Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

The Cost of Living	By : LadyHemlock27 Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Snape/Draco Views: 19812 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter and I make no money from this fic

Chapter List
- 2
- 3
A/N Well this part gets a lot lighter. Some of this short bit is a little bit from what was originally posted, but some of it is new! Also taking votes on what should happen to the snakelings involved in the last part of this. I am sorry this is short, but I'll be adding more soon. Feel free to wheedle more and/or threaten me with dementors here, http://www2.adult-fanfiction.org/forum/index.php/topic/52086-review-replies-and-comments-for-cost-of-living/
A/N 11/13 Added more as promised. Still taking votes on what should happen to the little snakes. Just because Sev's turned mushy doesn't mean I have. ;)
*****
Draco didn’t bother sitting up, he just lay there sobbing. He couldn’t stop crying enough to scream. He cried for a very long time while Severus could only sit next to him. Finally he pulled himself upright and looked at his master. “Please, please let me take a bath.”
“Of course, dragon; but let me heal you up a bit and give you a calming draught. Then we’ll go take a bath.” Severus told him.
The exhausted youth could only nod. “I don’t suppose it would be wise to Obliviate me would it?”
His throat tight, the potions master shook his head. “No, dragon, the Dark Lord will expect to see these memories in your mind often. He enjoys the fact that you’ll never be free from them. Besides I have found that Obliviations tend to only drive horrible memories deeper into the subconscious mind where they fuck you up in your sleep.”
Gray, tear-filled eyes met black. “You were right about my wanting you to go first. I think it’s the only reason I’m still marginally sane.” He shook his head, “I can’t do that again. Kill me if you must, but don’t let him have me ever again, master, please.”
Snape winced, though he was technically Draco’s master, the title appealed to him not at all currently. “He won’t. If it comes even close to that I’ll get us both out. Even that meddling old coot can’t expect you to endure this again for his precious war,” he said, eyes glittering. “But tell me, dragon, is there anyone you would like for me to share you with? I think we both enjoyed that aspect.”
Draco blushed and swallowed hard. “Let me think about that later please, I’m about to be sick, sir.” He stood up slowly, swaying and then stumbled to the bathroom where he fell to his knees over the toilet, retching. He was crying again and burning hot when he heard Sev come in and lay a cold cloth on his neck. “Thank you and I’m sorry for the trouble I’m causing, sir.”
“Draco, please just keep calling me Sev when he’s not around. Or Severus if you must, surely by now you know how much love I have for you. And you aren’t causing me trouble; this is a perfectly reasonable reaction to rape, torture and abuse.” He held out a calming draught mixed with a stomach settler. “Drink this, dragon, and we’ll get the baths going. Candy can start dinner and Lance can go to the manor and get you some clothes while we do. After that you can get some sleep until its time to eat.”
Draco took the potion and swallowed it gratefully. Blearily he recalled that he was supposed to ask his new master what he was to wear. “Lance said I should ask you what you wish for me to wear, sir. I almost forgot.” He shook with the effort to stand up from the tile floor in front of the toilet.
Severus braced the boy’s arm, holding him up “When not in the potions lab you may wear whatever you wish. In the potions lab I expect you to wear nothing too loose, all natural fabrics only with no exposed skin other than your hands. Remember potions are chemicals, dragon, as well as magic. They are doubly dangerous.”
Draco listened to Sev fall into lecture mode and giggled, a little hysterically. “Like you.”
Severus grinned suddenly, “Just for that, dragon, you can wear more filmy robes at night.” But he wasn’t really upset, more relieved, if the boy could still make jokes then he might be alright yet.
“Tonight, I just want to feel clean again. I don’t even care what you do to me anymore. It won’t be worse.” Draco shuddered, flinching a little at Severus’ firm grip on his arm.
Severus took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Dragon, I can never make this up to you, but there was just no time to come up with a better plan.” He finally swept Draco up into his arms, ignoring the weak struggles. “Shh… Its over for now, I’ve got you.” He turned the faucet on with a mental flick. He set the boy down, and began rummaging through his bottles of various soaps, oils and things. His fingers finally touched what he looked for- a very strong relaxation brew with lavender, chamomile and even the tiniest bit of psychotropic powder. He poured a good amount into the tub and swirled it around.
