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Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Tasks	By : QueenB Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Snape Views: 5179 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter in anyway, shape or form. The rights of such belong solely to J.K Rowling. I do not make any money or accrue any monetary benefit on this story.

Chapter List
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- 14
He flung open the door to the basement. “Draco!”
“Harry! I’m down here!” rose a shout.
Harry practically flew down the stairs. He had no idea whether Severus could feel what kind of spells were cast in his home without his approval. There had to be something that alerted him; otherwise the idle prince would use spells to finish his chores. So he didn’t dare Apparate or use a Lightening Charm to speed his flight down the stairs.
He was panting and out of breath by the time he reached the bottom of the stairs. There he saw Draco seated at the marble table. A large book was spread before him, while numerous papers were piled to the right of it.
Was this Draco’s latest chore? Reading? It seemed odd considering the manual labor Harry had been subjected to but he had no time to ask the prince about it. “Come on, Draco. We’re leaving.”
He was met only with bewilderment. “Snape said I could go? Already?”
“No, I mean permanently. We’re escaping. Now.”
Draco stared at him, practically radiating hostility and suspicion. “Oh, so now you wish to leave? What about all that noise I heard from your bedroom?” he asked snidely.
Harry could sneer too when he wanted. “Don’t you recognize a trick when you hear it? It kept him from thinking I was attracted to you. You were pathetically obvious, Draco; one would think you wanted him to stop us from escaping.”
Draco had the grace to flush in embarrassment. “Oh. Well done,” he said grudgingly. “Not bad for a Gryffindor.”
“Well? Shift it!” Harry snapped. “We need to get out of here!”
The prince started from the table only to sit down again abruptly. “I can’t leave,” he said, sulky annoyance in his voice. “Snape laid a charm on me. I can’t leave this spot until I finish reading this book.”
Harry thought for a second. Then he seized the book and hurled it into the fire. Flames roared and the book’s pages and spine caught fire. They charred and then withered to ashes as the fire consumed it.
Draco gaped. “What are you doing? He’ll be furious about that!”
“Sod him,” Harry said bluntly. “It looks to me like you’re finished reading that book, doesn’t it? See if you can leave now.”
Draco stood up cautiously. When nothing happened, he took a step towards Harry and then another one. “Well, it’s about time. I was beginning to think you wanted to stay in this shabby place,” he drawled, giving Harry a knowing smirk.
Harry gritted his teeth as he resisted the urge to give the Malfoy prat a good sound kick in his arse. “You’ve very welcome, your highness. Now hurry! We don’t have much time!” Harry grabbed Draco’s hand and they raced up the stairs and out of the house.
Waiting until the last moment before leaving the house, he cast the Disillusion Charm on himself. Hopefully, if Severus spotted Draco, he’d think the young prince’s task was done and wouldn’t suspect Harry was with him.
The sorcerer wasn’t in sight. That didn’t ease Harry’s fear. If the man couldn’t be seen, then he could be anywhere.
They walked as quickly and casually as possible towards the stables. “Slow down. I can’t see you, you know. You’ll have me tripping over my feet at this rate,” Draco panted
“Sorry. But we must hurry. What did you learn about magical beasts when you were in Durmstrang?” Harry whispered, gently pulling open the stable door.
“That most of them were to be avoid… Ack!” He had spotted the hippogriffs.
The creatures clawed at the floor, agitated by the sudden opening of the door. Before they could start screaming and alert the sorcerer, Harry hastily cast a Silencing Charm before dropping his invisibility. “You have to approach them slowly, bow to them, keeping your eyes trained on theirs.” He demonstrated and then untied the halter keeping the largest one tethered to the wall.
He looked back at Draco. The prince remained unmoving near the door. “You’re not thinking what I think you’re thinking – are you?” he squeaked.
What a time for the prat to lose his nerve! “This is exactly what I’m thinking. You will get on that other beast and we’re flying out of here.” When Draco didn’t move, Harry sneered, “What’s the matter? Being a Malfoy makes you a coward?”
Draco straightened. “Don’t talk to me…”
“Then stop wasting time. Bow to the hippogriff and get on its back,” Harry snapped.
Draco obeyed although not without glaring at Harry. “How do you intend to get through the wards?” he asked maliciously.
