Tempus Fugit Praeterhãc

This is the first part of a really long last chapter. I couldn't post it all in one on LJ so I broke it up. The last bit of the story will be up very soon as chapter nine, as that just seems to fit better here. There is also an epilogue which is currently in progress and should be up in the next couple of days. ~ Lucie


Chapter eight - in which they get back


Severus could hear voices. They were discussing him and the fact that he was unconscious, except, of course, that he wasn’t anymore because he could hear them. They seemed strangely familiar and yet peculiarly different and he couldn’t for the life of him work out why.

He groaned.

“Domine? Are you all right?” Harry, it was Harry. He sounded okay, had he done it? Had he got them home? Tentatively he opened his eyes and then closed them again. Rapidly.

“Too bright, head hurts.” Severus croaked.

“He took quite a tumble when you came back, Harry. I think he hurt his head. We need to get him back to the hotel.”

Severus’ eyes were scrunched tight against the bright sunshine so he couldn’t see who was speaking, but he knew that voice and he knew why it had been strange and yet conversely familiar. It was English, the girl was speaking English. After four years of speaking, of hearing, nothing but Latin, English sounded very peculiar indeed.

“We could Apparate, there’s nobody about right now.”

A man’s voice. Weasley? “Weasley?” Severus said, then he winced, as his voice sounded too loud.

“Just lie still, Domine, you’ve cut your head, you’re bleeding. I need to check you over.”

Harry’s hand tenderly brushed Severus’ hair away from the bloody scrape on his forehead and gentle fingers began to slowly examine him. Severus winced as Harry carefully pushed against his ribs.

“What did you say? Was that Italian?”

“Don’t be silly Ron, that was Latin, not Italian, can’t you tell the difference?”

“Erm…No? Why is Harry talking Latin anyway?”

“You could ask me, Ron, I am here too.”

“So why are you speaking Latin? Why are you holding his hand? He’s the Greasy Git, remember? And why are you wearing a dress?”

If Severus could have opened his eyes he would have rolled them, he wished the boy would stop asking such inane questions. But at least he knew one thing, it seemed as if they were right back where they had started. The Tempus spell had worked. He had done it, gotten them back to their own time, and from the way that Granger and Weasley seemed to be prattling on, from the very fact that there was a Granger and a Weasley, then maybe history hadn’t been changed much at all.

Harry finished his examination, apparently satisfied that nothing was seriously wrong and took Severus’ hand in his own. Severus felt slightly warmed, Harry didn’t seem to mind that his friends were there and could see his obvious concern for him.

“He is a bit sore, but I don’t think anything’s broken,” Harry said in English and then effortlessly switching back to Latin. “Domine, can you sit up? I need to get you sitting so we can Apparate.”

Severus carefully opened his eyes again and Harry helped him into a seated position. He squinted around, trying not to open his eyes too widely. He was at the foot of the statue of Julius Caesar and Granger and Weasley were peering at him as if he were a particularly strange creature, one of the ones that Luna Lovegood constantly wittered on about.

“He does look very pale,” Granger said earnestly.

“He always looks like that to me,” Weasley muttered.

“Leave him alone, Ron!” Harry growled indignantly, but his green eyes softened when they met Severus’ own dark ones.

Weasley looked a bit indignant at Harry’s reprimand and Severus felt like smiling. He hadn’t realised how concerned he had been about Harry’s reaction to his friends. They had always been inseparable and he hadn’t liked to think about the possibility that Harry might not want to be seen with him. But Harry was showing no sign of denying him, yet.

Severus groaned again, but Harry helped him into a sitting position and then, carefully, helped him to stand. Sharp pain shot through his left leg as soon as he put his weight on it and he winced. He felt sick and dizzy, stumbled and nearly fell. Harry was still so slight compared Severus that Severus’ weight, leaning against him caused him to stumble too.

“Help him, Ron!” Hermione shouted.

Severus had forgotten how tall Weasley was. He was sure that there had been no-one this height in Rome, not outside the circus, that was. Weasley hooked a long arm under Severus’ own and Severus couldn’t help himself, he yelped at the sharp pain in his ribs.

