eriador117 (![[info]](http://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} eriador117) wrote,@ 2009-06-23 09:01:00 |
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Apprenticed to Love 26/?
Title: Apprenticed to Love 26/?
Author: Eriador117
Pairing: Snape/Harry
Rating: Adult
Summary: Six months after the end of the war Harry turns up Snape's apothecary to beg for a job; they both get more than they bargained for.
Warnings: Au, angst, hermaphroditism, mpreg, slash, abuse.
Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns the Potterverse, I just play in from time to time.
Beta'd by Rakina, thank you so much :)
Earlier Parts
Part 26
Harry wiped his sweaty hands on the outside of his apprentice robes, wondering again why he was doing this... to betray his Master like this. Harry had lied before. He had even lied to Severus in his role as Professor Snape while at Hogwarts, but Harry had never lied to him since becoming his apprentice. And he had certainly never lied once they'd become lovers and now a betrothed couple. Until today, that was. Severus thought Harry was at Hogwarts visiting Neville as he usually did on his day off, but Harry was nowhere near Hogwarts and had no intention of going there today. He knocked on the wood for a second time, wondering whether or not he hoped it was answered. Maybe he should just go straight back home and confess everything.
Well, he was here now and he heard footsteps from within heading towards the front door. Molly Weasley opened the door and stood staring at Harry with a beaming smile on her face as soon as she saw who was visiting today.
"Harry! What a lovely surprise! Is everything all right? Severus isn't hurt, is he?"
"Oh, no, nothing like that." Harry was quick to reassure her. "I just wanted to ask your advice, really."
"Of course, come on in." Molly stood aside to let him enter the hallway and she led the way down to the kitchen. Molly had been in the midst of cooking – there were baking bowls, a rolling pin, and measuring cups, pastry and other ingredients were dotted about the large, scrubbed table. A knife was chopping parsley in midair and Molly waved her wand at it so the knife and spell were put to rest. She pulled out a kitchen chair and waved Harry into another one. "Now, dear, what did you need advice on?"
"I actually wanted to talk to you about wedding cakes. Would you have any recipe books or anything?"
Molly's smile got even wider, although Harry could never remember a time the woman wasn't smiling in his presence. "Oh, Harry, I would be honoured to make you and Severus a wedding cake! Isn't it so exciting? I love weddings!"
Exciting it might be, but that wasn't what Harry had in mind. He hated to disappoint people and she was going to be disappointed. "Um, Mrs. Weasley, that wasn't what I meant. I was hoping to borrow some recipe books. I wanted to bake the cake as a surprise for Severus as a wedding present. You know how hard he is to buy for." Harry grinned, hoping to take some of the sting out of his words.
Molly nodded. "He is indeed. Have you ever baked a wedding cake before?"
"No, but I've baked a few Christmas cakes."
"How about we bake it together, Harry, and I can teach you as we go along?"
"Oh, that would be wonderful. But I don't want to put you out."
"It's no trouble, I'll enjoy it. None of my lot have the slightest bit of interest in cooking. Hermione got Ron one of those wave machines and he uses that all the time."
Wave machine? For a moment Harry had visions of Ron on a surfboard trying to surf, and then the light dawned. "You mean a microwave?"
"Ah, yes. I never can get the hang of these Muggle names. Arthur has a few of them in the shed, but I don't think they work. I think you need a proper oven for a cake anyway. Have you any idea of what flavour and style you'd like?"
"I've no idea to be honest," said Harry. "It was all a bit spur of the moment."
"Well, you've come to the right place. Hermione and Fleur have some wedding magazines about here somewhere and I'm sure I have some back issues of Witch Weekly that have some great wedding cake recipes. Why don't you make yourself a cup of tea while I go and look? You know where everything is, don't you?"
Harry nodded and began sorting through the cupboards to find the tea things. He got two mugs and made enough tea for both of them as well as taking some Ginger Newt biscuits. To Harry, tea wasn't worth having if you didn't have a biscuit to dunk in it – he just hoped Molly didn't mind him helping himself to their groceries. Harry had never been in the Burrow when it was just him and Molly before; it was so quiet that it was hard to imagine it was the same house. He wondered if Molly got lonely being in the house by herself all day when everyone else was either at school or work or had moved out altogether.
Harry moved some of the cooking stuff aside to make room for the two mugs of tea and the side plate of biscuits and just as he had them set on the table, Molly returned with a stack of magazines and cookery books hovering in the air in front of her. They fell to the table with a thump, making a cloud of flour rise up in their wake. Molly cast a containment charm over the rest of her pastry preparation and luckily none of the flour had got into their tea or settled on the biscuits.
