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FIC: On a Sure Foundation, Part 4
Title: On a Sure Foundation
Rating: NC17
Pairings: Godric Gryffindor/Salazar Slytherin, Albus Severus Potter/Scorpius Malfoy, Harry Potter/Severus Snape
Warnings: DH canon compliance...to a point, hurt/comfort, frottage, wanking, bloodplay (of sorts), sex magic, orgasm denial, cock ring, rimming, object insertion, semi-public sex, mild bondage, spanking, and unauthorized shenanigans in the Library.
Summary: In Albus Severus Potter's Seventh Year at Hogwarts, he discovered something magical, something scary and exhilarating, something he isn't sure he can tell anyone else about-- oh, and that odd manuscript of Salazar Slytherin's was kind of neat, too...
Notes: This was written as a gift for themostepotente, for merry_smutmas 2007.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3



Harry stretched luxuriantly on the bed of soft pelts and smiled when his hand brushed a long, lean leg. He opened his eyes and saw Severus sitting on the edge of the bed, watching him.

"When did you return?" he asked.

"Just now," Severus replied. "And none too soon, to judge from your indolence."

"Indolent, am I?" Harry grinned and rose up onto his knees. "Come here and let me show you how indolent!"

Severus rose and stripped off his boots. Harry reached for the lacings of his leather trews and pulled them free, then slid the soft leather down Severus's long legs. He undid the wrist ties of his leather jerkin and unlaced it as well, then slid the fine linen shirt off his lover's shoulders, until Severus stood before him clad only in thin linen drawers.

Harry smiled and pulled him forward onto the bed. Severus quirked an eyebrow, but complied, and Harry reached for the black ribbon that bound back his hair, pulled it free and carded his fingers through the long, glossy black mass. He raked it back from Severus's brow and asked, "Did you miss me?"

"I was hardly gone long enough to miss you," Severus answered, but he smiled nonetheless and pulled Harry close for a kiss. Their tongues slid against one another and their teeth grated briefly as the kiss deepened.

Harry pushed him onto his back, and reached down to untie the fastening of his drawers, then pull them away and toss them aside. "Now, lest you call me indolent again, I shall do all the work!"

Severus snorted, but lay obediently still as Harry retrieved a small flask of oil and annointed his fingers. He rose up on his knees and reached down with glistening fingertips to probe at his arsehole, then slide his fingers in, preparing himself.

Severus caught his breath at the sight of Harry, eyes closed, thrusting his fingers in and out, his lovely cock already hard as he readied himself for Severus. His own cock twitched and began to fill, until it stood at full readiness, waiting for attention.

At last, Harry opened his eyes and poured more oil into his palm, then slicked it over Severus's rampant erection. He straddled Severus and moved forward, brushing the head of Severus's cock all along his belly and his own cock and bollocks, until it was where he wanted it. He rose up higher on his knees, then took Severus in hand, aligned cock to hole and sat down.

Severus gasped at the intensity of it. Harry grinned and clenched his arse tightly on Severus's cock, then eased the pressure and began to move up and down, fucking himself on Severus as he stroked his own cock. Severus attempted to thrust up into Harry, but Harry held him down firmly and drove the pace alone, until Severus was gasping and swearing and shouting as he came. Harry stroked himself a few more times, then his cock spasmed and he spattered them both liberally with come.

Harry woke with his hand on his prick, still coming all over himself. He swore mildly and cast a cleaning charm, then got out of bed. It was late enough to be up, he decided, especially since the kids were due home for the winter hols today.

He got dressed and made himself some tea and toast, then, as usual, he headed for the study and sat down for a chat with Severus.

"Good morning," he said cheerfully, ignoring the odd sense of guilt and shame that niggled at him. Severus turned in his photograph and nodded almost pleasantly.

"The kids are due home today; I'm going to pick them up at the station this afternoon. Well, Al and Lily, anyway. James will probably turn up sometime this evening, if he hasn't got a hot date." Harry grinned. "We'll probably go to the Burrow for Christmas. Ginny and I discussed it and agreed it's such a tradition that it would be a shame to break it...especially after I suggested she bring Marga along." He paused to sip tea and something occurred to him. "Severus, would you like to come along? I mean...I could bring your photo with me. Molly insisted I'd have a room to myself, and we could...oh, what am I saying?" Harry grimaced.

Severus looked at him strangely.

