SEQUEL of A wise man once said

So chapter two, I hope you enjoy it, a bit of a heads up I will be unable to check my email for a few days so bear with me if I don't reply immediately. Love you all!

warnings;

HOMOSEXUAL RELATIONSHIP

BLOOD, GORE (NOT TOO MUCH)

ANGST

SOME RELIGIOUS VIEWPOINTS (NOT NECESSARILY MINE, AND NOT MEANT TO CONVINCE ANYONE OF ANYTHING)

right, I think that about covers it, love you all!

Mistress Slytherin

-2-

"Charlie this really isn't funny." Harry said scowling. He was still in his dress robes, he hadn't even been allowed to change before Charlie had dragged him to the apparition point and then proceeded to drag him through the muggle underground, and then into a taxi- where they proceeded to ride for hours without end. Which was where they were now, sitting in the back of the car Harry more than annoyed and more than starving having had nothing bit wine the night before. Charlie ignored him silently, the way he'd been ignoring him since the start of it save to tell Harry to shut up and trust him. Harry sighed tiredly, he hadn't slept for two days either, which back when he was head Auror would have been nothing, but now that he was spoiled by a life as a headmaster…it was exhausting. Just then though the cab pulled to a stop and Charlie hopped out paying the fare without another word.

"Charlie seriously." Harry said his patience wearing thin as they began to climb a dirt road that seemed to lead to no where.

"I have to talk to someone and so do you Harry, just, just trust me." Charlie said turning to him suddenly. Harry was struck then by how broken Charlie looked.

"Charlie?" He whispered this time in concern. Charlie pressed his face into Harry's hands when they rose to cup the strong jaw and he could see the man inhale deeply.

"I love you Harry Potter, I love you so much." He whispered before reaching up and grasping one of Harry's hands. "Please just follow me." He begged, Harry nodded slowly and followed Charlie up the hill mindful of his bad leg as they made their way. Harry didn't know how far they walked; only that eventually it was all he could do to keep from collapsing from the pain of it. He was so focused on walking that he didn't notice the large building until Charlie was helping him climb the stone steps. Harry panted as he leaned on Charlie who seemed distracted and jumpy.

"There better not be an ambush Charles Weasley." He panted. "There's no way
I'm outrunning anyone right now." He panted before taking a deep breath and looking around. All he could see was a white wall and a set of double doors. Before he could figure anything out though Charlie was leading him forward dragging him through the doors.

Harry halted almost the instant he set foot into the large spacious room and an eerie sense of de ja vu washed over him. His heart pounded loudly in his chest and his eyes widened as he stepped further down the long isle unknowingly leaving Charlie behind. His cane made a dull thud as it hit the stone floor and he approached the large tormented figure.

"Ug seriously?" Harry ignored the sound of falling feet as he continued to stare up at the figure on the cross. "Excuse me sir but you're supposed to kneel-" Harry turned slowly as he heard the young man's voice and the boy stared at him in sudden awe his face paling making his auburn hair stand out more clearly.

"Michael." Harry whispered the name popping into his mind as he stared at the child. The boy stared at him with tear filled eyes.

"I thought you'd forgotten us…" The boy whispered covering his mouth before suddenly launching himself at Harry who caught the boy in his arms and felt his heart speed up, as his head pounded violently. Harry gasped as his leg gave out and he fell to one knee shivering at the pain and the nausea.

"FATHER! FATHER!" The boy cried out.

"Michael what have I told you about screaming in the- ….no." Harry felt something shatter at the whispered voice and when his gaze lifted it focused on the front of the man's cloak. He reached out his hand thoughtlessly and his magic rushed to his hand. "Potter no you don't want this-!" The priest was reaching up and clutching the front of his robes even as magic tugged on them.

"He needs it Snape, he needs you." Charlie whispered from where he was leaning against the wall expression broken and tormented. Suddenly Severus flew through the air and the front of his thick robes tore. Harry caught a glimpse of light before the vial broke from the chain holding it and flew into the palm of his hand. The man, Snape stumbled forward and Harry reached out instinctively catching the man who fell into him dragging them both down. Harry's thoughts were racing his heart was pounding and that empty part of him was reaching calling out tugging like an open wound. Harry gasped as the sound of a wax seal cracking open filled the air and the man atop him sat up with wide terrified eyes that stared into his.

Look at me…

Harry screamed.

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Severus placed his precious cargo onto the bed flicking his wand this way and that his hands fretting as he summoned a bowl of cool water and a clean washcloth from the bathroom.

"What the hell were you thinking Weasley?!" He snapped as he soaked the washcloth wrung it and gently began to dab the sweat away from the hot forehead.

"I was thinking that he loves you." Charlie said weakly from the doorway as he watched Snape check for Harry's pulse frowning as he timed it. "Even without his memories." He whispered. Dark eyes flashed towards him.

