Heat, Light and the Properties of Plants

Chapter 21 Renewal

Everyone at Hogwarts was eager for Harry\'s recovery. Unfortunately that recovery was slow and fitful. Snape brewed any amount of healing and strengthening potions but without any noticeable improvement in Harry\'s condition. He even reluctantly enlisted the help of Horace Slughorn, whom Professor McGonagall had brought in when Snape failed to reappear at Hogwarts after the Easter holidays.

Hermione was the first to realise what was wrong when she was sitting with her friend one night in the hospital wing - Harry woke from a nightmare, choking and gasping \"No! Sev, don\'t kill me!\"

He refused to tell Hermione much, but from what he did let drop she thought she knew what was worrying him. She left the hospital wing deeply concerned. \"I need to talk to someone about this,\" she thought. But who? Not Ron, he hated Snape too much. And besides, their relationship was still a bit strained after the Portkey incident ...

Eventually Hermione went to see Remus Lupin; he was the only person she could think of who had been consistently fair and open-minded about Snape. He listened gravely as she poured out her worries about Harry.

\"And I gathered from what he said,\" Hermione finished \"he\'s been having nightmares about Professor Snape strangling him while they\'re having sex.\"

\"Severus would never ...\" began Remus, then stopped. \"No, not to Harry. I really don\'t think you need worry, Hermione. They\'ll work things out between them once Harry gets better. I saw them together when they stayed here, you know ... the bond between them is very strong, stronger than either of them quite realises yet, I think.\"

\"But Harry isn\'t getting better as fast as he should,\" argued Hermione. \"And I\'m sure it\'s because of this.\"

\"Then encourage him to talk to Severus about what\'s worrying him,\" Remus said. \"That\'s all you can do, really.\"

Hermione took his advice, with the result that the next time Snape visited the hospital wing he\'d barely sat down before he found himself being questioned by his young lover.

\"I have to know,\" Harry told him abruptly. \"You said the other day some of the rent boys you used were expendable, got damaged.\" He looked pitifully at Snape. \"please, I have to know - did you ever kill any of them?\"\'

Snape winced. He clenched his fist over Harry\'s so hard the youth gasped in pain. Snape stared bleakly at their joined hands and whispered \"Not personally, though I came close once or twice. But,\"

He swallowed, and went on, the words wrenched out of him with great difficulty, \"but .. one of my fellow Death Eaters ... thought it would be ... amusing ... to kill one and ... make him an Inferus ... a sort of zombie sex slave ... for us all to ... fuck.\"

Harry stared at him, appalled. \"And did you fuck him - it?\" he asked.

Sanpe gave a deep groan. \"Yes - it was part of a Death Eater ritual - I had to - \" his hand shook on Harry\'s. The words spilt out of him now in a torrent of anguish. \"It\'s one of the things I can\'t forget; one of the things I can\'t forgive myself; one of the reasons I wanted to die after my job was done and Voldemort was dead; one of the reasons I was so distraught when you brought me back with the first Essences potion ... \" He couldn\'t go on.

Harry stared at Snape\'s fist, still gripping his hand as if his life depended on it. He brought his other hand up and rested it on Snape\'s bowed head. \"Did Dumbledore know about this?\" he asked.

Snape gave a bitter snort of laughter. \"What difference does that make?\" he asked. \"Yes, he knew; he tried to give me what comfort he could, afterwards ...\" He looked imploringly up at Harry. \"... but even Dumbledore couldn\'t completely absolve me of that. Nor of ... other things. Like telling Voldemort about Trelawney\'s prediction - that led directly to your parents\' death - did you know I did that, Harry?\"

\"Yes,\" Harry whispered. \"Dumbledore told me. But he never said anything about ... anything else.\"

\"He wouldn\'t,\" Snape said. \"For one thing, you were still a child, and none of us wanted to sully the innocence of children ... \" he gave a twisted smile. \"Not even me.\"

\"I\'m not a child any more,\" Harry said firmly. \"And of course I\'m upset by what you\'ve done - but I can\'t stop loving you, you know. Not now. Not even if,\" he swallowed painfully, \"not even if you don\'t really love me.\"

Startled, Snape drew back so he could examine Harry\'s face. \"What makes you say that? I may not be very good at expressing my, my, emotions\" (or at having any? a small voice jeered in his head: he ignored it). \"But I do love you and I need you - desperately.\"

