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Their Phoenix	By : Lomonaaeren Category: Harry Potter > Threesomes/Moresomes Views: 68678 -:- 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
- 24
- 25
- 26
Thank you again for all the reviews!

�� Harry
waited quietly outside the Ministry, his arms folded and his head bowed so that
he could keep his slightly glamoured face out of the sight of anyone watching
him. Severus had cast the glamour, which he knew more about than Harry did, but
he had warned Harry that Aurors often watched for the telltale ripple around
the cheeks and chin that would signal an illusion.

�� Ready? he asked Severus.

�� I would have told you if I was. Severus
had used one of the toilet entrances that Harry, Ron, and Hermione had used to
get into the Ministry during the war, and the bond steamed with his disgust at
the frivolity of it. Right now, by concentrating, Harry could get flashes of
sensations as he brushed off his robes and strode forwards under his own
impeccable Polyjuice Potion, brewed from the hair of a Ministry employee they�d
caught and subdued. You will know when
the moment comes.

�� Harry
flickered his attention to the left. And
you�re almost ready, Draco?

�� Malfoys are always perfectly prepared. Harry
wrinkled his nose at the stench of sour self-importance he was getting, but he
could excuse it by telling himself that Draco was simply trying to get into his
role. Draco wore his own face, and a pair of grey robes that were so perfectly
pressed Harry thought the creases could probably cut. His hair was slicked back
with some foul-smelling mixture that he had used before they left the house.
Draco had explained that it was important to try and look the part of an
accomplished politician before pretending to be one. Harry thought Draco took
the part up with rather too much relish, considering that he would speak
multiple lies to the Aurors today.

�� I heard that.

�� Harry
flickered out a whip of apology, and then felt Severus�s murmured
acknowledgment that he was in position. He knew Draco felt it as well, so he
didn�t comment on that, simply saying to Draco, Good luck.

�� Draco
stepped forwards to the fireplace in their home, which they had opened the Floo
connection on for once. Their strengthening and reinforcing spells had done a
better job of repairing the house than Severus had thought was possible, or
Harry never would have consented to leave Draco alone there. With a murmur, he
cast Floo powder into the flames and named the private hearth of a Malfoy ally
in the Ministry that his father had told him about. Since Lucius had never told
that ally he knew about the Floo connection, Draco had every reason to think
that private address would still function.

�� Good luck, Harry told him again.

�� There was a
fleeting sensation like a kiss on his cheek before Draco cast himself fully
into his role. Harry shifted his position slightly and kept his eyes fastened
on the phonebox that led into the Ministry�s front entrance, waiting.

*

�� Draco
stepped out into an office paneled with expensive wood and possessing an
expensive enchanted window directly across from the fireplace. It had to be
expensive, because the sky was pure gold and filled with cavorting dragons that
looked nothing like real ones. Most of the time, enchanted windows were based
on real places; it took extra effort to pay an artist and an illusionist to
collaborate on an imaginary vision.

�� His
father�s ally, Hector Pethslew, scrambled to his feet at the sight of Draco,
his mouth open. �M-Malfoy!� he stammered.

�� I�m glad
that you still recognize someone to whom you owe obligations.� Draco glanced
around the office, ignoring the jumping impatience from Harry�s side of the
bond, and curled his lip. It was something he would have done anyway, as part
of the act, but in this case it took no effort. There was gold everywhere,
which not only didn�t go well with the pale wood of the office but disfigured
some truly beautiful antique cabinets and chairs. �Your doing, I suppose,
Hector,� he drawled, turning back to Pethslew and doing his best to imitate his
father�s aloof look. �You always did have
the worst way of gilding the lily.�

�� Pethslew
stared at the floor, his cheeks turning so red that Draco had to restrain a
vicious chuckle. He could feel Harry in his mind immediately, extending sticky
fingers to probe into Draco�s business. Are
you sure that angering him is the best way to go about this?

�� Draco shook
his head slightly to get the sticky feeling to recede, and then began to pace
in a circle around his hapless ally. You
don�t understand. Pethslew won�t get angry. He�s always been in thrall to my
father as far as advice on power and fashion goes. He thinks that we know best
because we have more money than he does. And most of the time, that�s correct, Draco
finished, with another glance around and shudder at the over-embellished room.

�� It�s strange to hear you use �we� when
you�re talking about Malfoys instead of about you and Severus and me.

�� Before
Draco could respond, Pethslew looked up and whispered, �Thank you, sir. I won�t
forget again. What do you need me to do for you?�

�� Well,�
Draco said, letting his eyelids droop as though he were thinking deeply, �I
came to you in secret. I need a meeting with the Minister in private.� He
leaned back against the wall and watched in satisfaction as Pethslew�s eyes
widened.

�� But�but
there�s no way to do that!� Pethslew whispered.

