Solanaceae Serenity

Title: Solanaceae Serenity
Rating: NC-17
Pairing: Harry Potter/ Severus Snape
Warnings: drug use, explicit language, explicit sexual scenes with a person under 18, self-harm, slash.
Summary: Harry discovers a potion in a restricted text that helps to alleviate his troubled thoughts. Set during Harry's sixth year. AU. No HBP Spoilers.

AN: If you do not appreciate slash, meaning relations between two males, then I suggest you refrain from reading this story. Also, if you are squicked by drug abuse and self-harm, this story is not for you.

This is a rather short story, too long to be a one-shot, but too short to be called anything else. Will most likely consist of perhaps three to four chapters, each longer than this intial one.

DISCLAIMER: All recognised characters are property of JK Rowling, Warner Bros., Bloomsbury publishing and anyone else I have inadvertently missed out. No profit is being made from this endeavour.




Solanaceae Serenity- Chapter Two

~~~

Snape left Harry, who was now almost convulsing from his obvious overdose, to prepare a potion that would help counteract the poison he'd fed himself. Another necessity was an icy cold bath to numb the body- he'd deal with the boils later.

After filling the bathtub up with icy water, Snape returned for Harry and helped walk him to the bathroom. He had pulled off Harry's jumper and shoes, when Harry finally noticed what he was doing.

"No..." He protested feebly, trying not to let Snape take his t-shirt. "No!" He said with a bit more defiance.

"Potter, you need to get undressed." Snape growled. "You can leave your underwear on, but these must go!" He ordered, now tugging the butober pus soaked jeans down Harry's emaciated hips and thighs. In flesh Harry was thinner than Snape had originally thought, it was quite disturbing really, but now was not the time for that. He grasped Harry by his arms and before he had any time to protest had plunged him into the freezing water.

Snape had to use a charm to keep him in there and stilled, while setting up a timer so that he didn't leave the idiotic boy in there till his death, however pleasant the thought of that may have been. This left Snape with enough time to brew the antidote to the poison Harry had been consuming for the greater part of the school year.

Meanwhile, Harry's mind was whirling sporadically, occasionally slipping out of consciousness completely. He wasn't entirely sure of here he was, only that he was fighting against the most horrific coldness he'd ever endured, and was unable to move even the smallest muscle more than a fraction. He remembered the nightshade, the search and--

"-- Snape!" Harry's eyes widened as the foreboding figure of the potions master re-entered the bathroom in which Harry was situated in his icy hell.

"Well done Potter," Snape replied snidely. "Don't try to move, fighting it will only damage you more." He said, kneeling before the bathtub, a phial of shimmering silver potion in his grip. Carefully Snape held Harry's head still while he poured the potion down his throat, thankful that the boy actually swallowed it. "Good." He mumbled nonchalantly.

Slowly but surely, Harry felt his mind clearing despite the headache. He was shivering uncontrollably from the cold, not knowing that his lips had actually turned blue. He looked up at Snape, who was now standing and holding out his hand, his fingers visibly potion stained.

Harry took it without question, a sharp pang of gratitude hitting him out of the blue in his previously suppressed conscience. He held his arms out, as Snape indicated, with his back towards the man. Carefully he was towelled down, Harry shivering all the while, until he felt something soft and warm on his fingertips. Snape was guiding a dressing gown sleeve over first his right hand, and then his left. Snape crossed the front over and secured the belt just as an after tremor wracked Harry's body.

Harry gasped as Snape suddenly pulled him against his body, long arms firmly around his waist, and already Harry could feel the older mans body heat seeping into the dressing gown and reaching him through it. Unable to resist the temptation of warmth, Harry let his head fall back, before turning in the grip to embrace his professor in search of more much needed warmth.

Mildly shocked at the gesture, Snape awkwardly held his hands away for a moment, before relaxing slightly and wrapping his arms around the freezing body attached to him.

"Why so cold?" Harry asked in a chattering, raspy voice, furthermore muffled by Snape's shoulder.

