A Light Untouched, part five

[lesyeuxverts]

Title: A Light Untouched
Author: lesyeuxverts
Pairings: Severus/Lucius, Lucius/Narcissa, Severus/Harry
Rating: NC-17
Length: 51,500 words, give or take a few
Warnings: AU, non-con (not in main pairings), dub-con, character death, torture, infidelity, bondage, rimming, dirty talk, first time, sex toys, semi-public sex, foodsmut, minor hints at D/s, underage where the age of consent is 18
Summary: "Redemption came in the space between breaths, in the jarring impact of coincidence, in the patient toil of years – for Severus Snape, it came when he met Harry Potter, the culmination of his life's work brought to glory in an instant."
AN: Written for klynie1 in the 2007 reversathon. She requested: "Snape/Harry AU - A chance meeting in a taxicab leads to love. Rating is writer's choice. Please, no Harry or Snape death."
Many, many thanks and grateful smooches to schemingreader, virginie_m, gingertart50, brightfeather, and snarry_fan7! I owe a debt of gratitude to each and every one of you, and also to the marvelous people who bounced ideas for me and gave me encouragement to write this.



Harry came to Severus at last, shedding his Auror robes and his boots and socks as he strode through the laboratory. It had been weeks since Severus had since him last, had rocked him to sleep against the destiny that faced him – it had been too long, and Severus frowned at him. "You've been gone," he said. "You kissed me and left me, just as you said you wouldn't."

There was no room in the obvious – no room for Harry to slide away or twist the truth. "I've finished my training," he said. "I'm free."

"Free of what?" Severus asked. He let his ladle droop down into the potion and then he let go of it, the metal handle sliding around the rim of the cauldron with a screech.

Potter hopped from foot to foot, his bare skin smacking against the stone floor, grinning at Severus as he unbuttoned his shirtsleeves. "Free from reasons not to do this," he said. "You're not my teacher anymore."

He leaned up to kiss Severus, and their lips met – soft and salty-sweet, Harry tasted like tea and toast, warm and comforting. It was only a brush of lips, it was a promise of more, it was a shock of magic running down Severus's spine and thrilling through his bones.

Harry fit into Severus's heartbeat as if he had always been there. This was light, this was purity, this was the redemption for which he had striven – completing him, heartbeat and breath, blood and flesh and soul. Severus took a deep breath, swallowing hard.

"Are you sure?" he asked.

Harry reached for Severus without hesitating, opening his mind for him. "I don't – I know that it took me awhile to learn how to touch, but I ... I did want to touch you, to stop flinching away from you all the time. You haven't gotten tired of waiting for me?"

"No, I haven't."

Harry kissed him again and then drew back, watching him. He traced a spiky pattern on Severus's cheek, a jagged fingernail scraping against his skin. "You and Malfoy –"

"Yes." Severus pressed his nose into Harry's cheekbone, the great ungainly bump of it disappearing between them. His hair swung forward and hid his face, his long sleeves hid the blemish on his forearm, and there was no ugliness, no sin that Severus would not hide for Harry.

"Tell me what you want," he said.

Magic flowed between them, overloading Severus's senses. He closed his eyes, not needing to see, and it sparkled around him, filtered through the darkness of his eyelids. Harry squirmed in his embrace, and the swirls of power vibrated around him, following his smallest motion.

He didn't offer anything to Severus, didn't ask for anything, didn't take – Severus took, and was greedy for more. He took Harry's lips, bruising them with a kiss. He took Harry's face, marking every inch of it with his tongue and lips. "You'll be mine," he said, and Harry shuddered at his words.

"Your voice ..."

"I know, the reason why all of your cauldrons exploded?" Severus said, and he smiled against Harry's cheekbone when he gave a guilty twitch. "Legilimency, remember?"

"You knew all along?"

Severus bent Harry's neck back as he loomed over him for a kiss, sucking the sugar from his lips. "You take your tea too sweet," he said. "You'll rot all your teeth."

"And then I'll look like you, I suppose."

Severus sought the soft spots between his ribs, the ticklish vertebra – he skimmed the surface of Harry's mind and found every weakness, every advantage, and used them to their fullest. Harry writhed under his touch, breathless and wasting his short gasps of air on stammering useless protests.

"You'll never look like me," Severus said when he released Harry, sending him spinning away. He rubbed the sleeve that covered the Mark on his forearm, and spared a last glance for the cauldron that simmered with an over-boiled potion. "Don't leave your clothing strewn about my classroom – well, come along, then."

Harry scurried after him, his unbuttoned shirt billowing out behind him, his arms full of his robes and boots. His hair was jumping in the breeze that he made with his passage – overlong, it bobbed down to cover his jagged scar, hiding his thick eyebrows and shining eyes. Severus took a sharp turn into his rooms, snapping the portrait shut behind Harry.

"You're certain?"

Harry shrugged out of his shirt, his pale hands going down to unfasten his trousers. "I'm sure that you're wearing too many clothes for this," he said.

He was impudent and brash, he was his father's son, he was young enough to be Severus's son – a dozen reasons not to bed him, the dozen reasons that had made Severus send him away last time, the dozen reasons not to risk it. He stole Harry's breath with a kiss, drinking in the sweet of tea and the salt of buttered toast from his mouth.

Severus let Harry fumble with his buttons, pulling his robes down off his shoulders, as he drank in the reasons to forget, the reasons to transgress and sin. Each of them was sweet, as warm as Harry's breath and as soft.

They rushed to the bed, Severus's clothing shed as they went, kisses stolen as they stumbled. He pressed Harry flat against the mattress and covered him with his body. Their breastbones thudded together with a painful jar as Severus lowered himself over Harry. Their cocks slid together, Harry arching up against Severus.

