A/N: At bottom

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Snape's owl arrived in the early morning and Snape a letter sent by the Ministry of Magic. Upon opening it, Snape sighed, then tossed the parchment into the burning fire. The paper grew bright red before being devoured by the flames and bursting into ashes.

"So it's a 'no' then?"

"Lack of evidence has left them no other course for action. Until they have official confirmation that he is a threat... they can do nothing at this time." Severus sat upon the single chair and picked up a book that lay on the table.

Harry sat up from the couch.

"Well… I kind of thought this may be a few days. I'm going to return home-"

"Fine. Go forth and meet your death," he said behind the pages.

Harry grew tense. "How do you expect me to stay any longer? I've sort of been going through a hard time recently and would like to figure out what I'm doing."

"You know as well as I that I cannot stop you –so go. I care not, and I should have not cared from the time I brought you here. You will never bargain with sense, or reason."

"You know what? You're right. But honestly it's particularly hard to trust someone who hated me from the beginning, and despised me for no reason."

The book Snape had been reading was suddenly slammed upon his lap. "You want to know why I assigned you the book on Nazi's. Why Potter?!"

"Oh I don't know, maybe because you enjoy watching me fail at everything you assign, then mock my inabilities to keep up?"

"Cast aside your arrogance for perhaps once, and think!"

"Then why? Tell me why because I'm obviously not seeing it!"

"That book- what the Nazi's did –what Hitler did- That is "hate"! The day I assigned you that book, you spoke of hate as if it were a word easily tossed around. No, I do not hate you. I may have disliked you! Most of times, I saw you could be good at heart. There have been times when you lose your better judgment and become selfish."

"I'm selfish, am I?"

"Yes!"

"So selfish that I never once gave my life to everyone- people I loved, my friends, my friend's family, people I didn't know?! Yes, I must be pretty bloody selfish!"

"Did you ever consider the lives you lost along the way?"

The words had immediate impact, and as soon as Snape said it, he wished for it back.

Harry's angry features became soft, then became resentful. "Sirius huh? The man you hated? Yes "hate". It's a strong word, I won't deny I use it often, especially when I speak of you. But how could you dare, to use him against me when he meant nothing to you?!" Feeling the lump form in his throat, Harry abruptly stood up from the couch, and headed towards the door.

Yes, he hated Snape.

This was hate.

Snape had not finished with what he had to say, and came tearing after him. "Yes the man and I were never civil! But above all, I am the only one who never once lied to you! I tried to break you on several occasions –to teach you! To learn to close your mind, to become stronger and dismiss your damned perpetual youth emotions!"

"I DON"T BLOODY CARE ANYMORE!" Harry turned around and shouted, pushing the man away with his bare hands. He didn't want to use a spell, he wanted his shove to use the physical power he knew his body had. Harry did not pay attention if the shove pushed Snape far, he just wanted to get out of the home.

Before he knew where he was going, Harry found his hand on the front door and threw is open. Stepping out into the cold air, he realized that even with as angry as he felt, it was too cold to just leave. Turning back around, he went past Snape and to where he coat hung on the wall.

"What do you think you are doing?"

"Grabbing my bloody coat so you won't have to bloody remind me of my stupidity when I return!"

"You cannot just leave!"

"Yes I can, and I will. And don't you dare come after me- I won't want to risk another damn life for my selfishness, so stay!" And with that he slammed the front door as hard as he could, not caring if he ripped the door from its frame.

He roughly put his coat on. Harry had not been this angry in so long. He hated the man. He was done here. Done. After he returned, he would pack his things and go stay somewhere safe. Maybe with Ron and Hermione. Despite the approaching Holiday's, the couple would be happy to see him at least.

Harry had no clue where he walked to. He had willingly wondered into the woods, glad to be among nature. Eventually he found a creek and sat upon a log which rested against the shore. The round beneath his feet was frozen, as his uncovered skin cried in exaggerated suffering from the cold.

It was warmer outdoors, than in the house with Snape.

Despite the cold, he could not stop thinking of Sirius. It was times like this he wished more than anything he had someone to console in. Hot tears had fell from his eyes, warming his iced red cheeks. Using a sleeve, he wiped them away, telling himself it was foolish to cry because of something Snape said.

But tears for Sirius never felt wasted. It had been so long since he thought of Sirius's death. Why did Snape feel the audacity to bring that up? Out of all things... this was always the thing that made him tick.

