Possessions II

Harry checked his hair in the mirror.

“You look fine, Harry,” Sirius said impatiently.

“Easy for you to say. Your hair doesn’t have a will of its own.” He ran his hands over it, gave it up as a lost cause, and rearranged the folds of his green robe.

“It doesn’t matter now anyway. That interviewer will be here in a few minutes.” Sirius imbued the word ‘interviewer’ with utter scorn. “Explain to me again why you’re doing this.”

Harry sighed. Sirius was still angry about the Daily Prophet article that had outed him and Remus. As if everyone didn’t already know about the two of them. “We’re doing one official interview so that all the other reporters will leave us alone. Otherwise there would be people trying to crash the party all night long. And I don’t want to have to deal with that on my birthday.”

It was bad enough that Sirius and Remus had to arrive even before the interviewer and spend the night helping to ensure that no uninvited person made it through the wards under the pretext of the party.

Harry added, “This way we have final approval of the copy, too.” So they wouldn’t be able to put in any snide remarks about Sev as they had in those other articles.

There was a knock on the door, and Remus put his head in. “Madam Twitterly is here.” He stepped aside and ushered in the Prophet interviewer.

Harry shook her hand. He’d already met her at the Prophet offices. “Good to see you again, Alyson. May I present my godfather, Sirius Black?”

“How do you do?” She looked around, clearly taking in the details of the expansive living room. “Where is Mr Snape?”

As if on cue, Sev walked in. “Shall we begin?” He was in full-blown formal mode, Harry noted, right down to the meticulous layers of his black robes and the starched white cuffs of his shirt. They sat in the chairs Harry had arranged by the fireplace. Remus stayed by the door, and Sirius positioned himself at the side of the room, where he could watch the windows.

Twitterly opened her notepad. “First, let me wish you a happy nineteenth birthday, Harry.”

“Thank you.”

“How do you plan to celebrate?”

“We’ve invited some friends over. A small party.”

“Who’s coming?”

“I’m sorry, I can’t tell you.” He smiled apologetically.

“I couldn’t help but notice that there are some very strong wards up around the house and grounds. Does that have anything to do with the trial? And how do you feel about the delay?”

Sev answered. “Personal security is always a concern. The delay in conducting the trial of the men who attempted to assassinate Mr Potter is, I understand, connected to the Ministry of Magic’s desire to ensure a fair hearing for all involved.”

“They’re also on trial for trying to kill you, Mr Snape. Why didn’t you mention that?”

Snape lifted an eyebrow, but didn’t respond.

“Well, Harry, could you tell us how your business is doing?” The interviewer returned to safer ground, and she and Harry discussed Magical Transitions for a while. “So interesting!” She concluded. “Now, Harry, what our readers really want to know is what Mr Snape gave you for your birthday.”

“I hate to disappoint your readers, Alyson, but I can’t tell you, because I don’t know yet.” He’d already received one of his presents, but didn’t want to share that information. “I am looking forward to the party very much. I’m delighted to be able to share my birthday with my closest friends. Although those who are no longer with us will be greatly missed.” He had met Hagrid for the first time on his birthday, he remembered with a pang.

“Yes, well, moving on... Speaking of presents, you asked admirers not to send you gifts this year. Did you receive many last year?”

God, had he ever. Flowers, homemade cakes, jumpers in a startling variety of colors; gift certificates to optometrists; broom maintenance kits; and many very strange items which seemed to have been made by children in remedial art classes.

“Yes, so this year I’ve asked anyone who feels the desire to send me a present to make a donation instead to the War Survivors Foundation.” And that way Harry wouldn’t have to rent another storage space. He hadn’t been able to bring himself to throw away the ‘art’ projects, and some of them had been quite large.

“What a nice idea.” She sounded bored by it. “Harry, sources say that the Wasps have offered to renew your contract.”

Whoops. He hadn’t told Sev that. “Yes, that’s right.”

“And they fired Winifred Whippet, your old coach, with whom you apparently had some personality conflicts. So will you be delighting Quidditch fans with your daring flying once more?”

“No. The new venture occupies a great deal of my time.” He thought about adding, ‘and Sev occupies the rest of it,’ but resisted the temptation. “I enjoyed most of my time with the Wasps, but that phase of my life is over.”

She scribbled away. “One last question. Harry, Mr Snape, any thoughts of marriage? A commitment ceremony, perhaps?”

He was glad Sev had such a good poker face, otherwise Harry would have burst into laughter. “No.”

“No? Mr Snape, could you elaborate on Harry’s answer?”

Sev quirked his eyebrow again. “Marriage is at its heart a Muggle institution. Why should we, as wizards, imitate it?”

Twitterly was clearly surprised by this answer. “Well, we— we celebrate Muggle holidays such as Christmas and Easter.”

Sev stood up and leaned his arm on the mantelpiece. Lecturing. “We celebrate the pagan rituals on which those Christian holidays are based. The tree, for example, symbolizes the—”

Harry interrupted before Sev could launch into a lengthy disquisition. “Alyson, I think that what Mr Snape is attempting to say is that we’re perfectly happy the way we are.”

“I see.” She turned suddenly to Sirius. “What about you, Mr Black? Any plans to make Mr Lupin an honest werewolf?”

Harry stood up abruptly. “You’re interviewing Mr Snape and me. Not them.”

“Then why are they here?”

That was actually a fair question. “To help with the party. Speaking of which, our guests will be arriving shortly.” Their agreement was that she would leave before anyone else arrived. “I think you have enough material, don’t you?”

She whipped out a camera. “Just a few photos, if you don’t mind.”

He minded, but couldn’t do anything about it. Obediently, he stood next to Sev and let her snap off a few shots.

“Thank you, Harry. Mr Snape. Do enjoy your party.”

Remus escorted her out.

Harry sighed. “Sorry about that, Sirius.”

“No, it’s—” Sirius laughed suddenly. “Sorry. Private joke.” He put his hand on Harry’s shoulder. “But thanks for cutting her off.”

