Just Always Be Waiting For Me
Chapter 2
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor am I profiting from this in anyway.
Harry and Severus had stayed surprisingly clear of one another in the days before the wedding. It wasn't by Harry's choice, but Severus seemed keen on avoiding as much conversation as possible. Other than passing each other at breakfast in the morning, he rarely saw anything more than the back of the man as he disappeared into his private lab. He hadn't received a yes or a no in regards to his invitation for the man to accompany him to the wedding and he was fairly certain the radio silence would stand on that front. He was a bit disappointed, because part of him had hoped that the man might agree to come along with him, but after all he was Snape and it was probably the longest shot on the planet. He didn't even know why he'd ask really, he thought it would be nice to have the man along for some reason. When in reality, Severus would probably find something to complain about or insult every few seconds.
He hadn't been back to The Burrow since everything has happened at the end of the war. With the loss of Percy and Bill the Weasley home was a broken one and they were still learning to live with the holes that had been formed. He suspected that the only thing that had kept the family, especially Mrs. Weasley going, was the upcoming wedding. She must be so pleased to see her youngest song getting married, and he expected that was why Ron and Hermione had left her in charge of everything. It was to keep her going.
Part of him felt guilty for running after the war, but it had all been too much. Harry had spent his entire wizarding life fighting Voldemort and losing those he loved in the process. He'd run away to India, because he felt like he couldn't breathe after the war, and it had helped it immensely. It helped him to realize that he was finally free from the restraints that he'd been placed under thanks to Voldemort. That he would never have to come back home if he hadn't wanted to, well at least not until Severus had showed up and changed everything. If he had to be bonded to someone he was glad that it was Severus, who wouldn't treat him any differently for the role he'd been born into. Going out to wizarding places was hard enough without being swarmed and he couldn't imagine feeling that way all the time with his significant other.
"Is brooding by yourself in my sitting room all that you're capable of?" Severus had asked catching him staring off into nothing.
"No, what do you mean?" Harry asked startled.
"Every time I come out of my lab I find you brooding in that exact spot," the man replied pointedly.
"Sorry, just thinking," Harry shrugged noncommittally.
"I'm shocked that the ability does not escape you, believe me," the man replied smugly.
"You're a prat," Harry shot back half-heartedly and Severus smirked and went into the kitchen to make lunch.
The morning of the wedding Harry sleepily climbed out of bed and padded into the bathroom to have a shower. He pulled on the horrible dress robes that Hermione had picked for him and went to have breakfast. Severus was already in the kitchen wearing something that eerily looked like dress robes and sat a plate of eggs and toast in front of him. He looked up at the man in confusion and muttered a quick thanks before tucking in. Severus sat at the table across from him sipping his coffee and reading the morning paper.
"It seems as though our impending union has made the announcements page," Severus said sliding the paper across the table to him.
"Brilliant," Harry said scanning the page. "They could have at least waited a bit longer."
"Mmm?" Severus hummed in question.
"They had to go and announce it on the day of my best friends wedding. If one person makes a bigger deal about it than Ron and Hermione's big day I might hex them," He sulked.
"Speaking of your friend's wedding, I thought that I might accompany you after all," Severus said expressionless.
"That'd be great," Harry smiled lightly.
After breakfast he stood in the hall pulling at the neck of his robes, and silently pleading with them not to choke him over the course of the day. He smoothed out any wrinkles and took his glasses off and cleaned them on the edge of his sleeve. He really should get a new pair, he though mildly at the glasses he'd been wearing since he had gone started Hogwarts. They were dull in color and had been through the entire war with him. He'd repaired them so many times he was surprised that they were still able to go back together when broken. He ran a hand over his hair trying to get it to behave in some way and sighed in frustration when it would just bounce back up. He'd given up trying to put anything in it because it was determined to be just as stubborn as he was apparently.
"You need a haircut," Severus said walking by without looking up from the book in his hands.
"Look who's talking," Harry grumbled.