"I'm sorry. I just--" Harry sighed. "Severus...I've been dreaming about you again, about us. But...they're not like they used to be. They're...new...different. And we're not fighting Voldemort or Nagini...we're...well, we're lovers, in all of them." He swallowed hard, but Severus seemed unperturbed. "I suppose it's an obsession, isn't it? I should go to St. Mungo's, see a shrink." He buried his face in his hands. "I thought, as long as it was just like this, just talking to a photograph, that wasn't so bad. I talked myself out of commissioning a portrait of you, did I ever tell you that? I didn't want to hear you telling me I was sick in the head." He looked up bleakly, and then blinked.

Severus held out his arms, then wrapped them around himself, hugging himself. His eyes glittered oddly, but his meaning was clear.

Harry leaned his forehead against the frame and sighed. "Thanks. I...I'm not sure what I would have done without you...even just this picture of you. God, I wish things had worked out differently! There must have been something I could have done to save you!"

Severus shook his head and made a hushing motion, then looked pointedly over Harry's shoulder. Harry frowned in puzzlement, then turned to see the clock. "Oh, right. Yeah, I'd better get started. Cleaning, shopping, then off to pick up the kids. I just...well, thanks, Severus." He rubbed the frame gently before he left.

Severus remained in the photo, staring out into the room with a bemused expression on his face.

* * * * * * * * *

Al shared a compartment with Scorpius on the Express, heading home for winter hols, but nothing untoward passed between them. This was more due to the fact that they also shared the compartment with Rose Granger-Weasley, and Scorpius's cousin, Etienne de Malfois, who had transferred from Beauxbatons the previous year and was making eyes at Rose than to any form of restraint on their part, but Al felt virtuous nonetheless.

Lily and Rose's brother Hugo had poked their noses in earlier and had been told to piss off back to the fifth-years' compartments where they belonged. Lily got off one good hex, but Al had been blocking or dodging her hexes for years, and besides, he'd needed a haircut anyway.

They could see the City looming ahead of them and started gathering their effects. Scorpius slipped a bit of rolled parchment into Al's pocket and asked quietly, "Write me?" He coloured a bit and continued, a bit louder, "When you've worked out that code, of course. I want to compare it with the runic scheme in a book I remember from Grandfather's library. I'll send you the translation when I've finished it, too."

"Sure," Al said. He smiled at Scorpius, remembering that frantic day in the Library stacks, and an afternoon out behind Greenhouse Four, and one freezing night up on the Astronomy Tower, when they'd damned near been caught, and frozen their bollocks off in the bargain! "You're going up to the Manor for Yule?"

Scorpius nodded, rolling his eyes. "Grandmother insists. Grandfather, too, of course, but I often think he'd be just as happy left in peace with his books, his cursed artefacts collection, and his wine cellar."

Al snickered, and then they were pulling into the station, and he could see Dad waving frantically at every window, and Mum standing beside him, arm in arm with a tall, lantern-jawed woman who wore a Harpies jumper. Aunt Hermione was there as well, saying something to Uncle Ron.

He managed to squeeze Scorpius's hand as they got off the train, just before their assorted relatives overwhelmed them. Al watched the shock of white-blond hair weave through the throngs of people until met by a slim man with the same fair hair, and a tall, slender woman who wrapped her arms around Scorpius and held him briefly. And then they were gone.

Al smiled and turned back to defend himself against Lily's complaints.

* * * * * * * *

When he awoke, the first thing he saw was Godric, looking down at him with a face full of sorrow and concern. The face was older, creased with time and experience, and the flaming red hair and beard were liberally threaded with silver, but the eyes were as they had always been, warm and bright, though now filled with a nameless pain.

"Godric..." he managed to say, but the pain lanced through him, robbing him of more breath.

"My serpent," Godric said, gently stroking his forehead. "I am so glad you have returned...though I could wish it had been far sooner."

"I...too," Salazar gasped. "How...?"

Godric pulled a chain from beneath his robe, dangling a very familiar amulet before Salazar's eyes. "Did you think I would forget, or cast it aside? Bound in blood, now and always, we said. It is an oath I would never forswear. When it burned with power, I knew yours was calling to mine, and somehow, I knew where to find you."

Salazar nodded feebly. "I set...the spell to...bring you...to safety...my lion. To hold...you out of...time...until I came...to your side." He laughed a little, then was racked with coughing. "Now it has...brought me here...and you are by my side...once more."

Godric held him as he coughed again. "I will fetch potions--" he began, then stopped as Salazar shook his head.

"No...no use. It is...a curse...winding...through my vitals," he said faintly. "I knew...there was little time."

Godric looked distressed. "I will reset the stasis spell, then, to give me time to find the counter-curse."

Salazar smiled sadly. "No, my lion. I have searched...all my tomes...to no...avail. And it is...too late, now."

Godric's face twisted in anguish. "Have you returned only to die?" he demanded. "No, Salazar! I will not lose you again!"