Draco bit back a shriek as the hot water hit his torn and sore flesh, but the vapors from Sev’s magic bath oil soothed him so deeply he nearly fell asleep right then. He barely noted it when the other man slid in with him. “Whas this?” he mumbled.
“The strongest calming bath preparation I know and the medium grade calming potion are combining to drug you nearly senseless.” Severus reached out and stroked a wet, limp arm. “In a moment I’m adding healing potions to the water and before you know it you’ll be fine again, physically.”
Draco was staring at Severus’ cock. He suddenly wanted to suck on it, to wash the memory of Voldemort’s scaly tentacle-like one from his mouth. But he could barely keep his eyes open, could barely move. In his drowsy state he mumbled “Potter, master. If I have to serve anyone but you, I want it to be him. Merlin knows he deserves it too.”
Severus much more used to the drugging effects of the bath smirked, and began to wash Draco’s body, lingering a little longer over the boy’s cock, and then his fingers drifted lower to see if he should apply healing unguent to the torn flesh of the boy’s anus.
Draco couldn’t even flinch, though he recoiled mentally. It made him wonder if he would ever be able to really enjoy sex again. “Why- why are you doing that?
“To see how bad the damage is; and to find out if I should apply a dose of healing ointment directly to it.” But he drew his hand up to cup those balls and that cock. “This is just because I want to though. You still want me, dragon, and are already trying to harden again. The wonders of being a teenaged boy,” Severus laughed gently. “Later, I’m going to play with you again to remind you whose you are and that I can make you feel so good too.”
“Yes,” the boy hissed, “I want you to fuck my mouth and make me forget him, please?” Draco couldn’t believe he still wanted anything to do with sex, but he did anyway. Just not until he’d gotten a kip.
“I will, dragon, we’ll play after dinner. You’ll be sore still, but I know you’ll do what I tell you anyway.” Sev crooned, “I know you’ll take anything for me, just like I told him. You liked it when I told him that didn’t you?” He stood up and stepped out of the tub, leaning over to pick Draco up once more, a soft gasp escaping his lips as their flesh slid wet and hot together. He wrapped the nearly sleeping boy in a towel and carried him to bed, noting the clean sheets. One of the elves had cleaned up the room while they’d bathed.
Severus gave orders for a late dinner and crawled in beside Draco to sleep. But sleep didn’t come right away, so the older man took the opportunity to ponder the boy’s surprising choice in alternate lovers. He could, perhaps, advise Draco to use his willingness to serve the Potter boy sexually as a way to gain entry to Dumbledore’s inner circle, though of course even that meddler would, if worse came to worse, still protect Draco, just as he’d offered that fateful night on the Astronomy tower. But the innermost group would have a better chance of survival because the safe house at Grimmauld was under fidelis charms.
Draco came awake slowly, swimming up from the darkness lazily. But once fully aware, he jerked upright and stared around the dark room wildly. Something wasn’t quite right, the air hummed with strangeness. His straining eyes finally lit upon a lump by the door that was a darker shadow than the rest. He slid out of the bed, surprised to note that he felt completely healed, Sev’s potions were even more effective than rumored. “Lumos,” he whispered, praying that his master would not have barred such a simple spell. Even without a wand, that spell should work.
The room flooded with light and he stared, blinking at Severus’ crumpled form. “Candy, Lance,” he called, his voice tight with sudden terror, “Come here.” He didn’t turn towards the two soft pops he heard, focusing instead on the unconscious older man. “Do you know what happened?”
Behind the young Lord, the elves’ eyes met. “He’s been knocked out with a sleep spell. Have a devil of a headache when he wakes up.” Lance reported, “We have the ones who did it locked up in the dining room.”
Draco’s jaw clenched, “And who was it that did this, why didn’t you stop them?” He turned to glare at the two elves.
Candy shrugged, “We can’t be everywhere at once, young Lord. I was plating dinner and Lance was getting your evening clothes from the Manor. When the wards twanged, we recognized the magic, so we didn’t worry none, until we heard them talking about it after we added place settings.”
