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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
- 33
- 34
Thank you again for all the reviews!

This is the last chapter�essentially the epilogue�of Their Phoenix. Thank you for reading and
reviewing.

�� Severus was
astonished to find both Harry and Draco pressed against him when they had
completed their Apparition into the garden. He would have thought that Draco,
more reserved as he had always been, would have balked at kissing in front of
their neighbors. And Harry, with his shyness around the public, had his own
reasons for preferring the privacy of their home.

�� But
nevertheless, two mouths pressed and scraped against his, fighting for place.
Then Draco stepped neatly aside and let Harry have it. Harry made a soft
surprised noise and reached up to twine one hand in Severus�s hair, as if he
assumed that he would have to struggle for balance if he was to kiss him alone.

�� Severus
gave Draco a deep pulse through the bond to convey his thanks, and tangled his
hands in Harry�s hair in return. It rustled and scraped against his fingers,
and he remembered wondering what it would feel like.

�� He had
known that for so long now that his former questions seemed odd. Harry�s hair felt
like Harry�s hair.

�� He pressed
his tongue into Harry�s mouth, knocked Harry�s tongue aside, and asserted his
right to kiss him the way he liked. Harry moaned and began to scratch and
scrape at Severus�s scalp with his nails. Severus shuddered and pinned him
against the nearest wall. This would be easier if he had the assurance they
weren�t about to immediately fall over.

�� Harry grumbled
and pushed back with his tongue. Amused, Severus let it into his mouth and
twined his tongue underneath it. The taste flowed down his throat differently
when he touched it that way. Harry�s shudders and desperate gasps, however,
seemed no different.

�� I wish I
could drown you the way you drown me,� Harry whispered, pulling back from the
kiss once. His cheeks were flushed so dark it looked as if he had a tan on his
face alone. Severus pulled on his hair and watched his eyes cross against the
impulse to close.

�� I cannot
promise to lean back and let you do what you will with me,� Severus murmured.
�However, your giving yourself to me will result in pleasure at least as great
as you are experiencing right now. I can promise you that, Harry.�

�� Harry stared
at him with an open mouth and a dangling tongue, as if he didn�t know what to
do with it when he wasn�t kissing Severus. The thought pleased Severus
immensely. Then Harry slung an arm around Severus�s neck and leaned against
him.

�� If that�s
the case,� he said, �what are we waiting for?�

*

�� Draco
watched in deep contentment as Severus laid Harry down on the bed and then
hovered above him, eyes anxious and watchful. Harry shoved himself up on his
elbows and grinned at Severus.

�� I�m not
going to break because I suffer a few hard blows,� he said, �contrary to
popular opinion. I promise, Severus.�

�� Severus
gave him a hungry look, not moving. Draco watched the smile drop from Harry�s
face. He reached up and put a hand over Severus�s cheekbone, as if he liked the
sharp edge of it. Severus�s face was less haggard than it had been a year ago,
Draco thought, but it would still never be called full or round.

�� I�ll let
you know if I�m in pain,� Harry said, �if I need to stop, if you�re hurting me.
You don�t need to distrust me, Severus, or fear for me.� He paused, head
tilted. Draco couldn�t feel what traveled along the bond between them, but he
could feel a mixture of subdued lust and concern from Severus. Harry probably
felt the same things, because his brow furrowed and he shook his head.

�� I promise,� he said.

�� Those
seemed to be the last words necessary to reassure Severus. He lunged forwards
and captured Harry�s mouth beneath his, pinning Harry flat to the sheets. Harry
grabbed his shoulder with one hand and flung out the other, towards Draco,
across the bed. Draco accepted the invitation that it represented and clasped
it.

�� He knew
that he would have little part in this scene. This lovemaking between Harry and
Severus had been too long in coming. They needed to concentrate on each other.
Harry needed to learn the unique pleasure that came from having someone else
inside him. Severus needed to see that someone besides Draco could be his lover
and care about him.

�� Draco
didn�t care. He had had his shining moment, and he knew the praises of his
bondmates had been sincere. He no longer thought that attention paid to Harry
deprived him of something.

�� Besides, he
had the bonds, and with them, he could never be alone. He felt Harry�s
eagerness and caution and Severus�s lust as easily as if they originated from
his own blood.