"I want you to show me everything," he said, breaking away from their kiss to breathe. His breath rasped against Severus's cheek, uneven and loud. His lips were wet and shining with Severus's kisses, and his eyes fluttered shut. "Show me everything."

Severus left fingerprints on his ribs, crescent marks from sharp nails on his hipbones, and purpling bruises on his neck. He moved down to kneel between Harry's legs, spreading them apart and leaning over to press a kiss to each nipple. "You trust me," he said, his mouth pressed to Harry's heartbeat, his words muffled.

A quick spell, and his fingers were slick with lubricant – he grasped Harry's cock and began stroking it, dipping into his mind to find the perfect rhythm. "I trust you," Harry said, "oh ... more ... only you."

Severus bit his collarbone, reaching down to fondle his balls and tease at his opening. He ran a slick finger around the hole and kissed Harry, devouring his mouth as he finger-fucked him. "More," Harry said, and he bit Severus's lower lip, drawing it into his mouth and sucking on it.

Severus obliged, adding a second finger and sliding them deeper into Harry. He pinned Harry to the bed with his other hand, pushing down on his shoulder when he would have writhed up into Severus's touch. He spread Harry's legs wider as he angled his fingers, reaching for his prostate – garbled declarations of love spilled from Harry's lips, and Severus leaned up and caught them in his own mouth, silencing him.

Harry thrust down on Severus's fingers, impaling himself, and became bold with his lust, his hands wandering across Severus's back and chest, tracing broad swipes like angel-wings on his shoulders and pinching his nipples. He broke the kiss to blow into Severus's ear, catching his earlobe between his teeth. "Wanted this for so long," he said. "Wanted – want to feel you inside me. Fuck me, Severus, please fuck me."

His skin tasted of salt and the metallic aftertaste of sweat – Severus savored the taste, licking his way down from Harry's jaw to his collarbone and then further down to taste each peaked nipple. Hooking Harry's ankles over his shoulders, Severus positioned himself and slid in with one slow thrust, kissing away Harry's gasps.

Harry didn't last long, spilling his release between them after Severus hit his prostate, and he shuddered, his muscles clenching around Severus's cock. He lay lax and beautiful as Severus thrust into him, rushing to his own climax. He was hot and tight, sheathing Severus perfectly, reaching up to claim Severus's lips with shallow, biting kisses.

His lower lip was caught between Harry's teeth, and the pinch of pain was enough to send Severus over the edge, tumbling down into bliss in Harry.

"That was incredible," Harry said. "Is it always ... like that?"

Severus shushed him and caught him in a cage of his arms, holding him until the flutter of his heartbeat slowed to its normal rhythm. "It gets better," he said, and let himself drift off to sleep, sweaty and sated, pressing a last kiss to Harry's temple.

He woke to find Harry staring at him, tracing the outline of his cock and balls. Twitching, Severus captured Harry's hand and closed his fingers around a kiss pressed in the center of his palm. "What?"

"I – you know they want me to kill Lucius Malfoy," Potter said. "He's – Dumbledore thinks that he's hosting the last fragment of Voldemort's soul in his own body, like a soul parasite, and that I'm the only one who can kill him."

"Romantic pillow talk, Potter," Severus said. "I was enjoying the brief period of post-coital bliss before you brought that delightful topic up."

There was a Mark on Severus's arm, a mask and cloak in his closet that were made from the death of innocents – there was a fate that had set this all in motion. He let Harry kiss him, he let Harry steal his breath and distract him with a caress sweeping from his shoulder to his hipbone, lingering down on his inner thigh.

"Can I make it up to you?" Harry marked Severus's neck with sharp love-bites, a chain above his collarbone like an uneven necklace.

Severus pulled Harry closer to him, luxuriating in his warmth – the steady thump of his heartbeat, the ragged catch of his breath. "Possibly," he said.

"Can I fuck you?" Harry asked. He pulled back from Severus, looking him in the eye, his gaze direct and unfaltering.

He thrummed with magic, the strands of his power half-entwined with Severus's from their earlier coupling. It was as clean and deep as the water in the stream that ran undisturbed through the Forbidden Forest, and as tempting, as uncertain. Severus sucked in a breath as Harry bent down to suck on his nipples, working them into taut peaks, and with the last shreds of his self-control fading at the onslaught, he gave into the temptation.

"Yes," he said.

"Really?"

"You wanted me to show you everything, did you not?" Severus let Harry cling to him, let him explore his body inch by inch, breath by breath. With the shadow of Lucius hanging over him and lending him desperation, Harry was fierce in his lovemaking, undaunted in his learning.

Severus let Harry set the pace, let him kiss and suck and bite, let him stroke Severus's cock to full hardness. Harry was already throbbing against him, his cock pressed into Severus's hipbone and wet with pre-come. He let Harry set the pace, and then he flipped him over, sitting on his thighs and pinning him to the bed.

"Hey, you ..."

Tugging down on Harry's balls, Severus leaned forward to nip his ear. "You will have to last considerably longer this time," he said, and Harry blushed, opening his mouth to protest.

He squirmed when Severus fumbled in the bedside drawer for a cock ring. "Did you – did you do this with Malfoy?"

"I would prefer to have only one of you in my bed at a time, if you please," Severus said, adjusting the cock ring on Harry. "The mention of past lovers during sex is generally considered to be off-putting, something that you should keep in mind for your future encounters."

"Future encounters with you, I hope you mean." Harry reached up to frame Severus's face with his hands, pulling him down until their faces were inches apart. "I'm yours, remember? And that makes you mine, too."

Severus frotted against him, rubbing their cocks together and closing his eyes to lose himself in the sensation – Harry against him, Harry's hard cock, soft skin, sweet gasps. Severus bit his lip to rein in the overload of sensations and retrieved the lubricant from the bedside table, handing it to Harry. "Then make me yours," he said. "You remember the general way to go about it, I hope."