Salazar patted his hand gently, then reached for his belt-pouch. "Here," he said. "My library. Do as...you think best. Some of the writings...are dangerous," he warned, "but no knowledge...should be...cast aside lightly." He drew the small silver casket from his robes and pressed it into Godric's hands. "A few...trinkets. Keep them...my lion, in...memory." He chuckled weakly and added, "All but...the gold locket. Give that...to young...Siegfried...son of...Aelwyn, the herb...wife." He grinned as Godric's brows rose. "Possibly...he looks...like me," he added, closing Godric's hand over the casket.

Godric's look of surprise softened into fond amusement. "Sly old serpent!" he said, "And how much farther afield have you sown your seed? Shall I expect more of your get to present themselves for schooling each year?"

Salazar merely smiled, closing his eyes. Breathing was so difficult...it was far easier to rest here, his head pillowed on Godric's lap, and the beloved voice sounding in his ears. "Godric," he asked, very softly, "you will not...forget me?"

"Could I forget my own heart?" Godric bent and kissed his brow. "No, I will not forget. And your name will be part of Hogwarts forever, remembered always by all who pass through this school. Slytherin House shall be honoured to bear your name, and all its children will wear your device with great pride."

"I...am glad," Salazar said, so faintly Godric had to bend low to catch the words. "I thought...you hated me..."

"No, my love. Never that. I have loved you, always, even when we quarreled, and I shall love you ever after."

"I am...sorry...we fought..." he said, sounding almost like a very small boy. "Forgive...?"

"Everything. Always," Godric answered, stroking his hair back. "Be at ease, my serpent. All is well."

"So...tired..." He sighed. "I am glad...to be...home..."

Godric sat cradling him a long, long time.

* * * * * * * * *

He dreamed and drifted and dreamed again, or was it the first time?

Sunlight dappled a clearing in verdant woods, and a lithe young man crowned with vine-leaves ran through the soft grass, laughing and smiling back over his shoulder at him.

He sprawled on the grass in a dark green tunic and sandals, watching the young man cavort. Green eyes danced as he gathered flowers and brought them back, threading them into Severus's hair with impish delight.

Severus bore it with good patience, until a flower hit him on the nose. He caught the bronzed arms, rolled Harry over onto his belly and straddled the laughing, wriggling youth, holding him down by the shoulders.

Harry impudently pushed his buttocks upward, prodding Severus in the groin. His cock responded quickly, tenting out his tunic, anxious to slide into the sheath so readily offered.

Instead, he swatted the plump rear and grinned at Harry's yelp of pain and the giggles that followed, then sat back on his knees and pushed Harry's brief tunic up over his arse and proceeded to spank him properly. Harry squirmed and shouted, but his laughter rather spoiled the protests.

Severus admired the bright red handprints he made on Harry's pert buttocks, and swatted him again. Harry let out a groan, this time, and his squirming was far more suggestive. Severus gave him another pair of swats, then blew across the reddened flesh and smacked him yet again.

Harry moaned and thrust his hips, trying to spread his legs and push his arse up higher all at once. Severus licked one finger and drew it across the rosy skin, blew on the dampness and then swatted Harry again.

"Severus, please!" Harry begged.

The state of his bright red buttocks and Severus's own cock made it easy to relent. He bent forward and licked gently along the cleft of Harry's arse, then whispered a spell and pressed his suddenly slick fingers between Harry's cheeks, searching out the puckered opening and sliding two fingers in at once.

Harry writhed and whimpered. The sound went straight to Severus's cock. He slid his fingers in and out a few times, then judged it well enough and slipped them out, setting the swollen head of his cock to Harry's rosy cheeks. The girth of his shaft spreading the sore buttocks made Harry whimper again, but he arched his back, trying to take Severus in. Severus grasped him by the hips and pressed in, piercing the tight ring of muscle slowly, then gradually forcing his cock all the way in.

Harry held his breath, then gasped as Severus began to thrust. Short, slow strokes at first, then deeper and faster, until his scrotum slapped against Harry's arse on every thrust, and the head of his cock caught in Harry's sphincter each time he pulled back. As he set the rhythm, he reached around and found Harry's hard cock, wet with precome and pulsing with need. He wrapped his hand around it and began stroking, swirling his thumb over the head and flicking the sensitive slit with his nail.

Harry was keening, thrusting back to take him deeper as he pressed in, and then forward, trying to drive his cock harder through Severus's fingers. It was only moments before Severus felt Harry's cock jerk in his grasp and spurt come over his fingers, spattering the ground beneath him. He continued to stroke and thrust, and Harry's deep groans of pleasure wrapped around his spine. His bollocks drew up tight and he shuddered as he spent.

