You Know You Are Loved When A Gryffindor Loves You

17

Manchester in January is not a pretty place. While the rest of Britain struggles through feet of snow to work each day, in Manchester it just rains. Harry was standing at the living room window, a mug of coffee in his hands. Severus was sprawled along the sofa reading, they had been back just over a week and it had rained relentlessly the whole time.

“I miss the snow”, Harry said wistfully. Severus looked up and saw the dejected slope of his lover’s shoulders and bit back a sarcastic remark. He closed his book and stood up, crossing the room and put his arms around Harry’s shoulders holding him close, “Is it really the snow, Mr Potter? Or is it school and your friends and quidditch and even Potions?”, he purred, nuzzling Harry’s ear. Harry put his cup on the sill and turned in his lover’s arms to face him sliding his own around Severus’ waist, “Yes, a bit, to the first three, but definitely not Potions”, he grinned cheekily, “But I really do miss snow. Winter should have snow in it”.

Severus smiled, “Insolent brat”, then kissed him, “Come on, let’s log on to the ‘Net and we’ll find you some. It’s inches or feet deep just outside the city depending which way we go, but a short train ride should take us to snow and as breakfast has decided to stay put this morning, a little fresh air would be good for us both”.

In short order they realised snow lay but fifteen miles from them in any direction they wished, Cheshire’s wasn’t deep but Severus had an idea. “Harry, would you like to go to the place where Arthur’s knights purportedly still lie awaiting the call. Where Merlin himself is said to lie? It’s probably claptrap but you can’t deny there’s a powerful magic up there, even muggles feel it. It is called Alderley Edge in North Cheshire and easily accessible by train though there’s a long walk up the hill to the Edge itself and, yes, there’s snow, though if you want deep snow then we need to go north of Rochdale and Bury or even across the Pennines into Yorkshire. It’s up to you, love”.

Harry grinned, “This magical place sounds brilliant, ‘specially if there’s snow. Yeah, let’s go there”. Severus closed the machine down, “We’ll get broadband now we’re going to be here for a bit, too. Put some warm clothes on, it gets a bit windy up on the Edge itself. And boots rather than trainers if you have them”. Harry looked down at his bare feet, “Ah, no. I’ve trainers or sandals”. Severus sighed, “For someone with so much money it continues to amaze me how radically under-equipped you are for daily life, Harry. No matter, there’s a climbing shop near the station, we’ll pick you some up on the way”.

Severus dressed in heavyweight windproof pants and his sturdy boots and leather jacket. He packed his waterproof coat and a flask of hot soup into his backpack along with a map and a pair of binoculars, then shook his head when he saw Harry’s ensemble, “We really do need to kit you out, don’t we?”, he remarked dryly, observing the old jeans, the ancient hoodie and the scuffed old trainers. “You’ll bloody freeze to death up there in these temperatures. You’d better take your plastic with you, we can’t have you prancing about the hills in that get-up”.

Standing on the platform waiting for the train, Harry was warm now, snugly dressed in silk thermal underwear a thin fleece shirt, weatherproof pants, a thick fleece jacket with a waterproof outer layer, thick walking socks, gloves and a pair of stout boots, his old clothes in a rucksack on his back along with a blister kit should he need it even though the salesman had assured him that these particular boots didn’t need breaking in. He thought he looked a right berk with the hat on as well, but Severus had insisted, “But, Seeeev, I’m not a hat person”. Severus grinned at him, “Neither am I, but fashion doesn’t really play a part here and in a biting wind I would rather look like a dickhead than get neuralgia from frozen ears. Trust me on this. I hike quite a lot and have learned from experience”.

The air really was several degrees colder at their destination, and Harry was glad of the hat even as they toiled up the long road. They climbed over a stile at the top of the hill and walked a short distance along a much-used path to a lookout point with what looked like the whole of Cheshire laid out before them. The Edge was quiet today and the snow that had fallen overnight only had a few tracks in it, they had the place pretty much to themselves. Severus placed his hand on Harry’s shoulder as they looked out, the day was cold clear and bright so the view was excellent.

Harry was looking through the binoculars as Severus told him what he was looking at plus a little of the long history of the place, “Merlin himself plus Arthur and his knights are supposed to be lying here under this hill in wait for the call to arms once more in England’s darkest hour of need, although given the evils of the second World War, it would seem as if it isn’t Muggle England’s need, maybe the Magical, though. I come up here often and have pondered on it a few times. It’s more than likely a pile of superstitious claptrap as fake as the Druid’s circle and the Wizard’s well which are neither of them above 200 years old. This place has been mined for hundreds of years but there’s still this Magical feel up here”.

Harry had to agree. There wasn’t nearly as much snow here as he would have liked, but there was snow and the place was beautiful anyway so he didn’t really mind. They walked on through the woods hand in hand to the site of the old Beacon and beyond to the Wells via the Druid’s circle. Severus snorted, “Some bright spark’s idea to ‘antiquitise’ the area no doubt”, but Harry still got to make himself a snow angel on a slight slope that had caught drifted snow nearby.

