fork into his mouth, it felt like heaven.
He wasn't sure how much Severus had eaten, but Harry was amazed. It couldn't have been long, an hour and a half, three at the most, and the table was almost cleared.
He didn't feel so famished any more, but as Severus spooned Malva pudding into his mouth, syrupy and covered in custard, he didn't feel quite as full as he would have last night.
The next day, he only woke after Severus had left. As he lay in bed, he though about the previous night. Had he really eaten that much? He remembered going through dish after dish, Severus just watching.
He remembered Severus feeding him the last dessert, a slice of chocolate cake, and carrying him upstairs. He briefly remembered Severus mentioning something about the potion and kissing him, but after that it was all blanks.
He felt ashamed of himself and he got up and went downstairs, vowing to himself he wouldn't eat for the next week. But as much as he distracted himself, his stomach let off a strange noise. Severus hadn't forbidden him from eating today, had he?
Barely realizing what he was doing, Harry took the biscuits and polished them all off, throwing the bag away and forgetting about it...
Once again, I am ashamed of my sporadic updating and very sorry. Ths story was finished before posting so I have no real excuses. Will (try) to update again faster. Thank you for every single review. I'm glad there are some other feeders out there too :-)
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