While sipping their tea in comfortable silence, they browsed through the magazines, occasionally showing each other designs that took their fancy or even ones that didn't. "I don't think Severus is the pink roses type," Harry said, pointing out a veritable tower of twelve pink tiers heavily decorated with sugar flowers, ribbons and lace. Twelve tiers seemed an awful lot and it was going to be a small wedding after all.
Molly nodded in agreement. "True, I don't think he's much of a fan of pink either. Isn't black his favourite colour?"
"We are not having a black wedding cake!" Harry said vehemently. There must be something they could find that would suit – there were hundreds of designs in the magazines. He rustled the pages and scanned a few more. "Found it!" Harry said triumphantly, pointing it out. It was a three-tiered cake covered in buttercream icing and had a tracery design of ivy leaves on it with not a ribbon or flower in sight.
"Oh, Harry, yes. That's so elegant. And we could design the wedding invitations and the napkins and everything to match it so that everything ties in. Do you have the guest list yet?"
"No, not yet. But we wanted something fairly small. Severus isn't that fussed on crowds." Truth to tell neither was Harry, but as the Boy Who Lived and all that rot, he was supposed to like being the centre of attention. Severus' dislike of other people was well-documented and so it was only to be expected that he wouldn't want a large turnout to his wedding, even if he did happen to be marrying Harry Potter.
"I didn't see an announcement in the Prophet yet either."
"No, we haven't decided on the date yet and we wanted to wait a while before we get the Howlers."
"Harry, I'm sure..." Molly trailed off when they both heard a knock on the front door. Molly smiled. "Two visitors in one day, I am popular this afternoon."
Once Molly left to answer the door, Harry made his way upstairs to the top landing so that he was hidden from the occupants of the kitchen below but could hear what was being said.
"Severus!" Molly said loudly just before they got to the kitchen, as if she was warning Harry. Molly pushed the door aside and entered with Severus trailing behind her. "I wasn't expecting to see you today, Severus."
"Indeed, I am sorry for calling unannounced but it was Harry's day off and I took the opportunity to seek your advice."
"Oh? Do go on, Severus."
"I am not much of a cook but I would like to do something special for Harry for our wedding day. I would like to learn and then make our wedding cake as a surprise for him. Could you find the time to teach me?"
Harry's eyes widened, both at the thought that they had the same idea and the novel fact that Severus had admitted he didn't know something and even asked for help.
"Harry, you can come down now," called Molly.
Harry walked downstairs as slowly as he could manage, for he knew Severus would be angry with him for lying.
"Master Snape," Harry greeted him and sat down on one of the empty kitchen chairs.
"What are you doing here? You were supposed to be with Neville Longbottom this afternoon."
"Harry had the same idea as you, Severus. He wanted to bake the wedding cake as a surprise for you."
"Did he now? Gather your things, Harry. We are going home."
Harry lifted up his cloak and scarf and wrapped them around himself; his stomach plummetting at the look on Severus' face. He was not going to get off lightly, that was for sure. "Thank you for the tea, Mrs. Weasley," said Harry politely even as Severus propelled him towards the front door with a hand on his shoulder.
Molly's reply was cut off by the banging of the front door; it wasn't quite a slam, but almost.
Severus wrapped his arms around Harry and Apparated them straight into the living room of their flat. As soon as they were indoors, Severus stepped away from Harry, making him stumble on the rug, but Severus never reached out to help him.
"Go to your room and stay there until dinner. I can't even look at you right now."
Harry felt the colour drain from his face. His room? Harry hadn't used his own room for weeks now; he'd all but moved into Severus' bedroom. "Severus, please, let me explain."
"Explain what? How you felt it was okay to lie to me? You lied to me, Harry. Straight to my face, you lied to me!"
"But I just wanted it to be a surprise!" Harry protested. "It wasn't like I was having an affair or something."
"So you thought it was excusable? I hate liars, Potter! I hate them!" Severus was working himself up into a state; his face was red and blotchy; his eyes were almost bulging out of their sockets and spittle flew from his lips to land on Harry's skin.
Harry reached out to touch Severus' arm, but Severus jerked away out of reach. "Don't touch me!" he yelled, yanking up his left sleeve to show the scar where the Dark Mark had been. "This is what lies got me, pain and betrayal and I will not have it from anyone again, not even you! Spies are liars, Harry. They both made me into what I detest."
