Finally Harry had finished Hogwarts, and was spending his holidays in "Snape Manor". It was a hot summer afternoon, and they were talking on the veranda, sitting in the porch swing.

"Harry, I want you to take that room that is my office now. I'm going to take my things to the lab, and we can buy new furniture for you."

"But why, I don't want to sleep in another bedroom!"

"It's not that. We can still sleep together, but I think it's important for you to have a place for yourself."

Harry joined his lips to Severus's, in a tender kiss. "Thank you. I never had a bedroom just for me. I mean, I did have one at the Dursleys', but they didn't respect my privacy."

"If you are to become a professional Quidditch player... By the way, is that what you really want? To become a Quidditch player?"

"Yep. The Quidditch Tri-School Tournament made up my mind. Playing with Montague and that dream team we've assembled, I've seen that nothing gives me as much pleasure as playing Quidditch."

"Nothing?" asked Severus, arching an eyebrow.

"Er. That was not what I meant, and you know that." Harry rested both hands on Severus's chest and started to massage him sensually, his thumbs focusing on the nipples.

"Do I know?" Severus asked. "So tell me what gives you more pleasure than playing Quidditch."

"Hm, many things, in fact."

"Just mention one of them," Severus insisted, a fiery glow in his eyes.

"To make you writhe and moan in pleasure," said Harry, pushing Severus down onto the porch swing and pulling Severus's robe off.

With a mischievous smile, Harry transfigured Severus's robe into a rope and wrapped it around his lover's wrists, tying him to the porch swing arm.

"Harry Potter..." said Severus, narrowing his eyes menacingly, but not trying to escape.

Harry took off his glasses and, kneeling beside the porch swing, leaned over to kiss Severus. His fingertips descended from Severus's throat to his chest, finding a nipple. Severus moaned. Harry touched his tongue to the hinge of Severus's jaw; Severus exposed the right side of his neck to him in a silent plea for more. Harry was happy to oblige him, giving him light bites followed by licks and kisses, one hand plucking at his nipples, now pebble hard.

What a thrill it was to have Severus under his control. Not because Harry liked power games, but because it was wonderful to see how Severus trusted him, how he surrendered completely to him.

"Obnoxious boy," said Severus "If my hands were free, I would slip them under your robe and reach between your legs. I would rub your thighs and slowly move to the patch of hair between them; then I would rub my fingers on your smoothest skin, and make you hard for me. I would cup your balls and squeeze them..."

Damn. Harry should have imagined that Severus wouldn't stay there, passively... Harry moaned and raised his head. "You're making me crazy!"

"That's the idea. I would squeeze you, and show you you're mine, only mine. I would rub my thumb on the hot head of your cock and... oh!"

Severus gasped. Desperately changing his tactics, Harry moved his mouth to Severus's groin and now was rubbing his nose in his lover's pubic hair. Severus lifted his knees, spreading them apart. Harry adjusted his position, and kissed down the inside of his thigh, swirling his tongue against the tender skin until he felt the muscles beneath contracting.

Then Harry pushed Severus's legs up, held his balls gently and touched the sensitive perineum with the tip of his tongue.

"Oh, Harry..."

Harry smiled. He was only teasing the hole, circling it, lubricating it with his spit. He pulled Severus's cheeks further apart and pushed his tongue inside.

"Aaaaah." Severus growled and squirmed, making the porch swing move.

Stopping the swing with his body, Harry held Severus's legs firmly, and started to penetrate him deeper with his tongue. He swirled it around, pressing against the hole's walls. Sometimes he sucked it too, and returned to the external ring to give little bites, more with his lips than with his teeth, applying pressure over the entire outside area. Severus arched his hips wildly.

Keeping his tongue rigid, Harry probed deeper, touching Severus's most sensitive nerve endings in the walls of his hole. Severus jerked his body wildly, and cried. Harry cupped his cock just to feel the liquid seed spilling uncontrollably.

Finally, he released Severus's hands, which wrapped themselves immediately around Harry's wrists. Severus sat up, pulled him to his lap and took off his robe, leaving Harry as naked as himself.

"Insolent brat. I cannot deduct points from your House any more, but there are other punishments that I can use on you," Severus whispered in his ear, following up his whisper with a thorough licking and an earlobe nibbling. After positioning Harry sideways in his lap in order to have complete access to his lover's body, Severus placed his left hand on one of Harry's nipples, pinching him mercilessly between his thumb and forefinger, and rolling, squeezing, rubbing it. His right hand travelled down through Harry's midline until it found his cock, and wrapped itself around it. "And now, what shall we do with this?"

Harry braced himself for Severus's revenge. He knew he would be thrilled. "Uh... Those things you were saying you'd do to me?"

"Put my thumb here, right on the tip? Oh, your skin is so silky, Harry. So velvety smooth," said Severus, in a husky low voice. Then Severus held it by the base and started to pump it slowly. "Do you like it? Does it feel good? How do you want it?"

"Harder, Severus."

"Be calm, Harry. Accio lube."

The flagon came to Severus's hands, forcing Severus to release Harry for a while - to Harry's despair. Severus opened it and poured a generous portion on his fingers. Then he closed the flagon and put it on the floor, under the porch swing, near Harry's glasses.

Severus returned his attention to his lover's eager cock, pumping it again with his right hand. At the same time, his left forefinger slithered into Harry's warm and tight entrance.

