Centre of Twilight

Lucius collapsed on the path that ran to the front door of the pub and retched, choking on smoke and his own mortal terror. The power of that boy!

His heart was hammering but seemed to have returned to a steady rhythm, at least. He pressed his hand to his chest, coughed and spat; wrinkling his nose at the smell of his own vomit.

“Lucius,” a chilling voice summoned his attention.

“M-master,” Lucius glanced up in shock, his face white with cyanosis turning his lips blue.

“Things don’t seem to be running to plan,” Voldemort remarked with a quirk of his head towards the pub.

“My lord, we had the apostate Snape for you. We -”

“You let him go.” The Dark Lord finished coldly as he drew his wand from one sleeve.

“Master,” Lucius responded, pressing his forehead to the man’s shoes, “I have better news for you: the location of Sirius Black and the werewolf, Lupin!”

In a moment, the wand went still and Voldemort looked interested. “You know where they are?”

“Almost, my lord. I have my contacts.” Lucius continued to prostrate himself for a second and then lifted his face hopefully.

The Dark Lord’s attention was pulled elsewhere though and a second later, he seized the back of Lucius’ robes and Disapparated – just before Dumbledore, Moody, Tonks, Kingsley and Alicia Malfoy Apparated onto the green.

*~*~*

There really weren’t sufficient words to describe the emotions of the three wizards as they stumbled, smoke stained, coughing and gasping from the burning pub.

Harry was almost buzzing on the magical high, but was also feeling distinctly put out with Snape’s manhandling of him. Also, in his intoxicated state, he was having some difficulty in understanding why Draco had been reluctant for him to kill Lucius. Didn’t he want revenge?

Draco, meanwhile, was feeling lost and exhausted. The wielding of so much power – power that was only his on loan – had left him shaky and a little disoriented. He was also aware of Harry’s emotions – as well as his current high – and felt as if he had somehow disappointed him. But how could he advocate the cold-blooded murder of his own father?

And Snape, quite frankly, was furious with both of them. The only thing that kept the man from hurling Draco and Harry at Dumbledore with instructions to keep them the hell away from him, was the certain knowledge that Harry might self-destruct on magical energy without him. Also, Snape considered, where one teenage boy went, so did the other. And the recurring idea that they belonged to each other was further cause for his evil temper.

“Severus,” Dumbledore hailed then, stepping carefully across from the green, “are you well?” Behind him, Order members and an army of aurors moved to efficiently apprehend the Death Eaters who had escaped the fire as well as Harry and Draco’s attack.

“I am…physically unharmed, Headmaster,” Snape replied obscurely, his voice tight with suppressed emotion. “However, with your leave, I will return to my family home – as it’s so close.” He paused then, waiting for Dumbledore to nod, before adding, “I’ll take Mr Potter and Mr Malfoy with me, if that’s all right.”

Dumbledore hesitated very slightly and then, giving Harry’s wild, green eyes a cursory glance, he nodded once more. “As you see fit, Severus. It is,” he consulted his watch, “Christmas Eve. I would therefore suggest that you take a Christmas break,”

Severus made no real response to this but inclined his head by way of farewell. Then, taking Harry and Draco by the tops of their arms, he Disapparated with a distinctly irritated crack.

*~*~*

Upon arriving at Sev’s house, Harry found, to his immediate alarm, that he and Draco were pinned in place and were quite unable to move so much as an eyelash. Still high on magic, he instinctively tried to twist and will himself free but to no avail.

Snape grunted something unintelligible as soon as he realised and turned, dismantling the spell.

“Wards,” he remarked, “too old and too strong for even you to break. They’re keyed to certain people, other than myself: Professor Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall, other Order members…”

“Remus Lupin?” Harry asked, stepping free of the ward and looking around the expansive hallway.

“Hm.” Snape replied with a disinterested nod. He turned then and made towards the stairs; too agitated – too angry – to bear remaining within shouting distance of Harry and Draco.

“How about Sirius Black?” Harry demanded of his retreating back, unable to keep the accusation from his voice. “Are the wards keyed to him too? You did know that he was alive, didn’t you, Severus?”

