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The Unexpected Side Effect of Draught No. 9	By : lovetoseverus Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Snape Views: 25605 -:- Recommendations : 5 -:- Currently Reading : 6
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 9
- 10
- 11
Chapter 10: Finding My Way Back

As Harry woke, he opened his eyes to take in the soft lighting of room around him. Blinking a few times, he tried to take stock of his surroundings. What was this place? It seemed familiar but his brain was slow to the task of identifying it for him. He felt fuzzy, unable to discern what might have happened or how he came to be here. The room was quiet, though, and he seemed to be its only inhabitant.

Then, a visual of Sirius’ face swam by in his memory, along with a flash of Remus he couldn’t quite place. At this, he sat up with a start, a move he regretted instantly as the room began to sway before him, his pulse throbbing in his temples. He groaned and held his head.

He remembered Sirius’ heartbeat, and the sofa with the old quilt, and Remus drinking his tea and rocking gently in a chair, and… and Shell Cottage! All at once it flooded back into Harry’s mind: Evochi. He had just woken from his second draught of Evochi.

As he laid back down, he also realized where he was: Severus’ antechamber. He was lying on the sofa, a wool blanket covering him. But how had he got there? Where was the chaise? For that matter, where was Severus? He tried to rest his mind for a minute, but it seemed intent on bombarding him with an overwhelming mix of visuals. He sighed and closed his eyes, draping an arm over his forehead.

In his mind’s eye, he watched the whole scene replay before him. The ocean, the sand, the rocky cliff, the stone path, Dobby’s grave, the small cottage, Sirius together with Remus, their conversation… and the lightness that had filled Harry’s heart at seeing them both again. He missed them terribly, he realized, and desperately wished he could pull them into this reality, but knew it was not possible. Yet somehow, he understood that if he chose to do so, he could return to that particular Evochi reality and visit them any time. That fact alone might have offered him solace if it weren’t for his mind constantly trumpeting ‘but they’re gone’ like some goddamned mantra.

He sighed and sat up, albeit more slowly this time, and pulled the blanket off. As he swung his legs around, he put his feet on the floor and scrubbed his face with his palms. He wasn’t going to think about it anymore right now. He reached for his glasses on the coffee table and slipped them on, noting as he did so that they must have been removed at some point. He didn’t remember doing it, but then again, he didn’t remember much about his present situation. He needed to find Severus.

Harry made his way over to the nearest of the three doors in the antechamber – a room he quickly discovered was the bedroom. Tentatively, he poked his head inside. It was dark and appeared to be empty. Sensing he was alone, he took the opportunity to step fully into the bedroom and glance around. As he did so, he pushed the door open wide so the soft light from the antechamber could spill into the room, scantly illuminating the furnishings in a golden hue.

Almost at once, the same heady scent present in Severus’ private lab filled his nose. As he always seemed wont to do, Harry tilted his head back to breathe in the scent deeply and close his eyes for a moment. A small, contented smirk teased at the corners of his mouth and he was glad to have this indulgence in private. He still couldn’t decide if it was a cologne or soap or perhaps Severus’ natural scent, but was inclined toward the latter only because the smell didn’t have a perfumed or manufactured sort of aroma. But either way, he savored it. Opening his eyes again, he readjusted to the light in the room and looked around in earnest.

A large, four-poster bed stood near the left side of the room, anchored along the back wall. It looked imposing with its ornately-carved, mahogany columns and large headboard. A thick, black duvet was draped across the mattress and green, velvet curtains were gathered on either side with silver tassels. Slytherin’s Head of House, Harry reminded himself. He dragged the tips of his fingers along the surface of the bedding as he strolled slowly and was surprised at the luxuriousness of the fabric. He wasn’t sure what he had expected, exactly, but somehow the notion of a plush fabric in contrast to the often harsh man was a bit bemusing.

To the right of the bed was a nightstand, built from the same dark wood as the bed, and he could just make out a short stack of books next to the lamp. On top of the books was a pair of black reading glasses, one temple of which had been folded in towards the lenses. For a reason he didn’t understand, he was charmed by this discovery. Severus wears reading glasses? He found that oddly appealing and could almost picture him sitting in bed by lamplight, reading about potions. Or perhaps his secret penchant was for spy novels. Harry chuckled to himself but ignored the spines of the books. He rather liked some element of mystery there.

On the right wall was another doorway, presumably to the bathroom, along with an oversized armoire that matched the other pieces in the room. Harry had the sudden urge to peek inside of it but decided against it at the last minute, feeling somewhat guilty at his invasion of privacy already. It would likely be too dark to see much anyway, he reasoned, given that the wardrobe it contained was likely to be as black as the room that surrounded it.

Ducking back out of the bedroom, he pulled the door closed to the point he originally found it and headed next to the entrance of Severus’ private lab – the middle of the three doors in the antechamber. The final door, he noted, was the exit back out into the dungeon hallways. Pushing the heavy door to the lab open a crack, he peered inside. The lights were on and he heard the faint sound of glass tinkling somewhere out of sight. Assuming it was Severus making the noise, he walked fully into the room and let the door close softly behind him.

