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Their Phoenix	By : Lomonaaeren Category: Harry Potter > Threesomes/Moresomes Views: 68680 -:- Recommendations : 3 -:- Currently Reading : 6
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter; that belongs to J. K. Rowling. I am making no money from this fic.

Chapter List
- 1-Their Phoenix
- 2-Part 2
- 3-Part 3
- 4-Part 4
- 5-Part 5
- 6-Part 6
- 7-Part 7
- 8-Part 8
- 9-Part 9
- 10-Part 10
- 11-Part 11
- 12-Part 12
- 13-Part 13
- 14-Part 14
- 15-Part 15
- 16-Part 16
- 17-Part 17
- 18-Part 18
- 19-Part 19
- 20-Part 20
- 21-Part 21
- 22-Part 22
- 23-Part 23
- 24-Part 24
- 25-Part 25
- 26-Part 26
- 27-Part 27
- 28-Part 28
- 29-Part 29
- 30-Part 30
- 31-Part 31
- 32-Part 32
- 33-Part 33
- 34-Part 34
- 1
- 2
- 3
Thank you for all the reviews!

�� I�m bored, Severus.�

�� Had any of
his fellow professors asked him whether Slytherins whinged the way that
Gryffindors did, Severus would have retorted that Slytherins did not whinge at
all. But he was receiving a rather good education now in righting his mistaken
perceptions.

�� Then read
a book, Draco,� he responded, keeping his eyes on the cauldron he was stirring.
The rod had to move one more counterclockwise turn�and there it was, done. He
pulled the rod out at once, with an upwards motion he�d perfected, and laid it
neatly on the table, on a cloth that would absorb the excess potion. Then he
scattered six rose petals across the surface. The potion trembled and turned
clear.

�� I�ve read all the books here. Or I don�t want
to read them.� There was a muffled scuffing noise; Draco had doubtless crossed
his arms in an attempt to make himself taller and more impressive, a futile
endeavor. �You really need books that aren�t about Potions.�

�� In my own house?� Severus inquired, turning about and
regarding the boy. Draco stood as he�d expected, with his arms folded, his hip
leaning on the door of the lab, and his lip stuck out. Severus lowered his
voice to the tone that he had used to terrorize Neville Longbottom with. �You would
dare to tell me what to do?�

�� I didn�t�I
didn�t mean�� Draco ran a hand through his hair and then buried his head in his
hands, in a motion his pride once would never have permitted him. But confinement
with Severus for six months, first in the same cell and then, once they were
freed, in the same small house, had brought them into an uncomfortable
closeness. �Damn it,� he whispered, and looked up. His eyes were blazing.
Severus arched an eyebrow. So far, Draco had avoided anger, retreating into the
sullen silence or terrified stillness he�d perfected during his years under the
Dark Lord�s control.

�� We should have an open confrontation, Severus
decided, and readied himself if necessary to push Draco past the final barrier
to rage. It will clear the muddle of
emotions hovering between us.

�� I wasn�t
trying to force you to do anything,� Draco said hotly, and ran his hand through
his hair again, so that it was practically standing on end. He looked as though
he had encountered Peeves in a mischievous mood and armed with a Sticking
Potion. �I was just saying that I was bored, and you
took it the wrong way. That�s all.�

�� You were
insulting my taste and my book collection,� Severus snapped, flicking his voice
so that Draco flinched. It was the tone more than the words that mattered.
Severus had learned that long ago when kneeling to the Dark Lord and mouthing
fervent declarations of devotion like the other idiots. �Tell me what in that
implies simple boredom, an emotion
that Potter himself expresses with more grace than you do.�

�� As he had
suspected it would, the comparison to Potter forced something out of Draco. He
took a step forwards, and his hand was on his wand now. Severus raised an
eyebrow. Worse than I
thought. Draco normally
understood the sanctity of the Potions lab, and, even more, the sheer practical
necessity of not using hexes or curses around volatile ingredients.

�� I�m sick
to death of thinking about Potter,� Draco growled. �That�s all you think of,
all day and all night. I can tell.� He nodded to the cauldron. �Why else are
you brewing that potion?� His voice
became singsong, the tone that of all others Severus most hated. �Is poor
Severus missing his Harry-Warry?�

�� Severus
threw the Body-Bind underhand and nonverbally; Draco had always had problems
detecting and resisting nonverbal magic. He spluttered as he slammed into the
wall, his limbs spread-eagled around him. Severus cast the Disarming Charm
then, to take his wand away. Draco needed to rage, but it would be best if he
were not free during it to break anything Severus might need for later. He was
not entirely sure that Draco�s own limbs or brain counted among those things,
but it would be best to take precautions in case they did.