The blond youth made a concentrated effort to not scream in frustration. “Well get him into the bed at least, and go floo Madam Pomfrey. She’s likely to be the only one he’ll trust. And who was the unfortunate idiot that will have to face Sev’s wrath when he regains consciousness?” He knew it had to be some kind of school boy prank or some such, because if any of Severus’ true enemies had done it, they would not have used a sleeping spell.
Candy winced, “They’re your friends, Mister Blaise and Miss Pansy, that’s why we didn’t hurt them, or call the aurors.” She twisted the hem of her apron in her hands, “We don’t dare wake him up; we don’t know what they used.”
Lance laid Severus out on the bed, wand on his chest so that the wizard would be able to find it quickly. “We’ll take you to them if you want, but you’d better wait to find out what your master wants you to do before letting them go.”
“They assaulted him,” Draco rolled his eyes, “I wouldn’t dare,” the youth whispered, shivering violently. “Yes please take me to them; I need to find out what’s made them do this. Don’t they realize what”- the boy swallowed hard. This would not be a pleasant evening for any of them. Merlin help him if Sev thought he was in on it!
Severus watched Draco’s panicked reaction with some amusement. He’d learned the trick of spirit walking some time ago, although he’d not really had much reason to use it. But now he could see exactly how loyal to him Draco really was, an unexpected benefit to his momentary lapse. Those two little snakes, he thought fondly, I’ll certainly be punishing them, though not as severely as I would have if they hadn’t had such good reason, or worse had failed. He shook his head with a little eye roll. Failure was not tolerated in their world, even without the Dark Lord, but he could understand protecting a friend.
He drifted along behind Draco unseen, except maybe by the elves, who wouldn’t say anything about it.
Three barely grown snakelings were gathered around a small dining room table set with place settings from Malfoy Manor brought over by Candy. “What the hell were you thinking? Do you have any idea what kind of trouble I’ll be in when he wakes up?” Draco couldn’t stop shivering. “He owns me, Blaise, and not just because of the Dark Lord. He was my parent’s choice for my-my…” he trailed off, his face bright red.
Blaise looked a little ill, his face a slightly green tone. “This reminds me of why my family stayed out of this mess. If it weren’t for you two I’d go back to Italy to weather this.”
Pansy blinked. “Oh dear Merlin your family is very traditional, Drakey.” She shook her head, “You’re a little too young for that normally though, aren’t you?”
The pale blond pushed his food around sulkily. “How should I know? I didn’t know anything about it until Mother told me last night.” He took a hasty drink of his wine. After this clusterfuck of a night, he was certainly taking advantage of his master’s leniency about drinking.
Blaise, much more used to good wine with meals took the bottle away with a shake of his head. “No more tonight, Draco. No problem was ever made better by intoxication.”
“Anyway, we just wanted to make sure you were safe. We’ve decided to throw in with Potter, although I’m likely to be…disowned.” Pansy whispered it, ashen-faced. “But the Dark Lord has become a monster; he’s insane and clearly no longer has loyalty or sense- and my father has been talking about making me… you know, with the Dark Lord...”
“I’ll take care of you Pans,” Blaise murmured, “Mama has taken no sides, remember? My family and the other Pureblood families on the continent, will weather this no matter which side wins.”
Draco drained his glass and scrubbed his face. ‘I don’t think the Dark Lord is the sort to forgive equivocating. He’ll consider anyone who was not right there with him to be against him.”
“That spell we used won’t hold him long, so if you want to run away with us to that Order that Weasley and Potter are always talking about, we’d best get going.” Pansy muttered. “I’ll never be able to eat or drink anything without testers again,” she swallowed hard. “Drakey, are you really alright?”
Sev chuckled silently on the spirit plane. He looked right at Lance, and waved the elf over. “Can you see and hear me?”
The elf gave a little nod, and a slight snicker.
“Good, I want you to detain these two until I wake up. I think a small punishment is in order, but then I will help to extricate Pansy from her imminent future as the Dark Lord’s bearer.”