�� Harry
squeezed Draco�s hand and pulled him close. Draco went, crawling on his knees
across the bed. He glanced sideways to Severus, but Severus, who was biting at
Harry�s throat, causing Harry to close his eyes and give soft panting cries,
gave no sign that he had noticed him.

�� So Draco
drew his wand and quietly enlarged the bed, then Summoned the lubricant from
the nearest drawer. He knew that, once Severus began, he would not want to be
stopped by such small and unimportant things such as the temptation to fall off
the side of the furniture.

�� He lay back
and brought his face as close to Harry�s as he could, so that he could watch
the lovely, dazed way his eyes fluttered, and the way his mouth opened in a cry
that seemed to come from the depths of his being when Severus bit down on his
collarbone.

�� And that
was nothing compared to what happened when Severus began to undress him.

*

�� Severus peeled
the robes away from Harry with less care than he wanted to use. He would have
liked to go slowly. He would have liked to show Harry that he was worshipped,
cherished, coddled. He would have liked to erase the memory of the treatment
that Harry had endured from Muggles and wizards alike with gentle movements of
his hands.

�� But his
desire overpowered him, and his joy, at the thought that Harry was finally, finally ready and had been the one to
make the decision to proceed this far, urged him to go faster. Harry was naked
almost before he realized it, save for his pants. Severus reached for them.

�� Harry
stopped him with a hand on his elbow. His smile was coy, almost intolerably so.
He had kiss-swollen lips and eyelids that might as well have been swollen,
drooping as they were above eyes that looked larger than usual. �Let me do
this,� he whispered.

�� Severus
could have been stone for all the power that he had to move after that. Harry
knew that, too, from the way his smile widened. But as he rose to his knees and
began to strip his pants off his hips, Severus found he did not mind. That was
the first time in his life. People mocking him or humiliating him was a trigger
he could not erase, connected to too many memories.

�� But Harry
only wanted Severus to watch him as he pulled the pants down slowly, revealing
inch after inch of bare, flushed, sweaty skin, and then his bobbing cock.
Severus had seen it all before. Still, he followed every scrape of the young
man�s thumbs, every languid motion of his hips, every twitch of his balls, as
though he was watching some unique and newborn work of art.

�� Harry
lifted his head, his nostrils quivering. Severus caught a glimpse of Draco
behind him, watching with brightening eyes and tilted head.

�� He has never been admired in that way
before, Severus thought. Or at least
not in a way that would let him think the motive behind the admiration was
honest. Draco knows it as well as I do.

�� So Severus
gave him more of that admiration. He bent towards Harry and let the scent of
his skin drift into his nose, and let his eyes widen so that Harry would see
every flash and flicker of his dilated pupils.

�� Harry
shuddered like a nervous horse and leaned forwards so that he could flick his
tongue against the skin of Severus�s left palm.

�� Severus�s
patience broke again.

�� Draco
scrambled out of the way just in time as Severus pinned Harry to the bed and lay
down over him so that their erections came as close together as possible when
Severus was still wearing clothes. Harry shuddered, a yearning motion that had
carefully concealed fear in it if any fear at all, and stretched up so that he
could whisper into Severus�s ear. �Are you ever going to take those robes off?�

�� I will
take them off now,� Severus said, and he moved all in one smooth sweep back
from Harry, who gasped at the sudden wash of cool air over skin that had been
heated and shifted as if he wanted to sit up. �Provided that you lie still and do not move. If you do, then I will
leave this room.�

�� Harry
froze, quivering. He could tell through the bonds that Severus did not truly
mean it, but Severus thought he would be unwilling to risk it happening. He
nodded quickly, once, and then settled back on the bed. �How do you want me?�
he whispered, letting his hands sprawl above his head. �Like this?�

�� That will
do,� Severus said, with difficulty, because the gesture echoed several
fantasies he had had about Harry in that position, bound in that position. �Now. Hold still.�

�� Harry
nodded wildly, his eyes fixed on Severus�s body.

�� Severus
took off his robes with delicate precision, rather than slowness. He did not
think that slowness would affect Harry at this point; he had already had more
than enough of that. But watching the way that Severus never missed a button
and folded his clothes neatly without looking at them, never taking his eyes
from Harry, made him twitch. When Severus pulled his trousers down with the
same unconcern that he would have used corking a Calming Draught, Harry gave a
tiny cry and pushed his cock towards Severus as if he imagined that was the way
to get his want satisfied.