But as he stood there, he realized he didn’t know what to do next. Should he call Severus’ name into the silence? Or maybe walk back by the storeroom, where the sounds seemed to be coming from, to make his presence known? He cringed at the idea of startling Severus, fearing for his own safety as well as that of his former professor. What if Severus was working with a volatile potion and spilled it by accident because of Harry’s sudden appearance? Then again, Harry couldn’t remember ever seeing Severus startled by anything or anyone.

Then, an idea came to Harry – he would open and close the door again, this time letting it latch loudly, hoping that would be enough to herald his arrival. But as he reached over to open the door, a familiar voice rang out into the silence.

“Leaving so soon?”

Harry froze, his hand hovering above the knob. He turned slowly to look towards the storeroom and saw Severus’ head leaning out of the doorway looking back at him, an eyebrow arched inquisitively, a mused expression on his face. Confused, Harry just stood there for a moment before stuttering out his response.

“No— I… no.” He paused and took a breath. “Sorry, I didn’t want to startle you.”

Severus stepped out of the storeroom and into the lab to address him. “You wouldn’t have. I anticipated you would come looking for me when you woke so I charmed the door to inform me of your arrival.” The corners of his mouth twitched, likely at the dumbfounded look on Harry’s face.

“Oh,” was all Harry could think to respond as he looked away. Of course Severus would have thought of something like that! It was times like this when Harry felt so inexperienced.

“My apologies, Harry – old habit, I suppose. You don’t get to play Death Eater for the better part of two decades without learning to put eyes and ears everywhere, even for basic things.”

Harry looked up. Sometimes it was hard to remember Severus used to be a Death Eater; the man in front of him now, the one he was getting to know and had learned so much about in the last few months, hardly seemed capable of it. And perhaps he wouldn’t be, anymore. Harry decided he liked the idea of that and smiled slightly in spite of himself. Finally, he waved his hand dismissively.

“Don’t apologize, it was brilliant.”

At that, Harry thought he saw something soften in Severus’ eyes for a brief moment before he turned around to stack some vials and ingredients onto the shelf behind him. It was only then that Harry noticed something was amiss about the lab. Looking around, he saw that both work tables were once again situated in the center of the room, and the chaise was nowhere to be seen. Missing, too, was the large black chair Severus sat in during Evochi sessions.

“Um… Severus?” Harry ventured.

“Hmm?” came the somewhat distracted answer.

“Where is the chaise?”

“It transfigured back into the work table.”

“On its own?” Harry asked.

At that, Severus looked over. “It is no cause for concern. The transfiguration was only temporary, so it was expected. I will change it back to a chaise for your next Evochi session, but in the interim, I needed the work tables as they were.”

“Oh. Yeah, I suppose.” Harry flushed, feeling stupid. He pulled out a stool and sat down. “What time is it?”

“Nearly six.”

“Six!” Harry’s eyes went wide. “How long was I out?”

SSHP-SSHP-SSHP

Severus leaned against the edge of the other work table and crossed his arms over his chest. “Approximately three hours, not including the hour that you were under the influence of Evochi.” He paused a moment, sizing up Harry’s reaction. “It is perfectly normal, Harry.”

“How did I get in there?” Harry asked while pointing vaguely in the direction of the antechamber.

Severus’ heart jumped into his throat, unprepared as he was for the question. “I carried you.”

“You carried me?”

“Yes.” Severus paused, cringing at his lack of justification. “If that makes you uncomfortable, I shall levitate you next time.”

“No, I mean, why did you have to carry me at all? I thought I was on the chaise?”

Severus merely blinked, now thoroughly off guard. He had fully expected an unfavorable reaction, but Harry wasn’t protesting the fact he was carried, and by Severus of all people.

“You were, for a while. After the Evochi wore off, you came to for a brief moment before falling into a heavy slumber. I anticipated it would happen so I had planned to let you rest while I worked in the lab. When I came back in to check on you not ten minutes later, you were lying on top of a work table. The chaise had transfigured back.”

Harry gave a small outburst of laughter, likely picturing what he must have looked like. Severus was relieved to see Harry wasn’t upset about his compromised circumstances, and smirked slightly as he recalled the contorted position he had found Harry in.

“Yes. Well, you would have been in a sorry state later if I had not moved you.”

SSHP-SSHP-SSHP

Harry grinned back at him, realizing now – of course – that it was Severus who had covered him in a blanket and thought to remove his glasses. Harry wanted to acknowledge that but was afraid of embarrassing Severus, or deterring him from doing such things again in the future. In the end, he decided to keep it simple.

“Thanks, then,” Harry said, his grin softening into a smile.