* * * * * * * * *

"Dad?"

"Hm? Yes, Al, what is it?" Harry looked up from the book he was reading and saw an odd expression on his younger son's face. "Problem?"

"Um...no...well, maybe." Al looked both puzzled and concerned. "I told you about the history of runes study that Scorpius and I are working on, right?"

Harry nodded.

"I've just finished this pattern, and...well, see, here? This rune, and this one...I would have said it was a bonding spell, but...um..."

"Al, I never did take Ancient Runes; if you need technical help, you're going to have to ask Aunt Hermione, or hit the books some more," Harry said ruefully.

"No, it's not that, it's just...Dad...did you ever know someone who, um...well, did you ever know anyone...gay?" Al looked incredibly uncomfortable for his supposedly sophisticated age of seventeen, but Harry managed not to laugh.

"As a matter of fact, son, yes, I have. I have several gay friends, and one of your namesakes, the greatest Headmaster Hogwarts ever had, was actually gay," he said solemnly. He kept back the comment that dear old Dad was probably one hell of a lot gayer than he could reasonably expect his son to accept right off the bat.

"Really?"

"Really. Why do you ask?"

"Well, see, these runes, there's a...um...sexual component...desire, sexual power, male energy...it's a bonding spell, but there's this odd sex thing twisted up in it. And Scorpius just wrote me that he's pretty sure the writings we found down there were actually Salazar Slytherin's, some studies and a few letters he wrote, and--"

"Down where?" Harry sat bolt upright and stared. "Al, I think you'd better go over this from the beginning, and don't leave out any of the odd little details, like you and Scorpius Malfoy digging around in Salazar Slytherin's private papers!"

Al blinked at him, but then took a deep breath and told him the whole story - except for the part about Scorpius kissing him, or anything else they had done afterwards. When he had finished, Harry was silent a long time.

"Al...well, I'd scold you, but frankly you were a lot more careful about this than I was at your age," Harry said. "But I do have a couple of questions. This chamber, Scorpius thinks it was Slytherin's?"

Al nodded.

"Hm. And the...curtain of light - did you try to touch it, or just Scorpius?"

"Just Scorpius, Dad. When it lashed out him, we figured we had better get out of there."

"Sound reasoning. Okay, son. Thanks for telling me. If you don't mind, may I borrow that translation Scorpius sent you?"

"Sure, Dad," Al said readily, handing over the scroll. "It's dull in spots, but...um...I think Slytherin sort of had a thing for Godric Gryffindor."

Harry snorted. "Well, we used to joke about what the Founders got up to, back when they were building the school. I guess the joke's on us, hm?" He tucked the scroll into his desk. "You'd better get some rest. It's late, and we're going to Hermione and Ron's in the morning."

Al nodded and put his notes and books away. "Good night, Dad."

"Good night, Al. See you in the morning."

When his son had gone, Harry unrolled the translation and began to read.

Scorpius clearly had a Ravenclaw's organized mind. His initial summary inventoried and described the documents they had been able to identify and translate, and made general notes on a long list of documents not yet translated. From there, the translations began with a discussion of warding spells and moved on to alchemical theory and several potions recipes.

Harry had nearly nodded off by the time he reached the middle of the scroll, but he jerked to full wakefulness at an unexpected phrase and had to read it again to be sure he hadn't dreamt it.

"...the delight of your body against mine..."

He backed up and reread that entry from the beginning.

It was a love letter from Slytherin to Godric Gryffindor...

When he had finished the letter, Harry's eyes were suspiciously damp. If the original text was anything close to the translation, it was an incredibly powerful and moving letter, filled with all the angst of uncertain love and the passion shared between two legendary wizards. He scanned the rest of the scroll, until he found another personal missive between a discussion of boundary markings and a recipe for using lacewing flies with stinksap in a fumigation potion.

This one appeared to be more of a diary entry than a letter, and as Harry read Salazar's fears for Godric's safety, and his plans to ward him and bring him to safety in dire extremity, he suddenly realized what that curtain of light must guard. The notes mentioned a pair of charmed runic amulets Slytherin intended to forge through a complicated ritual at Hogwarts' foundations, and Harry suddenly sat up straight.

"Severus--" He turned to the framed photo, but the frame was empty. "Severus?"

In a moment Severus came into view, an inquiring expression on his face. "Severus, I've just been reading some of Slytherin's writing...he mentions a bonding ritual, and two runic amulets, one each for Slytherin and Gryffindor. Do you know anything about them?" He watched intently for a response.

