How Severus Spends His Summer Hols

DISCLAIMER: JKR owns everything that is in reference to the Harry Potter world if it is in one of my works of fiction. If it is not found in one of her creations, then it is mine unless otherwise stated. I am not making any profit from the writing of this story.


The next day was spent in a lazy summer haze of gentle loving in which the couple didn’t leave Severus’ room for much more than food every few hours. Max had called late the afternoon before, waking them up after their bout of kitchen aerobics and checked in to make sure Harry was adjusting well to the higher altitude. Grinning, Severus had assured him that the younger man was quite fit and had made an appointment for a couple of days later. Now lying curled up together in the tangled sheets, the older man threaded his fingers through Harry’s hair and kissed his shoulder.

“You know, we do eventually have to leave this room,” he said and then kissed his temple. Harry sighed and stretched, wincing as he found a sore spot on his hip, most likely from the table or his husband’s hands. “Alright Harry?”

“I’m fine Husband, just stiff in places and very well fucked,” he giggled as he sat up in the bed and looked around the bedroom. He really hadn’t had a chance to notice much since he’d woke up with his husband. More pictures in here, that didn’t surprise him, but the fact that there were pictures of him, did. He didn’t know that Sev had taken pictures of him, at least not taken that many of him. He smiled as he looked over them; he remembered the fall day out in the leaves on the lawn of the castle where these pictures were taken. The fact Severus had kept them meant the world to him.

Letting his eyes move on, he found two framed diplomas hanging on the wall opposite the bed. Squinting, he climbed out of the bed and went over to look closer at them. They were from the West Virginia Academy of Science for Chemistry and there was another beside it for Pharmacology, he was duly impressed.

Severus propped himself on some pillows and watched as Harry wandered around the bedroom, letting him find out about this side of himself on his own. He’d been planning his disappearance into this world for several years now, so there was a whole different Severus Snape within these walls, it was best to let Harry explore on his own, he wasn’t ashamed of anything his husband might find.

Harry came to the corner computer desk and the computer setting quiet under its dust cover in storage, he ran his fingers over it and turned to look back at his husband in amusement.

“Severus Snape owns a computer? Are you on the Internet?” he laughed. Severus laughed and sat up stretching.

“I am most certainly online Mister Snape. I even have email and a screen name.” he answered with a smirk and tossed a throw pillow. Harry caught it and clutched it to his chest as he continued on his journey around the room, stopping here and there to look at different bits of memorabilia regarding his husband’s life. There were several framed muggle style pictures of Max and Severus both holding guitars and looking to be singing out in the yard in front of the house.

“You play the guitar?” he asked as he brushed his fingers over the glass.

“I forgot those were up there. Yes I do, both acoustic and electric actually. Max and I had drunken dreams of a bar band a few years ago,” he chuckled as he swung his legs out of the bed and stood stretching in the afternoon sunlight. “I started playing while I was in my second year at Hogwarts; it was a way to pass time then.”

“Will you play for me sometime?” Harry asked as he smiled up at his man. Severus crossed over to him and wrapped his arms around him from behind and nuzzled the back of his neck.

“I will if you want me to Harry, but I warn you, I am better with the violin or cello,” he murmured against his neck. Harry twisted around and looked up at him.

“You never told me you played an instrument.”

“You never asked and it never seemed important to anything,” Severus replied carefully, not quite sure if Harry was about to get into a snit over this or not. Pregnancy emotions were still a foreign concept to him and he was not well equipped to placate a hysterical spouse.

“Would you have ever told me if we hadn’t moved here?” Harry asked slowly as the wheels in his mind began to turn slowly. He was biting his lower lip and his eyes were getting shinier; Severus had gotten very good at reading these signs and was quick to answer.

“Harry, I would have shared everything in my life with you whether we moved here or not. It’s just that here, it is out and in the open for you to find readily,” he replied and mentally crossed his fingers, praying silently that his husband believed him. It was the truth after all. Harry thought for a moment and smiled. Dodged that emotional bullet.

The phone rang as they stood there talking about the different things Harry had discovered. Severus answered to find it was the realtor he had spoken with the year before about the property out on Copperhead Road; it was still available and the bank had come down on the price. He hung the phone up with a smile and turned to Harry to give him a deep kiss.

“What was that for Husband?” Harry asked as he poked through Severus’ cd collection and tried to figure out who in the hell Rammstein were.

“Because you happen to be the sexiest man I know?” he asked playfully and took the jewel case from his hands, pushing him towards the basket of clean laundry. “Get dressed Harry; we are going to take a drive.”

“May I ask where we are going Husband?” he asked as he took clothes out for Severus and then for himself. Handing the clothing to the older man, he waited to see if he would want him to assist him in dressing, but Sev only waved him to his clothes.

