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Quartet	By : OracleObscured Category: Harry Potter > Threesomes/Moresomes Views: 128263 -:- Recommendations : 5 -:- Currently Reading : 11
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any other characters/things/places created by J.K. Rowling. I make no money from my fan-fiction.

Chapter List
- 79
- 80
- 81
A/N: Okay. Things haven’t been going as smoothly as I’d planned, so I might need another day or two to edit the next two chapters. I’m really not sure; it depends on how my read-throughs go today. But if I’m not back tomorrow, I WILL be back very soon.
justheretosayhi: Yeah, I seem to be compounding everyone’s torture. Shame on me :) I really didn’t intend to release this all so slowly when I started, but now I don’t have a choice as I’m scrambling to get each chapter the way I want it before posting. (How do I always do this to myself?) Hope today’s chapter brings the resolution you seek <3
80—Resolution
“ . . . and everything has changed. All I know is a newfound grace.”—Taylor Swift & Ed Sheeran 
(Severus)
Snape’s breath passed over his lips in a heated rush, filling Potter’s lungs like billowing sails.
Breathe!
No way in hell was he going out there and telling Hermione he’d killed her best friend. Severus would sooner spend the rest of his life acting as Potter’s artificial lungs than say those words out loud.
He couldn’t even admit it to himself. How many deaths could one conscience bear? Had he not already surpassed his limit? 
The tears in his eyes said he had.
Yet he couldn’t stop breathing for Potter—even as the lump in his throat choked off his air. His body wouldn’t let him quit.
Potter had been right: this was who Severus was. He wanted to protect. He wanted to keep death and destruction at a minimum. He wanted others to live, even if he had to die.
And if anyone deserved to live, it was Potter. He’d given more than should be asked of any human being—and he’d asked for nothing in return. 
Just a family to love.
Snape’s last exhalation stuttered out in a series of explosive sobs, and he had to pull back from the resuscitation to get ahold of himself.
But as his mouth lifted, a hacking gasp echoed through the room, and Snape's head jerked up, searching for the source of the sound, expecting to see someone standing in the door.
But the door was empty.
A splutter and cough came from Harry’s direction, and when Severus turned to look at him, a spray of spittle spattered his right eye. Not exactly the picturesque resurrection one might imagine, but the shower certainly dispelled any lingering disbelief.
“You’re back,” Snape murmured, wiping his eye with a shaking hand. “Can you hear me? You’re all right now. Just try to stay with me.”
Harry’s breathing rattled in and out at an alarmingly inconsistent rate, but every diagnostic charm Severus cast came back clear. Placing a tentative hand on the boy’s chest, Severus tried calming him with oldest remedy known to man—human touch—and was relieved to see the wheezing visibly diminish. 
“Can you answer me?” Severus asked, lighting his wand and checking Potter’s pupillary response.
Harry’s “yes” was barely audible.
Severus smiled. “Good boy.” Shit. He’d been consoling Draco too much lately. It just slipped out. Luckily, Potter didn’t seem to notice. “Can you drink some more potion?”
The wobbly movement of Harry’s head seemed to indicate he could, so Snape got two more phials and opened them for him. 
“I’ll hold you up so you can swallow. Don’t pass out on me now.”
Sliding his arm behind Potter's neck, Severus propped him at a slight angle and handed him the first phial, but when it became clear that he was too uncoordinated to handle it on his own, Snape lifted it to his lips and tipped the potion into his mouth for him. 
“You’ll feel better in less than ten minutes, I promise.”
“Dizzy,” Harry muttered.
“Death’s side effect,” Snape quipped dryly. “As soon as your blood volume reaches a sufficient level, it should pass.” 
Gently, he laid Harry’s head back on the stretcher and gave his shoulder an encouraging squeeze. “The dizziness will go first, but you’ll still feel weak for a while, probably several hours. Tell me when the dizziness lessens, and I’ll give you an Internal Healing Draught. I don’t want to give you too much too soon; it could make you feel worse.”
“James?”
Severus looked at the door. “I don’t know yet. Would you like me to check?”
