Silver and Gold 8/? Spoilers for DH
SPOILERS FOR DH


Title: Silver and Gold 8/?
Author: Eriador117
Rating: NC-17, Snape/Harry, other pairings.
Spoilers up to and including Deathly Hallows
Summary: Things are never quite what they seem. Epilogue, what epilogue? ;)
Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns the Potterverse, I'm just playing in it.
Beta'd by Rakina, many thanks :)
Warnings: AU, Angst, Mpreg. There are some other things I am not warning for as it will give away the plot and I myself don't exactly know where the story is going yet.



Earlier Parts

Part Eight


"Now, Harry. As part of your treatment, I want you to take more exercise. There has been some Muggle research done and they've found that exercise can help with depression."

"Really?" Harry asked Madam Pomfrey. For the past week, he'd been seeing the matron after dinner for counselling sessions and although he wasn't sure how talking about things could help; he was glad that he could talk to someone without them berating him for being weak. "What sort of exercise? Quidditch?"

Madam Pomfrey shook her head. "I'm sorry. It would be very irresponsible of me to allow you to play Quidditch considering your state of mind. No Quidditch."

Harry understood; it would be all too easy to fall off his broom and have it seem like an accident. Madam Pomfrey was speaking again.

"Not Quidditch. I was thinking more of exercises like jogging, swimming or weight training, or even a combination of those."

"Weight training? You mean like a gym?" Hogwarts didn't have a traditional Physical Education class that Harry knew of and he wondered if he would get permission to go into one of the Muggle cities nearby to join a gym. "Is there a gym in Aberdeen?"

"There probably is, but you won't need to go that far, Harry. Hogwarts has a gym right here. It's mostly members of staff that use it, but students are allowed use of it if they wish. As it happens, I don't think you should be exercising on your own anyway, especially if you haven't done anything like that before. You need a trainer; I think Professor Snape would be your best bet. I'm not really that knowledgeable about weights and such."

"Oh," said Harry and for a brief moment he had a flash of Snape, bare-chested, muscles rippling as he hefted a bar bell above his head, grunting with the effort. What on Earth had brought that on? Harry had never even seen the man bare-chested. "I can ask him, but he might not want to do it."

"He wants to help you, Harry. I'm sure he'll agree; and if he doesn't, you just send him to me."

Harry giggled at the thought of the professor being raked over the coals by Madam Pomfrey – he knew she'd do it too. It wouldn't matter whether the person in question was a teacher or a student – you didn't mess with the matron if you could help it.

"Now, Harry. Have you been taking the Hearts-ease Potion every day like I told you?"

"Yes."

"And is it helping?"

"A little. I don't feel quite so awful, but I know I'm still not back to myself. I'm not even sure who that is anymore."

"It is a time of adjustment, Harry. Remember, you only had a seventh part of Voldemort's soul inside you, but you had one hundred per cent of your own all along. Your own soul was always the dominant one. I've only given you enough potion for a month, you really shouldn't take it any longer than that. It's best if we can get you feeling better without it."

"But I don't have to stop taking it yet?"

"No, not unless you're having any side effects. Are you getting headaches? Suffering from dizziness? Any nausea, things like that?"

"No, nothing," said Harry. "I still don't have much appetite, but I don't think that's the potion. I just don't feel much like eating."

"And how's your libido?"

Harry blushed, as he had done every time she'd asked that same question. "Still the same. Nothing."

"Harry, I know it's embarrassing to talk about this with me, especially since I'm a woman, but I am not asking these things lightly. Your libido and your appetite for food is one way we can measure your depression. If your libido starts to increase or you start having wet dreams again, it means that you are recovering."

"You won't tell anyone, will you?" Harry asked, wringing his hands together.

"Of course not. Everything you tell me is confidential." Madam Pomfrey glanced down at the watch attached to her apron. "Goodness, it's almost curfew! You'd better get back to your dorm. It's the election results tonight, isn't it?"

"Oh, yeah. I forgot. Ron'll be going spare if I'm not there. Thanks, Madam Pomfrey. See you tomorrow."

"And don't forget to ask Professor Snape about your training."

"Right," said Harry as he reached the door. "Goodnight."

***

When he reached the Gryffindor common room; it was packed to capacity with everyone trying to angle themselves as close to the radio as they could get. Ron and Ginny were closest, as expected. Hermione was perched on the arm of Ron's chair, all three of them looking anxious. The rest of the Gryffindors were seated on the remaining sofas and armchairs, but most of them were lounging on the floor, some with cushions tucked tight against their chests as Lee Jordan's voice filled the airwaves. It seemed his stint as the main host of Potterwatch had done him in good stead and Lee was now one of the Wizarding Wireless Network's most sought after commentators.

As the clock above the mantelpiece struck ten, one of the first years yelped in excitement. The voting ended at ten and since it was all magically recorded, the results of the election were only minutes away. Hermione spied Harry and gave him a wave; no one was speaking as they waited for the results.

