Apprenticed to Love 19/?
Title: Apprenticed to Love 19/?
Author: Eriador117
Pairing: Snape/Harry
Rating: Adult
Warnings: not sure yet, but AU and angst for starters, hermaphroditism, mpreg, abuse.
Summary: Six months after the end of the war, Harry Potter turns up at Snape's apothecary to beg for a job. They both get more than they bargained for.
Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns the Potterverse, I just like playing in it from time to time.
Beta'd by Rakina, thanks so much!



Earlier Parts

Part Nineteen

They spent a couple of hours on guided tours of the Palace itself. All the guides were dressed in Elizabethan costumes and Harry found himself enthralled at the splendour of the rooms they toured. Some of the colours on the bedclothes and wallpapers had faded now, but it still gave a great feel of what the place would have been like all those years ago.

Harry's favourite part was when the toured the Tudor kitchens and the staff actually prepared a meal that was based on recipes they’d found in ancient cookbooks. Harry wasn't too sure he'd want to try any of it, but he noticed Severus nodding at intervals when the guide was pointing out various foods that were used as medicine. Indeed some of it was what wizarding world potions were based on now. Had wizards and Muggles been closer in the past than they were now? And if so, what had caused the rift between them today? He should have paid more attention to History of Magic, but Professor Binns' voice had been so boring that it was all Harry could do to stay awake, never mind pay attention.

The tour finished, with people browsing excitedly around the large kitchen. The fireplaces were so big they wouldn't have looked out of place at Hogwarts. Plastic models of foods and herbs were dotted around the room along with laminated recipe cards. Harry was starting to feel hungry just looking at them all.

"Time for our picnic?" Severus asked, almost as if he could read Harry's mind.

Maybe he could at that. Harry nodded and followed Severus outside.

***

Harry lay on his back, his head resting on Severus' lap as the remains of their picnic lay scattered on the grass about them. They were on one of the shallow banks that led down to the river with the Palace behind them. From the back it looked more like a Palladian mansion rather than the Tudor manor house it had resembled from the front. The good weather meant that lots of people had decided to visit today and Harry wished they had been able to find a more secluded spot. Severus was trailing his fingers through Harry's hair as both of them just revelled in being in each other's company. Harry had been a bit worried at first how people might react at seeing two men who were quite obviously together, but no one seemed that bothered. They were too intent on their own little dramas.

"We've still got some strawberries left," said Severus, smiling down at Harry.

Harry giggled. "I'll burst if I eat anything else!"

"What, you don't even want to try the Easter egg we found?"

Harry shot up. "There's still chocolate?"

"I thought you didn't have room for anything else?" Severus arched his eyebrow.

"There's always room for chocolate!"

"Indeed," said Severus and he began to unwrap the gold foil as slowly and as teasingly as if it was Harry's clothes he was removing.

There was no way Harry could mistake the heat in that gaze. He blushed and shifted about a bit on the blanket, hoping against hope that he wouldn't get an erection out here in the open. It would be so obvious in his shorts! Robes were a lot better at hiding things like that. Harry's mouth was watering long before the chocolate egg was fully denuded. Severus broke off a small piece and reached it out to Harry, who held his hand out to take it.

Severus pulled it back, away from him. "No."

"No?" Harry tried again to take the chocolate, but Severus held it high above his head, out of Harry's reach.

"No, if you want it, I'm going to feed it to you."

"Yes." Harry's voice was a breathy moan as he arched towards Severus' fingers, sticky now with melting chocolate. Severus lowered the chocolate to Harry's lips. Harry opened his mouth and sucked on the egg and on Severus' fingers at the same time. He stared at Severus' face, his whole body trembling with desire as he sucked and sucked on Severus' fingers. Severus' eyes seemed to have taken on an even darker shade; Severus too was flushed and Harry knew they were both feeling the same desire.

Once the chocolate was finished, Harry lifted his head towards Severus' mouth and tried to kiss him, but Severus shook his head. Harry pulled away, disappointed. He'd been so sure Severus would have wanted to kiss him too.

Severus cupped Harry's face in his hands and tipped his face back up. "It's not that I don't want to kiss you, Harry. But not here. I don't want our first kiss to be in public."

"Oh, right. Sorry."

"There's nothing to be sorry about," said Severus as he caressed Harry's face before letting his hands drop to his sides. "What do you want to do this afternoon? I thought perhaps we could take a boat along the river; they have ferries to Kingston."

"I'm not very good with boats," Harry admitted, remembering his one and only time on a boat. Vernon hadn't been a very proficient rower and the sea had been so rough that Harry had felt sick for most of the journey to the hut on a rocky island. "How about we try out the maze?"