Sev was still standing by the fireplace. He stirred. “I will be quite relieved when all this prurient interest in our private lives dies down.”

Harry rolled his eyes. “Don’t hold your breath. Do you know that I received a request for an interview from ‘Wizards and Wands’? They wanted to shadow us for a day. An entire day!” He really hated being the poster boy for the gay wizarding community.

“No, I didn’t know that. It seems there are many things I don’t know.” Sev folded his arms across his chest.

Shit! “The Wasps only owled me last week. I have no idea how Twitterly found out.”

“The Wasps public relations office probably leaked it,” Sirius suggested.

Sev was still staring at Harry. “Were you going to let me read about it in the Prophet?”

“I didn’t think it was that important!” Harry took a deep breath. “They owled me, I owled back declining the offer, end of story. And it happened last week when you were working late every night. And—” Why was he making all these excuses? “You have plenty of secrets yourself.” Oh hell, that was only marginally better than ‘you started it.’ And Sirius was listening. Harry ran his hand through his hair. “I’m sorry. I probably should have told you.”

“You’re not going to accept?” Sev took a step forward.

Christ, the man really was unbelievable. “No, I’m not going to accept.” He tried to grin, make it a joke. “You’re not getting rid of me that easily.”

The door opened and Remus put his head in before Sev could do anything other than give Harry one of those intense, unreadable looks. “Your guests are starting to arrive.”

“Oh, thanks.” Harry pulled his gaze away from Sev’s. “I’ll ask Zippy to put out the food.” He escaped into the kitchen.

An hour later he was watching Ron work through a plate of miniature savory tarts. “These are delish,” Ron mumbled. “Did Snape lock you in the kitchen all day?”

Recently Ron had begun making disparaging comments about Harry’s relationship with Sev. Harry had hoped that Ron would put a lid on it for the party, but obviously Harry was out of luck there. “No, the house elf did most of the food.” Harry sipped his wine.

“There’s a house elf?” Ron looked about. “I never would have guessed.”

“Yes, he’s the only shy elf in existence. It’s all right if Hermione finds out. We pay him.”

“We? You and Snape?” Ron loaded his plate with more food.

“Well, yes.” Harry looked at his friend. “Severus has been paying Zippy for years.” And strategically ‘leaving’ elf-sized clothing in various parts of the house. “We decided to give him a raise when I moved in. We do share household expenses, you know.”

“Okay, okay. It’s just a bit surprising.” Around a mouthful of Stilton.

“Why? Did you think I was just living off Severus?” He remembered yet again Ron’s comment that living with Snape would be like being a Muggle housewife.

Ron twitched. Oh hell.

“You did. Christ. How many people think that?”

“Well, Harry, you moved into his house— correction: his mansion—” Ron looked about pointedly. “And it’s obvious he’s richer than a dragon. And, you know, the ... circumstances and all.”

“The age difference.” He tried not to be angry with Ron.

“Well, yeah. I mean— so he’s not, you know, paying for everything?” Ron was honestly surprised.

Harry lost the battle with his anger. “He is not keeping me! Christ, Ron, I’m not some kind of fucking pet!”

Ron giggled nervously. “Sorry! Just that— fucking pet. Um...”

If his best friend thought that, what did everyone else think? “Oh, for— I bet you think he tops all the time too, right?”

Ron blushed ferociously. “Harry! Dammit, I don’t want to think about Snape that way!”

“Why not? I mean, you told me all about what Hermione did with the feathers and the—” And Harry really, really had not wanted to know that much about his friends’ sex life.

“Shut up!” Ron looked around, but no one else was nearby. Suddenly he stared at Harry’s arm. “What the hell is that?”

Harry felt the snake moving under his robe. He hadn’t taken it off since the night Sev had given it to him. It was coiling up his arm; before he had a chance to answer Ron, its head peeked out of his collar.

“Harry, there’s something alive in your clothes!” Ron drew his wand.

“No, it’s all right.” The snake slid out and wrapped itself loosely around his neck, above the collar of his robe, and settled there. Harry touched it lightly and found that it had made itself into a necklace by biting its own tail. “It’s charmed to move.”

“Um ... obviously. Let me guess. Present from Snape.”

The fact that it was a snake was probably what gave that little tidbit away. Harry was just glad the snake hadn’t decided to pull this particular maneuver during the interview. “Yes.”

Ron muttered, “It looks like a slave collar.”

Okay, that was enough. Harry turned around and walked away. He ran straight into someone. Parvati.

“Happy birthday, Harry.” She smiled.

“Hi, Parvati. Thanks for coming.” It was still strange to see her without Lavender, who had been another casualty of the war. “How are you doing? Can I get you anything?”

“No, I’m fine. My date is bringing me a drink.” She motioned to the drinks table. Harry caught a glimpse of a tallish man with light brown hair, his back to them, before Parvati went on. “Dean said there’s going to be dancing.”

“Yes, in the entrance hall.” It was a huge foyer, more than enough space for dancing, since they’d only invited about forty people. He checked his watch. “I should see about that. I’ll talk to you later, Parvati.”

She waved him off with a smile. The conversation had helped him tamp down some of his anger with Ron. He felt the snake pulse extremely gently around his neck and smiled involuntarily. Strange to think that an object could be affectionate, but it was. He made his way to the entrance hall and saw Remus standing there, looking through into the study. Harry joined him, and saw that Remus was watching Sev and Sirius. They were consulting a document, talking about it quietly. They didn’t notice their watchers.

“Is that strange for you?” Harry asked, looking at the two dark heads bent together.

“It is what it is.” A typical Remus answer. “It doesn’t matter if it’s strange.” That probably meant yes. “It could be stranger.”

Harry thought, but was stumped. “How?”

“They could have slept together too.”

Remus had a very, very odd sense of humor. “That’s just ... mind-boggling.” Harry paused. “I don’t want to think about that.”

“All right.” Remus smiled slightly. “Are you enjoying your party?”