�� I am
facing reality better than you have,� Severus whispered, when he was close to
the panting, pale, wide-eyed boy. �I am content to lie low until the Ministry
decides that we are no longer Death Eaters hungering for a chance to resurrect
the Dark Lord. I have not quarreled with my only remaining family over a
childish matter��

�� That�s
because you have no remaining family!�
Draco snarled.

�� His glare
was impressive, Severus considered coolly, but lost something when compared to
Lucius�s�largely because Draco still bore a thin and hunted look from the war.
He had grown up but not sideways since he was fifteen years old. �You are
trying to deflect the subject,� he said, and then unbuttoned his robe sleeve
and showed the diving phoenix on his left arm to Draco. Draco fell silent and
twitched, as Severus had expected.

�� You know
that we cannot simply expect to walk apart from Potter and hope that our paths never
cross again,� Severus continued, in the fierce tone that forced his students to
pay attention. �I am brewing this potion not because I am obsessed with Potter,
but because I hope to find out why I
am continually thinking about him, if the bonds that link us are in fact
essential to our lives or well-being.� He ran an expert eye over Draco, then added, �And the potion may also reveal why you have
been a shadow of yourself since Potter left.�

�� A shadow?� Draco yelled, and threw himself against his
magical bonds, though of course in practice he only spasmed a bit before
falling back against the stone. �A shadow? Yes, because I should be acting like a spoiled
prince when my chance to attend Hogwarts has been taken away, and when H-He
made me torture people, and when I
owe multiple life-debts to the person I hate the most, and when my own mother tells me to leave the house and
not come back, and my father says I�m not a suitable heir to the House of
Malfoy��

�� Severus let
him rage, listening with half an ear. The complaints were familiar. This time,
at least, they were being let go instead of being subdued into a sullen
sniffle. He turned back to his potion and nodded as he saw that the clarity had
become occupied by a dark swirl in the middle. It was time for the final step.

�� Draco was
still ranting on, but Severus had worked with greater distractions in his time,
up to and including the screams of raped Muggles in the next room. He took up
the final ingredient, a vial of crushed unicorn horn, and tipped the shining
powder into his palm. Carefully, he rolled it between his fingers,
concentrating intensely on his desire, and then flattened his hand and blew the
dust into the cauldron.

�� always
acted so high and mighty, like he was the Prince of Gryffindor, and now he�s in
the papers all the time with the Weaselette and that
sickening smile of his��

�� The
cauldron flashed, and the dark swirl became a complicated shape, which rose
through the potion as if coming from a long way away. Severus stepped back
warily. The Hidden History Potion was sometimes unpredictable, with the
storytellers that emerged from it attacking the questioners if the secrets were
especially well-kept.

�� But this
storyteller sat on the edge of the cauldron and yawned at him. It was a silvery
cat, similar in size to a mortal lynx, with glittering topaz eyes and a
particularly ghostly tail, as if it hadn�t been fully formed when Severus�s
call came. It showed sharp teeth in the yawn, but then closed its mouth and
regarded him with gratifying attention.

�� Conscious,
and pleased about it, that Draco had shut up, Severus inclined his head. �We request
to know the history of the moment when Harry Potter saved our lives in the
building known as the Shrieking Shack with accidental magic, and murdered the
Dark Lord Voldemort�� he had been bracing himself to say the name all morning
��and his snake Nagini. And gave us these.� He held
out his arm so the cat could see the phoenix.

�� The cat
stretched its neck and sniffed delicately at the mark. Severus started. The
touch of its whiskers was like a drizzle of iced milk.

�� Then the
cat crouched and leaped into the air, spinning above Severus�s head and turning
faster and faster. Severus, looking up at it, saw the bright vortex that spread
around it turn the color of flame.

�� And then
the vortex drew him in.

*

�� Draco froze
as he found himself once more in the Shrieking Shack, in chains before the Dark
Lord. But this time, the things he remembered as all-important�namely, his fear
and the horrible humiliation at how easily a modified Summoning Charm had
fetched him into his Lord�s presence�faded in the face of the burning about
Potter.

