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Through the Veil and Back Again	By : SpeedyTomato Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male Views: 77508 -:- Recommendations : 3 -:- Currently Reading : 13
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter (though someone could gift me a few of the men in it and I wouldn't complain) and make no money off of this.

Chapter List
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Chapter 37

Beta'd by the amazing Tenchi, who I couldn't work without anymore. Thanks, Tenchi!

With help from Lynn who works with me when it comes to flow, continuity and other issues.

Just a reminder of what's on my profile: reviews complaining or whinging about the lack 'o sex in stories will get deleted. If you want a smut-filled romp, you need to find another story to read.

“Severus, I'm troubled,” Albus sighed, leaning back in his chair behind his desk. They were in his office at Hogwarts as both were already beginning their preparations for the start of term. “I think we'll both agree that Harry needs to be in school where he's safest.”
“And Petunia took all of that out of your hands,” Severus grumbled, leaning back and crossing his arms over his chest. “As did Mr. Potter. Leave it to him to now become best friends with his cousin!”
“You knew Petunia growing up, what do you think we could pull out to reason with her? That we need to do before the start of term. From what I know, having checked, she's not signed those papers yet,” Albus told him, thumbs starting to twiddle after popping a lemon sherbert in his mouth.
Snorting and crossing his ankles, Severus told him, dryly, “Once she has her mind set on something, you're not going to budge her. Unless she's changed almost completely since I last saw her, that is. So far, I've not seen that. With the upheaval she's gone through, what happened, how her life has changed, the secret she's desperately tried to hide for so long being exposed, and everything else, it is probably more pronounced at this juncture. She's probably grasping at everything she has to keep herself on the path she needs to navigate. Part of that is Mr. Potter. Besides her son, he's all she has left in the world that was part of her old one.” Putting a sneer in his voice, he added, “With her past interactions with you, not to mention the casual disregard you had for Mr. Potter that night so long ago in just dropping him on her doorstep, she's not going to trust you, Albus. In fact, she's going to view anything that comes out of your mouth with suspicion. You've proven to her that she can't take you at face value and you should be viewed with wariness. That's not going to help anything at all.”
Groaning, not liking what he just heard, Albus now tried to figure out how to deal with this latest mess. The only way he knew would end up revealing a huge secret that he didn't want out there. Once that one was exposed, others that he was guarding with everything he had would come out as well. That wouldn't assist in anything. In fact, it would make the situation far worse than it already was. Shaking his head, he began to stroke his beard as he tried to think what to do. “Maybe you can talk to her privately, Severus. I do understand the relationship was contentious at best when you were growing up, but it's better than the rest of us have with her.”
Giving a cynical dry snort, Severus retorted, “And if I tried that, you would be in worse shape than you are now. Contentious doesn't begin to describe the relationship we had, Albus. Not to mention the last thing she heard from her sister was me becoming a Death Eater. Anything I attempt with her will be viewed with more suspicion than it would coming from you.” Internally smug, he decided to kick the old man a few times now that he was struggling. “I think there is a large spanner you're not pondering, Albus. One bigger than Petunia.”
As his brow furrowed, Albus looked at him then asked, “What is that?” Mind working over the situation, he tried to think what could be worse than this, but came up with nothing. He was too focused on keeping Harry where he belonged during the term; right in this castle where he could guide him to do what was needed.
“Black is on the cusp of being cleared. The second that happens, if what I remember about the magic associated with him being Potter's godfather is correct, it's him you'll have to tangle with over the issue. From what he said last night, he's already agreed to it. If that magic activated at some point, something I assume happened at some time in the past, you'll get nowhere in pressing the issue. You know what he's like, Albus. You might as well bang your head on a wall for all the good it will do when it comes to arguing with him.” Stopping, he waited, smug, wanting to see the reaction to that tidbit.