"I'm sorry, Severus," Harry said in a firm but quiet voice. "I never did it to hurt you. And you're not a spy anymore. They no longer have any hold over you. I am sorry."
"I thought I told you to go to your room? Are you not even obeying your Master now?"
"This has got nothing to do with my Apprenticeship and you know it," Harry said firmly. "I'm not going to leave you here to stew about this for hours. So you're angry with me for lying to you, fine. Let's clear the air now and then we can have dinner. I'll cook. I'm not going to be sent to my room like a naughty child. You'll just have to get used to arguing with me."
"I will, will I?"
"Yes," Harry said softly and as he looked at his intended husband he knew what it was that Severus feared. It wasn't the lies. It was what they might have represented: that Harry no longer trusted Severus with all his secrets, his dreams and fears. Harry moved closer to Severus and stood on tip-toe to brush his mouth across Severus' jaw, hearing a sharp intake of breath as he did so. "Don't worry, Severus. I am not going anywhere without you. You are my world, didn't you know?"
"That doesn’t excuse what you did. Things are not that simple!"
"Of course they are," Harry said, not giving in to Severus’ paranoia.
"Promise me you will never lie to me again, not even a white lie."
"But what if I want to surprise you?"
"Then just tell me it’s a surprise and you can’t tell me, but don’t make up a lie. I can’t have that from you, Harry. I can’t." Severus tried to move out of Harry’s embrace, but Harry wasn’t letting him go that easily. Harry held on tight and kissed him hard.
"I promise, Severus. I never meant to hurt you, you know that."
"Knowing it and feeling it are too different things," Severus whispered. "I'm sorry if I was harsh."
Harry angled his head up to look deep into those dark eyes. "Did you just apologise to me? So does that mean we've made up?" Harry wagged his eyebrows, making Severus chuckle. Harry could feel the rumble of it deep in his own chest.
"You could say that. I suppose you are angling for some make-up sex, are you?"
"Maybe," Harry answered, grinning.
"I don't suppose I would be averse to it."
Harry grinned even wider. "So we're okay?"
"We are, Harry, we are." Severus kissed the top of his head. "But we're having dinner first."
"Spoilsport."
"Not really, I don't want you fainting from hunger once I have my wicked way with you, do I?"
Arousal, hot and sudden, flared throughout Harry's whole body at the promise implied in that statement. He wondered if he'd even make it through dinner.
TBC
Title: Apprenticed to Love 26/?
Author: Eriador117
Pairing: Snape/Harry
Rating: Adult
Summary: Six months after the end of the war Harry turns up Snape's apothecary to beg for a job; they both get more than they bargained for.
Warnings: Au, angst, hermaphroditism, mpreg, slash, abuse.
Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns the Potterverse, I just play in from time to time.
Beta'd by Rakina, thank you so much :)
Earlier Parts
Part 26
Harry wiped his sweaty hands on the outside of his apprentice robes, wondering again why he was doing this... to betray his Master like this. Harry had lied before. He had even lied to Severus in his role as Professor Snape while at Hogwarts, but Harry had never lied to him since becoming his apprentice. And he had certainly never lied once they'd become lovers and now a betrothed couple. Until today, that was. Severus thought Harry was at Hogwarts visiting Neville as he usually did on his day off, but Harry was nowhere near Hogwarts and had no intention of going there today. He knocked on the wood for a second time, wondering whether or not he hoped it was answered. Maybe he should just go straight back home and confess everything.
Well, he was here now and he heard footsteps from within heading towards the front door. Molly Weasley opened the door and stood staring at Harry with a beaming smile on her face as soon as she saw who was visiting today.
"Harry! What a lovely surprise! Is everything all right? Severus isn't hurt, is he?"
"Oh, no, nothing like that." Harry was quick to reassure her. "I just wanted to ask your advice, really."
"Of course, come on in." Molly stood aside to let him enter the hallway and she led the way down to the kitchen. Molly had been in the midst of cooking – there were baking bowls, a rolling pin, and measuring cups, pastry and other ingredients were dotted about the large, scrubbed table. A knife was chopping parsley in midair and Molly waved her wand at it so the knife and spell were put to rest. She pulled out a kitchen chair and waved Harry into another one. "Now, dear, what did you need advice on?"
"I actually wanted to talk to you about wedding cakes. Would you have any recipe books or anything?"
Molly's smile got even wider, although Harry could never remember a time the woman wasn't smiling in his presence. "Oh, Harry, I would be honoured to make you and Severus a wedding cake! Isn't it so exciting? I love weddings!"