The moment they had landed on the front path of The Burrow he was drug away by the Weasley twins to a waiting Ron. All he had time to do was mouth a quick sorry to Severus before the man turned and headed into the back garden with the rest of the guest.
Ron was in his bedroom and he looked like he might be sick at any moment, but he also looked incredibly pleased. He was busy fumbling with his tie and batting away Ginny who was attempting to fix it for him. Ginny smiled kindly at him before returning to her assault on her older brother. Charlie clapped him on the back before handing him the rings, which he tucked safely into his pocket. The room was incredibly crowded and he felt mildly claustrophobic being trapped between the twins on Ron's bed.
Everyone asked about his summer away and what he had gotten up to abroad, but he knew the real question that everyone was burning to ask was about Severus. How could they not want to know? He was their evil, dungeon bat potions professor and Harry was to be married to him. Hell, he'd been living with him for a few days now, they bound to have loads of questions about how that was working. Like, how come Snape hadn't ground him up and bottled him up to use as a future potions ingredients, or killed him in his sleep. He knew that the announcement had been in the paper this morning, and he wasn't entirely sure who had put it there, it had to have been a leak at the ministry. There would be few people how didn't know about it at this point he reminded himself.
"What's it like living with Snape then?" Fred asked breaking the floodgate first.
"Yeah, does he turn into a bat at night and fly about your garden?" George teased.
"He just sort of stays in his lab all day," Harry shrugged. "We might share a meal, but that's the most I see of him all day."
"Isn't he horrible to you?" Ginny asked skeptically.
"He's alright other than the passing insult," Harry said running a hand through his hair.
"So are you about to be Harry Snape then?" Ron asked looking even paler than before.
"I dunno. We haven't talked about it much. I don't even know where we're getting married."
"We had bloody well be invited," Fred said pointedly and the rest of them nodded in agreement.
"I'll see what I can do," Harry smiled lightly. "But today should be about Ron and Mione."
The wedding was really great and he didn't know if he'd ever seen his two best friends happier. They were both glowing at the alter as they made their vows to one another. He stood by Ron's side and he slipped the ring onto Hermione's finger and then when they kissed and the officiant announced them as man and wife. He was beaming from ear to ear at the entire thing, but he still felt the dull ache in his stomach of something he would never have. He was sure that Severus would make a great life partner, but he wasn't sure that he'd ever love him the way Ron and Hermione loved each other. And even if he did come to love him chances were that the man would never reciprocate that love. Thanks a lot grandma and grandpa he thought to himself as his friends went down the aisle arm in arm.
He spotted Severus near the back, but when he made his move to go to where the man was standing he was enveloped in the arms of Mrs. Weasley. The woman was beaming, with tears of joy sliding down her rosy cheeks, but he could see it, the wear of losing two children that was on her face too. He idly wondered if that was something you could ever hide, it must be something that parents wore, like a scar it would never go away. Mr. Weasley wore it too, but Mrs. Weasley's was more obvious, he supposed any mother might take the death of her children harder. After all she had carried them and given birth to them, it was a bond that no father could share.
She chastised him for not eating enough, and asked him how his time away was. She was like the mother that he had never known, and he could feel her need to mother him start to reach out stronger than every. Undoubtedly spurred by the loss of Percy and Bill. It wasn't as if she was looking to fill the void their deaths had brought, but merely to placate the ache instead. She was just about to go into full mother mode on him when Severus touched his shoulder and she smiled up at the man instead.
"Severus, dear, how nice to see you," she said warmly.
"Molly, I was just hoping I could steal my future husband away for a few moments," Severus said curtly.
"Of course! I'll talk to you later, Harry, dear," she smiled softly and made her way towards the bride and groom.
"Thanks," Harry breathed in relief. "I don't know if I could have handled her crying on me."
"Indeed," Severus said leading him towards the bar and handing him a drink.
After Ron and Hermione had left, Harry had spent entirely too much time taking shots with Ginny and Dean and was significantly drunk. He started to miss Severus not long after, but finally spotted the man standing down by the paddock with a drink in his hand. He stumbled happily down the hill to where the man was and grinned at him broadly, then proceeded to thrust his drink into the man's hands. With a little big of effort he managed to tug his dress robes over his head and slung them across the fence.