“I’m strong and lately I’ve been getting stronger. When we reach the wards, I’m going to hurl everything I’ve got at the barrier. That should be enough to punch through the wards.”
The prince gaped at him. “That’s your plan? You think you can just force your way through a magical ward? What if it doesn’t work? We’ll crash into it and break our necks!”
“I forced my way through it before, didn’t I? It just took a while because I was trying not to alert the sorcerer. But speed is of the essence now so we might as well forget caution. Trust me, I can do this.”
Draco shook his head, even as they coaxed the hippogriffs through the open doors. “This is insane,” he muttered.
Harry tried not to show his doubts. But he had to ease the prince’s nervousness. “Tell you what. Stay behind me. If it doesn’t work, pull on the reins as hard as you can to bring the beast about. At least that way you’ll avoid the barrier.” The prince didn’t look any happier but at least he’d stopped whining for the moment.
Once in the sunlight, the hippogriffs flapped their wings. They tasted freedom on the air and were itching to be aloft. At Harry’s urging, the lead creature bunched its hindquarters and soared into the air. Behind him, he could hear Draco yelp as his mount did the same.
It was nothing like a broom. The back of the hippogriff was scratching and chafing between his legs, and he bounced painfully whenever its wings beat. Judging by the whimpers behind him, the prince had to be experiencing the same discomfort. Belatedly, Harry thought he should have Transfigured saddles but it was too late to think of that now.
He could sense the magical barrier looming ahead. He pulled out his wand and cried to Draco, “I’m going for it – NOW!”
Behind him, Draco tensed as Harry threw all his strength against the obstruction. The wards sizzled and with a resounding ‘CRACK’ fell before the fleeing animals.
Harry barely had time to savor his victory when he heard Draco’s shriek of fear behind him. He turned his head to look. Without broom or hippogriff, Snape was flying behind them, his great cloak spread out to his sides like enormous bat wings.
“You didn’t tell me he could fly!” Harry shouted
“I didn’t know that he could!” the prince screamed back.
After that colossal effort with the wards, Harry was too weak to attempt any kind of spell that might reach Snape at this distance. But the goblin had said his magical rewards should be used when he rescued his princess. Now was the time to put them to the test. Hoping that they would do whatever they were meant for, Harry fumbled in his pouch and brought out the comb. But he wasn’t able to hold on to both the reins and the comb and it dropped from his fingers. “Shit!”
The prince stared at him. “What was that about?” he asked, his disbelief clear. “Was that supposed to do something?”
“I don’t…”
Suddenly, with a roar like ice floes cracking in a spring thaw, a mighty forest flew up from the ground, the branches thrusting so high into the sky their pursuer was immediately lost from sight. Harry could hear muffled curses as the sorcerer became tangled in their branches.
So that’s what the comb was meant for! The other rewards must have such latent magic in them as well. Harry silently thanked the goblin for his advice and leaned forward over his mount.
The hippogriffs surged through the air. They had found their rhythm and followed Harry’s lead with ease. They flew over the desert road and Harry watched as the miles vanished beneath them with every beat of their wings. Then Draco cried out beside him. “Harry! He’s coming again!”
Indeed he was. The sorcerer was flying after them once more. He seemed closer than he had before although Harry couldn’t be certain. He reached into his pouch and pulled out the Mirror of Erised. Once this was gone, he would no longer be able to see himself and Severus entwined in its shining depths. But that was an illusion and he told himself he was better off without it. He dropped it, watching its silver surface twinkling as it fell.
When it hit the ground, it Transfigured into an enormous lake. The waters shot up like a geyser, completely obscuring the trailing enchanter. Harry thought he heard a loud splash as the black-clad figure collided with the enormous fountain.
Hermione had told him once that a person falling several thousand feet into water would suffer the same kind of impact as someone falling the same distance onto hard ground. Death would be the result of either such collision…and the sorcerer had been moving very fast indeed. His heart cried out within him but he couldn’t look back to see what had happened.
He could see a faint trace of greenery on the horizon and knew they were close to their goal.
The prince had spotted it as well. “What is that?”
“It’s the forbidden forest.”
“Forbidden forest?” the prince cried, his voice rising in panic. “You didn’t tell me anything about that!”