And he couldn�t feel physical
sensations at all, he realized a moment later. At least he didn�t have to
endure the agony of the floor on his knees a second time, or the dust in his
nose that made him have to sneeze and increased his terror.

Potter had burst out from behind a
crate and was frozen in the act of extending a hand towards the Dark Lord. The
fire burst out from his forehead, melting
the scar and turning it into a brilliant black pinprick on the crest of the
wave. Draco thought he saw a small figure beside the scar, a robed and cowled shape with a face that resembled the Dark Lord�s,
but the next moment the figure grew wings and writhed, changing.

And then he was lost in a storm of
phoenixes.

Draco gasped. Distant though the
physical sensations were from him, it was amazing to have brilliance like this
surrounding and crowning him. And he could
feel something, after all: feathered wings brushing him with flashes of
heat.

A deep space seemed to open in his
soul, and then the wings were beating inside him, surrounding his heart. Claws
gripped his heart. Draco tilted back his head, trying in vain to catch his
breath and only swallowing fire. The fire raced to his left arm and lingered
there, concentrating until he knew it should have been painful.

But there was no pain. Only intense protectiveness, and pride, and desperation.

And life.

After the Dark Mark, Draco knew
what it was like to have death branded on his skin. Life seemed to be seeking
to brand itself there just as strongly. When the fire swirled again and dived
out from him, this time bearing him along instead of pushing him before it, he
was not surprised to look down and find the Dark Mark had been purged,
exchanged for a phoenix.

He had seen what followed next before,
but now he watched with much greater understanding, and without being blinded
by his own panic. The fire embraced Severus�Draco was trying to remember not to
call him Professor Snape, because he wasn�t Draco�s professor any more�and did
the same thing to him. And then it lashed out at Nagini and the Dark Lord.

Scarlet bird after scarlet bird
fell on them, belling the purest song Draco had ever heard. The Dark Lord
screamed and Nagini hissed, but it was of no use. Each phoenix wrapped its
wings around them, and they took fire.

A tiny dark figure tried to fly
away from Nagini, too, but a determined phoenix caught and swallowed it.

The Dark Lord flung up the Elder
Wand. The small birds promptly became one enormous bird, piling into its body
in a series of tiny flashes, and the giant phoenix opened its beak and
swallowed the Dark Lord and the Elder Wand both.

Light swept past towards Draco and
Severus, an enormous net fringed with darkness. The darkness, Draco understood
dimly, was from Potter�s scar and from the Marks that he and Severus had
carried. The net gathered them up, and held them in tendrils of radiance that
joined with the ones encircling Potter.

Lines glowing gold and red and
green, lines of pure spirit, cut out from Potter, around the fire and through
it, and wove them together. And the fire responded with more netting, and
Potter with more lines of spirit.

Draco felt awed and humbled as he
watched their fates woven together. The bonds might begin with the phoenix
marks on their arms�and the mosaic of birds winding themselves around Potter�s
arms as he watched�but they were far more numerous than that, far deeper.

He had been refusing to accept reality. Severus was right. They
couldn�t ignore the bonds because the bonds were anchored to their souls, their
minds, and their bodies. There was nowhere they could go to escape them,
nothing to be done that would part them. For all three of them, no �outside� to
the bonds existed any more.

The fire forged them and melted
them together into a single unit, and then it finished with a line of Dark
magic that leaped from Potter�s forehead to both Severus�s and Draco�s arms.
Then it dropped them, and the vision whirled away,
and Draco found himself in Severus�s lab once more, as Severus bowed deeply to
the cat-creature he�d summoned from the potion.

The cat bowed back, then turned and
leaped into the cauldron, diminishing with a yowl. Draco shivered. It was a
faint but fitting pulse of magic to the great working he had just watched
happen.

In the silence that followed,
something occurred to Draco, and he frowned. Both Severus and Granger, back in
that disastrous afternoon after the bonding occurred, had said that he must
have consented to becoming Potter�s possession. But he couldn�t remember doing
so, and the vision hadn�t showed him that.

�Well.�

�� Draco
looked up quickly. Severus stood in front of the cauldron, staring at it with
an expression of deep thought. His hands twisted over each other in a way that
Draco didn�t like, because it meant he was uneasy. The phoenix mark on his arm
flashed and glittered even in the relatively subdued lights of the potions lab.

