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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
- 2
- 3
- 4
Thank you again for all the reviews!

�� Severus lay
on the floor of his potions lab, staring up at the ceiling. His breath and his
pulse fluttered in and out of being, and he could see spirals dancing and
exploding in front of his eyes. The phoenix mark on his arm shone as if it
would rise off his skin and fly for help, but Severus knew that was only an
illusion born of desperate hope.

�� Dying after all, he thought, and shut
his eyes. It seems that my owl to Potter
was not in time.

�� He knew it
had to be the bond that was killing him. The pain had begun in his arm and
crept slowly up to his shoulder. Intent on the Veritaserum he was brewing�he
needed to have a stock ready by the time Potter visited�he had ignored it at
first. Some of the ingredients used in Veritaserum were corrosive. It was
entirely possible that he had spilled some on his skin. But the pain had spread
so slowly that he knew he still had time to clean it off before it damaged him.

�� He had
thought.

�� What
irritated him most at the moment was that the Veritaserum would be ruined by
the length of time he had lain on the floor writhing, beyond the skill of even
a master brewer to restore.

�� What grieved him most was the fact that Draco
was dying, as alone as he was, in his room upstairs. Severus had long since
reconciled himself to the thought that he would not die a natural death. But
having fought so long and so hard for Draco, and then seeing this fate descend
on him�

�� Do not be literal if you can help it,
Severus, he thought then. You cannot
see him. You might as well die speaking truth in your mind, if no place else.

�� His hands
flailed and scrabbled and grasped at air. His mind stood back in some disgust
and watched his struggles. He could not help trying to survive, even now. But
he knew that he could not. If the pain had been in his arm alone, he would have
managed to drag himself to his feet, find Draco, and Apparate with him to the
Ministry, where Potter would surely be at this hour, having been accepted into
the Auror training program. But this pain was throughout him, dull and
persistent. Certain.

�� Like the boy�s damn emotions that I will die
not feeling again, he thought, and closed his eyes, because he desired to
die looking into the darkness he believed would claim him. He did not intend to
flinch, even at the end.

�� I am no coward.

�� Footsteps
slapped on the flagstone floor, and Severus forced his eyes open despite his
resolve. If Draco had somehow managed to stand and come looking for him, that
was a sign of hope. Severus would do his best to leave the boy with words of
wisdom. He needed to reconcile with Potter for his own good. Severus had
thought that their slow deterioration meant they had time before something
drastic happened. But obviously not. They understood too little about this
bond, and�

�� He wondered
if returning hope had deluded him when he realized that the man kneeling over
him was Harry Potter. But no, the blaze of his phoenix marks lit his face, more
powerfully than would have happened if Draco�s single one had been shining.

�� Snape.�
Potter�s voice was low but frantic. �You�re dying. What�what do I do? How do I
save you?� He stuck out a hand and laid it on Severus�s phoenix, as if he
imagined that would convey some miraculous healing.

�� Severus
envisioned the words he needed to speak strung out in a sentence in his mind
and concentrated on rendering his breath regular. He could speak. He had done
harder things. And if he had once imagined he could rest, well. Clearly his
life was simply one hard thing after another.

And
I am still alive.

�Open�the bond. We need�emotions.
Owl�said so.� There was more that he wanted to say, the arguments that would
convince Potter. And sure enough, the boy�s brow furrowed and he shook his head
a little, showing he didn�t believe Severus. He actually opened his mouth to
object, to say that there should be something else he could do, rather than
sharing his precious feelings. Severus knew the words as if he�d heard them
many times, but for the moment, he was too weak to oppose them before they were
said. He watched in weary disgust as Potter�s lips formed the first word.

And then Draco screamed from
upstairs.

It was worse than any scream
Severus had ever heard, a ripping, sobbing squeal that sounded as if it had
been dragged out of the depth of Draco�s soul with hooked claws. The sound
swelled, and Severus realized his cheeks were damp with the sweat that had
broken out on them in response to the cry.

But it was the best thing that
could have happened at the moment, because Potter gave a dry sob of his own and
let the barriers down.

Severus gasped and sat up as
suddenly as Potter had when Granger had cast the Awakening Charm on him in the
Hogwarts hospital wing. Electricity sizzled and danced along his nerves. His
hands felt ten-fingered and longer than normal, tangling around each other. He
swam in a sea of grief and recrimination, but the emotions were sweet in their
very richness, and because they flowed from a separate bundle of personality in
the back of his head. This was not guilt for his crimes.