Who could talk with you burbling on all the time? Harry hid his irritation. “Don’t worry. As long as we keep above its branches, we’ll be safe. And I’m sure even if we landed there, we’d be fine. There’s nothing there that would dare to attack a hippogriff.” He thought briefly of the Acromantulas but decided not to mention them. The Malfoy prince was nervous enough as it was.
Draco appeared to relax. Then he yelled again, pointing behind them. Harry’s spirits soared even as he worried about his likely fate. Severus lived! But was he never to be free of the man?
The distance between them was even narrower now. Harry could see those black eyes burning into him, the arms outstretched as though to seize his fleeing prize.
He glanced as his ring. He didn’t want to lose this; truly he didn’t. But they had no choice. If Snape caught up with him, his rage would be terrible and he didn’t want to think what the man would do to him.
“Whatever you’re going to do, Harry, you’d better do it soon!” the prince yelled.
Stifling a sigh of regret, Harry hurled the ring backwards through the air. The tiny golden circle was swiftly lost to view.
Then the sorcerer appeared to jerk to a halt in mid-air. He gave a cry of confusion as he began to plummet towards the earth.
Draco cheered. “Yes!”
Harry looked at him with disgust. With difficulty, he wheeled his mount in the air and flew back towards the rapidly dropping target.
As he approached, he saw that the ring had magically grown in size, slipping over the sorcerer’s head and pinning his arms to his sides. Snape’s eyes widened and he struggled to free himself, doubtless believing that Harry was about to finish him off.
Harry drew his wand and yelled, “Mobilicorpus!”
The sorcerer’s descent was brought to an abrupt stop, causing the man to dangle undignified in the air. Harry lowered him until his feet hovered mere inches off the ground. Before he could reach it, Harry wordlessly used the Summoning spell and Snape’s wand flew into his hand.
Snape glared at him. “Well, Mr. Potter?” he sneered. “You have bested me with your ignominious tricks. You may kill me now, as you no doubt intended all along, you treacherous sneak.”
“Me? I wasn’t trying to kill you! You were trying to kill me!” Harry hotly declared.
“Are you mad? After what we…?” He stopped, aware that Draco had landed his hippogriff as well, watching their exchange intently.
“I’ll release you if you promise you won’t come after the prince again,” Harry offered.
“The prince? I don’t want him. If he’s what you prefer…” Snape swallowed. “…you may have him and welcome,” he finished in a low snarl. But something in his eyes spoke of bitter misery and defeat.
“I don’t…” It was Harry’s turn to struggle with his composure. “I heard the two of you this morning. I know he’s your…playmate and that he didn’t want to be. From the first day I came here, he’s been eager to escape you.”
The sorcerer looked almost gobsmacked. “Playmate?! That foolish boy?” He sighed. “Harry, you completely misunderstood what you heard. My attentions towards Draco were not what you assumed. I’m well glad to be free of him. Good riddance, I say.”
“But…you were chasing us! I thought you wanted him back.”
“Not him. Never him.” The man’s lips were white as they pinched shut.
None of this was making any sense. “Then why were you holding him prisoner?”
Snape snorted in irritation. “Draco is lazy and undisciplined and was in danger of failing his final exams at Durmstrang. His father, a former schoolfellow of mine, remembered that I had taught at Durmstrang. Lucius Malfoy came to me and offered a substantial sum of money if I gave his spoiled only son private lessons in the subjects he was failing – potions, in particular. However, in spite of my every attempt and numerous punishments and spells, Draco proved adept in shirking his lessons unless I was standing right over him.”
Was that it? Had he completely misunderstood everything?
Draco yelled, “Don’t listen to him, Harry! He’s a liar! He’s a fell sorcerer! He was holding me against my will…”
“And forcing you to read?” Harry thought about that book he’d hurled into the fire, those papers he’d seen beside them. Those bottles Draco had to label, the sheets he had to fill out with names and explanations… It all made sense now.
Merlin, he was a right idiot. Hermione would have figured this out long ago.
Draco squirmed under Harry’s searching look. Then he clutched the hippogriff’s reins. Guessing his intention, Harry pointed his wand and yelled, “Petrificus Totalus!”