“Oops, sorry, Snape,” Weasley grunted, and then more gently, “You took a bit of a bump there, huh Professor?”

Severus just nodded tightly in response. “Don’t worry then,” continued Ron. “We’ll get you back to our hotel. You can have a nice rest there.”

The squeezing sensation of side-along Apparation was excruciating, leaving Severus’ ribs thrumming in agony and himself panting with the pain, half doubled against Weasley, hand clutching Harry’s as if he would never let it go.

“Domine, are you all right?” Harry’s voice, soft and concerned, penetrated his agony.

He couldn’t speak, though, being in far too much pain, so he just nodded again instead.

“We're nearly there,” Harry said, keeping up a running commentary, perhaps trying to keep Severus from passing out? Something that he was indeed perilously close to doing.

“When we got to Rome, Ron, Hermione and me – you know, before our little ‘adventure’ – anyway, we thought it was best to stay in a hotel here. It isn’t that expensive and I got plenty of money out when we went to Gringotts.”

“Ah, yes,” Severus hissed, the pain in his leg was getting steadily worse, “your little escapade with the dragon.” He was trying to reassure the boy, to somehow ease his worry. But Harry didn’t take his comments as they were intended.

He blushed in a way that he hadn’t done for a very long time, and Severus felt another wave of sadness.

“I didn’t mean for it to happen. I wasn’t trying to be impulsive or put anyone in danger!” Harry snapped, somewhat defensively. Now that they were back in their own time, perhaps he was beginning to remember how things used to be and felt a little uncomfortable, not sure just how Severus would react anymore.

“Harry,” he said as reasonably as he could manage, considering how sore his leg and ribs were, and not forgetting the thumping of the pain in his head. “You were very brave, I am proud of your resourcefulness.”

Harry smiled and seemed to relax, but Weasley’s jaw dropped, and when Harry placed a quick kiss on Severus’ cheek the red-haired boy paled and looked like he wanted to be sick. They had yet to explain what had happened, where they had been, and for how long. They would, indeed, need to tell their story very soon, Severus thought, as Harry smirked, obviously looking far too like his Potions Master for Weasley's comfort.

Severus sighed in relief, having reassured Harry enough so that he could comfortably continue his chattering. Severus fervently welcomed his Harry’s familiar babbling – a balm for his soul.

“Aberforth, Dumbledore’s brother told us to come here, to this hotel. Did you know all about Dumbledore’s sister and Grindlewald?” Embarrassed and blushing again, Harry continued, “Ron and Hermione are sharing, so I’ll take you to my room. I have a double room too, it’s all they had left and it wasn’t as if I couldn’t afford it.”

Harry’s chatter was sounding so young and unsure, almost as if things had gone right back to the way that they had always been. Severus frowned in concern, or was it fear, and felt his sense of sadness deepening. Maybe Harry was wishing things were how they had been, before their adventure with time, so he could carry on with his task from there? Was he feeling like Severus did – lost and saddened and very disorientated?

They had been away four years. Four whole years. Severus thought they had both changed beyond all recognition during that time and now it was this place that seemed strange. The conversations seemed wrong, the musicality of Italian in the background sounded like distorted Latin, and English seemed harsh and grating. They were back. They were once again in their own time. Whilst they had moved on irrevocably, nothing here was any different. They were back, they were safe, even if he were a little battered. But they were no longer at home, this wasn’t home anymore.

“We have to get him inside, Harry, we can’t stay here, people will notice.” Granger’s voice sounded concerned, too, though Severus suspected that was because she was worried about being discovered by Death Eaters, rather than because she felt any concern for him.

He shivered, suddenly feeling cold. His blood seemed to have turned to ice in his veins and he was hit by yet another wave of sadness and disorientation. They were safe; as far as he could see they had changed nothing with their temporal travels. Maybe they had gone too far back in the time-line to affect the world that they had left? He decided to reserve judgement because in many ways it was far too early to tell.

