A Dark Time For The Light

72

On Friday night, the current job finished and they all ended up in a pub. The vans had been left on the old site to be picked up the following day and Alan’s team were getting steaming drunk including Cellan the driver. Harry called Draco and Hermione to join them. Belinda couldn’t join them as she was working, but Terry travelled over with Hermione and Ginny to join his lover. They were in a friendly pub so Harry had no compunction about holding and kissing his lover when he arrived. Seamus was a bit more reserved but Joe noticed the intimacy of the smile as the boys greeted each other and the cosiness between his newest worker and the gorgeous redhead at her side. On his fourth pint, he summoned up the courage and sidled up to Harry, “Are all pure Wizards and Witches gay?”. Harry noted the concern and laughed, “Nah. It’s just our lot. Most Magicals are straight, actually, although Ron is also gay, his boyfriend had a baby”. At this Joe was truly astonished but filed it away for later, distrusting his current mental state. He couldn’t wait to start classes next term.

They all eventually split up. Joe was certainly impressed by his newest employee’s mental acumen by the end of the night and her brutally analytical nature. She may be crap as a painter, but she was going to be essentially leading the spying. He sighed as they all called cabs. He cast an idle glance at Harry, to see him press that gorgeous blond boyfriend of his into a nearby wall and kiss him hard and watched the gilder’s pale fingers twine into that glorious mop of dark hair as his mouth opened over Harry’s. He tried to look away, but couldn’t. Hermione noticed and determined that in her new job, she would probably need to keep a sharp eye on her new boss, if the look in his eye was anything to go by.

The House crew climbed into one cab, Draco and Harry into another. Hermione was instantly on the phone to Harry. “Watch your boss, Harry. He has the hots for one of you and I wasn’t sure which one, just keep an eye on him. He knows a lot about us as Magicals, he knows that your next job is at his house. He may try to negotiate a bounty. I know I sound paranoid, but watch your backs”. Harry thanked her for her astute observations and folded his phone closed thoughtfully.

As they let themselves in, Harry divulged the conversation and sagged against the stairway wall. Draco held him and kissed his brow, “Just be careful, Harry. Be very careful”. Harry smiled at his beloved as they touched foreheads, “Take me to bed, lover”, then lifted his face to be kissed and Draco couldn’t help but oblige, that sweet open expression beneath him, he caved and gathered Harry to him, “This is it, isn’t it? Your prophecy, your destiny?”. Harry just nodded, once, in his lover’s arms. “Yes, baby, this is it”, then dissolved. Draco felt the collapse and held his Harry tight and rocked him until his sobs subsided then led him to bed.

That night, the nightmares were back. They’d found him and it hurt everyone that night.

****

I am supposed to start University soon. Somewhere I see an old Prophet. She’s married, to Draco Malfoy and now she’s pregnant. I see the picture of the supposed happy parents and my heart contracts. He doesn’t want this any more than she does. The dead looks in their eyes speak of the Imperius curse. That night, I end up at some crappy student party. I’ve had dope and beer. It’s not enough. There’s the usual ‘bad lads’ room at the party, but this is the first time I investigate. They are smoking something on tinfoil, following the smoke with a rolled up note. I contribute twenty quid and am inducted into the club. I am astonished, wrapped in cotton wool after puking out my inexperienced guts. I love this. I can forget. Just for a while?. Please?

****

She pulls out of my arms again and runs off to the bathroom. I hear her throw up into the shower grid. I rush in after her, she holds up a hand willing me away. She is sitting on the loo, her shirt bunched up. She is sweating and stinking. She has a violent attack of diarrhoea, her face contorting, sweat running off her. After the attack, she calmly flushes then strips again and dives under the shower, not caring about the temperature until I climb in behind her and hold her as she sobs. I adjust the temperature dial until I feel warmth, then pull her to me, the light of my life. She’s junk-sick and shivering. I make her warm again and take us both to bed.

****

Shit!. I’m having the Voldemort-torturing-him-for-being-a-blood-traitor nightmare again. He is pinned to the wall by his father, who is running long pale fingers over his son’s face, then he reaches down, one hand pulling his son’s head back towards his shoulder by the hair, the other reaching down and massaging his cock. He deftly unfastens the buttons on Draco’s pants and reveals his son’s beauty before him, he strokes his cock, Draco’s hair clutched in his fist. The evil one drops to his knees, “Well, if he will not submit to me just yet, then I need to try persuasion”, and takes the long slim length into his mouth and sucks him dry. As he comes, too much for the Dark Lord to handle, he draws away, seeing his come on that loathsome face and feels raped, abused.

Harry once again hears his lover’s screams. Same old, same old. “I’ll always love you, Harry”. Even though he has the man in his arms as they move restlessly against each other, he can still feel the pull, as his lover is torn away, his screams diminishing as he is dragged away.

****

Harry whimpered in his sleep and Draco pulled him closer.

In another flat not far away.....

****

The sterile whiff of the hospital is sharp in my nostrils. He is lying in my arms. They have taken away all the drips and have unplugged the machines. I feel his pulse, his very life-force weaken. He can barely lift his hand to my face. We kiss and he tells me he loves me. I can feel my heart break into thousands of shards as I tell him he is the love of my life. I’m trying so hard not to cry but failing dismally in the effort, tears stream down my face. He tells me to carry on building my life, but how can I? A building needs a foundation and he is mine. I kiss him again and he convulses slightly. I am so close to him that I feel his last breath on my cheek. He is gone.

I walk at the head of the cortege. Harry and Draco are to either side of me but slightly behind as befits protocol. We are wearing full black as the occasion demands. I try and maintain a steely composure as we walk. Folk we pass tip their hats, cross themselves or bow slightly out of respect, but I can feel my composure slip. In an instant, my two friends are beside me and take my arms. Harry briefly lays his head on my shoulder to reassure me, that people are there for me, that I am cared about, that I am loved, even while I am burying my one true love. We had but two years together, the scariest and most beautiful two years of my life. I will never forget him, he opened my rusty heart and made a man of me. It took a werewolf to turn me into a human being.

****

Severus woke up suddenly, his eyes wet, and tried to muffle his sobs in the pillow, but he felt a warm hand on his shoulder gently turn him and hold him close. He buried his nose in Remus’ shoulder and cried aloud. His lover just held and hushed and stroked until the crying eased, then Severus haltingly choked out his nightmare. “Don’t die, baby, please”, he begged, “I love you too much. Don’t leave me. I don’t think I could stand it”. Remus just held him tighter and smiled slightly, “I have absolutely no intention of dying, my love, or of ever leaving you. You are the love of my life, Sev”.

His lover looked up, “Really?. I mean... I thought...., well, you know, Sirius”. Remus smiled into his beloved’s distraught face that was illuminated by soft grey sneaking in around the edges of the curtains. He stroked his hair from his wet cheeks, “Severus Snape, you silly man”, he murmured, “He would have laughed off my tiredness, he would have never cared for me like you do, and never in a million years would he have ever married me. Yes, I loved him, but nowhere near as much as I love you. Yes, I mourned his death, in fact Harry and I did some serious grieving over the man, but he and I would never have been permanent and, frankly, I’m really excited about you and I marrying and I can’t wait to be yours for the rest of my life. So come here, kiss me and let’s go back to sleep, lover of mine”. The kiss they shared was sweet and loving, then Remus spooned around his man and held him while they slept.