Severus gasped when the energy entered him.
A quick search located his target, the round nub of gland that he hoped to make his friend someday. Harry released one of those energy jolts that had so rocked Severus elsewhere, and held on for dear life.
There was no describing or deciphering the emotion in the cry that earned him. Severus' entire body seemed to supernovae. Harry paid tribute to the other man's prostate with jolt after jolt of delight, making sure he kept sucking and maintaining the nipple probes that Severus had seemed so fond of. Not three, but four lovers now pleasured Severus, Harry thought, a heartbeat before Severus gave a wild thrust and shot stream after stream of thick, hot semen down his throat.
Harry kept up all the stimulation until he felt Severus go soft in his mouth. Only then did he discontinue the three probes and lift his head.
Never had Harry seen so young an expression on Severus Snape's face. There were no shadows in his eyes, only the memory of joy. His cheeks were filled with a healthy flush of passion. His mouth was soft, with no trace of the cruelty that often hardened it.
As their eyes met, Severus spread his legs wide again and said in a hoarse sounding voice, "Finish it."
Harry gulped, his entire body jolting at the offer. He wanted to – gods, how he wanted to – but nothing had changed. Severus was still under the influence of a magical power as formidable as the Imperius spell.
More than a little shocked by how utterly he'd lost control and allowed himself to manipulate Severus this way, guilt overwhelmed him. He'd been careful and gentle, but he'd still used Severus as if he were a plaything.
So, instead of moving in between those long legs and taking the helpless, floating man, Harry levitated Severus over the pile of couch cushions and pillows in front of the fireplace and carefully lowered him down, breaking his hold on Severus' limbs and returning his autonomy.
As soon as Severus was safely settled, Harry laid down beside him, not touching. He'd already forced enough on Severus tonight.
Harry didn't know what to say as their gazes met. Part of him felt he should apologize for what he'd done. Never had he made another human his virtual marionette as he'd done with Severus. Even though Severus had asked for a demonstration of his capabilities, what he'd done was extreme. But, taking in that glowing gaze, he recognized that Severus had wholly enjoyed it. An apology could ruin what they'd shared. Doubtless, Severus would realize that he'd taken things too far as soon as the afterglow faded. Torn, he waited for Severus to judge him, as every wizard he'd ever been intimate with eventually did.
Severus seemed to study him for a long time. Finally, Severus reached out to lay his arm across his midsection in an oddly intimate way. While his long fingertips played distractingly down his ribs, Severus said, "Whatever you want from me, it's yours, if it's in my power to give it to you."
For the second time in two days, the world seemed to fall out from under him. Shocked, all Harry could do was stare at Severus' softened face. Severus' words were like a stroke to his already over-excited cock.
Finally finding his voice, Harry stammered an inelegant, "You're not . . . angry with me?"
"Angry? For giving me more pleasure in a single hour than I've experienced in my entire life?"
Harry knew that if Severus hadn't been undergoing the granddaddy of all afterglows he never would have confessed such a thing.
Harry shivered as those fingertips trailed down to his turgid erection, which was long past uncomfortable and well on the way to agony.
"Didn't you want -" Severus began, then seemed to stop himself to rephrase. "Your eyes spoke of your need, yet you didn't take . . . ?"
Before Severus could raise the question of his desirability again, Harry quickly explained, "It's too soon. We don't know each other well enough for that yet. Besides, once I started feeding you my power, you were hardly in the position to make an informed decision. I might just as well have had you under Imperius, for all the chance you had to say no."
Severus simply stared at him for a second, and then burst out laughing. "Gods, with integrity like that, how do Gryffindors ever reproduce?"
Harry laughed himself. "Damned if I know."
Severus' expression seemed almost fond as he watched him.
"Do you intend to do something about that or lay there and suffer?" Severus finally asked, his index finger wickedly flicking Harry's swollen cock, making him gasp and shudder.
"What did you have in mind?" Harry asked as calmly as he could manage with a dick that was ready to bore its way through the dungeon's stone floor if he didn't get some relief soon.