"Why, hello Harry."

His heart stopped beating. Snapping around, he saw a man with gray hair leaned against a tree, smiling down at him. On the shoulder of a man was a falcon. He hadn't even heard the man approach... he must have used a silencing charm... or used his talent as a wolf...

Harry shot upwards, and pulled out his unfamiliar wand, then faced the man. "I know what you want, and I don't have it! I lied to Snape that day."

Kirnap's grin widened. "I thought you would have a story such as that." His grin faltered as he looked closer to Harry's face. "Oh, don't tell me that Severus has upset you? Hm, yes, that man can be quite cruel at times. I would know."

"I don't care." His eyes looked over the shoulder of Kirnap. There was no easy escape... he would have make sure his attack on the man was accurate.

"Oh, so hasty are we Harry?" Kirnap grinned.

"What do you want from me?"

"I want..." He paused to think of his words. "I want to know that the little mind of yours will never... never... breathe a word of those letters to the world." Kirnap pointed his wand at the young man's chest.

"Oh yeah? I hope you realize you are stupid to try and kill-"

"Oh but Harry, am I?" He stepped forward. "Where is your wand?"

Harry's smile dropped.

An owl overhead screeched, causing Kirnap to alter his head just enough to look up towards the direction the sound came from. The falcon upon Kirnap's shoulder, took off into flight after the potential prey.

Harry took the chance.

He whipped out his wand and shouted "Expelliarm-" Out of nowhere, the falcon swooped down from the above abyss, and latched talons deep into his arm. "Argh!"

Kirnap was quick to act. "Expelliarmus!" The wand in Harry's hand flew from out of his hands. Without a split second of hesitation, the falcon let go of its grasp and leapt into the air, catching the disarmed wand. "Haha. Not quite as good as I had hoped." The falcon dropped the wand in Kirnap's hands and once again took off towards the sky. With one hand, Kirnap snapped the temporary wand in half, then threw the pieces to Harry's feet.

Knowing he had but one option before a simple cursed could be uttered from the man's fowl mouth, Harry made the only decision left to him at this point.

He turned around and dashed as quickly as he could- forcing his body to gather speeds fast. Harry was forced to run straight through the creek. Upon placing his foot in the stream, the icy water stung through his shoes. The sting went straight into the bones within his body. It hurt bad, and how he wished to use his wand to relieve the cold. But, he had to choose to ignore the bite and continue through the woods.

"You better run fast, boy!"

Harry didn't listen. He didn't want to. Fear, was not something he believed in. His training for many months aided him, allowing him to breath at ease while taking long strides. He jumped over a fallen log, dodged under low branches.

He could hear nothing behind him. But he didn't let that perturb him from fleeing.

He had no idea where he was going, just running. Running, running for his life.

Time felt meaningless at this point. He had run for several minutes now, without a sound behind him.

It was not long before Harry came across the stream once again. He calculated the distance, and jumped as far across as he could. The numbness in his feet caused him to misjudge the takeoff, resulting in him landing short upon the banks side.

"Oomph!" His body smacked the side and his face slammed against the dirt. He immediately felt the burn of where his front tooth sunk into his lip. His mouth began to fill with the distinct taste of blood. Scrambling, he climbed the slippery dirt. Just as he reached the top he looked over his shoulder and saw the falcon gliding through the air, directly at him.

The falcon soared above the creek. It came just above Harry's head and suddenly darted down. Its long talons reached out and scratched the side of his exposed neck. "Aah!"

With his fist, he swung and met contact with its body, pushing t far away. He never looked to see if his blow had wounded the animal, for he shouted, "Snape!" He called out to no one…. for he told Snape to stay.

Despite the pain spreading through his body, his instincts took hold and aided him in using his senses, since he no longer had a wand to defend himself. His eyes caught the sight of a crouched figure which stood on the other side of the creek. His bright green eyes widened at the sight –a wolf. But this one was not Kirnap. It was a black wolf and half the size. It growled at Harry, its hunches stood higher as it was preparing to attack –distracting him from the hidden attack.

Out of nowhere, he felt the hot burst of a spell slam into his back, causing him to fly to the earth's floor. "Aargh." He coughed from the impact upon his chest. His lungs ached from the force of air from them. Inhaling, he tried to gather the air back as quickly as he could. Despite the sudden burning pain he felt in his wrist, he forced himself to stand with his good hand.

