Fic: No Hiding Place book Four: The Cupboard Under The Stairs (1/32)

[sua_lay]

Title: No Hiding Place: Book Four: The Cupboard Under the Stairs (1/32)
Author: Rimau Sua Lay
Rating: overall NC-17, Angst, Drama, Action/Adventure, First Time
Fandom: Harry Potter
Pairings: Harry/Snape, Ron/Draco, (Sirius/Remus)
Date: December 2002 - ?
Disclaimers: Not mine, borrowed without permission, am not making any money. Please don't sue. Sherbet Lemon?
Summary for Book Four: -Before you can go forward, you must face your past. Sins of the father may bury the son. Harry will find out if a dog really is the man's best friend.
Warning: This part contains deaths, gore, mention of het rape, explicit sex between men, disturbing themes, angst and a partridge in a pear tree.

Once again, I'll post one part every other day. Make sure you read the warnings before reading this fic! A certain plot point in the fic inspired by Marion Zimmer Bradley's Mists of Avalon. I own nothing.

The earlier parts of the fic can be found here.

BOOK THREE
The Cupboard Under the Stairs

Part 1

"Thank Merlin!" Letting the praise out as a relieved sigh, Ron turned his back to the fireplace.

It had been wondrous to see the two Slytherins floo out of here, out of his life. Spending a couple of months cooped up in a small cottage with Malfoy and Snape had been really awful, but maybe now he could put the whole thing behind him and try to forget all about it.

He noticed the strange silence in the room at the same time as Hermione cast a questioning look at him. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw that Harry was still staring into the fireplace.

"Hey, Harry." Ron nudged his friend. He was prepared to see his friend startled, but instead, Harry just turned around, looking gloomy. He didn't need any explanations for the expression. Moping after Snape? Probably.

He'd have to talk to Hermione about that. As soon as possible.

Forcing a small smile onto his lips, Harry sighed. There was no use in wallowing in dark thoughts right now. "I'm all right." The lie was instinctive, slipping out before he could even think. He knew Ron wouldn't believe it.

The very knowing look on his friend's face confirmed that.

Harry didn't want to talk about it right now. He knew that now that Snape was gone, Ron would undoubtedly want to talk about him. It was something he had to deal with later on, but he couldn't do it now when he wanted nothing more than floo after Snape.

He pushed away that as well. Their fantasy life at the cottage was over and it was time to step back to reality. "Is everything all right back home?" He could already tell by Hermione's relaxed expression that his nightmares had been just dreams, but he couldn't help asking.

She nodded. "Everything's fine. Nothing's really changed." Grabbing Ron's arm, she led him to the couch.

Harry followed them silently, sitting down on an armchair, collecting his robes around him as if he was feeling cold.

Frowning a little, Hermione added, "Oh, except that Dumbledore gave us the Potions exam. And..." Her expression wavered for a moment.

Harry was instantly filled with dread. "What?"

"Hagrid," Hermione smiled, "Proposed to Madam Maxime. He didn't say what the answer was, but he's been made the official spokesman between the Order and Beauxbaton board of directors." She could still remember his happy grin when he'd told her about it. "We gave him a big party before he left to France."

Relieved, Harry sagged back on the chair. Hagrid was in France? He'd miss him, but at least he was far away from the future battlezone. That was excellent news. "I say, that's marvelous! Do you think they'll invite us to the wedding?"

They all chuckled at that. It would be a sight to see. Hagrid all nervous in a tux, probably insisting that Fang acted as a witness to the ceremony and the happy couple cutting a wedding cake that was shaped like some kind of a magical beast.

Hermione regained her composure first, casting a fond look at Ron, who was still laughing. "We did lose the House Cup, though. Came in second. Ravenclaw won."

That made Ron stop laughing. He frowned for a second, but then shrugged, "Well, as long as we beat Slytherin, everything's all right." The thought of Malfoy hearing this made him feel better.

Of course thinking about him also made him think of Snape. He wondered if he should wait until he and Hermione were alone to bring up the whole mess Harry had gotten into.

He didn't like the tired look on Harry's face, so he kept his mouth shut. But he would definitely need to talk to Hermione about it later on! She could find out if Harry was under some kind of a spell. He knew he was reaching, but couldn't accept the possibility of Harry really being insane enough to fancy Snape without any kind of an outside influence.

"What else..." Hermione thought for a moment. "My mum says hi. Your mum and Sirius send their love. Fred and George asked me to bring you a 'surprise', but I decided that wasn't a good idea."

There was more grinning at that.

"Can you imagine what they could have sent us? The last time I talked to them, they were busy with transformation potions for soda." There would definitely be things to explore when they got back home. Ron was certain of that.

The Canary Custard was already an oldie. Now that the twins were able to concentrate fully on their insane ideas, they were developing new products that made the Custard pale in comparison.