�� Oh,
really?� Draco rubbed his nails against his robes and sighed, turning towards
the fireplace. �Then I reckon that I�ll simply have to call on another of our
numerous allies within the Ministry, and offer that person invitations to the
next party that my mother hosts��

�� Wait,
wait!� Pethslew churned after him, flapping his hands. �I didn�t�I mean, there
might be a way, after all!� He got between Draco and the fireplace and gave him
a sickly smile. �There is a way into the Minister�s office that not everyone
knows about and which will keep us out of the sight of the Aurors.�

�� Draco
raised his eyebrows. �Sometimes, Hector, you are smarter than you look,� he
murmured.

�� The man
beamed as if at a compliment. Severus snorted and sent an image of Neville
Longbottom being praised for a potion down the bond to Draco. Harry was silent
in disgust. Severus chuckled about that, too, and Harry lashed back at him.
Draco ignored them both as best he could to concentrate on Pethslew as he
stepped across to the wall of his office and examined a calendar there. Draco
knew it would be a calendar of the last time he had asked for favors from
certain people. There were those in the Ministry who were happy to help out
people like Pethslew in return for money or other considerations, but they must
not be asked too often, lest they get irritated or risk losing their comfortable
positions.

�� Yes, I can
ask Kate,� Pethslew declared after a moment of staring at the wall. He turned
back around and gave Draco a hopeful look. �It will take about five minutes to
contact her and ask her if we can go through her office, sir. Is that all
right?�

�� Five
minutes is�acceptable.� Draco drew out a watch he had deliberately carried
along and looked at it, making Pethslew scurry.

�� I had no idea you were so good at this, Harry
muttered in the back of his head. You
never displayed any talents like this in school.

�� I was dealing with people there who had the
inclination to treat me like just another student, Draco said, stung to
honesty. Here, I�m dealing with people
who respect my family. I do better when I have someone offering me a bit of
what I want, so that I can build on it.

�� Harry fell
unnervingly silent at that point, and floated slightly apart from the bond so
that he could think about things. They had already discovered that the bonds
were flexible even when fully opened; they didn�t have to share every thought
with each other any more than they had when they were shut from Harry�s side,
and they could come �closer� or go �farther� away so that their emotions would
show up in the others� minds with more or less clarity.

�� Draco shook
his head. Let Harry think what he liked of Draco. Draco knew that this was the
sort of acting he had been born to do, and he could do it better than anyone
else. Severus could intimidate more people, but he did not have the inner grace
and elegance that was necessary to carry off a deception like this.

�� Let me remind you that we are here so that
you may establish a foothold in the Minister�s office, not enhance the Malfoy
reputation, Severus snapped, the bond alive with thrashing crocodiles.

�� Let me remind you that I�m no longer your
student to scold, Draco said, and offered Pethslew a thin smile as he
glanced over his shoulder from the memo he was writing. Pethslew gave him a
nervous one back and began to scribble again. I am your equal, your lover, and your co-conspirator.

�� Severus
grunted. Draco ignored the temptation to worry about what that meant. Severus
was never at his best when he was caught off-guard, the way that Draco and
Harry had continually been doing to him since they discovered what their bond
was fully capable of.

�� The memo
fluttered off, and Pethslew came back to him, rubbing his hands together and
bowing. �Could you give me a few tips on improving my office, sir?� he
whispered. �I know that I�ve overdone the gold, but I�m never sure how much I should use.�

�� Draco
condescended to look around at the furniture one more time. �Strip off all but
the gold from the handles on that chest,� he decided at last, pointing at a
trunk that had a few scratches in the wood of the lid and needed the gold to
distract the viewer�s eye from them. �Anything else can stand on its own.�

�� Thank you,
sir.�

�� Draco
stared over Pethslew�s head, because even he found this kind of fawning
excessive, and said, �And your Kate will soon be here?�

�� No,�
Pethslew said, glancing over his shoulder nervously as he started to remove his
wand and strip the gold from his furniture, �but she�ll send us permission to
come through to her office if she can. She has a private Floo put in. That�ll
move us much closer to the Minister�s office, and from there it�s just a matter
of watching the Aurors on guard duty and their schedules.�

�� Draco hid a
vicious chuckle. Pethslew, and people like him, never seemed to realize that
the secrets they held could have been used to much more dangerous, and
lucrative, effect. Presumably, it was for the best that the things they wanted
were small and petty: praise, beauty, money.

�� Praise isn�t petty, Harry said, drifting
back towards Draco and muffling his mental voice so that Severus couldn�t hear
him. I told you about offering
compliments to Severus and how much he wanted them. Have you done that?

�� Draco
stiffened and shut the conversation in the part of his mind that was most
distant from Severus. No, he hadn�t done that, but he didn�t appreciate Harry
reminding him of his inadequacies at the very moment when he needed to feel
most strong and confident.

�� I don�t mean to make you feel inadequate, Harry
snapped, his words edged with thorns. Believe
it or not, my purpose in bringing that up is to do some good to Severus,
instead of trying to hurt you.

�� Draco
didn�t have the chance to respond. A memo swooped back into Pethslew�s office,
and he caught and read it anxiously. A moment later, he looked up at Draco with
a relieved smile. �Kate says we can use her Floo,� he announced.