He had never felt so good, except
the brief moments in the immediate aftermath of the bonding when Potter had also
let his emotions flow freely.

He looked up and realized that he
had laid his hands on Potter�s shoulders, drawing him closer. Potter stared at
him, and Severus�s mind swam with memories, too: the moment when Potter had
peered from behind the crate in the Shrieking Shack and seen him and Draco
chained; his first Potions class, as he compared his first glimpse of Severus
with one of the last; the night when Severus had run from Hogwarts after
Dumbledore�s death. They flooded together with the emotions, and Severus
shuddered, back arching with a thrill that was almost sexual.

The memories were not pleasant, but
their very distinctness from his, the fact that they came from a different
mind, was intoxicating. Severus had lived alone in his head for too long, his
Occlumency barriers up to prevent any unnatural sharing. He had drowned in his
memories of the wars with the Dark Lord because there was no one to whom he
could confide them, and he was not willing to listen to the ridiculous, babbled
secrets of others simply on the off chance they would listen to him without
judgment. Dumbledore had usually known what his grievances were without his
speaking them, but that was unpleasant in its own way.

But Potter�s memories could place
him at a distance from certain events, at an angle from others, and let him
come to peace with them finally.

Severus had not suspected this
would happen, though he had caught glimpses of Potter�s memories that first
night as well. Now he thought himself stupid for not suspecting it.

And he knew there was no way he
could give this up, not when the floodtide of Potter�s guilt dislodged his own
from its deep place in his soul. He was instantly addicted. He dug his fingers
further into Potter�s shoulders.

Potter wrenched free from him with
a violent shudder. He cleared his throat and kept his eyes on the floor as he
moved away. Severus watched him in silence, controlling the impulse to reach
out again. He wanted to�and that was a side-effect of the bond he had not
counted on, that the memories and emotions were stronger when Potter was
closer�but what he felt was enough to sustain him for right now. The bond was
pumping life and health into him. His mind sharpened and expanded as though he
could figure out potions that had puzzled him for years.

I
am not willing to live without this again.

�I should go check on Malfoy�
Potter muttered, and then whirled and trotted out of the lab.

Left to his own devices, for the
moment, Severus flicked his wand and quietly brought down the wards on
Spinner�s End, the ones that would prevent Apparition, Portkeys, or brooms from
entering the premises. Potter was not about to run away again, not before they
had time to talk.

And then his mind turned, with
energy that filled it like a skylark�s song filling the air, to the new facet
of the bond that had revealed itself to him.

To
have Potter close is desirable, as the emotions are stronger then. And if guilt
feels this good, one must wonder what pleasure would feel like. Joy.

The
body�s desire.

Severus let a small smile curve his
mouth, though the amusement was partially turned against himself. He suspected
he would regard the prospect with more horror later, when he had got used to
the emotions and was somewhat in his right mind.

For the moment, however, his major
thought was, Draco will not like this at
all.

*

Draco wasn�t stupid. The pain
eating him alive had faded the moment the bond opened again. And now that he
could hear Potter climbing the stairs towards his room, he had the temptation
to simply lie back on the bed and swim in the flashes of blue-black lightning
and ghostly landscapes that Potter opened in his mind.

But that was no reason to make it easy for him.

When the door opened, he was in the
perfect position to raise a brow and say acidly, �Finally figured out that
running away wasn�t the best thing you could have done?�

Potter snarled at him, and his
anger wheeled in a moment�Draco had a vision of an eagle�to strike out at a
perceived enemy instead of against himself. It was a whole new set of
sensations. Draco gasped, his hips snapping forwards once. He wanted so badly
to thrust, or even better to grab Potter by the shoulders and drag him close,
embrace him, run his fingers up to the skin behind his ears so he could feel
vicariously what it would be like when Potter squirmed�

He froze. What am I thinking?