Severus regarded him for a few moments, then slowly unbuttoned the top buttons of his coat and slipped his hand inside. He drew out a long, thin chain with a small pendant on it and held it out toward Harry. It was very old and worn, but the twined snakes were still discernable on one side. Severus turned it over and Harry saw runes more deeply incised upon the opposite side.

"Severus...is that amulet handed down through the Slytherin Heads of House?"

Severus nodded slowly.

"Did you keep it, that last year?" Harry's excitement was mounting.

Severus nodded again, a rueful smile quirking the corner of his mouth.

"You were wearing it," Harry breathed. "Oh, God..."

* * * * * * * * *

Greyness and mist...shafts of light amid floating shadows.

Did he dream? Or was this death, after all? Timelessness and nothingness, interrupted by dreams ever more vivid and real...

The green eyes stared at him with longing...he reached toward them, but they receded into darkness.

* * * * * * * * *

"Neville, do you mind if I pop through for a moment?" Harry asked through the floo.

"Harry! No, not at all. Come through!"

Harry stepped through into Neville's cosy sitting room, which was brightly decorated for the holidays. A gramophone played carols in the background and snow was falling onto the Christmas tree beside the fireplace.

"So, what can I do for you? Lily's not worried about her extra credit project already, is she?" Neville asked with a grin, pouring sherry and offering a plate of mince pies.

Harry chuckled. "No, but she will be, soon, I'm sure," he said, accepting a pie and a small glass of sherry. "Actually, Neville, I came to ask you something in your official capacity as Head of Gryffindor."

"Oh?"

"Have you ever heard of a Gryffindor runic amulet?"

Neville blinked at him for a moment. "You mean the House Stone?" He reached into the neck of his robe and pulled out a gold chain with a familiar stone pendant on it. In place of serpents, it bore a rampant griffin, but when Neville turned it over, the runes on the reverse were the same as those described in Slytherin's manuscript, the same as those on the pendant Severus wore in the photo.

Harry swallowed hard. "Yes, I think that must be it."

Neville looked at the pendant thoughtfully. "It's part of the Gryffindor Head of House's...well, regalia, if you want to call it that. There's a lion-headed goblet and a threadbare old red velvet robe with ruby and gold clasps, and a few other things. The Head of Gryffindor House is supposed to wear the pendant while serving in office."

"Neville...would you lend it to me, just for a while? I swear I'll bring it back tomorrow."

Neville shrugged. "Sure, Harry! I really don't think Godric's ghost will come haunt me, as long as I let it go to another Gryffindor," he said, grinning.

"I wouldn't be too sure," Harry replied grimly.

* * * * * * * * *

He followed Al's directions and made his way down into the bowels of the castle, a canvas bag filled with healing potion, anti-venin, blood replenisher, nutritive potion, a handful of bezoars, and a thick blanket slung over his shoulder. He held the Gryffindor amulet in one hand, not sure whether he was entitled to actually wear the artefact.

His Parseltongue had been long disused, but came readily from his lips, and the locked and warded passages opened before him. He found the altar chamber, and Slytherin's workroom beyond it. Taking a deep, steadying breath, he went through the inner doorway into the recessed passage, and found the shimmering curtain of light, just as Al had described it. He gripped the amulet tightly and walked forward.

"Let me in," he said, trying to envision the scintillating light as a mass of jeweled snakes, writhing in a tangle. He closed his eyes and stepped through the light...and felt only a mild tingle, and then a deep, bone-chilling coldness.

He opened his eyes and stared. The chamber in which he found himself was roughly the size of the altar chamber, but its walls were like slabs of ice, translucent, softly glowing, and thick as the stone blocks that formed Hogwarts' outer walls. Their glow was the only illumination. The floor was glossy black and so cold he could feel it through his boots. In the center of the chamber there was a thick column of white mist rising from floor to ceiling, and wider than he was tall. It radiated cold, and thin wisps of icy mist licked out toward him as he approached.

Without quite knowing why, he held out the amulet, and was unsurprised to see the runes glowing in bright blues and greens. He rubbed the inscribed griffin and murmured, "All right, Salazar...here I am..." and he stretched out the amulet to pierce the column of mist.

His hand tingled and he felt the amulet warm and then grow uncomfortably hot, but he hung onto it and pushed his arm forward into the mist. A sigh echoed all around him, and suddenly the mist thinned, fell down to the floor and flowed away.

A black stone bier lay before him, and on it was Severus.

He looked exactly as he had the last time Harry had seen him in person: deathly pale, covered in blood, with gaping puncture wounds in his neck. He was still as stone, but as Harry stared at him in wonder, the blood began to ooze sluggishly from his neck.