Except for fighting with his lover and his best friend, he’d been having a blast. “It’s fine. Um... Did Sirius tell you that Sev and I got into it again?”

“He mentioned something, yes.” That meant that Remus had got the blow-by-blow description.

“Sev was angry because he thought I might leave. Without telling him.”

Remus tensed.

“What the hell did you do to him, Remus?” He hadn’t meant to say it quite like that. “Sorry. It’s none of my business.” Except that it was.

“I’d rather not have this conversation in the hall,” Remus said quietly.

“Fine.” Remus had given him an opening, and Harry didn’t plan to let it go. “Let’s go into the kitchen.” He waited until Remus nodded and followed him to the kitchen. Zippy was nowhere in sight; he was probably lurking in the pantry. Harry went to a cupboard and retrieved a bottle of scotch, then poured drinks for the two of them.

Remus downed his in three swallows and refilled his glass. “So. Do you have a question for me?”

Now Harry didn’t quite know where to start. He turned his glass in his hands.

Remus drank again and looked at him. “I believe you wanted to know what the hell I did to Severus.”

Harry flushed and glanced away. “Sorry,” he said again. “It’s just that—”

A sigh. “I know.” Remus paused. “Why were you so ... distraught when you found out that I had been with Severus? You couldn’t have thought that he would— that he wouldn’t have taken any other lovers.”

“No.” Especially not with Harry dating several different people— sometimes simultaneously— his last two years at Hogwarts. “I— it was more to do with—” He sipped his drink and composed himself. “I always thought you and Sirius had this great love story. Met at school, fell in love. And that you waited for him and believed in him while he was in Azkaban, and then he escaped, and you just— started right up again. And were happy.”

“Ah.” Remus clasped his hands together on the table. “So you had some illusions shattered.”

“Yes.” His pretty, romantic notions about love. And his ideas about the way Remus and Sirius’ relationship worked. “You know, I thought that werewolves mated for life.”

Remus snorted. “Sometimes I think about writing a revised DADA text. But the myths can be very useful. Misdirection.”

He didn’t want Remus to change the subject. “But you did go right back to Sirius.”

“Yes. And no. It wasn’t quite so easy to put the pieces back together again.” He added very quietly, “But it was worth it.”

“Worth what you did to Sev?” Harry blurted.

Remus sighed again. “I regret the ... consequences. But when it began, we — I never made him any promises.”

Snape had told Harry once not to make any promises he couldn’t keep. “Can I ask about Sirius? I mean, he was — he’s doing better now with it, but he—” had been furious about Harry and Snape. The fact that Sev and Sirius were having a conversation now suddenly struck Harry as bizarre in the extreme. “What are he and Sev talking about, anyway?” He hadn’t been able to hear, but Remus, with his enhanced senses, probably had.

“I can’t—”

“Tell me, yes, I know.” He was really tired of that. “How many more secrets are the three of you planning to spring on me?”

Remus smiled suddenly. “It’s your birthday, Harry. Just one or two more.”

Oh, right. The reason for this gathering in the first place. It wasn’t actually so he could fight with everyone he cared about. Well, he hadn’t squabbled with Sirius or Hermione yet. He buried his face in his hands. A gentle touch to his shoulder.

Harry looked up. “I’m not jealous or anything, I’d just—” like things to be a little easier. Well, he’d told Sev once that he liked challenges. “Can you tell me anything? That would help me? I mean, it would be really helpful to fucking know why he’s a basket case!” His voice had risen; he made himself calm down. “Please. I know you hate talking about yourself, but— please,” he repeated helplessly.

The strange dark-yellow eyes were hot on his face. “I think you know it already. But all right.” Remus finished his drink. “Being back at Hogwarts that year was— difficult. Severus ... helped me survive. I never— well, you know. He knew that. Knew it wouldn’t ever happen.” He paused. “You might want to think about why Severus wanted to be with someone who couldn’t ... reciprocate.”

Harry drank his scotch. He could tell that that was as much information as he was going to get out of Remus. Nothing new there, really. “Okay. Thank you.”

“Harry, are you angry with me?”

He shook his head. “No. Smell me if you like,” he invited. Sirius had told him once that he enjoyed it when Remus smelled his emotions. Harry found it vaguely unsettling, but it seemed appropriate now.

Remus leaned forward and sniffed delicately. “Hm.”

“What is it?” The only advantage was that hearing his emotions from someone else was like free therapy.

“Oh, resignation. Anger.” Remus sniffed again. “It’s a diffuse anger. So I believe that you’re not upset with me in particular. Um, love. Anxiety. And hope. Are you thinking about Severus?”

Harry nodded. He caught sight of the clock on the kitchen wall; it read, ‘Time to dance!’ “Bloody hell!” He sprang to his feet. “The dancing!” He registered that he’d been hearing music for a few minutes now as he rushed to the foyer. “Shit!” He should never have let Amaryll organize this section of the evening.

Behind him, Remus was laughing. “I haven’t seen a disco ball in years!”

Harry looked about. People did seem to be enjoying themselves. The glitter was going to be hell to clean up, though. He saw Hermione dancing with Amaryll. It still surprised him that they liked each other. No Ron. Harry told himself that he didn’t care. Amaryll caught sight of him and waved him over. When he arrived at her side, she kissed him as if she hadn’t seen him in weeks, just as she had when she’d come in several hours earlier.

“Harry! Happy birthday!” She was high on something, he realized. He glanced at Hermione, who shrugged. “Harry, why won’t you let us sing to you?” Amaryll draped herself around his neck.

“No singing,” he said firmly. He looked around for a distraction. “Have you met Dean?” He beckoned Dean over and transferred Amaryll to him. “Dean’s an excellent dancer.” And Amaryll was Dean’s type. Everyone was Amaryll’s type, so Harry didn’t bother to worry about that. He left them to it. Hermione followed him to the side of the room.

“Harry? Are you doing all right? Ron said you had an argument about the house elf.” She sounded puzzled.

Harry shook his head. “We argued, but it was— he said some things about me and Severus.” He paused. “That’s been going on for a while. About a month, I’d say. So I was tired of it.”