Potter didn�t seem to have noticed
anything wrong, maybe because he hadn�t opened the bond back the other way so
he could feel Draco�s emotions. His face twisted, and he snapped, �I�m sorry, Malfoy, but I didn�t fucking know!�

Draco caught his breath and
swallowed as Potter moved a few steps closer. Who would have thought a short distance could make that much
difference? And his traitorous body again squirmed with the thought of what
would happen should Potter�s skin rest against his. Draco had thought a vivid
imagination a bad trait when he had to torture people at the Dark Lord�s
command, but it appeared it was even better for torturing himself.

�And ignorance is always a good
excuse for almost killing people,� he said, but he missed the bright tone that
would have made that one of his better efforts. His voice ended up sounding
full of this disgusting longing instead.

Potter eyed him in silence for long
moments, his arms folded. His anger turned back again, like a lightning bolt
stabbing his forehead for the crime of losing the scar. Then his face crumpled,
and his shoulders heaved, and for a horrified moment Draco thought he would
witness Harry Potter�s tears.

It made him uncomfortable, how
eager part of him was to see that.

Stupid
bloody bond, he thought, and shifted, though not hard enough to make Potter
look up�he hoped.

But then Potter jerked his head up
and spoke in a flat voice, his eyes fastened on the wall beyond Draco�s head.
�Yes, it�s a stupid excuse. I shouldn�t have done that. I�m sorry. Clearly the
bond is more complicated than I thought it was, and my plans to stay away but
still give you the benefits of the bond aren�t going to work.�

�You can�t stay away,� Draco said. �Are you mad?� He should have said
something stronger, he knew, something to sting, but he couldn�t. Maybe because
he knew that behind Potter�s supposedly emotionless eyes and voice was a
surging, leaping sea of panic and pain and self-loathing that felt familiar.
Draco had tasted it in the hospital wing. Apparently Potter spent most of his
time awake hating himself, at least at a low level of his thoughts.

Potter glared at him, and there was
pain behind his eyes and there was anger, and they fought so fiercely that
Draco saw them both as clashing waves of the same height and couldn�t tell
which would win. �You don�t like me,� he said. �I�m willing to stay here to
save your lives, but you can�t blame me for trying to keep out of your way as
much as possible. I thought, maybe a Homunculus��

�You�re so generous to us,� Draco
said, flopping back on his bed and turning his head away as if he had nothing
better to look at. He yawned delicately. �Or do you extend your bounty like
this to every person you nearly slaughter?�

�And this is exactly why I don�t
want to stay here!� Potter yelled. The anger won out over the pain, and Draco
saw the eagle again. He shivered. �Because you�ll insult me and never forgive
me, and it might be comfortable for you,
but it sure as fuck won�t be for me!
People keep telling me how important life-debts are, but it seems that the
person who owes them is entitled to all the consideration, and sod what that
consideration costs the person it�s owed to!� He turned around and punched his
fist into the wall.

Draco jumped and gasped at the
flash of pain that tore through his body, not so much because it hurt as
because of the intensity. Meanwhile, Potter made a disgusted sound and sat down
on the chair Draco had placed near the door. Draco glanced at him and saw him
running his hands wildly through his hair, tearing at individual strands,
making it stand on end even more than before.

Draco hadn�t known that was
physically possible.

�You nearly killed us,� Draco said,
and tried to keep his voice even and failed miserably. He�d never known how
volatile Potter was. His emotions shifted every second, and it would take Draco
a lot of time to adjust to them, like adjusting to being on a ship while it was
pitching around during a storm. �That�ll take a while to forgive.�

�A while?� Potter looked up and snorted, and the anger rolled back
again, drenching Draco in stabs of hot and cold. �I�m not stupid, Malfoy. I
know you won�t ever forgive me. You�ll just wait until I�ve almost forgotten
about it, and then mention it to make me feel guilty again.�

Draco sneered. �You�re stupid if
you think that the only emotion we want to feel from you is guilt.�

�You might think you can cause
something else, but you can�t.� Potter sounded exhausted now, and the image
Draco received was of a flat grey plain, covered with ashes. �Maybe you�ll even
try to, but you won�t succeed. I�m going to be uncomfortable for the rest of my
life.� And there was the hiss and crackle of self-loathing again, as if Potter
knew he sounded like a miserable whiner when he said those words and hated
himself for saying them.

�You�re giving up before we�ve even
properly started,� Draco said. �Before we�ve tried living together an hour,
right after a shock that gives us every right to be angry at you. Are you
always this into fatalism, Potter? I�m astounded that you lasted as long as you
did against the Dark Lord.�

Potter glared at him again, but the
anger was less than it had been, or else Draco was getting used to it.

