Deserving (Final Chapter)

Chapter 29

“Sir, may I ask that we go upstairs where you can cast a silencing spell.”


Harry felt a hole in the pit of his stomach. He walked up to Snape and, taking him in his arms, aparated up to the bedroom. Snape moved away from Harry’s arms as soon as they hit the floor. Harry bowed his head in frustration.


“So you fear me?”


“Sir, the silencing charm,” reminded Severus.


Harry took out his wand and cast the spell and still crestfallen asked Snape: “Why are you so afraid of me? When was the last time I was …”


“Sir, I am not in fear of you. I know that what I have done merits your wrath.”


Ron’s words came rushing into Harry’s mind. “You knew something would upset me, but you did it anyway?”


“That was not my rational at all. I had to weigh my options and took the one that would only affect me,” Snape tried to explain.


Harry took a deep calming breath. “Let’s try this from the beginning, what did you give her?”


Snape straightened up. “Money.”


“Money,” repeated Harry trying to understand. “So… why did you give her money?”


“She will be going to a different country and she will be subjected to someone’s or some family’s charity.”


Harry had to admit to himself that he had not thought about that. “You don’t think they will be treated well?”


“I am sure they will be treated very well, but she is a mother with two little ones. She might want to take them out to the park,” Severus continued to try to explain.


“Snape, I don’t know if you’ve heard but parks are free.”


“Yes, Sir, they are, but the treats sold there are not. I can remember plenty of times when my mum would take me to a park to get me away from him. I can remember seeing the other children with ice cream dripping down their hands and knowing it would hurt my mum if I asked for a treat she could not provide.”


Snape’s words dug deeply into Harry’s heart. He could remember similar incidents only his mum was not present.


“I think it was a brilliant idea to give her the money. You see, all you had to do was explain why you did it. No monsters to fear.”


But Snape looked as if his collar was too tight.


“I told you I am not upset,” reassured Harry.


“It was my whoring money,” Snape confessed in a whisper.


Harry felt as if someone had sucked the air out of the bedroom.


“What! Why! She is one of your snakes. Why would you humiliate her like that?” yelled Harry.


“There is no humiliation if she does not know where the money came from and I had nowhere else to obtain the money,” Snape tried to argue.


“Nowhere else? I had Kreacher open a direct money bag from my Gringotts account and you are telling me you had nowhere else to take the money from,” said Harry, trying not to lose control.


“Sir, I did not think it fair to place this kind of burden on your account.”


“You don’t get it, do you? We are married, what is mine is yours. You are the one that is placing limits. I told you from the get go that the money was there for your use. You were the one who said you couldn’t handle it and now you are accusing me of being uncompassionate.”


“I HAVE not accused you of such a thing,” countered Snape controlling his volume. “Sir, it was I who wanted to help a former student. I do not believe that one should help placing the burden on another person.”


“You see what I mean: ‘another person’, that is what I am to you. Not your husband, not your spouse, not your partner, no; I am another person,” said Harry, obviously hurt.


“No, Sir, this is not so. I am simply failing to make you understand,” said Snape, equally upset.


“Am I or am I not your husband?”


“Yes, Sir, you are.”


“Is it not so that by our laws what is mine is yours?”


Here Severus was not as quick to answer.


“Yes, Sir, this is true, but again it would have been all too easy to give away what I have not worked for.”


Now it was Harry who hesitated. Snape didn’t know, did he?


“I think there is something you should know. You put into that account as much or more as I do.”


Severus looked at him with a puzzled look.


“You get a Headmaster’s pension and they placed all your life savings into my account. And let me tell you it was a hefty amount and there is also a deed of a house that you own and don’t forget the little treasure that Hogwarts sent you when we got married.”


Severus could not believe what he was hearing. He thought he had lost everything when he was made a Marked One. His savings, his property, his pension, they were all there.

“Snape, you might not believe me or understand, but your whoring money protects you.”


Severus did not understand, but life with Harry had taught him that ‘time’ had a way of explaining Harry’s actions.

“Look, the thing is, I am trying here, but I can’t do it alone. You have to try also. You were expecting me to punish you. You were expecting a monster.”


