Halloween Prompt - #54 - Shrieking Shack

Sim's Logic Level 4 - Valid, Consistent, Universe, Exist.

You May Stay

The room was dank and depressing, but it matched his mood perfectly. He knew he shouldn't be here. The Shrieking Shack was no place for the newly title Man-Who-Won. Still, as Harry sat down on the floor, leaning his back against the wall as his eyes fell on the dry patch of blood left over from when Snape lay dying in front of him, he felt the calmest he had since the battle.

Nobody would find him here, which could only be a good thing.

He was sick and tired of being paraded around like a puppet, brought out to see his adoring fans, being forced into talks with The Minister and every other member of the Ministry, being asked questions that he didn't want to answer. He hadn't been allowed to grieve yet, hadn't even been able to get away long enough to meet his Godson properly.

He was tired of being a poster boy.

Without his agreement, he'd been signed up to the Auror Academy. Without his agreement, he would be speaking at The Ministry Ball next week. Without his agreement, his life was being planned for him.

Harry didn't know what to do.

He didn't want to be an Auror any longer. Sure, he had a lot of respect for those who chose to do it, but he didn't want to do it. He'd had enough with fighting. He didn't want to speak at any balls. The idea of speaking in public horrified him. He just wanted to be left alone.

"People are looking for you, Potter."

Harry glanced up at Snape. He was supposed to be resting in the hospital wing, not here in the Shack looking for Harry. Another layer of guilt settled on Harry's shoulders. Honestly, he was carrying that much guilt already, it didn't make much difference.

"You shouldn't be here," Harry replied flatly. "Go back to the castle, where it's warm."

"The same could be said for you. Madam Pomfrey is frantic with worry of you, Potter. You're recovering from Magical Exhaustion."

Harry shrugged. "I'm fine."

"That has never been more ridiculous, and you said you were fine after you got bit by a Basilisk." Snape settled against the wall beside Harry, wincing slightly. "What is it, Potter?"

"I told you, I'm fine. I have to be, I'm the saviour." The words were sneered with so much revulsion, even Snape blinked.

"Come back to the castle, Harry. I'll keep them away from you. Poppy will get you a private room. You shouldn't be here."

Harry watched Snape's eyes rest on his own dried blood and felt him shiver slightly beside him. "You won't go until I do, will you?"

"No."

Sighing, Harry stood up, hesitating for only a second before he held his hand out to Snape to help him up. They walked in silence to the end of the trail, and Harry ducked out first. He could see people milling about the grounds. He waited for Snape, and they walked back to the castle. True to his word, anyone that came anywhere near them got a death glare, and Snape kept Harry hassle free all the way up to the hospital wing.

Harry sat up in the bed suddenly, his breathing hard and his head covered with sweat. A nightmare. He got out of bed, his bare feet silent on the ground as he walked hastily from his silent room into the main hospital wing. His eyes trailed over the beds until he found the one he wanted, and he moved quickly to the bedside of Severus Snape.

As Harry watched Snape's chest rise and fall with his slow, even breathing, he collapsed into the bedside chair. He was sure, so sure, in his nightmare, that Snape had never made it out of the shack.

Sitting there, in the dark, Harry felt the same wave of calm he'd experienced in the Shrieking Shack fall over him and he let his eyes fall closed. He was sure he'd regret it come morning, but at the moment, any undisturbed sleep would be welcome.

That it was dreamless in a way Harry'd never experienced without Potions was only a bonus.

Severus watched Harry sleep in the chair beside his bed. The poor young man was exhausted, he'd seen that over the days since he woke, but no one was giving him any peace. He was sure that it was nightmares that had brought him back to Severus' bedside, but he couldn't find it in him to send the boy away. He wasn't heartless, despite other's claims.

He knew he was a constant for Potter. He also knew that would be why the young man was so keen to be near him. In times of trouble, someone consistent can only be a good thing, right? It was a valid reason.

Severus just wasn't sure if he'd still be feeling that validity when Potter got passed his issues and Severus was left alone. Again.

Harry woke up slowly, feeling better rested than he had in over a year. He stretched slowly, and opened his eyes. He wasn't overly surprised to find obsidian eyes watching him carefully.

"Morning," Harry offered quietly, sitting up.

"Morning, Potter."

"I...ah..."

"It's fine. Though I'm not sure your back will be thanking you if you keep sleeping in that chair."

"I guess... You make me feel safe," Harry blurted out suddenly. "I thought you were dead, and the idea, the very idea that you weren't around anymore, terrified me."

"It's natural to latch onto someone when you're feeling -"

"It's not natural. There's nothing natural about the way I feel about you right now. And I know I'm being selfish, and that you probably still hate me, but please, just... I need you. I don't know how to exist in a universe where you don't, and I don't think that feeling will ever go away."

Snape stared at him, shock and... something else hidden in his dark eyes. Harry waited out the silence, not sure there was anything else to say and just praying to every deity that existed that he wouldn't be sent away.

Severus felt the words drape him comfortingly and he knew he couldn't sent Harry away.

"Okay." He held a hand out for Harry to take. "You may stay with me as long as you need."

"And if I don't stop needing you?"

"Then you may stay."