The Potions master paused on the fifth stair and turned to regard his young lover with an unreadable expression. Beside Harry, Draco looked from one to the other and then turned with a jump as a house elf appeared from nowhere.

“Master Draco, sir! Keely isn’t seeing you since you was very small, sir! Master Draco is all grown up!”

A genuine smile curved Draco’s face for Keely was of a time when he had been pampered but not spoilt; aware of his family’s wealth and standing, but not arrogant. And whilst Dobby might have quite different stories to tell of a boy’s idle cruelties, Keely had only ever seen the sweet child on visits here with his family.

Of course, Draco couldn’t respond to the house elf’s greeting, other than to crouch down and beam with obvious delight.

Keely then looked nervously from Draco to Harry and Severus, who were still staring hard at one another and pointed not talking – either verbally or telepathically.

“Keely, we’ll be here for a couple of days,” Severus said finally, shifting his dark eyes briefly to the house elf. “Would you bring up some sandwiches and fruit juice -”

‘Chocolate milkshake,’ Draco amended, interrupting.

Snape sighed, “Correction: would you bring up some sandwiches, some fruit juice and a large chocolate milkshake for Draco. I will be in the bath; my guests will be making themselves scarce.” He added finally, giving Harry and Draco another death-glare.

*~*~*

Whatever Severus’ wishes had been – to have a long soak, to unwind, to get over the trauma of his capture and subsequent rescue – none of them were granted. Refusing to be simply dismissed like some sort of lackey, Harry followed the Potions master up to his bedroom and then through into the man’s rather spacious bathroom.

“For the love of Merlin!” Severus snapped upon realising that Harry was going to remain on his heels, regardless of what he said or did. “What do you want? Tell me, I’ll give it to you and then you can just go away and leave me alone!”

A very brief flare of shock and almost hurt flickered in Harry’s eyes and then he settled himself in the wicker chair beside the bath and looked coldly at Snape.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” he asked in a flat, unfriendly tone, aware of Draco hovering in the doorway for a moment before turning when Keely arrived with the requested food and drink.

Severus’ eyes followed his ward’s movement back into the bedroom and, when he was sure that Draco was okay, closed the bathroom door and began to fill the bath.

“Sev,” Harry growled when it became obvious the man was ignoring him. “Sev, you said if I told you what I wanted, you’d give it to me. So tell me. Just why did you lie to me?”

“Why did you see fit to ignore my requests – my orders – and risk life and limb to rescue me?” Severus countered, shooting a swift, fleeting glare at the young man.

“By the time your orders reached us, it was already too late.” Harry ground out, “And, just for the record, I did try to see Dumbledore and I did try alternative routes, but Dumbledore was away, McGonagall wouldn’t take me seriously and you would have been killed before anyone would sit up and LISTEN!” he shouted the last. He was tired – no, he was properly knackered! And he was coming down from a magical high after drawing on Caramon for most of the night. Right now, he wanted answers; in a short while, he would probably crash; but in the meantime, he also needed to understand why Sev wasn’t showing even an ounce of gratitude for what had turned out to be a practically flawless rescue.

‘Flawless, except that that girl died.’ Draco’s voice remarked from the other room. And of course, Harry thought then; Severus would feel bad for her death but could never express his emotions. So when Draco quietly implored, ‘Please, you two - just talk to each other,’ Harry was at least prepared to do that.

“Okay,” he shrugged wearily, speaking aloud, “I’m talking. Sev, why did you lie to me about Sirius?”

“I didn’t,” the reply came softly, barely heard over the running water. “I didn’t lie. I merely kept the truth from you.”

Harry scowled at him.

“Look,” Snape growled, “the simple truth of the matter, is that when I found out, you were in no fit state – emotionally or mentally – to deal with it. Aside from that, Dumbledore swore me to secrecy and nothing and no one,” he emphasised, “will make me break an oath.”

“You disobeyed him once,” Harry frowned with a shrug. “You gave Draco a room and gave me counselling when Dumbledore told you not to.”