The prince immediately froze and toppled from the animal’s back to sprawl in an ungainly heap on the ground. For good measure, Harry muttered a sound-deadening spell. He had the feeling he didn’t want Draco to hear whatever Severus had to say next.
“I don’t understand,” he probed. “If you no longer want Draco back, why were you chasing us?”
“It was you I wanted.” Severus fell silent and his shoulders slumped.
“Me? Y-you wanted…me?” Harry whispered.
“Yes, you. You are…” His throat worked and the next words were ground out like a curse. “You are brave, handsome, resourceful, gifted at potions, intelligent beyond expectation and a sinful delight. With every passing day I wanted you more and more. It was all I could do not to kiss you breathless, caress every inch of your naked body, throw you down and take you on my wooden table.”
The dark-eyed enchanter drew a shallow breath. “It was the sheerest hell to watch Draco wooing you and wondering if you preferred his company to mine. But I forced myself to wait until you had reached your 17th birthday and came of age before enjoying you as I wished.”
Harry started. “Seventeenth birthday?” That’s right. With all the enjoyment and pleasure of the sorcerer’s company, he hadn’t noted the passage of time. Had he reached the age of maturity without even knowing it?
The sorcerer nodded, continuing almost shyly. “When you asked for a ring as reward for your third task, I thought you meant something truly permanent – the bonding rings that wizards use.”
“You wanted to bond with me?” Harry couldn’t seem to think of anything coherent to say. All his responses to this man seemed to be nothing more than stupid questions that echoed Severus’s answers.
“I thought you wished to bond with me. But I hadn’t any such rings available so I used the only one I thought would suit the purpose until I bought something better.”
Harry drifted closer and closer. He believed Severus. Draco’s attempt to escape just now confirmed everything the sorcerer had said. And now that he was this close, he could see the love and desire smoldering in that black gaze.
“Severus…” he whispered.
Unable to resist, he threw his arms around Severus and gave him a kiss. When his lover banded him in a fierce hold, he sighed and melted into the man’s embrace. Severus’s heart beat fiercely against his own as he whispered and murmured promises of love into Harry’s lips.
The young wizard’s eyes popped open and he pulled out of Severus’s embrace. “Your arms – you’re free! Where did the ring go?”
“Look at your finger, Harry.”
There, nestled on his left ring finger, lay the Gaunt ring glistening in the sunlight.
Trembling with eagerness, Harry mounted his hippogriff and watched Severus do the same. After Harry released Draco from his spell, the enchanter disdainfully tossed the freed prince his wand and bade him be off.
“Wait!” Draco whined. “How am I to get home?”
“That is none of our concern,” Severus stated, his hauteur returning. “You are of age. You may Apparate – that is, if you’ve been paying attention to your lessons – or walk. It’s your choice.”
“But I’m too far from home to Apparate! I’ll Splinch myself for sure. And the only place in walking distance is that forest. You can fly. Why not let me have one of the hippogriffs?” Draco whined.
“Flying is tiring and the beasts are mine. You don’t believe I’d let your father get his hands on them, do you?” Severus asked, his expression revealing his idea of such folly.
When the bickering began to escalate, Harry gave a deeply put-upon sigh and reached into his bag. Freed from its confines, his broom enlarged to its proper size and he threw it to Draco. “Take this. It’s my Firebolt, the latest model. That should get you home.”
Draco glared at him even as he clutched the broomstick. “You had this all this while and we had to fly on these filthy beasts?” he yelled, his voice rising with every word.
The nearest hippogriff let out a shriek of fury and launched itself at the prince. Only Severus’s yanking on the reins prevented Draco from being ripped open by its claws. Draco stumbled backwards, his face ashen.
“These ‘filthy beasts’ are my steeds, honorable and noble creatures, and you would do well to guard your tongue in their hearing, you spoiled brat,” Severus hissed. Draco nodded, his eyes wide and fixed on both agitated animals.
It seemed the prince wasn’t finished with them. “My father shall hear of this,” he shot back.
“And what will you tell him? That from the moment you were forced upon me, you shirked your duties, neglected your studies and tricked an innocent into helping you to escape? Your father will be far more furious at you than me, Draco, especially when you fail your test come the next school season. The only thing he’ll feel towards me will be relief that he doesn’t have to pay me the exorbitant fee I demanded of him.”
