drachenmina (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
drachenmina) wrote2008-06-10 08:47 am
drachenmina) wrote2008-06-10 08:47 am
Gleanings - Chapter Five/Five
Title: Gleanings
Author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
drachenmina
Word Count: ~26,600 total
Rating: NC17
Pairing: Harry Potter/Severus Snape, *past Snupin*
Warnings: Slight BDSM
Chapters One and Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Arriving for the interview the next morning, Luna looked as dreamy as ever. Thankfully she was no longer wearing vegetables as jewellery, although to be honest Harry wasn’t sure that what was currently hanging from her ears – apparently chunks of concrete - were much of an improvement.
She was followed in by Dennis Creevey, who appeared to have inherited his older brother’s keenness for photography – at any rate, he was weighed down with an unfeasible number of cameras and other equipment, although Harry noticed that he didn’t seem in any hurry to actually use any of it, preferring to gaze adoringly at Luna instead.
“Luna! Lovely to see you again!” Hermione greeted her warmly, but couldn’t stop her eyes straying to Luna’s earrings.
Luna smiled. “Do you like them? They’re made from pieces of our house. After the explosion, of course. It’s nice to feel home isn’t totally gone. I’ve got a necklace too, but it’s a little heavy for everyday wear.”
“That’s… nice.” Hermione was obviously struggling to think of something appropriate to say.
They sat down to do the interview, Harry relieved to note that Luna had still not succumbed to the lure of the Quick-Quotes Quill.
She began brightly. “Now, Harry, do you and Severus plan on having a brother or a sister for Teddy?”
“Er, Luna? We’re both blokes, remember?”
“Oh, yes - magic is wonderful, isn’t it?” She smiled at them both sunnily.
Harry blinked. Wizards couldn’t get pregnant – could they?
“Even magic can’t help two men have children without a woman being involved, Luna!” Hermione broke in impatiently.
Luna looked at her earnestly. “Oh, but you’re forgetting Israel Shoe. He and his partner, Feracius Legion, had twenty-three children in Somerset in the late 1700s, including one set of conjoined twins. They were joined at the ankle – that’s how the Muggle craze for three-legged races all started, of course – “
“I think we’re getting a little off-topic here, Luna,” Hermione cut in again firmly. “Why don’t you ask Harry about his and Severus’ plans for the future that don’t involve having more children?”
To tell the truth, Harry was just as floored by that question as he had been by the previous one. Plans? He and Severus didn’t have plans. At least not any they’d ever discussed. Harry blanched at the thought of making something up on the spot and having it splashed all over the papers when he had no idea how Severus would react to it. And that was if he could think of something, even.
“I believe I will answer this one, Miss Lovegood.” Apparently Severus still hadn’t managed to cure himself of his saving-Harry thing.
“Oh!” Luna said with a giggle, “Please, call me Luna!”
“Luna, then. And of course you must call me Severus.” The tone was still smooth, but the rictus of a smile looked more than a little forced, Harry was reassured to see, as nothing was more surreal than watching Severus attempting to be nice.
“Thank you Severus! So, what are your plans?”
“We intend to look for another house. London is not the best environment for any young child. We both feel Teddy would benefit from a more rural location.”
This was news to Harry, but he wasn’t going to argue with Severus in front of everyone, it’d be too humiliating when he lost. In any case, he found he agreed – it’d be great for Teddy if they lived in the country. It’d make full moon nights a bit easier too, once he was old enough for Wolfsbane.
And – it’d be somewhere they’d chosen together. A proper family home.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
After the interview was finished and Luna, Dennis and Hermione had gone, Severus stomped into his lab and slammed the door, obviously exhausted by the Herculean effort of being civil and of trying not to scowl too much for the camera, which, given who was wielding it, was clearly a strain. Harry felt a bit guilty about what he was putting his lover through, but decided at least they’d be safe for an hour or two from Severus’ glares and remarks about the furniture (which wasn’t even his), so he sat down to do finger-painting with Teddy.
When Severus finally emerged from the stygian depths of his lab, the idea of moving house was still on Harry’s mind.
“Did you mean that, about looking for another house?” he asked as casually as he could. “Or was it just something to say that’d look good in the article?”
Severus frowned. “It has been on my mind for some little time,” he admitted. He gave Harry a glare and asked sharply, “You object?”
“Me? No!” Harry grinned. “I mean, do I look like I have a death wish?”
Severus snorted. “Frequently.”
“Yeah, right. Nah, I think it’s a great idea. I mean, it’s not like I’m really attached to this place – OK, so it was Sirius’, but he never liked it either.”
“Merlin forfend I should ever be found to agree with Black,” Severus muttered.
“So where were you thinking of looking? I mean, you mentioned somewhere by the sea to Luna – did you mean that too?”
Severus shrugged, but Harry reckoned he wasn’t as indifferent as he was trying to make out. “My mother grew up in a seaside town,” he eventually admitted almost unwillingly.
Harry smiled. “Yeah, that’d be good. Only, not one of these resort towns. Something a bit… I don’t know. Lonely. Not too many people around.”
Severus actually looked at Harry with something approaching approval in his eyes.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Their interview appeared in the Quibbler the very next day, and Harry raced down the stairs to read it that morning, even though he already knew exactly what would be in it, Luna having owled him an advance copy of the article.