\"But the other day,\" Harry whispered \"it sounded as though you didn\'t want just me ... not always ... that you\'d just use me for every day, then go off to some of your rent boys for the icing on the cake.\"

\"I didn\'t say that!\" Snape protested, genuinely bewildered. \"I was only trying to be honest with you, so you weren\'t under any illusions about me ... but believe me, you are everything I want,\" his voice dropped to a thrilling purr \"and I\'m sure you\'re capable of providing any amount of ... icing ... \" ~ Harry shivered with pleasure ~ \"... when you\'re stronger,\" Snape finished briskly, standing up. \"So get well soon, yes?\"

From that day on, Harry did get steadily stronger, but it was still early June before Madam Pomfrey reluctantly allowed him to discharge himself from the hospital wing. Harry went straight to the Gryffindor common-room, where he found Hermione helping Ron with a particularly difficult Advanced Potions essay. Snape was again teaching the subject, which was a prerequisite for entering Auror training, and had been giving Ron a very hard time.

His friends were delighted to see him and they spent a happy afternoon chatting and laughing together. Towards evening, though, Harry was increasingly distracted and kept glancing at the clock on the wall.

\"Yes, he should have finished teaching for the day,\" Hermione smiled. \"You want to go and see him, don\'t you?\"\'

Harry grinned apologetically. \"Do you mind? I think I\'ll just pop down to the dungeons ...\"

\"Yes, go on Harry,\" said Hermione, giving him a hug. Ron scowled, then grinned feebly. \"Come and see us again tomorrow,\" he said \"or we\'re coming down to the dungeons to get you!\"

\"Good luck,\" Hermione whispered, watching their friend out of the door.

*****************************

Harry felt really feeble, but managed to stagger into Snape\'s sitting room. Snape looked up from his armchair; hope and desire flared up in his dark eyes, quickly damped down when he realised quite how weak Harry still was.

The weather was unseasonably chilly for June and Snape had lit his fire. Harry limped over to it and stood warming himself in front of the welcome blaze. On the mantlepiece over the fireplace stood the wizard photograph Quercus had taken of him posing in his black silk briefs in the studio in Knockturn Alley. Snape had mounted it in a silver frame. \"Oh,\" Harry said stupidly \"You found it, then.\"

Snape smirked. \"Yes, it was in your bag. Very...imaginative of you. I assumed it was for me?\" he raised his eyebrows and looked closely at Harry, who nodded dumbly.

\"Thank you, Harry,\" said Snape. \"I shall treasure it.\" Harry wasn\'t sure if he was being sarcastic or not.

\"Actually,\" Snape went on \"it was a big help to me.\" Harry looked puzzled. Snape quirked an eyebrow. \"I had a little trouble with a couple of the ingredients in the Essences potion...your photograph gave me, ah, inspiration for one of them...\"

Harry blushed. \"Errm, I nearly destroyed it actually,\" he said. \"When I was on my way to the Silent Witch. Suppose someone else gets hold of it?\"

\"They won\'t live long if they do,\" said Snape callously. \"I\'ve put a death curse on it now.\"

Harry gaped at him. \"You haven\'t!\"

\"I have,\" Snape confirmed. \"Only you and I can touch it with impunity. I didn\'t want it falling into the wrong hands either.\"

\"But isn\'t that sort of thing illegal?\" asked Harry. \"What would Professor McGonagall say if she knew?\"

Snape\'s lip curled. \"I\'m in her bad books already for disappearing at Easter without a word. She\'s cross because she had to, ah, suck up to Horace Slughorn to persuade him to cover for me. He\'s made a complete cockup of my potions cupboard, too.\" He got up and strolled over to the fireplace, feasting his eyes on Harry.

\"Still, he did help me prepare strengthening potions for you, and he\'s happy to carry on taking most of my classes for the time being so I can spend more time with you.\"

He pulled Harry to him and gave him a lingering kiss. \"In fact, I was wondering about taking a sabbatical next school year - what do you think? We could do some travelling together, maybe go abroad for a while?\"

\"Oh, YEAH,\" said Harry fervently.

\"There\'s a wizarding moot at Durmstrang I\'d like to go to in the autumn - and another at Beauxbatons in the spring - the rest of the year would be our own to do as we like, though.\"

But Harry wasn\'t really taking all this in, he was still worried by the thought of his cursed photograph. He took a deep breath, summoned up all his resolution and said, keeping his voice light and amused, \"But really Severus, sometimes you let your Death Eater background show through just a bit too strongly. Putting an invisibility spell on that photo would be much more appropriate!\"

Snape looked at him curiously. \"And sometimes, Mr Potter, you sound annoyingly like Albus Dumbledore in one of his more pious moods.\" But he flicked his fingers at the photograph, which promptly disappeared. \"Happy now?\"

\"Very,\" whispered Harry, taking Snape\'s hand in his, and slowly circling the palm with his thumb.