�� Good.�
Draco fastened the perfect expression of bored indifference on his face and
moved forwards, tossing a bag of Galleons onto Pethslew�s desk as he went. �A
small something for your assistance,� he added, when Pethslew gave him a
questioning glance.

�� Then he had
to put up with more bowing and babbling, of course. But it was worth it so that
he could avoid thinking about what Harry had just said.

�� The bonds
were open, but that didn�t mean that they were ready for absolute honesty. And,
Draco thought, he could see many reasons for not exercising it.

*

�� Good
morning, Mrs. Goodwin!�

�� Severus had
chosen the guise of a woman who hobbled in alone to work every morning and
seemed to spend most of her time working on paperwork in the Misuse of Muggle
Artifacts office. He had assumed that meant she was unpopular.

�� Of course,
relying on common sense meant that she was apparently everyone�s favorite aunty,
and numerous people stopped to say hello to him as he hobbled along the way to
Goodwin�s office, leaning on a cane.

�� Luckily,
Severus had thought up a simple, plausible excuse to ensure that he didn�t have
to speak to all these people and possibly get the tone wrong; he would
certainly get names wrong. He shook
his head at each greeting, adopted a doleful expression, and touched Goodwin�s
throat, mouthing the words, I�ve lost my
voice.

�� The offers
of sympathy, pats on the back, and lozenges, and promises to run around that
evening and bring him any number of good dinners and healing spells were still
extreme, but not nearly as annoying as dealing with extraneous conversations
would have been. Soon enough Severus was ensconced in Goodwin�s office, and he
had firmly shut the door on the last offer of help, mouthing in an exaggerated
fashion that he thought sitting alone in a small, dark room would be the best
for him.

�� Accordingly,
he left the lights off and lit his wand alone. Then he closed his eyes and
whispered the spell that he had studied in extensive detail over the last few
days, as Harry, Draco, and he planned the best way to reach the Minister and
convince him to leave them alone, as well as find out what he knew.

�� Severus had
chosen Goodwin because, as he had been able to learn with some gentle
Legilimency on Weasley combined with his own knowledge of the Ministry, her
office was directly beneath Shacklebolt�s. Now it was time to take the step
that would help bring all three of them, spectacularly, into private conference
with the Minister.

�� Fero nos.�

�� Bright
tendrils of light snaked away from his wand, blue and purple, but changing to
yellow and green as they sprang upwards. Severus could have done this from a
distance, as well, but the power needed to create the spell was already making drops
of sweat spring out on his cheeks and nose, even given the magic he could share
with Harry and Draco. It was easier to shorten the distance and make the route
as direct as possible, hence the office beneath the Minister�s.

�� Are you all right? Harry�s voice was
soft and anxious in his ears, thrumming through the bones of his skull.

�� Severus
grunted acknowledgment and went on drawing magic. He didn�t have the strength
to answer right now. He hoped Harry would understand and respect that, rather
than growing offended.

�� The sense
of Harry�s presence didn�t draw further away, so Severus decided that he was
waiting, ready to offer help if it was needed. That increased both Severus�s comfort
and his determination to succeed on his own. He had brewed potions while dying
Muggles lay not far away. If he could not cast a spell that was simple in
comparison and in an environment that gave him no distractions, then he was not
worthy of the name of wizard.

�� The light
above his wand was spitting and struggling now; Severus felt, though he could
not see it, that the ends of the tendrils were encountering magical barriers
around the Minister�s office. He bared his teeth and drew on yet more magic
from the bonds.

�� Take it, Harry urged him softly, doing
something to the bond so that even more power rolled smoothly away from him and
down the links that bound him to Severus. Severus could sense Harry�s patient
delight in helping like this; the image that came to him was of a horse bowing
its head and shoulders to drag an enormous load up a cliff, never mind the
strain on its muscles. Take all you need.
I�m asking you to do the hardest thing.

�� Only because the Minister likely has wards
tuned to your magical signature, Severus retorted.

�� If Draco and I shouldn�t put ourselves down
and diminish our own capacities, then neither should you, Harry said, his
anger closing a pair of iron jaws on Severus�s hand.

�� Attend to what you are doing, Severus snapped
back.

�� Because standing around outside the Ministry
under a glamour requires a tenth of the concentration and effort that you�re
using?

�� One more
magical barrier, and this time the spell lashed and quivered, sending a
sympathetic tension down Severus�s arms. He gritted his teeth and forced
himself to stop speaking to Harry so that he could reach through the defensive
wards. The whole point of this spell was that it would allow them to move
around safely inside the Ministry, even once their enemies were aware of them,
despite the anti-Apparition defenses. Compared to the ancient integrity of
those defenses, which Severus had not even wished to attempt breaching, a few
personal wards were nothing.

�� He could do
this. He was strong.