"I know." Refusing to say anything about the things Ginny had told her, Hermione went on, "Professor Pahicna left a week before the exams. No one knows where she went, but there were lots of rumors."

Neither Harry nor Ron was surprised at that. Actually, if she'd been able to finish her job as the DADA teacher, both would have probably fainted with shock.

"We all passed the N.E.W.T.s. Even Neville managed to pass the mandatory Potions exam. You should have seen his face. I was sure he was about to have a heart attack!"

Ron cringed as he saw the strange mixture of longing and amusement on Harry's face. He could bet he was thinking about Snape's reaction to that. It was quite disturbing. Why did that greasy creep have to invade every moment? This was supposed to be just about him and Harry and Hermione, not about disgusting Slytherins.

And he was not about to think about Malfoy!

"Oh, and you both passed the Divinations N.E.W.T.s."

Harry looked puzzled. "Passed? But we haven't even taken the exam yet." He wasn't really looking forward to the whole thing. There were more important things to do than to predict his own death from the tealeaves.

"I know." Hermione sounded half amused, half outraged. "But professor Trelawney had a vision about you passing the exam, so..." She spread her arms. "She gave Ron a B, and because she thinks this may well be your last chance to enjoy anything in life..."

"Let me guess. I got an A." It wasn't exactly surprising to Harry. He didn't really care; Divinations was a hoax anyway.

She nodded. "Yes. She gave Parvati and Lavender As as well." Considering that she knew they hadn't really studied for the exam and had got the grade mostly because they worshipped their teacher, she was still unable to feel anything but disgust about the whole thing.

Pushing the surprisingly bitter thoughts out of her mind, Hermione asked, "So, did anything interesting happen while you were staying away?" She was eager to hear everything about it. Even though she'd been busy back home, she'd missed her friends awfully.

It had been the worst spring ever. She hadn't been able to concentrate properly on the reading, spending most of her time working with Terry to keep everyone in line and studying. Thinking about her partner always made her feel calm, the serious Ravenclaw had been an excellent Head Boy and the Ravenclaws' success in the House Cup was mostly due to him. Hermione believed they indeed deserved it.

Not that she'd ever tell Ron about that.

Ron thought of all the things he could say about their stay at the cottage. Maybe tell her about the snake. Hermione would be fascinated, he was sure.

Or maybe he'd tell her about Eppy and her grumpy ways. The horrid outhouse. All the quiet afternoons he'd spent with Harry, doing nothing special, just enjoying the solid friendship between them. The way they had studied for the Potions exam and passed. She'd like to hear that.

Without a thought, he blurted out, "Harry's shagging Snape." He couldn't help it. The whole thing still sounded weird.

Seeing Hermione's shock made him feel slightly better. At least the whole world hadn't gone insane.

"Ron!" For a second, Harry wanted to either slap his friend or retort with 'Ron is shagging Malfoy'. He didn't think Hermione could handle that, though. She was already looking like she was going to have an apoplexy.

It wasn't exactly a good sign.

"You.... Harry? Is that true?" Choking the words out, Hermione stared at him. "You're... involved with a professor?"

Harry thought for a moment. "Yes. Well, technically, Snape's not my professor anymore, but yes, I'm... involved with him." He didn't know of a better word to use.

He was glad she wasn't repeating 'you're shagging Snape' as Ron had when he'd first found out. She had more style than that.

"You... You're..." She had some problems getting the words out. "Involved with Snape?" Then her eyes widened even more. "You're shagging Snape?"

Harry groaned. Careful not to look at Ron, feeling like he'd strangle him if he saw him grin, he said calmly, "Yes."

There was a completely shocked silence as Hermione just stared at him. Trying to collect her thoughts, she turned to look at Ron. "Do you think he might be under the Imperius? Or maybe drugged somehow?" Her voice was deadly serious.

"I don't know." Ron had wondered about that himself. There had been no way for him to find out while they'd stayed at the cottage. "He did drink some Draught of the Living Death, but I had that too." It hadn't turned him into a total git.

No. That had happened a moment before drinking the potion. On both occasions.

Sighing, Harry shook his head. "No. I'm not drugged or cursed or insane." He cast a glare at Ron. It was starting to annoy him, the mistrust his friend was showing.

"You and Snape?" It was clear that Hermione had trouble to believe anyone would like to be associated with Snape like that. She had seen and heard lots of strange things, first as the Gryffindor prefect and then as the Head Girl, but she'd never heard of anyone ever even having a crush on their Potions master.

A goofy smile spread to Harry's lips, even though his chest kind of felt tight. He wasn't sure if he should nod at that, but it just sounded so right. "Yes. Me and Snape."

Hermione didn't want to believe what she was seeing, but she couldn't deny the fact that Harry actually looked happy. "Oh." Still, she had to glance at Ron. "And this is not a joke?" One never knew with the Weasleys.