"What do you mean? He was happy, Draco told me so, he told me that the two of you were together, living at Hogwarts and that he was content." He said sharply a deep frown on his lips and a haunted look in his eyes. Charlie nodded.

"I was never going to be the one Snape, neither was Malfoy. Harry has an incredible capacity for love, but even without knowing you he was craving you. He began fighting the memory charms, the old Harry kept peeking through and I was afraid that it would either kill him or drive him mad. I tried to ignore it, but…damn you Snape." He said looking away before the tears could come.

"He was fighting the loss of memory? But that's impossible, I took those memories out completely, I placed them in that vial." Snape said releasing Harry's wrist with a frown before flicking his wand and running diagnostic scans.

"When has Harry ever let impossible stop him?" Charlie said weakly. It was only then that Severus looked up at him.

"How bad was it?" Snape asked quietly, "Tell me everything." He whispered. Charlie nodded and leaned his head back closing his eyes.

"It started almost as soon as he woke up really. He would frown and look around but when we would ask him what he was looking for he couldn't remember. When he'd sleep it was always troubled but hey, he survived a war so I didn't think much of it until he started whispering your name. Then it started happening more often he would stop mid sentence and just stare for a while. We blamed it on the potions first, and then on the stress, curse damage, we found any excuse for it. Sometimes he wouldn't even notice that he was doing it but then for a while it just, stopped." He said softly.

"Stopped?" Severus asked softly. Charlie nodded.

"We thought whatever it was must have settled gone away, but then I noticed other little things. He was restless, his appetite would come and go, I didn't think anything was wrong until he picked up potions as a hobby. I mean you've seen Harry in potions class, he hates them with a passion but he was obsessed with them. He wouldn't stop, day or night no matter what and then just like before it all stopped. Only this time…this time Harry could feel it. Like something out of the corner of his eye he said, something that he knew was there but couldn't quite see." Charlie paused as Harry rolled over with a groan his arm reaching out and clasping Severus' dragging the wide-eyed man closer.

"It's like he's under the influence of a love potion." Severus said with a frown though Charlie noted that the man didn't pull away and instead began to press the wet cloth to Harry's forehead again.

"He's not, what with all the treatments they've been doing on his side his blood work has been consistently checked for pollutants." Charlie said quietly. "He's in love Snape, more in love than anyone I have ever known."

"But he didn't even remember me! To him I never existed!" Severus said frowning.

"Love is more than the memories we make Snape, if I obliviated you right now could you honestly say you wouldn't have felt him missing?" Charlie said pursing his lips. Snape's expression softened and Charlie found that he could actually see the pain there in the man's eyes.

"I did, I had no recollection of what had happened after the dark lord had fallen, but then Harry came and it was…it was like meeting someone that you should know but not remembering their name, infuriating really, but something about them fascinates you. You know them and they have all the answers that you seek and then when you remember their name, everything you ever felt for them comes with it. Only it was different this time, because he wasn't at all what he should have been but he was everything I could admire, and even though it was dangerous, even though I wanted to stop it, knew that I should take measures to stop it- I couldn't. I found myself waiting for him, wondering when he would return, wondering if he was safe, if he had eaten, if he was overworking himself…" Snape trailed off seemingly having forgotten that Charlie was there as he hesitantly caressed Harry's cheek. Charlie felt the sorrow and pain build inside him as he watched, it was too good, to perfect and he knew Snape would love Harry the way Harry deserved to be loved, the way Charlie had loved Harry. Only, Harry would love him in return in a way Harry could never have loved Charlie.

"That's love Snape." He rasped causing the man to snatch his hand back guiltily. "You love him and there's no going back now. Stop fighting it, love him the way he deserves to be loved and heal what no one else can. If you don't then I swear to you I will come back and take him away from you." He said firmly. Snape's reaction to that was instantaneous his body covering Harry's protectively and Charlie smirked to see him flush brightly when he was caught. Snape lifted his chin as he pulled away clearing his throat when Harry's grip on him wouldn't let him go completely.

"I won't be letting him go this time." He said as primly as he could. Charlie snorted and turned giving Harry a lingering look.

"You should know…Neville Longbottom is the dark lord, they took over the ministry yesterday. I don't know how he did it but Harry figured him out almost as soon as he saw him and Neville…he isn't the same." He said with a shiver.

"Longbottom?" Snape sneered. "You must be joking." He said wrinkling his nose in distaste.

"No joke, though no one outside of us knows it yet and I doubt they will. Harry said something about a tactic dark lords sometimes used to get rid of their enemies before their enemies knew who they were. Neville has some guy that's acting as the face of the dark lord so that he can watch everyone and see their reactions."

"And he didn't kill Harry?" Snape asked still disbelieving.

"No, he laughed at him." Charlie said gritting his teeth. "He said that he always knew that Harry would defeat the dark lord as long as he possessed his capability to love completely. I think he knew that Harry couldn't remember you, he thinks that Harry has changed." Charlie said with a frown.

"Has he?" Severus asked softly. Charlie hesitated.

