Chapter 7

This is here:

The last thing Harry expected to happen was for Severus to simply open the door and invite him inside in a perfectly friendly manner.

As soon as the door was closed, however, Severus pointed his wand at Harry's heart.

"Tell me, Potter," he hissed maliciously, "why I shouldn't kill you right now – I'm sure my Lord would be most displeased but the pleasure of ending your miserable life myself might just be worth it."

Harry couldn't answer; he only stared at the other wizard, shock evident on his face.

"Sev – Severus?" he asked in a whisper.

Snape sneered. "So it's Severus now, Potter? Tell me… Why have you come here?"

Harry shook his head.

"Well? Tell me or I will kill you, make no mistake."

"I don't know," Harry croaked.

"Is that so," Severus said silkily. His voice was the only feature that reminded Harry of his lover. Everything else about him was dark, twisted beyond recognition; hatred glowed in those black eyes.

"Severus?" a nervous voice squeaked from upstairs, "Who is it?"

"Come down and see," Severus called and his lips twisted into something resembling a smile, "Look who's come to visit, Wormtail."

This isn't:

Harry knew that it was terribly rude to Apparate right into somebody's house but he figured that as it was theoretically also his house it wouldn't matter so much. Arriving in the living room he called out Snape's name and was relieved to see the other man appear quickly.

"What happened?" he asked as he helped Harry drag Sirius to the couch. "I have to say, the number of unconscious people on this piece of furniture has increased considerably since your arrival, Harry."

"Dementors," Harry explained, "He should be fine with a bit of chocolate. Oh, and he injured his hands."

Severus went to fetch a slab of Honeyduke's Best as well as some salve while Harry muttered a charm to clean the dirt from Sirius' hands. Severus handed Harry the chocolate.

"You feed it to him; he's likely to bite my fingers off if I try."

Harry slowly fed the chocolate to his godfather in small pieces; Sirius seemed to revive with each bite. Finally he shook his head and coughed.

"That's enough," he rasped.

Meanwhile Severus had applied the salve and Sirius flexed his hands slowly.

"I suppose I have to thank you now."

"Don't bother, Black," Severus said caustically, "We know you after all."

Harry shushed him with a motion of his hand. "Do you feel well enough to Apparate or do you want to floo?"

"Floo, I think."

After bundling off the other wizard into the fireplace Harry turned to Severus and held out the wand. "Thanks for that. Turns out I really needed it because Sirius wasn't very, erm, helpful."

"Black is an idiot." Severus sneered and Harry was vividly reminded of his former teacher for just a moment. But then the look on the other man's face passed and Severus was the friendly almost-stranger of the last two days again.

"About Slytherin's tomb," Harry said, "We didn't find out why the Dementors are there but I'm pretty sure that Voldemort sent them."

"Voldemort hasn't got much power over the Dementors anymore, Harry," Severus replied, "Since they left Azkaban some months ago the Ministry has done all it can to actually destroy them. There are wards against them in every magical dwelling. They can feed off Muggles, but not for very long; they're starving."

"Then why would they be there? There's not a wizarding soul in that area."

Severus shrugged. "Perhaps they can feel that the place is magical. Slytherin was a very powerful wizard after all."

"I think I know how to open his tomb; a Parselmouth should be able to do it," Harry said, "So we should, er, go back and see what's in the grave. Just to make sure."

"No," Severus said flatly.

"We could leave – what?"

"I said no," the other man repeated, "Leave it to the Order. Suggest it to Neville. He's the boy who lived and a Gryffindor to boot, I'm sure he'll jump at the opportunity."

"But…" Harry gaped; Severus had crossed his arms and glared at him.

"But we've got the time," he said finally, "You know the Order, they'll probably take ages to make a decision! And then it'll be Neville and his dad going off, I can't volunteer again, they'll laugh in my face if I did!"

"Exactly. You are not going to go back there, get your soul sucked out by Dementors or killed by whatever there is in Slytherin's grave!"

"Why not?" Harry yelled, his temper suddenly spiking, "It's only Dementors, I know how to handle them! What's got into you all of a sudden?"

