Caregivers

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Caregivers Chapter 8

Severus’s sleep was disturbed by a cold drop of water on his face. Annoyed, he brushed the drop away, only to feel another drop splash heavily on a closed eye. Prying his eyes open, he saw threatening dark clouds hovering over him. For an instant, he wondered why was he on his back in the dirt with rain pelting down on him. His eyes widened as he remembered the night before and how he let his emotions get the better of him. Melancholy was something that he had endured for most of his life, but through his sheer determination he was able to control his feelings…most of the time.

It seemed the combination of alcohol and painful past memories was, in Severus’s case, a deadly mixture and what was worse was that Potter saved his life. He moaned as he tried to move, every part of his body aching from sleeping on the hard ground. He peered down and saw Harry lightly snoring on his chest.

“Damn it all,” Severus muttered as he shoved Potter off his chest, grimacing as he sent the young man flying. A bewildered Harry stared at Severus, not sure what had just happened.

“I may be your slave, but I am neither a bed nor a blanket to keep you warm,” Severus scowled.

“Sorry,” Harry said, rubbing his face vigorously, trying to remember why he was sleeping on Snape, outside during what was starting to look like a rainstorm.

“For what? Once again interfering in my life?” Severus asked, as he pushed his rain soaked hair from his face.

“It’s too early to start bickering. Let’s go inside and get warm and then you can tell me how a horrible person I am for saving your useless hide,” Harry answered angrily.

Severus was shocked. In all the time he had been living with Potter he had lost control; excluding the night before, but most of that was a blur and couldn’t remember much was said after he put the knife to his arm. He found Harry’s antagonism rather refreshing. Anger he understood and trusted. Those gentle voices, begging him to share his ‘feelings’ were when he put up his guard. No one ever cared about his wellbeing before, and he wasn’t about to trust these so called Healers now.

“Fine,” Severus grouched as he slowly stood up, wondering if he had a pain elixir in his bathroom. He couldn’t help noticing that where he had plunged the knife the night before was totally healed, not even a scar to mark the place. He inwardly sighed. The boy had so much raw power that he wasn’t even aware of. Only Potter could heal a wound and not leave a trace.

Ever so slowly, both Severus and Harry wearily walked back to the house. The tension between them was palpable; one wrong word could set either one of them into an outburst.

Harry, the braver or perhaps the more foolish of the two, spoke first. “We can’t ignore what happened last night.”

Stopping in his tracks, Severus turned abruptly, wishing he hadn’t, and with a look he had mastered in his many years at Hogwarts, snarled at the ‘the boy who annoyed the hell out of him’.

“We will not only ‘ignore’ what happened earlier this morning,” Severus corrected Harry, “but we will also never, and even though I hate repeating myself but in this case I shall, we will never speak of the incident again. I made a mistake and I acknowledge that. Now drop it, or I swear by everything holy and no matter what punishment I may entail, I will dissect you as I would a beetle and have as much remorse.”

“Not a morning person, are we?” Harry snarled back and turned to walk briskly back to the house, leaving a fuming Severus behind.

More slowly than Harry, Severus made his was back to his room. He cursed loudly when he found his medicine chest was empty of any analgesics. He was a Potion Master, damn it all, he could brew the potion in less than thirty minutes, but Harry didn’t deem it was necessary to have a small lab on the premises. He could just ask Potter for a pain potion, but that would require him to talk to the Gryffindor and he was not in the mood to ask him for a favor. Severus absentmindedly rubbed the kinks in his neck as he tried to think of what to do. The wards at Lindquist lab were adjusted to accept him. Conceivably, if he was thinking logically Severus could see the flaws in his plan, but at the moment he couldn’t care less what the foreseeable future would bring. He could be there and back before anyone would miss him.
Severus peeked around the corner into his master’s library, much like a child doing mischief, hoping that the ‘boy wonder’ would still be in his room freshening up from the previous night's activity. Luck was with him. Harry was no where to be seen. With a heavy sigh of relief he took advantage of the moment, standing tall in the doorway, straightening his filthy robes he marched as he once did in Hogwarts with strong meaningful strides to the Floo system.

A moment later, Severus stepped out of the fireplace and into Grand Master Lindquist's parlor. He gave another sigh of relief when he found the room to be empty. He slithered slowly down the hallways to the Master’s lab being sure not to be caught. The house seemed to be empty. His stride quickened. The sooner he got done, the sooner he could get home undetected. The laboratory door opened soundlessly, the usual irritating squeak gone, as if it were a conspirator with Severus’s scheme.

In no time at all, Severus was done with his potion and downed the fowl tasting liquid in one large gulp. Even as he made a face and ran his tongue over the roof of his mouth trying to get rid of the horrid taste that remained in his mouth, his body was feeling better. He glanced at his pocket watch and was pleased that he had accomplished everything in under thirty minutes. He gathered the extra vial that he had placed on the Grand Master’s desk when he noticed Master Lindquist’s handwritten notes spread haphazardly on the table. Biting his lip and once again looking at his watch, he wondered how much time that he had before he would certainly be caught. He was safe for the time being. He had at least ten minutes before Potter would miss him, Severus speculated. He sat behind the desk and piled a handful of notes in front of him. Grand Master Lindquist's handwriting was atrocious, nothing like his own elegant script and made reading the notes a chore. The Professor in Severus had an overwhelming urge to pull out his red pen and correct the messy work.