"I've already made my suggestion. I'll leave it to your Gryffindor sensibilities to determine what type of contact is acceptable after fifteen years of knowing each other," Severus said, with the smug satisfaction of a man who'd already come. "I'm willing to assist in any manner you deem . . . appropriate to our level of . . . unfamiliarity."
"You're making me sound ridiculous," Harry muttered, his body begging for even a hand-job.
"Only because you are ridiculous," Severus replied. His eyes seemed to soften and he relented, "However, somehow you make even that trait appallingly appealing."
His brain was so on fire with need that he couldn't be sure, but it sounded as though Severus Snape had actually complimented him.
"Oh, for Salazar's sake," Severus finally said and leaned over to kiss him.
Harry clung to those lips as though they were a lifeline. He kissed with all his heart, ready to come from just that contact.
He felt Severus' hands slip around his waist. Severus rolled over onto his back, gave a tug, and settled Harry carefully on top of him, opening his thighs so that Harry's hips slid intimately between them.
Severus wasn't nearly as bony a cushion as his slender build had led Harry to expect. To the contrary, that long, hot body felt like sheer nirvana as he fit himself to the taller man. Severus' hands stroked down his back, settling on his buttocks.
Harry groaned as the careful squeeze Severus gave shot a veritable rainbow of sensual fireworks through his strained system. His hips thrust his erection helplessly against Severus' thigh. While their tongues met in an intimate dance, Severus' hands guided his humping hips into a delightful rhythm that matched that of their tongues.
Harry could feel himself melting into the man below him on an emotional level, and then it happened on a physical level as well. The sharp pleasure crashing through him reached its ultimate peak and reality shattered around him in a blinding burst of ecstasy as he bathed both their tight-pressed stomachs with his sticky gift.
Gasping for breath, he clung to Severus, feeling utterly naked and destroyed. He didn't want to lose this. He didn't want to go back to being a freak. He didn't want to see the haze of sexual contentment in Severus' eyes turn to fear as it had in all the lovers before him.
It was in these moments immediately following afterglow that his paramours usually got to thinking about the unusual magic Harry couldn't help but use when excited. Then they'd leave or ask him to go. As he lay there gasping for breath in Severus' embrace, he couldn't help but fear what would happen now that the passion was spent.
But the clock on the other side of the room continued to tick away the minutes, and nothing untoward occurred. Instead of forcing him to his feet and kicking him out, Severus continued to gently kiss him. One of Severus' hands left his buttocks to stroke his back, and then the other reached up to pull some kind of blanket down from the couch beside them to cover them both.
When Severus snuggled back down beside him, Harry's heart nearly burst.
The feelings coursing through him mightn't have been the same kind of magic he'd used on Severus before, but it was a powerful magic all the same. A warmth spread through him that had nothing to do with afterglow. Severus had been so incredibly accommodating. Instead of turning away from him in fear, he'd offered him anything he wanted. It had been so long since anyone who'd really known him had touched him. The strangers all bolted at the first sign of his unusual talents, but Severus . . . his power turned Severus on. How rare was that?
Harry knew the answer to that question. He was twenty-six and had never found anyone willing to share what Severus had offered him tonight. No one had ever given him that kind of acceptance before. It meant the world to him, to not be viewed as a freak, to not be feared. He wasn't child enough to believe that would last, but it was enough that Severus had given him tonight. He wanted to say something to acknowledge the amazing gift, but what could he say?
While his mind searched for the right words, Harry lay there basking in Severus' wonderful warmth. It was so comfortable here, so . . . perfect. That seductive warmth crept through him. The magic he'd used had totally drained him. He felt like he'd just fought a duel. Before Harry could so much as mumble a word of thanks, exhaustion claimed him and he was out like a light.
*~*~*
An icy draft on his bare back woke Severus.
Tensing, because he didn't know where he was or why he wasn't sleeping in his own bed, Severus lifted his head from its warm pillow and stared around his dark surroundings. Shocked, he felt what he'd thought to be his pillow rise and fall in the steady, unmistakable rhythm of breathing. Who . . . ?
Severus pulled back from the other person's body and felt around soft cushions and something that felt like a rug, but his wand was nowhere in reach.