He hadn’t seen the pictures yet, though, and he smiled at the family group in the main picture, and made a mental note to get Luna to send him a proper copy they could bung on the mantelpiece. Teddy was looking his cutest, Harry himself only looked moderately goofy, and Severus was neither scowling nor trying to edge out of the frame, so all in all Harry reckoned it was probably about as good a picture of them all as he was likely to get.
Later, curious to know just what the Wizarding World’s reaction to their article might be, Harry Floo-called Hermione and asked her and Ron to meet him in Diagon Alley, unaccountably forgetting to tell Severus just where he was going.
It was… pretty much as he’d expected. Everyone stared. Although to be fair, most of them had probably never seen a redhead blush quite so deeply as Ron did at all the attention pointed their way.
Harry counted three old ladies muttering, two mothers ushering their children to the other side of the street, four shouted insults and one furtive-looking young wizard who cornered them in Flourish and Blotts and, to Ron’s intense discomfort, hugged Harry behind the bookshelves, saying, “You’re so brave! I can’t tell you what this means to me. To all of us!”
All in all, Harry reckoned, a pretty fair exchange.
Harry was in a thoughtful mood when he returned.
“Do you think Teddy’ll hate us when he’s older?” he asked.
Severus snorted. “Of course he’ll hate us, Harry. That’s what parents are for.”
Harry gave a twisted grin. “OK, and I thought I had a crap childhood.”
Severus rolled his eyes. “This has nothing to do with the quality of parenting a child receives; merely that it is natural for an adolescent to question the views of his elders.”
Harry snorted. “Shame you couldn’t have remembered that all those times at school when I was questioning your views, then! But seriously, do you think he’ll hate us for, well, being gay? And for everyone knowing about it?” Harry held his breath, remembering the kind of thing Severus had said previously on the subject.
His lover frowned. “Harry, if you wish to have a partner who can foretell the future, then I suggest you go and ingratiate yourself with Sybil Trelawney.”
Harry shuddered. “’Scuse me while I go and throw up!”
“However, I confess the reactions of your contemporaries have given me some grounds for… a cautious optimism that by the time Teddy attends Hogwarts, the Wizarding World may have become more tolerant towards those it views as different. Certainly your friends have proved more… accepting of our relationship than I had expected. Even Mr Ronald Weasley – once he had recovered from his perfectly natural shock at discovering two consenting adults engaged in an act of mutual affection – “
“Git! He didn’t know I was consenting, that was the point!” Harry smiled slyly. “So, when you slam me up against a wall, that’s just your way of saying you love me, is it?”
“Presumptuous brat,” Severus snarled.
He still slammed Harry up against the wall later, however.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
A few days later, Harry and Severus were awoken by the sound of Pigwidgeon tapping excitedly at the window. Severus cursed as Harry staggered out of bed to let him in.
“The one morning Teddy does not wake us up at crack of dawn, your insufferable friend has to send his winged Pygmy Puff to disturb us – “
As if on cue, Teddy started calling loudly for his breakfast. Severus heaved an exaggerated sigh, and rolled out of bed to see to him, Harry enjoying the view for the few brief seconds before his lover’s naked form was enveloped in a long black dressing gown.
When Harry got downstairs, Severus, with his usual efficiency, had already boiled the kettle and was spooning oatmeal into Teddy’s delighted mouth.
“Well? What does Mr Weasley require of us?”
Harry grinned. “He wanted to know if it’d be, er, safe to pop in on us later this morning. You know, I doubt he’ll ever just drop in on anyone unannounced again!”
Severus frowned. “Did he give any indication as to the purpose of his visit?”
Harry shrugged. “Just said he’d got something we might be interested in. You know Pig’s tiny, he can’t carry long letters.”
Severus snorted. “Ideally suited then, to be the amanuensis of someone who barely knows one end of a quill from the other. I doubt he is generally unduly taxed by the your Mr Weasley’s billets doux.”
“Git. Anyway, I told him to come on over.”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Ron turned up punctually at eleven, clutching a scroll, and looked intensely relieved to learn that Severus was unfortunately unavoidably detained by a potion at that precise time.
He got straight down to business. “Hi, mate. Listen, you know in that interview you did, you said you were planning to move out to the country?“
“Yeah,” Harry said cautiously, wondering where this was going.
“Well, Bill saw it, and he owled me about this place just down the road from Shell Cottage. Gleanings, it’s called. Old wizarding house, quite big, but no one’s lived in it for the last forty years except a batty old witch and her cats. Place needs quite a bit of money spending on it – but well, you’ve got that, haven’t you? And it’s out of the way, with woodland round the back, and it’s near the sea, and, well, Fleur’s expecting so Teddy’d have someone to play with – so what do you think?”
He showed Harry the scroll he’d brought, which turned out to be the details of the house drawn up by the wizarding estate agents, Rook & Hornswoggle.
Harry read out loud. “Fine prospects – they mean views, right? – unique character features – um, what does that mean? Has it got an outside loo, or something?”
Ron looked slightly shifty. “Er, no. Although, funnily enough... anyway, Bill explained that bit. Seems the old lady wasn’t all that great at looking after her cats so there’s, um, a few ghosts…”
“Ghost cats? I didn’t even know you could get ghost cats!”