�� Then he
stepped back, turned, and flicked his wand casually. Draco dropped out of the
Body-Bind and to the floor, landing hard on his hands and knees and shaking his
head.

�� At once his
anger rushed back. He didn�t care if he and Severus had shared some incredible
experience in the Shrieking Shack. That didn�t excuse the way the man had been
putting him off and holding him at bay since then.

�� You bastard��
he began.

�� Your mouth
is filthy, Draco,� Severus said, his voice as cold as the Hogwarts dungeons in
winter. �And uncontrolled. One thing I will teach you
if it breaks you is how to choose your words more carefully, and to insult
others so as to satisfy your feelings whilst leaving them unaware they have
been insulted.� He paused, spinning his wand between his fingers. Draco
flushed, but deliberately remained silent as he climbed back to his feet and
dusted off his robes. He didn�t want Severus to think of him as an idiot, and
it was only too plain that he did.

�� At least I
understand the bonds now,� Severus remarked suddenly.

�� The potion
told you that much?� With great effort, Draco kept from sounding sullen. He�d
seen the bonds more closely in the vision, but that didn�t tell him the
consequences of them.

�� It did.�
Severus�s face was grimmer than Draco had ever seen it, even when Severus was
trying to convince him to give up his idea of killing Dumbledore. �The clue
lies in the transformation of the Horcrux Potter carried within him.�

�� Draco
froze. He knew what Horcruxes were; he and Severus had spent so much time alone
in their prison cells and then in this grubby little house that they�d talked
the war to death. But Severus had never mentioned that Potter himself was a
Horcrux.

�� Is that
why his scar disappeared?� he whispered.

�� Severus
gave him a sharp nod. �I see that you are not entirely useless as a student,�
he murmured, and Draco wondered if he should be angry again or flush again,
with pleasure this time. He often experienced both reactions at once around
Severus. �Yes. The scar was the visual representation of the Horcrux, which was
entwined with Potter�s soul. It was also the seed of the bonds between us, and
the reason the light and fire came out with darkness attending them. Potter has
woven a stronger bond than he supposes, death mingled with life.� His voice
sank as if he were talking to himself instead of explaining to someone who
could hear him and wanted answers. �I should have known it. The hunger I feel
is not natural.�

�� Hunger?� Draco demanded. He couldn�t remember feeling
especially hungry since Potter left them. He ate as much as ever.

�� Severus
looked up sharply. �Craving for food we can satisfy,� he said. �But our bodies
need more than that, now.� He wrinkled his nose. �As much as it pains me to
admit it, we must feel Potter�s emotions in order to be�full.�

�� Draco
stared at him. He�d never heard of a bond like this. Yes, he had known that any
bond that left a phoenix on his arm would be unusual, but bonds that shared
emotions were for the benefit of each partner. This�

�� That makes
it sound like we�re vampires feeding on him,� he blurted.

�� The bonds
have made us into psychic vampires of a sort,� Severus said, and his voice had
sunk again. �The Horcrux in itself was essentially vampiric,
feeding on the energy of a murder and a piece of torn soul to exist. It did not
need more food than that, because a soul is immortal and endless. But Potter
wove life into the bonds when he determined that we must live, no matter what the cost. And what does a living being
do? It eats.� Severus sighed. �And the Dark Marks may have had something to do
with it, too. We could feel the pain He wished
to inflict on us. Now we can feel�other things. Potter, as the home of the
transformed Horcrux, does not have our needs, but he inspires them in us.�

�� Draco shook
his head. �How in the world can you be sure? I mean, what would the signs of
this need be? I�m as fit as I ever was.�

�� Severus
turned to stare at him. �You�ve lost two stone in the last six months, Draco,�
he said. �My own weight loss has not been as drastic, but I have found control
of my emotions drifting out of my grasp in much the same way you have, though
not for as long. I have also noticed an�emptiness in
my magic, and my thoughts. I read the same book over and over again, never
absorbing the contents of the pages. My mind feels full only when I think of
Potter.� He stepped forwards. �You have felt this, too.�

�� Draco
squeezed his eyes shut and refused to respond. Of course, silence would only
seem like truth to Severus.

