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Love, Free as Air	By : Lomonaaeren Category: Harry Potter > Threesomes/Moresomes Views: 32703 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 2
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter and I am not making any money from this story.

Chapter List
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Thank you again for all the reviews! This is the last
chapter of Love, Free as Air. I hope
that you�ve enjoyed it.

Chapter
Twenty-One�Shine and Stand

�� I expected
someone like this.�

�� Harry tried
not to feel irritated when Hermione reached out to take Severus�s hand. He knew how smart she was, which was why he
had wanted her to work this case in the first place. Wanting her to act as if
she wasn�t as smart now, wanting her to be surprised, was irrational.

�� Besides,
Ron was surprised enough for the both of them.

�� When Harry
came through the door of Number Twelve with Draco and Severus behind him, Ron
had been sitting at the table paring an apple. He had put the fruit and the
knife both down and prepared to look tolerant, or so Harry thought, from the
brief glimpse he�d had of his face before Ron had spotted Severus. Then he had
turned so red that he looked in danger of choking, clasped both hands in his
lap, stared, and then whirled on Harry and pointed one finger.

�� You said,� he said, but the choking cut him
off then, and he drummed one hand on the tabletop and glared at Harry.

�� Don�t mind
my husband,� Hermione said, exchanging the kind of glance with Severus that
Harry had imagined she would exchange. It said they were both large-minded people
of the world and knew how to ignore someone else�s unfortunate faux pas. She took a larger sheaf of
parchment out of her satchel. �He�s just trying to deal with the fact that it
seems we have two of Harry�s lovers to meet today, rather than one. That�s the
case, isn�t it?�

�� Harry got
his gratification after all, given the way that Hermione�s eyes darted up and
then fell back. She wasn�t sure, not completely. She might have foreseen
someone like Severus, but not exactly Severus, and not his position in Harry�s
life.

�� Yes, it
is.� Severus was the one who said it, and he looked half-surprised at himself.
But he had had his chance to step back before they came here. Harry had asked
if he was sure that he wanted Harry�s friends to know they were lovers. He had
faced prejudice in the past, but he had lived as he liked for six years, and it
was asking a lot for him to put up with the anger of two Gryffindors he�d last
known as students.

�� But Severus
had said that he wanted it to be known, and locked his arm on Harry�s shoulders
in the next instant, as if he suspected that Harry would dash off to one of a
thousand other possible lovers (who only existed in Severus�s head) if he got a
chance. Harry had leaned in and given him a kiss on the cheek, which had
quieted him through sheer surprise.

�� I see,�
Hermione said. She didn�t show uneasiness or distaste, the way Harry had almost
thought she might. She put her sheaf of papers down on the table; it seemed
that she had lost something and needed a flat surface to find it.

�� Snape?� Ron finally struck in. The piece
of apple appeared to have gone down his throat, and now he was staring back and
forth between them as if he thought that Draco and Severus would have agreed to
play a joke on him. �I didn�t�mate, when you left here, you didn�t have even
one lover, and now you have two? Both blokes?�

�� Harry
turned to his best friend and smiled innocently. He loved Ron, but this was
Harry�s chance at revenge for all that nagging about how he should try dating a
man, and there was no way he�d pass it up. �Well, yes. When I took your advice,
didn�t you think I�d take it literally and make the most of it?�

�� Ron shook
his head, and kept on shaking it. Harry sniggered and turned to Hermione. �Do
you think we�ll be able to get Severus retried?� he asked. �His trial probably
won�t have as much documentation of problems as Mrs. Malfoy�s, and it will
rouse more opposition than Draco�s did.�

�� Hermione
shook her head briskly. She had what looked like a folder in her hands, and she
had flipped through it to reach a certain page. �Look at this,� she said,
finger stabbing the center of it before she held it out to him.

�� Harry took
it, and then frowned. There was a photograph of an older man in the middle, but
Harry didn�t know him. The man had a thick, rusty brown beard, and he kept
looking at the viewer, scowling, and trying to duck out of the frame. �Who is
he?�

�� Quintus
Buskin,� Hermione said in satisfaction. �He was on the Wizengamot at the time
of the Death Eater trials, and he undertook to �manage� the paperwork and the
witnesses for most of them. He didn�t do Lucius Malfoy�s, oddly enough, perhaps
because he thought there was enough evidence to convict him. Sorry, Malfoy,�
she added.