Ron’s face was earnest. “Oh, yeah. Apparently they make really good pets – no feeding, no shedding, and they’re fantastic at scaring off the mice.”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
They went to see the house the next day, although Severus had sniped about having to take time out from brewing. Actually Harry had been relieved about this – clearly the Prophet’s scandal-mongering hadn’t affected Severus’ business too badly. They popped in on Shell Cottage first, Harry as always feeling a pang as he passed Dobby’s grave. Bill grinned widely as he flung open the door. “Come on in, folks! Fleur’s putting her feet up, she’s in the lounge. You remember the way, Harry.”
They trooped through to where an immensely pregnant Fleur was reclining on the sofa. How she still managed to look elegant at eight-and-a-half months gone was anybody’s guess. Harry noticed Ron surreptitiously straightening his hair and sucking his stomach in. Severus greeted her with stiff formality.
“Ah! We must call you Severus now, I think? And me, you must call Fleur. Ah, Teddy, ‘e grows more adorable every day. But sit, sit. Bill, you will fetch ze tea? ‘Arry, it is good to see you. Zis rubbish zey print about you in the Prophet, it is absurd. In France, zese things are just accepted. England, it is behind the times, I think.”
Harry felt a little embarrassed, but pleased.
Bill grinned, the expression looking a little incongruous on his friendly, scarred face. “Course, you do realise the reason I’m keen for you to move in down the road is that I won’t have to worry that either of you’ll be after my wife while I’m off slaving for Gringotts.”
Now Severus looked embarrassed. Somehow Harry didn’t think pleased was going to enter into the equation.
Fleur seemed used to that kind of comment from her husband. “Ah! But per’aps it is I who am after zem! I ‘ave always liked a tall man,” she purred seductively, gazing directly at Severus, who didn’t seem to know where to look.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
On the way over to the house, Bill apologised to Severus with a grin. “Sorry about Fleur, Professor. It’s the pregnancy hormones. She gets a bit – you know.”
“Indeed.” Severus gave the distinct impression that he’d rather he didn’t know, thank you very much.
Fleur had offered to look after Teddy while they saw round their prospective purchase, but Harry had eyed her bulk with misgivings, reckoning Teddy could be half-way to Hogwarts before she managed to heave her way off the sofa, and thanked her politely. “It’s going to be Teddy’s home too, if we buy it, so I think he ought to have a say in it too,” he’d said diplomatically.
“Ah! ‘Arry, you are so sweet!” she’d exclaimed to his intense discomfort and Severus’ well-hidden amusement.
Gleanings was a bracing fifteen-minute walk from Shell Cottage, standing alone amidst rough meadowland. Harry liked it on sight. It was old-looking, slightly imposing, but somehow friendly in a way Grimmauld Place had never managed to be. The estate agent, a small, plump wizard with sandy hair and a rather grating air of bonhomie, met them at the door. “Come in, come in. An honour, of course, to serve the great Harry Potter. And his, ah, consort, of course.”
Harry wondered that Severus didn’t hex the bloke for that. Maybe he liked the house too? Harry hoped so. He had a good feeling about this place. The estate agent was droning on: “…built during our dear Queen Victoria’s reign, a number of original features…”
Harry tuned him out as they passed through a wide hallway, the floor tiled in an intricate black-and-white pattern, to a light, airy sitting room with tall windows. He walked up to them to look at the view. On the right, rolling fields as far as the eye could see; on the left, dark woodlands redolent with promise for an inquisitive young wolf.
Harry felt Severus walk up behind him. “Is it just me, or is this place absolutely bloody perfect?” he breathed.
Severus snorted. “We have seen one room, Harry. Although I concede that it may have certain advantages.” He paused. “It would not do for us to allow the estate agent to think we are particularly enamoured of the place, however. Should we choose to purchase, it would behove us to drive as hard a bargain as possible.”
Harry dutifully schooled his features into what he hoped was a passable imitation of Severus’ bland, disinterested mask, as they trooped through a succession of rooms which, granted, were in a fair state of disrepair, but were all spacious, with high ceilings and large windows framing heavenly views.
As they passed back into the sitting room, there was a sudden commotion; with an ear-splitting yowl, two furry apparitions barrelled through the wall nearest them and out through the opposite wall. Teddy squealed delightedly and bounced up and down in Harry’s arms.
Sod driving a hard bargain. “We’ll take it!” exclaimed Harry, enraptured, as beside him Bill beamed and Severus rolled his eyes in exasperation.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
It took several months, by the end of which Harry was more familiar with magical builders and their idiosyncrasies than he ever wanted to be again (Oooh, can’t mess abaht with that, mate. Them’s load-bearing spells, them is. Play abaht with them and we’ll ‘ave the ‘ole ‘ouse falling down aound our ears. ‘Course, if you was to go for the premium spell-fixers – ) but in the end, Gleanings was ready to move into.
Severus had been cajoled into allowing a house-warming party, a process which left Harry feeling exhausted and slightly sore, but with a big smile on his face.
Ginny politely declined her invitation. Harry felt a bit sad about that, but on the whole was rather relieved. Ron was philosophical about it. “Well, she’s still feeling really bad about that mate of hers – ex mate, I should say – grassing you up to the press, and you can’t blame her for not wanting to come and celebrate you playing happy families with someone else, can you?”
Her parents came, and Harry had to grit his teeth every time Molly looked at him with sorrowful eyes. Arthur seemed friendly enough, but deep down Harry still hadn’t quite forgiven him for trying to persuade him he wasn’t really gay, although he realised the bloke had only been acting in Harry’s best interests, as he saw them.
