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joanwilder aka RaeWhit ([info]joanwilder) wrote,
@ 2008-10-28 13:36:00

Previous Entry  Add to memories!  Tell a Friend!  Next Entry
Entry tags:100quills, ficlets, harry/severus 50.3 (joanwilder), my snarrys

FIC: Midnight
Title: Midnight (written for [info]100quills)
Author: [info]joanwilder
Rating: R
Prompt Set: 50.3
Prompt: 33
Word Count: 875
Summary: It's midnight, and Severus is awake...again.



Midnight


Snape awoke in a sweat, and lay and wondered where he was for a moment. His heart pounded, then seemed to synch with the clicking of the clock at the bedside. It was then that he remembered. He rolled over and stared at the timepiece: 11:47.

He was so used to getting up at midnight that his body now woke him in advance. As he swung his legs over the edge of the bed, he thought wistfully about the nights when he'd slept from when his head hit the pillow at ten until the break of day.

Well, truthfully, he'd not done that for very long. Just for a few blessed months at the end of the war. Hadn't lasted very long.

When he'd first started getting up like this, it'd only been as a last resort. Everything else had failed, so here he was, shrugging into his robe and slippers, making his way to the kitchen where he poured out a dose of Dreamless Sleep. There in the sink stood the dirty phial from the measure of Sleeping Draught. It never lasted more than a few hours. Evidenced by the fact that he was up at midnight.

But he supposed that given how much worse it all might've turned out, he couldn't complain.

So, like he always did, he threw his cloak around his shoulders, stepped into the corridor, and lit his wand. Looking from left to right and back again, he narrowed his eyes, tilting his head to the side as if he heard something from afar. Making a noise of satisfaction, he turned to the right and took the stairs down, deeper into the dungeons.

He shivered beneath his cloak, lifting his wand high as he checked door after door, then just at the end of the corridor, he stopped at the second to last one and took a moment to watch.

Potter stood in the corner of the small room, running his hands over the damp stone walls, as if he were seeking the way out. He seemed small and shrunken, his bedraggled hair hanging in his face as he scratched at the wall, mumbling something nonsensical under his breath. He was trembling from the cold, and no small wonder: he wore just a flimsy night shirt that stopped at his knees, and was barefoot.

Snape learnt long ago to be cautious at the midnight hour. He moved silently across the room, then without speaking, he gathered Potter's hands into his own and held them firmly for a moment. Potter quieted, but shrank back against the wall. Stepping in closer, Snape furled his cloak around the shivering figure, then slowly but insistently pulled them both toward the door. After a moment of holding back, Potter obeyed, his hands clutching Snape's to the point of pain.

They shuffled back to Snape's rooms, where he stood the still somnambulant man in the kitchen and poured the Dreamless Sleep down his throat; as usual Potter resisted and Snape had to stroke his throat like a baby's to get him to swallow.

He led him back to the bed, tucked him in on one side, then slid himself in the other. It was only once they were back in the bed that Snape dared try to wake Potter, and wake him he must, otherwise he'd shortly be off again.

After experimenting with different methods, Snape had hit on the one way of waking Potter that seemed the least traumatic: no kicking or fighting, or incapacitating tremors, no weeping or argumentative confusion. God only knew he'd seen all of those often enough in the beginning.

Pulling Potter into his arms, Snape kissed him, warming the cold lips with his warm ones, gently cradling the back of Potter's head to keep him in place. Every half-minute or so, he'd pull away and scrutinize the dull, blank eyes.

Potter's usually expressive and responsive mouth made Snape feel like he were kissing a corpse, but he didn't give up. He breathed his warm breath into the hollow of his mouth, warmed his lips with his tongue and massaged the back of his neck gently with his hand.

It didn't take too long for the awareness to creep into Potter's eyes. Snape had decided months ago that it was like seeing a doll come to life. One moment they were fixed, the pupils black and tiny, and the next they were warm and damp at the corners, the blacks dilating suddenly as Potter saw him, as realization flooded his brain.

To his credit, and Snape's relief, the man no longer apologized. No, what he did was kiss Snape back, wrapping his arms and legs around him until Snape could barely breathe, and certainly couldn't move.

"Potter…" he managed to murmur into the hair at his ear, his eyes squinting in the darkness to see the clock. Potter was repeatedly winding a finger in the hair at Snape's neck, one of his falling-to-sleep rituals that Snape for some reason found comforting, almost endearing. Potter's body relaxed gradually, and when his breathing became shallow and regular, Snape gently turned them so that they were back to chest.

Snape lay in the dark, staring at the clock: 1:00.

He was wide awake.

(Post a new comment)


[info]svartalfur
2008-10-28 02:56 pm UTC (link)
This has the feeling of an old black-and-white horror movie to it. I love the subtlety of the piece, the allusions and the tension. It's a hurt-comfort scene, yes, but it's so much more. Great job!

(Reply to this) (Thread)


[info]joanwilder
2008-10-30 07:10 pm UTC (link)
Thanks, Anders. I think I wrote it because I'm perennially exhausted. :)

(Reply to this) (Parent)


[info]alisanne
2008-10-28 03:41 pm UTC (link)
Oh. I was holding my breath as Snape was trying to wake Harry and when he finally did I exhaled. I love the small details of this piece, how gentle Snape is as he kisses Harry, and how Harry ends up winding his finger in Snape's hair, thus providing comfort for both of them...