Exciting it might be, but that wasn't what Harry had in mind. He hated to disappoint people and she was going to be disappointed. "Um, Mrs. Weasley, that wasn't what I meant. I was hoping to borrow some recipe books. I wanted to bake the cake as a surprise for Severus as a wedding present. You know how hard he is to buy for." Harry grinned, hoping to take some of the sting out of his words.
Molly nodded. "He is indeed. Have you ever baked a wedding cake before?"
"No, but I've baked a few Christmas cakes."
"How about we bake it together, Harry, and I can teach you as we go along?"
"Oh, that would be wonderful. But I don't want to put you out."
"It's no trouble, I'll enjoy it. None of my lot have the slightest bit of interest in cooking. Hermione got Ron one of those wave machines and he uses that all the time."
Wave machine? For a moment Harry had visions of Ron on a surfboard trying to surf, and then the light dawned. "You mean a microwave?"
"Ah, yes. I never can get the hang of these Muggle names. Arthur has a few of them in the shed, but I don't think they work. I think you need a proper oven for a cake anyway. Have you any idea of what flavour and style you'd like?"
"I've no idea to be honest," said Harry. "It was all a bit spur of the moment."
"Well, you've come to the right place. Hermione and Fleur have some wedding magazines about here somewhere and I'm sure I have some back issues of Witch Weekly that have some great wedding cake recipes. Why don't you make yourself a cup of tea while I go and look? You know where everything is, don't you?"
Harry nodded and began sorting through the cupboards to find the tea things. He got two mugs and made enough tea for both of them as well as taking some Ginger Newt biscuits. To Harry, tea wasn't worth having if you didn't have a biscuit to dunk in it – he just hoped Molly didn't mind him helping himself to their groceries. Harry had never been in the Burrow when it was just him and Molly before; it was so quiet that it was hard to imagine it was the same house. He wondered if Molly got lonely being in the house by herself all day when everyone else was either at school or work or had moved out altogether.
Harry moved some of the cooking stuff aside to make room for the two mugs of tea and the side plate of biscuits and just as he had them set on the table, Molly returned with a stack of magazines and cookery books hovering in the air in front of her. They fell to the table with a thump, making a cloud of flour rise up in their wake. Molly cast a containment charm over the rest of her pastry preparation and luckily none of the flour had got into their tea or settled on the biscuits.
While sipping their tea in comfortable silence, they browsed through the magazines, occasionally showing each other designs that took their fancy or even ones that didn't. "I don't think Severus is the pink roses type," Harry said, pointing out a veritable tower of twelve pink tiers heavily decorated with sugar flowers, ribbons and lace. Twelve tiers seemed an awful lot and it was going to be a small wedding after all.
Molly nodded in agreement. "True, I don't think he's much of a fan of pink either. Isn't black his favourite colour?"
"We are not having a black wedding cake!" Harry said vehemently. There must be something they could find that would suit – there were hundreds of designs in the magazines. He rustled the pages and scanned a few more. "Found it!" Harry said triumphantly, pointing it out. It was a three-tiered cake covered in buttercream icing and had a tracery design of ivy leaves on it with not a ribbon or flower in sight.
"Oh, Harry, yes. That's so elegant. And we could design the wedding invitations and the napkins and everything to match it so that everything ties in. Do you have the guest list yet?"
"No, not yet. But we wanted something fairly small. Severus isn't that fussed on crowds." Truth to tell neither was Harry, but as the Boy Who Lived and all that rot, he was supposed to like being the centre of attention. Severus' dislike of other people was well-documented and so it was only to be expected that he wouldn't want a large turnout to his wedding, even if he did happen to be marrying Harry Potter.
"I didn't see an announcement in the Prophet yet either."
"No, we haven't decided on the date yet and we wanted to wait a while before we get the Howlers."
"Harry, I'm sure..." Molly trailed off when they both heard a knock on the front door. Molly smiled. "Two visitors in one day, I am popular this afternoon."
Once Molly left to answer the door, Harry made his way upstairs to the top landing so that he was hidden from the occupants of the kitchen below but could hear what was being said.
"Severus!" Molly said loudly just before they got to the kitchen, as if she was warning Harry. Molly pushed the door aside and entered with Severus trailing behind her. "I wasn't expecting to see you today, Severus."
"Indeed, I am sorry for calling unannounced but it was Harry's day off and I took the opportunity to seek your advice."
"Oh? Do go on, Severus."
"I am not much of a cook but I would like to do something special for Harry for our wedding day. I would like to learn and then make our wedding cake as a surprise for him. Could you find the time to teach me?"