She sighed. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault, Herm. I just don’t understand. I mean, when I told the two of you about Severus, he seemed all right with it. Why has he started—” Making extremely rude comments about Harry’s love life. “Insulting me?”

She looked around. “I think it’s— well, the Ministry had to impose a salary freeze. So he’s not going to have a pay rise this year. And it’s partly because, um, the Ministry is running out of money because of the expense of mounting the trial.”

“Does he blame me for that?”

“No, but you know how he is about money. And then when you brought me in as a partner ... Well, I’m earning more money than he is.” She shrugged. “He needs to get over it. I think at some level he thought I’d be just like his mother. Stop working and have kids. I loved Molly, but that’s not my life.”

It was hard to imagine anyone less like Molly Weasley than Hermione.

She patted his arm. “Don’t worry so much, Harry. Why don’t you dance or something? Where’s Snape?”

Excellent question. “I don’t know. I suppose I’d better find him before it turns out that he’s blasting some unsuspecting guest.” He smiled to show that it was a joke, and walked away, extending his magical sense. He ‘felt’ the assembled presences; a brief flash of something or someone not quite right, but that was most likely just someone who had had too much to drink. Sev was in the living room. Harry walked in and saw him standing by the fireplace, talking with Remus. Correction: Remus was talking and Sev was listening intently, nodding occasionally. Harry wandered over to the drinks table and poured himself a scotch.

“Harry?” It was Parvati. “This is a beautiful house. I’d really like to look around a bit more.”

He tried to phrase the refusal tactfully. “We’d prefer not to have people in our private rooms.” They had put up wards on the stairs to prevent people from wandering either up or downstairs. Parvati had probably already encountered them. She was insatiably curious about other people’s belongings.

“Oh, but surely if you were with me, Professor Snape wouldn’t mind.”

What made ‘we’ turn into ‘he’? Harry gave up the struggle to be polite. “Perhaps not, but I’d mind.”

She stared at him for a second. “You’re serious.”

He nodded. He saw Sirius near the window; they made eye contact for a second. Sirius began making his way across the room, but before he reached Harry, Parvati smiled. “That’s too bad. I would have enjoyed seeing some of the architectural details. Thanks anyway.” She sauntered off.

“What is it?” Sirius asked.

“Oh, she was being nosy.” He sipped his scotch.

Sirius was looking at Harry’s neck. “That’s ... an interesting piece.” Amazingly, he didn’t say anything else.

Harry suddenly remembered the question Remus had avoided answering earlier. “Um— thanks, I think. Hey, Sirius?”

“Yes?” Sirius was looking at Remus.

“I want to ask you something. Are you— are you still angry with me? About Sev?” That wasn’t quite what he’d wanted to ask, but it seemed a safer approach to his real question.

“Oh. That.” Sirius glanced back at Harry. “That was ... I wasn’t angry with you. It was— it had to do with—” Sirius swallowed. “Don’t ever be jealous.” He was staring at Remus and Sev again.

“Oh. Um, all right.”

“No, I mean it. Just— don’t.” Sirius dragged in a deep breath, then gave a smile that was only half-forced. “Let’s go over and talk to them.”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Harry decided to let Sirius change the topic.

“Yes.” A grin, whole-hearted now. Oh, this was something to do with his birthday. He walked over to Sev and Remus, followed by Sirius.

“Now, Harry,” Sirius began, “we know that you requested no presents this year.”

“Um ... right.” He hadn’t meant no presents at all!

“So,” Remus took up, “we’re doing this instead.” He handed Harry a scroll.

Harry unfurled it cautiously, half-expecting it to explode in his face, but nothing happened. He read it. Then read it again. “Oh. Oh, wow. Oh.” Sirius and Remus had endowed a scholarship to Hogwarts for a needy child. The James and Lily Potter Scholarship. “Oh, this is—” He hugged Sirius fiercely, then Remus. “Thank you!” That must have been what Sirius was showing Sev in the study.

“So it’s all right that we’re not giving you something?” Sirius asked.

“This is the best present I could ever have received,” Harry said as sincerely as possible. Sirius’ question had been an obvious tip-off. “Far better than mere material possessions.” He smiled innocently. Sev was standing at his shoulder; Harry wanted to lean against him, but resisted. A lot of people had apparently decided to take a break from the dancing and were watching them.

“Oh. Well then, Remus and I will keep the other thing we got for you.”

Harry waited.

“Yes, we’ll enjoy it very much, won’t we, Moony?”

“Oh, of course we will.” Remus rolled his eyes. “It’s something we really need, too.”

“Really, Sirius,” Harry said, “just the privilege of being your godson is a wonderful gift that I cherish daily. What more could I possibly want?” Another innocent smile.

Remus laughed. “Just give him the present, Sirius, otherwise you’ll have far too much to live up to.”

Sirius sighed and produced a package with a flourish. “Happy birthday, Harry.”

Harry sat down on the sofa to open it. As he did so, it burst into a shower of red and gold confetti; each piece was yelling ‘Happy birthday’ in a shrill little voice. Damn! He should have known. “Sirius!”

Sirius laughed.

Harry brushed confetti out of his hair and cautiously put his hand inside the box. He pulled out the object he found there. “Oh, perfect.” It was the boxed set, in hardcover, of the Wizard of Earthsea trilogy, which he had first read at their house three years ago. “I’ve always loved these. My copies were ... lost.” He’d left them at the Burrow, which had been attacked by Death Eaters and nearly destroyed. In light of the fact that Molly and Fred had been killed attempting to defend their home, Harry had forgotten all about his books. He made himself look up and smile; Sirius patted his shoulder. “Thank you.”

“Professor Snape! What are you giving Harry?” Oh god, it was Amaryll. Ron was standing next to her and Dean.

Harry stood up. “Amaryll, did you leave the music on? What’s playing?” Perhaps he could distract her. He didn’t think Sev would want to make his gift a public presentation.

