Current mood:	lethargic
Entry tags:	cave, chaptered, fic

FIC: 'The Cave, the Director's Cut' 5/8, Snarry, NC-17
Title: The Cave, the Director's Cut
Author: centaury_squill
Rating: NC-17 overall
Pairing: Snarry
Warnings: chan 14 - 16
Disclaimer: They aren't mine and I'm not making any money from this (just having lots of fun).
Summary: Harry has a fateful encounter high in the hills above Hogsmeade.

Fifth chapter of
Chapter List

Chapter 5
For the rest of the week, Harry tried to forget what had happened that night in the cave. He spent every spare minute with Ron and Hermione, practising for the third task. He pushed the image of Toby coming all over him to the back of his mind, but it had the habit of surfacing, disturbingly, in his dreams. Or when he wanked... he almost gave up wanking altogether, not wanting to admit how much the sight of Toby's big hard cock had turned him on.

By midday on the Sunday, Ron and Hermione were both fed up with being the target of Harry's attempts at the Stunning spell. They went off for a walk together, leaving Harry to his thoughts. He fought a losing battle for most of the afternoon, then finally gave in and headed for the cave.

Toby was already there, sitting hunched up on a rock. "I've been here for most of the weekend," he said sulkily. "What happened to you? Have you been avoiding me 'cos of the other night, when I–" he stopped, going red.

"No, no," Harry lied. He sat down beside Toby, trying to suppress his acute awareness of the other boy's nearness. "I've been busy practising."

"Practising what?" Toby asked, with a sneer.

"Hexes and stuff. For the third task in the Triwizard."

Toby looked interested. "Hexes? I know a lot of hexes. And what's the Triwizard?"

"The Triwizard Tournament," Harry said. "Haven't you heard of it?"

Toby looked as though he didn't want to admit not knowing anything that Harry did, but eventually curiosity won and he shook his head.

"It's this competition between Hogwarts, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang," Harry said. "A champion gets selected from each school. There are only supposed to be three, but my name came out of the Goblet as well. Someone must've put it in, but we don't know who." He wriggled on the rock, trying to get comfortable. His arm brushed against Toby's.

"Goblet?" Toby asked hoarsely.

"The Goblet of Fire. It selects the champions, one from each school. Then they have to compete in three tasks. We've done the first two already. The first was dragons; I did pretty well in that, apart from getting my shoulder hurt. The second was in the lake, rescuing my friend from the merpeople. That's when my watch went wrong. Have you managed to fix it?" Harry gabbled, disconcerted by Toby's intense gaze.

Toby shook his head. "I wish I could've seen you compete," he said. "Maybe –" He paused. Harry looked at him expectantly, but Toby just shrugged, and asked "So what are you practising for now?"

"The third task," Harry said. "They're growing a maze all over the Quidditch pitch and we'll have to get to the middle past all these magical creatures and things. That's why I've been practising hexes. Ron and Hermione have been helping. Hermione's looked up all sorts of hexes and jinxes in the library."

"I bet I know more than she does," Toby said quickly. "I can help you practise. What've you learnt so far?"

"Er, just Stupefy and Impedimenta," said Harry.

"Well, let's try those first, see how good you are."

~*~
Half an hour later, Harry picked himself up for what seemed like the hundredth time and glared at Toby. "I thought I was supposed to be practising on you," he said resentfully.

"Go on then," challenged Toby.

Harry raised his wand. So did Toby. They spoke together. "Stupefy!" – "Protego!"

Harry felt as though an invisible wall had slammed into his chest. "What the fuck?"

"Shield Charm," smirked Toby. "I think you ought to practise that too, don't you?"

"If you're so good at this stuff, how come the bullies manage to get you?" asked Harry. He'd just noticed a fresh set of bruises on Toby's upraised arm.

Toby's face darkened. "They only attack me when they're four to one," he spat. "Bloody cowards." He turned on Harry with sudden ferocity and shot off a wordless hex.

