You Know You Are Loved When A Gryffindor Loves You

24

They were sent off with hugs the next day after breakfast, the examinations and the tests had been completed. Harry was all right but he was prescribed at least five days bed rest from his MediWitch and Severus took it seriously making up a fresh bed when they arrived home and insisting Harry got in. Harry capitulated but only if he got to wear his sleep shirt and nothing else, casting arch looks at his beloved as he was tucked in and held chastely. Harry cast one of his sexy looks into his lover’s eyes and along with the mind message, his beloved came undone and quickly stripped, hopping into bed beside his husband and they were lost to the world again as they tested their new powers with renewed, er, effort and got a better result than before in the privacy of their own home. As Severus came down, he sighed, “You’re going to give me a bloody coronary one day, you sexy man”. Harry growled and disagreed, “I think this is what the bond is really all about, and it won’t kill either of us, although I think it will test us to our very limits. Bring it on!”, he laughed as they sank towards sleep.

After a light lunch the following day, they decided to test their new-found power. At first, it was only when they were in direct physical contact, but they experimented with the idea of turning the ‘volume’ up so that they could send and receive over short distances, first by looking into each other’s eyes, then lying back to back on the bed but without touching.

“Right, let’s try through a single wall. I’ll go into the study”. Intervening bricks and mortar took some adjusting to but it was easily enough accomplished, then Severus moved away room by room until he was at the far end of the kitchen and the furthest he could get away from Harry and still be in the house. On a whim, he stepped into shoes and went into the yard, ‘You’re still clear and I’m outside. I think I’m going to pop to Mr Khan’s, see how far we can make the signal go’. No problem, although Harry overcompensated and shouted a bit until Severus asked him to turn the volume down. He arrived back from the shop to see Harry hanging over the banister rail on the landing, ‘Oi! Bed, you’, he ordered, a smile coming through in the tone of the ‘send’. Harry grumped, ‘But I’m not ill and I want to go out and play with this some more, go into town, say, and separate, see how far we can stretch the signal’ Severus came upstairs and lifted Harry off the rail and into his arms, “Come on now, Harry. I’m not letting you go further than the bathroom for the whole five days”. Harry wasn’t happy, “But you’ve always ignored Poppy before. Can’t I just sit downstairs and watch movies or something?”, but he was steered back into bed, “I’ve ignored Poppy before, true, but this isn’t about me, this is about you and our daughter and I don’t want a repeat of the other day”.

He tucked a fretting Harry back into bed and said, “I’ve got an idea, though. Why don’t I go into town and buy you a few things to cheer you up and we can test this while I’m on the bus? It’s a compromise, I know, but I really want you to stay in bed while I’m gone. Is there anything I can bring you before I go?” Harry sighed but capitulated with a smile earning himself a kiss, “No thanks, I’m fine for now, just keep your connections open”.

They could read each other nearly all the way into town, but the bus passed under a series of overpasses and the signal died. Severus called Harry on his mobile, “Lost it at the Mancunian Way”, then started when he ‘read’ Harry loud and clear through his phone. He ‘sent’ back in the same way to a gasp at the other end of the line. “Well, Harry, that’s very odd but quite tiring for now. Hmmm, I’m glad I’m sitting down. I’ll see you later”, and he rang off.

Harry awoke out of a light doze to hear the unmistakeable sound of a black cab purring outside the house, he heard his husband’s voice as he thanked and paid the cabbie and felt a little thrill as he heard the key in the door. There sounded like quite a lot of things being loaded into the hall and then the taxi drove away. Harry was madly curious but stayed firmly in bed, just shouting his hello and the called response. He was coy in his enquiry, “So what’ve you got me then, O love of my life?”, to hear tempting sounds of rent cardboard and the unmistakeable squeak of polystyrene, ‘Come on, Severus, what ya got? I’ll come downsta-airs’, his mind sing-songed. His husband growled, ‘Set one foot on that staircase and the whole lot goes back. Give me a minute, you impatient brat’.

‘One thing at least, Severus, I can’t read your mind or anything and I’m just dying of curiosity here’. He heard Severus’ steps on the stairs and the rustle of carrier bags. “Here, these should stave off the boredom for awhile”, and Harry dug among the parcels, his eyes alight. There was a pile of lightweight novels, mysteries and sci-fi for the most part, then a big bag of comics that he fell on with glee, the latest instalments of his favourite superhero titles; some books, a huge tome on Dali, another on Abstract Expressionism, two packs of playing cards, and a set of dominoes. He thanked him with a kiss then pounced on his comics as Severus left the room.

Harry’s attention was diverted again when he heard the Windows theme tune but seemingly coming from downstairs. He frowned a moment, shrugged and went back to his reading. Severus nipped out for takeaway for lunch and opened up his little wooden bed tray for Harry. As he cleared away, he left the bed tray in place to another frown from Harry, then ran an extension cable from the corner of the room to nearer the bed. A couple more trips up and down the stairs yielded several more carrier bags that Severus, with a teasing smirk around his mouth, left out of Harry’s reach. Harry just sat back grinning just enjoying the anticipation of surprise when Severus purred in his mind, ‘Close your eyes and don’t peep’.

He screwed his eyes tight shut and heard something being placed on the tray then the sounds of wire and connectors and a plug into the socket. He had to sit on his hands to prevent him reaching out to touch. There were a few clicks, the sound of a finger pressing buttons then that theme tune again, “Open your eyes now, Harry”. so he did, and sitting before him was a bright shiny new laptop.