�� Hold.
Still.� Severus snarled the words, and saw the way that Harry turned and stared
at him. The bond trembled with wariness, dividing and opening up unsuspected
wings like a butterfly, and Severus wondered for a moment if he had gone too
far and Harry was reconsidering his trust in him.

�� Then Harry
swallowed and said in a shaky voice, �It�s only because I want you so much.�

�� I know
that,� Severus said as he undid his pants, �but that is no reason for
undignified behavior.�

�� Harry�s
laugh was desperate. �If you don�t get over here soon, then you�ll see some
behavior so undignified you�ll never forget it.�

�� Severus was
not a cruel man to his bondmates. This was the edge of desire he had been
looking for. Harry had never surrendered to lust so completely before, had
never seemed to forget about the fact that he was actually having sex in his
longing to have it. Now he was a pile of nerves and limbs and aching.

�� Severus
went to him.

*

�� Draco
rolled back to the edge of the enlarged bed as Severus grasped Harry and
started to search for a pillow with his free hand. Amusingly, neither of them
seemed to have noticed the bed�s increased size yet.

�� Draco moved
forwards after a moment of watching Severus grope and flail about. He knew that
Severus wanted the pillow to prop up Harry�s arse and keep it there while he
entered Harry for the first time, but Draco had a better solution.

�� He drew
Harry�s head into his lap and bent down to kiss his brow where the scar had been,
eyes on Severus�s face.

�� For a
moment, Severus stared at him, as if he had no idea who Draco was or why he was
forcing himself into such an intimate situation. Draco felt a flash of pain,
but no sooner had it shuddered through him than Severus reached out and laid
the part of his left forearm marked with the phoenix against Draco�s cheek. As
always, the skin was warmer than it should have been, and the touch calmed
Draco.

�� Thank
you,� Severus said, words deep with meaning that Draco could not have explained
given fifty years to do it in.

�� He nodded,
heart and throat full, and then looked down to meet Harry�s wondering eyes.
Harry smiled up at him. The phoenixes entwined along his arms, partial though
they were, glowed with a light like that of conjoined suns.

�� Thank
you,� he whispered in turn.

�� Draco
caressed his hair, and then nodded at the tube that lay on the edge of the bed.
�I brought you the oil,� he said.

�� You do think of everything.� Severus�s hand
swept through Draco�s hair in response, and he picked up the tube and spread
shimmering lubricant on his fingers. His eyes had gone back to Harry, and Draco
saw a feeling in them that he had never seen. The bond was overspread with it,
too, a shimmering rainbow that darted and faded and came together and shattered
again like the colors that formed when a spray of water from the Aguamenti Charm traveled across a beam
of sunlight.

�� Draco could
not resent it. As he had told Harry, if it was impossible to imagine them
becoming lovers without Severus, it was impossible to imagine himself and
Severus now without Harry. He was the object of Severus�s desire at the moment,
and the object of Draco�s desire at others. He was the one who had decided to
overcome his objections and fears in order to give Draco a precious birthday
gift. He was the one who made peace between them when they were both
contentious, whipping each other up into storms because their souls were too
alike. He was their Gryffindor, their impulsive one, their Harry.

�� Their
phoenix.

�� Draco kept
his intense, greedy, loving eyes on Harry�s face as Severus slid a finger
inside him for the first time. He would not want to miss the expressions that
were about to cross that face for the world, remembering his own first time.

*

��

�� Harry
stiffened when he felt the finger creeping into him. It was covered with oil,
and Severus was gentle, sliding it back and forth until Harry relaxed a bit
before he continued the even slower slide forwards.

�� But it was
the thought and not the sensation that occupied Harry�s mind most at the
moment. He was actually letting someone inside
his body.

�� It wasn�t
the same thing as being inside someone else�s body, although he would have said
that both Ginny and Draco were generous in ways that he didn�t deserve when
they let him have sex with them. That was heat and tightness, but Harry had
been able to get used to that and watch his partner�s face. As he had told
Severus, it was a controllable pleasure.