"You're drunk," Severus stated mildly amused.
"A bit," he nodded in agreement. "Will you dance with me?"
"I don't dance, Potter," Severus answered darkly.
"Just this once?" Harry asked sloppily.
"Not even this once," he mused. "Come on, I will take you home."
"I am a bit tired," Harry decided happily.
The next morning he woke up with a familiar pounding in his head, and he couldn't even stand to open his eyes. The sunlight streaming in through the small window in his room was practically blinding at this point. He groaned loudly and pulled the blankets up over his head in annoyance. He had just decided that the only way the only solution was to sleep this off when he smelled the food from the kitchen waft in through his cracked door. He groaned as his stomach turned and buried his head underneath his pillow as well. He had just gotten his stomach to settle enough when Severus swept in and pulled the curtains open, and the duvet off of his head. He groaned in annoyance, but the man simply thrusted a bottle of hangover potion into his hand. He poured it down his throat gratefully and murmured a quick thanks to the man.
Severus was otherwise preoccupied and Harry watched as the man slung open the doors to his wardrobe and stared at the clothes in disapproval. He started pulling out all of Harry's clothes and tossing them into a pile on his floor.
"What're you doing?" Harry asked half confused, half mad.
"All of this has to go," the man said gesturing to the pile of clothing in his floor. "You cousin must have been the size of a small whale if this shirt is anything to go by."
"Yeah, he liked to eat," Harry smiled ruefully. "What're you doing, if you throw everything out I will have nothing to wear."
"This is your most tolerable outfit," Severus said thrusting a pair of trousers and a button up shirt at him. "Get dressed your clothing situation can't wait any longer."
"I thought we were going tomorrow," Harry asked confused.
"Like I said, this situation is more dire than previously anticipated. We can't have your adoring public say that I am not properly caring for you," Severus said holding up a pair of socks that had been darned a few too many times and tossing them into the pile.
Harry allowed himself to be lead through the bustling alley and to Madam Malkin's by Severus. It was nice to see the alley thriving so well in the months following the war. He briefly remembered that in the months leading up to the war that loads of the shopkeepers had closed up shop and abandoned the place, he was glad to see that most of them had returned. A few people were bold enough to stop him and ask him how he was much to Severus' annoyance, and he tried to be ask quick and polite as possible with them before setting back on his way.
Once inside the shop, Madam Malkin shooed away her shop assistants to help him herself. She was a kind older lady, who might have just been a bit younger than McGonagall. She took his measurements and quickly helped instructed her assistant to pull some robes for him to try on. Nearly an hour later he had new robes and some new pants and songs, but not much else. Severus then lead him further down the street to a shop that specialized in muggle clothing and ushered him inside.
Inside this shop a young shop assistant helped him find everything he might need. She pulled trousers and jeans for him to try on. Then she moved onto dress shirts and then just causal shirts and undershirts. By the time it was over he had an entirely new wardrobe including new trainers and a pair of boots for the wintertime. Severus had made sure that he was going to look presentable in the future, he couldn't say that he was sad about it, but part of him was going to miss his old clothes. They were his armor and he could disappear inside of Dudley's oversized clothes, but now these new ones were going to draw attention to him and he wasn't sure if it would be a good or bad thing.
He thanked the man for his birthday present and climbed into bed that night in the new pajama's that had been purchased that day for him. When he had offered to pay for some of the stuff Severus had put him off and said that it was his job to make sure that Harry was cared for in the future. They were to be married, and as he was the younger member of the marriage, he was in charge of making sure that all of his needs were taken care of. It was odd to him, in all his life he'd never actually remembered someone taking that on and part of him welcomed the idea of having another person that he could depend on, and not just for clothing and things like that. Severus had been watching over him his whole life and it was like now he had a solid reason for it.
A/N: Thanks for reading and reviewing!