�� Harry was
silent, but he handed Severus a memory suddenly: Severus coping with Neville
Longbottom in his Potions class after yet another melted cauldron. He had used
harsh words, but he had not lashed out with magic or hands the way he so sorely
wanted to. He could control himself. He was coiled strength. Harry had always
known it, and he reinforced Severus�s efforts to convince himself with his own
conviction, as steady as any boulder.

�� The spell
pierced the Minister�s last barrier. They were through.

�� Severus
gasped and sagged back against Goodwin�s desk. Harry immediately surrounded him
with wordless sympathy and thanks, which felt rather like a cat rubbing its
warm head against Severus�s hands. For a long moment, Severus allowed himself
to enjoy that, as well as Draco�s belated congratulations. Late though he had
come to the bond, Harry seemed more skilled at balancing the outer and inner
occurrences he was experiencing, while Draco often needed to concentrate most
fully on what was happening outside his head.

�� Severus
recovered himself quickly enough and listened through the bonds. Draco was in
position, in an office close to Shacklebolt�s. At the moment, he was timing the
rounds of the Aurors who were assigned to keep guard in the Department of
Magical Law Enforcement itself. When he was ready, he would move to Shacklebolt
and request a private interview. If necessary, Harry and Severus would lend him
the strength to crush anyone who objected.

�� Severus
then turned his head and listened with his physical ears, but he could detect
no one coming nearer to Goodwin�s office. He nodded sharply. With any luck, his
pretense of sickness and the earliness of the hour would keep everyone away
from their favorite aunty for a minute or two yet.

�� Your turn, he told Harry.

*

�� Harry spent
only a single moment shivering. He was not sure that he had the strength to
cast this spell. Part of him thought that Draco or Severus should have been
chosen to do it.

�� But Draco
was needed to infiltrate the Ministry using his Malfoy contacts, and Severus
had been the one who most easily mastered the sheer effort involved in the
Bearing Spell. That left only one role open to Harry.

�� There was a young man not long ago, Severus�s
thoughtful voice murmured into Harry�s mind, who had something to say about deprecating one�s own abilities.

�� Harry
smiled shakily. The dry tone Severus had used was the right one to distract him
from his stupid thoughts and make him concentrate on what was important. He
stood up straighter. He knew the spell�s incantation, and he knew he would have
the reserves of magical strength from the bond to draw upon if he needed it.
Draco had barely used his magic yet.

�� Harry drew
out a square of parchment from his robe pockets and unfolded it slowly. Luckily,
there should be no one who thought it unusual for someone near the Ministry to
be frowning intensely at a piece of paper. Harry held it there for some time,
letting his fingers learn the feel of every crease and his eyes the sharp shape
of every letter, even though he knew perfectly well what was written there.

�� Frederic Dominus.

�� That was
another reason he was here, he reminded himself. Of the three of them in the
bond, he was the only one who knew who Dominus was and had seen him, and
therefore the one best-suited to creating the spell that should, hopefully,
compel their enemy to confess.

�� This was
not Dark magic, he thought as he raised a hand. Severus, at least, would not
permit it to be called so. It was old magic,
magic that relied more on the idea of sympathy between a person and a
representation of that person than on the idea of imposing one�s will through
an incantation. It was the same sort of magic that drove the Polyjuice Potion,
in fact, where one hair could stand for the whole of someone else�s body.

�� Veritas, Frederic Dominus,� Harry
breathed, pouring all his concentration in three directions�into the paper he
held, into the letters he saw, into the words he spoke. Uniting at least three
of the five senses was imperative for magic like this. �Malo veritatem.�

�� The magic,
when it stirred in him, thrilled and disturbed him at once. It was like a rush
of knives along his veins. Then it curled out of him, and the paper burst into
clear, soundless flames. Harry tensed instinctively, but the fire didn�t burn
him, the way Severus had said it wouldn�t.

�� He watched
as the fire died. When it faded, he was holding a soft white powder that
sparkled when he poured it from one hand to the other.

�� And it had
been less hard than he had thought it would be.

�� Harry
opened his eyes, concentrating on the weight of the powder in his hand, and
waved his wand carefully above it, to create a small silvery dome that would
contain it and keep it from blowing away. Then he turned towards the Ministry
and let his shoulders fall in relief as he sent an acknowledgment of his
position through the bond to Draco and Severus.

�� I am ready.

*

�� And so am I, Draco thought, as he lifted
his hand and knocked on Minister Shacklebolt�s door.

It hadn�t been hard after all to
time the Auror guards� schedules. If and when Colben was elected Minister,
Draco thought he would have a word with her about not relying on her
predecessor�s security procedures.

�� A weighty
pause came from behind the door, as if to say that anyone should know better
than to interrupt Shacklebolt the Confused. Draco settled his shoulders and
waited.

�� Finally, a
heavy voice that Draco didn�t recognize�though Harry had heard it a time or
two�said, �Come in.�

�� Draco
opened the door, flinching a little in expectation of tingling wards meeting
his skin. Nothing happened. Severus�s spell had taken care of that.