Glancing over his shoulder, he saw Kirnap- smiling... and raising his wand for another blow.

Yet again, he felt blast before it knocked him to the ground. The back of his head hit the frozen earth –hard. The world began to swirl around him. At first it was rapid, but eventually it slowed until it was normal. He rolled over, but this time he could not get himself to stand. His body ached, each blast from the wand had jolted his bones. While fumbling to gather his arms under his body, he felt to the press of a boot push his back, forcing him down to the ground.

"I win." He firmly held Harry in place from any attempt of escape. "I'm truly sorry Severus didn't make it in time. I will tell him you called out for him... begged for him."

"I don't beg!"

"Haha. Such a confident young man." Kirnap lifted his boot and then dropped to his knees next to Harry. He firmly pressed the wand against Harry's neck, threatening its presence if he tried anything. Leaning close to his ear, he whispered, "I wish I had the time to teach you otherwise."

Harry grunted, trying to force the man away.

Harry felt the heat of the man leave, as well as the press of the wand ease. "This is not the way I wish to have a wandless man 'go'. You shall stand like an individual. Stand!"

He was out of options. Alone, in this mess. Hermione, Ron, Neville, Luna... no one was there to think of something, anything.

Despite knowing he was going to die, Harry did as instructed. He would never die laying with his back to his attacker. Harry struggled, as both of his shoulders hurt from the attacks. He felt the world beckoning to spin again.

Harry felt a hand under his arm, roughly forcing him to his feet. The man was incredibly strong.

He stepped away from Harry as soon as Harry had found his balance.

"Such a shame. You are incredibly handsome when you're scared."

"I'm not frightened."

"Very wise. Death is but another journey." Kirnap stepped close to Harry, so that their breath smacked each other's faces. "It's such a shame," he whispered into Harry's eat, "I so dearly wanted to lay my mark on you. But that would be too much a risk. I need you dead. I am at such an opportune moment to waste it on some inner desires of mine. You may have stopped the Dark Lord, but you will not be here twenty years from now when I have built my army of beasts. Oh, they will be strong, and powerful. You know how? Severus helped me."

"No he bloody didn't! He despises you."

"Oh, but this was long ago, Harry. At one time his body desired mine. Longed for my soul. And it was then, oh then, he was such a help. It's a shame he has changed now. But never mind that, I already have what I need from him."

Harry did not say anything. His eyes constantly darted around, seeking desperately for an escape. There was no way he could just run this time. He would die attempting to flee. When Voldemort did this, he stood before him as a man, just the same as he would do now.

"I will make this quick."

Harry closed his eyes. He did not want to see the light. He wanted to hear the forest, remember the present moment, a world of peace, the one he had saved from Voldemort.

"Ava-"

"Expelliarmus!"

Harry's eyes snapped open just in time to see the wand fly from Kirnap's hands, and off onto the Earth floor beyond his vision of sight. Snape was running towards them and stopped short directly in front of Harry.

"Severus!" Kirnap shouted, his eyes ablaze and wild from the shock of being ambushed.

"You coward! Killing a Wizard standing before you, at your mercy?!" Kirnap's eyes shone with fear –for now he was the wandless victim, standing before a man who surely would kill him on the spot. "The Ministry is on their way!"

"Oh, but I will not be here." Kirnap laughed. "Severus, I am wandless, but I am never alone."

As if on cue, the falcon swooped down, screeching as it scooped up Kirnap's abandoned wand. Severus aimed to blast the bird, but it was far too quick for even a skilled wizard. It dropped Kirnap's wand into his outstretched hand, then landed on his forearm. Without a second of hesitation, he and the falcon apparated from sight.

Harry's body began to waver. Suddenly, Harry's knees gave from exhaustion. Snape turned around and saw the younger man on his back, leaning against his elbow, in obvious pain. He knelt down and turned Harry's head to look at the bloody gash on his neck.

"What spells did he use?"

"Nothing bad..." Harry winced as Snape accidentally touched a sore spot "...just knocked me off my feet a few times."

"I apologize. We need to get back to my home, the Ministry will have to look for us there. I sent a Potronous, which they should have received by now." He grabbed onto Harry's arms and helped Harry to his feet. The man did not take any chances to see if Harry could physically hold on during apparation, for he pulled Harry securely against his front, then apparated a second later.