Lance put up a nursery shield that would prevent the three young people from leaving the premises, and from using any potentially dangerous spells except in defense. He could comfort his terrified young master; reassure the youth that Severus wasn’t really angry. But he wouldn’t, because it would be best if the young master learned early about the consequences and benefits of his new role.
“Well we won’t leave you to face his wrath alone,” Blaise winced. “It didn’t really occur to me that you might be punished for our actions. We’ll make sure he knows that you had nothing to do with it before we decamp to Dumbledore.”
Draco stared, “Dumbledore is dead. That’s why the Dark Lord gave me to Severus, remember? Because I failed and he succeeded.”
Pansy rolled her eyes. “Don’t tell me you actually believe that! If he were dead, wouldn’t everyone be rushing to kiss the Dark Lord’s robes? There must still be some hope. They can’t really be relying on a seventeen year old boy to best you-know-who.”
Slightly tipsy, and as sure of his friends’ loyalty as he was of Severus’, Draco grinned. “Sev will know. And that gives me an idea. Any, any you guys have a soda pop before? He’s bloody untouchable Pans, he’s got muggle stuff here, and the Dark Lord knows.”
The black haired girl blinked. “Well I guess it makes sense. Know thy enemy and all that. Uh I mean, I guess if we’re joining Dumbles we need to stop thinking of muggles and mud- muggle-borns as our enemies.”
Draco shook his head, eyes gleaming, “No, no, you got to try it. This soda stuff is- it’s better than butter beer!”
Blaise rolled his eyes, “Well you’d best skip it tonight, you don’t need even the littlest bit more alcohol. Why are you drinking anyway, and so much?”
“Sev…gave me some earlier before…before”, and with that the horrid memories flooded him and Draco fell sobbing forward nearly into his plate. “I-I-I don’t think its alcoholic,” he cast his teary gaze over to Candy, “Is muggle soda alcoholic?”
Candy merely shook her head, eyes dark with sympathy. “I’ll bring you and your friends some.”
Severus watched the scene unfold with horror. There was nothing he could offer Draco in the way of comfort, nor in reminders to be certain of the loyalty of his friends before blabbing their allegiance to all and sundry. He felt a sharp tug and knew his spirit walk was almost over, and that he would be forcibly thrust back into his body so that he would be able to actually rest. Just long enough to get his true reaction to me please, dear Merlin, the potions master mumbled to himself. But darkness sucked him down and he knew nothing else.
Slowly, a word or two at a time, Draco told his two friends about what had happened to him that day.
“Eww, I cannot believe you had to do that, oh Merlin it was scaly and moved, like on its own?” Pansy shuddered, beyond grateful to be escaping such a fate herself “Now you know why I’m so picky about whom I do that for though.” She wrinkled her nose, “Some wizards should bathe more if they want any decent witch to give those favors.”
“What’s it like, being with a bloke?” Blaise asked, watching Draco fill a glass goblet with that soda stuff with shaking hands.
Pansy smacked Blaise’s arm, “He’s crying you silly twat, what do you think it was like?”
“It’s…awful and utterly amazing.” Draco raised his cup to his lips and drank. “It hurts so badly, but then wow! Just…unbelievable.” He shivered, remembering Sev’s promise to play tonight, and how that plan might change from play to serious punishment because of tonight’s little fracas. “If we survive tonight, we get to plan my coming of age party though,” he tried to sound happy.
Pansy smiled, almost gently. It was almost the same smile his mother had, Draco realized. “Professor Snape won’t really hurt you, Drakey. I think he’s a better man than anyone knows, and I think he’s mad about you.”
“Pans, he’s bigger than me…everywhere. I won’t survive if he fucks me pissed.”
Blaise cringed, “I am sorry, it wasn’t a very well thought out plan. Are you certain you wish to stay here and serve him?” At Draco’s tipsy nod, the other youth sighed. “Well we can’t leave him to face whatever penalty alone, Pansy, we have to stay until we can explain.”
The snap of apparition brought Draco’s reply up short, and the terrified young man slowly looked up, his wide, trembling gray eyes meeting solid black ones. “Good evening sir,” he whispered, twisting his hands in his lap.
