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Their Phoenix	By : Lomonaaeren Category: Harry Potter > Threesomes/Moresomes Views: 68678 -:- 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
- 5
- 6
- 7
Thank you again for all the reviews!

�� We can�t
prosecute him.�

�� Harry had
been leaning back in the chair in Kingsley�s office, feeling contentment travel
through him like warm water. He had been sure, after Mark Pepperfield told his
story in stumbling words and didn�t even try to lie, that Kingsley would see
the necessity of immediate prosecution. But those words went straight through
him like a hot wire�a sensation that Ledbetter had introduced him to last week.

�� He must
have heard wrong. Maybe Kingsley meant that the Ministry couldn�t prosecute Pepperfield, but the Wizengamot could.
Harry took a deep breath. �Who can?�

�� Kingsley
slowly shook his head. He was watching Harry with a concentrated sadness that
Harry only now noticed�noticed because there it was so concentrated that
Kingsley seemed to be hiding another emotion underneath it. But what? �No one can, Harry. No
evidence of what he did exists.�

�� Bollocks,� Harry said, loud enough that
he almost startled himself. �He attacked Malfoy in front of a shop full of
people! Maybe they won�t enjoy being called as witnesses, but we can call them.
And there�s Pensieves, and��

�� You don�t
understand.� Kingsley spoke with intense softness, too, which more or less
forced Harry to shut up and listen. �You didn�t take Malfoy to St. Mungo�s. By
your own admission, he doesn�t have a mark on him. And Pepperfield�s story will
seem to be a lie if you show that he wasn�t actually affected by the Scalding
Arch Curse.�

�� Then we
can take him to St. Mungo�s!� Harry stood up, running a hand through his hair.
He didn�t remember being this frustrated since he was trying to figure out the
clues to the Deathly Hallows that Dumbledore had left him. �Honestly, sir, do
you really think we should just leave Pepperfield to go free and brag that one
can do whatever one wants to to an exonerated Death Eater and get away with
it?�

�� Taking
Malfoy to St. Mungo�s would expose the existence of the bonds,� Kingsley said
firmly. �And that, we absolutely cannot do.�

�� Harry
hesitated, thinking of the balance he�d fought so hard to maintain during the
last months, giving the majority of his time to his friends and Ginny whilst
sleeping in the same house as Malfoy and Snape. Then, not without regret, he
demolished the whole structure in his mind. �I�d rather that people knew about
it, and plagued me with requests for interviews and spread rumors about me,
instead of trying to kill Malfoy and Snape,� he said.

�� That�s
impossible,� Kingsley repeated.

�� Harry
stared hard at him. Kingsley looked back without flinching, which at least
convinced Harry that it was a serious reason, whatever it was. �Suppose you
tell me why it is,� he muttered at last.

�� Sit down.�

�� Harry
flushed as he realized that he�d acted like a schoolboy, rather than an Auror
under the Minister�s employment, by marching up and down the way he�d done, and
challenging Kingsley�s decisions. He took a deep breath and sank back into his
chair. Yes, he would use the power of his name to do things like get the
pardons, but he was trying to show that he didn�t think so well of himself as
to try and upstage the entire Ministry�s structure.

�� That�s
better.� Kingsley leaned forwards. �You remember what I said about not allowing
Malfoy and Snape to control you?�

�� Of
course.� Harry twitched restlessly, and forced his hands into position on the
armrests of the chair. �But I don�t see how making the bonds public would allow
them to control me. They still can�t hurt me through the magic the way I can
hurt them��

�� I know
that,� Kingsley said. �But you�re already the focus of publicity and
controversy, Harry. Many people are declaring that you�ll be the best Auror in
a hundred years, simply based on your record during the war. I don�t think anyone has ever been allowed to enter
Auror training without sitting his NEWTS first.�

�� Harry
nodded a cautious agreement. �I knew that, sir. I understand and appreciate the
risk that you took by accepting me into the program, and I�d like to thank you
again. But��

�� And that
means,� Kingsley said quietly, �that we have to be extremely careful who you�re
seen in public with. If someone knows that he can bring you charging into
danger just by kidnapping or hurting Malfoy and Snape�imagine what would
happen. The risk would increase exponentially beyond what it is simply by
Aurors having families. Your friends the Weasleys still place themselves in
danger by associating with you. But they�re not bonded to you, and they�re
famous in their own right, so someone would be more likely to notice if one of
them disappeared. Snape and Malfoy have almost no one who will aid them, let
alone freely.� He waited, but Harry still glared at him, so he added gently,
�I�m asking you not to talk about the bonds in public because it would mean
that our best Auror, the one we�ve taken a chance on, and the one who�s coming
to be seen as the face of the Ministry, whether he likes it or not, would be
more at risk.�

�� Harry took
a few deep breaths to calm himself down. You
should have known this would happen. Politics don�t stop happening just because
the war did, and you�re always going to be a political, and controversial,
figure.

�� None of
that means you can�t punish Pepperfield,� he said. �He doesn�t know how hurt Draco is or was, and the people in the
shop saw the original curse happen, not what he looked like afterwards.�

��

�How do you explain that you were
the one charging to his rescue?� Kingsley asked.

Harry gave him an incredulous
glance. �He was recently pardoned by the Ministry, and he�s known to be at a
higher risk that other people. He couldn�t be carrying some device that would
let off a warning call to the Aurors when he was hurt by Dark Arts? And I
couldn�t happen to be the Auror that responded? And that�s another thing,� he
added. �You ought to prosecute Pepperfield for use of Dark Arts, too.�

Kingsley nodded slowly. �That�s a
good idea, actually, Harry. We�ll start manufacturing those devices and issuing
them as soon as possible, to make the lie truth. And it wouldn�t involve a word
about the bond.� He smiled at Harry. �I�m glad that you�re taking this so
well.�

�� Harry
smiled back, but in the back of his head, a small discontent gnawed itself a
place and lay down to brood.

�� I�m not going to forget that you didn�t
think of this solution yourself, that you were perfectly willing to sacrifice
Draco and let someone who hurt him walk away because of the way it might have
impacted me. Draco and Snape have
even fewer friends than I thought. Their lives don�t really matter to you
except in an abstract way.

�� Maybe that�s another reason I have to be
their champion.

*

�� Potter.�

�� Snape.�
The boy�s tone was not snappish, at least, though he nodded briskly to him with
a dark scowl on his face. Then he turned to the door and gestured with his
wand. Severus tensed without meaning to. Usually, Potter carried his books with
him. That he was bringing something else in behind him probably indicated the
arrival of an idiotic friend.

�� Instead,
what floated in was a tray covered with a delicious-smelling array of platters.
Severus licked his lips before he could stop himself. �What is that?�

�� A meal
from a restaurant that just opened in Diagon Alley.� Potter shrugged, and his
eyes darted away from Severus. �The restaurant�s called the Blue Moon. Draco
mentioned that he wanted to eat there, but he doubted they would accept a
former Death Eater among their clients, since the owner�s Muggleborn. So I got
some food from it and brought it here so that we could share.� He was glaring
at Severus again by the end of it, as if he expected him to jump up and start
checking the food for poisons.

�� Severus
cleared his throat. �And you and Draco will take it to his rooms to share, I
suppose?� An aching jealousy filled him�he had not spent much time with Draco today�but
just for a moment. He had never intended to have Draco exclusively to himself,
after all; he had envisioned a triangular relationship from the beginning.

�� What?�
Potter stared at him. �Of course not. It�s for all of us to share.�

�� Severus
stared back in confusion.

�� Potter gave
a colossal sigh, as if Severus was the one who regularly screwed up simple
potions. Then he faced him and folded his arms across his chest as if he wanted
to prevent Severus from looking too closely at his internal organs. �Look, Snape,� he said. �I don�t like
you. You don�t like me. But we both like Draco.� He looked uncertain for a
moment, maybe wishing he�d chosen some other word for his own feelings, but
soldiered on. �I don�t think it�s fair that he should have to choose between us
when we�re both here, and it would be stupid to shut you out when you�ve
probably been brewing potions all day instead of talking to him. So we�ll all
eat down here.� He turned away and marched into the small kitchen, the platter
of food accompanying him, as if he considered the subject closed.