Lovely!

(Reply to this) (Thread)


[info]joanwilder
2008-10-30 07:12 pm UTC (link)
Thanks, Ali. Yeah, have to be careful about how you wake him up--I once had a patient who did this at night. We had to have them place special sensors on the stairway exits. He'd walk four floors down, and straight out the ER exit and into traffic. If we tried to waken him, he usually got violent.

(Reply to this) (Parent)


[info]venturous
2008-10-28 04:17 pm UTC (link)
oh,I love this, tender!Sev, ever the watcher, weary and persistent. that moment of recognition is amazing.

(Reply to this) (Thread)


[info]joanwilder
2008-10-30 07:13 pm UTC (link)
Thanks, I was hoping his weariness would bleed through.

(Reply to this) (Parent)


[info]zephre
2008-10-28 05:15 pm UTC (link)
beautiful and haunting.

(Reply to this) (Thread)


[info]joanwilder
2008-10-30 07:13 pm UTC (link)
Thanks, glad you liked it.

(Reply to this) (Parent)


[info]veridian_dair
2008-10-28 07:02 pm UTC (link)
Oh, this made my heart hurt - for both of them. For Harry having to endure it; for Snape for having to rescue him from it every night. I also loved the winding of Snape's hair for comfort (my daughter used to do that to me when she was little and I miss it).

(Reply to this) (Thread)


[info]joanwilder
2008-10-30 07:14 pm UTC (link)
Thanks, C. Yeah, love in the trenches here. The hair-winding thing, I still do it sometimes when I'm tired.

(Reply to this) (Parent)


[info]torino10154
2008-10-28 08:12 pm UTC (link)
This is so quiet, dark, unsettling. There is confusion, endurance, resolve. Both troubled souls, I think-fortunate to have a fellow sufferer perhaps. Very moving.

(Reply to this) (Thread)


[info]joanwilder
2008-10-30 07:14 pm UTC (link)
Yeah, I hoped to show that love does the hard things. Thanks for reading.

(Reply to this) (Parent)


[info]jennybliss
2008-10-28 10:15 pm UTC (link)
This was such a lovely story. The love and trust those two much share to be able to do this every night.

(Reply to this) (Thread)


[info]joanwilder
2008-10-30 07:15 pm UTC (link)
Yes, it's one of those hidden ways in which Snape shows he loves Harry. Maybe not outwardly demonstrative, but there when it counts. Thanks for reading!

(Reply to this) (Parent)


[info]akuma_river
2008-11-01 03:41 am UTC (link)
It's beautiful in a heart-rending way.

I love how Snape shows how much he cares for Harry by going after him, putting him back in bed, holding him while he slowly wakes up, and finally staying with Harry all through this.

It takes real dedication and love to stay with a person whose 'damaged' like that.

Love it.

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[info]joanwilder
2008-11-09 10:02 pm UTC (link)
I expect Snape has his own skeletons and foibles with which Harry has has to deal. But as you intimated, that's what love does. Thanks for reading, and dropping me a note.

(Reply to this) (Parent)


[info]winoniel
2008-11-01 01:28 pm UTC (link)
What a magnificent piece. It was small in size, and intimate in sphere.

Severus is still watching out and saving Harry. He is weary, yet at the same time untiring in his diligence--what a testament to their relationship.

I especially adored Harry twirling Severus' hair around his finger. It was a particularly realistic touch: I can remember my god-daughter doing that as a little girl, trying to not to fall asleep for her nap!

(Reply to this) (Thread)


[info]joanwilder
2008-11-09 10:02 pm UTC (link)
That's exactly what I hoped to capture, so thanks! Hmm, I do the hair thingy too. :)

(Reply to this) (Parent)

wake
[info]countesszero
2009-05-12 12:05 pm UTC (link)
Snape lay in the dark, staring at the clock: 1:00.

He was wide awake.


this summarizes the allure of all snarries: snape developes a process (experimenting with various methods to wake him up) to deal with harry's sleepwalking forfeiting his own sleep without hesitation. or at least i think that is what is so addictive about snape.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

Re: wake
[info]joanwilder
2009-05-12 03:24 pm UTC (link)
You're right, it's the idea that he's quietly supplying what Harry needs. Thanks for reading and for commenting.

(Reply to this) (Parent)


[info]in_motu_proprio
2009-08-05 03:03 am UTC (link)
I love it. And that Severus is waiting for the next one. So cute.

(Reply to this) (Thread)


[info]joanwilder
2009-08-06 01:01 am UTC (link)
Severus taking care of Harry is just such a tempting subject, because we usually see it the other way around. I'm glad you liked it, and thanks for letting me know.

(Reply to this) (Parent)


[info]ensnarryed
2009-09-14 03:15 am UTC (link)
1) Pulling Potter into his arms, Snape kissed him, warming the cold lips with his warm ones
2) what he did was kiss Snape back
3) winding a finger in the hair at Snape's neck
4) Snape gently turned them so that they were back to chest.

<3!

:)

(Reply to this) (Thread)


[info]joanwilder
2009-09-14 03:40 am UTC (link)
Awww, I'm glad you liked those lines. I have a thing for winding fingers in hair when I'm distracted or tired, so I made my Harry do it.

Thanks so much for reading!

(Reply to this) (Parent)



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