InsaneJournal

Happy Daft Day, gin_tonic!
Recipient : gin_tonic
Title : Shelter
Author: alliekatgal
Rating: NC-17
Warning: Reference to abuse.
Prompt: gin_tonic wanted hurt/comfort, abused!Harry, virgin!Harry, rimming, rough sex, wall!sex, plot, dirty talk, bondings, fluff, and drinking mulled wine.
A/N: A huge Thank-you to accioslash and eeyore9990.



Shelter


Harry groaned as he picked himself up off the floor. He stumbled into the bathroom, grateful that he had silenced the mirror years ago. It was bad enough just looking at himself in the mirror without listening to it exclaim in horror.

His left eye was swollen shut, but he could still see out of the other. As usual, his lower lip was split open, and blood was gushing from his nose. Fuck, he’d have to remember to check that he hadn’t bled on the floor. His whole face hurt but none of that compared to the pain in his arm.

He’d made the mistake of trying to block a blow to his face, and his forearm had snapped like a twig. He supposed it was a small price to pay, as the sound of his bones breaking had finally satisfied his wife that he had been suitably punished.

He could never quite pinpoint when his marriage had begun to change. He was sure they had been happy when they had married, and they had been ecstatic when James had been born. But then Albus Severus had arrived only a year after James, and Lily had arrived two years later.

Harry’s Auror duties kept him working long hours, and Ginny began to resent being the sole caretaker of three children under the age of four. Despite Harry’s urgings that she hire help, she insisted that no-one else would be taking care of either her house or her children. Unfortunately, Harry soon became the recipient of Ginny’s frustrations.

He realized now that he should have done something the very first time she hit him. Snide little jabs, rude comments he never would have taken from anyone else, had escalated to physical blows, her contempt for him thrown in his face the minute they were alone.

His guilt at not being there for his family and the feeling that he truly did deserve it combined to cause him to simply take whatever she did. Lately, Harry spent a great deal of time at home trying to avoid being alone with Ginny.

Gradually, a slap on the face became an all out attack, inevitably ending with Ginny finding some weapon to use against him. Tonight it had been the French rolling pin, seventy-five centimeters of seasoned cherry wood, conveniently hung on the kitchen wall.

He opened the bathroom cabinet and began to put himself back together. The bruise salve immediately brought down the swelling around his eye and across his cheek. A quick Episkey healed his lip, and a gentle one-handed rinse of his face removed most of the blood.

He tried to mend his arm, but that damned spell had never worked for him. He blamed that on Lockhart. In some small corner of his mind, he could always picture his arm as it had been after that buffoon had removed the bones.

There was no help for it; he’d have to go see Severus.

Harry threw the Floo powder into the fireplace, and stuck his head in as he called out Severus’ name. A moment later Severus came into view.

“Harry. What’s wrong?”

“Can I come through?”

Harry was grateful Severus was there to catch him, as he stumbled worse than usual while trying to keep his arm held at his side.

“What did you do to your arm? I thought you were getting away from field work.”

Harry avoided looking at Severus, not wanting to answer any questions.

“Can you fix it? I’m pretty sure both bones are broken.”

Severus helped Harry over to the couch, making sure he was seated before examining his arm.

Harry put his head back, trying to ignore the agony of his arm. He heard Severus softly incant the spell, and felt the light brush of air over his skin.

His arm began to tingle, and he sighed in relief as the worst of the pain faded.

“Thank you.”

“Drink this.” Harry opened his mouth and allowed Severus to feed him a potion, knowing from the familiar smell that it would reduce the remaining pain in his arm.

“What happened?”

Severus caught Harry’s jaw in his hand, forcing Harry to look to him. “I’m surprised Kingsley let you go home with an injury like this. How could he be so incompetent as to not have known you were injured?”

Harry could feel the blood rushing to his face. He didn’t want to lie to Severus, but he couldn’t tell him the truth.

“There is dried blood on your face, and you have a bruised area beside your eye. You already used bruise salve, didn’t you? You missed an area.”

Severus pulled Harry up from the couch and dragged him close to the lamp on his desk.

“You tried to heal your lip. You were mostly successful, but it’s beginning to split open again. What are you not telling me, Harry?”