And, in this mess, that fact had gotten lost in the muddle. Shaking his head, Albus was now more concerned than ever. Sirius had, indeed, activated the ancient magic associated with that role, which meant he had to concern himself more with that end of the equation than with Petunia. With Sirius getting cleared, something every source in the Ministry told him was a guarantee, there was no wiggle room. Everything he had built on would come crashing down because Sirius would take over his rightful role. He could hide plenty, of course, and would until the time was right, but there was very little he could pull out to get around Sirius. Slouching slightly, he shook his head. “Let me see what I can manage when it comes to Sirius. He may reverse his stance on the matter if I reason with him.” Either that, or he could run this around in circles, silently invoke what he needed and hope that it would take until after the start of the term for Sirius to end up officially cleared. That way Harry was out of his grasp. He didn't know. At this juncture, he had to come up with something to make this work.
“Black isn't reasonable, Albus. You know that. He never was. Once he gets his teeth into something and is focused, you're not going to dissuade him,” Severus snorted again, entirely amused by what had to be the old man fumbling for once. This was just an attempt to buy them time, nothing more. He would make sure to go over to Grimmauld Place when he was done here so that those in the house knew the old goat was planning on wiggling around. That and he wanted to know just how much longer they had before the castle was done. Then he would go to the Dark Lord and see how fast the man could push getting Black cleared. The faster that happened, the less problems they were going to have when it came to what Albus might pull out. That they desperately needed.
“I think it's something I can manage, Severus,” Albus assured him with a wave. “Maybe I should go talk to Remus. He always had a way of getting Sirius to see sense when we couldn't manage. If I lay everything out, we might manage.”
Severus just added getting with Lupin as well so he knew it was coming. With tonight being the full moon and him having to deliver the Wolfsbane, it was a perfect chance and wouldn't look odd. However, this would have to be tended to soonest as one never knew what the old man would pull out. “I'm not sure on that, Albus. Anything to do with Potter makes him all but irrational and completely mental. That helps nothing. All I envision is him digging his heels in. Then a fight. If he gets cleared soon, it'll be a moot point because the start of term will be here and nothing will be accomplished but Potter getting irate then dropping out. As impulsive as he is, that's very likely. Combine the two and it's a nightmare scenario. It's like some kind of demented positive feedback loop where Black and Potter just feed off each other. Then you toss in the fact that Black, despite what he says, was affected by Azkaban, and it gets even worse.”
“All valid points I need to factor in while dealing with the situation,” Albus admitted, filing that away as well. “We have such a limited time to get this moving the right way. To do that, we have to start soonest. Perhaps getting the Weasleys involved might help. The younger ones will work on Harry when they find out. Though I wouldn't think of setting them to that task, when they hear, they will. We know how Harry feels about them, so it'll only help.”
And that Severus didn't like, not at all. It also meant that he had to give everyone fair warning so that they could prepare for that onslaught. “I'm not sure it'll assist in this area,” Severus told him, looking dourer. “If anything, they may feel bombarded, then figure it was a set up, hurting your chances as they are highly likely to dig their heels in.”
“There is that,” Albus sighed, though he still thought it might help. He would just have to find a way to go about it, nothing more. “We need something, Severus. It's a tricky situation, but I'm sure that between the two of us, we can figure it out.”
Of all the things that the old man had spouted so far, that was the one he liked the most. Normally, he hated being drawn into whatever barmy brainstorm the demented man had in mind. This time, though, he liked the idea. That meant he could work on diverting him enough so that everyone in the house could get out and keep Albus off-kilter long enough for them to manage that. “Let me think on it a few days to see what I can manage to come up with. There is a way, we just haven't found it yet. Nothing more than that. And I'll see what I can remember about Petunia that might assist as well. On that front I'm not hopeful. She's one that most approaches won't help with. With as stressed as she is, it's probably harder than normal.”
“Any little bit will assist,” Albus told him honestly. It was his thought that he would see what he could manage with Remus and what he knew worked with Sirius. There had to be something he could find. With as little time as they had, it had to be quick as well. So, he had to focus, nothing more. He could do that. Leaning back and relaxing, he asked, “Any more from Tom's end that we can use or is it a case of just hints like before?”
“Nothing,” Severus sighed, shaking his head. Then he told him honestly, “There is something big brewing, I just don't have a clue what it is. Give me time. He's—well, I'm sure you know. With all that's gone on and that foolish stunt on Privet Drive, it tells me that he's planning something huge. He wouldn't have been that overt if he wasn't irate over all that's gone on.”
“Keep an ear peeled, Severus. Anything you can bring will help.” That end pleased him. If Tom was being so overt in trying to draw Harry out, it meant that plans were playing out how they needed them. Perfect.

