Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

Preventative Measures	By : SpeedyTomato Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male Views: 151582 -:- Recommendations : 8 -:- Currently Reading : 30
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter and make no money off this work in perversion

Chapter List
- 43
- 44
- 45
Chapter 44

Beta'd by the most wonderful, amazing and stupendous Tenchi. Woman, you are the best and love you for all you do for me!

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.

Harry was actually in a better mood the following day. Not only did spending time having fun with Fred and George do plenty to help, but yelling at the fools and hearing what Sirius said to them aided too. He also took one of the potions Severus had brewed and slept, a tidbit that helped immensely. Then there was the mucking about with the four that morning on the brooms. It all helped, and he was feeling better. While the fears and problems dealing with the coming trial were there, they seemed like they were pushed a bit further to the side than they were before, which helped.
As promised, after the mucking about on the brooms, they went out to lunch. The Indian place close by was packed, so they all thought it was best to go elsewhere. Harry picked one of the chain restaurants that catered more to adult tastes and they loved it. The food was good, they enjoyed the atmosphere and the telly which was on then just generally talked about all kinds of bits to relax. It did him a world of good.
Since then, they had come home with Remus taking on keeping everyone at bay while he and Sirius retired to their room to muck about. Like what was becoming normal, he slipped into the 'little boy' role and they were playing with some of his toys. They were going to do that meeting with Lucius tonight, but he wasn't uptight about it because it was just information that could only help. He didn't think anything that would end up said would bug him as he doubted they'd put together too much when it came to what that old goat was planning.
At the moment, they were sitting at the small table there with Harry having a good old time finger painting. It wasn't something he thought he would like, but he was enjoying it immensely. And he wasn't exactly sure why he was, but was going with it.
Arms wrapped around Harry, Sirius was watching what he was doing over his shoulder, grinning a tad. Not only was Harry having fun, he was in better shape. While he didn't ask the why, he assumed it was a combination of several bits that helped. Honestly? He didn't care as long as he was better. If it grew bad again, he'd ask what brought it on then add it to the list of what he had to help with this mess.
As he held Harry and paid attention, he glanced around to see where Elliot was. Since Harry was doing something messy and didn't want to get the paint on the dragon, he wasn't holding him. As he wasn't stressed, the dragon was off doing something or other. His antics always amused Sirius, so he wanted to see what he was up to. After a few moments, he spotted him on one of the big stuffed animals, prowling around. Grinning, he shook his head then told Harry, “We need to get on recreating Elliot. We've managed some, but not made it very far. No matter what we do, we can't get the others to act like Elliot.”
With a nod to let Sirius know he heard, Harry continued to paint. Though the pictures weren't very good, he liked this and pressed on. “He's fun,” Harry told him, trying to sound like a kid, something which was getting easier the more they worked on it.
“He is and plenty will want one. We just don't have a clue how to get the others to act like Elliot since nothing we've tried works, even after making sure the spells are all on them,” Sirius sighed. While this wasn't strictly in the 'Daddy' role, he was working with it to be close. He would just add some bits to make it slide there a tad. “Because I'm sure others would like them as much as my little boy does.”
Harry smiled at the last part then thought it over while dragging his fingers through the paint and splashing color all over the picture. He wasn't exactly sure what he was painting, just that he was having fun with it. After a minute or so, he said, softly, “Time out.”
Sirius took the signal for what it was then asked, “Is something wrong?”
“No, nothing, just a suggestion about the dragons,” Harry told him, looking over his shoulder at Sirius.
“Understood,” Sirius nodded, happy it wasn't something which was a problem. “What did you have in mind? Because we're getting nowhere.”
“Daddy Lucius said Elliot acts the way he does because of my magic. I was wondering if he would do the same with others that are older because our magic is different than a kids,” Harry explained, looking over his shoulder as Sirius. “Maybe like Draco and the twins? He might not act the same way he does with me, but there may be some kind of change. We could then judge from there.”
“And that wasn't something any of us thought of,” Sirius grinned. Giving Harry a squeeze, he said, “Good idea, Harry! Let's see what we can manage there. I'm sure Lucius and Snape can talk Draco into trying. The twins? That's a given. I'm sure they won't mind. Let's see what it does.” He then gave Harry a kiss on the temple and said, “Good thinking!”
“Thanks,” Harry grinned, leaning back against him with a contented sigh. Then he slid back into the role and went to mucking with the paints again.
As he watched Harry, Sirius said, “I think we're going to try to have Fred and George over more since they have to go back to school soon. They've been helping with the cleaning when we want them around, but maybe schedule a few days a week until the term starts. While we'll do a bit of cleaning, mostly the three of you can spend time together having fun. Once term starts, you'll have to deal with all the adults and won't have anyone your age around anymore.”
“I'd like that, a lot,” Harry told him with a smile. Even if the three of them just sat around and talked, he had fun. They were people he liked being around and they didn't try to drag him into whatever and cause drama.
“I'll have Remus go talk to Molly and Arthur tomorrow. I'm sure they won't mind.” Then he grinned and snorted before adding, “I'm sure Molly will love to have them out from under foot since we know the chaos they cause.”
“True,” Harry agreed, grinning as he did.
“We'll spend until tea time playing, but I want you to think of what you'd like to do tonight when we're done going over whatever with everyone. Well, it'll depend on how late it runs. Let's see. If we don't get to it tonight, we will tomorrow, I promise. Pick something you want to do, Harry. And I mean anything. If we have to rope Snape in, we'll manage and I doubt he'll grouse too much as he seems to like some of it. Even today smacking balls around. You could tell he was having fun as well.”
“I'll come up with something,” Harry told him with a nod and smile as he added more paint to what he was doing. Yeah, he might like doing this again as it was great.
Sirius then began talking to him the normal way he did when they were in the roles. Though it still took a bit to get it right, he was getting better at it, just like Harry was. And it did seem to help some. It would just take some more time to get it down and find a way to work around some of it or come up with what was best. Either way, both of them liked it, so they would work with what came.