�� Severus
laid down his book slowly, watching Potter�s back as long as it was in sight.
Then he stood and turned up the stairs to call Draco down. He felt very much as
if he were in a dream.

�� Potter is acting�like an adult.

�� Severus
remained silent throughout dinner, which was an excellent array of salads,
sliced fruits, lightly toasted bread soaked with butter, and three whole
roasted chickens; the Blue Moon appeared to have gone to the extreme in order
to please the Boy-Who-Lived. He ate and savored the meat that hardly touched
his tongue before it dissolved, as well as fresh blueberries that he hadn�t
eaten in too many years, but his eyes were on Potter and Draco, involved in an
animated discussion of Quidditch. Draco�s face was flushed, and he smiled
continually, when he wasn�t scowling. Once, the conversation nearly became an
argument, as Potter rose, with his hands in fists, to defend the honor of the
Chudley Cannons.

�� Then Draco
asked him to think seriously about the team�s chances of winning their next
game, and Potter paused, rolled his eyes, and sat down again. From that moment
forwards, the talk proceeded more smoothly.

�� And Potter,
though he glanced uneasily at Severus most of the time when he deigned to
notice him, was unfailingly polite when he passed him the fruit or the bread.
He did go out of his way to avoid
letting their fingers touch, but Severus was rather inclined to regard that as
a hopeful sign than otherwise.

�� When the
evening ended and Potter vanished into his own rooms, Draco turned to Severus
with a glowing face. �He said that he�ll take us to look at houses in Hogsmeade
tomorrow. On the outskirts of
Hogsmeade, so that we can have some privacy,� he added quickly. �But can you
believe it, Severus?�

�� Severus
spent a moment thinking. His whirling thoughts contained the conversation
Potter and Draco had had yesterday, the outrage Potter had displayed over the
Scalding Arch Curse, and the fact that Potter had very carefully mentioned
nothing about the Pepperfield boy who had attacked Draco.

�� Yes,� he
said. �I think I can.�

*

�� You�re
willingly spending a Saturday in Malfoy and Snape�s company?� Hermione raised
an eyebrow as she pointed at Harry with a piece of toast. �I�m amazed.�

�� Shut up, I
can do nice things for other people, sometimes,� Harry muttered as he ran a
hand through his hair. He�d half-promised Ginny they would go shopping for
Christmas presents today, but luckily Ginny had said she would probably be busy
helping her mother decorate the Burrow, and the promise wasn�t firm. �And right
now, I feel like being nice to them.�

�� Are you
going to spend part of Christmas with them?� Hermione asked in a far too
innocent tone. Harry glared at her, but she had a book up as a convenient
shield. Uneasily, Harry noticed the title: Bonds
and Accidental Magic.

�� Of course
not,� Harry said. �I mean�they�d want to be alone. And I already told Mrs.
Weasley that I�d be over here.�

�� Why not
bring them?� Butter wouldn�t have melted in Hermione�s mouth, from the way she
spoke.

�� Harry
snorted before he could stop himself, in sheer incredulity. Then he rolled his
eyes. The impact of the gesture was lost because Hermione still had the book
up, but that didn�t stop him from making it. �Oh, yes, Hermione, I can see it
now. Malfoy making polite conversation with Bill about the scars he caused by
letting Greyback into the school. Snape doing his best to control his sneer as
he listens to Mr. Weasley talk about Muggle things. Both of them seated around
the table�oh, my God.� That vision was actually horrible enough to make Harry
shudder. He shook his head. �It would never work.�

�� Hermione
sighed and lowered her book. �I�m worried about you, Harry,� she said, and from
the way she looked down and traced a finger over the table and whispered, Harry
knew it was the truth. The amusement she�d shown a moment ago was gone as
though it had never existed. �It�s not good for you to keep the two halves of
your life separate like this.�

�� Harry tried
to smile, though he had the feeling it didn�t reach his eyes. �You think my
life is only divided in two? Your fractions are all wrong, Hermione. I�m Harry
the Hero, and Harry the Trainee Auror, and Harry the Boyfriend, and Harry the
Friend, and��

�� You know what
I mean.� Hermione glared at him.