�His name was Voldemort,� Potter said. �You might try mouthing it.�

Draco shook his head. He had some
balance now, and some understanding, and Potter wasn�t about to distract him.
�That isn�t important right now,� he said. �Reconciling you to the inevitable
is.�

�I�m reconciled,� Potter said
harshly. �You need me to live with you. You need me to share my emotions with
you. Those two things together will destroy my privacy. And then Snape said
something about sharing magical power. That�ll probably render me weaker than I
was. I�ll do it, because I�m the one who started these bonds in the first place,
but I�m not going to enjoy it. You can�t expect a prisoner to enjoy his prison.�
He stood up and turned to walk out of the room.

Draco felt well enough to wave his
wand and lock the door. Potter whirled around, his anger leaping through the
bond again. This time, Draco envisioned it as a beast rather like a red
kangaroo with long, drooping claws.

�Listen to me, Potter,� Draco said,
and then cast a Silencing Charm when Potter tried to speak anyway. The look of
outrage on Potter�s face was priceless, though Draco liked the slide of
honey-sweetness through the center of his chest even more. �If you�re
determined to make this intolerable for yourself, of course it will be. But
surely you see that it doesn�t have to
be? We can teach you things. We can make this house as comfortable as the
little flat you�re probably living in now, and less crowded than the
Weasleys�.� It was an effort to force himself to say the proper last name
instead of �Weasels,� but the whole point right now was not offending Potter. �And there�s no reason sharing magical power
has to make you weaker. If anything, it gives you a reservoir to draw on if
you�re in danger. And I think you�ll be in danger fairly often, if you�re
training to be an Auror.� He hesitated, then canceled the Silencing Charm.

�None of that makes up for the loss
of mental privacy,� Potter said. His eyes were a little wild. �I have enough
people spying on me already�reporters, fans, rogue Death Eaters. And now I have
to have two of the people who�ve always hated me in my head all the time.�

Draco shrugged. �I don�t see what
you�re objecting to. You can do the same thing to us. At least it�s equal.� He
had to swallow bitterness, then, as he remembered a condition of the bond. �Or
even tilted in your favor, because you�re the one who can shut the conduits
down and reopen them at will.�

Potter�s incredulity tasted like
blue lightning. �Do you think I�d do that again, when I know that you need the
conduits open to survive?�

At
least we can count on his stupid heroism, once it�s aroused, Draco thought
smugly. �You can still open them further,� he said. �You�ll feel our emotions
the same way we can feel yours.�

�No.� Potter folded his arms and
looked away. The phoenixes on his arms had a slight shine to them still. Draco
wondered how they must have blazed when Potter was receiving the warning that
Draco and Severus were dying, or whatever had really summoned him.

�Why not?� Draco held onto his temper with an effort. He was the one
offering all the options, and Potter was rejecting them, like an idiot.

But
then, he�s Potter. Of course he�s an idiot.

On
the other hand, since we depend on him to survive now, we�ll have to teach him
to be less of one.

�I�m not going to invade your
privacy just because you invaded mine,� Potter said bluntly. His mind roared
and surged and leaped again, and Draco was glad that he didn�t live inside
Potter�s skull. Absorbing those feelings secondhand was tiresome enough.

Draco immediately thought of three
ways he could take advantage of Potter�s moral goodness, but he attempted to
suppress his thoughts and focus on the immediate problem. �All right,� he said.
�No one can force you to. But you should know that, as long as you�re with us
and willing to spend the money, we can buy a more comfortable house. And our
paths don�t have to cross all the time. Just enough to keep us healthy.�

Potter eyed him, his emotions
swinging back into a quiet sea. Draco wondered if there was a sun shining on
it, too, and fought the urge to giggle. �That�s the first sensible thing you�ve
said all day, Malfoy.� He took a breath and shifted closer to the bed. �I had
another idea, too. If I fight for your names to be cleared completely, then you
can take your own jobs and have more choices. And then you won�t have to spend
as much time contemplating the bond and nothing but the bond.�

Draco narrowed his eyes. That last
thing seemed like an odd consequence for Potter to hope would come out of their
increased freedom and time outside the house. Of course, he�s seeing all this time in terms of himself, which is
natural for someone as selfish as he is. I shouldn�t be surprised.

