Bond of Love

Chapter 3
Awake to Love


For a moment, all Harry thought he could do was stare in to Severus’ dark pools that were his eyes. Then, he gave a small shy smile and squeezed his hand.

“Hello Sev.” He whispered in a rather raspy voice. “Mum, Dad, and Sirius said to tell you hello.”

Harry couldn’t help but let out a soft laugh at the look on Severus’ face. Rising up slightly, he brushed his lips lightly over those of a rather shocked Severus, before collapsing back onto the bed. Severus seemed to snap out of it, and moved to sit on the bed still clasping Harry’s smaller hand in his.

“You know now don’t you?” Severus asked; his voice barely above a whisper, as Albus and Remus were still sleeping in the chairs by the bed. “It tore me apart, trying to pretend that I hated you. Especially since my side of our bond was left open. At first, Albus didn’t trust me, not that I blame him, so he kept the bond open as a way to make sure I could not betray you to Voldemort. Later, when he tried to close it, we discovered that if you are thinking of closing a bond like that, you have to do it when it is created. I went a bit crazy and tried to kill myself when I couldn’t feel the bond. It had made me think you had died. It took Albus several hours to get me calmed enough to open it back up without hurting either of us. It was total chaos”

Harry winced a bit at the idea of Severus killing himself. Then smiled, looking around Severus to see the others still sleeping. To any one else, it would have been extremely weird seeing Albus Dumbledore slumped in a seat with his feet up on a hospital bed, snoring. Harry, however, couldn’t help but grin at his mentor. After all, how many people were ever able to see Dumbledore let his guard drop, Harry had a feeling that very few had ever seen anything other then the benevolent, extremely powerful wizard that he projected to the world. Looking back at Severus, he could see that the man was trying not to smirk, and knew they were both rather amused by the old man.

“You should have heard Sirius, Sev. He didn’t even try to insult you once. I’m really wondering if being dead has finally made him grow up. Dad said to tell you to take care of his baby.” Harry couldn’t help but laugh at the look on Severus’ face at that. He could just imagine that Sev would feel awkward at having his mate called a baby still.

Severus finally let out a small chuckle knowing Harry was trying to ease the tension that had been a part of him from the moment he had found him in that filthy muggle’s house. Reaching out, he ran a finger down Harry’s pale cheek, before leaning in to press a light, soft kiss to his lips. He couldn’t help but smile as he heard a soft gasp of surprise escape the boy just before he sat back.

“So what else did you talk to the Mutt and your parents about?” Severus asked, grinning at the mock scowl he received.
“Basically Sirius and I got in a few laughs in about Moldy-shorts and his last attack and Sirius gave me the “stop blaming myself” speech. I thought of something while I was retelling the attack. “Is old Moldy a werewolf now that he was bitten by one?”

This time their laughter was joined by that of Remus and Albus, both of whom had tears in their eyes at the sight of their boy not only awake, but was actually laughing. Remus had been so sure that Harry would be as he was when Sirius had died, and it would take them forever to even get him to smile again, let alone laugh. Remus moved to stand near the head of the bed, to lean down to drop a kiss on the forehead of his adopted nephew.

“A very good question Harry. If Voldemort has managed to find some way to protect against lycanthropy, I would assume we would have heard about it. If someone had managed to create a spell or potion to cure or stop lycanthropy from spreading, we would have heard. One of the main draws of being a death eater is power, and having created something like that would not only bring power, but fortune as well. “Most death eaters are far to ambitious not to brag about such an accomplishment.” Remus smiled as he finished speaking, watching the wheels turning behind the bright, green eyes of the Boy Who Lived.

Albus simply stood off to the side watching with a knowing smile on his face, and the twinkling in his eyes was back full force. Few people knew just how bright his great grandson was. Harry had always kept his grades at the normal level of the rest the students, but the three men surrounding his bed knew that if he didn’t hold back he would quickly prove to be even more knowledgeable than Hermione. No one had yet realized that Harry knew all the answers. Remus had caught on during Harry’s third year, when he had caught the boy deliberately answering questions wrong on a quiz. Severus hadn’t picked up on it until the private potions lessons, when he found that nearly every potion that Harry brewed was perfect. The truth was Harry simply didn’t want people to realize, not only how smart he was, but how powerful he was. After all, it was unheard of for a 13 year old to cast a full Patronus, because most adults could not manage more then vapor. That alone would have been enough to tell everyone how he powerful he was, but add to that, all the other things he has done since he arrived back in the wizarding world. The boy still didn’t even know of the magic he had performed the day he was born or the other very strong bursts of magic prior to the curse that killed his parents, and managed to temporarily deplete his magic. Albus knew it was time to talk to the boy about who he really was.

As Albus continued to think, the other three had been carrying on a quiet conversation of their own. Harry’s soft laughter echoed through the empty hospital wing as he sat listening to his two teachers swap stories about people they knew in school and the antics he got up to as a baby. Both men sat chatting and laughing with him. None of them mentioned what had happened to bring him to this place so soon after the end of the year, but they all knew that it was a discussion they would have to have. For his part, Severus was avoiding the topic in an attempt to keep himself from killing the muggles. Even looking at the smiling face of his mate, he could not help but see him, as he had been the night before. He had not released Harry’s hand from the moment he had picked it up the night before. He could not believe that Harry was taking their bond so easily, nor that he had not tried to pull away yet.

For his part, Harry was happy. For the first time since school let out, he was not in pain. People he knew loved and cared for him surrounded him. For the first time in weeks, Harry felt safe. His parents had been right, for Harry this was home. For once, Harry felt like he truly belonged somewhere. These people around him were his family. They understood him in a way Mione and Ron never could. Glancing down at his hand joined in Severus’ larger hand, Harry could not help but smile. For once in his life, Harry felt loved.