Areas of Expertise

-- Huge cookie to shadowama who guessed a while back where the Gero potion was! As I said to her(?) when I emailed, but who put it there?



-- This chapter I have been dreading writing as I was so unsure about how to reveal all the information and how much to reveal. Our poor boys run through a gauntlet in this chapter! SP



Chapter Thirteen –



“Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.” Abraham Lincoln



***



Harry panted as the other’s weight pressed down upon him. He clenched his ass, feeling the softening dick. Snape gave a low groan at the stimulation, but didn’t move.



“Sever---- Oh.” Dumbledore had abruptly come through the fireplace and stood, dusting soot off his elaborate robes, staring down at the two entwined men. Shock played across his features, followed by pleasure.



“I’m glad to see you taking such good care of your child, Severus,” he observed as he politely turned his back humming.



As red as a pillar box, Harry turned his face away from the Headteacher. He whimpered a little. He had never been so humiliated.



Snape lifted free of Harry and pulled the youngster to his feet. He pushed the Gryffindor in the direction of his bedroom and followed him, grabbing his wand before throwing a filthy look at the old man’s back.



“Oh God! Oh God! OhGodohgodohgodohgodohgod!” Harry repeated, mind locked on the interruption.



Snape glowered and aimed his wand at the panicking child. “Restituo induviae,” he said before pointing the stick at himself and repeating the spell. Now both were dressed and Snape felt that a sigh wouldn’t be out of order, what with the old fool waiting for him.



“Stay here,” he told Harry and left the room, striving to find his most impassive face.



“Severus! My dear boy!”



Snape gritted his teeth. He would be forty in less than eighteen months, yet the man still called him a child!



“I needed to discuss some matters of importance with you, regarding Harry’s pregnancy and your role in the months to come.”



Severus felt his stomach drop. Had Dumbledore really planned to get the boy pregnant? He had hoped that the wizard wasn’t so thoughtless, and the discovery of the secret passage had seemed to negate Albus’ involvement, but his attitude now was suspicious.



“Were you involved?” Severus asked, trying to keep his manner as normal.



“In the pregnancy? Of course not. That was your and Harry’s doing.”



Maybe counting to ten would help him deal with the irritating man. “No, did you give Harry the potion?”



Albus frowned. “You already know my answer to that, Severus. I have, I hope, explained clearly why I wished you and Harry to couple. If a child has been created as a result, we must do the best we can for it, and make the best use we can of it.”



“No one is making USE of my child!” Harry’s voice was loud and filled with anger. He stood in the doorway to Snape’s bedroom, arms clenched at his sides, face flaming with fury.



Albus turned a placid face to the irritated boy. “I phrased that badly, Harry. I merely meant that as Voldemort will no doubt try and make use of your pregnancy, or your child, once he learns of the matter, we must be prepared to take action, and prepare whatever counter measures are necessary.”



“NO one is making use of my child.” Harry repeated through gritted teeth.



To himself Severus thought that Albus really did seem to know how to make people furious.



“Not you, not Voldemort, not anyone.” Harry added, eyes sparking dangerously. “I’m not going to be your pawn, neither is Snape, neither is the baby. Find someone else to be your sacrifice!” Harry glared at the Headmaster. Severus was silently cheering him on.



“I will excuse much of your attitude due to your hormones, but you need to realise Harry that you must defeat Voldemort. No one else can take your place. Now that you are pregnant, Voldemort will try to attack you through your child. He will fail as the love you and Severus feel for it will protect it and will weaken him. At that moment, when you are most powerful through your combined love for the baby; when Voldemort is most weakened, then is the moment to strike!” Albus looked passionate as he outlined his ideas.



Harry looked at him as if he was seeing something he’d never seen before. Slowly, a frown on his forehead, a quiver in his voice, he said, “It was you. You planned this. You lied to us both. You decided that the best way to defeat Voldemort was to make me pregnant. You have given me a CHILD! Did you even think about what I’d do with a child once the battle was over, or was it just one more sacrifice, and it didn’t matter whether it lived?!”



Severus had turned a shocked face to the boy when he had begun his rant, but his eyes had quickly flicked to Albus. The old man was an expert at hiding his emotions when necessary, but there had been something, some hint of some sentiment on the face when Harry had shouted the word ‘child’.



“Albus?” the potions master queried, desperately hoping Harry was wrong.



“Oh my God!” Harry yelled before he gave a harsh laugh, “The potion – something sweet tasting and purple – you practically forced that grape juice down my neck that day when I had to see you! You put it in that!”



Severus’ brain was puzzling something. “But if that was the case, you should have given the boy the potion the day before. Gero is most effective after twenty four hours have passed. You couldn’t have known we wouldn’t have sex.”



“Oh, couldn’t I?” Dumbledore snapped, his own expression dark and foreboding, “You are an easy man to read, Severus, despite your skills in Occulemency! Of COURSE I knew that you would baulk at having sex with him until I forced your hand. I knew that you would finally sleep together on the day I had selected – October the 2nd. And I was right. The plan went completely perfectly. Now we have the means to defeat Voldemort by the end of the year, before I …” he stopped suddenly, glancing at Harry.



“It was ALL a lie?” Harry asked, horrified. “The loss of sex magic as a weapon against me? The joining of our magics? You played us both to get a child?”



Anger had left Harry. He was too struck by the awful reality of just how determined Dumbledore was to win the war. He and Snape were both tools to the older man, nothing more. A lump forming in his throat, Harry whispered, “I thought you cared about me.” His voice was plaintive, lost.



Dumbledore’s blue eyes softened. “My dear boy, I do! I love you.”



“Then how could you do this?”



“Desperate times call for desperate measures.” The other responded softly.



“That’s crap, Albus.” Severus snapped. “There were other ways. You just wanted to make sure the Dark Lord was finished off whilst you were still around.”



Albus shot an angry look at Snape. He didn’t want Harry to know he was doomed.



“Is he correct?” Harry asked, eyes brimming with tears, “Are there other ways?”



Albus thought for a moment. “Harry, my dear brave boy, I thought I was doing the best for you, for you both. I thought that if I gave you a tangible reason to fight you would stand more chance. I also hoped that if Severus knew he had a child waiting for him, he would make sure he always came back. I never thought you would see the child as being forced upon you. I imagined you would see it as a blessing, for you now have a family – something you have always craved.”



A shocked expression crossed Harry’s face. “I never thought of it like that.”



“Well,” Albus admitted, “it has been rather a shock. Perhaps I’d better leave you two to discuss your plans.” With that, he moved to the fireplace and was soon gone.



Harry and Severus were left staring blankly at one another.



--tribebohemia - I hope I've managed to pull off a reasonably benevolent Dumbles, despite his well dodgy actions! Let me know. That goes for all of you. SP