�We�ll have to talk to Severus
about this,� he said, and stood. It was the first time in days that he had
moved somewhere with a purpose, he thought absently as he stepped past Potter
and opened the door. The increasing closeness of the other boy made him shudder
and struggle to keep his expression blank. Suddenly the emotions seemed to
flood him completely instead of staying in a separate bundle at the back of his
head. �Sit down as�� He hesitated. �Well, sit down all together and talk about
this.�

Potter nodded. Maybe he thought his
face was tightly controlled, but Draco had access to the soft, subtle rub of
hope, like sheer silk, behind it. �Yes, all right. Surely we can settle on something that will keep us away from
each other as much as possible.�

And
you are still focused on that, Draco thought, shaking his head in slight
disgust. If he felt better the closer he was to Potter, Severus would feel the
same. Draco couldn�t see him agreeing to a schedule that would keep them in
different parts of the house or awake at different hours.

�Surely,� was all he said aloud,
and then he followed Potter out the door, noting absently that he had grown a
little more certain of himself since Draco saw him last. He had a purposeful
stride that made his Auror trainee�s robes swish about him, anyway.

*

�A Homunculus Charm will not work,�
Snape said, with the kind of flat tone that Harry had dreaded when he was still
a student serving detentions. He reminded himself that he was no longer a child,
and forced himself to meet Snape�s eyes evenly. �We need your physical
presence. Among other things, the impact of the emotions lessens when you are
further away, and I doubt that you want to test the bond with distance right
now.�

Harry shuddered. �No.� The memory
of Malfoy�s scream was still with him.

He
had caused that. He would have to remember that, and keep it in mind when
he was tempted to break away from all the demands Snape and Malfoy were heaping
on him.

But, at the same time, he felt a
wild resentment that he would have to give up so much he�d counted on having.
Privacy, space, quiet. A set of rooms that for the first time in his life he
didn�t have to share with anyone. A bed he could make love to Ginny on.

Snape grimaced, and Harry abruptly
remembered that they could read his memories, if not his thoughts. He cleared
his throat and tried to push on despite his flaming cheeks and Malfoy�s
snickers. �All right. How many hours would I have to spend with you every day,
then? Auror training is demanding. I can�t be here all the time.�

�I understand that,� Snape said
calmly. Malfoy was sitting straight up and giving Harry an offended look that
said he didn�t. Harry rolled his eyes
at him, and Malfoy promptly looked away and snapped his mouth shut. He seemed
determined to prove that he could be more mature than Harry if it killed him.
At least it made him a touch more pleasant to be around. �The nights and one hour
each during the morning and evening should be sufficient, I believe.�

Harry relaxed minutely. That was
far more tolerable than the imprisonment he�d envisioned, stewing in his room
whilst Snape and Draco did their self-contained activities, never able to go
outside without one of them complaining at him.

See?
You can work this out, Hermione
would probably say. This isn�t going to
be the end of your life.

And Harry now felt a little silly
thinking it would have been. He still didn�t like them in his head and his
space, but with his being at Auror training most of the day and Snape and
Malfoy busy with their own pursuits, at least the time they�d have to annoy
each other would be limited.

�I�m sorry I reacted the way he
did.� Harry rushed through the apology so he could say he�d done it and moved
on to something more important. �And the magic sharing? I don�t know how we�re
going to accomplish that.�

�We could force the bonds open all
the way,� Malfoy suggested, with an eagerness in his voice that made Harry
certain that would hurt. The sadistic little git was probably looking forward
to his pain.

�In a traditional bond, so we
could.� Snape leaned forwards, and Harry thought his words were meant at least
as much for Malfoy as for Harry. �But this bond is unlike normal ones in many
different ways. Among other things, the tendency to hunger means that we must
be sure we do not simply consume Mr.
Potter�s magic.�

�Yeah, I�d like that, thanks,�
Harry said tersely. Snape had explained about the Horcrux in him�and wasn�t that something he would have liked to
have known about before now�giving them a hunger for his emotions. �I�d like
not to end up a Squib.�

Malfoy gave him a superior look.
Harry didn�t know what about. He rolled his eyes again and focused on Snape.
Incredible as it seemed, he was being more tolerable about this than Malfoy
was. �So what do we do?�

�There are potions that could help
us,� Snape said meditatively, �but their effect is temporary. I would not want
to renew the dose every few days, as it would mean I would brew nothing else.�
Harry experienced a small throb of satisfaction at that. Snape showed some
inclination to focus on things besides Harry, then, which would make it easier
to keep him at a distance. �An anchored spell would make more sense.�

�Anchored spell?� Harry said, when
both of the other two stayed silent. Malfoy looked as baffled as he was, but he
was too cowardly to admit his ignorance, so Harry would.