“Sir, I was unaware…”


“All I want you to do is promise me you will try,” said Harry, approaching his husband slowly.


“I assure you that it was not my intention to cause you any aggravation,” Severus said, moving into his husband’s arms.


“You are the only one who has never treated me as a monster. You are the only one who can and you don’t. Please don’t ever do it again,” Harry said, sealing the hug.


Severus didn’t understand what had kept Harry’s anger under control, but he was grateful to be in his husband’s arms and not punished as he expected to be.


“Snape, I want to make something clear. We have already established your punishment, remember, two more conceptions and birth without any help. That’s it, but it has to be enough not only for me, but for you too.”


Severus looked into Harry’s eyes. He didn’t understand why Harry was limiting his power over him and yet he was still holding him in his arms. Harry always held him.


***


It was almost daybreak when they finally went to sleep and only after three hours of doing so Harry felt someone trying to pry his eyes open.


“Wake up, dada, we go up, up, up,” announced Richard, obviously wanting to go flying.
Harry loved his son very much, but at this point sleep was all he could care about.


“Snape, your son is awake,” said Harry with closed eyes.


“Silly Dada, Papa cannot fly,” said Richard, giggling at his father’s absurd thought.
Severus smiled with his eyes closed and snuggled up under the blanket.


“Wake up, dada, wake up. Bring broom, zoom, zoom,” said Richard, handing his Dada his wand.


“Papa!” cried Harry not wanting to wake up.


“No Papa, Papa cannot fly. Wake up Dada,” demanded Richard.


Harry covered his head in a vain attempt to continue his slumber. And it was then when Severus took pity of his husband and woke to take care of Richard. Getting up and picking Richard up to go change his nappy and feed him breakfast.


“No, Papa, no. Dada go zoom, zoom,” protested Richard.


“Yes, Dada will take you flying, but first you must change and have your breakfast and then Dada will take you flying,” said Severus, hoping that would give Harry some extra time in bed. Harry heard his husband and smiled. Snape always found ways to make life easier at their place.


***

The winter holidays had come and gone and it was a cold day in January when Harry came home and as always took Richard in his arms for a kiss and a hug, but when he placed Richard back on the floor he had a bouquet of flowers in his hands and took them over to his Papa. Severus looked at the flowers that Richard was offering him and then at Harry.


“Happy Birthday,” said Harry with a shy smile.


Severus couldn’t understand how Harry had found out but one look at Millicent’s proud stance gave him the answer. Year after year his little snakes had insisted on celebrating his birthday. Dumbledore must have given the information to his first students and they made it a point to pass the information from year to year. Of course they only did it because it gave them a reason to stay up late and get extra treats from the elves.


“Thank you, Sir,” said Severus as he noticed that Sly and Millicent were taking the children upstairs. Severus was puzzled by this.


“They are going to have dinner in the nursery so we can have dinner alone. It seems, according to Millicent, that is what marry couples do,” explained Harry, not sure he understood himself.


Severus gave a little half smile. Harry placed his hand on Severus’ back and guided him to the table where Kreacher had followed Millicent’s requests and had tablecloth, good china and candles. Harry was afraid it was a bit too much but Snape seemed to find it amusing. When they sat down, Kreacher popped in with a bottle of champagne and popped it open serving each of them in a fluted glass.


“Cheers,” toasted Harry.


“Cheers,” replied Severus.


Harry then handed Severus his gift.


“… the flowers?” questioned Snape.


“They were from Richard. It is my job to teach him about these things.”


Severus looked at the box before him.


“Go on, open it.”


Severus un-wrapped the box and found a couple of what looked to be dead roots inside the box.


Harry smiled at him obviously feeling very proud of himself.


“Great, isn’t it?” asked Harry with a grin from ear to ear.


Severus looked at the content fearing he had missed something then looked up at Harry who was still smiling.


“Well, obviously you can’t plant them outside in the middle of the winter, but you can
plant them in planters in the house. At least that is what Professor Coates said.”


“Professor Coates?” asked an even more confused Severus.


“Yea, apparently Professor Sprout is running for some post in the Ministry and therefore had to ask for asabbatical, but Minerva assured me that Coates is as competent as Sprout.”


Well that answered one question but Severus still did not understand why Harry believed the roots to be such a great gift.