Over the Wizard’s well, Severus reached up and cleared the encroaching lichens away from the inscription, ‘Drink of this and take thy fill, For the water falls by the Wizard’s will’. Harry laughed, the water dripped out one drop at a time, “God, you’d die of thirst before you got a decent drink”. Severus shook his head plucking a leaf from an adjacent bush. He folded the leaf and stuck it in the narrow crack in the rock and a trickle of water ran down the length of the leaf, he drank then showed Harry how to do it.

The sight of Harry with his head tipped back, cheeks pink, eyes closed catching the trickle on his tongue made Severus smile as well as his body respond. Harry finished drinking and opened his eyes to see his lover giving him the ‘look’, the heavy-lidded eyes, the half smile, and pounced on him kissing him thoroughly with cold lips and cool tongue, meeting the warmth of his lover’s mouth and letting the older man’s tongue warm him up again. Harry’s eyes sparkled as they drew apart. Grabbing Severus’ hand, he led them off the track some way deep into the brake of trees until the path was out of sight, then pushed him down into a bed of bracken falling beside him. Severus rolled partly on top of his intoxicating love and claimed his mouth. “So, Mr Potter, you fancy a little al fresco sex, do you?”, he rubbed them together through their layers and Harry moaned.

That incredible voice continued, “Now the enemy of the hiker is wet clothes, so keep clothing dry at all costs”, as he undid Harry’s various lower layers and took Harry’s aching cock into his mouth. Harry thrashed and writhed in the ferns straining to open his legs wider as he arched into warmth and wetness. With a cry he came hard in his lover’s throat. Severus whipped out a large hankie and dried the wilting cock in his hand and fastened Harry up. He crawled up the small embankment by Harry’s side and they kissed again. Severus grabbed Harry’s hand and laid it over his crotch pushing hard, “Mmm, Severus, bit impatient aren’t we?” Harry looked into his lover’s face, the smile and the flush, “Very well, I’m bloody turned-on. I haven’t had sex out of doors since I was your age”. Harry grinned and rubbed harder, his other hand undoing his lover’s pants.

The combination of cold dry air over his naked balls and Harry’s hot wet mouth on his cock made this a fairly short encounter and he moaned his lover’s name over and over, coming over his beloved’s talented, eager tongue. Harry cleaned and dried and tucked everything away, licking stray come from around his lips before he was gripped in a strong embrace and kissed again, Severus swiped his tongue over Harry’s chin, “Missed a bit”, he murmured, then started to laugh touching their foreheads together, the sweat soon evaporating. They sat up and Severus poured them a cup of soup each from the flask, “So, Severus, if you haven’t done it out of doors since you were my age, then that would have been Steve while you were still at school, yes?” Severus smirked and nodded, “At the edge of the Forbidden Forest. It was summer and we were terrified that something would eat us. It didn’t go well”.

They moved on and looked out from Castle Rock for a while but the light was starting to go as they walked the lower path past Engine Vein quarry holding gloved hands and stopping for kisses, down to ‘The Wizard’ a pub/restaurant that served them an excellent home made shepherd’s pie as a late lunch/early tea. As the day waned they held hands as they made their way back to the station only letting go once they re-entered the village. Harry dozed off on the train home resting his head on Severus’ shoulder. The compartment was pretty empty so he took his sleepy Harry into his arms and kissed his brow, “Wake up, my love, we’re nearly home”. Harry bleared and yawned all the way home in the taxi and Severus knew just how tired his young love was.

It’s Bonfire Night. Everyone is outside wrapped up warm watching the Magical fireworks that Filius and I make each year and I am too exhausted to move. These sudden bursts of tiredness leave me drained, I literally drop where I stand. Harry should be outside with his friends enjoying himself not cooped up in here with me, but here he stays, holding me to him as we lie on the couch, my head resting on his chest. He reads aloud to me and his voice is very soothing when he adopts that low tone. He holds me in sleep. He is still holding me, fast asleep himself when I wake in the dead of night and carry him to bed. I look down at him in sleep and know he is the love of my life and he has my heart in his keeping.

Severus got Harry into the house and upstairs after removing the outer layers in the hall, he laid Harry in their bed and took off the rest of Harry’s clothes. He kissed Harry’s body in a few places, a quick peck to his cock and covered him up. At the time he’d suffered his own sudden tired episodes, he hadn’t known what it meant and had to fight it trying to seem normal while almost out on his feet, but now they knew and were taking good care of each other, sleeping and eating whenever they felt like it.

Severus made himself tea and toast, grabbed a book and went to bed. He curled Harry’s sleeping form in one arm and sat with his love as he slept, idly rubbing Harry’s back as he read and had supper. After a couple of hours, Harry was still deeply asleep, so Severus carefully scooted them both further down the bed, turned Harry over, flung a protective arm around him and slept.