"I'm not about to forget that so quickly," Harry said. He grinned against Severus's collarbone, his lips a crescent pressed into Severus's skin.

"If only you'd been half so attentive to the other things that I tried to teach you."

"Perhaps if you'd thought to reward me with sex for every lesson well-learned ..."

"You would still be a virgin in that case, Potter." Severus softened the words with a kiss, spreading his legs open for Harry. "You were a terrible student at Potions."

"If you hadn't always distracted me ... this smells better than the stuff you used before." Harry sniffed the lubricant, the thick gel dripping from his fingers as he poked his tongue out and tasted the air, hesitating.

"My personal recipe for lubricant," Severus said. "It is safe for human consumption, should you care to try it, and it is not my fault that you are easily distracted." He took Harry's hand and guided it to his arse, spreading his legs wider and helping Harry to fuck him with his fingers.

Harry leaned forward to kiss him, driving his fingers further into Severus. The almost-pressure, almost-fullness of it was maddening, and Severus thrust back down against Harry, needing more. He scooped up a dollop of lube from the jar, adding it to Harry's free fingers and forcing them into himself. "More," Severus demanded, his breath coming in short spurts.

He saw stars behind his eyelids when Harry slicked his cock with lube and slid into his loosened passage, the sparks of their entwined magic brilliant between them. He let Harry fuck him, the shallow thrusts giving way to deeper, less tentative ones as Harry bit his lip on a moan. He slid all the way into Severus, the hard circle of the cock ring coming with the soft slap of Harry's balls against his arse.

"You feel so good," Harry said, and Severus lost himself in the moment. Their magic combined with their sweat, a network that overlaid their skin, binding their bodies together. Harry leaned closer to nip at his neck, a frisson of pain blending with the pleasure, sharpening it, and Severus moaned as he bucked up into the touch.

Harry's thrusts were erratic, unpracticed – he slipped out of Severus and fumbled to thrust into him again, and at last Severus flipped them over again, holding Harry to the bed with a hand on each shoulder. He shifted so that Harry's cock hit his prostate, and began to ride him, reaching down to stroke his own cock.

Skin gleaming with sweat, hair spectacularly disheveled, mouth open with lips reddened from kissing, Potter was a sight to behold. He was hard and thick in Severus, his cock in all the right places, and Severus bit down on his lip, moving faster.

"Severus ... oh, please, more, you feel good," Harry said, hands fisted in the sheets. "Fuck, need you so much, let me come ... please, oh please let me."

"You'll come when I tell you to come and not a second sooner." Severus reached down to twist Harry's nipples, pinching them hard and then rolling them between his fingers. He sank down to impale himself fully on Harry's cock, resting there for a moment, and let his cock bounce free, reaching behind him with his other hand to spread Harry's legs apart.

He fumbled in the bedside drawer for a dildo, pulling one out and putting it to Harry's lips. "Suck."

Harry obeyed, stretching his lips wide around the dildo, closing his eyes as he worked at relaxing his throat. Severus was relentless, pressing the dildo down past his gag reflex and stroking his throat to relax it. "Trust me, Harry, you want this to be lubricated. Open up ... take it in deep, that's right. Perfect."

Harry's cock twitched inside Severus, and he smirked down at him. "That's right, you love to hear my voice, don't you? Listen to me, Harry."

Severus took the dildo, glistening with saliva, from Harry's mouth, and reached behind him to position it at his entrance, teasing him by moving the dildo in circles around it. "You like that, don't you? You like to be fucked, you want to feel this moving inside you. Tell me, Harry."

"Fuck, yes. Please, oh fuck." Harry spread his legs wider as Severus thrust the dildo into him, activating the charm with a muttered password, and the dildo started to vibrate, thrusting on its own volition. Harry threw his head back, and Severus started to ride him again, setting a maddening slow pace.

"I'm going to keep you there on the edge, Harry," he said, stroking his cock and dipping into Harry's mind to feel his pleasure magnified two-fold. Fucking and being fucked, Harry was incoherent with the sensations that washed through him, and Severus clenched his muscles around him to produce another spate of babbling.

"Right on the edge, Harry, that's right. I can do this for hours, ride you and feel your lovely thick cock inside of me, drive you mad with pleasure while you fuck me. I'll let you come at last, and then I'm going to come too. I'll come all over you, stain your pretty skin and I'll make you clean it up."

Severus paused for breath, poised above Harry and teasing the head of his cock with deft fingers before sinking down onto him again. "I'll wipe it off you and make you suck it off my finger, make you eat my come – and then I'll make you eat your come, make you eat it out from inside me. Would you like that, Harry?"

"Please ... please, Severus, fuck, let me come now, I need it, please. Let me come, I'll do anything, I love you, oh fuck, please."

"You should never make promises to a Slytherin in bed, Harry. I have to teach you better control than that, don't I? You'll wait as long as I want you to wait and you'll thank me for it when I let you come."

Harry was pinned to the bed again by Severus's hands planted on his chest and keeping him from thrusting up. Severus set the rhythm, slow and smooth thrusts that were just enough to tantalize, never enough to satisfy. Harry whimpered and begged, reaching up to rake his fingernails along Severus's thighs. He raised parallel red welts that ended in nothing, lines that led to nowhere, and Severus hissed at the spike of pain.

He captured Harry's hands, binding them together with a cloth blindfold pulled out from the drawer, and tied the end of the cloth to the headboard. Harry whimpered, struggling against the restraint and struggling to thrust up into Severus. An unending litany of "please" spilled from his mouth, and Severus took pity on him.