“Excellent question, Miss Canasta. I have Harry’s present right here.” Sev’s smoky voice sent a little shiver down Harry’s spine. If he could just work out how the man did that. He looked up, into Sev’s face. “Harry,” Sev said very quietly. He lifted his hand and touched Harry’s hair lightly, his scar, his cheek. Harry’s heart started pounding. “Harry? Your present?”

Oh, he’d been off in Sev land, looking into those dark eyes. He took the proffered box and pulled the top off. “Oh....” He set the box down on the sofa and lifted out a dragonhide cloak, lined in heavy black silk with dark green trim.

Sev took it out of his hands, settled it around Harry’s shoulders, and fastened the silver clasp at his neck. He stepped back and looked at Harry. “Yes,” he said with satisfaction.

Over Sev’s shoulder Harry could see Sirius, blue eyes wide, clearly a little astounded by this extravagant present. Oh no, Ron. Harry glanced sideways and saw Ron turning away, saw Hermione try to talk to him. Ron brushed her off and left the room. Harry wrenched his attention back where it belonged, on Sev, who was giving him another intent look. Harry swirled his cloak about him dramatically. It was surprisingly light and comfortable. And he hadn’t even said—

“Thank you. It’s wonderful.” He grinned. Sev seemed to have recovered from his earlier anger, judging by the look on his face. “It will go beautifully with those leather trousers. In fact—” He unbuttoned his robe rapidly and slipped it off. “What do you think?” Under his robe he was wearing the black leather trousers that Sev liked so well and a white shirt. He flapped the cloak again.

Sev stepped closer, leaned in, and whispered in Harry’s ear. “You don’t want me to say what I think in front of all these people.” He brushed a swift kiss over Harry’s cheek before pulling away.

Harry’s heart was thundering now. Sev had never been so demonstrative in public, or at least not in front of people who knew who they were. “Thank you,” he said again when he was sure that he could control his voice. He took the cloak off and folded it carefully. “I’ll put this away.”

Sev followed him out of the room, back into the hall where Amaryll had cranked up the music again, and up the stairs. Halfway up the stairs, almost at the point where the stairs curved around and they would be out of sight of the crowd below, Harry felt his snake heat up. He pulled out his wand discreetly. Sev looked at him inquiringly and Harry touched the snake lightly to indicate that it had sent him a warning. Sev nodded, taking out his own wand, and they went up a few more stairs.

Someone was standing there, back to them, in front of the wards they’d set up. Working at taking the wards down. “Stupefy!” Sev said. The man fell like a stone and would have cracked his head open on the stairs if Harry hadn’t leapt forward and caught him.

The man’s features blurred suddenly, re-formed. Clearly he had been using some sort of glamour which had faded when he lost consciousness. They stared at him. He looked vaguely familiar, but Harry couldn’t place him. Light brown hair, blue eyes... The snake squeezed him a little too hard and Harry gasped.

“He was at that club,” Sev said abruptly. “He danced with you.”

Oh, right. And the snake had heated up then too. “What’s he doing here? I didn’t know he was a wizard. He didn’t have that feel.” The man must have been hiding his magical abilities in the club.

“I don’t know, but someone is bound to look for him. I suggest that I wait here with our new friend while you alert Black and Lupin.”

Harry pondered. “I could wait in the hall to see who goes up the stairs. I’ll pretend to dance.”

Sev nodded. Harry went up the rest of the stairs and put his new cloak away in their bedroom. He ran back down, touching Sev’s arm as he passed him, and went in search of Remus and Sirius. Remus was standing near the front door; Harry pulled him into a corner. The music covered their conversation as he explained what Sev and he had discovered. Remus went off to tell Sirius while Harry melted into the crowd, dancing energetically and watching the stairs.

“Great party, Harry!” Dean, with Amaryll still attached to him.

Harry smiled. He scanned the room quickly; no sign of Ron or Hermione. Perhaps Ron was being jollied out of his monumental sulk. No one was moving toward the stairs—no, there was someone. Someone who— someone he didn’t recognize? That wasn’t right. His snake was warm again. Harry danced his way closer to the foot of the stairs. He tried to look at the person, but found his gaze sliding away. Oh, an Eluding Charm. There was a touch to his arm; Sirius.

“You deal with that,” Sirius whispered. “Remus and I will keep an eye on things down here.”

“Right.” If he concentrated very hard, he could ‘see’ past the Eluding Charm and keep track of the person using it, although he still couldn’t tell who it was. He followed the presence carefully, trying to stay well back.

“Harry? Can I talk to you?” Ron’s timing, as usual, was horrific.

“Not now,” he said into Ron’s ear. “Something’s going on.”

The music was suddenly much louder, and Ron had to shout back. “What is it?”

Harry resorted to mouthing his next words. “Can’t tell you.” He shifted his eyes to where the person was trying to Elude him. Damn! The person was making his way up the staircase. Harry pushed Ron aside and followed quickly. The other person was almost to the landing before Harry caught up. Whoever it was had to know he was being followed, but kept going. The stairs curved around and the person stopped with a hiss of surprise when he saw Sev standing with the Stupefied man lying awkwardly on the stairs.

“Revelato!” Harry commanded, and the Eluding Charm disintegrated. And then, in surprise: “Parvati?!”

She was trapped between him and Sev, and she knew it. “Oh, I’m sorry. I was just looking for my friend, and I knew you didn’t want people going upstairs, so I thought—”

“Miss Patil, you may have forgotten that I was never fond of your babbling. Much has changed since you were my student but that, I regret to inform you, has not.” Sev looked at Harry. “Shall we take this off the staircase?”

“Good idea. But Parvati was very interested in the first floor earlier. I’d rather not satisfy her curiosity.” On the other hand, if they went downstairs, they’d have to deal with questions from the guests.

“I’ll turn the music off.” Harry hadn’t even noticed that Ron had followed him. Very alert, Potter. “I can— um, I’ll tell everyone to go into the living room.”

“Thanks, Ron.”