Apart from that, the party seemed to be going very well indeed. Harry picked up on one possible reason for that when he saw George rush to stop Luna pouring herself a glass of pumpkin juice from the large self-filling jug they’d left out.
“Nah, Luna, you don’t want that,” he was saying. “Come and grab a butterbeer with me.”
Harry took a surreptitious sniff at the contents of the jug. Yep, definitely spiked. Oh well. He poured himself a glass, making a mental note to drink it slowly.
“Hullo, Harry. It’s a good party, isn’t it?” Harry turned and looked up at Neville’s slightly flushed face.
“Yeah, seems to be going OK. Glad you could make it, by the way. Wasn’t sure you’d come, actually, seeing as you and Severus never exactly got on.”
Neville shrugged a little self-consciously. “Well, you know. He doesn’t seem quite so scary, now he’s not teaching us any more. And being the same height now helps, of course.”
Harry smiled ruefully. “I’ll have to either stand on a box or take your word for it about that one, mate.”
Neville grinned. “Sorry. Keep forgetting you’re, er –“
“Such a short-arse?” Harry finished for him, smiling.
“So you’re, er, happy, then?” Harry felt himself colour a little under Neville’s earnest scrutiny.
“Yeah. I know, I know, who’d have thought it – but we’re happy, yeah. He’s a great dad to Teddy, you know.” Feeling a little embarrassed to be talking about him and Severus with Neville, Harry changed the subject quickly. “So, are you, er, seeing anyone?”
“Me? Oh, no. I’m, you know, not really – “
“Neville! Zere you are! I ‘ave been searching ze ‘ole ‘ouse for you. My sister Gabriele, she is dying to meet ze wielder of Gryffindor’s sword! Come, come!”
Smiling sheepishly, Neville allowed himself to be dragged off by Fleur to meet her younger sister, now an alarmingly mature, pretty fourteen-year-old who looked suitably awestruck when introduced to the modest hero.
“How does it feel to no longer be the pin-up boy for every teenaged witch?”
Harry grinned to hear Severus’ mellow tones in his ear. “Pretty good, actually. Bet you’re disappointed Fleur’s not eying you up any more since she’s had the baby, though.”
Severus actually shuddered. “That experience, Harry, was enough to make me seriously consider adding a contraceptive potion to their water supply.”
“You do that, and Molly Weasley’ll kill you. Wouldn’t take much, you know, she’s still mad at you for corrupting me.”
“Talking of corrupting, was that George Weasley I saw dragging a giggling Miss Lovegood off into the woods?”
Harry grinned. “Oh, I expect they were just hunting for Snorkacks, or something.”
“Indeed? I had no idea that was the current euphemism.”
One person Harry really hadn’t expected to turn up was Percy, given what Hermione had told him about his reaction to the news that Harry was gay. It all became a lot clearer after Percy cornered him in the kitchen.
“Ah, Harry. Er, lovely place you’ve got here.”
“Thanks, Percy. Um, good of you to come.” Why on Earth was Percy looking so uncomfortable? Was he worried Harry was going to jump him, or something?
“I, ah. I wondered if I could, er, ask you something?”
“Um, yeah, of course Percy.” Harry steeled himself for some well-meant enquiry as to whether he’d really thought this gay thing through – or worse, a frankly curious, so what do you actually do with each other?
“Do you, er, do you know any good places to go to meet wizards?” Percy stuttered out, his face glowing beetroot red.
Slightly gobsmacked, Harry gave him the name of the pub Snape used to go to, and then had a sudden thought. “You know, I met this bloke in Flourish and Blotts a while ago, and he’s written to me since, and he’s, um, looking for someone. Why don’t I give you his address? He, er, seemed like a nice bloke.”
Percy gave a huge grin, which suddenly made him look a lot more like his brothers. “Thanks, Harry, I really appreciate this. I, er, would be grateful if you didn’t say anything to the rest of the family as yet - “
Harry grimaced sympathetically, remembering his own coming-out to Arthur Weasley. “No problem, mate. And Percy? Best of luck!”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Life settled down after that, as it tends to. On her own with a young baby, Fleur was a frequent visitor, proudly bringing little Victoire to “play” with her honorary cousin, who seemed to find the small creature endlessly fascinating. Now the pregnancy hormones had subsided, Harry was amused to see Fleur treated both him and Severus as one of the girls, to the extent that Severus now tended to disappear hurriedly down to his basement laboratory when he saw her coming, muttering darkly about the consequences if he was forced to listen to one more story about Fleur’s cracked nipples or stress incontinence.
Headlines such as Boy-Who-Lived and Ex Death Eater Still Together not being the sort of thing that sold papers, at least not for long, Harry was relieved to see that the Prophet eventually tired of reporting on his love life, and began a serialisation of Gilderoy and Me, the memoirs of a Romanian wizard who claimed to have been Lockhart’s on-off lover for twenty years. Not that the man himself was in any condition to confirm or deny the story, of course, but the Prophet, after all, had never been overly concerned about getting its facts right.
Percy came out to his parents, and Molly didn’t speak to Harry for several weeks until Hermione finally managed to convince her that being gay wasn’t something you could catch. George and Luna announced their engagement and impending parenthood in the same week, which did a lot to restore Molly’s good humour.
Life was good, and Harry finally had the family he’d always dreamed of.
Although he still had to blink sometimes at the picture of domesticity that was Severus these days, as he lounged in his favourite wing-backed chair of an evening, Teddy’s storybook in one hand and a softly purring spectral short-hair on his lap.