Upon first arriving in Modern Rome, following the Trio four years ago, Severus had thought he would love the sprawling city. But from what little he was able to perceive of it now, it appeared to be noisy and smelly and just plain horrible. He thought he had loved it four years ago, but wait, in actuality it wasn’t four years ago – it was only a short while ago? Severus once again sighed inwardly. The colours seemed too bright and garish and the air felt heavy and cloying. He had to struggle to breathe. They seemed to be in a narrow alleyway, which was almost familiar, almost, but not quite right. It had echoes of home, but such familiarity served only to deepen Severus’ sadness.

For four years they had lived somewhere close to here, even if it had been two thousand years in the past. For the past four years Severus had had a home and a family and someone whom he loved beyond all reason and, more importantly, someone who loved him back. That was all gone now and he could never return. He couldn’t help himself, a great wracking sob was wrenched from him, causing him to groan as the pain intensified.

“Hurry, Ron, we have to get him to my room. He needs to lie down… we have to heal him.” Harry sounded panicked and Severus felt slightly less chilled. Maybe Harry did still care about him? Maybe that hadn’t changed.

The hotel was simple but clean and it was close to the Colisseum. “We really wanted to stay in a hotel and this one is the cheapest hotel in the area,” Harry told him, as they helped him stagger inside. “It is so well populated in this bit of Rome that we thought we could probably escape detection here.

Severus and Harry were covered in the Invisibility Cloak but there wasn’t room for Weasley. Apparently he was too tall and his feet stuck out the bottom, which Severus thought wryly probably spoiled the overall effect. Severus thought Harry wouldn’t be strong enough to support him alone, but it seemed that, even after all this time, he still underestimated his Gryffindor. The boy manoeuvred him into the tiny lift and up to a neat and simple room without any trouble at all.

He must have slept, because he felt like he was floating in darkness. He saw faces, heard laughter and, for the moment, he felt safe. Modia was teasing him about his irascibility, whilst balancing her namesake on her hip. The child was covered in honey and grinning toothlessly at him. Harry helped him with a potion and then they were in the garden and he was teaching Harry and Apisus some magic, and Apisus was laughing, the sun was shining and Severus turned his head up to look at the sky. In his sleep, unaware, Severus smiled.

“Four years?” Weasley’s harsh and grating voice intruded into his dreams. Severus gasped in shock. It was true, they had journeyed through time again and the wonderful images fading from his retina were only a dream of home.

“But Harry, you were only gone for a few seconds.” Granger said.

“Shush!” Harry hissed. “You’ll wake him.”

Severus felt gentle fingers brush his cheek. “Domine?” He held his breath, feeling more vulnerable, more fragile than he had ever felt. He had to wait, he couldn’t speak to Harry now. What if his lover rejected him? What if Harry didn’t want anything to do with his greasy ex-teacher now that they were back?

Then Harry leaned over him and placed a kiss on Severus’ head, sharp tears sprang into the corners of his eyes and his heart fluttered with hope.

“Look at me,” Harry said, moving away from the bed again and talking to his friends. “Don’t I look different? My hair is longer and my skin is darker than it used to be.”

“Yeah, and you are wearing a dress.”

“It’s not a dress, Ron, it’s a tunic. But why are you wearing a tunic, Harry?”

“Maybe he isn’t Harry, Hermione, maybe it’s a Death Eater plot to capture us again?” Weasley wondered.

“Test me.”

“Okay, Harry, if you are Harry.” Weasley spoke again, sounding wary. “What piece did I play in our first year, in that giant chess game?”

“A knight.”

“Hmm… perhaps that was too easy? Who did you and Hermione rescue in third year when you used the time turners?”

“Buckbeak and Sirius.” Harry’s voice was tinged with sadness and Severus wanted to comfort him. Severus knew he would never truly get over the loss of his godfather and, as much as he hated the mangy mutt, if he could bring him back tomorrow, just for Harry, he would do so without even a qualm of regret.

“Okay, then…”

“Oh, for goodness sake, Ron!” Granger said, sounding bossy and snippy again. For a fleeting second Severus almost felt sorry for Weasley – the girl could be so shrewish when she wanted to be. “Of course this is Harry. I believe you, Harry, but if you have been gone four years, then where on earth were you?”