“Good evening. Draco, pour me a glass,” Severus replied, his voice a little rough from the spell. “Zabini, Parkinson, explain your idiotic behavior before I do something much worse than taking house points.”
Draco stood, swaying a bit. “D-do you want w-wine or s-soda?” He shook all over, knowing that his only chance to save them would be to offer his master something to distract him.
Severus let his gaze soften a bit. “The soda is fine, dragon,” he replied, taking his chair at the head of the table. He shook his head with a sigh, “Zabini, I know you drink. Why did you let Draco get so drunk? He’s going to spill the soda in my lap any moment now.”
“He seemed to need it sir,” the younger man answered with a cool glare. “And if he does spill that crap on you, blame me because it’s the least either of us deserves, isn’t it?”
Severus allowed himself a wry grin. “A valid point, and not even on your head, at least in my case, but what have you done?”
“Took a chance on getting him blamed for attacking you,” inserted Pansy, her voice soft and wavering slightly. “Everyone would have been after him then.”
Draco poured his master a glass silently; proud that he didn’t really spill any of the liquid. “Anything else, master?” Draco slurred; a slight emphasis on the anything.
Grumbling under his breath, Severus gave up his plan to scare the twits and punish them. He couldn’t let Draco continue to fear for his beloved friends on his account. He rolled his eyes. “Since my apprentice can’t keep his mouth shut, he should have a seat. We have a lot to discuss before you decide where to run off to.”
Draco slumped into the chair the older man patted, giddy from sudden relief. He had been able to tell exactly when Sev’s dangerous mood had flipped, though he wasn’t sure what it would later cost him.
“I knew all along he wasn’t involved.” Severus took his dragon’s limp and shaking hand in his. “Draco would never do something like that against his family’s wishes. I was going to do punish the two of you, but… I have decided that would pain him more than either of you.”
Pansy stared at the dark wizard. “He’s nearly broken because of you and that mad man. Don’t do anything else to him, please!” She lowered her voice, choking on a hot, hard lump of tears in her throat. “He can’t take anymore.”
“If you want to help, you should know that the Order is a little harder to find than you’d suppose. I will have to bring you to a meeting myself, and I will have to vouch for you, and you will still have to prove yourselves, because I’m not really a popular person right now. But it’s nothing I wasn’t going to do for Draco anyway.” Snape told the three young snakes.
“What sort of things will we need to do to prove our loyalties have changed? Or in my case, only just now formed?” Blaise took a drink of the black liquid Draco had been in so much awe of, and stared at the legendary dark wizard watching him. This man wasn’t Professor Snape anymore; something had fallen away like a mask.
“You may end up taking a blood oath of some sort. But it won’t involve any designer tattoos or bearing the Dark Lord’s babies at least,” Snape shrugged. “I don’t know what will be asked of you, but you will be able to stay either here or at Headquarters and be mostly protected, you’ll get to see Draco every day and know how he’s doing.” His black eyes narrowed. “Don’t mistake me- I am only offering this because he needs you. He’s been forced onto a terrible and demanding path, with no escape except to finish the course or die.”
“We don’t care,” Pansy declared, “Whatever it is, if I help get rid of the Dark Lord; I’m game.” And like all good boyfriends, Blaise nodded his agreement. “You really won’t hurt him because- because of what we did?”
“No I won’t hurt any of you, Miss Parkinson. But you’re not going to like me for much longer.” He smirked, “You won’t be offering me special enticements for better grades anymore.”
Pansy blushed and took a hasty gulp of her drink. She noticed the darkening gazes of her male companion and hastily mumbled “He never took me up on it.” She shook her head, “He never even gave me any indication he’d noticed my offers.”
“Surprisingly enough, Miss Parkinson, I do have a smidgeon of tarnished honor left to me. Taking advantage of a student isn’t something I would do normally. Draco is here with me now only because the Dark Lord commanded it, and it would have been stupid to let him fall into someone else’s grasp. Otherwise he would have come to apprentice with me at twenty one and I would do his coming of age as would be usual.”
“It’s further proof of the Dark Lord’s degeneration into madness. No pureblood family would ever consider eighteen to be adult enough to begin doing the things that creature has been expecting.” Pansy sniffed, “It’s indecent.”