“Come on Harry, I want to show you the house I’d like for us to make our home,” he said as he pulled on a pair of shorts he’d exchanged the jeans Harry picked out. Harry just stared at the man like he’d grown a second head at the sight of his pale scarred legs in denim shorts. Noticing his husband’s face, Severus took a deep breath and pulled the chair out from his desk and sat down.

“Sit Harry,” he said gently as he motioned to the edge of the unmade bed. “The nasty bastard you knew back in Scotland really doesn’t live here. I’ve been coming here for half your lifetime and the person I’ve become here is someone I like and I want to be. I know it is a big change for you to digest Harry, but I cannot be the man I was before. I can no longer be that bitter, foul tempered bastard that stalked Hogwarts. That was a façade I had to perpetuate to stay apart from people so I wouldn’t get attached to someone and have them hurt because of things I had to do for the Order.”

Harry listened to his quiet words and he heard the unspoken plea for acceptance. The younger man reached out and slipped his hand into his husband’s and gave it a squeeze to reassure him as Severus continued what he had say.

“I didn’t like who I had become Harry, I hated myself. Coming here was really the only thing that kept me sane the last years. This place has given me a second chance to live my life. All I ask Harry is that you give this Severus a chance too, if you could love that prickly bastard in Scotland, then maybe you can tolerate the one here that’s in fairly good humour most of the time.”

Harry slipped down to his knees onto the floor between Severus legs and looked up at him and smiled. Leaning up into a slight stretch, he kissed his lover’s mouth gently.

“I love you Severus Snape, however you are, and you are my Husband.”

Severus pulled him up onto his lap and hugged him close and helped him with his shirt. Soon the couple was ready for the drive out to see the house. The first stop that was made was at the realtor’s where Severus ran in for the keys and the information sheet. Returning to the truck, he dropped it into Harry’s lap and pulled out onto the road. Along the way he pointed out different things for his husband to take note of.

“That building there houses the offices of both Grant and Max, so you know where you will be going tomorrow morning,” Severus said as he pointed out Harry’s side window at a remodeled older Victorian style house. “It’s also where Max thinks I should set up shop. He thinks Grant will rent me a space fairly inexpensively.”

Harry only nodded and laughed as he followed where his husband pointed and took note of the location. The next spot Severus mentioned was the local market that Harry would become familiar with. As soon as they set up house somewhere, Severus would be certain to start an account for them at Clangman’s Grocery so Harry didn’t have to bother with much besides calling their order in and having it delivered. Yes, it was still one of the few grocers that would deliver if asked.

“Max and Allie live two streets over to the east Harry, on Shenandoah, it’s easy to find, and you won’t have any trouble. The library is past their house about four blocks I think,” he continued. Harry looked out and took notice of the quiet, tree lined streets, there were children playing here and there enjoying the last days of summer before school started. He plucked the information sheet from the seat between them and looked over it.

“Severus, this house is huge,” he breathed as his eyes went down the listing. Six bedrooms, oh Merlin, think of all the babies they’d have together, smiling Harry looking over to Severus. The older man smiled, he’d thought of the same thing last year when he’d looked at the house, but he’d not admitted it to anyone.

“Looks like it has a little bit of land that goes with it too, is it a working farm?” he asked as he set the paper back down and looked back at the passing scenery.

“There is just a touch under twenty acres, all of it fenced. It was in good repair last year, I don’t know about now. I think the past owner kept a couple of cows and maybe a horse or two. It’s not a ranch by any means,” he replied and pulled the truck into a small car park that surrounded a gaily painted cinder block building. Harry looked around curiously and then at his husband. Opening his door, Severus just smiled and got out.

“I’ll be right back Harry. I’m hungry, so I wanted to get something to eat, and I’m feeding the Bump, too.”

Harry just nodded and sat back to wait. He watched as all sorts of people came and went. He saw wizards and muggles alike and noticed that neither group paid the other much attention; in fact everyone seemed to get along fine. He noticed several obviously mixed families as they walked into this place, one family was even towing a small boy of maybe five along behind them on a toy broomstick. It appeared one of the parents had had the foresight to put a leash on the handle to control the thing, Harry thought he’d have to remember that bit of useful information.

As he continued to watch, he noticed that people were stopping Severus and speaking to him, obviously they knew him. And amazing him even more, Severus seemed happy to be recognized and spoken to. Harry watched as he spoke with the afore mentioned family with the little boy. Severus even smiled at the kids and ruffled the flying imp\'s hair on his way back to Harry, toting a paper sack.

“You seem so at home here Husband,” Harry said smiling as Severus opened the truck door and climbed back in. Severus only smiled and handed over the sack from which interesting smells were wafting. Harry opened it and peered in and then looked to his husband for explanation, he himself was clueless.

“They are chilidogs Harry, personally I like them with onions and cheese, but I just had them put chili on yours,” he explained as he handed a wax paper wrapped mess to Harry. Unwrapping his own, he took a huge bit of something that looked toxic to Harry and closed his eyes in happiness.