Severus was sitting in the Headmaster's office at Hogwarts, going over scheduling with Minerva and Albus. Though it wasn't normally something he did, as the two handled most of it other than individual whatever from the Professors, he was asked to join as they had to work around him being out of the castle on court order. They wanted his input as to when he thought was best and scheduling around the full moon. It meant he couldn't do some bits like normal, nothing more. He didn't think it would be an issue, honestly, but the two wanted it all in place, as would be expected. They would have the first short teachers meeting the following day, so it was something needed because they would have to explain why.
“You don't care what nights you have off, do you, Severus?” Minerva asked, looking over what they had come up with so far. Thankfully, Severus was easy to get along with when it came to shifting whatever around.
“Doesn't matter to me,” Severus told her honestly. “I'll also ensure I'm back for rounds and such. Unless there's an emergency of some kind I have to tend to.” Then he added, looking at both of them, “The court date is approaching. It's before the start of term, but if we have meetings for whatnot, I won't be there that day as I gave my word I would attend with Harry.” He didn't assume it was a problem, but wanted it out there.
“We'll factor that date in,” Albus said, making a note of it after getting the exact date. “Yes, we can manage this without an issue. It'll just take some juggling. Quite easy since we have fair warning.”
“How is Harry doing?” Minerva asked quietly, unable to look at Severus when she did. The guilt she felt over some of what she said was eating at her. She was concerned, though, and wanted to know.
“He's coping the best he knows how,” Severus grunted, shooting her a muted glare. What he said was enough to give them an idea without details. And it was all he was going to give up. There was no chance he was telling them exactly what was going on.
Albus gave a heavy sigh and shook his head, looking slightly upset. “If there is anything we can do, let us know.”
“Stay away from him,” Severus sneered. Then he added, “Both of you. He knows what you've said about some bits as he heard it. We won't lie to him, so we've answered whatever questions he's had. He knows and isn't happy.”
“Understood,” Minerva said in an uncharacteristically quiet voice, feeling more guilt over some of what came out of her mouth.
Though Albus looked sad and like he wanted to ask more, he didn't. Instead, he shuffled through the papers there and frowned. “Did you bring the master teacher list with the dates they need off, Minerva? I don't see it here or the template for updating it.”
“I thought I did,” she muttered, rifling through the papers on the desk. After a minute or so, she huffed then shook her head. Normally, it wasn't needed as they tended to stay the same, so she must have forgotten to grab it because they had to change some of it around. “I guess I didn't. Let me go get them and make sure I didn't forget anything else.” She then stood and headed out to get what was needed.
With a groan, Albus stood then said, “Give me a few, if you would, Severus. A break is needed.” Then he headed towards his private quarters to tend to something personal.
Though Severus gave a distracted nod, looking as though he was paying attention to the papers in front of him, he was waiting and listening for the shut of the door to Albus' private quarters. When he heard it, he stood and went to the Sorting Hat. While he didn't have much time and would have to watch for the paintings, as they were gone tending to whatever, he planned to get some answers.
He quickly put it on his head and began to ask questions. Something he knew was Albus didn't talk to the hat much. Whatever it spouted came from being in his office all the time and hearing what was said. So he hoped he could manage to get out of it what went on with Harry's sorting. If he had even hints, he could go from there to piece it together.
Just before he heard the door to Albus' quarters open, Severus seated himself, making sure his normal mask was in place. Oh yes, he needed to pass on what he heard. It wasn't much, but Harry was right; the Sorting was wonky. Between what he just learned and other clues, they might now be able to piece some of this together.

