Snarry Fic part 1 of 2
Title:: From Death Pairing:: Severus/Harry Chapter:: 1/2 Rating:: pg13 for this chapter. Summary:: What happens when Harry Potter and Severus Snape meet in Limbo? When Harry lives through his near death experience he seeks answers from those thought to be long since passed. Spoilers:: DH though I'm sure by now everyone has read it or has been spoiled. A/N:: Not as angsty as I wanted but whatever. This is part one, now edited. X-posted to IJ and communities.
"Harry! Watch-" was the last thing he heard before the pain.
Although, pain wasn’t really a word to describe it. There were no words, in any language ever written or spoken, to describe what he was feeling. All he knew was a want for it to end. And it went on for an eternity.
Or so it felt like, until he realised he was lying face down on a firm mattress and all traces of that feeling were gone. He groaned and sat up. His groan was echoed by a second on a nearby camp bed.
Before taking in his surroundings, Harry’s head snapped over and he focused on what should have been a very dead Severus Snape. His eyes widened. "Oh shit!"
"Just my luck. Just my bloody luck that I should have to suffer you, Potter. Fan-fucking-tastic."
Harry shook his head in confusion. "Am I dead?"
"You’re dying," Snape said. "Think you might have figured that out, being the oh-so-brilliant child..." Snape trailed off and looked Harry up and down. "How old are you?"
"Twenty-seven," Harry said absently, standing up and taking a good look around. He was in what looked to be a prison cell. There were three stone walls and a set of bars leading out into what looked like an infinite hallway. Cells were everywhere, and everywhere there were voices; some crying, some singing, some talking, some screaming. "What is this place?"
"Limbo," Snape said with extreme sarcasm.
Harry looked back at Snape who looked quite like he did that day the snake had bitten him. "Limbo?"
"That was a joke," Snape said and then added under his breath, "sort of." He paused, shifted his weight on the bed to his other side but didn’t get up. "It’s a place where souls go before their bodies die."
Harry frowned. "But you’re dead, Snape. I saw you die. I was there. You gave me-"
"No need to remind me," Snape said, holding up his hand.
"Well anyway," Harry said, "that was over ten years ago. There’s no possible way you’re still dying."
"No possible way in life," Snape said wearily. "Time doesn’t exist here, Potter. In fact, Dumbledore, who was my cell mate before your happy person arrived, has only just gone and he was dead, by my hand, long before I was bitten."
Harry sighed. "So what happens now? I mean, where do we go?"
"Either up, or down," Snape said with a shrug. "Or you will disappear."
"What, like Heaven and Hell?"
Snape snorted and rolled his eyes. "No, Potter, not like Heaven and Hell. More like whatever existence your soul is destined for. Unless, of course, you don’t die. Then, it seems, you’ll simply disappear from here and go back to your body."
Harry licked his lips and then asked, "Where did Albus go?"
Snape shrugged. "He went down."
Harry sighed and flopped back down on the camp bed. "This sucks."
Snape let out a small snort. "Eloquently put."
"Well it does," Harry said. He found it rather unsettling that he was sitting here having an amicable conversation with Severus Snape. "Why’d you tell me that stuff about my mum?" Harry suddenly asked.
"I was delusional from the snake venom," Snape said.
"I’m serious," Harry insisted.
"As am I. In my right state of mind I would have much rather you die not knowing how I felt for your mother."
Harry sighed. "Well I suppose I owe you one, a dark secret or something."
"That won’t be necessary," Snape said quickly.
"It’s only fair," Harry said. Snape opened his mouth to protest but he wasn’t fast enough. "I was always in love with you. Even though I was just a kid, somewhere along the line my hate turned into love. I mean, I was always attracted to you."
Snape looked a bit green. "Why can’t Gryffindors ever keep their bloody mouths shut?"
Harry sighed. "Dunno."
"I think you are quite possibly the worst thing that’s ever happened to me in life or death," Snape said. "I think-" but Snape suddenly disappeared.
Harry sat there for a moment, quite unsure of what just happened. Snape had simply vanished. And then it occurred to him, if you died, you went up or down. If you went back to a living body, you disappeared.
So that had to mean...
"Someone better keep me alive up there!" Harry bellowed to the ceiling. "I don’t want to-" but his words didn’t continue, for he, too, suddenly disappeared.
---- ---- ----
"Bloody hell," whispered a deep voice right next to Harry’s ear. "I thought we lost you there for a second."
Harry groaned, now feeling a lot of pain all over his body. He found he could only open one eye and every muscle and bone in his body protested when he tried to roll over. "What..." Harry muttered.
