The Most Difficult Of All Our Tasks

-- Hiya! New chapter update. Hopefully you're still enjoying, and get the (fairly easy) song reference in this chapter's title. SP



Chapter the Sixteenth – D I V O R C E



“How was work, dear?” Harry asked, deeply sarcastic, as he stood watching his husband crawling out of the fireplace.



“Tiring.” Severus admitted as he straightened up.



Harry was carrying Daniel. Beside him Mycroft clung to his leg.



“Papa!” Mycroft said, holding out his free hand to his other parent.



Severus smiled and moved forward to pick up his son.



Harry said, very quietly, “He’s missed you.”



“I’ve been away before.” The Potions Master sounded surprised.



“Yes, but not for so long at once. Your other job meant you spent hours locked up here with your potions, and only occasionally left home for meetings.”



Severus looked troubled. “I don’t want to upset him, either of them, or you. If I’m teaching again it will mean a big strain on you – having to care for them all day alone.”



“At least we haven’t had a move on top of everything else.” Harry said, as he put Daniel on the floor and placed a toy in the child’s hands. The youngest boy gurgled happily. His blond hair was already darkening.



Severus was slightly suspicious. Harry didn’t do reasonable. He yelled, he shouted, and he abused his husband. He was NOT understanding and calm.



“Ok,” he said, looking wary, “what’s going on?”



Harry looked surprised. “What’s going on?” he repeated. “Nothing. Can’t I be polite to the father of my children?”



“It’d be a first.” The older man muttered. He looked deliberately down at Harry’s trousers. “Do you need me to take care of anything?”



The green eyed man swallowed noisily. “N-no, thanks. I…er…wanted to talk to you about something.”



“Yeeeees?”



Harry, after picking up Daniel, left the room, and settled his youngest son in his cot.



Mycroft tugged free of Severus and pattered after his birth father burbling contentedly.



The Potions Master waited with irritation for his husband’s return.



“Thanks. I didn’t want them to hear this.” Harry looked squarely at the other before saying clearly, “I want a divorce.”



Severus was silent for nearly ten seconds. His brain whirred with frightening speed. “Why?” He asked finally.



Harry sighed and began pacing the floor. “I didn’t realise what I was agreeing to, no sex for the rest of my life. At the time I was pregnant with Dan and had been suffering quite badly with…Him. I didn’t think through the implications – no intimacy with anyone again, forever. It’s too much to ask of anyone. Too much to ask of you, and much too much to ask of me.” He paused before looking imploringly at Severus, “Can’t you understand?”



“Oddly enough,” the other responded, “I can.”



“And,” Harry went on, as if he hadn’t heard the other, “we don’t exactly get along very well, do we? We have nothing in common but the boys. You work. I don’t. You’re Slytherin. I’m Gryffindor. You’re good at potions. I’m… well…bad at them. I love Quidditch. You don’t care about it. What do we have to talk about?”



Severus looked shell-shocked. How could he respond to such truths? He answered the one he did know. “You’re not bad at potions, not according to Horace anyway.”



“That wasn’t me.” Harry admitted. “It was your book. It was your expertise. I just happened to be there.”



“And,” the professor said, ignoring Harry’s protests, “Slytherin and Gryffindor don’t matter now. We’re not at school. We’re both adults.”



“But we’re fundamentally different!” Harry snapped. “You’re devious and cunning, and I’m brave. We’re…” he sagged, as if all the strength had gone from him, “just too different.”



“Harry,” Severus’ voice was soft, softer than Harry had ever heard it before, “the Sorting Hat chose Slytherin for me. It told me it was my best chance of surviving. It wasn’t until I was much older that I went back and asked it where it would have put me if given a free choice.” He looked at his partner. “You already know where it would have placed me.”



“Gryffindor?” Harry whispered.



Severus nodded. He sighed heavily. “It was right. My whole life has been about deceit and lies. Gryffindor wouldn’t have prepared me for that – no matter how much I wanted to be in Lily’s house.”



Harry turned away. He was still deeply uncomfortable with the truths his husband had revealed after Nagini had bitten him. He remembered how very sick he had felt seeing those memories, knowing Snape was still alive, could still hurt him.



“She was my one friend.” Severus confessed. “In Slytherin you don’t have friends – that would involve trusting others. I think all these years I kept an image in my head of her as a perfect friend – unattainable and pure. I did love her…”



“Is that why you married me?” Harry asked, throat almost closed with tears, “Because I’ve got her eyes?”



“You already know why I married you.”



“For Mycroft and Daniel.” Harry whispered.



“And for you.”



Harry nodded. “You bonded with me to protect me. But that’s not needed anymore.” His voice grew stronger as he spoke. “So, I want a divorce.”



“It’s too soon.” Severus said, then continued before Harry had chance to argue, “Under Ministry law, a marriage must last at least three years. Any less than that and it is deemed that not enough effort has been made to make it work. Only in exceptional circumstances will a divorce be granted before the three years are up. If you still want a divorce in three years then I can’t stop you.”



Harry looked as if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Three years? We haven’t even been married one and I want to leave! Surely they’d see that we’re not right for each other? Surely someone must have noticed how incompatible we are!”



“Not until our third anniversary. Not even for you.” Severus sounded very certain. “But I can help with one problem you have. We are both men with normal sexual urges and needs, yes?”



“Yes.” Harry’s response was immediate and definite.



“I know that under the terms of our Bonding you must instigate sex. But surely you see that if we do have sex it will help us both? You will no longer feel “horny” as you so delightfully put it once, and I will gain relief as well.” He paused, gauging Harry’s reaction. “I will be able to cast a semi-permanent Protection charm to ensure no more children. It will just be about the physical act and the pleasure it brings. I will not see it as evidence that you wish us to be closer emotionally. It will be what it is. Sex.”



Harry’s face had passed through a myriad range of expressions during his husband’s speech, now it settled into a frown.



“It makes sense.” He admitted slowly. “However, what if I wished to be on top? Would you allow that?”



“Our Bonding Agreement is clear. What you wish in regards to sex is what happens.” The older man looked calmly at the younger one.



“But would you want it?” Harry asked. “I don’t want to force you into something you’ll hate.”



“I, I must admit, have had some bad experiences when others have been in control, however, I am sure that you would not merely take your gratification at my expense.” Severus looked as though he was about to add something else, but stopped.



“Of course not!” Harry shouted, eyes flashing. “Only a bastard would!”



“Yes, only a bastard would.” There was a pause. “Will you instigate sex between us for the reasons I have laid down?”



Harry chewed his lower lip before responding carefully, “Yes.”



***



Their first coupling in nearly two years took place in the spare room. Neither man felt comfortable with the thought of the other in his private space, and so the spare room was decided upon as neutral territory for them both. Their first, second, and third couplings involved Harry getting his brains fucked out and thoroughly enjoying it.



The morning after Harry was sore, but happy in a way he hadn’t been in a very long time.

Severus was in the bathroom humming quietly. He returned to the bedroom and gave a slight smile to the sight on the bed.



“You look thoroughly debauched lying like that.” He observed before retreating to his own room to dress and prepare for his day’s teaching.



-- Hope you liked! I had a brain wave for a new story so will hopefully get cracking on it soon!

-- Tomorrow I'm off on one of those team building days so may be too tired/mud covered to update. Of course, I will check on AFF and if people seem to be liking the story

*cough* review! *cough*

I'll try and update. ; ) SP