“Well,” Harry said, “it’s a bit of a long story, I’m afraid.” Severus heard sounds of chairs being moved as everyone settled and then Harry began to tell their story to his friends. Severus felt too vulnerable to speak. He didn’t want to draw anyone’s attention to himself, not until he was alone with Harry again. So he lay as still as he could, deepened his breathing and pretended that he was still asleep.


**********


In a way it was fascinating hearing about their time in Ancient Rome from Harry’s point of view. Harry seemed quite willing to be frank and open with his friends, which encouraged Severus to continue pretending to be asleep. Weasley raised his voice a few times, especially when Harry related how he’d had to masquerade as Severus’ slave, and even Granger had been a bit disgusted by that. Severus shifted surreptitiously, discomforted by their disapprobation.

They chatted for what seemed like hours to Severus, all the while trying desperately to lie still under his covers.

Harry had loved Rome it seemed. He spoke with warmth about their friends and his home, and even of Flea. And he spoke of Severus. Lovingly he told his friends how Severus had protected him, looked after him, taught him spells and Potions.

“That Greasy Git taught you Potions! He hated you in Potions!” Weasley growled, sounding indignant. “And you can’t tell me that the minute you arrived he became all sweetness and light and showered you with presents.”

“No, he didn’t. At first things were…difficult.” Harry said.

Severus almost snorted at such an understatement; in his opinion ‘difficult’ wasn’t nearly adequate enough to describe the way he had initially treated Harry.

“It was strange for both of us at the start,” Harry continued. “But Severus Snape has taken better care of me than anyone I have ever known. Even back when he hated me, he was protecting me, he was protecting us all. I love him. He is my lover.”

“You WHAT?” Weasley ejaculated.

“Shush, Ron, you’ll wake him.”

Weasley sputtered for a moment or two and then hissed, “You don’t mean to say that you had sex with him? He’s disgusting and old, and skinny and he has yellow teeth and greasy hair! And what about my sister?”

“What about your sister?” Harry asked coolly. “I have been away for four years Ron. I am twenty years old. I should know by now whether I like men or women.”

Weasley didn’t say anything for a moment and neither did Granger, but then the redheaded boy spoke again. “Okay, I suppose that I understand; Ginny is going to be devastated though. And blokes is one thing, Harry, I can understand you liking blokes, but him? Have to taken leave of your senses.”

“I’ve told you. I love him.” Harry said, quietly but firmly. “I don’t know how to explain it to you, but we grew closer when we were there. We were both lonely to start with, me more than him, perhaps. We had to pretend that he was my master and that I was his slave…”

“Oh my God, Harry!” It was Granger who had exclaimed this time. “That’s what you were calling him earlier wasn’t it? Master, Dominus means master. Harry that’s awful, you have been abused. He has been abusing you.”

Harry snorted. “Don’t be ridiculous, Hermione! Things were tough at first, for both of us, but it got better. It was the best way to hide. I didn’t have any Latin to begin with and he took care of me, looked after me. I was safer as a slave in Ancient Rome. You don’t know what it was like there, how they treated people. It was a totally different society – life had little value in those times. If Severus hadn’t been there… I don’t know what might have happened to me. One of my friends had his tongue cut out because he had a row with another child! Another friend was forced to have sex with men, forced to be a prostitute and he had no say in the matter, no hope of ever being free.

“When we first got there I felt so hopeless and frightened. I didn’t understand the language and I felt weak and vulnerable. My Dominus, protected me.”

“You’ve been brainwashed, Harry.” Hermione said stiffly, “I know what’s wrong; you have developed something called ‘Stockholm Syndrome’. He took you and kept you safe, so now you identify with him, that’s all. You shouldn’t have to defer to him, call him master; you have rights again now, we can protect you.”

“Do you know how fucking stupid you sound, Hermione?” Harry said evenly. Granger gasped in shock.

“Now just wait a minute, Harry…” Weasley began.