"I don't think you realize the impact you had on him Snape. You might think that you weren't important but most of Harry's morals as an adult were fixated on you. The reason he never gave up when he was an Auror was because he knew you would have never given up, the reason he didn't ever compromise on his values was due to you're influence. He wanted to be someone you could be proud of, but without you in his life he was lost. That's how he's been lately, lost, very, very lost all he does know is that he wants to protect Hogwarts and her children no matter the cost. If his leg hadn't been hurt so badly and he'd returned to being an auror I don't think he would have been able to continue without breaking down." Charlie said feeling mildly ill. Severus stared down at the man who even in his sleep was struggling to get closer to him small hands wrapping around his.

"There must be something more to this, some spell or curse that's somehow binding him to me…" He muttered even as he reached out his hand and brushed away a sweaty strand of hair.

"I'd agree." Charlie said softly. "But I've tested his blood samples, I've had a team of medics test them for every possibility and nothing has come up. This kind of love is real Snape; whatever is causing it isn't due to some curse or potion." He said shaking his head. It hurt to say but Snape had to stop doubting this before he hurt Harry.

"There is one thing." Severus said quietly as Harry stirred restlessly on the bed.

"Snape there's nothing I've checked it all-" Charlie said irate.

"The Adavra Kedavra." Severus said softly, reverently. Charlie froze he didn't want to think about how many times Harry had been hit with that particular curse.

"Harry is the only person that the curse is unable to kill." Charlie said with a frown. Snape nodded reluctantly.

"The Potter's relied mainly on James' friends to keep them safe once the dark lord had set his target on them. But most people seem to forget that Lily had a friend too." Severus whispered. Charlie gazed at the man for a long moment.

"You." He said quietly. Snape nodded.

"We became distant, said things that neither of us meant did things that kept us from remaining as good of friends as we were, but the moment I realized that her life was in danger I gave her an option." Snape said shivering slightly.

"The most brilliant witch of her age, what did you give her?" Charlie asked softly.

"My blood, I willingly and ritualistically shed my blood and gave it to her. I met her in secret while Potter was on the field; I told her that it was most probably my own fault that the dark lord was after her child's life." Snape said his eyes growing distant and shadowed. "There are any number of rituals that can be used to kill a person using a vial of willingly shed blood. To be gifted with such a thing is to place one's life in the hands of another, and I did so. I told her that it was her right to kill me, or enslave me, or do anything she willed with that vial of blood and then I left her." Snape whispered. "The next time I saw her she was lying dead in her nursery and Harry was alive."

"What do you think she did Snape?" Charlie demanded. If they could break it, maybe Harry could be his after all, maybe Harry could be happy.

"She did what any mother would do given the means to do so, she protected her child." Snape said lifting Harry's hand and placing a kiss to the knuckles. "She bound us together not through life, but through death." He said sadly.

"I don't understand." Charlie said gritting his teeth.

"Lily was always very clever, she loved puzzles, loved ancient magics no matter if they were light or dark, she also loved to create her own spells and rituals. One of them was a ritual meant for lovers, to bind them together so that should one die the other would die with them rather than withering away without them in hopeless longing. I would be lying if I said that I hadn't suspected it before, after all the very idea is ludicrous, but I can't hide from it now." He said softly. "She changed that ritual, a ritual that is usually powered with life and love. She powered it instead with death and sorrow. Every time Harry is hit with the Adavra Kedavra his life is lengthened rather than shortened, every sorrow he has becomes his strength rather than his weakness."

"And you?" Charlie said when Snape remained silent. "Where do you come in?"

"The spell is made for lovers; however when I surmised that she had given up her life for him I couldn't help but hate him, the spell wasn't meant to be used that way, so it fixed the problem. With every sorrow and ever near death experience he and I were bonded more closely together."

"Can it be broken?" Charlie demanded immediately.

"I'm afraid not." Snape said with pursed lips. "The ritual used is old, very, very old and was meant to be permanent. I had hoped that by removing Harry's memories I would have saved him from the ritual, but that has obviously failed and now…Now I can only hope that he doesn't hate me for being forced to love me." He whispered brokenly. Charlie let out a slow broken laugh.

"Snape you don't know Harry at all if you think that will be the case. I think this- ritual or whatever messed something up inside him, Snape he can't hate. And if he can the only person that he could hate would be himself." He said shaking his head. "If anything he'll blame himself for this, as though it's even possible that this could be his fault! Harry will love you Snape and you're a damn lucky bastard for it." He said before turning abruptly and stalking from the room.

He made it about as far as the church doors before falling to his knees and weeping. Harry…his Harry…his Harry was never his though was he? Harry tried, but that was just Harry, he had no control over what was done to him. So Charlie forced himself to stand, to walk, to continue apparating away with the knowledge that at least Harry would finally be happy. They were blameless; all of them, even Harry's mum and that was perhaps the very worst part of it all.

He had nothing and no one to blame his aching heart on.

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