"The maze? Are you sure? I didn't think you would want to with all those bad memories."

Harry nodded, glad that Severus understood, though the fact remained that the maze had been in Harry's thoughts all day. It was pretty hard to avoid. Even when they weren't anywhere near it, there were signposts showing the way from other parts of the grounds. "The maze didn't kill Cedric," Harry said softly. "It was Voldemort and Wormtail. I feel like I want to do it, Severus. No, I need to do it."

"Facing your fears?"

"Something like that. So can we?"

Severus nodded and kissed the back of Harry's hand. "Whatever you want, Harry."

"What I want right now is the loo! Too much pumpkin juice. There were some in the grounds, weren't there?"

"There are a few sets, yes." Severus started gathering up the picnic things. "If you wait a moment, I can go with you."

"That's all right," said Harry. "I won't be long. Unless you need to go too?"

"Not at the moment. Very well, I'll wait here, but if you're gone longer than ten minutes I'm coming after you."

"I'm on a timer?" Harry giggled as he gave Severus a quick peck on the cheek before he ran back to the grounds and his search.

***

With a contented smile on his face, Severus watched Harry run back towards the Palace. Harry had been so happy today. It had been a joy to see him talking and laughing like any normal young man. Severus still thought of him as a man, despite his new additions. It was only to be expected. Harry had been a boy from birth. He'd been brought up as a boy with all the expectations and mannerisms of a male. He wouldn't suddenly change and become a female. Severus couldn't imagine what Harry had gone through when he first discovered what the potion had done to him. To go through eighteen years of life one way and then suddenly you were different like that... it must have been difficult, but Harry seemed to be coming to terms with it now.

Severus wondered if that had anything to do with the fact that Harry would be able to have children as he was now. During their picnic Severus had noticed Harry's eyes on the children playing on the grass, the way he looked longingly at babies in prams and pushchairs and the yearning stares he'd been giving pregnant women. Severus didn't need to be a Legilimens to realise that Harry wanted children. Severus had never given it much thought himself. He'd considered himself to be gay and so had given up on having children of his own. But he and Harry would be able to have children together. He'd never been with a woman, had never desired a woman in that way, but he knew he desired Harry. Did it really matter what lay between his legs? Severus laughed to himself; here they were on their first date and he was imagining their children already!

"Sir! Sir!" A woman dressed as a sixteenth century maid was barrelling down the hill towards him; skirts held in her hands so she could run better. Hair was escaping from beneath her white cap trailing black curls along her cheeks. She seemed to be heading in Severus' direction. "You were with him, weren't you? The boy in the blue shorts and t-shirt?"

"Harry? Something's happened to Harry?" Severus stood up, his heart faltering. Severus didn't bother to point out that there might have been someone else fitting that description, he knew it was Harry.

"The ambulance is on its way," she said, trying to reassure him.

Ambulance? Dear Merlin, what had happened? "Where is he? What happened? Take me to him," Severus ordered as he followed the woman back up the small incline.

"He collapsed in the men's toilets," the woman continued as they ran.

Both of them sped up to a run, which made them unable to talk any further. A small crowd had gathered outside the brick building, curious as to what was going on inside it. The woman pushed people aside and Severus noted that not one man complained about her heading to the men's toilets. Obviously they thought Harry was in such a state that such niceties were ignored for the moment.

There was a man by kneeling down by Harry's side; brown hair dotted with grey was all Severus could see from the back. Harry was lying propped against the wall; the stalls on one side of him, the sinks and dryers on the other. His eyes were closed, his face was pale and his legs were lying at an awkward angle; as if he'd been in that position when he fell and couldn't move. The man hovering over him reached out to straighten Harry's legs. "Don't touch him!" Severus snarled as he knelt down on the floor and batted the other man's hands away without looking at him.

"Harry? Can you hear me? Are you all right?"

But no answer was forthcoming from his young apprentice. Had he hurt his head in the fall? Or had he in fact fainted and that was why he'd collapsed? There was no point in taking him to a Muggle hospital, Severus knew Harry wouldn't want them to find out about his condition. There was only the kitchen maid and this man to Obliviate, then Severus could take Harry back to Hogwarts and to Madam Pomfrey. She would know what was going on, probably much better than the Muggles anyway.

Severus reached for his wand and was stopped in his tracks when the man kneeling behind Harry stayed his hand before Severus could remove the wand from his trouser pocket.

"You'll need two people to Apparate an unconscious man."

Severus stared hard into the amber eyes of Remus Lupin.

TBC