Bonds of Affection

When Harry fell asleep in his arms, Severus considered carrying him to the bedroom – but changed his mind. Harry looked completely and utterly peaceful – and Severus did not want to wake him. He covered him with his robe, and slid a pillow under his head. Harry barely moved in his sleep.



When morning came, Severus woke him up with a brief kiss, and Harry threw his arms around his neck instantly. “Good morning,” Harry mumbled happily, pressing his face against Severus\' robe.



For a few minutes, they stood silently, their bodies pressing together. Severus could hear Harry\'s heartbeat.



“We should probably go make breakfast,” Severus said finally.



They went into the kitchen together and cooked – or rather, Harry sat Severus in a chair and told him not to move; and proceeded to make breakfast. Severus watched him affectionately and with just a twinge of guilt.



“This can\'t be a very pleasant thing for you to do,” Severus said hesitantly. “I doubt you have ...enjoyable memories cooking for your family.”



Harry turned around and smiled wryly. “I\'m making new memories... Cooking for someone I love is not exactly unpleasant.”



Severus stood up abruptly and came up to him. Harry\'s smile faded quickly. “Sorry,” he said quietly. “I didn\'t mean to...”



Severus took his face in his hands and looked at him thoughtfully. Harry was biting down on his lip, blushing a little. “Harry,” Severus said quietly. “If I loved you – would you want to hear it?”



“Yeah,” Harry whispered breathlessly.



“I love you more than I ever thought I could love anyone,” Severus said simply. “More than I can put into words. You\'ve changed my life.”



Harry struggled to speak for a minute but then a smile reappeared on his face. “Well... maybe your words to Dumbledore that day were prophetic... when you told him we were going to establish a passionate Master/slave relationship and live happily ever after...”



Severus laughed slightly. “Indeed.”



Harry\'s eyelashes fluttered, with tears gathering in the corners of his eyes, but the smile still played on his lips. “We should get married, you know,” Harry said mischeviously. “And, in a few years, adopt a bunch of rugrats. Your place is big enough for a whole herd of them.”



Severus smiled faintly. “Don\'t know about that, Harry... What if some of the poor brats get sorted into Gryffindor?”



Harry gave him a fierce glare. “I hope they all do!” he spat defiantly.



“I bet you do,” Severus said with feigned disdain.



Harry snickered and pressed a kiss against his hand. Severus wrapped his arms around him. For a fleeting moment, it all seemed attainable... winning the war, living together, cooking breakfast together, day after day, having unruly, obstinate, little Gryffindors running through the enormous Manor... but then, the reality of their situation dawned on Severus, and he stilled himself against the ache stabbing through him. Harry was expected to die... Albus, too; and there did not seem to be a way to avoid what was ahead.



They ate breakfast quietly, and retreated into the living room, where Severus gathered Harry up in his arms and simply held him, absorbing every slightest movement of the young body with his. It was afternoon already, but Severus could not bring himself to end the bliss of their embrace, as the world around him, and time itself became meaningless.



They were interrupted by a firecall coming in. Severus accepted it, and turning to the fireplace, Harry and Severus saw Hermione\'s face.



“Professor Snape,” she said very quickly, “I need to come over right away. May I?”



There was an urgency in her voice, and Severus did not bother with a usual snide remark. “Of course, Miss Granger,” he said simply, and a couple of seconds later, she emerged from the Floo.



Her hair looked slightly disheveled. She was wearing her usual jeans, and a hooded shirt – and surprisingly, a pair of gloves that covered her both hands. It was ... odd, Severus decided, eying her suspiciously. To wear a pair of gloves on a warm June day was rather... strange.



“Miss Granger,” he said evenly. “What...”



“I was in the Knockturn Alley,” she said without a preamble. “I think I have information on the Wailing Willow Bark.”



“You think?” Severus asked impatiently. Harry glanced at her in confusion as well.



“I was Oblivated,” she told them. “My notebooks and scrolls were gone when I came to. But I recorded the information ... or at least I think that I did.”