Once they were all settled in his room that night after tea and Cissy and Lucius were ready, Sirius leaned back against the headboard of the bed, holding Harry close. With a grin, he observed, “That smug look on your face tells me you pulled off something good, Lucius.”
Still looking plenty smug, Lucius told him, tone smooth, “Because I did. You'll all enjoy it and it can only help keeping a certain old man running in circles.”
“What did you do?” Severus asked with an amused snort, shaking his head. With Lucius—one never knew, but he was sure all of them would get pleasure from it.
After taking a sip of his brandy and crossing his legs, Lucius smoothed down his robes then said, tone smug, “I might have talked to a friend of mine with some pull at the Prophet, especially with Skeeter. I think I suggested, in a roundabout way, that digging into Albus to see what foul bits they could find might be a good idea. After all, if he put one student at risk he might have done so with others over his tenure as Headmaster. I thought it would make a good news story. However, I did add to make sure no student's names were mentioned as you run afoul of the law when you do so. Then I added the tidbit that the victim of his last round has put out the first feelers for a lawsuit and the Board is settling.” He then stopped, looking smugger than before.
“You are a crafty one, Lucius,” Remus said with an amused chuckle, shaking his head.
“And it'll help, a lot,” Sirius grinned. “Good one, Lucius!”
“I thought so,” Lucius replied, looking pleased.
“It will be a tremendous help as Albus will end up scrambling and plenty will look into what he's done,” Severus said honestly, a pleased look on his face. Then he sobered up and asked, “The Board is going to settle Harry's suit?”
“Yes,” Lucius nodded, eyes flitting to Harry. “We received the paperwork and we know we can't win, so we have agreed to a settlement. You should hear something tomorrow. Though it's not the amount asked for, it's plenty generous.”
“Good,” Harry said, planning to take it so it didn't go any further. He had no desire to go to court over it and just wanted plenty to sting.
“How will it affect Albus? If any?” Sirius asked, giving Harry a squeeze. He hoped it would, but you never knew.
“He'll be called in then giving a right reaming,” Lucius started. “So will Minerva. It's her job as well to oversee the health and well being of the students. They are going to make it abundantly clear they are quite unhappy with the amount of money the two cost them. Also they'll be investigating both of them and there are new guidelines coming for how to handle such cases.”
“Good. It will keep them occupied and have less time to plot,” Remus told him, smiling a tad.
“It was my thought as well,” Lucius agreed. “And some of the others on the Board. Even ones that tend to side with whatever Albus has to say said something similar. I think quite a few are realizing the old man is up to plenty and it has nothing to do with running the school. They are less than happy with so much that came out of this mess. Them unhappy will mean Albus is under a microscope and will have to pay attention to his steps. It can only help all of us.”
“We need all the help we can get,” Sirius said, happy with this.
After checking about whatever else Lucius might have to pass on and hearing there was nothing, Severus sat up straighter and looked around. “I managed to talk to the Sorting Hat today,” he said. “I didn't have much time, but was able to finagle out of it what it knew on the matter of Harry's Sorting.”
Before anyone could ask, he pressed on, “Harry was right; there was fiddling with it. Albus made it clear through things he said in the office, not to the hat itself, he wanted Harry in Gryffindor because he thought it would do him best. It took what was said into consideration, like it does so much else, and put him there because it believed Albus was right.”
Then, with a sigh, before anyone could say anything else, he added, “You need to realize the hat factors in plenty when it places someone. In Harry's case, it factored in what Albus said because it didn't realize how much of an agenda was there. It told me Harry would have ended in up Gryffindor no matter what because of what Albus pulled. Though it did say it wanted him in Ravenclaw, with Slytherin a close second as it thought, without what Albus said, he would fit better.”
“Bloody hell,” Sirius groaned, shaking his head. “Damn Albus!”
“The hat only has a rudimentary intelligence for some matters,” Severus told them, shaking his head. “It seems to understand what Albus is like, but took what was said at face value. It doesn't have the cognitive reasoning we do to sort out when it's being played. I didn't push as it would do no good. All I wanted was to get out of it what happened.”
“Which means Albus has been plotting plenty for a very long time,” Remus sighed, shutting his eyes and his head dropping forward.
“Part and parcel when it comes to him,” Lucius snorted, looking dour. “And little we can do. It doesn't matter at this point, honestly, just that we know. We'll factor it in to what else we hear and see if it helps determine anything.”
Then he looked at Harry and said, “Let's start with what you know and go from there. We won't go into anything before school, just what happened while you were there.” Eyes sliding to Severus, he added, “And you jump in with what you've learned over the years so we can piece it together. Once we have what both of you say, we'll go from there to sort this.” He then put a hand on Narcissa's and tossed in, “We might be able to see plenty you don't because you're so close to the issue. Let's go and determine what we can.”