SSHP-SSHP-SSHP

Severus swallowed thickly, his throat constricting at the sentiment. Sometimes he found the warmth and sincerity in Harry’s smile almost too much to bear. He nodded curtly by way of a response and promptly turned away, walking back over to the shelves to resume his work of cataloging supplies and ingredients. He was grateful for the distraction, yet still felt a familiar sense of shame at how ill-equipped he was at handling tender moments. There was something about Harry that always made him want to try harder, but he never knew where to begin.

Harry, on the other hand, seemed to take this as his cue to leave and stood, pushing the stool back underneath the table as he did so. Severus felt his spine stiffen in anticipation of what Harry might do next, but deflated with disappointment when the door to the lab opened. He didn’t know what he had been be expecting, exactly, but felt like an right fool for expecting anything.

He turned his head towards Harry and waited for him to speak.

SSHP-SSHP-SSHP

Harry paused at the door and looked back at Severus, his hand on the knob. For the briefest of moments, the silence that hung between them was palpable, carrying with it an air of anticipation that Harry didn’t understand at first. It was almost if… no. It couldn’t be that. Severus didn’t feel that way about him. Did he? With his heart beating rapidly in his chest, Harry realized things could become awkward if he didn’t say something.

“So… see you next week, then?” It resembled an undignified squeak far too much for his liking.

“Yes,” Severus nodded, his gaze still fixed.

Harry was just about to step out into the antechamber, his skin now prickling excitedly, when he remembered something he had been meaning to ask since he’d arrived. As he turned back to Severus, though, he noticed that whatever had transpired between them before was now gone. He wondered briefly if he had been imagining it.

“Aren’t the students due back soon?”

SSHP-SSHP-SSHP

Severus felt like someone had slapped him. He had been so preoccupied with Harry this summer and working to restock the potions stores for Poppy that he hadn’t prepared – mentally or otherwise – for the start of a new term. He groaned to himself.

“Yes, the twenty-second of September; a little over a week from now. Which might present another challenge as well.”

Harry stepped back fully into the lab and let the door close. “What would that be?”

“How to get you in and out of the castle unnoticed.”

“Why would I need to do that?”

Severus stared at Harry as though it should be obvious why subtlety might be a blessing in this case. “Do you intend to answer for your presence each time your adoring public sees you inside this castle? I would think the sycophants alone would be enough of a reason.”

“The syco-what?” Harry asked.

Severus sighed. “Sycophants. People who would seek to befriend you simply to advance their own status.” He knew for himself that dealing with constant invasions of privacy and incessant fawning would be sheer torture. Yet Harry never seemed to welcome or invite the attention – in fact, he rather seemed to resent it.

Harry snorted and shrugged dismissively. “I’m used to it. Perhaps you forget I’ve been dealing with it for seven years already. If anything, I’d say it’s actually improved now that people have something else to think about aside from me!”

SSHP-SSHP-SSHP

Severus’ countenance seemed to shift quickly between two poles before he looked squarely at Harry. “It is up to you, of course. You may come and go as you see fit, and if you decide at a later date you would like my assistance entering or leaving the castle unnoticed, I will make the necessary arrangements.”

For a moment, Harry wondered what that fleeting expression on Severus’ face had been about, but then got distracted thinking about what the arrangements would entail, knowing there were undoubtedly lots of things he didn’t know about Hogwarts, especially rules (and even passages) that might have changed since the end of the war. He decided he would just cross that bridge when, or if, he came to it. For now, he intended to enter and exit the castle just as he had done the last couple of weeks – in fact, as he had always done – through the front door. How could that possibly be problematic? he wondered.

Harry turned and opened the door to the lab again. He gave Severus a small smile, though it projected a confidence he didn’t feel, and left, waiting briefly on the other side of the door until it clicked closed behind him. Leaning back against it, several thoughts bored heavily into his mind. Why hadn’t he asked Severus the question he’d most wanted to, about how Sirius and Remus could control the action in his reality? He wondered if it was normal or not, and would that same thing happen if he conjured his parents in a future reality? Or returned to see Sirius and Remus again?

For a moment, Harry contemplated turning around and re-entering the lab, but then thought better of it. He had made a fool of himself in front of Severus enough times in recent memory that he didn’t want to add to that list today.

And then there was the matter of Hogwarts. School would be back in session soon; a school he hadn’t actually finished. Regret swept over him as he considered the implications of that. He had called this school home for six years – the best home he had ever had, to be precise – yet when he thought about finally completing his education here, he was met with a flurry of mixed emotions and realized he wasn’t prepared to confront it all just yet.

As he reached for the door that lead out of Severus’ quarters and into the dungeon hallways, a nervous tension and uneasiness settled into his body. Where were all these thoughts coming from? Were things really going to be different next week, and in the weeks following it? If so, how? Or was this all a side effect of Evochi?

Walking up the stairs and into the castle’s main foyer, Harry paused, eyeing the massive entrance that towered before him. He didn’t know why, but he got the feeling something was about to change. Taking a deep breath, he pushed open one of the heavy, wooden doors and stepped out into the waning sunshine of a mid-September dusk.

Guess there is only one way to find out, he thought resolutely.
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The Unexpected Side Effect of Draught No. 9