�� He could
tell already that this wasn�t going to be controllable, simply because it was
like nothing he had experienced before and he had no idea how to respond to it.

�� A high,
nervous whine escaped his throat. Severus�s finger stopped moving, and Harry
gulped and looked up. He would hate to see disappointment or anger on Severus�s
face, when Harry had made such a dramatic pronouncement of his readiness for
this kind of sex.

�� There was
amusement and understanding in Severus�s eyes, and the bond between them turned
sea-blue, so that Harry for a moment, in the haze of his relief, actually seemed
to look at Severus through seawater. Severus�s finger worked forwards again,
stroking slowly and smoothly, loosening the constricted clench of muscle. Harry
swallowed audibly and spread his legs.

�� You are
well?� Severus asked, his voice soft and heavy with meaning. �You do not need
more time to recover from this?�

�� Recover
from what?� Harry asked, flinging all
the challenge he could into his voice. �You haven�t done anything to me yet.�

�� Severus
bent for another kiss, his face intent. That intensity didn�t forewarn Harry of
the way that a second finger joined the first, though it really should have. He
gritted his teeth and tilted his head back, breathing noisily through his nose.

�� It�s all
right,� Draco whispered, his hand coming down again and stroking Harry�s
forehead in a hypnotic rhythm.

�� I know
that,� Harry said, but gasped at the end of the words. Severus�s fingers had
sunk in deeper than he had known was possible for fingers to go. He thought
about how much deeper his cock would go and shuddered with anxiety�

�� And
anticipation.

�� Yes, that
was the bloody emotion curling through him now, anticipation so keen that it
made his back teeth hurt. He wanted Severus�s cock inside him, more now that he
knew what a few fingers were like than he had ever wanted it before. That made
no sense, because of course a cock was thicker than fingers and would feel
stranger and would hurt more.

�� But it was
the way that Harry felt. He licked his lips and shifted his head in Draco�s
lap, wondering if that would distract attention from the way his cock was
dripping small, clear drops on his belly.

�� It is all
right to anticipate what I will do to you,� Severus whispered to him, as the
fingers moved apart from each other, stretching and twisting. Harry shuddered
again. It was strange to think of a place that had always been so closed-off
within his body straining open to the air. It was even stranger to think of why
this was happening. �I would be disappointed if you thought it would be exactly
like any other experience you have had.�

�� I want
it,� Harry whispered. He twisted his hips at Severus, who responded with a
maddening smile and another curling of his fingers.

�� And I will
say when you can have it.�

�� So he made
Harry wait for more agonizing minutes�agonizing in mind and not in body,
because either the care he used or the oil Draco had chosen deadened most of
the pain�as Harry�s body adjusted and craved more, and as Draco stroked his
hair and whispered, and as Severus watched him with a sphinx-like expression.
Harry wriggled and panted, and nothing he did convinced Severus to hurry up. He
looked as if he would be content to wait until the end of the world.

�� Only the
bond argued otherwise. The heartbeats of lust darkened the blue that Harry had
started seeing through to red, and the red became almost the shade of Severus�s
swollen cock. Harry looked down at it whenever he started to lose his faith
that Severus really wanted him. It was the only thing that made him sure that
this teasing had to come to an end sometime.

�� It didn�t
come to an end before Harry started feeling empty, which made him flush. Yes,
all right, he was about to have something inside his body, but he didn�t know
that he could actually start craving it.
He hadn�t known that Severus�s fingers would start seeming as if they weren�t
enough, and that he would need Severus�s
cock, instead of simply wanting it.

�� That was
something people could feel, maybe, but it wasn�t a feeling Harry associated
with himself. He wanted to close his eyes and die of embarrassment.

�� I enjoy
that you are feeling this,� Severus whispered to him, because of course he had
picked up all the thoughts through the bond the moment that Harry started
having them.

�� What else
could he do after that but keep his eyes up and stare up at Severus, whose eyes
glittered and revealed more of himself than they ever had before? Harry knew
that he wouldn�t be betrayed now. Vulnerability answered vulnerability. They
could trust each other because they had the power to hurt each other.

�� Harry
didn�t think, now, that he could ever have found this contentment or this level
of security with anyone else.