Fin
Author:
drachenminaWord Count: ~26,600 total
Rating: NC17
Pairing: Harry Potter/Severus Snape, *past Snupin*
Warnings: Slight BDSM
Chapters One and Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Arriving for the interview the next morning, Luna looked as dreamy as ever. Thankfully she was no longer wearing vegetables as jewellery, although to be honest Harry wasn’t sure that what was currently hanging from her ears – apparently chunks of concrete - were much of an improvement.
She was followed in by Dennis Creevey, who appeared to have inherited his older brother’s keenness for photography – at any rate, he was weighed down with an unfeasible number of cameras and other equipment, although Harry noticed that he didn’t seem in any hurry to actually use any of it, preferring to gaze adoringly at Luna instead.
“Luna! Lovely to see you again!” Hermione greeted her warmly, but couldn’t stop her eyes straying to Luna’s earrings.
Luna smiled. “Do you like them? They’re made from pieces of our house. After the explosion, of course. It’s nice to feel home isn’t totally gone. I’ve got a necklace too, but it’s a little heavy for everyday wear.”
“That’s… nice.” Hermione was obviously struggling to think of something appropriate to say.
They sat down to do the interview, Harry relieved to note that Luna had still not succumbed to the lure of the Quick-Quotes Quill.
She began brightly. “Now, Harry, do you and Severus plan on having a brother or a sister for Teddy?”
“Er, Luna? We’re both blokes, remember?”
“Oh, yes - magic is wonderful, isn’t it?” She smiled at them both sunnily.
Harry blinked. Wizards couldn’t get pregnant – could they?
“Even magic can’t help two men have children without a woman being involved, Luna!” Hermione broke in impatiently.
Luna looked at her earnestly. “Oh, but you’re forgetting Israel Shoe. He and his partner, Feracius Legion, had twenty-three children in Somerset in the late 1700s, including one set of conjoined twins. They were joined at the ankle – that’s how the Muggle craze for three-legged races all started, of course – “
“I think we’re getting a little off-topic here, Luna,” Hermione cut in again firmly. “Why don’t you ask Harry about his and Severus’ plans for the future that don’t involve having more children?”
To tell the truth, Harry was just as floored by that question as he had been by the previous one. Plans? He and Severus didn’t have plans. At least not any they’d ever discussed. Harry blanched at the thought of making something up on the spot and having it splashed all over the papers when he had no idea how Severus would react to it. And that was if he could think of something, even.
“I believe I will answer this one, Miss Lovegood.” Apparently Severus still hadn’t managed to cure himself of his saving-Harry thing.
“Oh!” Luna said with a giggle, “Please, call me Luna!”
“Luna, then. And of course you must call me Severus.” The tone was still smooth, but the rictus of a smile looked more than a little forced, Harry was reassured to see, as nothing was more surreal than watching Severus attempting to be nice.
“Thank you Severus! So, what are your plans?”
“We intend to look for another house. London is not the best environment for any young child. We both feel Teddy would benefit from a more rural location.”
This was news to Harry, but he wasn’t going to argue with Severus in front of everyone, it’d be too humiliating when he lost. In any case, he found he agreed – it’d be great for Teddy if they lived in the country. It’d make full moon nights a bit easier too, once he was old enough for Wolfsbane.
And – it’d be somewhere they’d chosen together. A proper family home.
After the interview was finished and Luna, Dennis and Hermione had gone, Severus stomped into his lab and slammed the door, obviously exhausted by the Herculean effort of being civil and of trying not to scowl too much for the camera, which, given who was wielding it, was clearly a strain. Harry felt a bit guilty about what he was putting his lover through, but decided at least they’d be safe for an hour or two from Severus’ glares and remarks about the furniture (which wasn’t even his), so he sat down to do finger-painting with Teddy.
When Severus finally emerged from the stygian depths of his lab, the idea of moving house was still on Harry’s mind.
“Did you mean that, about looking for another house?” he asked as casually as he could. “Or was it just something to say that’d look good in the article?”
Severus frowned. “It has been on my mind for some little time,” he admitted. He gave Harry a glare and asked sharply, “You object?”
“Me? No!” Harry grinned. “I mean, do I look like I have a death wish?”
Severus snorted. “Frequently.”
“Yeah, right. Nah, I think it’s a great idea. I mean, it’s not like I’m really attached to this place – OK, so it was Sirius’, but he never liked it either.”
“Merlin forfend I should ever be found to agree with Black,” Severus muttered.
“So where were you thinking of looking? I mean, you mentioned somewhere by the sea to Luna – did you mean that too?”
Severus shrugged, but Harry reckoned he wasn’t as indifferent as he was trying to make out. “My mother grew up in a seaside town,” he eventually admitted almost unwillingly.
Harry smiled. “Yeah, that’d be good. Only, not one of these resort towns. Something a bit… I don’t know. Lonely. Not too many people around.”
Severus actually looked at Harry with something approaching approval in his eyes.
Their interview appeared in the Quibbler the very next day, and Harry raced down the stairs to read it that morning, even though he already knew exactly what would be in it, Luna having owled him an advance copy of the article.
He hadn’t seen the pictures yet, though, and he smiled at the family group in the main picture, and made a mental note to get Luna to send him a proper copy they could bung on the mantelpiece. Teddy was looking his cutest, Harry himself only looked moderately goofy, and Severus was neither scowling nor trying to edge out of the frame, so all in all Harry reckoned it was probably about as good a picture of them all as he was likely to get.