He grabbed his wand and Banished the cock ring just as he leaned down to kiss Harry. Their lips were crushed together for an instant, and then Severus braced himself on the headboard, thrusting faster. Harry's cock hit his prostate with each thrust, and then Harry came, his face twisted with the pleasure of his release, his lips open with Severus's name.

Severus was on the edge of coming, and he pulled off Harry, scrambling up to thrust his cock in Harry's mouth. He reached back to pull the dildo from Harry, settling it into himself and reactivating the charm. Still warm from Harry's body, it fucked him as he fucked Harry's mouth.

He pulled out when he came, spilling over Harry's face. It was lovely on Harry's skin, as he knew it would be – white splatters on his golden skin, on his pretty pink lips. Severus slumped onto the bed next to Harry, reaching over to smear his come into Harry's skin.

"Fuck, that was brilliant." Harry rolled over for a cuddle, and Severus put a hand on his chest to stop him.

"This, first," he said, and he fed his come to Harry, making him suck it all off his fingers. Harry frowned at the first taste, but with Severus's encouragement, he opened his mouth wide and sucked it eagerly.

"You're so hot," Harry said, coming in for a cuddle at last. "That was ... fuck, that was the best ever." He laid his head on Severus's shoulder, sprawling out over the bed and taking most of the space. Severus shoved him over, tracing lazy circles on his back and permitting the sloppy kisses that Harry planted on his collarbone.

"Severus?" Harry asked, disrupting the lazy languor.

"What is it now?"

Harry put a hand over his heart, and laid his head over that as though listening to his heartbeat, looking up at Severus. "I think ... I think I might be in love with you."

Severus kissed him to sleep, suppressing the thrill he felt at the hint of redemption offered by Harry. Forgiven by the light, loved by the light – he'd kept Harry pure, kept him safe, and yet the darkness on his soul could not be so easily erased.

"You don't know anything of love yet," he said with a last kiss to Harry's forehead. He left his lips pressed against Harry's forehead, curling around him and falling asleep with him.

--------

Severus's cloak still hummed with the spell cast into it and bound by his tears, blood and semen – it still carried that magic, that protection. He pulled it close around himself, clutching at the comfort that he had not needed since the destruction of the Horcruxes, since knowing Harry. The cloak was enough to shield him from the dungeon cold and strengthen his resolve for the task before him.

Harry came up close behind him, and Severus whirled to face him, controlling the billow of the cloak so that the hem skimmed past Harry's outstretched fingers.

"Severus? What's wrong?"

"Nothing. Are you ready to help me brew?"

"You always say I'm rubbish at potions, I don't see why you want my help."

Severus kissed away his frown, bending to murmur in his ear. "The more time I spend restocking the infirmary's supplies, the less time I have to spend in bed with you." He pinched Harry's arse, eliciting a squeal, and smirked as he Summoned a set of iron cauldrons to the worktable in a clanking, clattering parade.

"I'll have you make Skele-Gro, Madam Pomfrey needs a small batch of it made fresh every year and I've written the directions out for you."

Harry took the proffered scroll, pressing their hands together for a heartbeat. "You mean, you're actually going to give me directions? Or do you mean that you're just going to watch me blow things up again?"

"You can hardly expect me to take the blame for your talent in creating disasters," Severus said. He took Harry's hands, unrolling the scroll. "I've tried to write this out clearly enough that even you will be able to follow it."

"Mmm," Harry said, staring at Severus's hands. "I love your handwriting."

"Focus, Potter." Severus pushed him toward the worktable. The ingredients were laid out in order, in precise rows with the measurement written on a scrap of parchment that Severus had attached to the lid. "I've tried to simplify things for you," he said. "It will hardly be a timesaver if you only create explosions and waste ingredients."

Harry leaned in for a kiss. "Is this a Potion Master's definition of romantic? I like it, Severus. It's very sweet."

Their lips brushed for a second before Severus jumped backwards, capturing Harry's wandering hands and holding them still. "No kissing in the laboratory."

"Not that romantic, then? Have you never fantasized about taking me here, fucking me over one of your lab benches? You could spread me out on one of them, naked and waiting for you, bound in place while you brew that lube."

He leaned in to kiss Severus on the neck, going straight for the spot near the hollow of his throat that always made him shudder. "Not appealing at all, is it? You'd rather just brew your smelly potions and then throw me onto your bed and have your wicked way with me there."

"I do not have a wicked way," Severus said, his mouth turned down in prim corners, and then he relented. "Do you promise to behave and brew your potion perfectly on the first attempt if I satisfy your baser urges first?"

Harry moved to a clean worktable and hopped up onto it, unfastening his robes. "You are quite the closet romantic, aren't you? Willing to satisfy my 'baser urges' if I brew a potion for you ... Severus, that's too sweet. You really shouldn't have."

Severus unfastened his cloak, flinging it out of Harry's reach, and opened his robes below the waist. He pushed the fabric aside and unbuttoned his trousers with one hand as he reached for Harry with the other.

"I make an effort to spend more time with you, and you balk at the idea of assisting me. I put your carnal urges above my own work, my own priorities and duties, and you mock me for a lack of romance. I won't give you candlelight and roses, Potter. If you had half a brain, you'd have realized that a long time ago."

"I don't expect anything more than hot, steamy sex – which you provide on a regular basis anyway, but even more so when you're riled up about something – and of course, your undying devotion."

Potter grinned, unfastening his trousers and wriggling out of them. He wore no pants underneath, and his cock bobbed against his pale stomach as he hoisted himself back up on the table. "Besides," he said, "you like me when I'm impudent."

Severus stepped between his legs, spreading them further apart, and reached up to kiss him. He put his hands on Harry's knees, pressing the ticklish spot just underneath, and moved up his legs to his thighs, pausing there.