�� When you
express yourself that badly, I don�t have to listen.� Harry snatched up an
apple from the bowl of fruit Mrs. Weasley kept in the middle of the table and
grinned at her.

�� Bollocks,�
Hermione snapped, which made Harry�s mouth fall open in surprise. �It�s
just�I�m getting worried about the way you ignore Snape and Malfoy.� She shoved
her book across the table at him.

�� Harry
looked down, resigned to more paragraphs of dense magical theory that he
wouldn�t understand.

�� To his
surprise, this was by far the most readable of the books Hermione had shown
him, though still dry. And it was the first one that had said anything
specifically about accidental magic. He sat down as he read on.

�� Bonds created by accidental magic are among
the most unpredictable of bonds known to wizardkind. Each forms in unique
circumstances, and therefore their purposes are hard to grasp. However, certain
useful generalizations can be drawn from the many cases summarized in the first
half of this book:

One.
Accidental magical bonds are always powerful. They will strive to accomplish
their purposes to the best of their ability, no matter what stands in their
way.

Two.
Accidental magical bonds seek optimization. It is not enough for them, say, to guarantee merely the physical safety
of the members of the bond, should they be formed in circumstances that demand
the saving of a life. (See the case of Eva and Frederich M. earlier in this
volume, in which the father wished desperately for his daughter to recover from
a fatal case of dragonpox). They will work towards other forms of safety, so
that the protected ones will not fall victim to mental illness, either, or
wounds that would kill others. Likewise, those bonds that thrive on affection will
seek to establish more than one kind of affection.

Three.
Accidental magical bonds are prevalent. They inevitably become the center of
the bondmates� lives; the bonded are the most important people in the world to
each other. This can become problematic when, say, a child bonded to a parent
grows up, and prevent normal relationships being formed with others.

Harry looked up slowly, blinking.
Hermione met his eyes and spoke quietly. �It�s the last part that I�m most
worried about, Harry. I don�t want to see you tugged away from us by this bond.
I think it would be a better idea to integrate Snape and Malfoy into the rest
of your life, so you don�t feel you have to choose between them and us.� Her
face softened. �Especially because, if the book is right, they would win.�

Harry sat down and wiped his hand
across his mouth. Then he closed his eyes and buried his head between his
hands. �I feel like I�m going to throw up,� he whispered.

�� There was a
loud gasp, and Hermione conjured a basin and thrust it towards him. Harry held
it under his mouth and breathed as hard as he could through the thick bile
rising in his throat. When the temptation passed, he looked up at Hermione and
gave a shallow, jerky nod.

�� Oh,
Harry,� she said, reaching out to stroke his hair away from his forehead. My unmarked forehead, Harry thought, and
tamped down a bubble of hysterical laughter, but just because my scar vanished doesn�t mean I�m free. �Why?�

�� All my
life,� Harry whispered, rubbing his fingers together, �I�ve had something hanging over my head.
Something I had to pay attention to, something I couldn�t do anything about.
Voldemort, the prophecy, the fact that I was a wizard, the fact that the
Dursleys hated me�it was always something. I tried to accept them or get rid of
them. And when I thought I had, here comes the bond. And there�s no escaping
this, and there�s no accepting it.�

�� I don�t
think the last part is true,� Hermione whispered, taking his hand and
squeezing. �I can understand why you don�t like being bonded to them against
your will, but, Harry�maybe you�ll come to appreciate them like you appreciate
Ron and me?�

�� Not even
you can sound very hopeful about that,� Harry noted wryly. He took a few more
deep breaths. The moment of weakness was passing.

�� Merlin�s bloody balls. Anger surged up
and pushed the nausea away. I hate it,
but I�ll live with it. I hated the Dursleys, too, and most of the time I felt
that living with them would never end. And I used to think that Voldemort would
kill me, so I could never be free of him, either. But I adjusted to what the
Dursleys did to me, and I adjusted to having Voldemort after me. I�ll adjust to
this, too. I refuse to let it control my life.

�� He stood
up. �Well,� he said, �I�m off to keep a promise.�

�� Hermione
stood, and stared at him with something like hope in her eyes. �I was afraid
that you wouldn�t do it after you learned about this,� she breathed.