Harry tried to deny it, but he was tired. His body ached, his heart was beyond bruised, and the gentle touch of Severus’ hand on his face all but undid him.

“This didn’t happen on assignment, did it? This was personal? Who did this, Harry?” Severus’ voice was quiet and coaxing, the husky rasp of his damaged throat soothing to Harry’s ears.

Harry let his head fall forward until it rested against Severus’ shoulder. “I had nothing to do with it, Severus, truly. I only ever wanted her to be happy. I would never have tried to interfere with something she wanted. I tried to tell her she should work with a private coach before trying out for a professional team, but she can be incredibly stubborn. She insisted that it was my fault she didn’t make the team.”

Harry melted into Severus' embrace, taking comfort from the soothing touches across his back. This man, out of all the people in his life, would understand.

“I take it this wasn’t the first time she’s done this to you?”

There was a slight hitch in Harry’s voice as he answered. “No, but it’s never gone quite this far.”

“You can’t let this continue, Harry. It will only get worse. Trust me; I know from personal experience that it can only get worse. You need to divorce her before she kills you.”

Harry groaned, although he knew Severus was right. “I thought it would be better once Lily went to Hogwarts. She was free to do whatever she wanted.”

“Are the children safe with her? Has she ever hurt them?”

“No! No, she’s never hurt them. She loves them. She used to love me, but now she only resents me. She tells me that I ruined her life, her future.”

Severus pulled back and forced Harry to look at him.

“She’s wrong, Harry. She set her cap for you when she was still a child. She saw what she wanted to see. She doesn’t have the right to act like this, Harry. No one does. I don’t want to hear that you think you deserve this. We’ll contact my solicitor in the morning, and you will file papers against that harridan. Then you will go to Hogwarts and talk with your children. Agreed?”

Harry agreed, and Severus found blankets and settled Harry onto the couch. Harry never felt the soft brush of Severus’ fingers across his cheek, or the light kiss on his forehead.

True to his word, the next morning Harry met with a solicitor. As harrowing as that was, it was harder to tell his children that he and their mother were ending their marriage. James appeared completely unsurprised, while Al hugged him, telling him he was sorry. Lily cried silently, her arms wrapped tightly around her father’s neck.

“We’ll still see you, won’t we, Dad?”

“Of course, Lily. I love you and Al and James, and nothing will keep me away from you. Your mother and I will have to work out when you’ll be with each of us, but I promise you, all you have to do is owl me, or Floo-call, and I’ll be there for you.”

The next few months were difficult, forcing Harry to reassess his life. He left the Aurors, despite pleas from Kingsley to reconsider. He did agree to act as a consultant for special cases, but he’d no longer work in the Ministry on a daily basis.

He refused to talk to Ginny alone, insisting that Arthur be present. Ginny had lambasted him in an article published by Rita Skeeter, and Harry did nothing to refute any of it. He only cared what his children and Severus thought of him. The rest of the world could go to hell.

Severus seemed to be the only person, other than his children, that Harry now enjoyed seeing. His visits became more and more frequent, until he was spending most of his evenings with Severus. He had his own flat, but it wasn’t a home, not the way Severus’ house was.

Before Harry knew it, Christmas arrived. Ginny had spent the past four months pretending Harry didn’t exist, which suited him quite well. He’d had his children over the previous day to give them their presents since they would be spending Christmas day at the Burrow.

He had held off going to Severus’ until early afternoon, but then he realized there wasn’t any good reason for him to wait longer. Severus’ living room was empty when Harry arrived, but he merely had to follow his nose to the kitchen to find Severus.

He peered around Severus to look into the pot simmering on the cooker.

“What are you cooking? It smelled like you were baking something.”

Severus scooped out a small spoonful of liquid, and held it out toward Harry, who didn’t hesitate to open his mouth.

“Mmmm. What is it?”

“Mulled wine. Your relatives didn’t make this for Yule?”

Harry laughed, giving Severus a disbelieving look. “They barely fed me the basics, let alone something that could be considered a treat. Did your family make this when you were growing up?”

“My mother would make a bit of it for us each year. My father always complained that it was a waste of good wine, but in truth mulled wine was a way to make bad wine palatable. It’s one of the few traditions I indulge in.”

