A/N: Hey. I was going to wait a bit longer to update but I didn't feel like waiting. :P I woke up this morning and had 28 emails from FanFiction and about 7 of them were reviews. I love reviews. :P I'm glad you all are enjoying the story and that I'm doing well with the characters of Harry and Severus and not making them too OOC. I've been told that they seem to be acting how you would expect them to act and that you all like how they are. So, yay. :P Anyways, here's the next chapter. Hope you like it and please review. Thanks so much. :]

Warnings: Mentionings and talks of rape. Fluffy, Snarry interactions again.

When Severus woke up the next morning, it took him a while to figure out why he was not alone in bed. He hadn't shared his bed with anyone in over twenty-five years. When he remembered the previous night's events, he slowly opened his eyes and looked at the man keeping him company who was still asleep.

Severus was lying on his side with his right arm stretched across the bed and his left wrapped around Harry's waist. Harry was on his back and pressed closely to Severus' side, his head on the Potion master's arm near the shoulder. His head was turned away from Severus. His right arm had stretched up and their fingers had entwined. Harry's left hand was on his chest only a bit higher than where Severus' hand was resting on his stomach.

Severus smiled at the sleeping man and bent his head down a little. He gently nudged Harry's head with his nose and pressed a kiss to the young man's temple affectionately. He rested his forehead on Harry's head, waiting for him to awake.

It was about a half hour later when Harry finally began stirring. Severus watched as Harry slowly woke up, internally wondering how he would react to the situation. Though his eyes weren't open, Harry obviously became aware that he was with someone and he tensed. Severus didn't do anything, waiting for Harry to remember. It took quite a few seconds but eventually Harry relaxed and turned his head to look at Severus.

"All right now?" Severus said and Harry nodded with a smile. "Good morning then."

"Mm, morning," the voice box muttered and Severus chuckled. "Last night happened, didn't it?"

"Yes, it did," Severus nodded and Harry sighed. "You are much calmer now."

"I feel better," Harry said.

"We don't have to right now but would you feel up to continuing the conversation?" Severus asked, hoping he wasn't pushing too hard.

Harry hesitated. "Yeah, I think I'll be okay. It'll still be hard but it won't be like last night."

Severus smiled. "Good."

"Severus?" Harry asked after a few moments of silence and he turned his head to stare at the ceiling.

"Hmm?" Severus murmured and Harry smiled slightly at the sound.

"What you said last night, before we went to sleep," Harry said and Severus waited. "Did you mean it, what you said?" he finally asked, staring intently at the ceiling.

Severus smiled even though Harry didn't see it. He kissed Harry's temple again. "I meant it. I'm in love with you." Harry turned to look at him with bright eyes. "Don't expect me to say it every day though. I still have a reputation," he sneered and Harry laughed.

"Not with me," Harry grinned and kissed Severus before he could reply. Severus rolled his eyes behind his closed lids as he returned the kiss. Suddenly Harry pulled back. "Wait. Shouldn't you be teaching? And I need to get to the hospital wing."

Severus easily held him down as he made to get up. "We are not working today. I will cancel my classes and send Elijah Sann to take over in the infirmary for the day," he said.

"Who?" Harry frowned.

"One of my seventh years. He is quite talented and promising and intelligent. He wants to become a Healer and has been trying to get an apprenticeship. He is more than capable to handle things for today," Severus explained.

"If you have confidence in him then I'm sure you're right," Harry said. "Can I shower here?"

"Certainly. I will get you clothes, contact Minerva, and get us breakfast," Severus said, letting Harry up this time.

"Thank you," Harry said, walking into the bathroom and closing the door.

Severus rose and pulled on a robe, trying it shut as he walked into the sitting room. "Cary," he said like last night and the house elf appeared before him again. "Could you please get Harry some clothes?" Cary bowed and disappeared. The house elf didn't talk often as she had learned that her master hated the way typical house elves spoke and acted. She talked when she wanted or had to and her speech was about as perfect as Severus'. Cary reappeared and handed Severus clothes for Harry. "Thank you."

"Severus, do—" Harry walked out of the bedroom and stopped speaking when he saw Cary. "Oh, hello," he smiled at the house elf.

"Mr. Potter," Cary inclined her head and Harry gazed at her curiously before looking at Severus.

"Your own house elf, I presume?" Harry said and Severus nodded.