�� Of course it did, Harry and Severus said
at the same time, as Draco stepped into the office.

�� I apologize. Well done, Severus, Draco
said, and, as he had hoped, the shock of the compliment shut them both up so
that he could concentrate on what he was doing.

�� Shacklebolt
sat behind a large, dark desk that Draco appreciated at once; it was made of
purest ebony. Something like that would look fine in their house, once they had
made the final repairs and secured the ground against any further use of an
Earthquake Tunnel. The Minister turned his head towards the door, his eyes so
wide and weary that Draco felt a small twinge of sympathy. He pictured the way
that Shacklebolt had kidnapped Harry, and his sympathy disappeared.

�� Of course,
a swirl of it remained in the back of his mind from Harry. Draco mentally
rolled his eyes, and Harry responded with a wordless snarl.

�� The man
sitting across from Shacklebolt in a large chair was blond, that sort of dirty,
sandy color on the edge of brown that made Draco feel insulted on behalf of all
the real blond wizards out there. His jaw was lined with stubble, his brown
eyes hard and wary. He started to stand when he saw Draco�s face.

�� That�s Dominus! Harry hissed.

�� No need to whisper, he can�t hear you, Draco
said back smartly, and stepped up the timing of their plan. They had thought
that he would need to coax and con Shacklebolt into summoning Dominus, dropping
hints of what had happened but never the full truth until they had the man in
front of them. Now that he was here, Draco saw no reason not to move
immediately.

�� Minister,�
he said, �I have words for you concerning the treatment that your Aurors
subjected our home to, on Dominus�s command.� He bobbed his head at the
standing man, who looked stunned by Draco�s recognition of him, and turned back
to face Shacklebolt. He saw a sharp gleam in those weary eyes that hadn�t been
there a moment before. �And the first two words are: Fero nos.�

*

�� Lightning
crackled down through the ceiling, grabbed Severus�s wrists, and tugged him up
and through.

�� He barely
caught a glimpse of more bolts racing away in search of Harry before the
lightning turned his body into a transparent structure that it filled like a
glass statue and he slid through walls and floors�and wards�as if he didn�t
exist. Severus found himself catching his breath with a savage joy. He had
known how the spell would work, of course, or he would not have cast it, but it
was one thing to know that and another to find himself whirling through others�
defenses.

�� He had
barely begun to dream of all the destructive things that he might use this
strength for when he landed in the Minister�s office.

�� The next
moment, Harry landed beside him. He might have fallen over, his arms
windmilling the way they did when he tried to step through a Floo and keep his
balance, but Severus placed a hand on the small of his back and steadied him.
Harry promptly turned the bond between them molten with thanks as he stepped
forwards and fixed a keen eye on Shacklebolt and Dominus.

�� Who are
these people, Malfoy?� Shacklebolt asked, his voice taut.

�� Of course. Severus produced a small vial
from his pocket and drank his specially-made antidote to the Polyjuice; he
preferred not to wait for it to wear off. Harry passed his wand across his face
and banished the glamour.

�� While they
were occupied with that, Dominus tried to launch a curse at them. Draco was the
one who had thought of that and layered a thin barrier through the air around
them, transparent but strong and flexible enough to bounce any spells back at
the one who tried to use them. Dominus flinched and ducked as his curse sang
past his ear and buried itself in the wall behind his left shoulder.

�� Harry
bathed Draco in tickling warmth, and Severus sent a wordless pulse of approval.
Draco�s cheeks turned pink, but he fought for�and largely maintained�a haughty
mask.

�� Shacklebolt
sat up and examined them more attentively. �You said you brought word of an
attack,� he said to Draco. �But why should I believe you rather than Dominus?
He has served me faithfully for years, and even now he tried only to protect
me.�

�� I continue
my faithful service.� Dominus straightened up, as ruffled as a chicken that
someone had tried to step on. �Sir, these�people
are dangerous to you, and to your policies and your chance of guiding a
united wizarding Britain. It is for the best if we simply dismiss them. But as
they are too powerful to do that, permit me to arrest them.� His wand twitched
in his hand as his mouth widened into a shark�s smile. �There is nothing I
would like more.�

��

�I�m certain you would, Dominus,�
Harry drawled. His voice was so much like Severus�s that Severus suffered the
sudden shock of recognition and knowledge that Harry had been watching him much
more closely than he had imagined. �However, there is a small matter of an
Earthquake Tunnel spell and the attack that you engineered on our home first.
The attack that was supposed to kill us, I think, so that you could leave
Shacklebolt free to act without my �restraining� influence?�

�I have no idea what you mean.�
Dominus was a good liar, smooth and natural, his eyes widening in outrage that
did not look false.

�� Harry
raised his left hand, which he had kept down near his side, and blew on the
dome that covered his palm. It vanished at once, and the ash rose from his hand
in a swirl and blew towards Dominus. He swatted at it, then tried to conjure a
small wind that would dissipate it, but it simply twisted around his
precautions in a spiral and ended up fastened all over his robes and skin in a
glinting coat.