�� It became
like a dance, the intricate tangle of all their movements: Severus�s fingers
penetrating him; Draco�s hands touching his hair and head and occasionally
dipping down beneath Harry�s neck and between his own knees to touch his own
cock; Harry�s breathing and the involuntary spreading of his legs. It went on
until Harry became almost content to let it be the experience of the evening and let it take the place of anything
else that could have happened.

�� Then
Severus raised the material of the bed beneath his arse with a word and said,
�I want you.�

�� And I want
you,� Harry answered, because he had the impression that Severus was waiting
for him to say something. He raised his arse, his face flushing all over again.
He didn�t know he had that much blood left in his body.

�� Truly,�
Severus whispered, �you have nothing except pleasure to fear.�

�� He lifted
Harry�s legs over his shoulders.

�� Harry
shivered. Then he stiffened in spite of himself when Severus began to slide
inside his body. This was the experience he had feared most, because Severus
was aiming at his prostate and he had no escape from it, no way that he could
flee into his head the way he used to at the Dursleys.

�� But why should you want to? Draco
whispered to him, stroking his skin and stroking and stroking and stroking. This is only pleasure, or will be.

�� Harry
gasped. Severus had rocked forwards into him while he was trying to think of a
way to answer Draco�s thought�he had the feeling that he would have to use different
words than he had used to explain his fear to Severus�and now Severus�s cock
was more or less fully within Harry. Harry had no angle to look down and judge
distances from.

�� He tensed.
There was someone with him, within him, so close that he couldn�t be fled from�

�� And then
Harry looked up and realized, as if for the first time, that it was Severus.

�� And he no
longer wished to escape.

*

�� Tightness
and heat.

�� That was to
be expected, but what Severus hadn�t expected was how the sensation of
tightness and heat would translate from the physical end of the encounter to
the mental and emotional one.

�� He felt
enclosed by the bond between him and Harry, so filled was it with fluttering
emotions like the fluttering muscles around him, the shining red and pink
emotions of Harry�s lust and fear and anger at himself like the colors of flesh.
Severus let his head drop forwards, nearly overwhelmed. The pleasure was sharp
and doubly sweet�no, triply, because one side of it was the sensation that he
was receiving from Harry. The rest of it came from penetrating Harry�s body and
penetrating Harry�s mind.

�� He was
welcome here. He was not the intruder he had been when they practiced
Occlumency in Harry�s schooldays. Nor yet was he peering into Harry�s mind to
confirm some disastrous theory about physical abuse.

�� He was
inside Harry.

�� It was more
overwhelming than the beat of his heart.

�� He looked
up, and found Harry�s face melted and softened. That, as much as the fact that
he could literally no longer keep still, encouraged Severus to snap his hips
forwards.

�� Harry
tensed, and let his mouth fall open dumbly.

�� And then he
spread his arms out, drooping over Draco�s knees, and tilted his head back
until the firelight shone on his throat, and whispered in rapture, �More.�

�� Severus had
known that moment would come, and still it went straight to his heart like a
gift. He was moving faster and thrusting harder before he had rationally
considered whether he wanted to fulfill Harry�s request. After all, Harry had
never been through this before. He might think he knew what he wanted, but he
might also not really know�

�� The force
of Harry�s stare, and the half-contempt in it, destroyed Severus�s
rationalizations. He nodded and settled into the rhythm of his body rather than
trying to fight it, never taking his eyes from Harry. He still caught glimpses
of Draco, of his swaying hair and his brilliant smile, but Draco seemed content
to cradle Harry and ride Severus�s thrusts as though he were part of both their
bodies.

�� The
pleasure was spinning through Severus, extending out arms of wind and rain,
ravaging him like a storm. Harry�s pleasure, his choked and hushed gasps,
surrounded him, and Severus vibrated to their chords. He heard his skin
slapping Harry�s, somewhere down at the bottom of the well, and the creaking of
the bed, and the way that Harry lifted and lowered himself, pushing back as
best he could, his face a study in wonder.

�� But no
single sound could dominate him. The moment he heard one, it was replaced by
another. And the same thing happened with sights, and smells, which had never
happened when he had to use his nose in separating Potions ingredients. Severus
closed his eyes at last, to try and gain some control over the spinning that
had invaded him.

�� I don�t get to have any control left, Harry
whispered down the bond into his mind. Why
should you get to?