“No,” Harry said quickly, almost panicked. “Stay. Please.”
Snape nodded and collapsed into the flimsy folding chair he’d brought from the other room, his legs trembling—the unpleasant aftermath of acute stress. “I’m sure Hermione will tell us as soon as something happens.”
“Thanks.”
“Don’t thank me. I haven’t done anything except kill you and then beat the hell out of your chest.” Severus picked up the clean flannel he’d set out and wet it with his wand. If he kept busy, his hands didn't shake so much. “While we’re on the subject, I apologize if it feels as if a bus plowed into your breastbone. Manual resuscitation can be . . . traumatic.”
“It’s not too bad,” Harry said, gingerly resting a hand on his chest. “I’ve been through worse.”
Unfortunately, that wasn’t an exaggeration. Severus nodded thoughtfully as he wiped Potter's damp brow with the cool cloth. Suffering and pain were another commonality linking both their lives.
Turning his head, Harry stared into Snape’s eyes, his emerald gaze disconcertingly sharp for someone who’d just regained consciousness. “When you died, what did you see?”
If the question hadn’t caught him so off guard, Severus might not have answered. But no one had dared ask him before, and he had no pat reply in his arsenal. 
"Not much,” he replied. “Strange lights. Maybe I wasn’t completely dead. I was on a comprehensive regimen of potions to keep me alive.”
“You were dead,” Harry said matter-of-factly. “I was there.”
“Mmm,” Severus muttered, not overly fond of the memory. “Why do you ask?”
“Mum says she didn’t mean to upset you with Hermione.”
Severus froze, his hand hovering above Potter’s forehead. “What did you say?”
“She told me to tell you she’s proud of you.”
“Are you seriously taking the piss out of me at a time like this?”
The start of a smile curled the corners of Harry’s mouth. “She said you’d say that. She also said not to worry, mirror breakage isn’t really seven years bad luck. That’s just superstition.”
Looking away, Snape studied the cracks in the walls, his jaw locked tight to keep the pressure in his throat from transforming into anything uglier.  
“Severus?”
He turned his head slightly.
“I’m glad you’re with Hermione. She needs you.”
“Hermione is a force unto herself,” Snape rasped, purposely steering them out of the emotional minefield Potter had wandered into. “What on earth makes you think she needs me or anyone else, for that matter?”
“Because she’s happier now. I’m still not one hundred percent sure about Lucius, but I can tell you and Draco both really love her. And Hermione does need people. She gets stuck in her head otherwise, and from what I can tell, it’s not always pleasant in there.”
“No,” Severus said, more to himself than Harry, “it isn’t.”
Harry breathed out a soft smile. "The dizziness is starting to go.”
Thank Merlin. Poignant Potter wasn’t something Severus was ready to deal with after such a tumultuous morning. “Can you sit up at all?”
Harry rolled stiffly to his side, huffing and puffing from the effort. “I think that’s all I’ve got in me just now,” he panted.
Severus handed him the phial, and Harry lifted his head and threw it down like a shot of Firewhisky. Heaving out an exhausted sigh, he went limp, and his head thumped against the canvas. “I hope this works soon. I’m knackered.”
“Five or ten minutes.”
Harry gestured toward his face and tiled back his chin. “How’s my neck?” 
“Not as bad as it was. I’ve got some healing balm that will keep it from scarring.”
“Why don’t you heal yours?”
Severus raised his hand to his throat. In all the excitement, he'd forgotten he’d removed the glamour. “I can’t. The venom did strange things to my skin. Just like Arthur's leg. It’ll never completely heal.”
“What about your arm, did you heal it?”
Snape’s hand instinctively closed over his faded Dark Mark, a phantom burn tingling deep in his skin. “No. Some evil is permanent.”
Harry looked straight at him, his gaze unwavering. “No evil is permanent.”
Severus was contemplating the wisdom of that statement when the door flew open with a loud bang, and Hermione rushed in, eyes wild, her red face streaked with tears. Right behind her, looking just as crazed, Ginny followed, clutching the baby in her freckled arms.