�� For a
moment, Severus thought that he heard Harry�s voice sighing, �Veritas.� Then it was over, and Harry
turned and bowed solemnly to Shacklebolt.

�� I used
sympathetic magic to create a spell that would force him to tell the truth,�
Harry said. �It doesn�t use anything Dark, simply his name written on a piece
of paper. You can ask him about the attack now.�

�� Shacklebolt
stretched his hands in front of him, cracking the knuckles. He looked slow and
thoughtful, as if he didn�t want to move too fast. Severus could understand the
feeling. Things had changed so rapidly around the man in the last several
months that it was a wonder he could act at all.

�� I don�t think that�s the case, Draco
objected. I think he simply got paralyzed
with indecision.

�� That�s still understandable, Harry
thought, and then he and Draco began to bicker quietly in the back of their
heads. Severus, who was more interested in what Shacklebolt would decide than
the childish arguments of his bondmates, focused on the man in front of him.

�� Shacklebolt
cocked his head meditatively. �And if you are lying,� he said, �either about
the spell or about the attack, then Frederic should simply be able to tell me
that he had nothing to do with it.� He turned to Dominus, whose face had begun
to turn dangerously red. Severus watched his bouncing wand hand and drew his
own wand to counter any curse that he might cast. �Well, Frederic? Is what they
say true? Were you involved at all in the attack on their house?�

�� Dominus
flushed more, and Severus heard a faint grinding sound that was probably him
trying to keep his teeth shut so that the truth wouldn�t burst past them. But
in the end, it was no use, and Dominus bowed his head, his face bright with
humiliation. �I chose to send Aurors to attack their house,� he said. �With an
Earthquake Tunnel and Blinding Glamours, in the hopes that the collapse of the
house would kill them and no one would find out the truth until too late.�

�� Shacklebolt
uttered a sigh that seemed to take most of the air in his body. Dominus tensed.
Severus continued watching his wand hand. Harry and Draco were now arguing about
whether Shacklebolt�s jealousy of Severus excused his actions or not.

�� I had
wondered,� Shacklebolt murmured. �When certain servants of mine reported that
there were late-night meetings that some of the Aurors attended, and most of
them the youngest and newest Aurors, the most easily influenced�I wondered.� He
passed a hand over his face and then fixed his eyes on Dominus again. �Why did
you do this? You must know that I had acted against Potter and his bondmates
numerous times and failed. What made you assume that you would be any more
successful?�

�� An
invisible fishhook seemed to drag the answers out of Dominus�s throat while he
struggled to retain them. At one point he actually put his hands on his neck
and bore down as if he could stop the words, but of course that did nothing.
Severus felt a moment�s smugness. Most people were astonished at the strength
of spells that they hadn�t encountered before. �We saw that you were
constrained by your fear of him, hesitating and wondering if you dared do this,
or that, or this other thing, while you knew that he supported a different
candidate for Minister. And we thought that you hadn�t been direct enough. We want you as Minister, sir. Not Potter.
Not someone Potter chose. He did his deed. That�s it. He�s done. Other people
should guide the wizarding world now, people who understand it better.�

�� By the end
of that speech, Dominus was no longer struggling against his own words. In
fact, he had leaned forwards, one beseeching hand extended, as though he
believed he could convert Shacklebolt by sheer force of will.

�� Certain
deeds don�t simply end.� Shacklebolt folded his hands on the desk in front of
him. He looked, strangely, as if he were enjoying himself. Severus�s own astonishment
bounced back into the bonds and focused Draco and Harry�s attention, so that
they looked at Shacklebolt again. �Their influence continues rebounding down
the years. Headmaster Dumbledore didn�t lose his influence a year after he
defeated Grindelwald.�

�� Headmaster
Dumbledore was an adult at the time,� Dominus said insistently, �with
considerable political expertise and magical power. And he would never have
compromised with Death Eaters.�

�� Severus had
to stifle the temptation to point out that there were no Death Eaters at that
time. He doubted that that particular point of pedantry would be appreciated. He
felt Draco reacting much the same way, while Harry stirred with some enormous
secret that it seemed he wanted to tell, and then subsided. Listening to the
edges of the secret, Severus thought it concerned Grindelwald and Dumbledore,
but he was not sure that Harry could possibly know what it seemed he knew.

�� We deal
the hand we are dealt,� Shacklebolt said simply. �And I am not pleased with the
one that you tried to deal me, Frederic, making me indirectly responsible for
murder.� He shook his head. �I already tried defiance and manipulation and
simple kidnapping, and nothing that I did ever worked. So compromise is the
only thing that will. Not murder.� He looked Dominus in the eye. �Even I drew
the line there.�

�� Dominus
whirled, his wand coming into his hand. Severus found himself tensing with
threefold the amount of his own nervousness, but he could not tell where the
attack was aimed and so he could not tell what he must do to counteract it.

*

�� That was
all right. Harry knew.