�� Harry could
hear Draco�s teeth grinding, but what Draco said aloud was, �My father made
some extraordinarily poor choices. I know that, and I can live with the
results.�

�� How
gracious of you,� Ron said.

�� Draco
rolled his eyes. Harry reached out and put a hand on his arm to let him know
that his tolerance was appreciated. Ron was still sensitive about what Lucius Malfoy
had tried to do to Ginny, and Harry couldn�t blame him.

�� Anyway,�
Hermione said, �Buskin suborned witnesses for a number of trials, or at least
the paperwork indicates that. He also whipped up hysteria against Death Eaters
by writing a number of anonymous articles that appeared in the Prophet. Not all his activities were
illegal, but enough that we can argue for a mistrial on any number of cases.�

�� Her eyes
were aglow. Harry smiled back at her. He would much rather that Hermione enjoy
what she was doing�something he�d had to ask of her as a huge favor�after all,
rather than resent the work involved.

�� How can
you tell that he wrote the articles if they�re anonymous?� Draco demanded.

�� His
writing style is distinctive,� Hermione said. �All I had to do was look at the
records, and I saw the same phrases and exaggerated metaphors appearing.� She
snorted. �Whoever taught him to write essays should also have taught him to
curb his excesses.�

�� I believe
that he was in Slytherin, long ago,� Severus said, voice uninterested. Harry
thought that only he and Draco knew that tone hid a waste of pain and fury.
�During a time in our history, if my estimate of his age is correct, when the
Head of House was a cringing, apologetic man more interested in winning
absolution for the supposed part of Slytherin House in Gellert Grindelwald�s
crimes than in teaching good writers.�

�� Harry
pressed back against Severus, and saw Ron watching them with wonder in his
eyes. Harry looked challengingly at him, and Ron rolled his eyes and waved a
hand in blessing, as much to say, Fine, I
approve, but I think it�s bloody weird.

�� He was
possibly trying to distance himself from what he saw as Slytherin House�s
crimes,� Hermione said, but in the tone that Harry knew meant it was an
observation, not an excuse. She was already rustling the papers again, looking
satisfied. �I know that he wrote an article that claimed all the evidence left
in Dumbledore�s Pensieve about your heroism was a lie, sir. We should be able
to show that it influenced public opinion enough that the Wizengamot has no
choice but a retrial.�

�� Severus
relaxed for some reason. He�d been studying Hermione, Harry thought, and
whatever he saw must have satisfied him at last. �Very well, Miss Granger,� he
said. �Or should it be Mrs. Granger-Weasley?�

�� Hermione
had already drifted off into a realm of paperwork and was lost. Severus stepped
forwards to consult with her. Draco called for Kreacher, and he appeared with a
beam and a bow. Draco started to order food. Harry eased around him so that he
could talk to Ron.

�� Ron poked
him in the chest with one finger. �Was there a reason that you didn�t mention this, mate?�

�� I was
under an Unbreakable Vow not to,� Harry said simply. �Severus didn�t trust that
I wouldn�t betray him at first.�

�� And now,�
Ron said, but didn�t finish the sentence. He looked over at Severus instead.
Harry looked with him, burning with deep contentment at the sight of Severus�s
head against the light from the kitchen window. Ron took a deep breath and
valiantly tackled the sentence again. �And now, do you�he trusts you enough?�

�� He does,�
Harry said. He leaned sideways against Draco, who with him had wrought this
miracle. Draco stroked his hair. He was looking stunned, Harry saw. Well, he
didn�t think Draco had counted on the possibility of another trial for Severus
becoming a reality.

�� Or one for
his mother, either.

�� Harry took
Draco�s hand and squeezed. Draco clung on as if he needed the anchorage to
avoid drowning.

*

�� Hello,
Mother.�

�� His mother
didn�t reply for long moments. She had looked up when the door into the cell
opened, but her face had the sort of patient expression that said she knew this
was a trick. Draco didn�t think her eyes had even rested on him before she was
turning away.

�� Now she
tensed. Draco waited, lingering by the door as much to give himself time to
absorb the white streaks in her hair and the broken way her shoulders hunched
as to give her time to absorb his presence.