Harry wriggled against him, but Severus made him wait, shifting back so that his cock was no longer pressed against Harry's leg.

"Would you like me to tie you to this table, then? You'd wait for me, hard and needy the entire time I was brewing, but nothing would touch you except the cold air of the dungeons, blowing over your bare skin."

Harry sucked two fingers into his mouth, wetting them and then lowering them to rub his nipples. The saliva gleamed on his skin, and he licked his lips, staring at Severus with heavy-lidded eyes. "You want me that way too, don't you? You're harder just thinking about it."

"Do you know how long it takes to brew that potion? Two hours," Severus said, Summoning a jar of it with a nonverbal spell and slicking his fingers with it. "It takes my complete concentration. I wouldn't be able to leave it, no matter how you moaned.

"I'd bind your cock so you couldn't come, and charm a dildo to frig you up the arse while I worked. You'd like that, wouldn't you? You'd feel it moving inside you, fucking you, preparing you for me."

He thrust two fingers into Harry, stretching him and swallowing his moan with a kiss. "You'd be forced to wait until I decanted the potion, leaving it to cool."

Harry thrust downwards, impaling himself further on Severus's fingers and catching his breath when Severus twisted to hit his prostate. "Yes, just like that. Oh, I'd beg you, moan until you couldn't resist me. You'd leave the potion and fuck me, sliding into me with your thick cock – oh, yes. Talk to me, Severus, I need your voice."

Severus slicked his cock with lube and slid into him, a slow and gentle thrust that had Harry begging for more. Severus leaned into him, shifting so that the rough fabric of his outer robes brushed against his nipples. Fully clothed, he fucked Harry, his hands wandering, exploring each inch of nakedness.

Shifting his weight from foot to foot, he rolled his hips and thrust deeper into Harry – still as hot and tight as he'd been the first time. Severus angled himself to hit his prostate, struggling to hold himself back when Harry moaned and clenched his muscles around him.

"I wouldn't leave the potion, I'd make you wait. You'd be ready for me when I came over at last, ready to do anything to feel my cock in you, anything to be allowed to come. You'd beg me, and I wouldn't make you wait any longer. I'd fuck you, just like this." He punctuated each sentence with another thrust, and at the last, he angled his cock to hit Harry's prostate again, leaning forward to ravage his mouth. Tongue and teeth, Harry claimed him as he fucked him.

Harry reached down to pump his cock to the rhythm of Severus's thrusts, his other hand raking gashes across Severus's shoulders with sharp nails. He threw his head back, baring his neck for Severus – he marked the fine line of it, the lovely white skin with dark bites. "More, just ... ah, there, Severus."

His muscles clenched around Severus as he came – they rippled around him, pulling out his own orgasm. Severus bit Harry's neck as he came, and he let himself fall forward to rest on his elbows, pressing Harry back into the table. Harry squirmed, dislodging Severus's elbows to take all of his weight, and clenched his muscles again to keep Severus from slipping out of him. "That was brilliant."

"Brilliant enough to make you brew a perfect potion?"

Harry kissed him, and it was warm and slow, not enough to rekindle lust but a comfortable meeting of lips and tongue, a sated and lazy kiss. "I hope you never change ... I like you just the way you are, sarcastic and wicked."

"If you're going to start on about romance again –" Severus levered himself up onto his elbows, but Harry clutched at his back, holding him there.

"No, don't – I want to talk about something else." The storm that had darkened Harry's expression these past few days returned, furrowing his brows together and turning his lips down in a scowl.

"You – do you still love Lucius Malfoy?"

"I do believe that we've had this discussion before, about not bringing up past lovers when we're in bed."

Severus slid out of Harry and spelled them clean, fastening his trousers and adjusting his robes. Shivering, Harry scrambled for his clothes, hopping from one foot to the other as he pulled them on.

"No, it's just – I don't, I don't think I could kill him if you still loved him, no matter what he's become," Harry said. "I wouldn't want to –"

"You aren't certain that you can kill him, period." Severus guided Harry back to the original worktable, rolling out the scroll with the directions and weighting it down with heavy jars. "Now brew."

"I – I'm meeting with Moody this afternoon," Harry said. "He's going to teach me the Unforgivables. Albus reckons that we don't have much time before Voldemort regains his full strength."

Harry reached for the first jar and measured out three scoops of belladonna. "Say, is this a healing potion, really? Some of these ingredients sound nasty. All of them, actually," he said, after peering at the list.

"Skele-Gro is quite toxic to the uninjured human body, but together all of the poisons combine to be beneficial under certain conditions – when the body is flooded with the hormones and signals associated with severe trauma, for example."

Harry didn't know enough about potions to contradict Severus – he shook his head, sprinkling the belladonna in as directed. "You're not going to save very much time if you stand here and watch me the whole time."

"You think that I'd trust the safety of a patient to one of your concoctions if I hadn't supervised the brewing of it? It'll save time in the future, once you've learned how to brew a few potions correctly."

Harry blew him a kiss across the simmering cauldron. "Now, that's the most romantic thing you've said yet."

"Stir counterclockwise now," Severus told him. "Unless you're illiterate, incapable of following directions, or simply stupid, you should be able to brew this potion correctly. Don't get carried away in some girlish flight of fancy about moonlight and wedding music."

Harry reached for the aconite and measured it out into the cauldron, stirring as directed without another prompt from Severus.

"I don't want you to learn the Unforgivable Curses," Severus said, laying a hand on Harry's arm when the potion was set to simmer without disturbance for a dozen minutes.

Harry's mouth was set in a crooked line, and he shrugged Severus's arm away, reaching for the stirring rod.

"Don't disturb that," Severus said. "If you can't make it through a potion without a mistake simply because of a little distraction then –"

"A little distraction? You trying to keep me from fulfilling my destiny is a little distraction?"

