Chapter Text
It was after Voldemort fell that things took a turn for the worst. Harry isn’t honestly surprised, but he’d hoped it’d be different. It’d taken so long, and at the full age of 26, Harry had hoped he’d get to start living soon.
But here they were, in Grimmauld once again, navigating a threat that seemed bigger than the dark lord - or at least more complex.
Harry found himself watching Severus - for Severus is who he’d become. It didn’t happen quickly, this quiet friendship between them. But now it was something Harry held close, perhaps closer than he’d admit to himself.
He couldn’t name when his feelings changed. It was a slow movement.
Perhaps it started back in sixth year, when he found peace in sarcastic notes, scratched in the margins of his potions textbook. That would explain the gaping hole of betrayal he felt in his chest when Dumbledore fell, leaving them with an impossible task.
But that betrayal became amazement, and deep respect, when he found himself in his memories. When he walked to his own death. When he rose again, like the muggle’s Christian Messiah, to conquer Voldemort once and for all.
Maybe it was this deep respect and admiration that had him running to the shack. Casting the strongest healing spell he knew on the potion’s master. Falling to his knees when he heard his strangled breath. Forcing potions down his throat with gentle words.
“Please, Severus,” he whispered. “You deserve to survive. You deserve to live.”
It must’ve been that same feeling, or perhaps it was already growing, that had him by the headmaster’s side every day in the infirmary, reading him potions journals. When those dark eyes opened, Harry felt so much relief fill him, he didn’t know what to call it any longer.
So he didn’t call it anything. Harry didn’t know what he was feeling passed the overwhelming grief in his bones anyway. He’d lost so many. Remus. Tonks. Moody. Fred. Dumbledore. Sirius. Cedric. Lavender. Colin.
At night he heard their screams. And in the day, well.
In the day, he went through the motions. He ran on auto pilot. Completed his NEWTS. Trained at the auror academy. Dated Ginny - for a while at least.
Throughout it he kept in touch with Severus, though not about much.
Severus,
Completed my training. Will be inducted tomorrow. Hope your summer is fairing well. Any new creations on the mind?
Harry
The man didn’t seem to know what to do with him, how to respond, but niether did it seem he had it in him to turn Harry away. So he would answer with his own updates without much substance -
Harry,
Congratulations. The children will return in just a few weeks, so not much brewing will be done. I’m hoping to finish this eyesight correction potion before then. Maybe then you won’t die from your own clumsiness.
Severus
Him and Ginny were long since broken up, realizing there was no magic between them. Better off friends. Siblings even.
He, alongside the other Aurors, were hunting ex death eaters. Many were caught, put away in Azkaban. Some were dead, either by the war or in the years that followed by vagabonds. It seemed no one much cared when Rodolphus was found dead in his own home, left arm gouged out and every bone shattered.
The murders started slow, with high ranking death eaters. No one cared, none except Severus, when Harry brought it up.
Severus,
We’re finding more of them every day. They’re targetting dark wizards, not just death eaters. Please stay safe.
Harry
Harry,
Do not worry yourself. I have kept myself alive for many years, doing much more than I am now. Let me know if you come across anything unusual.
Severus.
It was then that they found Narcissa, redeemed widow, dead in Hogsmead after a dinner at the Three Broomsticks with her son, Hogwart’s new potion’s master. That was when Harry decided to come home.
“Ron is acting as my ears in the ministry,” Harry said, staring down into his tea.
“Weasley has all the grace of a troll. They won’t tell him anything.”
“Actually Draco,” Severus cut him off with a contemplative look, “Weasley is more likely to convince them that he agrees with their motives. He was loud in his disagreement when Potter found against our sentencing. His own brother was murdered. Perhaps he stands a chance.”
So Harry served as Defense Professor through the days, having tea in the Headmaster’s quarters each week. They would train together, never allowing their skills to grow weak, and with each day they grew closer.
Until now - when they were, as Harry would call them, friends. So Harry looked across at this man, his dear friend, as he wrung his hands and bowed his head, gazing down at the letter on the kitchen table as if it would hold more answers.
“I know you don’t want to,” Harry told him.
“I won’t,” Severus said. His words were meant to be firm, but there was an almost undetectable warble that communicated his fear to the man across from him.
“Severus,” Harry entreated, moving toward him.
He towered over the older man now, having grown out of his malnutrition thanks to a potion of Severus’ own making and his continuous training. He kneeled down to look up at him, not wanting to make him feel small while he was already so vulnerable.
“Hogwarts is my home.”
“They’ve infiltrated the ministry. They have the school. Ron said it’s you they’re after. You should -“
“I will not hide!” Severus stood as if to flee, but Harry stopped him easily, warm hand on his thin shoulder.
“Tell me,” Harry asked. “Why are they after you? Why are you the answer to this ritual?”
Severus shook with fear, and did not answer.
Harry pulled him into a hug, something he’d done for the first time only last year, when they found Pansy’s body laid across the Hogwart’s steps, undelivered letter in her hand. The aurors came after, just this morning, with a warrant for Severus Snape.
Severus was stiff in his arms.
“Severus.”
“They want a potion, one only I can make.”
“Why can only you make it?”
Severus glared at him and jerked away, but something in Harry’s expression made him avert his eyes. He’d never been looked at with so much concern. Or warmth.
Why did Harry care anyway?
“Do you know what they’re trying to do, Severus?”
Snape’s hands clenched.
He knew. He knew, and someone else knew - how he did not know, but they must. For why else would they save him for last? Why else would they be coming for him only now, when all the other marked wixen were gone?
And his only way to save them all was to leave. But how could he? He was not the same man he was. He could not bear to be alone for so long. And if they could not find him, they would come for Harry. He knew. That would be the only way to draw him out, and these so-called Light Knights knew it.
“They will come for you, too,” he whispered.
Harry tilted his head, analyzing him. Severus kept his eyes closed, breathing heavily between his teeth.
“Why will they come for me?” he asked, and immediately knew the answer.
Because it’s a matter of public record. Severus made a vow to protect Harry Potter’s life. Even now, the magic still held. He knew it, and the world knew it. Because it was said on the witness stand in front of the Wizengamot. Because that information is what kept him from Azkaban prison after the fall of the dark lord.
Harry gripped his wrists, bringing Severus’ attention back to him.
“Then I will go with you.”
“Potter.”
Harry pulled him in close, pressing their foreheads together. Severus felt his breath still has he was sucked into Harry’s green green eyes.
“Harry?”
Harry just shook his head, moving to press a long kiss to his forehead. Severus felt like time was frozen, and his limbs as well.
“We will go together, Severus.”