“Oh, Severus”, Harry breathed, touching the machine, “Oh, wow, this is amazing”, he turned to his lover with damp eyes, “What are you like? You spoil me rotten. Thank you, love”, and held his arms open. Severus climbed onto the bed and straight into them, holding Harry tight, then kissed him. “Well, do you approve?” Harry shook his head, laughing, “No-one has ever spoilt me quite like you do, well, maybe the Weasleys in their own way, but this is incredible”. Severus nuzzled his ear, “I want to spoil you. I love spoiling you. Neither of us has had much of that and I think we deserve it from time to time. A little indulgence does no harm and anything that keeps you in this damn bed for the next four days can only be a good thing”.

They disentangled themselves and Harry turned back to his new toy, “So, then, what’s on here?” noting the programmes, “Oooh, I can watch DVD’s on here?” Severus grinned, “Multi-region and all formats. I bought us a router, too, so we can network the machines, so you’ll have full Internet access from your laptop”. Harry was grinning fit to burst as Severus hefted another carrier bag onto the bed, “I got us some new stuff”, and fished out the first series of ‘Lost’, the complete ‘X-files’ and ‘Babylon 5’ including the accompanying movies, a few more films in various genres and Harry squealed when he spotted the three Lord of the Rings in the extended editions, plus games and other programmes including a drawing package and a music studio thing. Harry sat back totally stunned.

“Severus, how did you carry all of this? Only I know you shouldn’t be lifting too much weight”. Severus laughed, “I offered this nice taxi driver a hefty tip to collect everything that I had bought and paid for and he helped me get everything into the house. I just told him I had a bad back”. Harry surveyed the riches around him, “Severus, I’ve got enough here to entertain me for months, I hope you’re not planning to keep me here until I give birth”. Severus held him, “The thought crossed my mind, but no, I just felt like treating you”. Harry turned to his man and kissed him thoroughly in appreciation.

“I don’t know what to do first”, Harry shrugged gleefully rubbing his hands together then riffled through their new movies, his hand alighting on Fellowship of the Ring, “Dudley was bought a paperback set of the books one Christmas but he can’t read without mouthing the words so I snaffled them. They’re bloody brilliant. Have you ever read them?” Severus nodded, “Not for many years and my father confiscated them when he found them, they were deemed ‘not suitable’ for a real wizard. The movies are pretty good, well, the first one anyway, but I’ve only seen the cinema version on network TV”

So it was decided. Severus went downstairs and fixed them some snacks. Harry went to the bathroom and freshened up with a quick shower. Severus unhooked his speakers from his computer and plugged them in improving the sound significantly and before Harry got back, he stripped to t-shirt and pants and hopped into bed himself after piling up the treats onto both of their side-tables.

Harry was taking time to get used to the scroll pad, but Severus presented him with a small USB mouse and Harry kissed him then plugged it in. They both settled down to the movie, a large bowl of buttery popcorn between them. Despite the films’ length, they went straight to the next and enjoyed a leisurely day and evening, slobbed out, smoking blunts, eating popcorn and biscuits and crisps.

Half way through film three, Severus was asleep, but Harry was enthralled and at the end, realised he had been watching for close to twelve hours. Chuckling softly, he closed the laptop down and put it carefully to one side. Still stirred up by the films, he read for a while, resting a hand on his sleeping husband and kissing his cloth covered shoulder from time to time, then put his book down, removed his lenses and turned the light off. He was well past the point of sleep and lay on his back thinking instead of the things he had said to Dumbledore. Did he really prefer the Muggle world? What about bringing up the children? They had every right to know their heritage and grow up in it. His mind wandered to what they would look like, but apart from ‘dark’, his mind refused to form images, then back to Muggle versus Magical living.

Severus and he got on very well in the house, but he suspected they would need a bigger house eventually, this house was excellent bachelor or couple digs, but the rooms were a bit small for all the things they would need for the kids. He decided he liked living like this, with electricity and the artefacts of the modern world around them. He grinned at his husband’s back at the wealth of presents he’d received. Oh, he’d stay in bed all right. He turned towards Severus and held him kissing between his shoulder blades and was asleep in moments.

The days grew warmer and the light lasted longer in the sky. Severus dusted off his small barbecue and they ate al fresco. Both were growing outwards apace as June drew on. Severus’ movements were slower and more considered and Harry was giving lots of back massages. The middle of the month arrived and they reluctantly gave up their comfortable life for four days to move back to Hogwarts for Harry’s exams.

Minerva met them as they portkeyed in to their usual spot just outside the school gates a few minutes after midnight and she showed them to their new quarters. It was decided that it would be too dangerous for Severus to take up residence in his old dungeons, so they were housed in the guest wing in a ponderously decorated suite, as usual, huge furniture was prevalent. Harry sighed, “I’m glad you don’t do big furniture, Severus”. His husband came up behind him, “Well, Mr Potter-Snape, I’ll make a pouf of you yet, no interest in clothes, but has an eye for interior design”. Harry laughed, “I don’t hear you complain when I’ve got my cock up your arse. I’m a good enough pouf then”, then growled and pounced on his husband knocking him over backwards onto the bed then made love to him until they both could sleep.

Minerva invigilated Harry’s papers. He had two a day. Two for Astronomy and two for Herbology but they were the only completed courses with the submission of a project instead of a practical exam, but he also sat his Potions theory papers and his Transfigurations written tests, the practicals had been deferred.

It was an exhausted Harry that Severus portkeyed back but through his tiredness, Harry was jubilant. The next year he would only have to do two practicals plus his DADA NEWT which had a very small written element and was nearly all practical.

Harry slept the afternoon away and awoke to kisses from Severus. He languished into them then his love drew away, “Come on, up and at ‘em. I’ve got a table booked for us. I want to take you out”. They had a sexy shower and put on good clothes, glamours hiding their pregnant state, and swanned off in a taxi on a cloud of expensive aftershave and celebration.