Severus pulled him away from the cauldron, pressing him against the cold wall. "I taught you to control your emotions better than this," he said into Harry's ear. "Take deep breaths – that's right. I am not your enemy here."

"You're setting yourself in opposition to me." Harry's chin jutted out, the sharp line of his jawbone highlighted by the flickering light from the torches. "You've no reason to stop me – you know yourself that it's my destiny to kill Voldemort, and you know that there's no one else to do it. I have to do this, Severus, so please don't try to stop me."

"Don't be ridiculous." Severus leaned his forehead against Harry's and looked down into his eyes, their noses rubbing together and their breath mingling.

"There's more than one way to kill a man and you have so many other options at your disposal. Why the Unforgivables? Why taint yourself? Your soul fractures every time you cast the Killing Curse."

"Have you used it?"

"What?"

"Have you used the Killing Curse or either of the other Unforgivables?" Harry asked. He pierced Severus with his gaze, unfaltering while he waited for a response.

Severus was dark before him, unworthy of his light. He took a deep breath. "I have, yes. But that is not to say –"

"You used them, and you're fine. You're better than fine, in fact. There's no reason why I can't do the same," Harry said. "You don't understand. Nothing else will kill Voldemort, according to Albus. The bond between us began with it, and nothing else can end it."

He worked one hand free, bringing it up to trace the lines of Severus's face. "There's no other way to keep you safe."

"I don't need a boy like you to keep me safe." Severus pushed away from Harry, stalking back to the cauldron. "Here, now. Add the Acromantula venom and stir clockwise until it turns clear."

"Don't coddle me," Harry said, unscrewing the lid to open the jar of venom. He flung the lid down on the table and it spun on its rim before clanking to a halt.

"Don't lose control of your emotions while you brew. Take a deep breath and add three drops – three normal-sized drops, you nitwit."

Harry measured them again and added them, stirring the potion until it turned clear again, scowling at Severus the entire time. "I'm not a child," he said. "I know that you've been protecting me all along, but I don't need to be protected from this. I need to do this – I need to protect you for once. I don't want to see you called back by that bastard, I don't want to give him the chance to hurt you."

"Two ounces of dragon liver, finely chopped," Severus said. When Harry made no move to obey him, he said, "Now, Potter."

Harry glared at Severus while he finished the potion, and when it had been bottled, he turned and strode for the door. He paused to reach for Severus's cloak, his fingers hovering over the dark fabric – Severus Summoned it just before he could touch it, yanking it out of his grasp.

"Hey," Harry said. "I'll need that, it's cold outside."

"Wear your own clothing." This cloak, wrought with Severus's sins and weighted down with his fate, was not for Harry to touch. "Better yet, don't go out at all. Harry ... please don't do this."

Harry stopped, his fingers on the doorknob, and turned back to look at Severus.

"The Dark Lord already knows of my treachery," Severus said. "He'll have learned of it from Lucius. He won't be able to hurt me, here at Hogwarts."

"Lucius can get through the wards –"

Severus shook his head. "Albus has changed that. I'm safe here, Harry. Don't do this for the wrong reasons."

He strode over to the door, putting his arms around Harry's shoulders and bending down to kiss him – Harry's lips tasted of salt-sweat, the faint bitter tang of potions fumes lying underneath that.

"Do you understand what you're going to do?" he asked. "Do you truly understand what it means to cast the Unforgivables, to want them with every fiber of your soul? Can you do that, when faced with the fluffy, innocent Puffskeins that Moody has doubtless procured for your lesson? Can you do that when faced with a real man?"

Harry leaned into Severus's embrace, slumping so that his forehead rested on his shoulder. "I want to keep you safe," he said, his voice muffled.

Severus tilted his head up and kissed him, a long soul-stealing kiss. "You are my safety, Harry. Knowing that you are good, that there is still something pure and innocent in this world – I need that. Let others take care of Malfoy, don't sully yourself with his murder."

"The Prophecy –"

"Is nothing but superstitious claptrap." Severus kissed Harry again, stifling his protests. "Trelawney was trying to impress Albus and get a job here, and there is nothing more to it than that."

Harry hesitated, and then smiled up at him, twining his fingers in Severus's hair. "That bit you just said, about innocence and safety?"

"Yes?"

"That, my Severus," Harry said, emphasizing the possessive with a kiss, "was really romantic."

"Slytherin persuasive tactics and nothing more. Don't turn giddy and featherbrained."

"Mmm." Harry kissed Severus's neck, slipping a leg between his thighs. "Why don't you show me more of these Slytherin persuasive tactics then – horizontally, maybe?"

He waggled his eyebrows, and Severus turned him around to give him a firm smack on the arse. "You are insatiable. To the bedroom with you, then – it appears that there's nothing else to be done with you."

Severus turned to give the vials of the poison that Harry had brewed a last look before he locked the laboratory wards and followed Harry to his bed.

--------

Severus woke with his Mark burning his arm, pain searing from his skin down through to his bone. He pulled away from Harry, slipping out of the bed, and left him sleeping. He pushed Harry back onto the warm side of the bed and spelled one of the pillows with a heating charm for him. Harry curled around it like a snail, one arm outflung, and snored softly.

The poison was in the lab where they had left it, poison brewed by Harry's hand – Severus slipped the vials into the pocket of his cloak and froze when they clanked against his mask. The sound echoed through the room, and Severus pulled his old Death Eater mask out.

It gleamed in the faint twilight that streamed through the high windows to wreathe his laboratory in shadows, and Severus stared at the shifting patterns of light before putting it on.

He made his way through the wards, pausing on the cusp of them. The mask was cold against his face, and his cloak was warm around his shoulders. He stepped through the gates and into the unwarded space beyond, gathering his will around him and following the pull of his Mark as he Apparated.

