Slash HP/SS HP/DM SS/LM
Author: me
Beta: forest_rose (Thank you)
Summary: Snapes dead and Harry visits his grave
Rating: Some bad language, sexual implications
Characters/Pairing: HP/SS HP/DM SS/LM
Word Count: 1200
A/N: Have now checked grammar and spelling (don't judge me to hard - English is not my first language)
ON THE GRAVE SIDE
Harry Potter sat on the grave of Severus Snape. With his right forefinger he traced the stone carved letters. He touched the ridges with the same tenderness he had touched his former teacher’s skin. He had always thought that they would have more time. Even with the age difference they could have had at least thirty more years together. Faith, time and Voldemort had changes that. Tears were prickling his eyes. Harry tried to get a grip. Severus didn’t, hadn’t, responded well to tears. He smiled fondly at this memory.
“It’s not fair” he sighed. “We had just found each other.”
Severus had filled in the missing parts of Harry that Voldemort had taken with him when he died. Now with both of them gone, Harry felt as if he had two black holes inside him. His eyes began to tear up again.
Seven years, is what they got. It seemed now, in retrospect, that Severus had clung to life long enough to see Harrys twenty fifth birthday. The last time they made love was that night. It had been gentle, not to put more pain on the older man’s aching back. Three weeks later Severus’ curse ridden body had given up. The sickness had been like a cancer, spreading magically in his limbs. All Harry could do was to watch and to ease the pain from time to time with his wand and different potions. As Severus drew his last breath Harry had leaned over to suck it in with a kiss. He held it for over a minute before he had to let it go. After that he had waited several days for a ghost. It never came. It would seem that Severus Snape had found rest and peace in the afterlife.
Now he visited the grave everyday. Ron and Hermione had been there once or twice, but they couldn’t, wouldn’t, understand. Now they were too busy with the new baby to hang around graveyards. The thought of his goddaughter made Harry think of Sirius Black. His godfather would not approve of this. Crying on the grave of Severus Snape! Harry still felt bad that he never told Sirius about the relationship. Now it was too late. Another pang, and another hole inside him for Sirius. The father role had been taken over by Lupin, but the werewolf had changed since Sirius death. Much in the way Harry now had changed after Severus.
Harry looked at the headstone again. Two weeks, two weeks since the last breath. He heard something stirring behind him and straightened to attention. As he looked for the origin of the sound he got to his feet.
“Malfoy!” he gasped. “What are you doing here?”
“Like it is any of your business, Potter!” snapped Draco but then said: “My family mausoleum is over there.”
“Really?” Harry smirked; of course they had a mausoleum. “Who died?”
“My father actually” in a sad quiet voice, his eyes tracing back to the place where the mausoleum stood surrounded by red flowers.
Harry followed his gaze, feeling guilty.
“How did he…?”
“Die?” Draco looked like he tried to hide a sneer. “Curse…” his voice trailed off. “The Dark Lord’s last gift for the Death Eaters that betrayed him in the end.”
Harry looked back on to the grave of Severus. Could it be that simple? A last desperate spell cast by the defeated Voldemort, so weak that it took seven years to take effect. Harry’s nose wrinkled as he realized…
“You seem alright, though”
“Yes…” Draco looked down at a red flower he had conjured up in his hands.
Under Harrys spiteful gaze and utter disgust Draco placed the flower on top of Snape’s headstone. Harry stepped forward and pushed him to the ground.
“What gives you the right?” he yelled at his childhood rival. “What gives you the right?!”
“Some of him liked him, Potter.” Draco picked up the bruised flower. “He was my head of House, you know!”
“Liked him?! Liked him?!!!” Tears were streaming from Harry’s eyes. “I loved him!”
Draco looked uncomfortable.
“I loved him” he repeated and fell to his knees again. “I loved his small smiles, his long hands and his soft back…”
“Spare me the details.” Draco replaced the flower on the stone. “I read all about it when you came out in the Prophet five years ago. And you had been shagging him since you turned sixteen anyway.”
“Did you know?” Harry looked up.
“Snape only had eyes for you, but didn’t know he was watched too.”
“It was you!” Harry leaped like a frog onto Malfoy and fell on top him as they lost their balance. “You sold him out to Voldemort!”
“It *cough* might seem that way… But, no!”
“I don’t believe you!”
“Get off me!”
Harry looked down; he was sitting on Draco’s stomach, preventing him from breathing. He rolled over and sat down on the ground, still furious.
“Why are you not dead?”
“Love charm” Draco shrugged. “You are not the only one with parents who love you.” He paused. “It wasn’t me,” he got up on his elbows. “The Dark… Voldemort… he already knew… when I told him.”
“So you did tell him?”
“To no use…” he sighed. “I did not want to do it. My father… I was young and angry.”
“Youth and anger are no excuses,” said Harry. “Severus always told me that.”
Severus had forgiven Harry though, time and time again. He looked at the headstone again, and then shot a glance towards the mausoleum. A woman in a black veil stood looking at them, wringing her hands. She did not approach them. Probably Draco’s mother.
“Sorry for knocking you over.”
“It’s alright.” Draco sat up beside him. “I’m sorry too for… well… everything.”
“’s alrigh’” slurred Harry.
Draco looked back at his mother.
“Look, I have to go.” He got up to his feet, brushing himself off. “Can we meet later?”
Harry did not answer. Draco stood still for a few moments. He gave a sigh and began to walk away.
“I’m here tomorrow,” said Harry without looking away from his lovers name. “I’m here every day.”
“I’ll come by.” Draco returned to his family.
Harry sat for another hour before he got to his feet. Before he left he took the red flower with him.
“Looks like the beginning of a beautiful friendship” said the ghost of Lucius Malfoy.
“Spare me your clichés,” said the ghost of Severus Snape. “That brat of yours screwed it up.”
“We’ll just have to try harder to help them next time.”
“Are you sure they will be happy together?”
“They will love each other!”
The ghost of Snape snarled.
“Well then…” Lucius rubbed his hands together. “My grave or yours?”
“Oh shut up!” Snape growled and floated away to find something or someone to haunt.
Lucius stayed behind and looked at Harry as he departed the graveyard. He gave the young man’s back a smirking smile. All turned out well in the end he thought. Snapes protégé would be happy again, Draco would find a cure for his guilt and the Malfoy name would be clean once more. Now… Where did that sexy hunk of ectoplasm get to…?