After that, Severus and Harry had nothing more to say to him and they launched themselves into the air. “That was very generous of you, Harry. But I’m afraid that’s the last you’ve seen of your Firebolt.”
Harry shrugged. “Small loss. I’ve gotten something in exchange that’s much better.”
Severus’s eyes narrowed as his gaze flicked over his wand and ring. “Oh, indeed? Yes, I suppose those prizes are far more valuable.”
“No, you silly git. I meant you.”
Severus’s face turned red at the insult and he opened his mouth to retort. Then green eyes met his, pregnant with love, and he changed his mind. The next few minutes were spent in blissful silence.
They were well over the forest before Harry spotted the familiar spires of Hogwarts in the distance. Severus’s eyes ran over the stone towers. “Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I never thought I would see its walls again. I had forgotten how truly…impressive it is.”
“Yeah, it is.” Harry suddenly felt a tremor of unease.
“What is it, Harry?”
“Well, um, my task was to…” Harry couldn’t continue, feeling his face flame.
“Spit it out, brat. Whatever it is can hardly be any more intimidating than what you have faced in the previous weeks,” he pointed out, smirking with amusement.
“I was supposed to rescue a princess in distress. Or prince, in this case. I-I don’t know what my friends will say when I come back with a Dark Arts sorcerer instead.”
The silence from Severus was weighty. Then he spoke flatly, “Do you wish to hide what lies between us?”
Harry thought hard – of all that he had done, all that he had shared with this man, all that he felt when those black eyes looked into his. “No. I want them to know the truth.”
Severus didn’t reply but he could feel the waves of relief flowing from the other man. Then, “We needn’t tell them everything,” he stated primly. “I’m sure your fellow playmates will be just as awed by your capture of a Dark Arts sorcerer as they would be by the rescue of a mere princeling.” He pursed his lips, considering.
“What’s wrong, Severus?”
“It is not yet fall, is it?”
“No.”
“Then Hogwarts is undoubtedly closed for the summer.”
“That’s right.” Where was Severus going with this?
“So where were you planning on taking Draco after your little escapade?”
“Um, I hadn’t really thought that far ahead. I was just going to get him to safety. I reckoned he’d find a way to communicate with his father and Lucius Malfoy would come for him.”
“At which point you would have met a Malfoy patriarch who would have been infuriated at his son being kidnapped from his tutor,” Severus returned in dry tones.
“Hey, it’s not as if I knew that!” Harry said hotly.
“Hmph. So where exactly will we be staying?”
“Well, there’s this friend of mine who’s touring France. We could stay at his place…”
In due order, they were on Hogwarts grounds. Harry pointed at Hagrid’s hut and they landed the hippogriffs, tying them to the railings around the garden plot.
Severus stared at the ramshackle hut, his expression unreadable.
Harry shuffled, suddenly seeing Hagrid’s place as an outsider would. “I know it doesn’t look like much.”
An uplifted slim eyebrow spoke eloquently about the understatement.
Harry hurried on to forestall the no doubt scathing remark to follow. “All right, it isn’t much. Hagrid is a half-giant, you see, and his tastes are kinda simple. It’s small, just enough for two people, but his garden provides plenty of food. It’ll do in a pinch. But if you really hate it, I can go into Hogsmeade, take out some money from Gringotts and we can find a hotel and – ”
Severus pressed his fingers against Harry’s mouth, stilling his babble. “Shhh. You needn’t fret yourself, Harry. This will be perfectly adequate.”
“You’re sure?” Harry asked anxiously. “I know it’s not what you’re used to.”
Severus enfolded him in his arms and gave him meltingly slow kisses, murmuring between each one. “It is quiet.” Kiss. “Secluded.” Kiss. “Just big enough for two.” A deep kiss Harry could feel all the way down to his toes. “And it’s just a few feet away from a lush garden and beautiful, verdant forest filled with potions ingredients.”
He cupped Harry’s buttocks and ground against him, tonguing his lips open until they parted and stealing his breath before whispering, “And you will be here with me. This is all I require.”
Harry blinked up at him mistily, his breath coming in hard little pants. “And best of all there’s no Draco.”
The wicked smile the sorcerer bestowed upon him was brighter than anything the prince could have given. “Then this place will be a true paradise.”

TBC
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Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Tasks