“Would you please stop speaking in riddles and tell us already!” Severus snapped unkindly. “Where did you record it?”



She lifted her glove-clad left hand. “Right here,” she said, smiling with a bit of embarrassment. “With one of the Blood Quills. I figured that whoever was hiding the information would take away any notes I made, but something like this might go unnoticed... I laced the glove with ink, too, to make the lines more visible – but I think the ink had irritated the cut, and now the glove is stuck right into it...”



Harry\'s mouth opened in shock. “You\'ve mutilated your own hand? Are you completely insane?”



She looked at him with amusement. “Honestly, Harry, you are the one to talk...”



Severus stood up and took her gloved hand in his. “Have you attempted to remove it?” he asked.



She nodded. “It\'s stuck pretty good,” she said sheepishly. “I don\'t really know how to spell it off...without damaging the lines. Do you?”



“No. That requires medical precision. I can, however, make a potion that will dissolve the glove around your hand.” Severus felt the material with his fingers. “Nundu hair?”



“Ninety percent Nundu, ten percent Unicorn,” she told him.



Severus nodded. “Follow me.”



Harry and Hermione both did, as they reached his potions laboratory and he started combining the ingredients hastily, tossing the powdered substances into a small cauldron. Hermione was shifting uncomfortably, pressing her right hand against her left.



“You are fidgeting. Are you in pain?” Severus demanded.



She shook her head. “No, but it itches like crazy.”



“Serves you right,” he muttered unsympathetically. “I should have known better than trust the word of a Gryffindor.”



“I kept my word,” she said defiantly. “I promised I wouldn\'t let Ron go back, and he didn\'t...”



“I see,” Severus sneered. “Instead, you went yourself, and returned with a wound requiring medical attention. I agree, this is much better. ”



She shrugged unapologetically. “Actually, it is. Ron went on an impulse... when he was Oblivated, he didn\'t even remember why he went – I think that spell erases several hours of your memory. I, on the other hand, have been planning this for the last five days... so when I woke up face down at Borgin & Burkes, I had a pretty good idea of what had happened.”



Severus shook his head disdainfully, and produced a large bowl, pouring the potion from the cauldron into it. “Put your hand in,” he said tiredly, and she complied quickly.



Harry was staring at her, looking stunned. “Hermione... you are completely crazy. But thank you.”



She winked at him. “No problem.”



Severus gazed at her with a mix of admiration, pity and distaste, as she was soaking her hand in the solution he had provided. “Miss Granger, at the risk of insulting your intelligence, or lack of it... do you realize that there are spells that allow an ordinary quill to record information elsewhere? If you had placed a routine spell like that on a regular quill, the information would have simply appeared in your notebook back at the Burrow. You could have saved yourself quite a bit of needless discomfort.”



To his surprise, she nodded. . “I thought about that. I almost did that, actually, but then Ron\'s dad told me that most government offices with sensitive information have wards and charms to counteract that effect. I was pretty sure that any shady store in Knockturn Alley would as well ... same goes for remote communication devices.”



“But they wouldn\'t have wards against Blood Quills,” Harry snickered. “I guess they didn\'t think anybody would be insane enough to use them for this purpose...”



Hermione smiled wryly. They watched the glove slowly dissolve around her hand, baring the scarred flesh, covered in ink. She reached for a small towel that Harry handed to her, and wiped her hand, revealing the dark, ink-filled lines, etched into her skin.



Harry and Hermione leaned in to read the lines, and smiles disappeared from their faces at once.



Severus looked as well, and his heart instantly fell as he saw the words:



Of most foul creature\'s kiss, a twin,

Shall wipe your mind and soul clean,

An empty shell, and naught within,

You shall not live past seventeen.





He felt stinging in his eyes, but compelled himself to maintain a neutral expression. Next to him, Hermione was staring at Harry with dread.



“Harry,” she said pitifully. “Just one month... One month until you turn seventeen ...”



“Yeah,” Harry said with a forced smile, but sounding much calmer than Severus felt. “That\'s some ... birthday card, Hermione.”