Ron clapped him on the shoulder before running back down the stairs. Sev and Harry waited on the stairs; they heard the music cut off, heard Ron urging everyone into the living room “so we can grab Harry and sing ‘Happy Birthday’ to him whether he likes it or not.”

After a few minutes Remus came up the stairs. “All clear.”

Sev levitated the Stupefied man while Harry and Remus steered Parvati down the stairs and into the study. Remus locked the door behind him while Harry found Parvati’s wand and put it aside.

“Now, Miss Patil. Perhaps you could tell us who your friend is.” Sev lowered the stranger, none too gently, to the floor. “Don’t bother to lie.”

“Can I at least sit down?”

Sev glared at her. Harry watched with pleasure as she flinched visibly. “No.” Sev, on the other hand, sat in the chair behind his desk. “Answer the question.”

She swallowed. “His name is Martin. Martin Carmichael. He’s a reporter.”

Harry let himself relax slightly. “What paper does he work for?”

“Free lance.”

“When and how did you meet him?” Sev asked. Keeping the interviewee off-balance. Harry remembered what a superb interrogator Sev had always been.

Parvati shifted. “Um... in a— in a restaurant. About three weeks ago.”

One of Sev’s eyebrows lifted. “Would you like to try that one again?”

Harry saw her wipe her palms on her robe. “That’s the truth.”

“Miss Patil.” The threatening purr, which meant— “It has been a very, very long time since I have heard such a blatant falsehood. The last person to lie to me in such a fashion is dead. Now, answer the question!” The roar.

A little too late, Harry cast a silencing charm around the room.

Parvati’s voice shook. “I met him two months ago. In a club.” She named it; it wasn’t the one where Harry and Sev had encountered him. “We’ve been dating since then.”

“He tried to pick me up a month ago. What do you know about that?” Harry asked.

“Um...” She darted a nervous glance at Sev. “He said he wanted to see if— you know. If you and Professor Snape were as ... close as people were saying.” To see if Harry would cheat on Sev, in other words.

“And you didn’t mind that?”

“Oh, he wouldn’t have gone through with it.”

Harry had his own ideas about that. The man had shown genuine interest. He grinned at Parvati. “Are you sure?” Keeping her off-balance still. “What were you two trying to do here tonight?”

“Look around. See what we could find out. Martin was hoping to write something for Witch Weekly or Wizards and Wands.”

Sev pointed his wand at Carmichael. “Ennervate!”

The man’s eyes opened and he blinked several times before attempting to sit up. Harry put his foot on Carmichael’s chest and pushed him back down. “Stay there. Tell us what you’re doing here.”

The man glanced at Parvati, who nodded. “I wanted to write a story. The tabloids are offering fifty Galleons for a piece on the house. A hundred for anything about the birthday party.”

Christ, maybe they should just move to Australia. Another thought occurred to Harry. “Take off your robe and empty your pockets.”

Carmichael squirmed out of his robe and handed it to Harry, who investigated it thoroughly. A wand and a notepad scribbled over with descriptions of the house, the guests, the music, the food. “Your pockets.”

Reluctantly Carmichael emptied his pockets. Harry confiscated the camera he found. They questioned him; the rest of the man’s story squared up with what Parvati had said.

“Now,” Sev said thoughtfully, “what shall we do with our intruders?”

“We haven’t done anything illegal,” Parvati said defiantly.

“Don’t split hairs with me, Miss Patil.” Sev stood up and walked around his desk, towering over her. “You brought someone to our house under false pretenses. You attempted to gain access to our private quarters. As I am sure you know, Mr Potter has many contacts at the Ministry of Magic. We can arrange to have you and your friend detained. The holding cells at the Ministry do not begin to compare to Azkaban, but I can assure you, they are not pleasant places. And I would be delighted to make an example of you so that this unfortunate experience is not repeated by other would-be sightseers.”

Harry had never noticed how unattractive Parvati was when her mouth hung open like that. He decided to take advantage of her discomfort. “Why did you go along with Carmichael, anyway? For the money?”

She stared at him. “The money? No.”

“Then why? I thought—” That they were friends, despite the Yule Ball disaster in their fourth year.

She read his mind. “Did you think we were friends, Harry? Perhaps we were, once. But—” As if the words were pouring out of her and she couldn’t stop. “You lived. Again. My sister didn’t. My best friend didn’t. Nothing happened to you. You came out of the final battle covered in glory and no one cared about Padma or Lavender. Oh, there were those speeches the Ministry gave about the victims. But Padma and Lavender weren’t victims! They fought! They shouldn’t have been lumped together with those Muggles Voldemort blasted for sport!” She fought for breath. “But no one noticed what they did. And then you made that stupid call for donations to the War Survivors’ Foundation. Too little, too late.”

Harry’s hands were shaking, he noticed. “Parvati...”

“Don’t you dare tell me you’re sorry.” She looked at Sev. “Do whatever you want, Professor Snape. I don’t care.” She sat down in the chair in front of the desk and folded her arms over her chest.

By the door, Remus stirred. “May I make a suggestion? Contact Twitterly. Tell her that you caught a couple of intruders and dealt with them summarily. It will make a nice addition to her story, and it will publicize the fact that people can’t break in here. You don’t need to release their names. We’ve been in here for twenty minutes; your other guests will work it out. It will all come out soon enough and the rumor mill will spread it.” He paused. “We can Apparate them to the Ministry’s main office without their wands. They’ll have an uncomfortable night there until someone lets them out in the morning.”

Harry really liked Remus’ devious streak. Sev gave an approving nod as well, then added, “Publish anything about this and I will not bother with the legal niceties of prosecution before I exact punishment. Is that clear?”

Parvati and Carmichael both nodded.

Remus stepped forward and put his hand on Parvati’s shoulder before Apparating her. Harry watched as she vanished from under Remus’ hold. He’d been amazed the first time Sirius had shown him how to do that. Sometimes he thought he’d learned more from the two of them than in most of his Hogwarts classes put together. Then Remus did the same thing to Carmichael.