�� Instincts,
together with Ledbetter�s training, rushed into his head. Ledbetter had been in
the Ministry longer than Dominus. He�d had the training of him, and the way Dominus
whirled and flung out his right arm in a dramatic motion was a feint, meant to
draw attention to his body and away from the spell he was about to fire.

�� Harry
watched the wand instead, and saw the way that Dominus pointed it straight at
him and the way his lips moved in the Burning Joints Curse. The spell was
nonverbal, but Ledbetter had also taught Harry that many wizards were unable to
give up their habit of mouthing the words. Look at their mouths closely enough,
and you could make out the incantation�at least enough to defend yourself
intelligently.

�� Harry
dropped to his knees and cast a shimmering Shield Charm that spread out and
covered himself, Draco, and Severus, in case he was wrong about the aim. A bit
of the shield also spread towards Kingsley. Just for fun, and because he knew
it would impress Kingsley, Harry drew on their shared reservoir of magic to
change the color of the charm. It manifested as a turquoise glow in the air
instead of a silver one, and the Burning Joints Curse bounced off it and
vanished in a splash of black air.

�� Harry rose
back to his feet and nodded at Kingsley. �Your principles do you credit,
Minister,� he said, the words bleeding into his head from Severus�s; they were
the ones Severus would have liked to speak but was too shocked to say at the
moment. �Your advisers, however, do not.�

�� Kingsley
had gone pale, too, but he stood up steadily enough, with a hand on the desk,
and cast a Body-Bind on Dominus. He fell over with a crash. Kingsley cast
another spell that Harry recognized as one that would muffle Dominus�s hearing,
and then turned around. His voice was sharp and urgent.

�� Isn�t
there any way we can reconcile?�

�� Harry
looked at him steadily for long moments, and as more of them passed, he could
feel Severus and Draco stirring like snakes in the back of his head. They were
worried that he would offer a
compromise to Kingsley, and they didn�t know how they would deal with it if he
did. They were thinking about Colben, and what Ron and Hermione had discovered
about her, and about the long process of getting the electoral campaign
launched, and about Kingsley�s general lack of trustworthiness and how they
could never believe him even if he gave his word.

�� But Harry
had known Kingsley better than either of them, and he looked into the man�s
eyes and judged the sincerity he found there.

�� I may be
able to trust that you won�t attack me again,� he said. �But that�s different
from coming back to the Ministry or supporting you in your office.� He paused
thoughtfully. There was the possibility that Kingsley could answer his
questions about Colben, since surely his advisers would have done research on
her when they announced her candidacy. At the very least, it would be
interesting to see what he said. �Of course, we have a concern about Colben
that you might be able to answer��

�� Harry! Draco squawked in his head.

�� We do not want him to know! Severus
screeched.

�� You sound like parrots, both of you, Harry
said, and left them to deal with that as Kingsley nodded eagerly.

�� What
information I can give you on her, I will,� Kingsley promised.

�� Harry
almost smiled. He was sure that Kingsley would mention an embarrassing truth if
he knew it. It was the most likely way�as he saw it�to convince Harry to adopt
his side again.

�� We had
heard that she was the daughter of a Muggleborn mother and a pure-blood father,�
he said. �But we can�t find any records of their marriage. Also, it seems that
least one Colben ancestor declared he would disinherit his children if any of
them married Muggleborns. We wondered if Colben was telling the truth about her
mother.�

�� Kingsley�s
mouth tightened for long moments, and his eyes narrowed. Harry watched him, and
resisted the nudging in his mind from both Severus and Draco, who wanted him to
do something unforgivable to Kingsley while he was distracted.

�� Do you want his help or not? Harry
finally demanded in exasperation, when the nudging had grown intolerable and
several seconds of Kingsley�s internal debate had passed.

�� He�s going to decide against us, Draco
said. And we owe him punishment for all
the things that he�s done in the past. At least you ought to ask him what hold
Huxley has over him, so that he can really make us amends.

�� Sometimes you have no sense of politics at
end, which I don�t understand when you�re normally so brilliant, Harry told
him with a swirl of disgust. We can�t push
too far or too fast. He�s the one making the gestures of reconciliation now,
and I want to keep it that way. Threaten him with Huxley and he�ll think that
we�re the ones who have something to apologize for.

�� Severus�s
nudging stopped, and he held himself aloof from the argument. Draco subsided
with a grumble as Kingsley gave a small nod.

�� We discovered
the same thing,� he said, �and thought we could hold it over her. Then we
discovered that Colben�s parents were simply not married in this country. The
record of their wedding is on file with the French Ministry.�

�� Harry
relaxed with a sigh, while Draco set off doubts like fireworks in the back of
his mind and Severus�s cool, watching presence retreated a bit further. �Thank
you, sir. We were worried about that.�

�� Kingsley
shook his head, a faint smile ringing his mouth. �It�s an obvious weakness. We
would have found it and started crying it up during the first week if there was
any chance that she wasn�t who she had said she was.� Then he shifted his feet
and opened his mouth in a way that Harry knew wouldn�t produce anything he
wanted to hear; the reporters looked the same way when they were about to make
a request for an exclusive interview.