“No! You, ‘wait a minute’,” Harry said furiously. “You don’t know what it was like for us, neither of you do. I have been away for four years, FOUR YEARS, in that time. You are trying to apply modern day mores to a pre-Christian culture, for Merlin’s sake. But Severus didn’t do that, he understood and he and I came to an understanding. I had to fit in, I had to pretend to be a slave and that meant working hard and being quiet and respectful and never talking back, so I did it. It was really difficult at first, but I managed. I never had to work as hard as I did at the Dursleys and I always, always got fed. Oh, yeah, and I had some fucking fantastic sex. He might be the ‘greasy git’ to you, but I love him and I’ll thank you not to insult him around me, or the pair of you can just piss off.”

The room lapsed into total silence at the end of Harry’s speech.

Granger spoke again. “I just don’t understand,” she said woefully.

“I love him, that’s all you need to understand. What we did to survive and what we have together is actually none of your business. I told you so that you would have an idea about where we have been and why we have grown close, but if you aren’t prepared to help us both then we’ll manage without you.”

“Oh, Harry,” Granger’s voice cracked with emotion. “You were only gone for a few seconds, that’s all. It’s hard for us to believe that you went anywhere – though, of course, I do believe that you did. It’s just that he was always so horrible to you, to all of us, and… and… it all seems so strange somehow…” she trailed off her voice sounding young and fragile all of a sudden.

“Yeah, what she just said, mate,” Ron interjected waving his arm towards Hermione, but looking very sheepish as he did so.

“We care about you, Harry, that’s all,” she finally said.

“I’m sorry that it’s all such a shock, Hermione, Ron.” Harry said, “but I won’t have my Dominus hurt.”

Severus was stunned, to say the least. He didn’t think he could move even if he wanted to. The way that Harry had defended him, and to his oldest friends, as well. Nobody had ever done that for Severus, not like Harry just had. His fierce Gryffindor hero, protecting him from the world. His throat felt like it was closing up with emotion and his eyes started to prickle and burn.

Granger was crying, Severus turned his head to look at the three friends, peering at them through his lashes. Harry was holding her and Weasley was sort of patting at her somewhat ineffectually.

“I’m sorry, Harry.” Weasley said, “We’ll still be here for you, you know that? And if you’ve… uh… fallen in love with the Greas… with Severus Snape, then… I’ll support you. I’m not turning my back on you again, mate. Not ever.”

Granger had stopped crying now, she was blowing her nose, in a handful of tissues that Harry handed her.

“Me too, Harry,” she said with a sniff. “If you love him, then that’s all right with me. I’ll support you. But I’ll be watching, Harry, and if he doesn’t treat you properly, if he hurts you or if he’s nasty to you, then I will hex his bloody balls off!”

“Hermione!” Weasley said, shocked, but then he said no more, quelled under the fierce look that Granger gave him, and Severus couldn’t help but feel inordinately pleased that Granger had not been in Ancient Rome with them when they’d first arrived.

The two children didn’t stay much longer after that. They made some plans about getting back to England. Granger told Harry that Rowena Ravenclaw’s Diadem had been completely destroyed by the explosion. She also reassured him that there was strong magic in play because the entire scene at Caesar’s statue had gone unnoticed. There was no Death Eater activity either, so it seemed they were still safe, at least for now.

Granger and Weasley got up to leave and Harry escorted them to the door, making plans for later that evening to include dinner and more discussion.

Severus felt stunned by the things Harry had said and eternally grateful that he hadn’t thought to use a silencing charm. Harry had given him such an insight into how he had felt in their early days together and, more importantly, how he felt about Severus now.

The bed dipped as Harry climbed on beside him. It was far too soft in Severus’ opinion and the sheets felt slimy with modern detergent, he felt a pang of loss for their bed back home. He deepened his breathing, continuing to feign sleep; he wasn’t ready to face Harry, yet, or so he told himself.

“You can stop pretending to be asleep now, Domine,” Harry said gently, leaning over and placing a kiss on Severus’ cheek.

Severus stiffened.

“How did you know?” he asked, unable to fathom how a spy with years of experience behind him hadn’t fooled a trio of children.

“Because we were making enough noise to disturb the ferryman, and you don’t sleep that well!” laughed Harry, his eyes twinkling with mischief.

Severus shifted again. It seemed strange to hear such a typical Roman phrase repeated in English.

“Do you mind if we speak Latin?” he asked tentatively. “It just makes me feel more at home.”