�� Draco?�
she whispered at last. �Son?� Her voice struck nerves he didn�t know he had and
made choruses of guilt ring through his head. For the first time, Draco thought
he could understand how Harry felt when he hurt someone else. He should have
been here, he thought, by her side,
not spending time in the cottage with Severus, or time in Grimmauld Place with
Harry, or time in whatever house with both of them.

�� But he also
knew that no concerns about his parents had delayed him when he freed Severus
and they escaped together. He should have done something differently, perhaps,
but he didn�t think he could have freed his mother. He would have ended up in
the cell beside her, suffering without being able to comfort her.

�� You have the possibility to free her now, Draco
told himself fiercely as he knelt down in front of her and reached for her
hands. Remember that.

�� Yes,
Mother,� he said. �It�s me.� He hoped that his voice showed the love he felt
thrumming through him, more than the guilt.

�� Narcissa
lifted her head again. Draco�s heart gave a painful thump. She had wrinkles
around her mouth, which he had heard her say more than once she would rather
die than suffer, and her hands trembled where she clung to him. But then she
opened her arms, and Draco crawled into her embrace, and he discovered that
some of her old strength remained.

�� Are you
here to join me?� she whispered.

�� Draco
understood the source of some of her dread then. What must she think, if he
suddenly appeared in her cell and the door shut behind him? She wouldn�t think
that he had the power to command the guard to open the door again at any moment
and depart.

�� He wished he could leave with her at his
side, drawing her up and out of the darkness and the dreariness here. But
Granger was working on that. And Draco knew that his mother�at least his mother
as he remembered her�would have forbidden him to ask for more than anyone could
do right now and risk shattering this fragile, precious chance at freedom.

�� No,� he
whispered back. �I�m free. Harry Potter was instrumental in granting me a
retrial, and we�re going to do the same for you.�

�� She was
once again still, and then she began to shake. Draco could feel the wetness on
his neck. He pretended that he couldn�t. He stroked her back and murmured the
story of his retrial and return to the wizarding world to her in a voice so
soft that she probably couldn�t make out half the details even if she was
listening.

�� Your
father?� she asked, when she was done and had drawn back to show him her
tear-bright, shining blue eyes.

�� Draco shook
his head. �The evidence against him was too damning,� he said. His mother had
raised a commanding eyebrow, and Draco knew that she required more information
than that as to why Lucius couldn�t
be freed. �Granger doesn�t want to try. She�ll get you free if she can, and
Severus. She can prove that there were errors in your trials. But the one who
tried to condemn you refrained on Father�s trial. I don�t think we can�� He let
his voice trail off in the face of his mother�s determined expression.

�� We will try,�
was all she said, and then she smiled at him and kissed his cheek. �I�m glad
that you were never here, darling. There are some experiences that you don�t
need to have.�

�� Draco
stared hard into her face, trying to decide if this was a half-lie to make him
feel better, but she was doing it well, if so. She looked at him with a calm
expression. Draco sighed and shook his head.

�� Will you
be able to bear being here?� he asked. �Now that you know there�s a hope, the
time here might pass even more slowly.� He didn�t say what would happen if the
retrial didn�t come off. He had the odd feeling that even discussing that
circumstance would lead to Granger losing her argument.

�� You�ve
offered me a chance for the nightmare to end,� Narcissa said simply. �And if it
doesn�t, at least you�ll come to visit me sometimes, and bring the light and
breezes of a world outside with you.�

�� She�d had
the courage to talk about what he couldn�t. A bit humbled, Draco kissed her
cheek and left.

*

�� Yes, I
know that you don�t like to consider that one of your members could have
encouraged you to vote against your consciences.� Granger�s voice was piercing
and clear, and no one in the room could pretend that they didn�t hear her. She
was, of course, Severus thought, offering them a way out, pretending to believe
that they had voted against their inclinations only because of Buskin, and in
return they would accept that proffered branch and vote differently this time.

�� Severus had
not believed her at first, when she had asserted that they were jumpy after
Draco�s retrial and would snatch at any chance to make themselves look better,
but he was beginning to believe it.

�� Some of the
Wizengamot could hardly look at Granger. Nor could they study Harry, who stood
beside Severus�s chair in a glow of righteousness. Some of them focused on
Draco, who was behind his mother, or Narcissa herself, a ghostly vision in the
chair she�d been afforded. But there was no hatred in their faces, Severus
thought. There was the terror of being found out, instead. Most of them must
have suspected something wrong at the time, though it would have been political
suicide to speak out.