�� That was
the true reason his mother had banished him from the Manor. He couldn�t stop
thinking of Potter, talking of Potter. He couldn�t take an interest in anything
she�d tried to involve him in, from marriage prospects to attendance at
celebrations in the wake of the war to the fact that Lucius had gone to Azkaban
and so he was technically in possession of the Malfoy artifacts and money. She
had sent him to Severus until, as she put it, �he could grow up and stop
obsessing over a schoolboy.�

�� But if
Severus was right, Potter was much more than a schoolboy to both of them, and
always would be.

�� We need
him, don�t we?� he asked, willing Severus to say they didn�t.

�� We do,�
Severus said. �I am not sure what will happen if he continues to deprive us of
his emotions. I am not willing to risk the finding out.�

�� No, Draco
thought, Severus never was. He was committed to survival, no matter how the
world changed, no matter what he had to do to gain it. He never seemed to
consider that there might be higher goals than mere survival, the maintaining
of one�s pride among them.

�� I refuse
to ask for his help,� he said, and lifted his head so that Severus could look
into his eyes and see how serious he was. He could even use Legilimency on him.
Draco didn�t care. He only knew that he couldn�t bring himself to beg from
Potter, especially a concession as ridiculous as this one. Potter would only
laugh and refuse�and what would happen when the news got out that Draco
required a Potter to care for and support him? �I am a Malfoy, and we have our
pride.�

�� And that,� said Severus, �is the reason that
I will be the one to ask. You are a fool, Draco, and a child. Go to your room.�

�� Draco stood
there for a moment. Severus had never given him a scolding that violent in the
last six months. He had seemed to understand when Draco confessed his fear of
the task the Dark Lord had given him, and how he had tortured people out of
fear, too. He had never made fun, never said anything to imply that he thought
Draco was less than a full-grown young man marked by the horrors of war.

�� Tears stung
his eyes. Draco turned and ran out of the potions lab before Severus could actually
see them fall.

*

�� Left alone,
Severus tilted his head back and stood silently beside the cauldron for long
moments. He was exhausted, as much by the thought of the work that lay ahead as
the work he had done so far in interpreting the vision.

�� It was
possible that exhaustion had blurred his understanding. Perhaps he had paid too
much attention to the darkness that lay under the shining surface of the
magical bonds, and not enough to the brightness itself.

�� Yet he was
certain he was correct.

�� The Horcrux
had been the first thing to transform, the accidental magic seizing one of the
greatest sources of magic in Potter�s body to perform its work. It did not
matter that Potter had not known it was there. He had not known what he would
do to save Draco and Severus, either. That much had been clear from the boy�s
wide, terrified eyes, and his expansive, uncontrolled gestures, the result of
the boy�s magic rather than his will moving his body.

�� So the
Horcrux was the seed of it all. And it would drain him and Draco of life if it
could, the way that Dumbledore had told Severus about His diary trying to drain the Weasley girl. They needed Potter�s
emotions. They needed access to his mind and his memories. That was the first
consequence.

�� Severus had
glimpsed others, in the way that the fire had twined itself about the Dark
Marks. They had spread their wings and become phoenixes, but not without a
certain amount of twisting and writhing first, as the Dark Lord�s will tried to
resist the new magic. The fire had compromised in the end, allowing the Marks
to retain some of their original nature instead of altering them completely.

�� Severus
raised his arm and stared at the phoenix on it. The bird had its wings spread
as it soared down his forearm towards his wrist, its feathers blazing, its beak
open, its eye glittering in fury.

�� The Dark
Marks were symbols of loyalty, the sign of the Dark Lord�s chosen. He never
gave them except to those who were willing and whom he believed would be
useful�or those whom he needed to stand close to him for other reasons, such as
Lucius Malfoy�s son. He could call his followers through them and force them to
respond, like tame dogs. It only made sense that the new phoenixes would be
signs of loyalty, too.

�� Severus
laid his finger along the phoenix�s beak. It was so brilliantly rendered that
it seemed almost ready to bite him.

�� It still may.

�� Because
Potter did not have His personality,
the loyalty requirement could not be fulfilled with a painful summons. Instead,
Severus thought it likely that Potter would need to spend time with them. To live in the same house? That, he could not tell; the
vision had not been so specific. But he thought it likely.

�� And last of
all was what Severus had suspected but not seen until this moment. He had torn
his eyes away from his own fascinating transformation in the vision and watched
as the fire hit Nagini and the Dark Lord. He did see them utterly destroyed,
rejected as foreign to the forming bonds, stinking of too much death. He had no
worries on that score.