"Well, ladies and gentlemen, the moment you've all been waiting for. By a landslide victory, the new Minister of Magic is Arthur Weasley! Well done, Arthur. Bad luck, Umbridge!"

The whole common room erupted into whoops and cheers, almost drowning out the radio show. "And wait – what's this – our new Minister has just announced that Auror Kingsley Shacklebolt will be the new Head of the Magical Law Enforcement Office. Never one to shirk a duty, Auror Shacklebolt has just arrested Dolores Umbridge, who is protesting quite vociferously. Minister Weasley, can I ask you why Miss Umbridge has been arrested?"

"You can indeed. As well as using Blood-Drawing Quills at Hogwarts School while she was a teacher there, it has come to the Ministry's notice that she accepted bribes from known persons of interest in order to try and pass unfair laws concerning Half-bloods and Muggle-borns. Corruption will no longer be an option in the Ministry of Magic. It will be fair to all magical folk, be they Pureblood, Half-blood or Muggle-born. And by all magical folk, I am of course including all magical creatures as well. The arrogance of human wizards must stop."

"These persons of interest, were they Death Eaters by any chance?"

"I'm sorry; we aren't at liberty to discuss that."

"Very well, Minister. Thank you and congratulations! Would you like to say anything else for our listeners?"

"First, I would like to thank my wife Molly for all her support during this campaign, not to mention the rest of my family and to Harry Potter who supported me wholeheartedly. Without any of them, I don't think I would be standing here talking to you as the new Minister. That will take a bit of getting used to, I think."

"Well, there you have it ladies and gentlemen, our new Minister of Magic, Arthur Weasley. Thank you, Minister. And now back to our regular programming."

The strains of Celestina Warbeck filled the room and the cheering drew to a close. Hermione flicked off the radio as Ron jumped up and clasped Harry in a bear hug. "Did you hear, Harry? Dad's the Minister of Magic! The Minister! I can't believe it!"

"He deserved it, Ron. He'll be brilliant."

Over Ron's shoulder, Harry saw Ginny giving him a smile and if Ron hadn't still been hugging him, he got the impression that Ginny would have been over to give him a hug as well. Harry wasn't so sure he could handle that right now.

"I'm a bit tired, Ron. I think I'll head off to bed. That's great news about your Dad. See you tomorrow."

Harry pulled away and headed up the stairs, cries of Harry and wait following him up, but he didn't go back down. There was bound to be a party in the common room and Harry was not in the mood. He didn't want to spoil everyone else's fun just because he was feeling so out of sorts. Someone was bound to notice that he wouldn't be joining in with all of the celebrations despite his support of Arthur Weasley as a candidate.

Harry took out the remainder of his homework, an essay each for Charms and Transfiguration. He'd already done some of it before his counselling session and just had to round things off before he could start getting ready for bed. Harry knew that if he didn't finish the essays now, he would be lying awake all night worrying about getting them finished.

Taking off his robe and pulling off his tie, Harry settled down at his desk; all his quills and ink bottles within reach as he sorted through his parchments to find the essays. One of these days he was really going to have sort out his schoolbag. It was a mess of books he no longer needed, broken quills, scraps of parchment and other detritus that he had just never got round to removing. Over an hour later, he'd finally finished his essays and decided to have a long soak before bed to help him relax enough for sleep.

Madam Pomfrey had told him that sometimes depression could be a cause for insomnia and also the other way round, where he might feel like sleeping longer than he used to. Well, tonight Harry felt wide awake but knew that staying up all night wouldn't do him any good for tomorrow's classes. Having his own bathroom meant he could take a bath or shower whenever he wanted to; that was something good to come out of being Head Boy. What wasn't so much fun were Hermione's meetings, which she seemed keen to call every night. Harry had managed to persuade her down to once a week.

Harry put his homework in his bag and summoned an elf to bring him a mug of hot chocolate in half an hour. He liked having chocolate after a bath and Madam Pomfrey had recommended he ate or drank as much chocolate as he could, it was good for him. Harry certainly had no objections; he loved chocolate. Hogwarts was the first place he had ever tasted any and his mood darkened further as he thought of the Dursleys.

He wondered if they had gone back to Surrey or were still living in the safe house. As long as they stayed well away from him, he didn't care where they lived. Waving his wand towards the bathroom, Harry magically turned on the bath taps and added some lavender-scented foam. He undressed quickly, barely looking at his body; not wanting to dwell on his scars. Once the bath was three-quarters full, the taps turned off by themselves and Harry climbed in, leaning his head against the back of the tub and just letting the warm water soothe him.

He'd already had a shower that morning so he didn't really need an extensive wash, but he soaped up a sponge and washed himself anyway. His hand hovered over his groin for a moment or two, soapy water dripping down onto him from the sponge. It had been a while since he'd even felt like masturbating, but he might give it a try and see if the Hearts-Ease potion had made that any easier.

After a frustrating five minutes of letting his soapy hand glide up and down his cock, he wasn't even at half-mast. His prick just wasn't interested.

Harry wondered if anything to do with sex would ever interest him again.

TBC