"This is Cary. She quickly learned that I despise how house elves act and taught herself to act and speak like this. She speaks when she wants or needs to and is sometimes very outspoken," Severus told him. "Here are your clothes," he added, looking pointedly at the lone towel Harry was wearing. Harry blushed and snatched his clothes.

"Shut up, Severus. It was nice to meet you, Cary," Harry said, smiling at the house elf again before returning to the bedroom. He missed the surprised look that the house elf sent him but Severus didn't.

"Something wrong, Cary?" Severus asked and she looked at him.

"No, nothing, Severus," Cary shook her head. Severus simply looked at her. "Will—will Mr. Potter be around more?"

"I'm hoping so," Severus nodded.

"I hope he is," Cary said. "I like him and he is good for you. You've been alone far too long."

"Hello again, Cary. I apologize for just walking out," Harry said, once again exiting the bedroom.

"It is perfectly all right," Cary said. "It is nice to finally meet the young man I've heard so much about."

"What do you mean?"

"Severus has talked a lot about you over the past five years. It's nice to finally put a face to the name," Cary said and Harry looked at Severus who appeared to have small spots of pink on his cheeks.

"Cary," Severus said.

"Oh, Severus. You've been in love with the man for years and have finally told him. There is nothing to be embarrassed about," Cary said and Harry laughed.

"Very well, Cary. You may go now," Severus said.

"Nice to meet you as well, Mr. Potter," Cary said.

"Just Harry, please," Harry said and Cary inclined her head before disappearing. "I definitely like her," Harry said with a grin as Severus rolled his eyes.

"You would. Go to the kitchen and we'll have breakfast after I talk to Minerva," Severus told the younger man.

"Can I cook?" Harry asked. Severus raised an eyebrow. "Oh, come on. You know I can cook. I've cooked for you before."

Severus sighed. He remembered and was aware that the young Gryffindor was an excellent cook. He still wondered how someone so fantastic at cooking could be so abysmal at Potions. "Very well. Don't poison me."

Harry rolled his eyes. "You've survived every other time I've cooked for you," he said and walked into the kitchen with Severus watching him with a fond expression. He listened to the sounds coming from the kitchen for a few seconds before pulling out his wand and summoning his Patronus. He stared at the shimmering silver creature, remembering the day he had discovered it had changed. He had needed to send a message to Poppy to tell her he had been injured in a potions accident and was unable to get to the infirmary. He had been shocked, however, when it was a lion that burst from his wand instead of the doe he had harboured for so many years. He had stared at the large cat for a long time before sending it to Poppy, making sure to say it was him as she would not recognize the Patronus.

He had known that his Patronus had changed because he had fallen in love with Harry. Smiling at the lion that looked back at him, he said, "Minerva, I am cancelling my classes for the day and sending Mr. Sann to take over in the infirmary for the day as Harry is staying with me. You know he is capable so there is no worry. You may contact me at anytime or come down here which I'm sure you will. Also, Harry is very much alive." Once he finished the message, the lion bowed its head before taking off through the door.

"Severus?" He turned around to see Harry standing in the kitchen doorway. "Was that your Patronus?" Severus nodded. "Did it change? What is it?"

"Yes, it changed about three and a half, four years ago. It is now a lion," Severus said, watching as Harry looked somewhat shocked. "It changed when I finally acknowledged that I was in love with you."

Harry suddenly grinned. "You must've been happy to see the mascot of Gryffindor as your new Patronus."

"Absolutely thrilled," Severus drawled with a roll of his eyes and Harry laughed.

"Come on, breakfast is ready," Harry said, holding out a hand to the Potions master.

"I have smelt nothing burning so I suppose you have succeeded," Severus said, taking Harry's hand with a smile even as Harry smacked his chest.

"Shut up, you git," Harry said but the effect was ruined as he continued smiling. Severus was pretty sure he hadn't seen the man smile so much and so brightly in the time he had returned to the castle. Severus was overly pleased to see the old smile that had always squeezed his heart.

Harry was about to sit down when Severus tugged on his hand, pulled him close, and kissed him softly. Harry's smile had softened when they pulled away and was looking at Severus with shining eyes. They both sat down and Severus looked at what Harry had made. There was bacon, scrambled eggs, toast, and sausage. Severus filled his plate and eagerly began eating.

"You are an amazing cook. I think I'll keep you around just for the food," Severus said after a long yet comfortable silence.

Harry chuckled, placing a plate of sausage and a bowl of water on the floor for Lileen. "Should I feel used?"