\"But I\'ve a bone to pick with you about that photograph,\" said Snape, suddenly remembering. \"I\'m not sure I approve of you showing off your ... ah, assets, to any random photographer.\" He described the antics of the miniature Harry and what it had done with its cock.

Harry blushed. \"But I didn\'t do any of that!\" he protested. \"Quercus asked me if I wanted him to put a spell on the photo to cheer you up when you were down, but I didn\'t know he\'d do that! I didn\'t even show him my cock!\"

Snape smirked. \" l thought I didn\'t remember you being quite so ... well endowed.\"

\"He\'s got a lurid imagination,\" Harry said, grinning. \"I suppose I\'m lucky he didn\'t wish a snake tattoo on to me as well.\" He squeezed Snape\'s hand. \"The way he did on to you.\" And he described Quercus\'s fantasy about Lord Voldemort and the snake he was rumoured to have had tattooed onto Snape\'s cock.

Snape laughed, then winced, \"On my cock? I never thought I\'d be grateful for any lack of imagination on the Dark Lord\'s part. The Dark Mark on my arm was painful enough - thank Merlin it\'s faded now. And Parseltongue, eh? To make the snake, er, rear up?\"

Harry glanced mischievously at him through his lashes. \"I speak Parseltongue,\" he murmured suggestively.
Snape grabbed him and nibbled at his earlobe \"Not even for you,\" he murmured, sticking his tongue in and out of Harry\'s ear \"am I going to get a snake tattooed on my dick.\"

He pressed himself against Harry. \"And you wouldn\'t need to speak Parseltongue to make it rear up,\" he growled, giving Harry a deep passionate kiss.

And Harry, losing himself in his lover\'s powerful embrace, surrendering to his kiss, and feeling the big hard lump pushing urgently against his belly, had to agree.

Eventually Snape pulled away, and led Harry over to a chair beside a small table. \"I think you\'re strong enough for a proper meal tonight,\" he said, stroking Harry\'s hair. \"But we won\'t go into the Great Hall, I\'ll get the house elves to send up something suitable from the kitchens and we\'ll have it in here. Hmmm...I\'ve still got a bottle of the elf-brewed wine, that should put some strength back in you.\"

Afterwards, Harry\'s memories of that meal were always rather hazy - Severus, coaxing him to eat, even feeding him at one point, his face serious in the candlelight. A glass of wine. Kisses from Severus, tasting of honey. Another glass of wine. More kisses...

They ended up lying together naked on the rug in front of Severus\'s fire. Harry was still weak from the aftereffects of the curse and his long stay in hospital, but felt very relaxed and cared-for. \"I don\'t feel strong enough to do anything much, Sev\" he whispered.

\"Don\'t worry,\" Severus murmured between intimate caresses. \"I\'ll do it all...\"

He sucked and licked his way slowly down Harry\'s body, stopping every so often to blow out a warm breath to dry the skin wet from his tongue. At last he reached Harry\'s cock, worryingly limp. Severus took it in his mouth and sucked strongly, massaging his young lover\'s balls with his hand at the same time. His other hand burrowed under Harry and penetrated his arse with an insistent finger. Harry whimpered.

Taking this as encouragement, Severus released Harry\'s cock, now satisfactorily firm, and nosed his way back across his young lover\'s balls to his arse. He circled Harry\'s entrance with his tongue until the youth began to relax, then thrust his tongue as far as he could into his passage. \"Oh!\" Harry gasped. \"That feels so good!\"

Severus rocked back on his heels and groped urgently for his wand. \"I\'ll just get you ready,\" he whispered hoarsely.

Harry moaned in delight: the mere touch of Severus\' wand was a caress; his murmured spell an endearment. Harry felt his passage grow suddenly moist and his ring, still sensitive from his lover\'s ministrations, quivered and relaxed.

Severus arranged Harry on his back on the rug, his legs draped over the older wizard\'s shoulders. He leaned forward, his black hair framing his face as he gazed down at the youth for a long moment.