“On that we agree.” Severus rubbed his eyes with a weary sigh. “So your idiotic actions earlier were the prelude to taking Draco to the Order to hide out? It’s because you wanted to spare him that I’m sparing you, I hope you know.”
“We do know, sir.” Blaise fiddled with his napkin. “But we’ll have to be punished because the Dark Lord’s spies had to know where we’d gone when we sneaked out of the school.” He met those chilling black eyes head on. “I’d much rather you do it than give the Dark Lord another reason to torment Draco.”
“I’ll claim you as my personal captives. You did use a spell on me, with the intention of entering my home and debilitating me. That gives me the right to deal with you as I wish. Even the Dark Lord will honor that, though he is likely to want to see for himself.” Severus drained the last of the soda. “Now it’s time for the wine, dragon,” he murmured, a bit of dark amusement creeping into his tone. “Though fire whiskey is bound to be more along the lines of what I’ll need to cope with three baby snakes around my home.”
Draco picked up the decanter, hands not steady at all. He poured the dark red liquid into another glass, “Thank you Sev,” he whispered, horrified to feel tears threatening once again.
“Its fine, dragon,” the potions master took the decanter. “I’ll pour myself anything else. Eat something and try to calm down.” He looked over to the other young snakes. “Zabini, Parkinson, you’ve eaten earlier, so go with the elves to pick a room each. Separate rooms, I don’t care what you do to meet up, but you’re going to help me put on the show we need for both sides of this stupid war. As of now we are all in the same clusterfuck of a boat.”
When both of his friends were gone, Draco turned to Severus, remarkably calm, though pale. “What does this mean for me, sir?”
Severus gathered Draco to him, pressed his lips to the young man’s head. “Nothing, dragon, this will be their fight. Miss Parkinson and Mister Zabini have to fight this battle on their own. For Parkinson, given how deeply her family’s loyalty to the Dark Lord run, I suspect I’ll have to fake her death, and for Blaise I’ll have to claim overlord rights so that the Dark Lord won’t punish him. Later tonight you’ll all get to meet with someone very surprising.”
“He’s not dead is he?” Draco whispered, awed once again that Severus would dare so greatly. “Just like Pansy said.” He felt a niggling bit of anger rise at the thought that he’d been enslaved to the dark potions master for nothing, but he stomped it out. It was his parents’ wish for him to learn from the best, and to have the best for his teacher and lover. That was why he hadn’t run to Potter and begged to be saved.
“Not yet anyway.” Snape finished his single glass of wine. “It’s not good, dragon. Unless the Dark Lord is killed soon, he’ll be well and truly dead within six months.”
“Am I weak for being glad he’s alive?” the pale youth whispered, “Should I be more relieved or more angry that Dumbledore lives?”
The dark haired wizard shrugged. “It’s up to you, dragon. But after your friends go to bed for the night, we’re still playing.” He glanced at the somber boy’s plate, saw that it was nearly empty and waved at him. “For now hunt up your friends and celebrate that you all still have your lives. Get sober-up potions from Lance if you want.”
Draco closed his eyes, a faint smile crossing his lips and a blush tinting his pale cheeks. “Can I just stay drunk, sir?”
Sev’s lips twitched, “It’s your hangover, dragon. But I wouldn’t if I were you. Besides this batch of wine’s nearly worn off anyway, if you take the sobering potion you can start again later when you’ll really need that liquid courage.”
“No sir,” the blond murmured, “I’m not doing that with you drunk again. It is a weakness I won’t tolerate in myself any longer, the need for mind-altering substances or spells to do my duty.”
“Give yourself some credit, dragon.” The older man counseled, rolling his eyes. “You’ve had one of the worst initiations into adulthood possible in a civilized country.” He finished his plate and looked up to see Draco still sitting there, watching him.
“I- I like watching you do things. Like when you cut your meat, it’s into all these perfect little cubes, or when you stir your soup, it’s like you would stir a potion, just so many clockwise or counter clockwise, never willy-nilly. You’re so precise and crisp with everything.” Draco fought the urge to shift in his seat and bite his lip.