“Does your solicitor have any idea how long it's going to take to get you cleared?” Lucius asked, looking at Sirius. Severus had just left, so they were discussing what could be done to keep everything in the air until the house was done. Remus had already retired to the basement for the night, having taken the Wolfsbane, so they were just pondering what was there that could help.
“He told me a couple weeks. Let me get with him and see what he says. From what I understand, it's the Ministry dragging their feet. It sounds like a case of they know just how bad clearing me is going to sound for them and are reluctant to do that. Even though it's out there and clear, they don't want to make it official,” Sirius sighed, shaking his head.
“Let me send a message along tonight to see what can be done to unstick the gears a little. There has to be a way to do that. I just can't do what I normally could manage at this juncture,” Lucius sighed, shaking his head. “Never fear, he has plenty of contacts Albus doesn't know about. If he lights a fire under one on the Wizengamot, we might get this moving quicker. Let him judge what to do.”
“We need something quickly from what Severus said,” Petunia stated after taking a sip of her tea and setting the cup on the table. “I can hold him off. You don't have to worry about that. If fact, I would enjoy yelling at him if he keeps trying.”
“Do that,” Lucius encouraged with a smirk. “We can make sure that you aren't ever alone with him so he can't pull something foolish. I would suggest that you have a couple very good blowups over this, to anyone that tries to pull a stunt with you. That will make Albus go about this another way. The more we make him rethink what he's doing, the more time we have. That's all we need.”
“Oh, I won't have a problem doing that,” Petunia told him with a grim smile.
“Let me send something off to my solicitor to see what he can manage. He told me he's throwing the biggest temper tantrum anyone has seen. Maybe he can turn up the heat in some way. I don't know.” Sirius sighed, trying to think of what they could do. Of all the things they desperately needed before they vanished, him getting cleared was the biggest one. If he was still wanted, that meant more than just Albus would be looking for them. That would help nothing.
“We can manage this, between all of us and Severus,” Narcissa told everyone confidently. “Severus alone can toss plenty out there to keep him running in circles. And we'll know when he tries something big. At least if Severus' has heard. We just keep up how we are and focus on the amount of time we have left before the house is done. That should be more than enough.”

“Let me get the head elf over here and see how fast we can push to get this done,” Lucius said, tone distracted. “I'm not sure how fast we can expedite it, but we need to.”
“That and get me cleared,” Sirius added.
“Let me see what I can manage,” Lucius sighed. “I'm sure Severus is also filling the Dark Lord in on the conversation. He should be able to help. We just keep going, as Narcissa said.”

Sitting there, stroking Sir Hiss' head, Harry listened in to what was said. After all, they were bits he had to know. However, when they mentioned the part about the Ministry, his brow furrowed. Something about that drew his attention then there was an odd feeling, something internal, that he wasn't sure what it was. It was like a mental pull that seemed to make the words Ministry and Fudge circle endlessly in his head, growing louder the more times they did. Tensing up, not sure what this was, his gaze dropped to the table and he couldn't seem to pull his eyes away from it. Oh, he could hear the conversation around him and see movement out of his peripheral vision, but it was—he didn't know. Then there was a feeling like something snaking down his spine, making him stiffen up. It wasn't like a dread or fear, but something there that was almost pulling him.
Honing in on his seer, Sir Hiss felt the start of the disturbance. Knowing what it was, he coiled himself over Harry's shoulders then hissed in his ear, “Keep calm and let it come, Harry. It won't hurt like the last few things you experienced. This is what we've been waiting for. Your powers are now complete.”
Hearing the snake, Sirius' head whipped around in his godson's direction and he waited, eyes wide. Putting a hand on Harry's leg, he gave it a reassuring squeeze.
Lucius, too, heard Sir Hiss and looked in that direction, holding his hand up to stop the conversation that was going on around them. He wasn't sure what was happening, but figured it was huge and important.
Breathing heavily, eyes locked on the table, unable to pull them away, Harry began to hiss.
Stiffening up, feeling a tingle in the bondmark, not something painful, but strange, Sirius then appeared pulled into an almost hypnotic state. When Harry began to hiss, he spoke, voice a monotone in nature,

“Foolish is as foolish does.

Monumental stupidity has brought on change.

Ouster of one and incoming of another.

Change is happening.

Pushing forward for the right to undo the wrong.

Balance is restored.

Pressing on.

Progress to save our world.