�� But he had
also seen the fire transform and bind the Elder Wand, claiming the power of one
of the Deathly Hallows and weaving it into the bonds for extra strength.

�� The Elder
Wand�s nature was destruction, conquest. Its reason for existing was power. And
the spiritual essence of that wand was now traveling between the bonds,
circulating through them like the blood through their bodies.

�� Severus did
not know how the need for that power would manifest itself, but he suspected
the simplest way of controlling it was for all three of them to share magic.
And he also suspected they did not want to find out the complicated way.

�� Severus ran
his finger up his phoenix�s flowing tail feathers.

�� He had not
survived two Markings, two wars, and two masters to die now, because Potter was
reluctant to accept the fate his own magic had chosen for him.

�� In the
morning, he would owl Potter.

*

�� Duck, Potter!�

�� Despite the
short time he�d been training under Galahad Ledbetter, Harry knew that
instruction was a lie. He leaped instead, and the curse sizzled along beneath
him, singing the bottoms of his boots. He landed with a jolt that made his
teeth clack against his tongue and opened a small cut, but he bent his knees to
absorb the force, as he�d been taught, and then dropped into a crouch. This
time, it was the correct decision, and the second curse flew above him, aimed
at where his chest would have been.

�� Ledbetter
let out his laugh, which sounded like a crow�s, and raised a hand in signal of
the attack finishing. Harry smiled back, but kept his grip firm on his wand and
his eyes on Ledbetter�s hands anyway. More than once, the Auror instructor had
called an end to a training session and then sent a spell after him anyway.

�� This time,
though, Ledbetter nodded in appreciation and limped closer. He had scars on his
face to rival Mad-Eye Moody, a cluster of them like a five-pointed star around his
right eye where he�d almost lost it and a long, twisting scar across his
jugular vein that Harry couldn�t understand how he�d survived. Ledbetter
muttered something about a fast partner when he asked. And he limped, too,
though in his case the curse had wrecked his knee, and wrecked any replacements
or healing spells St. Mungo�s tried to give him. Ledbetter bore with it
philosophically.

�� Harry could
see why. He was the best dueling instructor among the Aurors, and he somehow
held the highest record both for numbers of captures made and for number of surviving
trainees released into the wild.

�� Harry
wondered how in the world he did it. He kept hoping there was some secret other
than sheer hard work, an illegal potion or something maybe. Ledbetter had
sometimes hinted as much.

�� Now the
Auror nodded and said, �Well done, Potter. I wondered about taking you on
without NEWTS and the rest of it, but there�s talent there, oh yes.�

�� Harry
grinned at him. One thing he liked about Ledbetter was that he spoke the truth,
without making concessions to Harry�s supposed status as the Chosen One. Harry
got a more honest report of his progress from him than he did from most of his
teachers, who either praised him excessively, seeing strength that wasn�t
there, or seemed to think they needed to deride him just to prove that they weren�t
taken in by the legend.

�� Like Snape.

�� But Harry
had promised himself that he wasn�t going to think about Snape or Malfoy, and
right now Ledbetter was relaxed, the crooked corner of his mouth hooked in a
smile. Harry opened his mouth to ask again about the way he always kept busy.

�� And the
moment was ruined when a black owl swooped into the training room and bore down
on Harry, its wings moving so smoothly that they barely seemed to stir the air.
Harry groaned as the infernal bird dropped the letter on his head. It had an
elaborate seal, and that probably meant it was another marriage proposal from
the interminable string of pure-blood girls who seemed to think he should get
married immediately. Harry was thinking of yielding to Ginny�s plea for a quick
engagement, just to keep them off him.

�� Ledbetter chuckled
and clapped him on the shoulder. �Luck, Potter,� he said. �Just remember that
talent in the field doesn�t always equate to talent in bed.� He winked. �And remember,
being encumbered with a wife and family isn�t the way you want to go if you�re
going to become the best among the Aurors.�

�� Then I�ll
take second-best, and thanks,� Harry said, and waved as Ledbetter left, still
crowing. Giving up his dream of a family wasn�t something he could do.

�� Not that that will make me want kids right
now, he thought, rolling his eyes, and tore the letter open. The sealed
ones had a nasty habit of Transfiguring into Howlers if Harry didn�t at least look
at them.