“Oh yeah, there is a ton here,” Sirius snorted, shaking his head after Harry and Snape finished. “I didn't know a great deal of this. We know they're worried about that Prophecy, just not what it says. And if Snape didn't hear all of it, I bet what Albus is hiding is huge. I mean, no one in the Order knows what it says. None. Just that it's a secret weapon of some kind. Which now has me heavily on edge about what the rest of it says.”
“Same here,” Remus nodded. “The same with You-Know-Who's name. None of us knew that, including Severus. Why wouldn't he tell us? Looking into his past could only help all of us end this nightmare.”
“Narcissa and I will take on looking into his past,” Lucius said with a shake of his head. “Father might have left something to help steer us the right way. Harry's Solicitor is doing what he can to get a copy of what the Prophecy says. We'll have to wait on him to do what he can. The rest? He's planning something.”
“More than any of us thought,” Severus snorted, arms folded over his chest, looking plenty dour. “I had no idea about some of what was said to Harry. Now that I've heard it, I tend to lean in Black's direction in thinking this isn't just a normal curse scar. Something, somewhere, is off with it and I have no idea what it might be. Which means we need to either get it out of Albus, and I have no clue how, though I'll try, or find out another way.”
“I think, honestly, protecting Harry comes first,” Remus said, holding up his hand and looking around. “While we need to know what he's planning, that will take plenty of time and effort. Harry needs to come first. As we've taken so much out of his hands, we need to worry about who Albus will put up to what when it comes to this mess. Especially after school starts since he can't come around like he normally would for so much. He'll farm out what he wants to do and make it sound good, like he's doing the best for Harry. Those we need to concern ourselves with as they won't realize there's an agenda behind it. Which means, they might succeed.”
“Yeah, we'll worry about that first and let the rest of you sort what you can of it. Remus and I will figure out what we can, but we need to stick to Harry like there is a charm on us since we're the ones that'll be around after Snape goes back to school.” Sirius told everyone, looking around.
“We'll go that way with this nightmare,” Severus nodded. “I'll take on Albus and push for what I can as this goes along. I think, as he's backed into the corner we wanted him in and fumbling, I might manage to get some out of him. It won't be all, this I know, but even tidbits can help. Let me see what I can manage then we'll go from there.”
“I'll farm out some of what I can to contacts I have that will keep their mouths shut and aren't a part of either side,” Lucius told them. “And pass what I can to both Amos and my Solicitor. They might manage where we can't on some.”
Hearing agreements, he settled back and looked at Sirius, then smirked. As he thought they were done with the worst, he wanted to ask about something his lover and Harry had come up with. “Now, what is it you want to try? You said it's about the dragons and getting them to function like Elliot.”
Sirius grinned a bit then gave Harry a squeeze before explaining, “Harry came up with the idea and I think we should try it.” Then he walked everyone through what was said. Finally, when he finished, he said, “I'll pass one of the ones we have done to Snape to give to Draco. Tell him to keep it on him at all times and interact in some way. If we can get it acting differently, we'll see what it does. He won't do what Harry does with the thing, so I bet we'll get a different reaction. We're going to do the same with Fred and George. If this works, we can judge from there what we're doing and how to go about working with the things. Might make it easier on all of us rather than trying to find the spells to create some of the behaviors.”
“Good idea, Harry,” Severus nodded, pleased.
“I'll get it to Draco and explain what we want him to do,” Lucius assured him, smirking. “I'll also have him record behaviors and what happens. You can use the record to determine and compare. Yes, this might work!”
“We thought so and will go from there,” Sirius grinned, giving Harry a squeeze. As it was getting late and the others would be going to bed soon, he asked about any other news to make sure they had it all covered then they'd go and get ready for bed. He doubted he'd sleep much because he would spend plenty of time trying to sort through the clues they were given, but he'd try. It was his hope Harry would, especially with the sleeping potion. Tomorrow they'd worry more about it and work from there.
- 43
- 44
- 45
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

Preventative Measures