Hooded and swathed in dark magic, Voldemort presided over his Death Eaters in a shadowy, rustling forest clearing. They stood clustered around him in a ring, several bent prostrate and writhing with the effects of the Cruciatus. As Severus watched, Voldemort turned to curse another of his servants, and then he saw Severus.

"So, Severus, you have returned to me. Lucius assured me that you were disloyal, but now you are here, though late. You are wearing my regalia as you always have. Is it possible that you were loyal all along?"

Severus fell to his knees before Voldemort, bowing his head and strengthening his shields. "My Lord, I am and always have been loyal to you. If Lucius and I disagreed in your absence, it was because I desired your guidance and wanted to take no action that might displease you."

Voldemort hit him with the Cruciatus Curse, and Severus bit his teeth together, bracing himself for the pain. It hit him and washed through him, searing his nerves and bruising his insides. Severus fought against the agony and caught his breath when he felt it diminish.

Harry was in his mind, steadying and protecting him, shielding him from the pain. I've got you. Writhe on the ground, make it realistic, however you would feel the curse normally.

Severus bit his lip and released a moan, flinging his head back and letting it bang against the hard-packed earth. What are you doing? Harry, get out of here.

And leave you to face this alone? Not a chance, Harry said. Now shut up and pay attention, we'll talk later.

Severus felt the curse through Harry's shield, as though seeing a wavery reflection of it in a lake ruffled with wind, the blurred reflection erased by a sudden cloud. He bit through his lip and spat blood on the ground, feigning the aftershocks of the curse, shaking as he pulled himself back to his knees.

Severus had time to push Harry into a corner of his mind before Voldemort attacked, battering against his shields with brute force Legilimency. Stay silent and stay still, or he will find you and kill us both.

His shields were malleable, fleeting things – like wind over sand, like currents in the water, they shifted, and he met Voldemort's attack. The Dark Lord battered through the shields, feeling them tear and yield to him, and Severus let him in, constantly reforming his shields, hiding his secrets and hiding Harry's presence.

"You are as smooth and slippery as you always were, Severus, but I am convinced of your loyalty. Do not be late in responding to my summons again."

"I will be prompt in the future, my Lord. Thank you for your mercy, Lord."

"Now," Voldemort said, turning to face each of the Death Eaters in the circle. "Now is the time to regroup and plan. I have regained a body, after all the pain and suffering that Potter inflicted on me, and I have retained my faithful servants. Be strong and persevere, my chosen ones – as Severus said, do nothing that will displease me. We will regain our former place in the world, we will have all of our past glory and more, and we will triumph over the wretched and dirty Muggles and all their ilk, but before that can come to pass, we must be careful and patient. Do nothing without my knowledge, do nothing to jeopardize my plans, and in due time, I will reward you all for your faithfulness."

Voldemort paused, his blood-red eyes shining out from under his hood. Severus was pierced by the weight of his gaze, and he shifted and clung to his shields, taking a shuddering breath when the weight was eased. Voldemort's eyes blinked, red turning to dark gray for a moment and then back again to red.

"Go now," he said. "Be ever watchful for any advantage that you may find to further our cause, and report back to me as needed. Severus, stay behind."

Severus bowed before him, pressing his forehead to the ground. "My Lord?"

"You are close to Dumbledore, my faithful Severus. Tell me, what plans has the old fool made? What has he done with Harry Potter?"

"He hid the boy away among the Muggles, my Lord, keeping him safe and ignorant. He never attended Hogwarts – he's no better than a Squib."

Harry shifted in Severus's mind, but he kept silent, sending him a wave of affection and support. Get out, Severus said to him. Get out, you aren't safe here and you're putting me in danger.

Like a soap bubble popping, Harry left his mind, and Severus shivered in the silence, drawing his cloak around him. "Dumbledore is a fool, my Lord, and he underestimates the threat you represent. He's changed the boy's hiding place and made some paltry attempts to train him, but he is in no way ready to stand against you."

"Good. That is excellent news, Severus – I am glad that you secured a place for yourself by Dumbledore's side. You will be my spy there, and tell me everything of import that he does or says. We will triumph over him this time."

Voldemort pushed his hood back, and Severus ducked his head in a bow, but not before he saw the twisted and distorted features of Lucius Malfoy. "He triumphed over us once, with old magic and that wretched spawn of his followers, but we will be the triumphant ones this time. Bring me any news you can of Potter, and he will be made to suffer for the defeat he inflicted on me."

Lucius's lips trembled as he spoke, and his hands clenched and unclenched in the fabric of his robes, his eyes flashing gray. "Severus," he said, his hand outstretched. "I – help our Lord find a new body. I have given mine for the cause, I am not strong enough, I would like to see my wife and son again, I ..."

His mouth stretched in a rictus, harsh and gaping. His lips cracked, a trickle of blood dripping down to his chin. "Severus, you may go now. Remember my instructions."

"My Lord," Severus said, and bowed his head. "If I may have leave to speak?"

Voldemort hit him with a Crucio for his presumption, and the agony sliced through him without Harry there to shield him. The pain was gone before it took hold, Severus shaking as he looked up to see Lucius. The trembling was back, the voice was familiar and not harsh, and the crushing waves of dark magic were gone. "Severus ... I loved you. Always you, never Narcissa, I loved you. I ... you left me. You left me."

The darkness that surrounded Severus, the agony that lingered after the curse – he brushed it all away and rose, walking to Lucius.

A walking dead man, to be killed with the potion brewed by Harry's own hands, to be poisoned by his former lover – "I loved you too," Severus said.

Lucius quavered in the darkness, his features blurring like molten wax, struggling to hold his shape, struggling to take Voldemort's aspect. Severus put his hands on Lucius's shoulders, steadying him, and he leaned forward to murmur in his ear. "I did love you, even if you always did love Narcissa better."