�� He squeezed
down with his inner muscles, and Severus cried out in distress and triumph both
at once as he came. He hadn�t felt his orgasm building up, or he hadn�t managed
to separate it from everything else, but now it was there, spraying through him, spraying out of him, white and gold
and black somersaulting in front of his eyes. He had never felt so good,
especially because Harry�s enjoyment was all around him at the same time.

�� He caught
himself with his arms before he could fall forwards, and heard Draco gasping
and stuttering. He was coming without a touch, Severus thought as he forced his
eyes open, or maybe from the way that Harry�s hair and head had continually
rubbed against his erection as Severus pushed into him.

�� He was in
time to see Harry coming untouched, as well.

�� Harry�s
eyes screwed shut. His head fell back; his orgasm had deprived him of strength
in his neck, Severus found himself thinking. He wailed, but the wail got cut
off halfway through and degenerated into a sob. His belly was soaked as his
cock spasmed, and Severus reached down and traced the vein along the shaft with
a finger so that he could coax Harry along. Harry shook more urgently.

�� When it was
done, Severus bent down and kissed him. Draco joined the kiss, his mouth
sucking and greedy. Harry lay still, eyes shut, recovering, until one of his
hands crept up and cupped around the back of Severus�s neck, tilting his head
so that Harry could whisper into his ear without moving.

�� I already
want you inside me again,� Harry breathed.

�� Harry�s
words were enough for Severus to decide that this latest encounter had been a
success.

*

�� Harry could
not believe how calm he felt. Yes, this was a tense moment, and everyone around
him was muttering and checking watches and making up excuses to whisper to each
other. But the tension remained outside him. He was confident that he could
live with whoever became Minister.

�� Shacklebolt
was gone. The Muggleborns who had followed Huxley had tried to put their own candidate
forwards, but withdrawn her a few weeks later. Harry knew that the pure-blood
candidates, even if they earned enough votes to become Minister, would receive
bitter opposition from Muggleborns and wouldn�t be able to exercise the power
of a despot in the way that Kingsley had tried to do.

�� Are you
all right, Harry?� Hermione whispered in his ear. �You�ve been staring off into
space and smiling for several minutes now.�

�� Harry
turned to smile at her. He could see her well, since they were on the field
near Hogsmeade, the one where Harry had held several of his meetings to court
the pure-bloods and get to know them. It was a beautiful day, two days before
his birthday, the sun glowing through a haze that had dropped a little rain
this morning but was already melting. The people around them added too much
heat to the proceedings, but that was why Harry had made sure to cast a Cooling
Charm before they left the house. He and Draco were doing more practical things
like that for their personal comfort now, since Severus had insisted that they
do so and taught them the spells.

�� Harry
reached out at the thought of them, and found the bonds glowing with the same
untroubled contentment that he was experiencing. Draco�s was tinted with blue
amusement as he watched the crowd shifting as if they all had to use the loo.
Severus�s bond was white with analytical intelligence; if danger would erupt
when they made the announcement, he was concerned to know the best escape
routes and how to collect his bondmates before they could get injured or
trampled.

�� I�m fine,�
he answered Hermione. �Just thinking that I want Colben to win, but that it�s
not the end of the world if she doesn�t.�

�� Hermione
gave him a sharp glance. �Even though we�ve spent so much time and money trying
to make sure that she gets elected?�

�� We spent
time,� Harry corrected her. �We let other people spend the money.�

�� Hermione
stared at the ground, and Harry knew that she was trying to conceal her smile.
When she looked up, she said, �I�ve been doing some more research on accidental
magical bonds. I was wondering why the bond had manifested as a phoenix for you
and Snape and Malfoy. I mean, it�s not as though either of you had a pet
phoenix like Dumbledore or was a phoenix Animagus.�

�� Harry cast
a curious glance at her. �Well, what did you find?�

�� You told
me that when you created the bond, you were thinking that Dumbledore would want
you to save Snape and Malfoy, right?� Hermione asked. Harry nodded, though from
this distance it seemed impossible that he would have thought they were only
worth saving for that reason. �Well, Dumbledore�s symbol was the phoenix. For
you, I mean, not necessarily because that�s the symbol he was known by in the
wizarding world. You were probably thinking about that, and the accidental bond
came about because you wished for it, and it seized that symbol of Dumbledore
because you were doing it for him, in a weird way. Plus, it was a good
replacement for the Dark Marks, which was something that the bond needed to
create, or Voldemort would have gone on drawing strength from them.�

�� Harry
nodded slowly. He supposed that made more sense than the only theory that he�d
been able to come up with: that the bond was a source of renewal and healing
for all of them, and so it only made sense
that the symbol of it would be a phoenix.

