Long Enough

The light from the sun filtering through the window the next morning didn't wake me, and for several minutes I am at a loss as to what had. Until said thing happened again. The clearing of a throat at the foot of the bed. I snuggle deeper into the arms surrounding me and try to doze back off to sleep. Damn anyone who is awake at this hour. Arms? My eyes shoot open and I am face to face with none other than Harry Potter. He is still dozing in my bed, a pretty pink blush on his cheeks. I smile as the events of the night before flit back into my mind.
Suddenly, the throat is cleared again. I look up and find myself under the piercing gaze of Albus Dumbledore. “Severus, good morning. I see you are currently indisposed, but I would like very much to talk to you...ah both of you, so if you could please meet me in the sitting room. I'll have tea set up when you arrive. Don't be long.” I sigh and roll onto my back as Albus leaves. I turn back to Harry and see that his eyes are wide in horror. “Oh God, of all the people to find us like this.” Harry groans and sits up. I follow suit and shake my head. “Yes well, we'd better get going. The tea will get cold.” Harry looks at me in confusion at the odd statement but I just wave him off. He shrugs and we both get up and put on pants and loose robes. Harry doesn't bother to tie his robe off, affording me a very good view of his nicely toned abs and very smooth skin. I pull my hair back into a low pony tail as he runs his fingers through his, making it lay more flat than it had. We inspect each other, share a quick but passionate kiss, and leave the room together, hand in hand.
“Dear God Mate! What The Fuck Is This About!” I sigh as Ronald Weasley comes stomping over to us. Harry simply rolls his eyes. “We were worried about you mate! And here you were, the whole time! With him of all people! We thought he'd killed you or something!” As though something had dawned on him, Ronald turns to me and points an accusatory finger to my chest. “Wait, what did you do to him! He'd never willingly be with you!”
“RON!” Harry screams angrily. His best mate backs off instantly. “You shut up about what you don't understand!” Harry growls at him as he pushes his body closer to mine. I put my hand on his waist as he moves in front of me, his arm wrapped around my own. “Speaking of understanding...” Hermione Granger says softly from her seat across from where we stand. Looking up from her scone she sends Ron a glare. He sits down as she turns her attention back to Harry, worry evident in her face.
“Perhaps some explaining is in order so that we may understand.” She says diplomatically. I had never admired her for anything until that moment. Harry relaxes instantly in my arms with a sigh, letting his tension out and even shooting Ron an apologetic look. I marvel for just a moment more before I am tugged to a tan settee I don't remember owning. Albus sends me a serene smile in response to my raised eyebrow.
“Okay, here's the deal. Severus and I started...” I stop him with a hand on his shoulder. He looks to me and we exchange words silently. He nods and I pick up the thread. “I want it clear that neither of us had anticipated this happening.” Everyone except Ron nods dutifully at my pause. “It started out as a project of sorts.” I begin. Ron snorts, but Hermione shushes him and motiones for me to continue. “I noticed that Harry was becoming increasingly agitated at the state of his surroundings. I further observed that his emotional behavior seemed to be the source of his inability to preform Occlumency. In light of my conclusions, I started to tutor him in how to control his emotions.”
Albus is listening intently, taking in every word. Weasley is trying to find fault with anything I say and Hermione is soaking my theories up like a sponge. “But he didn't change! Nothing happened you great bat!” Ron yells, on his feet in seconds. Harry rolls his eyes again and pushes Ron back down. “Shh, until we're finished.” He snaps. Ron reddens and huffs, looking to the side and crossing his arms over his chest.
“Well, sorry for saying this, but he has a point.” Hermione says, her brows furrowed in thought. “You see, I was right!” Ron crows as he jumps out of his seat. Hermione doesn't even look up as she points her wand at him and violet light flashes out of the tip. When the smoke clears Ron is in his seat wiggling but unable to get free. He looks as though he is glued to it. His mouth is shut as well, silver tape over it to keep him quiet. Harry shakes with silent laughter. I look down at him wondering what it is all about, but he waves me off. I shrug and we go back to our discussion, thankfully Weasley free.