Later, curious to know just what the Wizarding World’s reaction to their article might be, Harry Floo-called Hermione and asked her and Ron to meet him in Diagon Alley, unaccountably forgetting to tell Severus just where he was going.
It was… pretty much as he’d expected. Everyone stared. Although to be fair, most of them had probably never seen a redhead blush quite so deeply as Ron did at all the attention pointed their way.
Harry counted three old ladies muttering, two mothers ushering their children to the other side of the street, four shouted insults and one furtive-looking young wizard who cornered them in Flourish and Blotts and, to Ron’s intense discomfort, hugged Harry behind the bookshelves, saying, “You’re so brave! I can’t tell you what this means to me. To all of us!”
All in all, Harry reckoned, a pretty fair exchange.
Harry was in a thoughtful mood when he returned.
“Do you think Teddy’ll hate us when he’s older?” he asked.
Severus snorted. “Of course he’ll hate us, Harry. That’s what parents are for.”
Harry gave a twisted grin. “OK, and I thought I had a crap childhood.”
Severus rolled his eyes. “This has nothing to do with the quality of parenting a child receives; merely that it is natural for an adolescent to question the views of his elders.”
Harry snorted. “Shame you couldn’t have remembered that all those times at school when I was questioning your views, then! But seriously, do you think he’ll hate us for, well, being gay? And for everyone knowing about it?” Harry held his breath, remembering the kind of thing Severus had said previously on the subject.
His lover frowned. “Harry, if you wish to have a partner who can foretell the future, then I suggest you go and ingratiate yourself with Sybil Trelawney.”
Harry shuddered. “’Scuse me while I go and throw up!”
“However, I confess the reactions of your contemporaries have given me some grounds for… a cautious optimism that by the time Teddy attends Hogwarts, the Wizarding World may have become more tolerant towards those it views as different. Certainly your friends have proved more… accepting of our relationship than I had expected. Even Mr Ronald Weasley – once he had recovered from his perfectly natural shock at discovering two consenting adults engaged in an act of mutual affection – “
“Git! He didn’t know I was consenting, that was the point!” Harry smiled slyly. “So, when you slam me up against a wall, that’s just your way of saying you love me, is it?”
“Presumptuous brat,” Severus snarled.
He still slammed Harry up against the wall later, however.
A few days later, Harry and Severus were awoken by the sound of Pigwidgeon tapping excitedly at the window. Severus cursed as Harry staggered out of bed to let him in.
“The one morning Teddy does not wake us up at crack of dawn, your insufferable friend has to send his winged Pygmy Puff to disturb us – “
As if on cue, Teddy started calling loudly for his breakfast. Severus heaved an exaggerated sigh, and rolled out of bed to see to him, Harry enjoying the view for the few brief seconds before his lover’s naked form was enveloped in a long black dressing gown.
When Harry got downstairs, Severus, with his usual efficiency, had already boiled the kettle and was spooning oatmeal into Teddy’s delighted mouth.
“Well? What does Mr Weasley require of us?”
Harry grinned. “He wanted to know if it’d be, er, safe to pop in on us later this morning. You know, I doubt he’ll ever just drop in on anyone unannounced again!”
Severus frowned. “Did he give any indication as to the purpose of his visit?”
Harry shrugged. “Just said he’d got something we might be interested in. You know Pig’s tiny, he can’t carry long letters.”
Severus snorted. “Ideally suited then, to be the amanuensis of someone who barely knows one end of a quill from the other. I doubt he is generally unduly taxed by the your Mr Weasley’s billets doux.”
“Git. Anyway, I told him to come on over.”
Ron turned up punctually at eleven, clutching a scroll, and looked intensely relieved to learn that Severus was unfortunately unavoidably detained by a potion at that precise time.
He got straight down to business. “Hi, mate. Listen, you know in that interview you did, you said you were planning to move out to the country?“
“Yeah,” Harry said cautiously, wondering where this was going.
“Well, Bill saw it, and he owled me about this place just down the road from Shell Cottage. Gleanings, it’s called. Old wizarding house, quite big, but no one’s lived in it for the last forty years except a batty old witch and her cats. Place needs quite a bit of money spending on it – but well, you’ve got that, haven’t you? And it’s out of the way, with woodland round the back, and it’s near the sea, and, well, Fleur’s expecting so Teddy’d have someone to play with – so what do you think?”
He showed Harry the scroll he’d brought, which turned out to be the details of the house drawn up by the wizarding estate agents, Rook & Hornswoggle.
Harry read out loud. “Fine prospects – they mean views, right? – unique character features – um, what does that mean? Has it got an outside loo, or something?”
Ron looked slightly shifty. “Er, no. Although, funnily enough... anyway, Bill explained that bit. Seems the old lady wasn’t all that great at looking after her cats so there’s, um, a few ghosts…”
“Ghost cats? I didn’t even know you could get ghost cats!”
Ron’s face was earnest. “Oh, yeah. Apparently they make really good pets – no feeding, no shedding, and they’re fantastic at scaring off the mice.”