"That is entirely up to you," Severus said, hardly taking his attention from his breakfast. "Merlin, this is better than the house elves' food."

Harry laughed again but blushed at the slightly indirect compliment. Even after all this time, he still didn't take compliments very well.

"So," Harry cleared his throat, staring at his food. Severus smirked at him in amusement though he wasn't looking to see it. "You said you wanted to continue the conversation from last night. Ask away."

Severus took a bite of bacon and chewed thoughtfully. He had dozens of questions. Where did he begin? "Do you know who they were, the people you went to?" he finally asked.

"No," Harry shook his head and looked up again. "I know they were in the rank just below the Inner Circle."

Severus nodded slowly, obviously thinking. "Yes, I remember one from that rank. He was quite excellent at Potions. Not as good as me but—"

Harry raised an eyebrow at the comment.

"In the eyes of Voldemort, you brat," Severus said and Harry chuckled quietly. "How did you know they could help?"

"I overheard these other Death Eaters talking about it and you just before they were captured and arrested. I went to find them," Harry said, grabbing another sausage and more eggs.

"Where were they?"

"Basement of the Hog's Head. Aberforth had left after being released from the hospital wing. Anyways, I was walking past when I heard noise so I went inside. I heard voices and went to the basement and there they were."

"What did they tell you to do to save me?"

"They gave me a potion and told me to put my tears in it. They said I had to put my blood directly in the bites and then I had to give you the potion. I did and it clearly worked."

"Why did they take your voice?"

Harry hesitated, slowly chewing his eggs. "They didn't want me going to the Ministry. They said I didn't need to speak to save you so it didn't matter if they permanently silenced me. They also said they wanted to make me scream, or try to since I would be silenced."

"Bastards," Severus muttered angrily. "As if there aren't other ways to communicate. Did you ever go to the Ministry?"

"Merlin, no. The Ministry was completely useless at that point. Plus, I didn't care. Yes, they were Death Eaters and should've been arrested for everything else, not just raping me, but I didn't care. I had gotten what I wanted and I didn't care what happened to them. I have no idea if they were ever caught but, again, I don't care," Harry said, shrugging slightly.

"But they had—" Severus stopped, unable to say it.

"Raped me? I know and I'm not happy about it. I ended up getting quite depressed for a while knowing I had been repeatedly raped but I got over it," Harry said.

"Got over it?" Severus repeated, incredulous.

"All right, not got over it. I more or less came to terms with it, with what I had done. As much as I hate him now, Ron's right, I did agree to it. Not the rape exactly but I agreed to do what they wanted as part of the deal. I hate that I was raped and they're not pleasant memories, but they don't make me want to kill myself. When I think about it, I'm glad I did it," Harry said.

"You're kidding?"

"I don't mean that I enjoyed it. I mean that I'm glad I did it because I was able to save you. If I was given a hundred chances to do it over again, I would always do the exact same thing every time," Harry said, reaching across the table and placing his hand on Severus'.

Severus stared at him in shock. "You are an amazing person and I'm glad you came back."

"There's a chance I never would have come back if Minerva hadn't offered me this job," Harry said.

"Why not?"

"Why would I want to return to the place where all but about eight people hate me for various reasons?" Harry said. "Plus the memories were hard and I didn't want to face you."

"Me? Why ever not?"

"Severus, I had no idea how you felt about me anymore. I thought you probably hated me for leaving and not saying a word," Harry told him.

Well, I did say goodbye. He was just unconscious when I did, Harry said silently.

"I was angry and upset when I learned you were gone. I waited quite a long time for some word from you but nothing came. I was angry but I never hated you. I don't think I could ever hate you anymore," Severus said, linking his hand with Harry's and squeezing.

"I didn't know," Harry defended, smiling. "Anyways, I didn't really want to ever come back. There was a lot keeping me away."

"You've always thought of Hogwarts as your home though."

"I know and I still do in some ways, but that was when I wasn't allowed to look for my true home. I'm mostly there in Iceland," Harry said.

"Mostly?" Severus raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, something's been missing ever since I moved there," Harry nodded, staring straight at Severus whose eyes widened fractionally. He gave a small smile and squeezed Harry's hand again.

"Do you remember what they did to silence you?" Severus asked, getting back to the more serious part of the conversation.

"Two spells and a potion," Harry said.

"Do you remember them?"

"I don't know what the potion was. I don't even know what it did. All I know is that it was yellow and had a slight taste of rosemary and vanilla. A strange combination but that's all I can tell you about the potion. They gave me the potion after the spells," Harry told him.