�A spell embedded in something and
meant to be permanent,� Snape answered, �such as the magic that guarded the
Dark Lord�s Horcruxes or the spells on the Sword of Gryffindor. Technically,
those are called artifact enchantments, whilst the ones on human bodies are
anchored spells, but that is a pedant�s distinction without merit.� He
continued whilst Harry was still choking over the idea of Snape rejecting a pedant�s distinction. �In
this case, more than one thing makes me believe that an anchored spell would be
best. They usually require an addition to the body to function, such as a
wound.� He held up his left arm, where the phoenix shone. �We have powerful
magical symbols on us already.�

Harry stared down at his own
entwining of phoenix parts and nodded. �All right. But I have one more
question.�

�Only one?� Malfoy taunted. �You�re
slowing down.�

Harry opened his mouth to retort,
but he was behind Snape, who gave Malfoy a glance of cold disdain and said, �We
should work together if we wish to do more than survive, Draco.�

It was worth not completely
understanding Snape�s words�of course they should be working together if they
wanted to just survive, let alone do anything more�to watch the way Malfoy
flushed and dropped his eyes. Harry cleared his throat to draw attention back
to himself. �What happens if two or all of us are trying to draw on each
other�s magic at the same time? If I�m in danger and reach for the power to
cast a hard curse when you�re brewing, for example? Would that cause a problem?
I don�t want to do anything that will let people down when I�m an Auror or make
it more dangerous for them to be
around me.�

Snape examined him in a silent,
judging way for a while, which made Harry wonder what hidden mistakes his words
contained. But Snape nodded. �The spell I intend to use can sense more urgent
need. If you could possibly lose your life, the magic would circulate to you,
as opposed to remaining for my potions project.�

Harry nodded and searched his mind
for another objection, but couldn�t find anything. And he was going to try to
live with this. He had promised. He rose to his feet. �Let�s do this, then.�

�You must cast the spell, as the
one who forged and wields the bonds,� Snape murmured. He moved towards Harry,
halting a few inches away. �I will teach you the incantation and the wand
movements. Lift your wand.�

Harry did. Snape went on staring at
him, eye to eye. Harry wondered if he was using Legilimency, and then decided
it didn�t matter. The bonds granted him a more intimate access into Harry�s
mind than Legilimency ever could, and that access was permanent.

Harry shut his eyes for a moment
and shuddered.

�You are deeply distressed at the
thought of sharing yourself with someone.� Snape�s voice was slow and deep. His
fingers landed on top of Harry�s, trailing up his wrist to the fingertips. �Why
is that?�

�I don�t like it,� Harry said
shortly. Snape�s eyebrow went up as though he could sense some other answer
behind the one Harry had actually given him. Harry ignored that. The short
words he�d spoken would do for Snape. �Now, what is the spell?�

�Communico veneficium usque,� Snape breathed. He was close enough
now that Harry could smell that
breath. He shuddered a little. He had always assumed that Snape would stink of
dead and rotting things, but instead it was as if he�d been chewing a few of
the more pleasant-smelling leaves he used in his potions.

And then Snape�s fingers slid over
his hand again, and Harry took a step back. Snape didn�t need to stand quite so close, and he�d said nothing
about the bond requiring physical contact, instead of just Harry staying in the
same house with them, so he didn�t see any reason to offer it.

�Communico veneficium usque,� he said, doing his best to imitate
Snape�s cadence and pronunciation.

Then he gasped. A shivery warm
sensation spread through the phoenix marks on his arms, nothing like the
burning that had told him Snape and Malfoy were in danger. It felt as if he
were submerging his arms in the Prefects� Bath. Harry shuddered and bent at the
waist, trying not to show weakness, trying to grimace so that they would take
the expression on his face for pain, and perfectly aware that they could read
his emotions all the same, and probably his physical sensations.