In a few moments Severus was so mesmerized by what he was reading the time lost its meaning. The desk was quickly covered with long essays and scraps of papers that were written hastily by the Grand Master. Like a gigantic jigsaw puzzle Severus started placing the papers and notes across the floor. When all the available spaces were taken up, Severus pushed the heavy oak desk out of his way,

Severus stood over the organized chaos that was scattered before him. He rubbed his chin as he contemplated what he had been studying for most of the day. The great Grand Master Lindquist was undoubtedly wrong. His facts were based on assumptions that were false. Severus snorted his disbelief. How could someone like the Grand Master be so absolutely wrong? He shook his head slowly. Severus took it as a personal affront that Lindquist had been grossly mistaken. His hero, the one Potion Master that he ‘knew’ was better than he was had feet of clay.

“Severus?” the Grand Master stood at the door. His brow was furrowed with a look of bewilderment. “What are you doing here on a Sunday?”

Severus flicked his wrist in dismissal as if to say it wasn’t important. “You’re wrong!” Severus stated.

“What?” Gustav asked irritably.

“All of these notes you’ve written, which I may add look like chicken scratches, are based on suppositions that were incorrect. I wrote a paper over two years ago disproving these assumptions. Don’t you come out of your ivory tower and read what others have written?”

“Snape! Apologize!” Harry snarled from just beyond the Grand Master.

“There is no need for Severus to apologize to me. In fact I’m rather pleased to see that he has a brain after all and is not a brown noser.

“You knew?” Severus asked, shocked by the Potions Master’s reaction.

“Of course I knew. These notes were written three or four years ago. I was planning for you to find them tomorrow, not on your day off.

“Then it is I that should apologize,” Severus mumbled.

“Not at all,” Gustav said with a smile

“He may not have to apologize to you, but he does to me. Since you became my slave, the only thing I have ever asked of you Severus was to call me Harry, and you couldn‘t even do that! You preferred to call me Master. Now I’m giving you a direct order,” Harry snarled, his face was red with anger. “Get back to the house and go to my room and stay there until I show up. Do you understand? I don’t want you to say you were confused by command.”

“I understand perfectly ‘Master’” Severus snarled back.

He was hard put to admit he was wrong. Thinking back, he doubted he had ever admitted he was wrong since he went to Dumbledore and confessed. He had tried to commit suicide in the early morning hours and then disappeared. Harry must have been frantic looking for him. He knew there was not a tracing spell on him, but he was sure by the end of the day there would be one. He should apologize, but his pride just wouldn’t let him.

With his shoulders thrown back, Severus marched past both Lindquist and Harry and took the Floo home. With a great deal of reluctance, Severus slowly walked up the stairs passed his cozy room and went directly to Harry’s bedroom.

Severus was surprised that it wasn’t decorated in red and gold with a lot of Quidditch posters plastering the walls. An adult lived in this room; one with very good taste. It was a room he could be quite comfortable in. With a sigh, he absentmindedly poured himself a drink from the canister on the end table. Harry was already pissed at him. How much madder could Harry get if he was caught drinking his liquor.

From the warmth of the fire and the liquor Severus drifted asleep in Harry’s wingback chair.
“Snape wake up,” an angry voice woke Severus from his slumber.

Severus stretched and yawned as he stirred. When he finally opened his eyes he could see the green eyes flashing with anger.

“Up,” Harry ordered. Severus rose as if he hadn’t a care in the world.

“Trousers down around your ankles and bend over the chair,” Harry growled. Severus finally saw the switch that Harry had in his hand.

Like a computer Severus quickly listed all of his options in his head. None would help him out of these circumstances. He had no bargaining chip. He unbuckled his belt and slid the pants over his narrow hips. He had caught Harry eyeing him a few times and wondered if he could use the prospect of sex to help him out of this situation. He made quite a show as he lowered his slacks to his knees.

“That will be an extra ten swats for trying to entice me. I guarantee that every time you sit down for the next week you’ll remember why you were being punished,” Harry growled. “You will not ever leave these premises without letting me know where you’ve gone…at least for the foreseeable future.”

Without a word Severus leaned over the seat pulling his shirttail up revealing his boney arse to Harry.

“I care for you Snape,” Harry said before Severus heard the switch cutting a path threw the air and landing with a painful sting on his backside. “I want you happy,” another swat.

So it went, a term of endearment with every painful whack of the switch. By the twentieth swat, Severus no longer heard Harry's words. He focused only on keeping his emotions in check. The whipping hurt, but more than pain, he felt anger. Red hot, furious hatred flowed through him, making him want to lash out against Harry and everyone else who put him in this position. To be beaten by a mere child who could barely take care of himself was beyond the pale for Severus. He was plotting his revenge when he felt strong hands turn him brutally around. Hot, desperate lips attacked his. Placing his palms on Harry’s chest Severus tried to push the boy away. The warmth and need of the kiss overtook Severus’ sensibility and he found his body melting into the hard Gryffindor’s body his mind reeling with need and want. . Something was changing between the two, Severus wasn’t sure if he liked the change but at the moment he wasn’t thinking at all.

Sorry it took me so long to update. Was sick for a couple of weeks then Snarry games used up all my free time. I'll try to be better.