"And the spells?"

"One was Silentium. It was the first and is what caused the 'S's on my neck. The second spell was Nunquam infractus and he, the one casting the spells, kissed me when he cast it. My voice was gone a couple seconds later and then he gave me the potion," Harry said. He looked at Severus and frowned slightly. The man appeared to have paled quite drastically. "What's wrong?"

"I think I know what potion they gave you," Severus said before dropping his head into his hands with a groan. "I created it years ago for Voldemort. He wanted a potion that would make any spell placed on a person unbreakable. I didn't think anyone else could've gotten their hands on that potion."

"Severus, it doesn't matter," Harry said. "I've lived like this for over five years now and I've known it couldn't be reversed. It's fine."

Severus suddenly stood up. "Stay here," he said and left the kitchen with Harry blinking after him. He looked down when Lileen meowed.

"He does that a lot," Harry told the cat with a little laugh. He looked up again when Severus returned, something in his hand and sat back down. "What was that all about?"

"Harry, I can give you your voice back," Severus said and Harry stared at him in confusion.

"But you just said about the potion—"

Severus placed a vial on the table. It was filled with a red potion and Harry eyed it warily. He knew Severus would never hurt him but the potion did not look friendly. "Yes, the potion is meant to make any spell unbreakable but only if you don't have the antidote. When I made the potion, I did not have much time to make the antidote nor the supplies. The ingredients that go into the antidote are all quite rare, all from very magical beings and plants. As such, I only managed to make a small vial of the antidote. I've never made more as I never believed it would be needed. I always tried to make antidotes to every potion Voldemort had me create for him. I only managed about a quarter of the potions. Fortunately, however, this one is part of that quarter," he explained.

"All right, so you can help with the potion. What about the spells. I have no idea what kind of combination or ritual he did. I have no idea how to reverse it," Harry said.

"I can research the spells. They're not rare or unknown spells, well, not for those who know the Dark Magic," Severus said somewhat awkwardly. Harry smiled at him.

"Look, you can if you want but you don't have to. I am fine with the way I am. I do not despair over my voice anymore. I'm fine with it," Harry told him.

Severus held out the potion to him. "Drink," he ordered.

Harry smiled at him again and took the potion. He gazed at it thoughtfully. He meant it when he told Severus that he didn't care if he never got his voice back but he couldn't deny that the idea of having it back was appealing. He met Severus' eyes and held them as he downed the potion. It was bitter but not horrible. It wasn't long before he felt a shiver run up his spine and a tingling went through his body, lingering on his neck and lips.

"So now what?" Harry asked.

"I will research the spells and figure out how to break them. While I do that," Severus had risen again and was now slowly walking towards Harry who was watching him closely, "you will be staying here except when you are working. No arguments." By the time he had finished he was standing over Harry and looking deep into his green eyes.

"Severus—"

"No arguments," Severus repeated quietly. "I recall saying last night that I found myself not wanting you to leave."

"Don't you think it's a little fast?" Harry asked.

"It is not indefinite. For now, it is just until I give you your voice back," Severus said and Harry smiled slightly.

"As long as it's not permanent. That would be too fast. I hardly know where we stand right now," Harry said, reaching up a hand and threading it through Severus' hair.

"I would think that we were together," Severus said. "We've said we love each other."

"Severus, are you sure? Like I said, I'm not the same person from back then and there's no going back," Harry said.

He heard Severus sigh before the Potions master put a hand on Harry's cheek. "I don't want to go back and I'm not the same person either."

"No, you're not," Harry said and smiled. "You've turned soft."

"I have not gone soft, brat," Severus said, smacking Harry upside the head.

Harry laughed. "No, because you would've easily said 'I love you' six years ago."

"You are such a brat, Mr. Potter," Severus growled and Harry grinned.

"Perhaps, but you love me."

Severus smiled at him. "Yes, I do," he said and kissed him lightly.

A/N: I think that's one of the fluffiest chapters I've written in my entire writing career. :P Hope you liked it. I just remembered something that I had meant to say like two or three chapters ago. :P I always read stories of Harry trying to get Severus and Severus trying to keep Harry away. I decided that, for once, it should be the other way around with Harry trying to run away and Severus going after him. :P I meant to say that a couple chapters ago before they got together but I forgot. :P Hope you enjoyed the chapter and please leave me those reviews. Thanks. :]