�� On the
other hand, he thought he liked his theory better.

�� Are you all right? Draco asked from a
distance, probably because he�d felt Harry�s confusion and conflict over
Hermione�s theory. He caressed the back of Harry�s mind, the bond between them
turning light green with his concern.

�� And Harry
smiled.

�� Because the
�real explanation� for the bond between them mattered less (except perhaps to
Hermione) than what the bond meant to them and what they wanted to think about it. So he could go on thinking of the phoenix
as a symbol of rebirth, and he could go on loving Draco and Severus without
thinking that the origins of the bond�hasty, an accident�somehow diminished
what had come from it.

�� Severus
overheard the thought and rumbled in the back of his head. I entirely agree. What we have is more precious than what other people
might try to name what we have.

�� Harry
closed his eyes and stood still for a moment, because sometimes he could not
believe that he was blessed to have his bondmates with him like this.

�� Draco
laughed softly, and Harry, opening his eyes and turning around, realized that
he made his way through the crowd to Harry�s side. He wrapped his arm around
Harry�s waist, nodded to Hermione, and whispered so gently that Harry knew she
could not hear them, �Believe it.�

�� Severus
stepped up to them from the other side, crowding Hermione away. Harry didn�t
know if that was deliberate, and so he settled for giving Severus a
half-hearted glare. Severus took no notice. He simply wrapped his arm around Harry�s shoulders and
lowered his head so that his nose slid into Harry�s hair. Harry could hear him
drawing in a deep, grateful breath.

�� Harry
wrapped his arms around their waists in turn and stood there, his mind and
heart trembling with happiness. He sensed Hermione�s quiet smile and the way
that she removed herself from the scene, but he could not even look up and meet
her eyes to thank her.

�� The
announcement a few minutes later, that Estella Colben had won the most votes
and was the Minister of Magic for Great Britain, hardly increased his pleasure
or his sense of blessing or his deep, quiet delight.

�� Draco had
said something to him the other day about how Harry had been a phoenix for him
and Severus, their rebirth for their hearts and their chances in the world. But
Harry, when he thought of the way that they had taught him what love was, what
lovemaking was, that people he had once hated could become special to him, and
what the future would be like, had fought against that definition. It was too
exclusive to him.

�� We�re all
each other�s phoenixes,� he muttered now.

�� The grip of
the arms around him grew tighter. The crowd was madly celebrating or walking
away in dejection, laughing or groaning in accordance with their private
convictions, but Harry and Draco and Severus stood in the midst of their
private, triple-sided happiness and were silent.

�� Harry did
sense one thought, which slid through his mind so smoothly, glittering so
brightly, that it might have been Draco�s or Severus�s�or his own.

�� What we have won is nothing compared to what
we shall win in the future.

�� And when
Harry thought of the possibilities open to them, he had to agree.

�� End.

*

�� starstruck86:
Thank you! One reason Draco needed that moment was to realize that Harry and
Severus are proud of him, really proud of him, and he doesn�t have to fear
their focus on each other in this chapter.

�� Mia: Thank
you. Your reviews have been to me while I was writing this story.

�� Alliandre:
That was a mistake. I revised the chapter to correct it.

�� And yes,
they�re much safer now than they were. Among other things, the new Minister is on
their side. They�ll still have enemies, but not at the insane level they did in
the story itself.

�� Thank you
for reviewing.

�� k lave demo:
Thank you! If I think of a sequel, I�ll definitely post it, but right now I don�t
think that it�s likely to happen.

�� Mya Malfoy:
Thanks! I hope that this last chapter makes you forgive me for the cliffhanger.

�� Shadow
Lily: Thanks! Hope you enjoyed the last chapter.

�� EarlyDawn:
Thank you! I hope that you enjoyed the ending as well.
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Their Phoenix