"Shite!" Harry ran forward and dropped to his knees beside the bier, rummaging in his bag. He pulled out a flask of blood replenisher and forced the neck past Severus's icy lips, tilting it to fill his mouth and rubbing his frigid throat with one hand to get him to swallow. He pulled out healing potion next and poured it profligately over the wounds that were bleeding more and more freely, sighing in relief as he watched the blood slow and finally stop once more.

Severus was unmoving. Harry pulled out another bottle of blood replenisher and one of anti-venin and forced them down him as well, rubbing the marble-like throat over and over again. "Come on, Severus," he chanted. "I didn't come all this way, after all these years, just to have you give up on me!" He pushed down on Severus's chest, rubbed the icy skin over his heart, then balled up his fist and punched him, hard, right over the sternum.

He might have imagined it, but he thought Severus's lips had fluttered. He thumped him again, trying to remember that artificial respiration class Hermione had insisted they all take, years ago. He tried to stay calm, although panic was fluttering at the back of his mind, and count, then hit Severus again...counting and swearing...and again, trying desperately not to cry...and again...

* * * * * * * * *

The grey mist seethed and roiled around him. Light suffused it, but brought no warmth or colour. The nothingness faded sullenly away, but the mist flowed back and forth, mocking him.

He was bound in chains of cold iron and sheathed in ice.

Alone.

The cold crept up his limbs and turned them to icy stone, but the chill around his heart was more bitterly painful than the freezing of his flesh.

He was alone and would be alone forever. His body would turn to ice and his heart would freeze and shatter into a million tiny crystals in his frozen chest, and his mind would be left to suffer the pangs of emptiness...abandonment...isolation...

He would go mad, of course. It might have happened already. Who could say how long it took a man to lose his wits, when there was nothing to mark the passage of time, nothing that changed but the ever-increasing iciness?

He tried to remember the warmth of Harry's green eyes, tried to summon one of the dreams...had they been dreams, or only the figments of his fading mind? If he could remember them, surely he could return there, lose himself in the warmth and caring...and love? If he must go mad, could he not choose his own delusions?

Or was this death after all, and his hell the knowledge that he had failed and was left to spend a cold eternity alone?

In the midst of his increasing despair, a bright pain seared him like a blazing coal, in the center of his chest, right above his heart. He jerked, and the pain came again. Suddenly he could see light, pure, radiant, golden light, like a miniature sun, shining from his chest.

The cold seemed to hesitate, then gradually receded. He could feel his arms once more, and he reached for the blazing thing on his chest, closing his frozen fingers around the amulet he had worn since the day he had become Head of Slytherin House.

He clung to it even as it burned him. The pain was pulsing all through his body, but with every pulse, he felt the cold recede, until finally he gasped and the glowing air rushed in, suffusing him with warmth.

* * * * * * * * *

There was a twitch, and suddenly Severus's chest moved convulsively, and he coughed and gasped, then started breathing on his own.

"Severus!" Harry cried out, grasping his icy shoulders and hugging him madly.

Severus's eyelids fluttered, then flickered open. It was plain he could see nothing, but his breath suddenly stuttered and he shivered violently.

"Oh, shite - shock, you've got to be in shock. Just a second!" Harry pulled out the thick blanket and cast a warming charm on it, then wrapped it around Severus, folding it under to tuck it between him and the icy stone on which he lay.

"I've got to get you out of here..." Harry muttered. He looked down at the amulet in his hand and frowned, then slid his finger under the bloodstained collar of Severus's shirt and pulled out the other amulet. "Well, this might not work, but it'll save time if it does, and we won'd lose much if it doesn't." He wrapped his arm around Severus, holding him tightly, and pressed the two amulets together. The runes on either side glowed blindingly bright. Harry gripped them both and commanded, "Hogwarts Hospital Wing!"

The glowing runes flickered a bit uncertainly, but Harry pictured the familiar place firmly in his mind and suddenly the glow brightened, and Harry felt a wild jolt, as if a rather rough portkey had activated.

The next thing he knew, he and Severus were deposited onto an empty bed in the deserted Hospital Wing.

Severus was shaking violently, but Harry wrapped his arms around him and called out, "Madam Pomfrey? Help! Madam Pomfrey!"

In moments, he heard running footsteps and Madam Pomfrey came trotting in, wearing a bathrobe and fuzzy slippers, with her grey hair twisted up into a loose knot.

"Who on earth - Harry! My goodness, what are you-- SEVERUS? Great Merlin's ghost! Harry, quickly! Fetch more blankets from the warming chest by the window!" She drew her wand and cast a spell on Severus, and the shaking eased a bit.