“Me too, Domine.” Harry answered.

“You should call me Severus now, otherwise people might react like Miss Granger just did.” Severus whispered, losing all pretence that he hadn’t been listening.

“Let ‘em,” Harry snorted. “I could care less, I like calling you Domine. It’s what you are, after all.”

“Your Dominus?” Severus asked.

“My master, my teacher, the love of my life.” Harry replied.

Severus couldn’t help himself, a single tear escaped from the corner of his eye and trickled down the side of his face to pool coolly in his ear.

“Domine, are you crying?” gasped Harry feeling concerned. “Why would you cry?”

“I thought… I thought that now we are back you wouldn’t want me anymore.” stammered Severus hating himself for sounding so weak and pathetic.

Harry gave a soft chuckle. “I do love you but you are such a daft prick sometimes. Why would being here change anything? Don’t you know me at all? You are the only person who has ever truly cared for me, looked after me in my entire life, Domine, and I am buggered if I am ever giving that, or you, up. Stupid git that you are, thinking such things!

He gave Severus a very gentle slap, but then he stilled and gazed at him steadily. “Domine, did you think this before we left, too?”

Severus nodded, tightly.

“And yet still you came. You found the spell and did all that research thinking that I wouldn’t want you any more?”

Severus didn’t say or do anything. He had thought that, he had worried that Harry wouldn’t want him anymore.

“Oh, Domine!” Harry exclaimed softly, “I do love you so much!”

Whilst he had been talking, Harry had been running his wand over Severus’ body, healing him, so that Severus felt pleasantly warm and blessedly pain free.

“How does that feel?” Harry asked.

“Really, really good.” replied Severus.

“How do you feel about a little bit of celebration sex?”

“Celebration!” sneered Severus, a little bitterly. “What have we got to celebrate?”

“I don’t know!” Harry responded, sounding a little exasperated. “The fact that we are alive maybe? The fact that we didn’t end up in some twisted future? The fact that we still have each other?

“Well, when you put it like that,” Severus couldn’t help smirking, “I suppose I can’t say no. But first I must visit the lavatory.”

“Well hurry up!” Harry said cheekily. “ I have a much better use to which you can put your cock.”

Severus got off the bed and stood rather shakily. Harry looked at him with his head on one side. “Are you still feeling a bit weak?” he asked. “Looks like you got the brunt of the backlash from the spell this time. I don’t think I even have a bruise. Come on, lean on me.”

Harry inserted himself under Severus’ arm and helped him into the tiny bathroom. While Severus was relieving himself, his lover started the shower water running and seemed to be having a hard time getting the temperature just right especially as the water pressure seemed to be really low.

Severus smiled over at him. “Use your wand, Harry, cast Aqua Velociter.”

Harry smirked back over his shoulder. “I am going to have to get used to it again, aren’t I?” he said, taking the wand out of the wand holder on his belt.

Octavius had made all the budding wizards wand holders accompanied by beautiful matching belts. He had learned leather-working in order to help out with goods to sell in the shop that he shared with his brother. He had gifted Harry and Severus with theirs before they had left.

Harry he cast the spell and then stood back to admire his handy work. “That’s better, there wasn’t much more water than a dripping tap before! I’ll have to get used to using my wand automatically again, I wouldn’t have thought to if you hadn’t reminded me.” He undid Octavius’ belt and hoisted his tunic over his head, showing his perfect, slim body to its best advantage; and despite his tiredness and the aches and pains he seemed to be suffering, Severus’ cock hardened.

Harry’s smirk grew wider and he raised his eyebrows. “Well, somebody seems to be feeling a bit more lively. It’s amazing what a nice hot shower can do.” He turned around and began helping Severus to get out of his tunic.

For a moment Severus felt disorientated. “Harry, wait, what will I do for clothes?” Severus’ own clothes from this time were presumably still in his own hotel room which was on the other side of the city.

