Evermore

Chapter Eight: It's More Than I Can Bear

Severus smiled, licking off the excess come that dripped down from his lips as he brought his body back upwards, over Harry, and looked down at him. "Hello, there," he said, a small laugh filtering out of his mouth.

Without hesitation, Harry yanked him downwards and devoured his mouth as Severus had done when they'd first woken up. "Fuck, you're amazing, Severus," he whispered.

Severus sighed as contentment washed over him. "As are you, Harry."

. . .

After Severus had summoned their clothes back onto their respective bodies and casted some extensive cleaning spells, he walked with Harry to the edge of the clearing. Harry felt the familiar ache of being separated from Severus washing over him, and he threw his arms around his lover one last time. After whispering of their love for one another, Harry slipped through the trees and Severus watched him for a time before he Apparated back to Hogwarts.

Harry drifted back towards the tent in the morning light of dawn, and, as he stepped back though the protective enchantment surrounding it, looked up at the tents' entrance. It was as if Severus's warming spell came off of him as he walked through Hermione's protected area, and, although the ache didn't leave him, he did feel comforted to be back with the pair of them. Harry raised his eyebrows then as Ron quickly moved out the flap, and let out a shout at him standing there. It was truly amazing to Harry as he stood there, hands in his pockets, watching as his best friend bounced around animatedly like an overly-energetic cardinal with too much butterbeer in his system.

"Hermione, he's back!" Ron shouted.

Hermione flitted out of the tent like a hummingbird to Ron's cardinal, letting out a shout of her own as she dashed forward. "Harry!" she screamed, throwing herself into his arms and never seeming to want to let go. "You've been gone for hours! What happened?" she demanded, pulling back from him and looking him over. "Are you hurt? Ron, fetch my Dittany at once!" she ordered her fiancé, turning around to face him briefly before looking back at Harry. "Why, you're flushed!" she said, putting her palm against his forehead. "Ron, it could be a fever! You'd best get my—!"

"He doesn't have a fever, Hermione," Ron said, gently prying her off of Harry and shaking his head at her. "Come on, mate. You don't need to tell us what's going on, because it's pretty obvious what you've been up to."

Harry raised his eyebrows. "Oh, really?"

Ron nodded, gently keeping ahold of Hermione's shoulders to prevent her from launching herself at Harry again. "Yeah. I mean, you're all red, and your hair's got the 'I've just been shagged' look..."

"Honestly, Ronald, Harry's hair always looks like—" Hermione cut herself off then, her brown eyes taking on a deeper understanding. "Wait. Harry, was that where you were all this time? I mean, were you with Severus?"

Harry sighed, carding his hand through his hair in an effort to calm it but, of course, it did no good, and remained going in all directions. "Yeah, I was with him," he said.

Ron blinked. "All night?"

Harry nodded. "Yeah. All night."

"Blimey, mate," Ron said, shaking his head. "I mean, I'm happy for you, but this is Snape we're talking about..."

"Honestly, Ron, you've got to accept Harry's choice of who to be with," Hermione scolded as she fixed him with a look.

"I do, Hermione, really," Ron assured her, pressing a kiss on her temple to placate her. "It's just going to take some getting used-to."

Harry shuffled from foot to foot then, remembering something that Severus had whispered the night before, about how Dumbledore had been the greatest sorcerer in the world—a fact which Harry deeply agreed with. It hit him then, like the Bludger had during his second year at Hogwarts, what Severus had been trying to tell him, and his eyes flashed upwards to Ron and Hermione's, and the words came tumbling out before he could stop them. "I know where the Elder Wand is."