Severus slipped one hand in his pocket, pulling out the vial, and Lucius's features shifted. "What have you there, Severus?"

"A restorative draught, my Lord. You seem unwell, and I wish to strengthen you."

"Blood, Severus – I need blood, fresh from unicorns, to sustain my life. You will bring it to me ... yes, you will bring it to me ..."

Darkness engulfed Severus, the oily-slick taint of Voldemort's magic roiling through his stomach and pricking each nerve. He bit his lip, probing at the soreness there with his tongue, focusing on the pain to hold back the nausea.

His head throbbed with the onslaught, and his fingers shook as he unstoppered the vial. "This will help in the meantime, my Lord ... this will help strengthen you until I can get the unicorn's blood for you."

Voldemort writhed under Severus's touch, his muscles stiff and his tendons jerking, straining against the restraint of Severus's hand. His features melted again, Lucius winning the battle. "Don't trust ... traitor, traitor, Severus."

"Loved you," Lucius said. "I loved you, and you betrayed me, left me for Potter. You never loved me, Severus. You betrayed me."

"I did love you," Severus said, his fingers tightening on Lucius's shoulder – this was comfort for a dying man, this was no betrayal of Harry, this was nothing to roil his stomach and darken his vision. "I loved you, never doubt that. I never betrayed you."

"Don't trust him, Lord. Don't drink his potion. He will betray you. He will betray your cause. You can't trust him, Lord."

"It is a restorative draught and nothing more, Lucius." Severus tipped his head back, and Lucius's features melted, bones and skin shifting and reforming under Severus's fingers.

Lucius's mouth stretched wide, his lips cracking open, his eyes lightening to gray, and Severus did not wait for the struggle to resolve itself. He tipped the vial into Lucius's mouth, pouring the potion down his throat.

He wiped the residue from Lucius's mouth and sealed his lips with a kiss – a last kiss for his lover, a kiss for the Master he had once loved. "A draught to help you," he said. "Only to help you – never doubt my loyalty, never doubt me. Do you not feel revitalized?"

The struggle twisted Lucius's features into Voldemort's, and he gathered large swathes of dark magic to himself. "You presume too much, Severus."

Voldemort glowed with power, his aura crackling with fire and lightning. He stood straighter, his features smoothed without the struggle, his gaunt cheeks full and his eyes clear red. "I do feel better, my Severus. I am infinitely restored, but I will not thank you for it."

He hit Severus with a cutting curse, slicing open the skin over his breastbone. As Severus fell to the ground, doubled over with the pain, he strode over to him, reaching down to dip a finger in the flowing blood. He tasted it, licking his finger clean, and the power soared to a crescendo. Severus was buffeted with darkness, lost in it.

"In the future, you will not give me any potions without my consent," he said, and cast the Cruciatus at Severus.

It was stronger than before, a visible line through the air, a jet of black energy – Severus dodged it, leaping to one side, and Voldemort took aim at him again. "You dare to defy me ..."

The nimbus of dark magic crackled around him, turning inward – drawn there by the potion Harry made. Severus watched as Voldemort toppled, the poison activated by his dark curse. He writhed in its throes, clutching at his throat, his stomach, his heart, and Severus took a deep breath against the pain.

Harry had brewed the potion correctly, had made the poison that was teetering on the edge – enough to revitalize, enough to kill when activated by dark magic. Severus watched Voldemort die, felt the dark magic die to a whimper in the air around him, took a fierce joy in his dying moans.

Voldemort lay sprawled on the ground, still and silent. Neither the struggle nor death had replaced his wretched, distorted face with Lucius's. The wound in Severus's chest still bled, and he clamped a hand over it, staunching the flow with the folds of his cloak.

The cloak bled its magic into him, strengthening him and stopping the flow of blood. Darkness shifted into light, the cloak bearing the brunt of his wounds and steadying him. Woven with the hair of the Muggles he had killed, spelled with his blood and tears and come, bewitched by a mad old woman, it saved him now.

Severus stumbled over to the body, kneeling next to it. He tangled his fingers in Lucius's hair, reaching over to close his eyelids. Without the red eyes, he was almost Lucius, almost Narcissa's husband – his features were twisted and distorted, but he had kept his proud nose, his cornsilk hair, and his high, arched eyebrows. The mouth was not his own, twisted in a death rictus and the red-black blood that oozed from it was not his either. It would take a spell to change him, to restore him – Severus hesitated and then pressed a kiss to Lucius's cheek, leaving him there as he was.

Apparating to the Hogwarts gates, Severus found Harry waiting for him there, wrapped up against the chill and pacing the perimeter of the wards. He turned at the crack of Apparition, and flung himself into Severus's arms, jolting against the closing cut.

"Take care," Severus said. "I'm in no state to be manhandled."

Harry peered up at him, shuddering. He reached up to peel the mask off Severus's face, and looked at it, the metal gleaming in the moonlight. "That thing is disgusting. Oh, Severus ..."

Severus took the mask from him, tucking it back into the pocket of his cloak. He leaned on Harry for support, dizzy from the loss of blood and the overflow of magic.

"Don't you ever do that to me again." Harry clung to him, worming his way inside Severus's cloak. "You told me that you'd be safe, that you wouldn't leave the wards or answer his call, and then ... If you leave me to wake up alone like that again, I swear I'll make you suffer for it."

"Not now, Harry." Severus stopped, Harry having dislodged the last fold of the cloak, and was staring at his hand.

"Blood ... what the hell happened tonight, Severus?"

The wound had reopened without the cloak there, blood staring to flow sluggishly. "Later, Harry. Help me to the infirmary."

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part six