“Don’t worry, Domine. Ron gave me some stuff you can borrow and we’ll go and get your things later. Not that you need anything right now.” He ran a hand appreciatively over Severus’ buttocks, with a rather self-satisfied smile on his face. “Beautiful!” he murmured softly. Severus blushed. Harry often said things like that, treated Severus as if he were beautiful or precious. He couldn’t see how the boy could have found him attractive, could continue to do so but Harry obviously did.


The bathroom was very small indeed, and tiled in garish blue tiles. It lacked a window and the light bulb didn’t really give them enough illumination. So much for modern Muggle fittings! Severus thought, they had been far more comfortable bathing in their courtyard garden but they did both fit in the shower, just about.

Severus shivered with a thrill of delight as Harry began to soap his back, running his hands over Severus’ shoulders, placing tender kisses on the skin as it was washed clean.

Then Harry went to his knees, “Oh, Merlin!” Severus gasped. Harry was washing his cock, tenderly, lovingly.

“Wha…what are you doing?”

“I’m washing you,” Harry replied with a small giggle. “After all, if any bits of you are going in my mouth then I am going to make sure they are clean.”

Severus was about to respond, but for a short while he lost track of even the tiniest coherent thought. Harry had taken Severus in his mouth licking and sucking Severus’ cock with slow, deliberate motions, worshipping it with his lips and his tongue. Severus glanced down and saw Harry’s dark messy hair and the combination of that glimpse of the boy and the feel of Harry’s hot, wet mouth sucking and licking his cock nearly sent him over the edge. His knees went weak and he found himself pressed back against the clear glass wall of the shower.

“Oh, Merlin!” he moaned again.

Harry stopped sucking his cock and started to kiss his way back up Severus’ body, licking at the water that was spraying them both, nibbling at the warm skin of Severus’ thighs and belly.

“Did I ever tell you how much I love your cock?” Harry asked him, giving it a final loving lick, right at the tip.

“Mlmph,” Severus said. Harry chuckled. “I even loved sucking it when we were first together. I never thought I would, but I did. I used to love the fact that I could make you come completely undone. Me, Harry Potter, could make you, Severus Snape go weak at the knees, could make you whimper and beg.

“You always seemed so strong, so capable and I was so frightened all the time, it was like being back at the Dursleys at first. I felt weak and useless, but when I was with you I felt safer, even when you didn’t like me I knew you would protect me.” Harry was speaking as he soaped Severus’ legs and washed his feet, Severus shivered, it was unbelievably erotic, having his lover wash him like this.

Harry started licking his way up from Severus’ groin, nibbling the firm skin and Severus’ cock hardened further still. “Oh yes!” he murmured, laving the skin beneath the dark hairs that led up from Severus’ groin. “I do so love making you scream!”

“Circe, Harry, what are you doing to me?” Severus finally managed to groan.

Harry stuck his tongue in Severus’ navel and replied, “checking you for injuries, Domine.”

He licked a nipple then murmured lasciviously against the pert little nub, “Hmm, I think I’ll need to see you lying down, just to be sure.”

Severus chuckled, stepping out of the shower at Harry’s direction. He allowed his lover to dry him and then, a little less shakily than before, he allowed himself to be led back to the bed.

Harry straddled his legs, and ran his hands over Severus’ hips and along his torso. “Well that all seems fine, but there is this rock hard protuberance sticking up here,” said the boy while running his hands over the turgid flesh. “That can’t be very comfortable, we’ll have to see what we can do about it!”

Severus chuckled again. “Is that what you are calling it now? A protuberance?”

“And what would my Dominus call it?” Harry questioned, looking quizzical.

“A cock?” smiled Severus.

“Hmm,” Harry purred, “my Dominus is so very wise. And how do we take care of it? Do we put it inside me, perhaps? Maybe I could sit on it?”

“Oh, sweet Merlin!” Severus gasped as the cock in question got even harder.

Harry took out some oil, though where he had been keeping it, Severus had no idea, and began slathering it all over Severus’ cock.

Severus whimpered, he thought that he had lost the power of speech.

Harry manoeuvred himself until he was in position and then carefully began to lower himself down until he was sitting on Severus’ groin with his cock buried deep in his arse.