“Harry didn't change at all to us. He was still just as emotional as before.” Hermione restates. Harry shakes his head. “No, I stopped blowing up at every little thing, especially Malfoy.” Hermione looks at him for a moment, her eyes narrowed. She perks up suddenly and smiles. “You're right Harry. I had thought that it was just maturity though, I didn't realize that you were being taught.”
Harry smiles back at her, for a moment it is like they are back in their common room and none of this has happened. “But it was maturity.” They both turn back to me. “He was maturing too rapidly for his mind to process. He needed to categorize all of the thoughts in his head in order to sort through them and the emotions that accompany them. That is why he couldn't control himself during Occlumency, he didn't know how to stop the influx of thoughts and emotions for long enough to put up a shield for them.” Hermione nods her bushy head in agreement. “That makes sense. So, what happened after that?” She asks, her eyes filled with curiosity. “We began to discuss methods of fighting without a wand, without words, and most importantly, without effort. Harry is uncommonly powerful but I knew in order to defeat the Dark Lord he'd need more than that.” Hermione's eyes go wide as the implications hit her.
“Can you do all of that Harry?” She asks, her curiosity an almost physical force. “To the point Miss Granger.” I try to snap her out of it, but Harry waves his hand at me and I fall silent. Harry doesn't move as all of the spells Hermione had placed on Ron lift for a half second. “That's right! I'm back in the ...” They are replaced almost instantly with spells that crackle with electricity. Everyone sits stunned. I think even if Weasley could talk, he would be too shocked to utter more than a small whimper.
“Well, that was a lot more power than we've ever felt from Voldemort, what else could he have possibly needed?” Hermione asks, still awe-struck. “Control.” She looks up at me curiously so I explain. “The most powerful wizard in the world is nothing without control. Wild magic will destroy all who wield it before they are ready. If you cannot tell it what to do, it will tell you what to do. It will corrupt you, like it did Tom Riddle.” Hermione's eyes widen in understanding.
“Ah, so he would have been just as bad as Voldemort had we let him fight like he was?” She asks. I nod. “Yes, I'm afraid so. Power like that, once discovered, leads you to your desires. But once they are met, what then? Are you full now? No, you are hungry for more. You want to fix things, big things, but the only way to do that...”
“Is to use the power you have. And soon it takes over.” Hermione finishes for me. “Exactly. He would have started out with good intentions, but even the best of us can become corrupted.” Her eyes dart to mine, a question in them. “I will explain myself at a later date, Miss Granger, right now, we're off course. Harry and I started to train in earnest after my discovery. I told him everything I could...”
“But Severus, didn't you think that to be a little dangerous?” Albus asks suddenly, contributing for the first time all morning. Harry's eyes bore holes into the Headmaster's and the man is forced to look away. “Lack of information is often times more dangerous than too much of it, Headmaster. Haven't you learned that yet?” Harry snarls at him. I take his hand and he calms down instantly. He sits back next to me and figits.
“Harry I...” Albus begins, but Harry shakes his head. “Don't, just...Sev, let's get on with it.” I nod, ignoring everyone's reactions at my nickname. “Quite. We set to work on him immediately and we discussed everything. I told him of my work as a spy, of my past, and many other things that none of you will ever be privy to.” I glare at Hermione as my voice raises at the end. She is looking at Harry as though he is a book she can read. Her face goes red and she sits back in her seat.
Harry silently shakes with laughter at her expense as I continue. “Now, we covered our tracks with random detentions. Obviously he would need to still act up in my class and do things that got him into trouble. So, I fueled this by giving him things to do or try outside my presence that would either get him detention from me, or another teacher. I, of course, always offered my overseeing services.” I smile in satisfaction as the light goes on in Albus' head.