Snape grunted, “Well, clearly, Harry, you know much more about all of this than I do.” He said sarcastically, “So why don’t you tell me what I should have done? Should I have told you?” When Harry opened his mouth to answer with an immediate affirmation, he interrupted, asking, “Should I have risked the sanity of a boy I cared about?”

“I -!” Harry paused, “What? You cared about me? Back then? When we hadn’t -?”

“Quite.” Snape retorted.

The bath was full: he looked at it, looked at Harry for a second and then sighed before starting to strip. The robes came off easily enough – falling to the floor with a soft slither – but it soon became obvious that Snape wasn’t going to be able to remove his shirt without help.

He winced when he tried to push it from his shoulders and Harry instantly hurried to his side.

“Here,” he whispered, lifting careful hands to slide the garment away. He gasped then, seeing an array of blue-black bruises spread over his lover’s torso. Moving around to peer at his back, Harry found that the bruises were largely covering Snape’s ribs, lower back and shoulders.

“God, Severus,” he breathed, keeping himself from touching them. With a jolt, he recalled Draco’s description of the Death Eaters kicking Sev – beating him up instead of using magic.

“Too drunk to aim straight,” Sev muttered disdainfully.

A soft knock came then at the bathroom door and, a moment later, Draco stepped in. He looked at his semi-clad guardian with wide, startled grey eyes and then nodded once before stepping out again. A moment later, he returned – this time with the house elf.

“Master Severus,” Keely’s voice piped as she hurried forwards. Without any further ado, she then began to cast her own form of magic; healing the bruises with hardly any sound. Finally, she took a step back and regarded Snape with large, luminous eyes. “Keely hasn’t had to heal Master Severus like this in over fifteen years.” She observed thoughtfully. There was clearly more she wished to say but perhaps felt it wasn’t her place.

“No, Keely,” Snape sighed, pressing experimentally at where the bruises had been. Even the cut on his cheek and the black eye were gone. “But don’t worry,” he offered a thin-lipped smile, “I haven’t rejoined my brothers in the Dark Lord’s enslavement.”

Keely bowed, “Keely is pleased to hear that, Master.” She murmured and then handed him a small vial of clear, pink potion. “An energising potion,” she offered up a shy smile.

*~*~*

All of the anger, fear and tension had gone out of Harry; leaving him even more tired and drained and in very sore need of a hug. However, as Severus was up to his chin in hot, foamy water and it seemed unwise and inappropriate to ask Draco, he simply had to sit in the wicker chair and wait.

A groan, bone-deep and intense, emitted from Severus’ throat and he cracked open his eyes to gaze first at his lover and then at his ward. While Harry was sat beside the bath, Draco was perched on the deep windowsill, finishing his chocolate milkshake with loud, sucking noises through a twisty straw.

Harry, he noted, looked about ready to fall asleep right where he sat; although there was no way that he would agree to go to bed just yet. Therefore, Snape summoned a second vial of Energising potion and gestured for Harry to drink it.

“You two,” Sev remarked then, his voice a low rumble. “Look like a pair of chimney sweeps. You’re certainly not going to bed until you’ve had a shower each.”

Draco looked from Snape to Harry and then shrugged, indicating the separate shower in the corner of the bathroom. ‘You want to go first, second or not wait?’ he asked with a wicked smile. It was what he used to ask when they’d once shared a room and a bed.

Harry too looked at the shower and then shook his head, ‘I’ll wait; you go first.’

So moving with casual indifference to the two men in the room, Draco peeled off soot-stained, smoky clothes and stepped into the shower.

Then, a few minutes later when he reappeared, looking far cleaner, he left the shower running for Harry to strip and duck inside.

Taking a towel, the blond young man then lifted his gaze to where Severus was lying in the water still, ‘So what happened? How did you get caught?’

Sev sighed and closed his eyes. “Hillary Encendra – or Angel Serufi as she used to be known – ensnared me with her bloody siren magic. Then Lucius arrived and took control. It seems that my presence in Knockturn Alley caused a bit of a stir – I should have been aware but I was…a little distracted, shall we say.”