They went to see the house the next day, although Severus had sniped about having to take time out from brewing. Actually Harry had been relieved about this – clearly the Prophet’s scandal-mongering hadn’t affected Severus’ business too badly. They popped in on Shell Cottage first, Harry as always feeling a pang as he passed Dobby’s grave. Bill grinned widely as he flung open the door. “Come on in, folks! Fleur’s putting her feet up, she’s in the lounge. You remember the way, Harry.”
They trooped through to where an immensely pregnant Fleur was reclining on the sofa. How she still managed to look elegant at eight-and-a-half months gone was anybody’s guess. Harry noticed Ron surreptitiously straightening his hair and sucking his stomach in. Severus greeted her with stiff formality.
“Ah! We must call you Severus now, I think? And me, you must call Fleur. Ah, Teddy, ‘e grows more adorable every day. But sit, sit. Bill, you will fetch ze tea? ‘Arry, it is good to see you. Zis rubbish zey print about you in the Prophet, it is absurd. In France, zese things are just accepted. England, it is behind the times, I think.”
Harry felt a little embarrassed, but pleased.
Bill grinned, the expression looking a little incongruous on his friendly, scarred face. “Course, you do realise the reason I’m keen for you to move in down the road is that I won’t have to worry that either of you’ll be after my wife while I’m off slaving for Gringotts.”
Now Severus looked embarrassed. Somehow Harry didn’t think pleased was going to enter into the equation.
Fleur seemed used to that kind of comment from her husband. “Ah! But per’aps it is I who am after zem! I ‘ave always liked a tall man,” she purred seductively, gazing directly at Severus, who didn’t seem to know where to look.
On the way over to the house, Bill apologised to Severus with a grin. “Sorry about Fleur, Professor. It’s the pregnancy hormones. She gets a bit – you know.”
“Indeed.” Severus gave the distinct impression that he’d rather he didn’t know, thank you very much.
Fleur had offered to look after Teddy while they saw round their prospective purchase, but Harry had eyed her bulk with misgivings, reckoning Teddy could be half-way to Hogwarts before she managed to heave her way off the sofa, and thanked her politely. “It’s going to be Teddy’s home too, if we buy it, so I think he ought to have a say in it too,” he’d said diplomatically.
“Ah! ‘Arry, you are so sweet!” she’d exclaimed to his intense discomfort and Severus’ well-hidden amusement.
Gleanings was a bracing fifteen-minute walk from Shell Cottage, standing alone amidst rough meadowland. Harry liked it on sight. It was old-looking, slightly imposing, but somehow friendly in a way Grimmauld Place had never managed to be. The estate agent, a small, plump wizard with sandy hair and a rather grating air of bonhomie, met them at the door. “Come in, come in. An honour, of course, to serve the great Harry Potter. And his, ah, consort, of course.”
Harry wondered that Severus didn’t hex the bloke for that. Maybe he liked the house too? Harry hoped so. He had a good feeling about this place. The estate agent was droning on: “…built during our dear Queen Victoria’s reign, a number of original features…”
Harry tuned him out as they passed through a wide hallway, the floor tiled in an intricate black-and-white pattern, to a light, airy sitting room with tall windows. He walked up to them to look at the view. On the right, rolling fields as far as the eye could see; on the left, dark woodlands redolent with promise for an inquisitive young wolf.
Harry felt Severus walk up behind him. “Is it just me, or is this place absolutely bloody perfect?” he breathed.
Severus snorted. “We have seen one room, Harry. Although I concede that it may have certain advantages.” He paused. “It would not do for us to allow the estate agent to think we are particularly enamoured of the place, however. Should we choose to purchase, it would behove us to drive as hard a bargain as possible.”
Harry dutifully schooled his features into what he hoped was a passable imitation of Severus’ bland, disinterested mask, as they trooped through a succession of rooms which, granted, were in a fair state of disrepair, but were all spacious, with high ceilings and large windows framing heavenly views.
As they passed back into the sitting room, there was a sudden commotion; with an ear-splitting yowl, two furry apparitions barrelled through the wall nearest them and out through the opposite wall. Teddy squealed delightedly and bounced up and down in Harry’s arms.
Sod driving a hard bargain. “We’ll take it!” exclaimed Harry, enraptured, as beside him Bill beamed and Severus rolled his eyes in exasperation.
It took several months, by the end of which Harry was more familiar with magical builders and their idiosyncrasies than he ever wanted to be again (Oooh, can’t mess abaht with that, mate. Them’s load-bearing spells, them is. Play abaht with them and we’ll ‘ave the ‘ole ‘ouse falling down aound our ears. ‘Course, if you was to go for the premium spell-fixers – ) but in the end, Gleanings was ready to move into.
Severus had been cajoled into allowing a house-warming party, a process which left Harry feeling exhausted and slightly sore, but with a big smile on his face.
Ginny politely declined her invitation. Harry felt a bit sad about that, but on the whole was rather relieved. Ron was philosophical about it. “Well, she’s still feeling really bad about that mate of hers – ex mate, I should say – grassing you up to the press, and you can’t blame her for not wanting to come and celebrate you playing happy families with someone else, can you?”
Her parents came, and Harry had to grit his teeth every time Molly looked at him with sorrowful eyes. Arthur seemed friendly enough, but deep down Harry still hadn’t quite forgiven him for trying to persuade him he wasn’t really gay, although he realised the bloke had only been acting in Harry’s best interests, as he saw them.
Apart from that, the party seemed to be going very well indeed. Harry picked up on one possible reason for that when he saw George rush to stop Luna pouring herself a glass of pumpkin juice from the large self-filling jug they’d left out.