"What you are conveniently forgetting," Severus hissed, "is that you are currently inhabiting my lover's body – can you imagine what would happen if you die here, or get yourself injured? I want my Harry back, uninjured and whole, and the probability of that ever happening decreases with every one of your antics!"

"Antics!" Harry exclaimed, "Antics, you say? The mission today wasn't my idea, if you'd care to recall, but now I've been there and I want to find out what's in there! I don't know about your lover," he spat out the word like a curse, "but he must have been quite a coward to skip Order meetings just to avoid any risk."

"Don't you dare talk about Harry like that!" Snape roared and now he was truly the vicious wizard Harry had known at Hogwarts.

"Don't you dare," he hissed again and spittle flew from his mouth. "You know nothing about him! You know nothing about his life, nor mine! But you have a responsibility towards him and I won't let you forget it!"

"Sod off!" Harry hissed back; he barely controlled his urge to shout. "You are most certainly not my lover, don't tell me what to do! You're nothing to me, d'you hear? Nothing!"

"Fine," Snape said, "I see." His chest heaved and he wiped his mouth. "Accio wand!" he said and it flew into his palm; there was a spiteful gleam in his eyes.

"Well, Mr Potter," he said mockingly, "I wish you all the best, travelling 150 miles without a wand or access to the floo network. The next wizarding community is in York; good luck."

"Fuck you!" Harry spat bitterly and was quite satisfied to slam the door behind him on his way out.

"Fuck," Severus whispered into the sudden silence of the room, "Fuck."

He knew that there were two responsible and mature courses of action to take in this particular situation: He could either follow Harry before the man really got himself killed, or he could retreat to the kitchen, pretend not to sulk and pursue his research on how to get rid of the aggravating arse.

Severus chose the sensible option number three instead: He summoned the bottle of Firewhisky and a pack of cigarettes he'd managed not to open for over two years and proceeded to chainsmoke while drinking himself into oblivion.

He shouldn't have lost his temper like that. Flying into a snit had been one of his worst problems at school and one of the reasons James and Sirius had enjoyed provocating him, or so Remus had told him later. He'd learned to reign in his emotions, if not in his last two years at school then at university: Him being openly gay was already pissing off enough people, and even he couldn't afford to alienate everybody.

But sometimes – like today – he just lost it, and with good reason this time, too.

It was hard, looking at Harry. Looking at his lover: Seeing the familiar face, the familiar gestures and mimics, but in reality having a stranger stand in front of him. Because that's what he was: a stranger in a painfully familiar body, one who'd attacked him on first sight and caused him more agony than Severus cared to recall.

This Harry was full of determination and bitterness. It was probably true that he was more magically skilled than Severus' lover, more serious about the war. He seemed to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders, just like Neville did.

Still…

Severus tossed back his tumbler of whisky, stubbed out his cigarette in a saucer and immediately lit a new one.

He was sure that Harry would come back in due time; he couldn't get anywhere on sheer stubbornness after all.

Severus hoped he'd find a way for the bowl to work again, and soon. His only desire right now was to hold his lover in his arms and retreat to the bedroom with him for the rest of the day.

"My God, you stink," someone leaning over him said disgustedly.

Severus opened his eyes and croaked.

"D'you have a hangover potion about here somewhere? Or know an anti-fumigation charm? Merlin, you could cure meat in here," Harry waved his hand in the air which bore the smell of too much alcohol and cigarettes.

"Shut up," Severus rasped, "My head hurts."

"Yeah, and you deserve it," Harry said snidely. Spying Severus' wand on the table, Harry picked it up and spelled the room clean. He was still glaring at him, but Severus was much too occupied by his throbbing headache to care.

"Accio…hm…accio potion!" Harry winced when something crashed in the kitchen but caught the vial that was flying through the room and held it out to Severus.

"What is that?" Severus clutched his head.

"My God, man, I know you aren't the Potions master I know and despise, but didn't you use to be brilliant at Potions, annotating your textbook or something like that? It's a draught against headaches."

Severus tried to glare at Harry, but the effect was rather ruined because anything more than squinting was still much too painful. He downed the contents of the vial in one gulp.

"That was twenty five years ago and before I discovered Muggle medicine that actually tastes neutral."