There was a brief pause. “That wasn’t so bad,” Harry said, determined to be cheerful. “Oh damn. There’s a roomful of people waiting to sing to me.”

Remus laughed. “You’ve already been showered with screaming confetti. What’s a little more humiliation?” He unlocked the door. The hall was still empty.

Harry steeled himself and entered the living room. At first no one noticed his entrance; apparently they’d all been entertaining themselves by drinking. Then the ‘singing’ started.

Harry had been amused the first time he heard wizards singing “Happy Birthday”. As with the Hogwarts Song, there was no set tune. By now what he had found funny at age eleven was excruciating. He stood by the door, a fake smile pasted on his face, until the last person finished. Of course it was Sirius, who had chosen “Onward Christian Soldiers” as his particular tune.

The last note trailed off.

“Now I need a drink,” muttered Sev.

“Agreed.” Harry followed Sev to the drinks table. He accepted the glass Sev handed him. “I’m going to talk with Ron.”

His friend was sitting on the sofa with Hermione.

“Thanks for clearing everyone out, Ron.” He sat on Ron’s other side. “Sorry I couldn’t talk to you before.”

“Er, yeah.” Ron seemed uncomfortable. He always did hate apologizing. “Um ... remember fourth year? When we weren’t talking?”

“Yeah.” He drank some scotch.

“Can we do that now?”

Hermione rolled her eyes.

“Not talk?”

“No, you know, the other thing. Afterwards.”

Harry untangled this. “Oh, you mean—” When they’d decided to be friends again without hashing it all out, the way Hermione had wanted them to. “Sure.” He grinned. “Forget it.” As he had said back then.

“Brilliant!” Ron grinned back. He stage-whispered, “Is Hermione crying yet?”

Harry made a show of peering around his friend. “No. Dry as a bone.”

“That’s because I’m not fourteen any more, you gits! Although you two still act as if you are.” But she was smiling.

“Right, well, if you don’t mind leaving with a fourteen-year-old, I think we should go home.” Ron stood up. “Snape looks as if he’s ready for the party to break up. And so does Harry.”

Harry tried to protest, but it had been a surprisingly long evening. Ron and Hermione’s exit sparked a general exodus. At length Harry said goodbye firmly to Amaryll, who had been taken charge of by Dean, and closed the floo behind them. He collapsed onto the sofa next to Sev. Sirius and Remus were inspecting the house once more, just in case someone or something had managed to slip past the wards despite all their precautions.

“Thanks for my party.” Harry yawned suddenly.

“You’re welcome. I regret the contretemps.” Sev put his arm around Harry’s shoulder.

“Which one?” Oops. Perhaps he’d had too much to drink. “No, I mean— you couldn’t know that we’d be invaded by newshounds.”

“Mm.” Sev kissed the top of his head. “That as well.”

An actual apology. Only the second one he’d ever heard from Sev. He wanted to climb onto his lap, but Sirius and Remus would be back in the room at any moment. “That’s all right.” He yawned again. “Oh, sorry. It’s not the company.”

“I should hope not.” Sev put his hand on the snake, still wrapped around Harry’s throat, and stroked it gently. It stirred and slid down Harry’s arm until it settled around his bicep, where it usually stayed.

There was a knock on the door and they separated before Sirius and Remus came in. “It’s clean,” said Remus. “We’ll Apparate home now.”

“Thank you for everything.” Harry got up and hugged each of them. They said good night politely to Sev and vanished with that faint sense of vacuum that always accompanied Apparition.

Harry sighed. “What an evening.” He headed out of the room and up the stairs, Sev following him. He paused on the landing where he had Revealed Parvati.

Sev touched his shoulder. “Are you thinking about what she said?”

The man’s ability to read Harry was uncanny. “Yes.”

Sev turned him so that they were facing each other. “Don’t feel guilty for surviving.”

Sev would know about surviving. And about guilt. “But I— I made decisions that killed people. And I got off scot-free. Just like Parvati said.” He pulled away from Sev and continued up the stairs.

“You also took actions that saved people’s lives.”

“I know. I know about how it all balances. The end justifies the means. You don’t need to—” They were in the bedroom now, and he sat down on the bed to remove his shoes. “I don’t need the speech on ethics. I just—” He shrugged. “Sometimes it doesn’t seem right. And people do think what she said.”

Sev was unbuttoning his robes. “I never agreed with Albus on that.”

“On what?” Harry had learned that there were many things Sev disliked about Dumbledore.

“He wanted you to be the public face of the war effort. The figurehead, in a way.” Sev hung up his robes and shirt. “You received the credit, but also the blame. I always thought that that was too much to put on your shoulders. You took responsibility for decisions that others made.” He stepped out of his shoes.

Harry had never thought about it that way. “Well, at the time I didn’t really care. You know, I thought I would die in the last battle.”

“Mm. I feared that as well. My reckless, headstrong boy.” Said as an endearment.

“Did you— did you think of me like that? Back then?” Harry folded his trousers and put them away, then slid under the covers. //My boy.// Somehow it didn’t bother him as much now when Sev referred to him as a boy.

“Yes.” Sev joined him, touched his scar. “I tried not to. But...” A light kiss.

Harry yawned. “Oh, sorry.”

“No need to apologize. It’s been a long evening.” Sev blew out the lamps with a wave of his hand. He whispered, “I for one am very glad you survived.”

Harry curled around him and fell asleep, comforted by the warmth of his lover’s body, the sound of his steady breathing.

... He was in a large meeting room, talking with a group of people. Dimly he saw Malfoy at the periphery of the room. He rose and left the room and found himself stretched out on a beach, warming himself in the sun. Flower petals fell over him and a small cat nudged him. No, a snake. No, a—

Harry woke up. Something soft/hard was still nudging his thigh. They had left the curtains open and in the faint moonlight he could see that Sev’s eyes were shut, his face relaxed in sleep. Sev stirred slightly, pressed against Harry; a more insistent nudge. Harry grinned in the darkness and reached down to stroke the erection pushing against his leg.