The first steps taken.”
As Sirius spoke, Lucius summoned a parchment and quill then began to transcribe what was said automatically, being driven by something from inside, not really sure what it was.
After that last line was out, Harry slumped, shaking slightly. No, there was no pain like what happened before, but it was tiring. Reaching up and rubbing his eyes, he wasn't sure what to do.
Slipping an arm around Harry and pulling him close, Sirius panted heavily, body beaded in sweat. That was beyond bizarre and he wasn't sure what to make of it.
Eyes wide, Lucius looked around at the stunned faces. Having heard the hissing from Harry, understanding it, he then felt the tingle in the bondmark. Stammering slightly, he said, “Did everyone understand Sirius? I did, of course, but I couldn’t tell if he was hissing or if it was normal human speech.” Picking up the parchment, he read what was there, not sure what to make of that either.
“It was—we could understand it,” Narcissa stammered out, eyes wide, clutching the absolutely blindsided Draco's arm.
“What was that?” Petunia asked, putting one hand on a stunned Dudley's beefy shoulder. It was so odd that she wasn't sure.
Hissing softly to his now trembling seer, Sir Hiss told him, “See? That wasn't bad. You'll get used to the feelings soon. The first prophecy is the worst and blindsiding. It will soon feel normal.”
“A prophecy,” Sirius finally said, holding Harry close, giving him a reassuring squeeze. “His first real one.” Looking at his godson, he asked, “Are you alright?” Harry didn't seem like he was in pain, but he wanted to make sure.
Giving a shaky nod, Harry said, “I'm good. Just a little tired now.”
“Nothing to worry about, Sirius,” Sir Hiss assured him. “It takes time to adjust to the newness. That wears one out. A full night's rest and he'll be as good as new.”
Glancing at the wide-eyed Sirius, Lucius then looked at the snake, trembling a little himself. “It's real then? A real prophecy?”
“Oh, yes. The Serpentine Seer's reign has begun and his first prophecy delivered,” Sir Hiss assured them. “Send a copy to the one that protects my seer so he knows that Harry is starting to fulfill his destiny. He needs to know what it says.”
“I'll do that,” Lucius assured him, quickly making a copy then quilling a note to go along with it. He was trembling still, but it wasn't all from the residual of what happened. Excitement was mixed in with it. The Dark Lord would be most pleased with this.
“I think Harry needs to sleep,” Sirius said, feeling his godson lean heavily against him. “He's exhausted. Can you lot handle whatever might come? Tonight should be fine, but you never know.”
“We'll manage,” Narcissa told him with a determined bent to her voice. “If there's an issue, one of the elves will fetch you.”
Once he sent the elf off, Lucius stood to help Harry to his feet. From the look of things, Harry was about to fall asleep. Feeling Sir Hiss slither onto his shoulders, he and Sirius slipped arms around him, leading him out. This was—he wasn't sure, but there was an excitement about it. That prophecy indicated change was coming. And change could only help all of them.

Looking at the shelf, one that was almost barren after the battle in the hall earlier that year, the Unspeakable in charge of recording and cataloging new prophecies as they appeared was stunned. Looking down at the ledger everything was recorded in then back to the jar, he wasn't sure what to do. Like everyone that worked in this section of the Department of Mysteries, he knew the legend of the Serpentine Seer. From what he learned before starting to work here, it had been several centuries since the last one had recorded a prophecy. Now one had shown up, a new one, dated just tonight. This was big, very big, and he needed to alert his supervisor.
Hurrying off after triple checking to make damned sure he read what was there correctly, he went to get the man. If a new Serpentine Seer was now making prophecies, it heralded a huge change coming. That everyone needed alerted to so they could track and record what was going on.

Taking a seat behind his desk after passing the parchment Lucius sent to Severus, Tom waited for the man to finish reading it. When Severus looked up at him, eyes wider than normal, he said, smiling, “The time of the new seer has officially begun. And, if I interpreted what is there right, it means that Fudge is on his way out.”
Not sure what to make of this, Severus gave a slow, jerky nod. Clearing his throat in a nervous way, he asked, “Are we sure it's real?”
“From what Lucius' note says, he was assured by the snake that it was,” Tom told him, passing over Lucius' message. “It was Harry's first and it can only help us if I interpreted it correctly.”
Looking over the message, Severus said, tone distracted, “As soon as we're done here, I'll go back over to Grimmauld Place and get filled in as to just what happened.”
“Yes, that's for the best,” Tom nodded, though he was already sure this was real. “I'm going to get in touch with a few contacts in the Ministry to not only tend to getting Black cleared, but see which way the winds are blowing when it comes to Fudge.” While the inept Minister had served a purpose for a time, that was long over. Which meant he needed to be ousted and someone that was actually competent put in his place.
Looking back down at the missive, not really reading it, Severus thought it over then gave a more determined nod. “This is what we need, then.”
“It is, in many ways,” Tom assured him. Already his mind was racing over what he knew and what had to come. It was big and he was involved, so they all had to prepare. Their time had come and their world needed the balance this would bring once more to survive. As the fate of their world hung on what was coming, they all needed to prepare. It was time to start that.
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Through the Veil and Back Again