Harry doubled up, gasping. It wasn't fair, Toby taking it out on him. He raised his wand again: "Stupe -"

"Protego!" screamed Toby. He looked half-demented. He slashed his wand at Harry, but this time Harry was prepared and leaped to one side. He stumbled, and caught at Toby's wand arm. The two boys struggled for a moment and then crashed to the ground, Toby on top. He held Harry pinned, staring down at him. The rage left his face. He bent his head and gave Harry a long, slow kiss.

Harry shivered under Toby's touch. It was amazing. It was fucking HOT. It was the best thing that had ever happened to him. It was a boy doing it.

He sat up abruptly, pushing Toby away. "No! I'm not gay!"

"Could've fooled me," Toby grumbled, sitting back on his haunches. "Come on, tell me you didn't enjoy it." His dark eyes bored into Harry's.

"I didn't –" Harry began, then stopped. He found he just couldn't lie to Toby about this. "Yeah, I did enjoy it, but I shouldn't have, okay?"

"Why not?" demanded Toby. "Lots of wizards are gay. It's nothing to be ashamed of."

"My uncle –" Harry paused, thinking. Uncle Vernon had always been very rude about gays, but then wasn't he rude about anyone who didn't conform to his narrow suburban lifestyle? Wizards and witches, for example? "Okay, name me one gay wizard."

"Me," said Toby.

"One grown-up wizard. A famous one."

"Dumbledore."

"What??!" Harry gaped at the other boy. Could it be true? And if it was, how had Toby found out? A sudden image of Dumbledore kissing Toby intruded into his brain; Harry found it really disturbing. "Let's talk about something else," he said hurriedly.

Toby looked away. "All right," he said. "Tell me more about this Triwizard thing. When do you do your third task?"

"In about three weeks from now," Harry said. His insides squirmed. That didn't seem very long at all. "And they only told us about it a few days ago. Just before the last time I, er, was here."

They both blushed, remembering. Toby coughed. "So," he said, "is that why you came here that night? To tell me about your Triwizard task?"

"Not really," Harry said. "My godfather sent me an owl forbidding me to break bounds again – and I'd only been in the Forbidden Forest, not even out of the grounds – and I was so pissed off I decided to come to the cave."

Toby squinted at him. "The Forbidden Forest! What the hell were you doing in there?"

"Viktor Krum – he's the Durmstrang champion – dragged me in there after we'd been told about the third task. He wanted to talk to me in private, 'cos he fancies Hermione – and people have been saying she's my girlfriend, only she's not," Harry added quickly. "But then while we were talking, this really weird thing happened. Mr Crouch turned up. He's from the Ministry of Magic, he helped organise the Triwizard Tournament, but he hasn't been seen since November..." and Harry went on to tell Toby everything that had happened that night.

"And nobody knows what happened to him, but I could probably have got Dumbledore there in time if Snape hadn't tried to stop me," Harry finished bitterly.

Toby didn't say anything for some time. Then he said quietly, "Tell me about Snape."

Harry looked at him in surprise. "Oh, he's just this really horrible teacher. He's had it in for me ever since I got to Hogwarts. He's always sneering at me, getting in the way, giving me these looks..."

Toby moved closer to Harry. "Sounds like he fancies you," he breathed. He seemed to be trying not to laugh.

Harry jumped. "Eugh, no! He can't possibly."

"Why not?"

"He hates me, I tell you! Anyway, he's as old as my dad!" For some obscure reason, Harry didn't want to tell Toby that his parents were dead. "And I certainly don't fancy HIM. Greasy old git."

Toby stood up. "Better get back to practising hexes," he said coldly. "It's not like you're much good at them."

Harry stood up too, feeling hurt. What had he said to upset Toby this time? He must be REALLY upset, Harry thought, as he picked himself up from the floor for the tenth time in as many minutes, now sporting more bruises than Toby himself. But they were soon both caught up in the fast and furious interplay of spell and counter-spell, all animosity forgotten.

At last Harry sprawled exhausted on his back, his hands raised in surrender. "Phew, that's me done!" He rolled over and gazed longingly at the bright sunshine outside the cave. "I'd love to go out and sunbathe," he said. "Only it's midge city out there – they'd eat me alive."

Toby looked thoughtful. "I might be able to do something about that."

"What?" Harry asked eagerly.

"Wait and see."

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