Calling upon his Gryffindor bravery, Harry closed his eyes and took a messy bite. Hogwarts definitely had served nothing like this, and neither had the Dursley’s. After he swallowed and washed the bite down with his soda, he looked at his husband and grinned.

“These are brill! May we please bring Ron here when he visits, Husband? He would love these,” he exclaimed and then finished his up as Severus laughed. After the trash was disposed of and the truck back on the road, Harry noticed other drivers waving or nodding to Severus and his husband was doing the same in return.

“Do you know all these people, Sir?” he asked as they passed along a narrow bridge a few men were fishing off of, and Severus stopped for a moment to simply say hello to.

“I know most of the people here at least on a sight basis Harry; it is a very small community. Those men I just spoke to are regulars at Damon’s bar. The tall man is a half-blood wizard by name of Rick and the blond man is a muggle by name of Tom. Both work here in Echo.”

“It seems so different from Hogsmeade,” Harry said as the truck began the climb up the narrow winding mountain road. He watched the sides of the road drop away to nothing as they went higher. He wasn’t too sure that he wanted to learn to drive on these roads; he was a bit nervous about the drop-offs.

“It was a huge change for me when I first arrived. Imagine the shock I felt walking down the street in my robes and meeting wizards in muggle attire and muggles in wizarding robes,” Severus laughed as he watched the road signs, looking for the turn off he needed. “I really like the fact that no one is fussed about the differences here. The lady that lives next to Damon and Grant is a muggle, but they get along wonderfully. Every so often Damon will go over and spell her gardens free of pests and she will make them a quilt or help Grant with the canning or whatever.”

Harry laughed out loud at the image of the gruff, no-nonsense Damon Wolffe out in an older woman’s garden using spells to repel slugs. With a smile, Severus found the turn off he’d been seeking and swung the nose of the truck onto a heavily rutted dirt and gravel track. As one front wheel dropped into a deep rut, Harry’s bottom left the seat and the top of his head cracked the roof of the cab. Severus fought for control of the wheel with one arm and grabbed for Harry with the other, pulling him close.

“Harry! Are you okay!?” he demanded as he got the truck stopped on more level ground and held his shaking husband close to him. Pulling Harry away from him so he could get a good look at him, he saw that the younger man was shaking with laughter. “Brat,” he growled and pulled him back to him in a kiss that was returned gently.

“I’m fine Husband, just surprised,” Harry said as he rubbed the top of his head and looked around at the overgrowth that surrounded them. Oak, maple, cedar, and many other big trees were densely populating the area keeping it well shaded and cool. Enough light filtered through though that there were a myriad of shrubs and vines Harry had no hope in identifying that simply seemed to roll along the ground.

“We’ll have to have that fixed of course; we don’t want someone to break an axle coming in to visit us, now do we?” Severus asked as he put the truck into four wheel drive and began a slow crawl up the treacherous driveway. It seemed to go on forever Harry thought as he eagerly waited to catch a glimpse of this house his husband had been so agog over.

“Husband, I don’t mean to sound cheeky, but are you sure this is the drive?” he asked hesitantly after about ten minutes of going deeper into the woods. He was still seeing no sign of a house of any sort.

“I’m certain Harry. This is Copperhead Road, the house is at the end of it, and it is the only house on it.” Severus said and then turned his attention back to the road, or rather the goat path ahead of him.

Somewhere in the pit of Harry’s stomach he started to feel a niggling worm of unease start to make its way to where it could fester in his mind. He was going to be brought out here to live, in the middle of nowhere. No way to go anywhere. He knew in his heart of hearts he had nothing to fear from his husband, but sometimes memories didn’t listen to reason. Quietly now, Harry just looked out his window and watched the passing trees and undergrowth with growing unease, Severus slowed the truck and to Harry’s surprise they were splashing through a low water crossing and then on up a bank and through an open metal gate. They had arrived at the Overlook.

The house was old, built at during the last decade of the 1800’s. It had been added onto over several generations and sprawled rather inelegantly back from the sweeping front porch. It was three stories tall with a wrap around porch on the main floor and a second floor veranda that overlooked the front lawn and went around the side of the house. There were several chimneys, Severus mentioned as they walked up to the porch that they were all in working order and connected to the Floo system. Windows, there were lots and lots of tall windows just like Harry had wanted when they had talked about house hunting.

When they stopped in front of the door, Severus turned to Harry, leaned down, kissed him, and then handed him the key.

“Here Harry, you open it, I want you to be the first to see it,” he said as he brought his husband’s hand to the ornate knob and helped him insert the key. Together they turned the key and then Severus took his hand away and let Harry open the door. The younger man pushed it open, smiling as he didn’t hear any spooky squeaking noise, he always hated it when doors did that; it gave him the willies.