Malfoy gasped, too. Harry looked at
him and saw him writhing on the sofa as he�d writhed in the bedroom upstairs.
Harry swallowed and looked away queasily, only to catch Snape�s eye. His
expression was a rictus, lips pulled back from the teeth in what could have
been a snarl or a smile. He didn�t seem to know how to deal with what he was
feeling.

Fountains of golden light rose from
all three of their phoenix marks and then settled back into the bodies. Harry
felt heavy, as if he�d eaten a large meal. He raised his wand without thinking
about it and murmured, �Lumos.�

The burst of light that tore
through the room nearly blinded him. Malfoy cried out and said something about
�warning someone, you imbecile.�
Snape, on the other hand, simply moved nearer and closed his fingers into a
ring around Harry�s wrist.

�I believe it works,� he whispered.

Harry shuddered again, this time
because Snape�s breath brushed his ear. He was good and sensitive there, as
Ginny had already discovered. He stepped back again, pulling free of Snape�s
grasp. Snape let him go slowly, opening the ring of his fingers so that his
nails brushed Harry�s skin on the way off. Harry glared at him in puzzlement.
He would almost accuse Snape of touching him like a lover, except that that
was, well, ridiculous. Why in the world would Snape want to do that? He would have mentioned it if they had to�to touch
or something.

�Yeah,� Harry said, and damped the Lumos. �Well. Good.� He looked at Snape.
�I�m going to go back to the Ministry and talk to the Minister now, if he�ll
see me. I want to get your names cleared so we can buy a house and go around in
public more easily.�

�That would be welcome, of course,�
Snape said, in a careful voice that Harry didn�t understand. �There are many
potions ingredients I find it difficult or impossible to obtain whilst I am
still under suspicion like this.�

�Yeah, and it�s not fair to either
of you.� Harry nodded quickly to Malfoy, making sure that he didn�t make eye
contact with the git. He would probably be smirking, enjoying Harry�s
embarrassment from Snape�s touch. �I wouldn�t feel right about being the only
one who can leave the house on a regular basis.�

�A sense of fairness,� Snape said,
and then cut himself off as though the half-sentence made sense, gazing at
Harry in an expectant manner.

Harry coughed, cleared his throat,
and then said, �Well, see you tomorrow,� and turned and walked out of the house,
the wards parting easily to let him out.

He breathed more easily in the
clear air of Spinner�s End. Yes, it was dirty from the town�s factories, but at
least he wasn�t around Snape and Malfoy.

He sighed and shook his head,
thinking of the many things he had to do: speak to the Minister about clearing
Snape and Malfoy�s names, ask Hermione about the magical theory behind the
bond, reassure Ginny that she wouldn�t be less important to him even though they
were living apart, and begin setting up the barriers that would ensure Snape
and Malfoy never got any closer to him than they needed to. That would probably
involve learning something about potions and something about the Quidditch
openings around Britain, so that he would sound informed about things they
liked to do and better able to persuade them to do it.

Hermione�ll
probably ask me why I�m so adamant on staying away from them.

And
I know the answer. To make my own life more tolerable. I don�t care how
necessary it is; I�m not going to live with people who insult me all the time
and do everything they can to make me feel miserable. The Dursleys were bad
enough. A hostile Snape and Malfoy would be a nightmare. I�ll inspire them to
do other things, be as polite as I can around them, and show that I�m just�a
thing in their lives. After a while, when they get used to treating my emotions
and the shared magic as part of the background, it should get easier.

Harry relaxed and nodded to
himself. Yes, all right, he could do this. He couldn�t avoid it, so he would
endure it. As Snape said, he would work out how they could all survive.

And he would live in the hours he spent away from the house, the times when he
was around his friends and the Weasleys and Ginny and the Auror instructors.

Feeling considerably more hopeful
than he had when he arrived, Harry Apparated.

*

�I saw that.� Draco was
incredulous, folding his arms and vibrating with energy instead of leaning
languidly on the walls as he had before Potter came. �The way you were touching him. What was that all about?�

Severus watched him in thoughtful
silence. Revealing the truth now might frighten and infuriate Draco, but if he
figured it out on his own, then he would distrust Severus more than he
currently did.