"Three cheers for Aspirin, eh?"

"How late is it?"

"Ten in the morning on a bright and beautiful Monday," Harry said cheerfully, "I've already been firecalled by one irate Oliver Wood. He asked me why I didn't show up for practice. I told him my lover was sick and that I would take good care of you."

Now that Severus could actually see properly again he got a look at Harry and gasped. "What the hell happened to you?"

Harry's robes were stained with muddy dirt, torn in places. His hair was an absolute mess, leaves and twigs sticking out of it and his face was scratched bloody, as were his hands.

"Well," Harry said contemplatively, "I was rather angry, as you might remember – or not, depending on how many brain cells you managed to drown in alcohol last night. I actually made it to the village, realised what a miserable little place it was, turned around… and got lost. Night fell, it was all very gothic, you know. I decided to sleep outside and try again the next morning. And here I am!" He grinned but became serious again a moment later.

"I'm sorry," he said earnestly, "About what I said yesterday. It was… erm, uncalled for."

"Apology accepted." Severus sighed. "And I'm… Well."

"Don't bother, it's fine. D'you mind if I shower first?"

Severus shook his head and listened to the soft sounds Harry made in the bathroom: the toilet flushing, the spray of the shower, Harry brushing his teeth. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. For a moment it was enough to simply lie there and pretend: Harry would come down, clad in only a towel, and he'd slowly seduce Severus. They would laze away the day together, only crawling out of bed to get some food.

He got up and cleaned away the mess he'd made the night before. Although his headache was gone thanks to the potion his throat was sore and scratchy and would likely remain so for the next few hours.

After fixing breakfast for him and Harry and taking his turn in the bathroom, Severus finally said, over a cup of coffee, to the man sitting across him, "I really am sorry. I lost my temper. It won't happen again."

Harry put down his own cup and stared at him out of Severus' lover's big, green eyes. "Just when I decided not to like you, you go and say something like that. It's almost enough to make me understand why I'd be together with you, if I fancied blokes."

"Are you sure you don't?" Severus asked cautiously. This was dangerous territory with most men and he'd seen and felt firsthand how volatile Harry could be.

"About me fancying blokes? Yeah, pretty sure." Harry shrugged. "I've only ever dated one girl proper like, though, and Ginny, she, er…"

"Broke up with you?" Severus suggested.

"Died."

"I'm sorry," he said automatically.

"You don't need to be. It's fine; we'd ended things before… you know." Harry stared morosely at his plate and Severus felt the urge to change the topic, to distract him from the memories he was obviously reliving.

"I'm going to Germany tomorrow," he said. Harry looked up. "To Nuremberg. I have high hopes of finding the original construction plans there and once I've translated those…"

"You get your lover back," Harry finished for him. "Should I come with you?"

Severus shook his head. "It would be better if you attended Quidditch practice. You're notorious for how serious you are about your training. It won't do to arouse too much suspicion."

"All right. Listen, Severus…" Harry took a deep breath. "I know you don't want me to go, and I don't really want to either, but I have to open Slytherin's tomb."

Seeing the other man's thunderous expression he hastened to add, "It's not… I'm not doing it for the kicks or because I'm some sort of adrenaline junkie. But I'm going back soon, and I won't know what the Order's going to find in there and I have to know. I think Voldemort might be hiding a horcrux there."

"A horcrux?" Severus started. "How do you… Ah. Albus Dumbledore told you about them?"

"Before he died, yes. D'you know how they work?"

"I am an expert on magical objects, Harry. This is what I do for a living; of course I know how horcruxes work. Although that knowledge is not easy to come by: There's a single living expert on this particular topic in the world, and he's living like a hermit in the woods of Albania."

"So you know about Voldemort's horcruxes?" Harry pressed.

"Albus Dumbledore told me, yes."

"And how to destroy them?"

"There isn't a general way to destroy horcruxes. It depends on the individual object. Each one would have to be examined carefully before anybody could attempt to destroy it. An attempt gone awry could have distastrous consequences.

"All right," Severus said suddenly, "We'll go there together. Against my better judgement, I will come with you."

"Thank you!"

The smile Harry bestowed on him almost made the whole venture worth it.