“Distracted by what?” Harry asked from the shower, squeezing some shampoo into his hand and then lathering vigorously.

‘By me?’ Draco looked steadily at his guardian, seeing his memories, ‘We’d been talking just before you went to the Jewellers…’ he faltered and then shook his head, ‘Severus, I’m sorry – I spoke out of turn…’

“No,” Snape shook his head and opened his eyes, “it wasn’t your fault,”

“Hang on,” Harry frowned as he stepped out of the shower and took Draco’s damp towel, “I’m a bit behind the times, here. What did you say?” he looked at Draco and then at Snape, “And what were you distracted by?”

There was a long, thoughtful silence and then, with a deep breath, Draco turned his head to look steadily at Harry.

‘I knew,’ he said slowly, ‘I knew when you and Sev went to bed – I was aware -”

“Draco…” Harry shook his head, eyes wide.

‘It was okay, though.’ Draco went on, ‘I had – have – Greg again. And he needs me…even if we haven’t…’ his eyes shifted briefly back to Severus. ‘Anyway, knowing what you’d done, I was also more in tune with Sev’s emotions -”

“Draco,” Snape interrupted, “that’s enough.”

But the blond young man ignored him. ‘I knew how he felt about you and this morning,’ he checked his watch and then corrected himself, ‘yesterday morning, I told him it was okay. I mean,’ he gave Harry a sad little smile, ‘I love you too and I always will. But I have Greg and it would be wrong to deliberately hurt him.’ He lifted his chin and gave Severus a direct, almost challenging look, ‘Just for the record, I love you too. Ours is a complicated relationship, isn’t it? Who said love-triangles always end in tears?’

“So,” Harry began, looking at Sev, “you love me?” he looked at Draco then, “And we have your blessing?”

Even as Draco nodded, though, Sev sat up abruptly and pulled the bath plug.

“I don’t know about you two,” he said with a forced business-like fashion, “but I’m exhausted. I’m going to bed.”

“Sev,” Harry frowned, “you’re not exhausted – you’ve just taken a potion. What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. Pass me a dry towel, please? Thank you.” And with that, the Potions master stepped out of the bath and concentrated on drying himself.

‘Well, I’m going to bed,’ Draco said to Harry softly, stepping towards the door. ‘I’ll be in the blue room, Sev.’ He added and then slipped silently out of the bathroom.

The only sound then was of Severus rubbing himself dry with the towel. He didn’t look at Harry; didn’t even give any indication that he was in the room with him.

Finally, though, when Harry had had enough of being ignored, he stepped smoothly towards his lover and positioned himself between the man and the door, holding his towel around his waist.

“Harry,” Snape sighed, “not now.”

“You love me? Is that true? Did Draco really feel that?”

The man lowered long black eyelashes over pale cheeks. He appeared to be holding his breath, holding himself in check – as if one false move, one tiny breach of the carefully crafted distance between them could unleash a tidal wave of who-knew-what.

“Sev,” Harry whispered, his voice suddenly constricted by the lump in his throat. Unable to say any more, he stepped close and reached out to place his free hand along the man’s firm jaw. He caressed down a little and ran his thumb over Severus’ mouth. With just a little pressure, he then encouraged the mouth to open and finally, covered those lips with his own.

The kiss was exceedingly slow, with Harry’s tongue flickering over Sev’s, before growing harder and harder; a mixture of deliberation and such passion that Sev found himself pulling the young man’s body hard against him and mindlessly, deliciously beginning a sensual roll of his hips against Harry’s.

This was the breach that Severus had been afraid of and it unleashed a torrent of pent-up emotions and desires. When he’d been captured, when he’d been beaten, cursed and subjugated, his thoughts had all been on Harry.

“I thought I’d never see you again,” he murmured, coming up for a gasp of air. “I thought I’d die and never tell you how I felt.”

“Ssh! I know, it’s okay,” Harry panted, letting his towel drop to match Snape in total, aroused nudity.