�� And now
Granger had whipped the papers and the public up into such a frenzy that it
might be political suicide to resentence Narcissa. And even him.

�� Severus had
woken that morning to find, on the front page of the Prophet, an interview with Harry and Granger where they both said
that they knew and understood Severus�s actions in the war. On a second page
was another interview with Harry where he detailed the way that Narcissa had
saved his life. On the third page, an anonymous article that Severus vaguely
recognized the style of�it had to have been one of his students at Hogwarts,
though he doubted it was Granger herself�asked indignantly when the Wizengamot
had stopped being a stronghold of justice, and decided that it was the day
Albus Dumbledore had died. On the fourth page was an article by Rita Skeeter in
which she discussed the way Wizengamot members had Apparated away when they saw
her coming.

�� It was all
true, or at least no more misinformed than the usual opinions that the Prophet printed. But now the tide had
turned and was flowing in Severus�s direction.

�� He still
felt dazed. He wasn�t used to this.

�� Harry
abruptly leaned an elbow on his shoulder, and Severus came out of his daze
enough to listen to the words being whispered in his ear. �They�re going to ask
you to speak now,� Harry warned. �We thought they might. You have to tell the
truth, Severus, please, no matter how it hurts. That�s the footing we fought to
get this trial conducted on. Don�t let�don�t let pride stand in the way,
please.�

�� Severus
gave him the most freezing stare he could muster. �If I was intent on doing
that, would I be here?�

�� Harry gave him
a fearless glance. Severus did not know whether to be pleased or irritated that
Harry did not cower before him anymore. Perhaps he would be more pleased in
another situation. �I know that you sometimes involuntarily let pride get in the way,� he said. �I�m only asking
that you not do that.�

�� Severus
barely had time to clear his expression of shock�he had not realized that Harry
might know that was happening, and yet not blame him for it�before an arthritic
voice from the Wizengamot asked him to stand and justify his plea.

�� It had been
six years since Severus was on trial in any way. He had hidden away from
judging eyes in the cottage, and only now did he realize how very easy that had
been. He had thought it the harder choice, because of what would happen to him
if he was recaptured, but no one had seemed interested in looking for him. Only
Draco had cared if he lived or died. Yes, he had had it easier than he knew.

�� The tremors
wanted to strike his body now as he stood there. What evidence did he have that
would make them believe him, if they had rejected Albus�s Pensieve the first
time around?

�� He glanced
sideways, and found Harry gazing at him with that same fearless look. Draco
watched him with burning eyes. And Granger had turned around and extended her
hand in invitation.

�� Their faith
was his evidence.

�� Severus
stepped forwards.

*

�� Harry had realized
that it wasn�t Severus�s words that would convince the Wizengamot; it was his
manner. They were already running frightened from Hermione�s accusations, ready
and willing to be persuaded, but with the residue of the prejudice that had led
them to condemn Severus in the first place still in the back of their minds. A
commanding enough way with words, a stern tone, a strict look, would keep them
on track. But they could turn and stampede the other way again if the case
wasn�t convincing enough.

�� Luckily,
Severus had never had any trouble with those mannerisms.

�� He started
his speech by surveying the Wizengamot with a single quick, impersonal gaze.
Harry marked the ones who trembled and shrank in their seats�the majority. For
obvious reasons, Buskin hadn�t been allowed to sit in on this retrial, and most
of the people who remained seemed to be the easily led ones. Harry had never
thought he would feel more confident because the government of the wizarding
world essentially needed a sheepdog, but he could see the benefits now.

�� I am a
hero.�

�� From the
moment that Severus claimed the title, in a flat tone that dared them to
disagree, there was never really any doubt. Harry watched, and admired, as he
chased their feeble protests into a corner and murdered them. He reinterpreted
the evidence in the Pensieve, showed the memories in a new light, and retold
the story of how he had faced Voldemort and nearly died when Voldemort thought
he was murdering the master of the Elder Wand. He used short, sparse sentences,
but the war filled the chamber in a way that it couldn�t have in years, Harry
thought. The Wizengamot was looking faint when he finished. Some of them had
actually fainted.