“The pox are fading,” Hermione announced soundlessly, barely able to breathe. “It’s working.”
Harry tried to sit, but Snape held him down with one hand. “You can’t get up yet.”
Dodging around Hermione, Ginny rushed to her husband’s side. “He’s going to be all right. What about you? Are you okay? Tell me you’re okay.”
Harry nodded and twitched the edge of the baby blanket with the tips of his fingers. “Let me see him.”
Ginny bent down, laying the baby next to him, and James turned his tiny head and blinked at his father in what Severus hoped was recognition.
Pressing a kiss to the top of his son’s head, Harry reached out for Ginny and snagged the sleeve of her shirt, bursting into tears as the stark reality of their survival finally caught up with him.
“Careful,” Severus said softly. “You need to rest as much as possible; don’t overexert yourself.”
A hand touched Snape’s elbow, and when he turned, Hermione jumped him, locking his middle in a bone-crushing embrace. Smiling, Severus closed his eyes and allowed himself to sink into her love. There had been a few minutes during the resuscitation where he thought she might never hug him like that again.
“You did a good job,” Hermione croaked into his chest.
Severus held her tighter. “So did you.”
Hermione wiped her face on his shirt and looked up, her gaze intent, as though she could drink him in through her eyes if she just adored him earnestly enough. Raising her hand, she stroked his neck, and he realized it was the first time she’d seen his scars. Hiding them for so long hadn’t been his plan, but the glamours had become such a habit it just never crossed his mind to remove them. 
And maybe, deep down, he’d been a little worried she might find them unattractive.
But her touch conveyed no disgust . . . or pity—which was something he didn't know he’d been avoiding. The pads of her fingers traced his throat with a hint of reverence, but it was her tenderness that overrode all other sentiments.
“I love you,” she breathed, looking into his eyes. “So so so so so much.”
Severus grinned. He knew what she meant. Her desire wasn’t skin deep. She loved him—to the core of his being. That was how she loved each of them. 
Leaning down, Severus pressed his forehead to hers. “I love you too. More than I can say.”
Hermione tipped back her head in a clear invitation, and Severus swooped in to claim her mouth, nibbling the salt from her lips and then blotting her dry with a heated kiss.
When the need for more air arose, he pecked his way across her cheek and brushed his lips against her ear. “Shall we leave the Potters to their celebration and go tell Lucius and Draco the good news?”
Nodding excitedly, Hermione wiped her eyes and then waved at Ginny to get her attention. “We’ll be right back, Gin. Is it okay if we bring up Draco? I have a feeling he might be climbing the walls by now; they’ve probably had to admit him for observation.”
“Sure,” Ginny said with a watery smile. “James’ll be happy to see his favorite babysitter.”
“Fair warning, if he’s still on his feet, he might insist on buying James every single stuffed animal in the gift shop before we get up here.” 
Ginny sputtered with amusement and kissed the baby’s head. “What do you say, James? Should we just ditch all the furniture in the nursery and have you sleep on a pile of plushies instead?”
The baby cooed agreeably, which got both Harry and Ginny giggling.
“Well, that settles it,” Ginny laughed through her tears. “We’ll redecorate if we have to. Tell Draco the more the merrier.”
Severus ducked his face Hermione’s hair to hide his smirk. What phrasing. If she wasn’t careful, Draco might take that invitation rather literally—and Severus didn’t know if Hermione was ready to add “fetal incubator” to her long list of daily jobs for the next nine months.
Or “Mummy” for the seventeen years after that.
Daddy Draco did have nice ring to it though . . .
 . . .
 . . . and Uncle Severus didn’t sound too bad either.
Resolution— when a chord moves from dissonance to consonance. It’s what makes it feel like you’ve reached the end of a musical phrase (without it, it’d be like someone stopped talking in the middle of a sentence; there’s no relief from the tension). It’s the Ahhhh-men at the end of the hymn.
“Everything Has Changed” written and sung by Taylor Swift & Ed Sheeran. Released in 2013.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1oM3kQpXRo
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