Snape then pulled him around a little so that Harry could keep one arm wrapped around the man’s waist and could kiss and bite at his throat while Sev then caressed Harry’s chest with one hand.

“I love you,” he growled low into Harry’s ear, hot breath caressing the lobe, “and I want you – want to make you come.”

Harry very nearly pointed out that, if that was the case, then all the man would have to do was keep talking in that tone of voice and he’d come here, now, standing naked in the man’s bathroom.

But Severus was already encouraging Harry out into the bedroom; pausing only to nod deliriously when Harry paused to check that this was okay – that Sev was up to this after all he’d been through. And so, kissing him and pressing hot, open-mouthed love-bites against his throat and neck all the way, Severus urged Harry through the doorway.

The bedroom was simply huge; Harry had been too annoyed earlier to pay it any notice. As it happened, he was too turned on and focused on Sev to really notice it now. He did take note of the four-poster bed, however.

Large – at least as wide as it was long – it was swathed in rich, grey silk curtains and draped with pearlescent sheets and a thick, down-filled duvet. Harry didn’t think he’d ever seen anything more inviting.

Laying Harry down on his back, Sev kissed him again and then moved down to begin kissing and nibbling his way up the long legs. By the time he reached the top of the inside of Harry’s thighs, Harry was writhing, panting and desperate for more.

“Please,” he whispered hoarsely, hands fluttering down to touch and twist in Sev’s hair, “please…”

In another time, in another place, Severus might have tormented him a little by insisting that Harry spell out exactly what he wanted. Here though, and now, he needed this as much as Harry. So with only a brief smirk and glitter of wicked dark eyes, he sank his mouth down over Harry’s erection and sucked him into the back of his throat.

Harry’s gasping cry was Sev’s reward and he smiled around the mouthful of hard flesh before caressing and smoothing his tongue against the underside. He felt Harry’s hands come down to rest upon his shoulders. The fingers traced the hard muscles and then moved up to stroke his hair. They didn’t bunch though and they never pushed or pulled at him – almost as if Harry was afraid of appearing too demanding.

After a couple of minutes of steady, rhythmic sucking, Severus stroked his hands up the back of Harry’s thighs, reached the swell of his arse and then pressed one fingertip against his entrance. The response was distinctly encouraging and as he squeezed a buttock with one hand, the other teased and excited that little, puckered area of skin.

“More,” Harry growled, trying to press down onto that finger. “Sev, more…”

“Are you sure?” Severus lifted his head to look up into Harry’s darkened eyes. The pupils were large in the soft light of the room but he was sure that the irises were darker too.

“I’m sure,” Harry panted, nodding, “very sure!”

“Top drawer,” Sev said then, nodding to the bedside cabinet, “there’s a jar – can you reach it?”

Harry could and placed the jar into his lover’s hand before pressing his head back into the pillows and arching into the slick, probing finger that pressed against and then into him.

Quickly hauled into a circle of bright, tingling pleasure as soon as Severus pushed and stroked against his prostate, Harry groaned aloud; not sure whether to push down against the hand or thrust up into his lover’s throat.

But even as he neared completion, Harry was aware that there was something missing in all of this. Once again, Sev was giving him pleasure but receiving none himself.

“Wait,” he pushed himself up onto his elbows, “Sev, wait a minute.”

“Are you okay?” Immediately the finger withdrew and Harry mourned its loss.

“I’m fine,” he panted, nodding, “but you’re not. Let me…turn round,” he suggested, thinking of a way around the problem.

Finally he lay on his side, with his head towards the foot of the bed and Severus’ cock just half an inch from his mouth. Getting the idea, Sev lay on his side in front of him and went back to sucking and fingering him while – after just a moment to get comfortable – Harry did the same.

Now this was better; this was amazing. Now, he could give and receive at the same time: learning and copying as he went. Taking Severus’ cock into his mouth, he took it in as far as he could (although admittedly not as far as Sev could take him) and then drew back, pressing the point of his tongue against the underside before sucking and lightly caressing with his teeth over the end.