\"Harrrreee...\" Severus murmured on a long breath as he fully sheathed his eagerly pulsing length in the youth\'s tight, welcoming warmth. \"Oh yesss,\" he sighed. \"This is where I belong.\"

A faint memory of a Muggle ceremony attended with his parents many years ago floated into his mind. \"With my body, I thee worship ...\" he whispered, looking ardently down at Harry.

In all the years that Harry had known Severus Snape, he\'d seen his black eyes blank and unreadable; he\'d seen them narrow in irritation, cold with dislike; he\'d seen them blaze with jealousy, fury, passion - but never before had he seen them glow with such profound and ardent tenderness. It was absolutely heartstopping.

And if his lover\'s tongue had felt good in his arsehole, the sensation of being so fully filled by such a thick, long, wonderful cock was overwhelming. He wished it could stay in him forever.

Severus began thrusting, making his strokes almost impossibly long and slow, aiming to brush lingeringly past his lover\'s sensitive spot to give him the most pleasure possible.

Harry had begun by gripping Severus\' forearms but soon his arms fell limply spreadeagled, his hands clenching and unclenching in the rug underneath him. He began whimpering and babbling in ecstacy.

Severus heard his delighted babble with satisfaction, catching amongst the nonsense words some slurred sibilants of Parseltongue. \"You know I don\'t need that to make me rise up for you,\" he whispered hotly, speeding up his thrusts.

Harry arched his back, thrusting up to meet him, gasping almost incoherently, \"Yes, yes, yes, yesssss ....\" and it was awesome, it was his best ever, his orgasm was more intense than the night of the moon herbs, more intense than their first night together, more intense than the time he had made the Essences potion and started the whole thing ...

And Severus threw his head back and shouted \"YES!!!\" as well, a triumphant ecstatic cry, and he was coming oh Merlin yes he was coming and Harry was so completely flooded he thought he would drown and Severus was still hard inside him even though he\'d come so triumphantly, and ...

... he was starting to pull out, but Harry grabbed his arms and moaned \"No, no, stay inside me Sev, stay forever.\"

Severus grunted and muttered \"My knees - I can\'t stay in this position much longer - hang on a minute,\" and he managed to manoeuvre his partner so they lay on their sides facing the fire, knees bent, his knees drawn up behind the backs of Harry\'s thighs. He reached round and wrapped his hand round the younger wizard\'s cock, which soon responded by filling and pushing eagerly against his palm.

They lay quietly like this for a few minutes, then together began a slow, gentle, hypnotic rhythm which went on for a long time. When they finally came, at almost exactly the same moment, it was less intense than the first time but very satisfying all the same ...

Later, Harry\'s eyes opened lazily and he gazed into the fire, mesmerised by the flickering flames and the feel of Severus\'s long, sensitive fingers on his back. The glowing coals reminded him of the last time he had spoken to his godfather in the fire in Umbridge\'s office, three or four years ago now. Harry stifled a sob.

\"I didn\'t mean Sirius to go to the Department of Mysteries that night,\" Severus murmured against his back. He was using legilimency again, but Harry didn\'t want to push him away.

\"I admit I hated him,\" Severus continued \"but I didn\'t intend what happened. I told him to stay in Grimmauld Place until members of the Order got there, but...you know Sirius...he didn\'t like taking orders from anyone...\" he breathed softly onto Harry\'s skin \"...and certainly not from me.\"

Harry nodded sadly. It had taken a long time, but he had finally come to terms with his godfather\'s death.

\"You nearly made the same mistake,\" murmured Severus. \"In that clearing,\" He moved closer. \"Next... time,\" he said between licks, \"... listen ... when ... I tell you ... to duck.\"

Harry chuckled ruefully. \"I guess I got carried away,\" he whispered, \"it was so great that feeling of shared power when you and me were fighting back to back. I s\'pose that was the \'brotherhood\' part of the sanguis, lacrima cum sperma bond?\"

\"Mmmmmm,\" replied Severus, \"It was. And recently I\'ve experienced more of its emotional aspect too than I\'d ever have believed possible. But I have to admit, at the moment I\'m still more interested...\" he moved even closer and began rooting into Harry\'s balls again with his long, hooked nose \"....in the, ah, sexual aspect....\"

THE END

A/N Phew, finished at last, I can go back to my neglected garden ...
Please let me know what you thought of my story - leave a review here, or on Live Journal, or email me at the address on my profile. I have a few ideas for a sequel, but won\'t bother if nobody thinks it\'s worth it. Thanks!