“She assured me that these were basic plants that all Potions Masters had at hand.”


Well obviously this woman didn’t know that he had never had the need to plant because Sprout and Hagrid had always provided him with the necessary ingredients. And why was Harry giving him gifts that were for a Potions Master a title that he no longer possessed. He looked at Harry with this question on his expression.


“Well, I figure now that you will be brewing again you will want to have some ingredients handy.”


Snape looked at him waiting for the punch line. It never came. Severus bowed his head. He did not deserve this but he had to take it. He had to find a cure for Mathew and all the other little children that had been robbed of their magic.


“Look, I am not saying that you can have your magic back, because you can’t, but you yourself said that silly wand waving was not essential to potion brewing. So if you still stand by those words I have told Kreacher that he can prepare the cellar with what you need to begin brewing. You will be able to brew the basics, anything that does not require magic.”


“Will I be able to work on a cure for the children?” asked Severus, shaking Harry to the core. He had forgotten about the children of the Marked Ones that had been denied their magic. He had just wanted to make Snape’s birthday as nice as Snape had made his.


“Can you do that without your wand?”


“All I ever really need my wand for is to cast a spell to halt the process until I can get back to it and I am sure Kreacher would have no problems in doing this for me.”


Harry considered Snape’s words. “Have Kreacher get everything you need.”


Severus got up from his chair and was going to head to the kitchen…


“Where are you going?”


“I have to make a list for Kreacher. Then I must call Hagrid and I must find out where Sprout is and …”


“… and if you don’t sit down and finish dinner with me I am going to take back everything I just said,” warned Harry with a taunting smile.


Severus realized he had acted in haste and sat down. They had a nice dinner and then chocolate cake with one candle in the middle. Harry made Snape make a wish but you didn’t have to be Trelawney to guess what he had wished for. When Harry apparated them to the bedroom Snape rushed out of his hands but Harry caught him before he could escape.


“Snape, focus, you can start all the preparations tomorrow,” said Harry into Snape’s ear suggestively.


“Sir, I was going to the bathroom to tie myself. I was not expecting this and therefore I am unprepared.”

“I hate that you have to do this. Can’t you come up with a potion?”

Severus shook his head. “I am afraid that at least three of the ingredients used in a castration potion are highly illegal.”

Harry considered Snape’s words. He did not seem to be adverse at taking the potion if it were available. Would Snape do something like this just to please him? Would he really?

“Sir, why don’t you get ready for bed and I assure you that by the time you get in bed I will be there ready for you,” assured Severus trying to distract Harry from his shortcomings.





***


It was Easter Sunday and Harry, Severus, Milly, Sly, Richard and Mathew were having dinner after a very exciting day for the children. Harry had gotten an owl from Ron saying that dressing Gaby as the Easter bunny was a no go.


After dinner and while Severus and Milly put the children to bed Harry noticed that Sly looked very uncomfortable. He guessed it was the months of hiding that were creeping up on him. But as soon as Severus and Millicent came down, Sly cleared his throat and asked for Harry’s attention.


“Harry, you have been kind enough to take care of Millicent and Mathew for almost a year and for that I will always be grateful. Because of your care for them I think it is only just that I ask your permission to marry Millicent.”

Tbc


A/N
Hi everyone,

Thanks for the great reviews that the last chapter generated. I did not think you were going to like it as much as you did. Readers continually shock authors with what they like and dislike.

Many of you are asking that Harry call Snape by his first name, believe me I struggle with this. In this fic. Harry believes that he is in no way close or intimate with Snape. They are just married. They are just doing it for Richard. They are just trying to make life as bearable as possible. Again this is in Harry’s head not in all his actions. This first name thing and the trying not to say (write) “their bedroom” has been hard for me to maintain. Add that to the whole whoring money protecting Severus is something I hope to pull off at the end. Hope I can.

This chapter is only half beta because I kept on adding to it. Yes, it was even shorter than this. Sorry about the cliffy but I had no time to actually finish the chapter and I really wanted to post something. Even when it is short I am very happy with the end result. Now let’s see what you guys think.

Again, you have been an amazing audience.

Your friend,
Moon of the Sea
Luna del Mar