"Merlin, I wish it was!" Ignoring the way Harry looked at him, Ron sighed. "No. It's not a joke."

After thinking for a moment, Hermione still found it impossible to believe. She could see Harry and Ron were both serious about this, but it still sounded ridiculous. Harry and Snape? "Why?"

Harry had no idea how to explain this to her. It had been a pain to go through this with Ron, and he'd been there to see at least some of the changes between him and Snape. "I..." He remembered the talk he and Ron had shared ages ago. "I got to know him outside the class. In Order meetings."

As he'd suspected, there was a hint of confused resentment in her eyes. She was probably thinking exactly the same as Ron had, wondering about all the things he had kept from them. Fortunately she didn't say anything.

"He's honest. At least to me. He's never lied or sucked up to me." The insults and sarcasm wasn't all that big a deal. Honesty was imperative.

"Yeah. He really doesn't coddle you." Ron's voice had a slight edge. "He's still the same nasty git we all know and hate. Our greasy, nasty severe Snape." Realizing he'd accidentally made a pun, he grinned.

"Severus." Hermione couldn't help correcting it. Her gaze was still fixed into Harry and she had to admit she liked what she saw, even though this whole thing sounded prepostrous. There was no trace of the haunted look in his eyes, even though he did look slightly sad. "'Verus', like true or real, right?"

Harry nodded. He'd never really thought about that, but of course Hermione would say something like that, she paid attention to every detail.

"Yeah, yeah. Drop two letters from his last name, and you get 'ape'. So what?" The way Hermione didn't seem to be completely disgusted by this whole thing was making Ron angry. Was he the only one with brains here?

Knowing that Ron was still shocked about his relationship with Snape, Harry refrained from hexing him. "I like him." It was as simple and as complicated as that.

"I see." Hermione really did see it. There was a definite change in Harry's tone when he talked about Snape; like he wasn't a complete monster. She could remember Snape stumble and then fall on his knees, holding professor McGonagall tight against his chest. No. He wasn't a monster. "And does he like you?"

There had never been any sign that their dreaded Potions master even tolerated Harry.

Ron had never thought of it this way, he'd been too caught up in the stupid drama his life had become. Waiting for the answer, he wondered what Harry would say because he honestly didn't know.

It was something Harry wasn't too happy discussing about. He knew things had changed now that Snape was back at Hogwarts, and when they returned to the school as well, he'd have to work hard to get everything back the way they'd been for such a short time.

Making proper strategies for the future would have to wait. If he concentrated on sharing things with Snape, Hermione would undoubtedly notice how empty that made him feel.

"He doesn't hate me."

He wasn't sure it made any sense, at least to his friends who both knew what Snape was like in the classroom. How could he really explain how someone like that could be so damn important to him in a way that didn't make him sound like a complete idiot?

To Hermione, that was enough. "Okay." The calm satisfaction in her friend was more telling than words. She smiled. "Good."

Harry swallowed. This acceptance was making this worse somehow. If things were different, he'd be overjoyed. But not now.

It had been a good idea not to tell Ron that there was a distinct possibility that his thing with Snape was over. Why complicate things unnecessarily? He doubted Ron would have understood when he himself didn't understand it either.

"You are both insane!" Shaking his head with disgust, Ron stared at his friends. He'd been certain Hermione would see it as insanity, just like he did.

Harry and Hermione shared a knowing look at the familiar words and then smirked at Ron. It was almost as if they were all back in the library, browsing through the heavy volumes and memorizing charms. The memory was so clear it wiped away the past months and carried them back to a simpler time.

"Oh shut up!" Ron was unable to keep the smirk from spreading to his lips as well. He didn't want to turn this into a joke, but had to admit that maybe now wasn't the time for a serious conversation. They could talk more later.

Seeing Harry look relieved when he simply stuck out his tongue at Hermione, he knew it was the right decision.

The conversation veered back to the more mundane topics after that, Hermione telling more about the life at Hogwarts and Ron making a few comments about Eppy. Harry stayed mostly quiet, watching his friends and enjoying the comfortable atmosphere.

Things were going to be all right. It was good to see Ron look so happy, a striking contrast to the past few days.

One less thing for him to worry about. He could well guess what was waiting for him back home; not a long summer vacation, but hard work with his exams and then with the Order. He was going to be too busy thinking about the war to really concentrate on his friend's problems.

He almost hoped he would be too busy to concentrate on his own problems as well.

As Ron disappeared to the loo, Harry stretched his legs padding to the window. He was glad Hermione joined him a moment later, not needing any time to wallow. There was nothing to see out there, the landscape hidden in the darkness, but he wondered where they were anyway. Not far from Hogwarts, he thought.

Ron's delighted yell rang in the hallway. "Indoor plumbing! Thank Merlin!" He sounded so happy Harry had to grin at that.