"It had to be cold to numb the muscles and sensitive nerve endings throughout the body, although more specifically in the extremities. If not numbed artificially to a certain degree, the reversal of the potions effects can cause what has been described as excruciating pain similar to that of the cruciatus curse and also cause irreparable nerve damage." Snape informed in his lecture voice, feeling Harry's cold seep into him even through his thick winter robes.

"Please sir, I need warmth--" Harry breathed out, barely audible, tightening his embrace of Snape as much as was possible in his state.

"I can't artificially warm you Potter, with magic or anything above thirty seven degrees Celsius- normal body temperature. That includes the fire as well as any warming charms. It might help if you were to remove your remaining wet clothes." Snape made an ineffective attempt of removing Harry from his self, but the boy wasn't budging.

Harry nodded; trusting Snape's words utterly for the first time since meeting him, and managed to wiggle out of his underpants. Wordlessly Snape steered him out of the bathroom, and sat him on the couch before summoning a very thick duvet and wrapping it around him. Harry couldn't look Snape in the eye, for now that his rational mind was reawakening he felt a burning shame at what he'd done.

After what felt like an eternity of feeling sorry for himself, and more than a little embarrassed, Harry managed to draw up the courage from his Gryffindor heart to look Snape in the eye. He expected to see anger, hate and disappointment, but all he saw were two inky black depths returning his gaze, completely neutral and seemingly humble.

"It's not helping." Harry said in a small, childish voice, still shivering beyond his control. Silently Snape rose from his armchair and approached.

"Then sadly, there is only one more option." He said sombrely, and for a frightening moment Harry thought he'd be left to shiver to his death, but suddenly Harry understood. Opening the duvet, exposing his vulnerability even more in doing so, he allowed Snape to join him. Instead of sitting beside Harry, Snape motioned for Harry to stand and obeying, was pulled down into Snape's surprisingly comfortable lap.

"If you think you're going to harm me, Potter, you're not- you're entirely too much of a waif for that." Snape grumbled, actually pulling Harry down then wrapping his arms and the duvet around them.

After a few tense, awkward moments they each relaxed marginally and settled. Snape thought his ears had deceived him when he heard a small thankyou uttered, but tightened his arms slightly in response anyway. They sat like this for a long while, Snape questioning both his and the boys' sanity, and Harry too shell shocked to even breathe normally. However, it wasn't long before the exciting events of the night caught up with each of them, and their eyes began getting heavy with sleep.

"Still so cold," Snape whispered worryingly, thinking Harry to be asleep.

"My back is feeling better, it's just everywhere else..." Harry said meekly, trailing off his words when Snape shifted beneath him. Sighing, Harry tucked his head under the older mans chin, perversely enjoying being held in such a manner.

They each managed to reawaken a few cramping muscles and move into a more sleep-friendly position; Harry had his back against the couch, his legs still so short that they didn't dangle over the end, with Snape facing him with his legs actually hanging off the edge due to his height. With the duvet tucked tight around them, there was no time to be feeling modest as Snape wrapped an arm around Harry's waist, pulling him against his lean body.

Harry, too tired and sore to really contemplate this bizarre situation, allowed the position and embraced it, falling into sleep for the first time in a long while.

~~~

Neither knew that the other was awake, but preferred it what way. Sometime during the night, their position had altered, Snape now on his back, Harry half on top of him with the older mans' arms around him, and Harry's hand splaying on Snape's chest. Slowly fingers teased within Harry's hair, feeling the unruly, yet soft strands. Equally paced, Harry's fingertips moved in slight motions against the fabric of Snape's shirt- he was still wearing yesterdays attire.

It was Sunday morning, the twenty-sixth of December- Boxing Day. Nothing important had been planned for the day, it was for rest and recreation. A couple of younger students were already outside, having a snow fight, oblivious to the fact that their famous Harry Potter had spent the night in Snape's arms having nearly overdosed on an illicit potion.