�� One glance
at the handwriting, and he had to sit down hard on the chair Ledbetter had
conjured to hide behind earlier, the breath going out of him.

�� Mister Potter,

�� The bond remains, though you have tried to
ignore it. Lack of access to your emotions is causing both of us weight loss
and loss of concentration. I have used a potion to view the moment in which the
bond was constructed, and such loss will only become worse if you do not come
to us.

�� The bond will also require you to spend
large amounts of time around us, to fulfill the loyalty requirements carried in
the Dark Marks, and to find some way to share your magical power with us, as
its creation consumed the Elder Wand.

�� If you have doubts about any of the magical
theory I mention here, you have merely to show this letter to Miss Granger. She will be able to understand why we do not
seek merely to torment you.

�� Yours,

�� Severus Snape.

�� Harry had
to laugh in spite of himself. He was sure the last paragraph and the word
before the signature were meant purely to taunt him.

�� But he
sobered as the implications sank in. If the bonds were causing some sort of
pain to Snape and Malfoy�

�� I don�t want to have anything to do with them.
I can�t. This is my life. They can live theirs.

�� But he�d
learned more about life-debts since he had started his course of Auror training,
and how seriously they had to be taken. Saving a life was powerful magic, which
was one reason so few wizards showed the talent to become Healers. It had to be
handled and hoarded carefully, and, most of the time, those who owed the debts
had to come to some sort of cordial
relationship with the debts� recipients. Harry could understand now why Snape
had been so bitter when James saved his life. There was no way that a cordial
relationship would ever be achieved there, and, in the meantime, the knowledge
of the debt would remain in the back of his mind like a wound. And then Harry�s
father had died, cutting off any chance that Snape would ever be able to repay
the debt in full.

�� He�d done
well enough saving Harry�s life. But it was not ideal, and Harry had seen in
the Potions classroom how poorly Snape dealt with anything less than ideal.

�� Abruptly he
sat straight up and stared at the letter. And
it�s going to be the same way with this, isn�t it? He�s going to demand
everything of me. If I don�t behave just the way he wants, then he�ll make
wilder and wilder claims, and all the while he�ll enjoy having power over me.
Maybe he and Malfoy are technically under my control because of the bonds, but
he knows that he can use my saving-people thing to manipulate me.

�� I�m not going to have that. I finally have
my freedom, and it�s my choice who I
share it with.

�� As nothing else could have done, that consideration forced Harry�s
mind into rapid leaps. There had to be some way of controlling the
emotions that flowed through the bond. So maybe he could teach himself to let Snape
and Malfoy feel anger and happiness and nothing else. Those were strong, basic
emotions. They ought to do.

�� And what
about creating some construct of himself, the way he
was learning to do with the Homunculus Spell? Homunculi could take the place of
someone for up to twenty-four hours, performing a simple duty like watching for
enemies or cleaning the floor. That might substitute for his presence in the
house, and in the meantime he could create a new Homunculus every day and send
it. The spell was physically exhausting, which was one reason more people didn�t
use it, but Harry would pay that price willingly if it meant that he didn�t have
to be in contact with Snape and Malfoy.

�� And there
had to be ways to share magic that didn�t demand his presence. He would ask
Hermione. He would want her to come with him when he went to visit Snape and
Malfoy, anyway�because God knew that he wouldn�t be able to convince them of
how sensible these alternate arrangements were by letter. Another sight of him
ought to remind them how annoying he was, and then they�d be glad to accept
something else.

�� And in the meantime�

�� Harry
smiled. He had a brilliant idea, a marvelous
idea. And no one could say that it wouldn�t benefit Snape and Malfoy, because
of course it would.

�� Snape�s
name was partially clear, but he was under strict watch still, and so was
Malfoy�more because he was the notorious Lucius Malfoy�s son than for any other
reason, Harry knew. Harry would work further, to persuade the Wizengamot to
acquit them completely. That way, they would be able to travel abroad and take
more jobs.

�� And then he�d
push them to do things that would take their minds off him. Brew complicated potions. Visit countries they�d always wanted
to see. Wrestle dragons. Go diving for pearls off the coast of Scotland.
Anything, in fact, that would encourage them to use and enjoy their lives and
their freedom.

�� That�s what I�m enjoying. That�s what I won
for them. They should be taking advantage of it.