“From there we improved his potion making abilities, which were decidedly lacking, and then his critical thinking skills picked up due to the lack of thoughts fluttering about in such large amounts. After that, most of the physical activities were rather easy as we'd been training for quite some time in defense without a wand.” Hermione looks absolutely predatory as she runs over the implications of that in her mind. I shake my head at her.
“No Miss Granger, as powerful as you are, you could never master it. Harry has the unique gift of being more than just lucky or powerful, he's connected to the old magic, the wild magic that has never been harnessed. Only one other person in this era has been and he forced it.” Hermione's eyes are wide and her hand flies to her mouth. I nod at her conclusion.
“Tom Riddle was ambitious, but also stupid. He did things that no other wizard would have dared attempt, and as a result, Harry has the effects of it.” Hermione's eyes well up and she lunges at Harry. He catches her easily and holds her as she cries. After a few moments, she pulls back and starts wiping her eyes with a handkerchief I did not see Harry produce.
“I'm so sorry, you must think I'm so silly, crying like this over a stupid thing like power, but I'm just so upset.” She stops dabbing at her face and locks eyes with Harry. “I'm so sorry that you went through all of this alone, Harry, I wish I had been there to help you, to let you vent.” She snuggls back into his embrace. For a moment, I feel jealousy well up within me, but it is stifled when Harry's eyes meet mine.
“No Hermione, don't cry for my struggle. Severus was there, and believe it or not, he was wonderful.” She looks up and he gives her a gentle smile. “I got to vent, and cry, throw things and everything.” Hermione smiles at the joke and hugs him before going back to her seat. “Well, I'm glad that he was okay.” I snort at that. “Sorry sir, but you do have something of a reputation of not being very sensitive.”
I nod stiffly as Harry shakes beside me with silent laughter. “Yes Miss Granger, and I assure you, I did not disappoint.” Hermione's eyes narrow a fraction. “I was rude, crass, angry and unbearably stupid for the first three weeks. Then Boy Wonder here pushed me up against the wall of my own potions lab, without laying a hand or a wand on me, and yelled at me until he was hoarse. After that, I realized that he would need more than just Occlumency training and that I could use some work as well.”
Hermione's eyes dart from Harry, who is sober now, to me the whole time and finally settle on me again. “You decided that you could use some work?” She asks disbelievingly.
“Well...” Harry speaks up and her eyes are on him instantly. His eyes are locked with mine, however. His voice is tinged with laughter as he continues. “Let's just say we came to a mutual agreement before I let him down.” Harry smirks mischievously as I roll my eyes.
“You would put it that way, wouldn't you?” Harry takes my hand with an unrepentant grin and nods. “Yes I would.” Albus clears his throat and we all get back to business. “So, after all that, we began to actually get along. It was difficult, as we were both very bad at it, but it started to work out rather well. Harry would get into trouble, come to my office, and I would have a lesson for him to cover. Usually he would read before he came and we would do practical lessons in my labs.”
Hermione raises her hand, as though in class and I roll my eyes at the display before letting her talk. “Yes Miss Granger?” She blushes at her foolishness and clears her throat, or was that Albus again? “Well, Sir, I was wondering. We never saw Harry reading. He was always with us and he never has liked books.” She replies and I look to Harry. I had never known how he tricked his friends into believing that he was unchanged. He blushes and averts his eyes as he gets up.
“Just a second.” He mumbls. I ponder what has him so upset. He looks like a man being led to his death when he re-enters the room. He sits back down and gropes for my hand, obviously in need of comfort. “Well?” I ask. He flinches slightly and I feel a little guilty. “Sorry love, but what do you have?” I ask more gently this time. He opens his palm and Hermione gasps.
“Harry you didn't!” A Time-Turner sits in his open hand and Hermione is staring at it like it is the most awful thing she has ever seen. Suddenly, Harry is on his feet, his green eyes blazing with fury and defensiveness.