Harry's eyes widened, both at the thought that they had the same idea and the novel fact that Severus had admitted he didn't know something and even asked for help.
"Harry, you can come down now," called Molly.
Harry walked downstairs as slowly as he could manage, for he knew Severus would be angry with him for lying.
"Master Snape," Harry greeted him and sat down on one of the empty kitchen chairs.
"What are you doing here? You were supposed to be with Neville Longbottom this afternoon."
"Harry had the same idea as you, Severus. He wanted to bake the wedding cake as a surprise for you."
"Did he now? Gather your things, Harry. We are going home."
Harry lifted up his cloak and scarf and wrapped them around himself; his stomach plummetting at the look on Severus' face. He was not going to get off lightly, that was for sure. "Thank you for the tea, Mrs. Weasley," said Harry politely even as Severus propelled him towards the front door with a hand on his shoulder.
Molly's reply was cut off by the banging of the front door; it wasn't quite a slam, but almost.
Severus wrapped his arms around Harry and Apparated them straight into the living room of their flat. As soon as they were indoors, Severus stepped away from Harry, making him stumble on the rug, but Severus never reached out to help him.
"Go to your room and stay there until dinner. I can't even look at you right now."
Harry felt the colour drain from his face. His room? Harry hadn't used his own room for weeks now; he'd all but moved into Severus' bedroom. "Severus, please, let me explain."
"Explain what? How you felt it was okay to lie to me? You lied to me, Harry. Straight to my face, you lied to me!"
"But I just wanted it to be a surprise!" Harry protested. "It wasn't like I was having an affair or something."
"So you thought it was excusable? I hate liars, Potter! I hate them!" Severus was working himself up into a state; his face was red and blotchy; his eyes were almost bulging out of their sockets and spittle flew from his lips to land on Harry's skin.
Harry reached out to touch Severus' arm, but Severus jerked away out of reach. "Don't touch me!" he yelled, yanking up his left sleeve to show the scar where the Dark Mark had been. "This is what lies got me, pain and betrayal and I will not have it from anyone again, not even you! Spies are liars, Harry. They both made me into what I detest."
"I'm sorry, Severus," Harry said in a firm but quiet voice. "I never did it to hurt you. And you're not a spy anymore. They no longer have any hold over you. I am sorry."
"I thought I told you to go to your room? Are you not even obeying your Master now?"
"This has got nothing to do with my Apprenticeship and you know it," Harry said firmly. "I'm not going to leave you here to stew about this for hours. So you're angry with me for lying to you, fine. Let's clear the air now and then we can have dinner. I'll cook. I'm not going to be sent to my room like a naughty child. You'll just have to get used to arguing with me."
"I will, will I?"
"Yes," Harry said softly and as he looked at his intended husband he knew what it was that Severus feared. It wasn't the lies. It was what they might have represented: that Harry no longer trusted Severus with all his secrets, his dreams and fears. Harry moved closer to Severus and stood on tip-toe to brush his mouth across Severus' jaw, hearing a sharp intake of breath as he did so. "Don't worry, Severus. I am not going anywhere without you. You are my world, didn't you know?"
"That doesn’t excuse what you did. Things are not that simple!"
"Of course they are," Harry said, not giving in to Severus’ paranoia.
"Promise me you will never lie to me again, not even a white lie."
"But what if I want to surprise you?"
"Then just tell me it’s a surprise and you can’t tell me, but don’t make up a lie. I can’t have that from you, Harry. I can’t." Severus tried to move out of Harry’s embrace, but Harry wasn’t letting him go that easily. Harry held on tight and kissed him hard.
"I promise, Severus. I never meant to hurt you, you know that."
"Knowing it and feeling it are too different things," Severus whispered. "I'm sorry if I was harsh."
Harry angled his head up to look deep into those dark eyes. "Did you just apologise to me? So does that mean we've made up?" Harry wagged his eyebrows, making Severus chuckle. Harry could feel the rumble of it deep in his own chest.
"You could say that. I suppose you are angling for some make-up sex, are you?"
"Maybe," Harry answered, grinning.
"I don't suppose I would be averse to it."
Harry grinned even wider. "So we're okay?"
"We are, Harry, we are." Severus kissed the top of his head. "But we're having dinner first."
"Spoilsport."
"Not really, I don't want you fainting from hunger once I have my wicked way with you, do I?"
Arousal, hot and sudden, flared throughout Harry's whole body at the promise implied in that statement. He wondered if he'd even make it through dinner.
TBC