�� Harry didn�t
believe the bonds were really necessary.
But as far as he knew, Snape and Malfoy were just cooped up together in Snape�s
house in a Muggle neighborhood, not really doing or enjoying anything. No
wonder they had time to brood on him and think that living with him would be preferable
to their current existence. Almost anything would.

�� But Harry
had no intention of surrendering what he�d worked so hard to obtain. This way,
he got to keep it and to give Snape and Malfoy something of the good things
they�d lost back. It was so perfect that he wondered why Snape hadn�t demanded that kind of consideration instead.

�� The door of
the training room opened, and Ginny stuck her head curiously past it. �Harry? I
saw Ledbetter come out. Is something wrong? Why are you still sitting here?�

�� Harry
grinned and shook his head. �Just some business with Snape and Malfoy,� he
said. �I can settle it tomorrow.� He held out his arms.

�� Ginny came
into them slowly, reluctantly, her eyes flickering back and forth between Harry�s
arms and his face. Harry sighed and kissed her until she relaxed and melted
against him. She was hesitant when it came to talking about the bond, for some reason,
as if she thought that Snape and Malfoy could really claim him if he didn�t
want to be claimed.

�� Harry had
told her over and over again that she didn�t have to worry, and he would tell
her that as many times as she needed to hear it. He was happy with Ginny, warm
and comfortable and safe. There was no one else he wanted, and he would never
let Snape and Malfoy come before her even if he did have to spend more time
with them for some reason.

�� But he
wouldn�t have to spend that time, because he had solved everyone�s problems.

�� Really, he thought, I don�t understand why everyone thinks saving the world is so hard.
They ought to try it sometime. Let me get a rest.

�� Then the snog got more enthusiastic, Ginny�s hands firming on his
back, and Harry had something else to think about�

�� At least
until his arms began to burn.

�� Harry
leaped back with a startled curse. Ginny squeaked. Harry muttered a hasty
apology as he pulled the sleeves of his training robe back.

�� The phoenix
marks glowed, lit from within by the blue-black glow and the yellow-green one he
had seen in the hospital wing. Harry could also feel a ringing in his head, like
the echo of a shout in a hollow space.

�� Snape would say that my head is one gigantic
hollow space, he thought absently as he snatched up his wand. He picked up
Snape�s letter and shoved it into Ginny�s hands.

�� Would you
see that Hermione gets this?� he asked breathlessly. �I have to go.�

�� Sure,�
Ginny said. �But, Harry, what�s wrong?�

�� Harry
gestured to his arms. �Something with Snape and Malfoy, I think.�

He paused when he saw her wounded
expression, and briefly pulled her into a hug to kiss her on the forehead. Sod
whatever was happening with Snape and Malfoy, he always
had time now to reassure the people he cared about.

�I�ll come back,� he whispered. �And
you�ll always be more important to me than they
are.�

Then he sprinted out of the room,
his arms burning more fiercely. Harry wondered what in the world was happening,
since he�d thought that he could give them pain but not the other way around,
and then decided that it didn�t matter.

I�m
coming, he thought, willing the thought down the bonds and hoping they
could hear it, before he stepped outside the Ministry and Apparated.

It wasn�t until later that he
realized he had Apparated without coordinates, following the tug of the
phoenixes.

And by then he had still other things to think about.

*

qwerty: Thank
you! This is the title I�ve liked best in some time.

yaoiObsessed: Thanks! I can�t promise a regular
updating schedule as such, because the parts will vary in length quite a bit,
but I hope to be fairly fast.

Candy_Flapjack:
Thank you!

safa: Well, we are miles from the end, but I hope you
enjoy this chapter.

christis: Thank you!

EvaNone:
Thanks for reviewing.

caldonya: Thanks! That scene was the impetus for the
story. I imagined writing it, and the fic jumped up and bit me.

acr: Thanks! And�oh, dear.
Is there some point during the last chapter when someone should have fainted?
;)

I understand what you mean. I chose
the phoenix symbol mostly because I was in love with it, but there is justification
later in the story. (Basically: The bond reflects on both Harry�s magic and the
magic of the other things involved, and Harry�s will and imagination. At the
moment he created the bond, Harry was thinking of how much Dumbledore would have
wanted him to save Snape and Draco. Dumbledore was closely associated with
Fawkes. The bond took that powerful latent symbol from Harry�s mind).
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Their Phoenix