Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

Noli Me Tangere	By : PotionMaster Category: Harry Potter > General > General Views: 2863 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 4
- 5
Noli Me Tangere 4

We sat at the breakfast bar and I watched as Vee proceeded to fill our plates with a traditional full English breakfast. I took a sip of my coffee - strong, black, and with a slightly exotic feel to it. Vee is most particular about her coffee. As she bustled past me, yet again, I put my mug down and pulled her into my lap.
"Vee, honey, stop fussing and sit down for a moment," I instructed.
"I'm not fussing I'm—"
"Fussing. You hate cooking. In all the time I've known you, you've cooked less than a dozen meals - which is good because you and kitchens are dangerous, immiscible things. However, when you worry, you cook. I was fully expecting to find a ten-course meal waiting for me after Draco's birth," I said. "Now, if I let you go, are you going to sit down, eat your breakfast, and tell me what's got you so rattled this morning?"
"You turn up here, bloody and battered and tell me you're leaving the Death Eaters and I'm not supposed to be rattled?" she asked incredulously.
"You were perfectly calm last night," I pointed out.
"I hadn't drunk this much coffee last night," she complained. "And I don't think the Pepper-Up Potion I drank is helping any."
"Wherever did you get a pep potion from?" I wondered.
"I filched it from Severus' shelves last night," she said. If I hadn't been so astounded, I'd have laughed at the comic expression on her face as she realised what she had just said.
"Severus? Severus Snape? That's who you went to see last night?" I was stunned. I had trusted her. I hadn't actually expected her to be able to help me but I never thought she'd betray me. Severus Snape was a Death Eater - I should know, I was the one who had introduced him to the group. If he knew that I intended to abandon Voldemort then he only had two choices - to tell Voldemort and condemn me to a slow, painful death; or to keep my secret and risk death or worse if his treachery were ever to be discovered. I found that I really didn't want to know which option he would choose. "Why on earth would you go to see Severus? For Merlin's sake Vee, he's a Death Eater. You know what they'll do to me if they catch me!"
She just stared at me impassively, calm again now that I knew. "No, Lucius, he's not."
"Don't be so stupid. Of course he's a Death Eater, I should know. He has the Mark on his arm, just like I do; I saw them put it there. He answers to Voldemort's summons just like the rest of us."
She continued to look at me, presumably waiting for the knut to drop, but I was in no mood to try and unravel the puzzle. "Yes he has the Mark, yes he comes when called, but he's not one of you. He got out a long time ago, Lucius. He works for Albus Dumbledore now," she paused, possibly waiting for me to argue with her again, but I was too stunned to do more than gape at her like some kind of idiot. When it became clear that I was beyond words she added, "As do I."
"What!" I leapt out of my chair and backed away from her, apparently not as speechless as I had thought. "You've been spying on me? You — I — Damn it I trusted you! I can't believe I was so stupid. How long has this been going on?"
"Since my parents were killed actually, but it's not what you think," she answered, spreading her hands in front of her defensively.
"Not what I think? What was all that rubbish in the shower about? 'Remember, I love you'? You've been playing me. Our entire relationship was a lie!" I shouted at her. If there was anything in my life that I had been certain of, it was that I could trust Vee, with my life if necessary. Hell, I had trusted her with it last night and now she was telling me that she'd been lying to me from the moment we met. "So what happens now?" I asked bitterly. "Is there a squad of Aurors outside waiting to arrest me or were you planning on keeping the honour of finally pinning something on Lucius Malfoy for yourself?"
"It's not like that Lucius," she argued. "You have to listen to me."
"I don't have to do anything, Veronique" I spat at her. "Merlin, but you're a cold-ted ted little bitch. I thought Narcissa was the Ice Queen, but compared to you she's a balmy night in the Caribbean!" I pushed past her and headed the the door, intent on getting as far away from her as possible.
"You can't leave, Lucius," she stated, her eyes flashing angrily, showing the steel backbone that only those people who made the mistake of getting on her bad side ever saw.
"Why the hell shouldn't I?" I snapped furiously.