“Nah, Luna, you don’t want that,” he was saying. “Come and grab a butterbeer with me.”
Harry took a surreptitious sniff at the contents of the jug. Yep, definitely spiked. Oh well. He poured himself a glass, making a mental note to drink it slowly.
“Hullo, Harry. It’s a good party, isn’t it?” Harry turned and looked up at Neville’s slightly flushed face.
“Yeah, seems to be going OK. Glad you could make it, by the way. Wasn’t sure you’d come, actually, seeing as you and Severus never exactly got on.”
Neville shrugged a little self-consciously. “Well, you know. He doesn’t seem quite so scary, now he’s not teaching us any more. And being the same height now helps, of course.”
Harry smiled ruefully. “I’ll have to either stand on a box or take your word for it about that one, mate.”
Neville grinned. “Sorry. Keep forgetting you’re, er –“
“Such a short-arse?” Harry finished for him, smiling.
“So you’re, er, happy, then?” Harry felt himself colour a little under Neville’s earnest scrutiny.
“Yeah. I know, I know, who’d have thought it – but we’re happy, yeah. He’s a great dad to Teddy, you know.” Feeling a little embarrassed to be talking about him and Severus with Neville, Harry changed the subject quickly. “So, are you, er, seeing anyone?”
“Me? Oh, no. I’m, you know, not really – “
“Neville! Zere you are! I ‘ave been searching ze ‘ole ‘ouse for you. My sister Gabriele, she is dying to meet ze wielder of Gryffindor’s sword! Come, come!”
Smiling sheepishly, Neville allowed himself to be dragged off by Fleur to meet her younger sister, now an alarmingly mature, pretty fourteen-year-old who looked suitably awestruck when introduced to the modest hero.
“How does it feel to no longer be the pin-up boy for every teenaged witch?”
Harry grinned to hear Severus’ mellow tones in his ear. “Pretty good, actually. Bet you’re disappointed Fleur’s not eying you up any more since she’s had the baby, though.”
Severus actually shuddered. “That experience, Harry, was enough to make me seriously consider adding a contraceptive potion to their water supply.”
“You do that, and Molly Weasley’ll kill you. Wouldn’t take much, you know, she’s still mad at you for corrupting me.”
“Talking of corrupting, was that George Weasley I saw dragging a giggling Miss Lovegood off into the woods?”
Harry grinned. “Oh, I expect they were just hunting for Snorkacks, or something.”
“Indeed? I had no idea that was the current euphemism.”
One person Harry really hadn’t expected to turn up was Percy, given what Hermione had told him about his reaction to the news that Harry was gay. It all became a lot clearer after Percy cornered him in the kitchen.
“Ah, Harry. Er, lovely place you’ve got here.”
“Thanks, Percy. Um, good of you to come.” Why on Earth was Percy looking so uncomfortable? Was he worried Harry was going to jump him, or something?
“I, ah. I wondered if I could, er, ask you something?”
“Um, yeah, of course Percy.” Harry steeled himself for some well-meant enquiry as to whether he’d really thought this gay thing through – or worse, a frankly curious, so what do you actually do with each other?
“Do you, er, do you know any good places to go to meet wizards?” Percy stuttered out, his face glowing beetroot red.
Slightly gobsmacked, Harry gave him the name of the pub Snape used to go to, and then had a sudden thought. “You know, I met this bloke in Flourish and Blotts a while ago, and he’s written to me since, and he’s, um, looking for someone. Why don’t I give you his address? He, er, seemed like a nice bloke.”
Percy gave a huge grin, which suddenly made him look a lot more like his brothers. “Thanks, Harry, I really appreciate this. I, er, would be grateful if you didn’t say anything to the rest of the family as yet - “
Harry grimaced sympathetically, remembering his own coming-out to Arthur Weasley. “No problem, mate. And Percy? Best of luck!”
Life settled down after that, as it tends to. On her own with a young baby, Fleur was a frequent visitor, proudly bringing little Victoire to “play” with her honorary cousin, who seemed to find the small creature endlessly fascinating. Now the pregnancy hormones had subsided, Harry was amused to see Fleur treated both him and Severus as one of the girls, to the extent that Severus now tended to disappear hurriedly down to his basement laboratory when he saw her coming, muttering darkly about the consequences if he was forced to listen to one more story about Fleur’s cracked nipples or stress incontinence.
Headlines such as Boy-Who-Lived and Ex Death Eater Still Together not being the sort of thing that sold papers, at least not for long, Harry was relieved to see that the Prophet eventually tired of reporting on his love life, and began a serialisation of Gilderoy and Me, the memoirs of a Romanian wizard who claimed to have been Lockhart’s on-off lover for twenty years. Not that the man himself was in any condition to confirm or deny the story, of course, but the Prophet, after all, had never been overly concerned about getting its facts right.
Percy came out to his parents, and Molly didn’t speak to Harry for several weeks until Hermione finally managed to convince her that being gay wasn’t something you could catch. George and Luna announced their engagement and impending parenthood in the same week, which did a lot to restore Molly’s good humour.
Life was good, and Harry finally had the family he’d always dreamed of.
Although he still had to blink sometimes at the picture of domesticity that was Severus these days, as he lounged in his favourite wing-backed chair of an evening, Teddy’s storybook in one hand and a softly purring spectral short-hair on his lap.
Fin