�� Harry
braced himself to endure it anyway. Kingsley had been far more reasonable than
Harry had expected when confronted with treachery in his own ranks.

�� I must ask
you,� Kingsley said, �if this is necessary. I have apologized, and I am willing
to make an Unbreakable Vow that I will neither attack you nor allow anyone in
the Ministry to attack you again.�

�� The qualifier! Draco said, and Harry had
the mental image of a cat pouncing with its legs extended, claws gleaming on
the ends of its paws.

�� Yes, Draco, I heard that, thank you, Harry
said dryly, and then he told Kingsley, �But you can�t guarantee that it won�t
happen thanks to people outside of the Ministry. Or that the Ministry will
respond when it does, considering the corruption among the Aurors and Huxley.�

�� Kingsley
stared at him. Then he bowed his head, eyes full of pain. �We might be
political allies despite that,� he said. �I do not think that you can rely on
Brynhildr Swanfair or Estella Colben to provide protection for you.�

�� Neither of
them is powerful in the Ministry yet,� Harry answered. �They�re only one
faction, not the power setting itself up as neutral in pursuit of laws and
justice. If it turned out they couldn�t protect me after Colben became
Minister, then I would turn on them as well. I don�t expect you to make sure I�m
perfectly safe. I do expect you to punish those who show themselves willing to
murder me and my bondmates when they expose those intentions.� He paused, then
added, �Are you even going to fully punish the Aurors that Dominus tricked into
following him?�

�� It would
be unfair when they were tricked,� Kingsley whispered.

�� Harry
nodded. �And that is why I think it best to throw my lot in with those who
might have more of a commitment to protecting me, if only because they owe
their political strength to me. They might not be able to get rid of all the corrupt
people, but at least they can shuffle them around into less dangerous
positions.�

�� Do not
trust Swanfair,� Kingsley said, his hand tightening on the edge of the desk. �She
will turn on you if she can.�

�� I know,
but thank you for the warning.� Harry gave him a small salute. �I wish you
well, Kingsley. Just not well enough to give you more power over my life.� He nodded
to him and then turned and walked out of the office with a feeling of profound
relief. Draco invoked the Fero nos spell
when they were in the corridor, and they swooped back through the building to
Harry�s original position outside the Ministry.

�� I�m glad
that�s over,� Harry muttered, and ran a hand through his hair.

�� You were�impressive,�
Draco whispered.

�� Surprised,
Harry turned and looked at him. Draco looked back at him with some nervousness,
some defiance, and some true appreciation.

�� And Harry
wondered how difficult it must be for Draco, who had fewer acknowledged talents
than Severus and had spent the last two years before this one in a state of
intense fear, to say something like that to him.

�� I think I should do something nice for him.

�� I am in agreement, Severus drawled in
the back of his head, carefully firming up the walls of the �tunnel� that
contained his voice so that Draco couldn�t hear them, and willing to help. His birthday is in a few days.

�� Harry
shivered. I think that�s enough time.

�� What are
you talking about?� Draco looked suspiciously back and forth between the two of
them.

�� Severus put
a hand on his shoulder and pressed down. �You will find out in due time,� he
said, quietly, repressively, and Draco accepted it.

�� Harry felt
a burst of joy and wonder travel through him. He could never have done something
like that. He was bonded to, and literally surrounded by, two people who could
do things that he couldn�t and who continually surprised him.

�� Life was marvelous.

�� And because
of that realization, he knew what he wanted to do for Draco.

�� If he could
simply be ready by the fifth of June.��

*

�� VoraciousReader:
Thank you! I have read some history, but a lot of it also comes from reading
novels that incorporate politics.

�� qwerty:
Thank you! And their personalities are so different that the idea they could
blend and Harry could lose himself gains less credibility.

�� Mia: Thank
you so much! I hope you continue to enjoy.

�� Snivelly;
Thank you! Describing the phoenix in abstract battle was difficult, but I�m
glad it came across to you.

�� Harry hasn�t
fully completed the bond even yet, of course, since he�s still learning more
about its capabilities and hasn�t yet started a sexual relationship with Draco
and Severus.

�� PanickedSerenity:
Thank you! I hope you have a good trip.

�� Cassandra:
Sorry, I honestly don�t mean them to be cliffhangers.

�� Alliandre:
Thank you! I promise that the story will have several more chapters at the very
least, and probably end up 33 or 34 chapters.

�� nekoyoka:
Swanfair and Colben aren�t the most trustworthy people, but they wouldn�t act against
their own interests.

�� Dragon:
Thank you!

�� Adamaris
Syler Autum: Well, one thing they accomplished was a raid on the Ministry!

�� Kiroko:
Thank you! I simply italicize words in the file in Microsoft Word and then save
the file as a webpage to upload it.
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Their Phoenix