"Because Draco needs you. If you walk through that door then you either have to hand him over to Voldemort or refuse and let the Death eaters and Aurors squabble over who gets to kill you and there will be no one there to help you. If you stay, there won't be any charges to face and we can find you somewhere safe to stay until the Death Eaters are no longer a threat." She held her hand out and came towards me. "I know this is hard for you and I wish there was an easier way to break it to you but we don't have time for that. Just think about it for a moment, Lucius. I've been working for Albus for twenty years and Severus joined us before Draco was born. Between the two of us we could provide evidence of every crime you've ever committed; planned to commit; or even knew about and failed to stop, but the Ministry has nothing on you. In fact they all think you're an upstanding member of the wizarding community. You claimed to have been under Imperius and we both knew it was a lie, yet we said nothing. I risked my entire career and Severus risked his freedom to protect you. Why would we do all that only to hand you over to them now?"
I came back to the sofa and sat down with my head in my hands. I've heard people describe a moment when their world tilted on its axis; I've often wondered what that felt like. Now I knew. Everything I thought I knew was turning out to be a lie; or was it? If what Vee had said was true then my faith hadn't been totally misplaced. One thing stood out in my confused mind from the rest of her speech.
"What did you mean when you said that Sev was risking his freedom? Why wasn't he only risking his career like you were?" I asked.
"I've always been working for Albus, but Severus was a Death eater before he was a spy. Part of the deal Albus made for him with the Ministry involved him supplying information on other Death Eaters in exchange for the Ministry dropping the charges against him. If they knew that he'd been lying to them, they'd send him straight to Azkaban," she explained. "It's not like there's any love lost between him and Cornelius after the debacle over Black's escape."
I shuddered at the thought of Severus in that dreadful place. I had always assumed that we separated, at least in part, because he blamed me for getting him involved with Voldemort in the first place. Now it seemed that it had had more to do with his changing loyalties than anything else. He obviously hadn't felt able to trust me with his doubts but he had still been willing to risk everything to protect me. For a leading light in a House often associated with backstabbing and double-dealing, I seem to have managed to accrue some remarkably loyal allies over the years.
"Why on earth would he do that?" I asked Vee.
She shrugged, "You'll have to work that out for yourself, or maybe you could ask him. I don't expect you will though, neither of you ever do anything the easy way."
I could still feel my head spinning as my reality fought to rearrange itself. I couldn't deal with all this right now. Vee was right, Draco needed me, so I would concentrate on being strong for him and hopefully everything else would sort itself out. "I assume you and Severus came up with a workable plan last night," I said.
"Albus can provide somewhere safe for you to stay. I'll go with you, at least to start with. No one else will know where you are because it's too dangerous, for them and you. Divorcing Narcissa will give you custody of Draco, but you won't be able to exercise it. If you sign temporary custody over to Severus and myself we'll protect him. Severus swears that he won't let anything happen to him and I made sure he knew what I'd do to him if he did," she explained.
"You threatened him?" I queried. "But you're supposed to be on the same side."
She shrugged. "He doesn't like me very much. I think the fight we had pretty much cleared the air though."
Despite everything I could feel a grin tugging at my lips. I am clearly a sick, sick wizard, but the idea of my mistress and my former lover in a fight was turning me on. "Seriously Vee? The two of you got into a fight? Who won?" I asked.
"Well, it was pretty much a draw actually. He got one good hex in which knocked me off my feet, but I could have finished him if I'd wanted too. Wizard is so hard to get out of the carpet though and I didn't want to annoy Albus too much - good spies are hard to come by."
I wish I'd seen it, "I commented.
She laughed, "You are a sick, sick wizard, lover." Have I mentioned that she knows me far too well?
"You'll have to get to Hogwarts on your own. I can't afford to be associated with your disappearance and the custody agreement's going to be incriminating enough as it is. Make it look like you're going there on business. No one knows that there's anything wrong yet so it shouldn't look suspicious. Albus will tell you what to do next. With any luck, it'll look like Severus and I knew nothing about your plans until after the event. I'll see you in a few hours."
I stood up again and started to leave for the second time that morning. "What are you going to be doing in the mean time?"
"Packing some things for us both, planting an alibi in the right ears, oh and I owe Severus a bottle of whiskey - do you know what brand he prefers?"
I saw the smile that crossed her face at the mention of the whiskey and decided that I probably didn't want to know. I left the flat and apparated to Hogsmeade with the distinct feeling that things would never be the same again. The only question was whether that was necessarily a bad thing.

Home of the CoffeeCup HTML Editor
- 4
- 5
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

Noli Me Tangere