And Severus did not want that. To
do more than merely sustain the bond, to live through it and exploit it to its
proper potential, every single relationship between the three of them had to be
strong. He would not seduce Draco as openly as he would seduce Potter, who
would probably not be able to name his motions seduction until some considerable time had passed, but he would
still do it.

And
the first step in overcoming Draco�s distrust and my own distaste for the
thought of sleeping with a child is to treat him as an adult.

�You cannot have failed to consider
what would happen should Potter feel pleasure, and we feel that with him,� he
said, flattering Draco�s intelligence and speaking the truth at the same time.

Draco�s eyelashes fluttered.
Severus suspected he was imagining how good he would feel if that happened, and
trying to prevent himself from having a physical reaction.

�I�yes,� he said. His voice had
dropped into a huskiness that Severus found far more attractive than anything
he had ever noticed about Draco, in part because he was now encouraging himself
to find things about Draco and Potter attractive. �But he has a girlfriend.
What makes you think that he�ll consent to sleep with the two of us, and men
besides?� His voice was muffled at the end, and he turned away.

Severus smiled faintly. He could
feel Potter�s determination surging through him like surf. Perhaps that made
his own perceptions keener, but he knew what Draco�s last statement meant. He
hated the thought of being bested by anyone else, especially a Weasley.

And
I suspect he will not need much encouragement to be jealous over Potter.

�Because we can offer him more than
others can,� Severus said simply, �thanks to the bond. We must simply prove
that.� He paused, but Draco kept looking away and didn�t react, so he had to
add, �You can start by being more pleasant to him.�

�He wouldn�t believe in it,� Draco
muttered.

�Potter has an immense�an almost
silly�capacity for forgiveness,� Severus said. �No, he will not believe it at
first, but he will if it is repeated often enough. And being pleasant to him
will become natural to you, too, if you repeat it often enough.� He paused,
then continued, a bit more sharply, �Unless you think you�re simply constitutionally
incapable of it, and that I alone should sleep with him��

�No!� Draco whipped around, his
fists clenched. �If we�re going to do this, then I�m in it as an equal partner.�

And
there is the man I was looking for. That flare in Draco�s eyes was not
simply the mulish stubbornness that still drove Potter, but the will of a committed
adult. Severus nodded to him with a faint smile. �Very well. Then, when he next
returns, be pleasant to him and see what happens.�

Draco opened his mouth to protest,
then swallowed. At least he saw when he had been trapped, and had the
graciousness not to protest. �All right.� He paused, then continued in a
yearning voice. �Do you think he can really get our names cleared?�

�It may take time, but yes, I do.�
Severus allowed himself a moment�s smugness then. If he had to be marked again,
and bonded forcibly�and accidentally�into an arrangement where he needed
another�s emotions simply to survive, then he could have had much worse
partners than the Chosen One, with all his power and fame behind him.

Potter would never use that fame in
ways that he morally disapproved of. But Severus believed they would become
close enough over time that neither Severus nor Draco would need him to.

�� A vision
was in his mind, the way it often was when he worked on a potion for the first
time and envisioned the completed product. He saw the situation as it was at
the moment, and the situation as it would be, when they were comfortable,
settled in their bonds, and joined in all the ways that could bring all three of them the most pleasure and
profit.

�� It was the
first vision of happiness that he remembered having which had some chance of
lasting. Severus intended to hold onto it.

*

�� ColdWater:
Thank you! Though Harry�s given in on basic points, there are more struggles
coming up.

�� qwerty: Harry
feels bad enough about what he did to do what must be done, but yes, anything beyond that would be a tough sell.
Even with the Pensieve memory.

�� Ginny is
going to be frantic when she figures out where the bond might be tending.

�� Yami
Bakura: No problem! I�m glad to see you again, and hope that your original
writing is going well.

�� Emily
Waters: Thanks! I should mention that, while Harry is in control of the bonds,
he�s not going to be in control of all aspects of the relationship. There are
technically four relationships here�Snape/Draco, Harry/Draco, Harry/Snape, and
all three�and they�re going to change constantly in emphasis, in power, and in
control. Because it�s more fun that way. ;)

�� Caldonya:
Thanks! It doesn�t help that the bonds will cause so much more pain to Snape
and Draco than to Harry, of course, but them�s the breaks.

�� DTDY: Thank
you!
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