"You sort of got run over by one of those Muggle thingies... what are they called?"
"Lorry, Ron," came Hermione’s distinct voice. "We called your name but it was coming too fast."
"Luckily Hermione was able to Apparate here fast enough," Ron said.
Harry was able to make out the stark whiteness of a St Mungo’s hospital room. "Oh," was all he could say.
"Back away please," came an impatient voice of a Healer. The witch hurried to Harry’s bedside where she tipped several potions down his throat. "You’d best sleep, Mr Potter."
"Mmmm," was all Harry could say as the potions hit him and he slipped into unconsciousness.
When Harry woke he had absolutely no recollection of the cell, or of talking to Snape, or of confessing his feelings to the older man. But he did, for some reason, have this intense feeling that somewhere, Severus Snape was alive.
His body, though sore, was mostly healed and he could open both eyes. Harry sat up in his bed and saw Hermione in the room, seated in the corner reading a book. She looked up at Harry and smiled. "Ah. How do you feel?"
"Like I’ve been hit by a lorry," Harry said with a wince.
"Well you look much better," she said.
Harry scratched the back of his head and tried to figure out why he was thinking about Severus Snape. "Er... Hermione, where is Snape’s body buried?"
Harmione frowned deeply. "What? Why?"
"I just would like to know," Harry said.
"He isn’t buried anywhere. They never found his body."
Harry lifed an eyebrow. "Why not? I mean, he was dead, right?"
Hermione put her book down and leant forward, her eyes intense. "What happened to you when you died, Harry?"
Harry shrugged and let out a frustrated sigh. "I don’t know. Something. Maybe nothing. I don’t remember anything but for some reason I know Snape’s alive."
Hermione looked down at her hands when she spoke. "He is."
"Tell me," Harry said, trying to keep calm.
Hermione sighed. "Well I had this potion from his personal stores that I kept in case of an attack by Nagini. When I realised what happened I gave him half the bottle but I didn’t wait around to see if it worked."
"Obviously," Harry said dryly.
Hermione chose to ignore his tone and kept going. "So later, when all was said and done, I found Snape waking up. He asked me what happened and I told him and handed over the last of the potion. He didn’t even thank me, just nodded and walked away."
"So why didn’t you tell me?" Harry bit out. "You and Ron both knew how I felt about him!"
"I was going to. In fact, I ran right up to tell you but you were totally unconscious and Ginny was sitting in the corner crying. I was so excited that I told her and Ron about Snape and she began to beg me not to tell you. She got quite hysterical, actually. Eventually she confessed that you’d been talking in your sleep. She said you’d taken some dreamless sleep potion but it didn’t work and you were crying for Snape. She said she knew all about how you felt and she couldn’t take losing you again."
"Ah," Harry said.
"So I just... didn’t say anything," Hermione said weakly. "Ron and I agreed to keep it totally secret and well, by the time you and Ginny-"
"By the time she left me," Harry offered.
"Yeah," Hermione said with a small smile. "I hadn’t thought about him in so long that it didn’t occur to me you’d want to know."
Harry rubbed at his face and looked out the window. "Where did he go?" he wondered aloud. "I mean, the whole of the Wizarding World thinks him dead so I’m assuming he went abroad."
"He’s in London," Hermione said. "I ran into him once, the day after your wedding. He was there at a café reading some book and drinking tea."
Harry’s eyes widened. "In London?"
"Yes," Hermione said. "He’s not magical anymore. I didn’t know but the potion also strips one of any magical power. I don’t think he was angry but he still didn’t thank me for saving his life."
"I can’t imagine why," Harry said dryly.
Hermione sighed and shrugged. "Well that’s that, Harry. If you want to seek him out I’m sure you could try but I can’t say he’d welcome you."
"I feel like I have to," Harry said. "I didn’t expect to wake up from the brink of death and know that Snape was alive. Somehow, I think he needs to know I live as well."
"If that’s what you want," she said slowly, "I’ll give you the address to his shop."
"His shop?"
"He owns a bookshop," Hermione explained. "I’ve only been in there once, but he wasn’t working."
"Still hoping for a thank you?" Harry asked.
Hermione laughed. "Maybe a little. But you can’t tell him I sent you, okay?"
"He’ll know, Hermione. I mean, he’s still Snape," Harry argued.
"Yes but all the same," she replied.
"Fine."
"As soon as you’re released I’ll give it to you. Until then, lie back and try to heal."
Harry let out a frustrated sigh but did as he was told, knowing that in just a few days he’d be seeing Severus Snape again. And maybe, only then, would a few questions be answered.