Harry ran for the blankets, then spent the next hour fetching potions and other things as ordered. At last, Severus lay sleeping, his colour more natural and his breath slow and even. Madam Pomfrey nodded in satisfaction. "Rather like treating someone who had fallen through the ice in the middle of winter," she noted. "I won't ask you to explain now, Harry dear, but rest assured I want the entire story as soon as you've had a chance to process it."

Harry nodded dumbly. "He looks so young," he marveled. "He hasn't aged a day."

Poppy looked down at the sleeping man and smiled a little sadly. "He was only thirty-eight, you know. Younger than you are, now, dear boy!" She patted Harry's hand. "It's nearly Christmas Eve," she said. "Quite a Christmas miracle."

Harry stared down at Severus. "May I stay with him, for a bit?"

"Certainly, Harry. Call if you need me. The house elves will fetch you some tea, if you like." she smiled. "I'll leave you in peace for a while. Minerva will have to be told, of course, but I think it can wait until morning." She patted his hand again and left.

Harry sat on a chair by Severus's bed and watched him sleeping. It was true, when he looked objectively at the man; he did look younger than Harry now did, by several years. On the other hand, he looked just like he had in the photo for the past twenty years, just like Harry's mind's-eye image of him.

Severus sighed heavily in his sleep and one hand slipped out from under the blanket. Harry wrapped his hands around it and rubbed it gently.

"I've been talking to you for so many years, it feels strange to sit here and be able to touch you...really you. I don't know how you'll feel when you wake up, but it's felt like we've been friends for a long, long time. I...well, I've been dreaming about you, too...off and on..." Harry let his voice trail off as he felt his cheeks heating. "I won't embarrass you with all of it. I just...I hope we can become the friends I pretended we were."

He sat by Severus's bed through the night. As the first flush of dawn brightened the sky, Severus stirred and coughed slightly. Harry leapt to his feet and poured a glass of water, then held it to Severus's lips.

Dark eyelashes fluttered and darker eyes slowly opened. There was a moment of puzzlement, then Severus tried to speak. Harry held the glass to his lips again and he managed to drink, then tried again.

"Harry?" he asked, hoarsely.

Harry's heart leapt at the sound of his name. "Yes! Severus, I'm here," he said, gripping the man's hand. "God, it is a miracle! You're alive!"

"Alive..." Severus looked confused, then lifted his hand to brush Harry's cheek. "I dreamed...cold...alone...and then something...melted ice..."


Harry held up Gryffindor's amulet. "The House amulets; I borrowed the Gryffindor one from Neville - he's Head of Gryffindor now - and it led me to you." He suddenly looked confused. "Severus...you...you seem different...almost like you..." His face flushed. "It's been a long time, years and years. My kids are almost done with school."

Severus stared blankly at him.

"Sorry - history lesson later, I promise. But...I had a photo of you; I talked to it all the time...and...I dreamed of you..."

Severus seemed reassured. "I dreamed you," he breathed. "You were there, because I dreamed you...and now...I must have dreamed you again."

Harry smiled, but gripped Severus's hand harder. "It's not a dream this time. It's real. I'm here, and you've been in Salazar Slytherin's freezer for the past twenty-six years, but you're here, and you're alive! You saved me so many times, years ago; this time I got to save you."

Severus nodded vaguely. "Tired," he said. "Need to sleep..."

"Sleep, then," Harry said. "I'll be right here."

* * * * * * * * *

Harry finished his letter and sealed it, putting it atop the stack of outgoing mail with a sigh of relief. That took care of his obligatory holiday letters and cards; the ones to all the people he actually cared about had been sent a week ago.

He stretched and looked at the pictures on his desk. James and Cherise smiled and waved from a sandy beach on Capri. James swore it was serious, this time, but then he always said that. Still, Cherise was a very nice girl, and if she wanted to put up with his eldest son, she had more patience than most.

There was a new picture of Ginny, with Marga and the kids on a mini-break to Copenhagen. Everyone was beaming as they walked down a cobbled lane and posed beside a great fountain.

Al and Scorpius, dressed in formal robes, sat very properly in matching wingback chairs on either side of a fireplace at Malfoy Manor. It had been taken just after they left Hogwarts, at Scorpius's mother's insistence. When Harry looked directly at them, Al smiled and Scorpius nodded politely, but when he looked away, he could see them smile secretively at each other out of the corner of his eye, and watch Scorpius stretch out a hand to brush along Al's sleeve. Ah, well! Scorpius was a good lad, despite being a Malfoy, and Al had loved him since they were eleven years old. Add in the sheer perverse delight Harry felt at the idea of Lucius Malfoy watching his only grandson take up with a Potter, and Harry figured there was more than enough reason to welcome Scorpius to the family. Once Al got around to admitting what was going on, of course.