“I had to! We had to keep this a secret or it couldn't have continued. Do you even know what he taught me? It wasn't all good, Hermione! I had to do something and you notice everything! Ron would have been easier to fool but not you, and not my dorm mates!” I stop Harry's rant by pulling him into my lap and holding him. He straddles my waist and snuggles up to me and starts to cry. “Hush love, you did what you had to. I'm proud of you for considering it, actually. I thought they were all destroyed.”
Harry shakes his head. “I took one, ages ago. It's the only one left. I never told Aurthur that I'd been to the Ministry before he took me in fifth year. I read about it in 'History of Hiding-What Measures we Take Against the Discovery of the Wizarding World'.”
Hermione looks extremely impressed. “I've never read that one.” Harry shrugs. “Bought it third year, before everything started happening. I knew, therefore, where the Ministry was located and how to possibly get inside.From there it was a simple matter of making sure that I had enough time to figure out the password for the phone booth. That was easy with a little surveillance.” Hermione's eyes are wide again, and she has clapped her hand over her mouth.
“Harry, you stole from the Ministry!” His head shoots up. “I did not! I left them some gold and a note.” He replies before snuggling back into my slightly shaking chest. “Gold and a note?” She asks incredulously. I fight not to laugh outright at the exchange. “Yeah, I had a Quick-Quotes Quill write the note so that my handwriting couldn't be traced and then took some gold from my stash at Privet Drive and left it with the note. All Wizard gold is the same, I looked that up, just to make sure that they can't track it by looks. Well, of course they can track it by magic, but I figured out how to keep them from tracking my gold.” Hermione is sitting in stunned silence. “Harry, how did you figure out all of this?” She asks cautiously. “I actually sat down and thought, 'what would my dad do?' and then, I did it.” I tense slightly, but only Harry notices. “Sorry Sev.” He whispers into my hair as he snuggles a little closer in apology. “It's alright pet, I'm over it, it was just a shock is all.” I reply. Everyone in the room stares at me in surprise but I ignore them.
“But Harry, how will you get away with this now that Dumbledore knows?” Hermione asks quietly. Albus looks up at her in question. “You have an obligation, sir, to turn in rule breakers and criminals.” Hermione replies to his unasked question. “Harry, as he said, paid for the Time-Turner.” Albus responds. “Yes, but he broke into the Ministry.” Hermione counters. “Hermione, who's side are you on! Do you want me to be arrested?” Harry asks her accusingly from my lap. She flinches and shakes her head. “No, but you've been let go for everything. Mind you I've been happy about it, but this is too far, even for me! You didn't have to do that to save someone, Harry, you sat and planned it all to take something that you had no right to!” Harry gets up and starts to reply but Hermione isn't finished yet. “It makes no difference that you paid for it, Harry! You didn't go through the appropriate channels to get it!” She cuts him off.
“You're just mad that I didn't have to prove I was smart enough first!” He yells back. Hermione looks as though she has been slapped. Her face is red, her hand over her mouth and she starts to back away from him. “That is enough.” I snarl at the both of them. “Harry, sit down and shut up before you say more things you don't mean. Miss Granger, please have a seat and stop worrying. Even if he did get turned in now, it wouldn't matter. The crime was committed years ago and the Ministry is unlikely to care as it led to the downfall of Voldemort.”
My saying the name of my old master shocks her back to reality. “You said it.” She squeaks. I roll my eyes in response. “Of course I did.” Her curious look is back so I explain. “The only reason that I hated anyone saying his name was that it still held power over me. The only ones never allowed to utter his real name were the Death Eaters. Our Marks prevented us from it.” As I talk, I roll back my sleeve to show her that the Mark is gone.
She looks at my pale skin for a moment before taking her seat again. “'Mione, I'm sorry.” Harry mumbles. Hermione looks at him for a moment before sighing. “It's just that you were acting so unreasonable. I know it was wrong, that's why I never told you, but I thought you'd be happy I didn't get caught, not try to get me arrested.” Hermione shakes her head. “The comment hurt because it was right Harry. I was angry that you didn't earn your Time-Turner. It made mine seem so much less knowing that I could have stolen it that easily.” Harry starts to correct her but she holds up her hands in defeat. “Sorry, you did pay for it.” They both smile and sit back down as though nothing has happened.