When they landed, Harry was still pressed against Snape's body. He felt… oddly safe…

Snape helped Harry into the house, and brought him into the kitchen. Once near a counter, Harry used his good hand to help himself to lean against it. "Ah!" Every joint in his legs, arms and shoulder were on fire.

"Remove your coat."

The idea was simply agonizing. Harry attempted to do as told, knowing he could not be helped without Snape having access to his wounds. Using his good hand, he unzipped the front, then meticulously maneuvered his good arm, so the coat would slide off. With his good hand, he pulled the coat carefully off, avoiding inflicting more pain upon the swollen hand.

Snape began wetting a clean cloth he pulled from a kitchen drawer. "Is anything broken?"

"I think... my wrist... I'm not sure though."

"Then you are fortunate to be in the hands of a potions master, Potter." Snape stepped in front of Harry and forced the younger man's head to the side. He pressed the warm cloth against the bloody skin, wiping away the fresh blood upon his neck. The contact stung immensely, for the talons had left several deep scratches. "Always finding trouble," Snape murmured more to himself than Harry. It didn't take long for the cloth to become soaked in red. "Hold it to your neck." Harry did as he was told, using his good hand.

Snape grabbed another clean cloth, wetting it with warm water from the faucet. He came back in front of Harry, and looked down to Harry's wrist, which was obviously swollen and would likely not be able to grasp the cloth. Harry looked directly at the dark eyes of Snape, who returned the deep gaze. Snape tore his away and gently pressed the warm cloth against the side of Harry's face. He worked at wiping away the mug from Harry's face, result from the numerous blows to the ground.

"I'm sorry." Harry winced when the cloth came close to his swollen lip.

Snape wiped more mud from his face, concentrating on the task at hand. This job could easily be managed with a wand, but deep inside his veins of ice, he truly felt contrite for saying what he had about Sirius. It was times like that, seeing Harry hurt, that made him remember what Lily would have thought of his actions. "Don't. You have no need to apologize. It is I that worked you up. You do need to think though-"

"I know."

Snape sighed, his hand rested on Harry's cheek. He stopped wiping his face as he looked him in the eye. "Potter, do not be hard on yourself."

Harry would have nodded, but for some reason he didn't want to break the contact. He had never seen an affectionate side of Snape and hardly knew of one that existed. It felt... good.

Snape set the cloth down and checked the other cloth, pressed against Harry's neck.

"How did you find me?"

"As soon as you left... I thought of not caring. You are your own person, after-all." He pressed the cloth back upon his neck. "But, I could not think. I needed to find you. I have never been there for you in the past when wars happened and above all, I was... undoubtedly... wrong. My owl tracked you down from the sky and called to me when it had spotted your whereabouts. I had been tracking you since the moment you left so I was not too far, luckily..."

"I'm glad."

Severus wanted to say something in regards what he would expect when the Aurors arrived, but he couldn't find the words to say. Something deep inside of him was growling –a deep desire he had not felt in such a time.

He thought the beast of desire had died long ago.

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Alright, I had to post this chapter without a beta, so I apologize if I missed anything! I believe my beta is busy for right now, but I want to keep up my regular Tuesday schedule. If she returns my corrected chapter then I will swap it with this one.

I hope you guys are still liking the pace I have going between Harry and Snape. Sorry if this chapter was a bit on the long side. I try to have around 2500 words and this one was nearing close to 4,000.

I'm happy to see a positive response from last chapters drinking and bonding between the two. It felt like a risk to let them bond because their relationship is so rocky, but, it felt right for that chapter.

Asphodel21: Back on chapter 8 you had inquired why Harry left his wand at home. I planned that Harry would need to confront Kirnap, but Harry is so strong that I thought I would discredit him by him loosing so easily. The other wand gave him a disadvantage which lead him running and seeing the wolf in the woods. Hope this all clears up the wand thing now Yay I'm happy you enjoyed their drinking/bonding moment. Funny how liquor can do that lol.

AlexisGray941: Thanks for coming back and reading I hope you are a regular reader of this story because I enjoy your comments with everyone else's!

The arithmancer: Thank you a ton! I believe my regular amount of luck has restored itself lol. Thanks for coming back and reading