"Harry! Are you going to be at that all day?" an impatient voice called from the first floor landing.

"Almost done. Be there in a minute," he called back.

He glanced at the latest photo, but the two figures in it were otherwise occupied, snogging madly under an old oak tree. He smiled and turned to the one that was still his favorite. "Severus? Did you want to come upstairs with us?" he asked the figure in the smooth black frame.


Severus cocked his head to one side, then inclined his head. Harry smiled. "All right. Up we go." He cradled the photo in one arm and headed up the stairs.

"Your diligence with paperwork has not improved since your school days, Mr. Potter," a dark, rich voice intoned, dripping with sarcasm.

"True, true," Harry said, smiling fondly. "I had a note from Lily, by the way; she apologizes, but she's going to Ginny's first and won't see us until Christmas Eve." He set the framed photo down on the dresser, angling it so it had a good view of the window, then sat down on the bed.

"You're not still toting that silly thing around and talking to it, are you?" The voice spoke from directly behind him, and Harry felt warm breath on the back of his neck.

"I'll have you know that 'silly thing' was one of the best friends I had, for over twenty years," he objected mildly, "and I'm certainly not going to abandon him now."

"Not even for the real thing?" Long fingers stroked his hair and gently scratched his scalp, then slid down his neck and caressed his nape. "Pathetic, Potter."

"Well..." Harry paused to sigh in pleasure as the hands moved to his shoulders and began rubbing the tension out with careful precision. "I admit you do have some advantages."

"How reassuring." Severus leaned over and nipped at his ear, then kissed a line down his neck, pausing to bite firmly at its base. He pulled Harry's robe free and tossed it aside. His hands splayed flat against Harry's chest and belly and pulled him back into a close embrace, cradling him between his legs.

Harry felt the angles and planes of Severus's lean form pressing into his back, the firm warmth of his long, strong legs against his own thighs, and one hard, insistent protrusion nestling against the crack of his arse. He leaned back into Severus's arms and sighed happily.

Severus toyed with his nipples idly, then began rocking, tensing his thighs and squeezing Harry between them as his cock slid slowly along Harry's crack. He dipped one hand into a jar of thick, creamy lube that stood on the nightstand, then wrapped his slick fingers around Harry's shaft and began to stroke him.

"Oh, yesssss!" Harry let his head loll back onto Severus's shoulder and savoured the long, slow slide of Severus's hand, up and down, over and over. Severus's cock pressed more firmly against him, and he began rocking back and forth, enjoying the small gasps and bitten-off moans as Severus's arousal built higher and higher.

Harry dipped his hand in the lube and reached back behind him to coat Severus's cock and his own cleft with the slippery substance, then began rocking faster and pressing back harder and harder against Severus, matching his tempo to the pace of Severus's hand on his cock. Finally, he had enough of teasing and pushed his arse up higher, reached around and got Severus aligned, then pushed back down, taking Severus in deep.

Severus gasped, and his hand tightened on Harry's cock, but their position left little room for maneuvering. He wrapped one arm around Harry's waist and rolled them over onto their sides, frigging Harry's cock madly and hooking one long leg over his hip to gain purchase for thrusting.

Harry moaned and pushed back to meet each thrust. Soon he was bucking wildly between Severus's hand and his cock, until he was glutted with sensation.

Severus pulled hard on his prick and shoved in one more time, and Harry felt him shudder as he came. It was enough to push Harry over the edge as well, and his come spurted out over Severus's fist, decorating his belly and the bedding.

They continued gently rocking together for several more moments, as Severus stripped the last of his come from his deflating cock, then they stilled and lay entwined, enjoying the warmth of each other's bodies and the languid pleasure of afterglow.

Severus finally slipped out of Harry and murmured a cleaning charm that whisked away the sticky residue of their pleasure. "We'd best get under the blankets; it's cold and getting colder," he said.

Harry would have complained, but Severus felt the cold much more than he did, and a chill could send him into an anxiety attack. Instead, he turned and wrapped his arms around Severus and mumbled a spell. Counterpane, featherbed, blankets and sheet all writhed under them, slipped down to the foot of the bed and slithered back up, covering them cozily.

"Show off," Severus muttered, but he pulled Harry closer and pressed his long, cold feet against Harry's legs to warm them.

"You love it," Harry declared, grinning. He planted a kiss on Severus's nose, then rested his head on Severus's shoulder and closed his eyes to sleep. "Sweet dreams, love," he mumbled.

"I'll dream of you," Severus said, as he always did.

Harry's arms tightened around him reassuringly. "I'll be here. I'll always be here."

They drifted off to sleep, and their dreams were full of love.


* * * * * *
* The End *
* * * * * *