Sitting up, he stared frantically about his surroundings. The only light was the golden glow of the dying embers in the hearth, which was about two feet from his left shoulder. Clearly, he was on the floor, then.
Memory hit just as Severus was preparing to jump to his feet.
Harry Potter. The man lightly snoring beside him was Harry Potter and they had once again . . . .
Severus swallowed hard as he recalled exactly what they'd done last night. He wished he could be shocked by his own behaviour, but his fascination with power had driven him into far worse circumstances in his youth. He tried to console himself with the knowledge that falling thrall to Harry Potter wouldn't brand his flesh or blacken his soul, but it didn't help. He'd thrown away his self-respect in exchange for sex, just as he'd done when young. There would be no avoiding Potter's disgust once the man awoke. In a few minutes he was going to have to deal with something none of his other experiences had prepared him for – an awkward morning after. Unless he avoided the scene entirely and fled now, he was going to have to face Potter, with no possibility of denying what he'd done last night.
The idea of flight was tempting, but where would he run? Even if he skipped all meals, he'd see Potter at this afternoon's staff meeting. Severus really didn't want any witnesses to what the other wizard might say to him.
He cursed himself ten times a fool. What had he been thinking? How could he have . . . debased himself in front of Potter that way? Was he such a whore that he'd spread his legs for any mighty wizard?
Apparently.
Shaking from more than the cold, Severus ran a hand through his hair and tried to think. His teeth were starting to chatter and his skin prick up in gooseflesh, so warmth was the first order of business. If he were on the floor in front of the hearth, there should be a woodpile somewhere to his right.
Walking on his knees, Severus shimmied over to the side of the hearth and felt along the wall. Sure enough, his blindly reaching fingers brushed against dry, hard bark. He grasped hold of a couple of well-sized pieces, and placed the wood on top of the orange embers. They sparked to life immediately, and within three minutes, he had a fire cheerfully blazing again. Its heat rolled over his shivering flesh as warm as Potter's hands.
Necessity dealt with, Severus returned to their makeshift bed. His heart twisted in his chest at the sight of a naked Harry Potter sprawled across the nest they'd made of his couch cushions and pillows. Although his anxiety didn't recede in the slightest, he couldn't help but admire the view.
Shaggy, black, rumpled hair that never looked neat surrounded a face that was both strong and innocent. James Potter had been handsome in his own arrogant way, but for all that Harry resembled his father, Harry's appeal was far more wholesome and compelling than James' had ever been. Severus had never thought that he'd consider kindness an attractive feature, but Harry's face was kind and gentle . . . and he liked that about him. He liked the strong cleft chin that James hadn't had, and the zigzagging lightning bolt scar on his brow.
Potter was sleeping the sleep of the thoroughly fucked on top of a pile of green couch cushions and black and silver patterned throw pillows. The blanket Severus had pulled from the couch to cover them had no doubt slipped off Potter when Severus had moved away from him.
The younger man was truly quite beautiful, especially in repose like this, when sleep washed all the cares from his face. Severus stared at the milky skin over Potter's left collarbone for a moment, before reaching out to retrieve the afghan to cover him up again.
Mistake. The instant the wool touched his skin, Potter's eyes flew open.
Severus steeled himself for the alarm in those green eyes to turn into scorn or something far worse once Potter saw him and recalled what they'd done last night, but as Potter focused on him, all worry seemed to drain from his features. Potter blinked at him, and Severus could almost feel the memories rolling through Potter's barely awake mind.
To his confusion, a sleepy smile spilled over Potter's features and he murmured a husky, "Good morning."
Severus was still taking in the civility of the greeting when Potter took hold of his arms and pulled him down into a kiss. Potter seemed to give no thought to morning breath; he just kissed him for all he was worth.
As for himself, Severus didn't care. He'd tasted far worse than a sleepy young man's mouth in his day.
Severus tried to remain in control, to hold back from the kiss, because he knew Potter's feelings would change as soon as he'd had time to digest everything that had happened last night, but it was no good. Despite his best efforts, he responded to that dry mouth, lingering in the kiss until he finally had to come up for air.