Harry held Severus with all his strength, fitting his head under the older wizard's chin.

"Severus..."

Severus set a faster pace. Now and then, he would stop, cup the tip of Harry's cock and rub his thumb over there, searching for the most sensitive vein.

"Harry, you're throbbing now, and you're so hot... You're starting to drip already..."

"Hmgmm."

"I want to feel you coming on my hand, Harry."

Harry was very pleased to oblige his lover's desire. He couldn't help it, anyway. Burying his teeth in Severus's shoulder, Harry came.

~* ~* ~

The sun was already setting and they were still in the veranda. The fairies' glow started to brighten the garden, and a cool breeze blew through the bushes.

"I love you."

"I love you more."

Harry was about to laugh, because the first time Severus declared his love just had to be in a competitive way, but he was caught in the fire in Severus's eyes, and plunged into it. Severus meant it. That was coming from his heart, with the intensity that only Severus was capable of. Harry winced, and hugged him fiercely.

"Severus... I won't let you down."

In Severus's eyes, Harry watched the fight between the scepticism and the will to believe, and saw Severus surrendering, returning his embrace with a fiercer passion. "I know."

"Would you be angry if I asked you to... er..."

"Spit it out, Harry."

"I'd like to tell my friends, and go with you to places..."

"If we do that, I won't be able to maintain my façade of loyalty to the Death Eaters, or help putting Lucius in Azkaban, or go back spying for the Order."

"If you never reveal the truth, you'll never be able to live a normal life. Voldemort is dead, Severus. It's time for us to live again."

Severus sighed and kept quiet. He ran his hand through his hair. "All right, Harry. But don't announce it in the Daily Prophet!"

Harry's face broke into a radiant smile. "Don't worry. I just want to tell Hermione and Ron. And... well, go with you to places."

"It won't be that easy. The first time someone sees us together, we will be in the headlines."

"Do you think so? I'm not so famous, now Neville is the greatest hero."

"You will always be famous."

It was Harry's turn to sigh. "Then we'll have to face it."

"I will have to tell my Slytherins, and explain why I did what I did."

"That will be amazing!"

"Not everyone will be happy. Some of them will feel betrayed. But... it's always like that, isn't it?" Severus gave one of his almost-smiles. "You can't please everyone all the time."

Harry smirked. "Don't even try! I want you just for me." Then Harry became serious again. "Severus, will you marry me?"

Severus's eyes widened, and his almost-smile broadened to a real smile. "I thought you were never going to ask me!"

"Don't tell me you were waiting for me to ask you. Why?"

"I didn't want to... push you."

"Very funny. One might think you are the gentlest person in the world."

Severus shrugged. "I'm too old for you. Too ugly." He smirked. "Too dark..."

"Stop it. You're none of that, but you are Slytherin, and you're trying to avoid the question." Harry gave a deep breath. "Will you marry me?"

"Silly boy, do I have to answer this?"

"Yes, you have to. Will you marry me?"

"In the Wizarding World, there is no marriage between same sex couples."

"I know that. You know what I'm talking about: the Hierosgamos. We perform the ritual, tell our friends, and then we hold a party here."

"A party?" Severus didn't seem very enthusiastic about the idea.

"Just for our friends: Hermione, Ron, Ginny, the twins..."

"No. Not them."

Harry pouted. "I'll let you invite your Slytherin friends."

"Draco Malfoy?"

"Ugh. I was thinking of Kai, Montague, Lescaux..."

"Very funny. Those are your friends too. You're cheating."

"All right, Severus, we'll discuss this later. You haven't answered yet: will you marry me?"

"Have you read Asklepios Arrheton's book from beginning to end?"

"I know it by heart."

"So you know how the Hierosgamos rite is performed, and what we will have to do?"

"Yes. I only don't know where we can find a..."

"Harry, you don't need to worry. I'll take care of everything. Is tomorrow too soon for you?"

~* ~* ~

Nicholas Flamel guided them through the garden and, after some brief instructions, left them alone. Harry was dressed in black; Severus, in white. The garden was enclosed by a high stone wall. At the centre of the garden, inside the stub of an ancient hollow oak, there was a kind of bathtub, lined in precious stones. The waters were crystalline.

Harry and Severus took off their robes and plunged into the waters.

Above them, the crown of a tree in the shape of a melusine waved its serpent's tail.

Immersed in the pool inside the hollow oak, Harry and Severus embraced and pronounced the enchantment.

"In una ergo re carnem membra latent, omnia metalla lucent. Horum duo sunt artifices, duo vasa, duo tempera, duo fructus, duo fines, una salus."*

The energy that surrounded them was so powerful that Harry thought he was going to faint. The magic flowed from him to Severus and from Severus to him. Severus held him firmly. Their bodies pulsated and their spirit seemed to levitate. It was like an unending orgasm.

Slowly, the intensity of the sensations started to fade, and they could breathe, still embraced. Their old rings had disappeared, and new golden rings shone on their left hands.

"Wow," Harry exclaimed, losing hold of Severus and sprinkling water over their bodies, as if trying to extinguish an invisible fire.

Severus left the pool and the oak. Then he turned around to face Harry and extended his hand to him. Their magic blended where their hands touched, vibrating exquisitely.

Harry pulled Snape against himself, and embraced him again.

"I've never felt so alive."

"It's the mystical secret of two in one. The Mysterium coniunctionis," said Severus, before capturing Harry's lips in a long tender kiss.

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