“Thank you, dragon,” Severus murmured, smiling, his gaze gentler than anyone would recognize from him. “Go see your friends. Try to enjoy yourself, and reassure them that I’m not actually worse than the Dark Lord and Salazar Slytherin combined. The oath they’ll have to take to me will not allow divided loyalties. They will have to have faith in me, believe in me and be willing to obey me. It won’t work otherwise and then no one on either side will trust them.”
Draco found Lance and asked for sobering potions for all three of them. He then took them into a parlour where the other two sat a little uncertainly. “Here, sobering up potions for everyone.” He threw the small unbreakable bottles to the somber pair, and downed his own all at once, quickly. It was dreadful, like sulfur and old trainers. “So what are you really wanting to say to me?” he flopped as gracefully as he could on the sofa across from them.
“You just take any potions he gives you?” Pansy asked, her mind flying to all of the terrible things that could be done with potions. “But what about”-
“About what, Pans?” Draco interjected. “He’s had me under a lust potion, an imperius curse, calming agents that are probably not legal anywhere, healing potions… Merlin’s beard! He owns me for at least two years, more likely four.” As his head cleared, he curled up a little tighter. “He doesn’t have to lie to me about it. If he wants to feed me poison just to watch me suffer he can do that, as long as he gives me the antidote before it reaches the point of fatality. And he’ll be able to do the same to you two, if you take that blood oath.” Draco sprawled out, somewhat relieved that Lance had found for him a pair of satin lounging pants and jacket that he could wear until he retired.
Blaise popped the cork off his bottle and stared down into it thoughtfully. He slowly tipped it up, smelled it, and then drank it. “Gods, that shite’s nasty, Dray.” The other young man grinned, his teeth white against his olive skin. “Its fine, Pans; just what it’s supposed to be.”
“I wonder if he’d be willing to teach me advanced potions and defense.” Pansy gulped the potion down with a shudder. “Then I could make us some nice tasting ones.”
Draco’s face heated up and he mumbled “Sev would make you some if you asked him to. This was probably just something lying around for general use. He even made me- something really special. And I don’t see why he wouldn’t teach you, since he’s going to teach me. But I think it’ll be by his rules, not Hogwarts’ or the Wizengamot, or anyone else’s.”
Blaise snorted, “Well if you thought detentions were bad before…” he trailed off. “Wait a minute, you just called him Sev. He puts up with that?”
“It’s not all bad, Blaise.” Draco rested his chin on his knees. “He- cares as much for me as he ever did. He tried to- not hurt me. But we ran out of time. The Dark Lord- oh Gods you never, ever want to give him a reason to touch you.”
“Dray, what’s this costing you? What does Professor Snape want in return for not handing us over to the Dark Lord or Dumbledore or just pitching us into his dungeon?” The older young man met his friend’s gaze steadily, with a knowing air.
“I- don’t know yet.” Draco mumbled, “Probably nothing I wasn’t going to do anyway.”
“So what did he make for you?” Pansy asked, scenting the possibility of something juicy and romantic to talk about.
“Flavored…stuff.” Draco fixed his gaze on the far wall. “With extra properties, remember I told you he tried to- make it not bad? Well you have to…smooth things a bit.”
Pansy laughed, “He made you flavored lube?” She smirked at the little gasp escaping Blaise’s mouth. “Honestly, you’re shocked that I know about that? Then I shouldn’t mention the small bruises on your wrists, Drakey?” She giggled, “Someone has a hold-me-down fetish it seems.”
They spent the next couple of hours catching up, before Draco stood, biting his lower lip. “I’m…going to go now. To our room, um if you guys need anything, just ask Candy or Lance. You probably shouldn’t come into our room no matter what you hear.”
“We’ve got better things to do anyway, Dray.” Blaise smirked, even though it felt a little hollow.
Draco stood outside one of the bedroom door hesitating for a long second before turning the knob slowly and slipping inside. When a quick scan of the room revealed the other man was not present, he walked over to the same bathroom Sev had taken him to after- what had happened that afternoon. He called for Lance to bring him another filmy robe. It couldn’t hurt to butter Sev up a bit.
- 2
- 3
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

The Cost of Living