“Oh, Domine!” Harry gasped, “Oh, sweet Venus, that feels so good!” Then he began to move and Severus felt like weeping, it was so wonderful. He felt so close to Harry; he was so deep inside the boy. Harry’s anus began to tighten around him as the boy impaled himself on Severus, further and further, letting gravity do most of the work.

Until, suddenly, the boy gasped again and stiffened. Severus opened his eyes, which had been tightly closed, and looked up at the vision before him. The boy was so beautiful, he looked so wanton sitting there on top of him, pinning him down, wrapped around his cock. His head was thrown back, exposing a long, tanned neck, Severus could see the gentle curve of Harry’s chin and his pert pink nipples, hard and aroused.

They weren’t the only things that were hard and aroused he thought with a chuckle. He reached up and caressed one of those adorable nipples, thinking of the times he had licked them, nibbled them, held them in his mouth. Very gently he squeezed. Harry gasped and gazed down at him and then it was Severus’ turn to gasp.

Harry’s eyes were so full of love, of passion that Severus was completely undone. In the next instant he was coming hard, shooting hot liquid inside of Harry, and Harry was coming, too, all over Severus stomach, bathing him in warmth.

Finally, Harry lay forward, nestling against Severus’ hot, damp skin. He wriggled and gazed up at Severus. “Hmm, I don’t know,” he chided. “You’re all dirty again, a slave’s job is never done, huh?”

Severus began to laugh. He felt so much better. When they had first arrived he had thought his life was over, and in truth it might not last much longer. But for now he had Harry and his life was good. Severus remembered Modia’s advice, advice he had tried to live by ever since. Enjoy what you have and don’t worry about the rest. Carpe diem. Then he realised he had been thinking in English, thinking and talking in English for at least the last half hour.

“Harry?” he said, “did you realise that we have been speaking English?”

“Hmm?” Harry said. “Have we, I didn’t notice.”

The boy had almost been asleep, but now he propped himself up on his arm and gazed down at Severus, his eyes full of something that Severus couldn’t quite define.

“Do you know how brilliant you are Sev?” Harry asked. Severus was puzzled.

“What made you ask that?” he said quizzically.

“I don’t know,” Harry said, shrugging lightly. “I guess that when I was trying to tell, Ron and Hermione why I loved you, it made me think more deeply about things. About how amazing you are. You developed a spell that could get us back, made a potion, created a device that no one has ever even heard of. That’s how clever you are.

“I think that I fell in love with your cleverness long before I fell in love with you. When I was in sixth year I had this mad crush on the Half Blood Prince, because, you know, you were right and I did have your book.”

Severus smirked and told himself that he had every right to be a little self satisfied, he had been correct all along, however hard Harry had denied it back then he HAD found Severus’ potions diary.

“You look so smug now, smarty pants!” Harry said with a chuckle, kissing him on the nose.

“The Half Blood Prince seemed so romantic! He was brilliant, and funny and acerbic and I really wished that I could meet him. Anyhow, in Rome I got to know the real Half Blood Prince I got to know the sweet, kind man beneath all the snark and that’s why I fell in love with you. You are so clever, so funny and so brave! All those spells you created all those dry little comments you come up with that make me laugh. Do you know how amazing you are?”

Severus swallowed hard. “I… Harry… I… I love you, too. You are…”

“Hush,” Harry said, placing a finger on Severus’ lips. “I know how you feel about me, my Dominus. I know you love me. It’s just that things might get really hard here, and we probably don’t have long together. So I am going to enjoy every single moment of what we do have, and I want you to know how much I love you… for, you know, after I’m gone.” Then he snuggled against Severus and moments later he was asleep.

But Severus couldn’t sleep. He had forgotten… how could he forget? Albus Dumbledore had said that Harry had to die in order to defeat the Dark Lord. He had to DIE. And with that thought, his arm began to throb, just a little. He looked down at the offending limb and saw that the dark Mark, which had been absent for the last four years, was back.

Harry was right, they probably didn’t have very much longer. He wrapped his arms tightly around the boy he had come to love more than life itself, wishing with all his heart they were back in Ancient Rome, safe in a ramshackle building tucked away in a narrow alley, deep in a dusty, ancient city, which would always seem like home and which was lost to them both, forever.


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