“What I am most curious about, Harry, is how you ended up killing Tom. No one knows how it happened as no one was there to witness it.” Albus speaks up for the second time. Harry looks up and meets Albus' eyes squarely as he replies. “I didn't kill him. He couldn't be killed.” Hermione gasps and Albus looks confused. “The prophesy said vanquish anyway, not kill.” Harry snuggles back down into my arms and sighs.
“I went to Riddle House, to find him first. After that it was easy. He couldn't leave with the wards I set up and no one could come in either. It was just us two. I sat down and we talked for a while. I learned all about his psychotic plans and deeds. He's actually quite boring you know. All he does is worship himself.” I tighten my arms around his frame and he gets the hint and moves on. “Anyway, I had already destroyed all of his Horcruxes, though he didn't know that, and so I was pretty confident that I could 'vanquish him'.” Harry stopped for a breath before going on.
“After we talked I stood up and said that I must be going. He stood and started trying to kill me, but of course, he couldn't. I was protected by more than blood from him. So, I purified his soul, putting it all back together, using the Time-Turner to take us to each spot as I destroyed the Horcruxes in the past, including the ones already destroyed before my time.” Harry finished with a yawn and laid his head on my chest. His eyes closed and he started to doze lightly.
“Severus, is this true?” Albus asked. I shrugged. “I believe so. I've seen the finished product and that is, after all, the only way to purify a broken soul. You must reconnect it.” Albus was shaking his head violently. “But that's impossible.” He breathed. I sent him a smirk as I stood up with Harry cradled in my arms. “It's also impossible to survive the killing curse.” I replied, looking down at Harry before turning toward the bedroom.
“I trust you all know your way out. Oh, and Weasley, you'll have to stick around as Harry is the only one who can unbind you.” I sent him a malicious smirk in response to his scared look and pointless struggles. Hermione sighed and Albus shook his head. “My God, this is one for the record books.” Albus said, his head still moving. “NO!” Harry screamed from the bedroom. He was in the doorway in an instant. “You will keep your old mouth shut or I will shut it for you. Now get out so I can fuck Severus in peace. Oh, and Ron,” He turned to his best mate and smirked evilly.
“I ought to leave you there, just so you can understand exactly how intensely I feel about him” Ron was shaking his head vigorously as Harry's smile widened. He leaned in closer to Ron's ear and said, none too quietly, “But, I think you should go on and see if you can hear us anyway.” Harry winked and went back into the bedroom. After the door shut, Ron was up and out the door. Hermione turned to the Headmaster and sighed. “Well, let's go. We have other things to do and I have a feeling that we'll want to be elsewhere when they start up again.” Hermione said casually, as though her best friend weren't getting shagged in the next room by her professor.
“Yes, but there was one more question I wanted to ask them.” Albus sighed as they turned to the door. “Last night, Professor Dumbledore” Harry's voice echoed in the room as a breathy moan and both Hermione and Albus fled.
Meanwhile...
Harry and I collapsed into a fit of laughter on the bed and cuddled up to each other for support. “Did you see their faces!” Harry chuckled happily as we tried to calm down. “Yes pet that was wonderful.” I replied, amusement lightening my voice. “I love your voice, Sev. It's so smoky and rich, like dark chocolate.” Harry said dreamily as he snuggled up to me again. “And yours is slightly scratchy, like you just woke up from a very good shag.” I replied huskily. He looked up with a mock innocent expression. “But Sev, I did.” I pounced on him instantly and before long we were laughing, gasping, and generally having a wonderful time. I had never thought that sex, or love-making, or whatever it is that you normally call it, could be such fun.


Finis...finally!
This was supposed to be a one-shot, but you know how that goes...huff. Anyway, it's done and I hope you like it!

Love,
dreamer