At Hermione's questioning look, he muttered, "There was just an outhouse at the cottage." He sounded wistful. He missed even the outhouse with the smell and the insects and the magical light that didn't always burn as bright as you wanted it to.

They could hear the sound of the toilet being flushed, accompanied by another delighted yell.

"I'm so glad you two are back." Smiling happily, Hermione leaned against Harry. "I've missed you."

Harry wrapped an arm around Hermione's shoulders, squeezing slightly. "I've missed you too, Hermione!" It wasn't a lie, even though he had been too busy to really miss anyone when they'd been gone, it was good to see her again.

They stood there together for a moment, listening to the faint sound of water being ran in the bathroom.

Clearing his throat, Harry muttered. "About Snape... You didn't seem shocked about... You know. Him being a guy." Not that Harry had expected her to be. But she should have at least been slightly stunned. Or even surprised.

Hermione laughed. "After watching for weeks as you invented all sorts of excuses to go near the Hufflepuff rooms and then disappear somewhere with Justin, that was not a surprise."

That was a bit disappointing. Harry had thought no one had noticed that unfortunate affair, mostly because of the way it had ended.

"Why? Did Ron have problems about you seeing a man?"

"No." Harry shook his head. He didn't bother to add that Ron's problems were about the identity of the man, not his gender.

He didn't want to talk about this anymore. Maybe later, when he knew what was happening, he'd sit down with Hermione and babble for hours. Not yet. Not when he had no idea when he'd see Snape again.

There would be other things to think about now.

It was already late, but none of the three Gryffindors felt like going to bed yet. Scrounging through the kitchen -- where Ron let out more delighted yells as he saw that the cupboards were all full -- they collected a huge snack and then retired to the living room to eat.

By a mutual agreement they didn't return to the subject of Snape and shagging.

Feeling still slightly hollow inside, Harry tried his best not to let any of his misery show. To his surprise, it wasn't really hard. The sharp and funny comments Hermione made about everything that had happened while they'd been away made him smile a genuine smile, and he was glad things were well back home.

The light banter was familiar and it was easy to concentrate on that. Even when all three started to nod a little and their conversation was blurred by yawns, they stayed in the living room, reluctant to break the companionable mood.

It was Hermione, who finally suggested they retired for the night. She was still used to the daily rhythm back at the school, and her body was screaming for her to get some sleep.

Being something close to real gentlemen, Harry and Ron told her she could use the bathroom first. Ron ruined it slightly by muttering comments about saving them at least some warm water, but Hermione pretended not to hear it, just winking at Harry over Ron's shoulder.

It was good to have her friends back.

There was enough room for them all to sleep alone, but out of habit, Harry and Ron shared a room. It was somehow comforting to hear the sounds of someone else breathing; the familiar nocturnal sounds that had been with them for seven years.

Harry wondered if he'd ever get used to sleeping alone.

After Ron had finished with his prolonged ablutions, Harry went to grab a shower. He stood under the warm spray for a long time and then washed quickly without paying much attention to the bottles on the ledge. He didn't want to get all moody right now.

He stepped out of the large bedroom long enough to wish Hermione good night. Yawning, he realized he was actually tired. No wonder after a more or less sleepless night.

Exhausted, Harry collapsed on the bed, glad that they could sleep late the next morning.

Dreams came and went that night, never clear or long lasting, confusing images and flashes from things he'd read and heard. Not exactly nightmares, but strange enough to make his sleep restless.

The dreams haunted him through the night, but when he woke up, he didn't remember anything about them.

---

Comments

[duskspoken.livejournal.com]

Without a thought, he blurted out, "Harry's shagging Snape." He couldn't help it. The whole thing still sounded weird.


Ron is so precious. haha. This line is hilarious, it was hard not laughing in the middle of the library. lol.

[sua-lay.livejournal.com]

Oh, Ron is so many different things indeed. :D And I can imagine the hysterical shaking and snorting! Hope the librarians will let you in the library again!

*giggle*

[duskspoken.livejournal.com]

Ron is starting to become one of my favorite characters. I write him a lot more than I do my absolute favorite so I guess he's growing no me.

LOL. It was funny. Yeah they're really cool, I live in a small town, and I was the only one in the library so it wasn't that big of a deal but it's still funny. It's like it's forbidden to be loud in the library so you try not to laugh too much.

[duskspoken.livejournal.com]

oh and I'm friending you, it will be easier that way for me to keep up with your story and when you update. :D

[sua-lay.livejournal.com]

I think Ron's one of those characters that grows on you... like a fungus or something.

And now I'm picturing you telling the librarians that 'I was just reading this gay romance and giggling' ...

*facepalm*

[sua-lay.livejournal.com]

Yay!

[duskspoken.livejournal.com]

*snorts* Oh man that would have been so funny!!!