�� When
Severus sat down again, Harry wished he could kiss him, in appreciation and
thanks for letting him witness such an effective display. He settled for
squeezing his shoulder instead. Severus didn�t wince, but inclined his head regally.

�� Hermione
swooped in after him, reminding the Wizengamot of the clear paper trail (well,
clear to someone who was looking for it and had Hermione�s eager eyes and
questioning mind) that said the evidence had been manipulated in Mrs. Malfoy�s
trial to give her the worst showing possible. Harry was asked to tell the story
of her saving his life again, and did so. He felt her eyes on his back while he
did it.

�� Well, let
her look. She might wonder why he was standing up for her; Harry had no idea
whether Draco had told her that they were lovers yet. But Harry was going to fight for her, and fuck all
the people who might have said he shouldn�t.

�� He stepped
back and sat down, and the Wizengamot rose to go out of the room and make their
decision in private. Some of them glared at Hermione. She beamed back at them.

�� Draco
leaned forwards. �You know that you�ve made enemies, right?� he whispered.

�� Hermione
shrugged. In her eyes danced that light Harry knew so well, the light of
courage and integrity�and sheer challenge. She would love having enemies who
had opposed her on a matter that she thought should have been set right from
the beginning, and would have been had anyone on the Wizengamot had a tenth of
her intelligence and morals. �What does that matter? Everyone does. I�ll fight
them, and they�ll fight me, but I�ll guard my back better. And they�ll take the
trials more seriously, and not tamper with the evidence as much. They�ll have
to, in self-defense, or every Death Eater trial will eventually be appealed.
I�m not worried about what I�ll make them into.�

�� Harry
choked. He reckoned it was a good thing that Hermione had chosen Gryffindor and
not Ravenclaw after all; he could envision her becoming drunk on power if she
thought the whole thing was just an academic exercise, instead of dealing with
real people�s lives.

�� And a
Hermione drunk on power could probably take over the wizarding world.

*

�� When the
Wizengamot came back into the room, Draco didn�t know how to read their faces.
He knew Granger did, but he couldn�t look at her for reassurance, or even down
at his mother to try and give her support. His eyes were chained to the
Wizengamot members by some strange power of attraction. He held his breath.

�� The leader
rose to her feet and cleared her throat. �Yes, well,� she said. �We find that
the trials of both Narcissa Malfoy and Severus Snape had problems included in
the evidence. They are now free to go, unless they again do something criminal
or illegal.� She gave Severus a dark stare that said he had better not follow
any more Dark Lords.

�� Draco
didn�t care. He turned and embraced his mother, who had managed to stand up
from her chair but then had fallen forwards. Draco didn�t care. He whirled in
the center of the room with her, and laughed, and didn�t care who watched them
and turned aside with a lip curled up in disgust or scorn.

�� Then Harry
crashed into him, and Severus, and they were all three�four, if one counted his
mother in the center�whirling in a celebratory tangle of limbs, while Granger
conducted her own private war dance around them.

�� In the
excitement of the moment, it was only natural that Draco should kiss Severus,
and Harry should lean over and kiss both of them.

�� Skeeter was
in the courtroom, of course. A flash of a camera, and the next day�s Prophet front page carried a story that
knocked the news of the retrials to a back page.

�� At the
moment, Draco couldn�t care, didn�t care, was carefree at last. He wouldn�t
care much more later, either. He put one arm out to Harry, who, hanging on to
Severus, took it, and held the other out to his mother to escort her.

�� It was time
to go and see the world they had conquered.

�� The End.

*

�� Shadow
Lily: Thank you! I hope you liked the ending.

�� ILuvSkimaru:
Sorry there wasn�t time to work in another hot scene.

�� nitesfool: I
think both Narcissa and Snape, as well as the three of them together, are going
to be just fine.

�� Rosalie
Ayers: Thank you so much!

�� AngelMary89:
Thank you for reviewing.

�� qwerty: Well,
Draco tried to go slowly�

�� W�lkchen:
Thank you! I didn�t think I would actually get to write a sex scene in this
story at first. But I do think that the Unbreakable Vow was a pretty good
excuse, and they probably needed it to happen so they could deal with the
aftermath rather than just their uncertain feelings.

�� I do like writing
them kissing, yes. But I wouldn�t have written it without choosing a threesome
fic.

�� RiverWhispers:
Thanks! That�s quite a compliment.
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Love, Free as Air