Harry's head was pounding, and he was extremely thirsty, not to mention completely mortified. But comfort, something that had been a luxury of the past Hogwarts' years, was overriding every desire he had to move. Despite everything, including the circumstances, Harry had to admit that Snape, of all people, really could be quite tolerable when he needed to be- and especially so when he was asleep. But for the moment Snape's breathing had changed, and Harry could sense he was wakening.

Snape was now moving slightly, so very stiffly Harry sat up, looking down at him. He looked the same, Harry mused, the only difference being his hair, which was completely dishevelled from sleep. Harry smiled slightly at the sight, a sudden burst of something other than depression surging through him.

"I don't know what you're looking so pleased about, Potter." Snape growled menacingly. "You wont be looking like that when facing the Headmaster..."

"No!" Harry cried, completely horrified at the thought of Dumbledore knowing what he'd done. He had no idea what the old mans reaction to his actions would be, and he certainly didn't intend to find out. "Please, sir, please don't--"

Instead of replying, Snape stood up and walked out of the room, leaving Harry to his own devices. He didn't come back until almost twenty minutes later, his first words a sharp order for Harry to get his skinny arse into the bathroom to sit in a hot bath and stay there until the water was only lukewarm- Harry obeyed without even so much as a peep.

Breakfast was waiting upon Harry's return- plain buttered toast with black tea, Snape muttering something that sounded a lot like ruddy urchin as Harry very slowly ate what was on his plate. The temptation to ask why it appeared that Snape wasn't going to inform Dumbledore was overshadowed by the reasoning that if he pushed too hard, Dumbledore would be stepping through that fire in a matter of nanoseconds. So Harry kept his gob shut.

"Do you have a death wish, boy?" Snape asked abruptly from where he was seated.

Harry startled and shook his head.

"Then were you unaware that, over time, deadly nightshade actually accomplishes what it's name states? Since it works on the bodies nervous system, hence the shakes you have presently, it gradually distorts and destroys nerves and eventually the person." Snape continued to stare relentlessly at Harry.

"I knew it wasn't good for me, but I was just..." Harry frowned, feeling the pain of his emotions swell up in his chest, constricting his breathing momentarily. "... I needed a break. I just didn't plan on getting so... dependant."

"Where have you been brewing? Assuming of course you can actually--" Harry cut him off.

"Not far from here." He interjected, before Snape could complete his implication.

"Take me there. Now." The older man ordered, rising abruptly from his seat, pushing his dinner tray away.

Harry still had difficulty controlling his muscles, which were both exceedingly painful and uncooperative. He led Snape carefully, and knowingly through the secret passage until the reached the old wooden door that Harry had come to know so well.

Inside was a desk which held his cauldron, and a shelf in which housed his tools and ingredients. Usually he kept it completely clean and tidy, but after the previous nights rampage in search of deadly nightshade, there were bits and pieces strewn everywhere.

"Quaint." Snape muttered, moving swiftly over to examine the cauldron, before picking up Harry's book Most Potente Potions.

"Before you ask, that is my copy of that book- not the schools. I bought it in Knockturn Alley during summer." Harry said softly, now sitting on his favourite seat, which was the windowsill. One slight overbalance to his right and he'd topple the whole way down the tower to his certain death.

"Remove yourself from that precarious position boy, before you do succeed in killing yourself." Snape snapped, now reading through the instructions on how to brew Solanaceae Serenity. "I think I'll take this until I see fit to return it- you do, I suppose, realise that this is indeed a forbidden text for a student to own?"

Harry nodded his head, climbing down from the ledge. "Yes, sir. I know."

"Potter, if in future you feel the need to... consume an intoxicating substance, I want for you to come to me first. Don't ask questions, just do it. In fact, I want you to come see me anyway. I am not taking no for an answer." Snape stared at Harry a moment longer, before exiting without a backwards glance.

Harry sighed, and repositioned himself on the window ledge.


~~~


Thanks for reading!! And a very BIG thanks to everyone who reviewed!! YAAY! Oh, and I apologise for saying that this chapter would be longer, seems I miscalculated no that... oops!