At the same time, he pressed his own slick finger into his lover’s entrance and consequently, after just a few more minutes, they came within just a second of each other - each swallowing and moaning their appreciation to the other. And as Harry felt the orgasm flood his senses, so he also felt – or rather heard – something curious.

‘God, yeah!’

It was another impassioned cry but it wasn’t from Severus. And then realisation hit him: Draco, alone in his room but sharing their desire and emotions, was reaching his own orgasm. The thought of the blond young man lying in bed with his cock in his hand was enough to make Harry spasm around Sev’s lingering fingers.

A soft moan and the feel of Severus pressing his face into Harry’s hip told him that his lover too was seeing the same picture.

There was a slight pause and then Draco’s voice reached them: ‘Did I disturb you?’

‘No,’ Harry replied, chuckling as Severus groaned something unintelligible into his stomach, ‘but we apparently disturbed you.’

‘That’s okay. When it’s this kind of disturbance, I don’t mind so much!’

*~*~*

They’d slept for maybe an hour or two before Harry had woken up in need of the bathroom. Returning on silent feet, he was startled to discover that his lover had woken too and was standing in just a pair of boxers by the window.

“Harry,” Sev murmured, inviting him into the circle of his arms. “Come here.”

As Harry complied, Sev then pulled back the curtains and the two of them looked out over rolling fields with silver-limned trees in the foreground.

“These are the dales,” Sev explained, “but I want you to look at the sky.”

Harry did, biting back a tired yawn at the same time. The sky was clear, with crystal clear stars shining against a backdrop of deep, intense Prussian blue that faded down to greenish-gold on the horizon.

“Is it dawn already?” he asked.

“It’s pre-dawn,” Snape replied and pulled him in close, wrapping long, rangy arms around his shoulders against the chill. “I want to tell you something about the twilight, Harry.”

This seemed somewhat out of character for the formidable Potions master but given that he was still sated as well as sleepy and euphoric, Harry chose to go along with this and see where it ended up.

“At twilight, you never know what’s going to come over that horizon,” Sev murmured huskily. “There’s a strange sort of half-light that makes it hard to see where you’re going. And right now,” he kissed the side of Harry’s face, “right here, you’re in the centre of it. The centre of twilight,”

This sounded nice to Harry – even if it seemed bizarre that Severus should be quite so romantic, quite so slushy.

‘Stop trying to kill the mood,’ Sev rebuked silently, drawing a smile to his lover’s lips.

“So you’re in the centre of twilight,” he continued then, “and maybe you can’t see what’s coming – just as you don’t know what you’re future’s going to bring. But others can’t see you coming either, Harry – the Dark Lord doesn’t yet fully appreciate what he’s got coming at him. But I do. You were astounding tonight – I should have said earlier…and I should have thanked you for my rescue.” He added very softly before finishing, “The magic you wield is incredible - you and Draco together!”

“And you,” Harry whispered, looking up and around to receive a kiss on the lips. “We share the magic between us.”

“And that’s what I’m trying to say,” Severus responded, “you might be in the centre of twilight and you might not be able to see all that’s coming towards you. But I’m here and I love you. And you have Draco too.”

Harry smiled, grateful and a little astonished at the poetic side of his lover.

*~*~*

A short while later, he was in Sev’s bed once more, curled on his side and wrapped in Sev’s arms, feeling safe and secure. He listened to the sound of his lover’s breathing and sent up a silent prayer of thanks to whoever might be listening. Severus was safe, he loved him and he was sleeping soundly behind him.

Just on the very edge of sleep, about to fall down into the darkness, Harry heard the bedroom door open. A moment later and the duvet shifted before Draco slithered into the space in front of him.

‘Sometimes he even amazes me,’ Draco thought to him softly, speaking of Severus’ speech concerning the twilight.

‘But that’s why we love him,” Harry smiled and snaked his arms around Draco’s waist, just as Sev had done to him.

*~*~*

End of Centre of Twilight.

Story continues with The Iridescent Conclusion.