“Mm...” A sleepy murmur. Sev buried his face in Harry’s neck. “If this is a dream, don’t wake me.” Harry felt a warm wet kiss to his throat.

“Who are you dreaming of?” Harry whispered, bringing his free hand to caress Sev’s chest.

Another kiss to his throat, this one followed by a little bite. “A certain insatiable nineteen-year-old.” Long fingers trailed down Harry’s spine, delved into his cleft. “Who has not yet celebrated his birthday appropriately.”

Harry pinched a taut nipple and put his leg over Sev’s thighs, rubbing their erections together. “Do you plan to remedy that unfortunate situation?” Strange how sometimes now he sounded just like Sev.

“Most certainly.” Sev bit his neck again and moved his hand lower to cup Harry’s balls. He played with them, squeezing them lightly and touching the sensitive skin all around them, until Harry thought he would come just from that alone, and from Sev sucking that tender spot at the base of his throat. His hand on Sev’s prick slowed down as he was distracted by the amazing sensations spreading out from his testicles. Only his thumb still made lazy circles over the wet head. Then the warm mouth was sliding down to his chest, sucking his nipples, while the clever hand kept teasing his balls.

Harry managed to pull away for a moment. He reached into the bedside table and fumbled for the lubricant, opened the tube and, reluctantly taking Sev’s hand away from him, oiled the long fingers. The hand returned eagerly to his arse and the slick fingers rubbed over and around his hole gently. Harry lifted his head, kissing Sev deeply as he took hold of the leaking prick again. One finger began entering him with excruciating slowness, slipping in slightly, withdrawing, and pressing in, over and over until it was fully inside him. Sev kept it there, unmoving, as he kissed Harry.

Harry wrenched his lips away. “You could go faster.” He squirmed, trying to force the finger in and out. “Please.”

“Oh?” The finger wiggled slightly. Harry gasped. The finger withdrew and slid back in. “Like this?”

“Faster,” mumbled Harry. He squeezed Sev’s erection, pumped it at the speed he wanted the finger to go. Obediently the finger moved in and out more rapidly.

“Anything else you’d like?”

“Just—” He moaned as Sev bit his earlobe. “More.”

Another finger started penetrating him, stroking him, stretching him. He threw the covers off and murmured, “lumos” he wanted to see his lover, see that pale skin against the paler sheets, see the desire in the dark eyes. He felt the pair of fingers open carefully, twisting inside him. He was desperate for more.

The hot tongue was flickering over his ear, his neck, his lips. “Yes?”

“Oh god, yes.” Harry pushed his cock against the flat belly. Sev pulled his fingers out and rolled them so that Harry was on top. Harry moved up Sev’s body a little, felt the heavy erection pressing into the cleft of his arse, and wiggled against it. He groped about on the sheets until he found the tube. Reaching back with a palmful of lubricant, he stroked the waiting cock; Sev arched into his hand with a gasp. Sev’s hands rested on his hips, almost burning him with their heat. Harry loved the way those hands felt on his body, against his skin. He lifted up and lowered himself onto Sev’s prick, taking it in in one gradual, steady movement. Once again Harry was amazed at how good it felt, how he couldn’t have enough of Sev; he had thought that after they had been together for a couple of months that intense desire would abate. To say that he was glad it hadn’t was putting it mildly.

Underneath him Sev was still, waiting, watching. Harry began moving up and down, guided by the hot hands gripping him tightly. He fondled his own nipples, stroked down over his stomach and grabbed his prick. Sev moaned and thrust up into him, forcing himself in even deeper. Harry sighed with pleasure, then gasped as one of Sev’s hands left his hip and moved once again to his balls, petting them delicately, a light tease. He pulled himself up, shoved down hard, over and over.

Sev was gasping quietly. Harry realized that he was whispering; he leaned closer. “Yes,” he heard. “Yes, yes, yes ...” Harry squeezed his arse deliberately around the thick erection. “Oh, that’s—” The hand on his balls became insistent, traveling up to stroke Harry’s prick as Sev thrust up into him repeatedly. “Harry...”

Abruptly it was all too much. The cock inside him, sending shocks of delight through him with every stroke; the warm hand covering his on his own cock, pulling pleasure out of him; and the smoky voice whispering his name— Harry convulsed in sudden ecstasy as his climax ripped through him and he shot over Sev’s stomach and chest. Sev pushed up once more and then Harry felt the hot come spilling inside him, saw the black eyes half-close in pleasure.

Harry let himself fall forward, resting on Sev’s body. Gradually the other man slid out of him. Harry kissed his lover warmly, then fell to the side. After a moment he rolled over, grabbed his wand, and cast a cleaning charm over the two of them.

Sev pulled him into his arms. “Happy birthday.”

“Yes, it did just improve immensely.” He kissed him again. “Thank you.”

A lazy chuckle. “I think I should be thanking you.”

“Let’s just lie here in mutual gratitude and admiration, then.”

Sev ran his fingers through Harry’s hair. “Another fine idea.” The fingers slid down his shoulder, touched the snake on his arm. It pulsed gently.

“You really like that, don’t you? Having your mark on me.” The words fell out before he could censor them.

But Sev didn’t react as Harry expected. He stroked the snake again. “Yes. And you enjoy wearing it.”

Since he hadn’t removed it since he’d received it, that was fairly obvious. “Yes.”

“Good.” A kiss. “Nox.” In the darkness, Sev said, “Perhaps I’ll have another dream.”

Harry laughed. “We can but hope.”

“You know I don’t like it when you cast aspersions on my ... prowess.”

“Did I say something snarky? Goodness, I wonder who I learned that from.”

A sigh. “You could have learned to stopper death, but no, you learned sarcasm. What strange priorities you young people have.”

Harry drew in a breath to speak, but was silenced by a kiss. “Go to sleep, Harry. You can share your witty comeback with me in the morning.”

He decided to let Sev have the last word after all. “Okay.” Once more he fell asleep, wrapped in his lover’s arms.

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