They settled themselves in front of the fireplace, silently enjoying their warm drinks. Harry had made himself comfortable, kicking off his boots and discarding his cloak. Severus was dressed informally, at least for him, in dark wool trousers and an equally dark dress shirt. His socks kept drawing Harry’s attention. They were an interesting shade of green so bright they almost glowed, and there appeared to be tiny cauldrons stitched into them.

Severus caught him staring at the socks and seemed to dare Harry to say something. Harry valued the peace too much to tease him about them. No doubt they were a present from Albus years ago. Harry had a few interesting sets of his own.

He took his wand from one pocket and a bit of greenery from his cloak. A softly murmured incantation and it flew up to float over their heads.

“I was hoping we could indulge in one more tradition.”

Harry watched apprehensively as Severus looked up at the mistletoe bobbing over their heads. He breathed a sigh of relief as Severus drew him closer. It was a soft, tentative meeting of lips, a chaste greeting, fleetingly short.

Just as Severus began to withdraw, Harry kissed him again, pressing his mouth hungrily against Severus’, his tongue gently trying to gain access. In an instant, it was granted, and Harry groaned as their tongues met, heat and hunger and the residual taste of mulling spices filling his senses.

Harry didn’t know if he pulled, or if Severus pushed, but they ended up sprawled on the floor, Harry flat on his back. By the time their clothes had been removed, there was a scattering of buttons across the floor and his t-shirt was a complete loss.

“Did you want to continue this on the floor? I do have a rather comfortable bed.”

Harry could feel himself blushing. “The bed would be good.”

They left the clothing strewn across the floor. As promised, the bed was indeed comfortable. It was even better with Severus draped over him, kissing him until his head swam.

Harry thought it should all feel somewhat strange, but Severus’ long body felt perfect, lean and strong and demanding.

This was nothing like the few furtive handjobs he’d indulged in during his first year in Auror training. At the time, he’d told himself it was simply the circumstances they found themselves in, friendly blokes in stressful situations, just letting off a bit of steam.

Now, with Severus’ arse fitting so perfectly into his hands, he realized it had never been about the stressfulness of Auror training. It had simply been him all along. As much as he loved the softness of women, men were appealing for completely different reasons.

Harry arched up as Severus stroked his cock, knowing he was already close to the edge. Another squeeze and he was coming, apologies already spilling from his mouth. Severus kissed him into silence, his mouth gentle and soothing.

Harry caught up on his breathing when Severus broke away to retrieve his wand. A quiet spell had the stickiness cleaned up.

He couldn’t hold back a gasp when a slick finger probed at his arse. His fingers dug into Severus’ arm purely from reflex.

Severus arched a questioning eyebrow at him.

Harry looked at him pleadingly.

“You’re not going to stop, right? It doesn’t change anything. I know what I want.”

Severus laughed softly. “I think you may be confusing me with someone else. I’m not noble, Harry. I never turn down an opportunity, especially one that gives me something I’ve wanted for a very long time.”

Harry moaned as Severus lightly bit his neck. “Glad to hear it. Come on, old man, show me what you know.”

He groaned in relief as Severus did exactly that. He caught soft murmurings near his ear, something about a different salve, breathe, push, and then all he could focus on was the fullness and the heat and the sparks Severus was generating.

Their bodies moved together, hearts pounding, breathing labored, until Severus stiffened and breathed out Harry’s name, almost too softly to be heard. Harry held him close and stroked his back, unwilling to let the moment end.

He reluctantly let go as Severus pulled away to lie beside him. Blankets covered him even as he was drawn in a tight embrace. Severus’ arm was draped across his back, and his head fit perfectly just below Severus’ prominent collarbone.

“You don’t mind me staying? I don’t want to be in the way if you’ve already made plans for tomorrow.”

“Sleep, Harry. Tomorrow we can do as we please. My only plans were to be with you.”

Harry found Severus’ hand and squeezed it gently, feeling a firm squeeze in return. Christmas had been brilliant. He had high hopes for the new year to come, and plans where Severus played a starring role. He fell asleep to the strong, steady heartbeat beneath his ear.