�� No.� Harry
shook his head and gestured violently at the book. �That�s�that�s horrible, and
I wish I didn�t know it, but I can�t
let it influence the way I act towards Snape and Malfoy. In one way or the other,� he added, when Hermione�s
eyes widened. �I can�t ignore them and hope everything goes the way I want it
to, because people still hate them and will attack them. And it�s worth being
friends with people I�ll have to live with. I�ve been in the opposite
situation,� and he was thinking again of the Dursleys. �But I won�t abandon you
for them, either.�

�� There�s
the other problematic part of what the book says,� Hermione said, sounding as
if she were trying to break bad news to him gently.

�� What�s
that?� Harry tapped the side of his head, hoping that would still the whirring,
and then grimaced at himself. It�s not
worth throwing up over. Nothing is, except maybe that photograph of a baby mauled
by a werewolf �that Ledbetter showed to
you the other day.

�� That the
bonds seek optimization,� said Hermione. �And that that�s particularly true of
bonds that demand some degree of affection.� No wonder she�ll study law, Harry thought. Big words sound natural in her mouth already. �I can�t imagine a
better candidate for that kind of bond than one that actually feeds on
emotions. So you�ll probably become closer to Snape and Malfoy, and�and maybe
they�ll want more of you than just friendship.� By the end, her face was bright
red.

�� Harry
stared at her, then snorted. �Good guess,� he said dryly, �except that they
already have each other for that.�

�� Hermione
blinked, then clapped a hand to her mouth. �You mean�they�the two of them?�

�� Harry
nodded. �And I have Ginny,� he said. �So I don�t think the bond would demand
something like that. Why would it? It already brought Snape and Malfoy
together.� And I do have to try and be
more polite to Snape, because Draco likes him, or loves him, and he seems not
to do badly by Draco. �That ought to be enough for it.�

�� Hermione
took a deep breath that seemed to blow most of the concern out of her. �Ought
to be, but maybe won�t be,� she said. �Maybe you�ll become lovers with them,
Harry.�

�� Three
people together is ridiculous,� Harry said. �I don�t care,� he added when
Hermione opened her mouth to argue with him, �it just is. Maybe novels talk about that, but real people don�t work that
way.� He was delighted to see a faint flush climb Hermione�s cheeks. I was right, and she is reading romance
novels! She�d probably say it was �part of her education in wizarding culture�
or some such. �And I won�t let worry over the bond make any difference to
me. I�ll still treat them in a friendly manner, and I�ll still go out with
Ginny. It ought to be possible.�

�� Of course
it should be,� said a bright voice from the kitchen doorway, and Ginny popped
her head in. �Why wouldn�t it be?�

�� Harry
smiled at her, but then her eyes flitted away from him, and he felt a little
ache in his belly. Lately, something seemed to be bothering Ginny. But whenever
Harry asked what it was, and offered to talk with her in private, she smiled
bravely and insisted that nothing was wrong. Harry had at last given up asking.

�� I don�t want to lose her.

�� Maybe
everything wasn�t perfect, maybe they sometimes argued and he sometimes had the
feeling that she was staring over his shoulder at the wall and was bored with
him, but so what? Whoever had said that any relationship was perfect? Maybe his
parents� marriage had been, but they�d only been together for four years before
they died. He and Ginny had the rest of their lives to work out their problems.

�� Of course
it will be,� Harry said, and resolved to sound as bright and cheerful as she
did. �I promised Snape and Malfoy I�d go look for a house in Hogsmeade with
them, Gin. That�s all right, isn�t it?�

�� Ginny
hesitated, looking at him. Then she whispered something. Harry, straining his
ears, thought it was, �What would happen if I said no?�

�� But then
another smile marched across her face, and she flipped her hair behind her
shoulder. ��Course, Harry. I promised Mum I�d help her decorate, anyway.�

�� And then
she turned and bounced out of the kitchen, leaving Harry staring after her. He
glanced at Hermione, wondering if she would say something. �I think she�s
upset,� he said. �But I�ve done everything I can think of to make her happy.
What would work?�

�� Hermione
put her hands over his. �If I knew that,� she said gently, �Ron and I would
never argue again. The only thing I can say is: don�t ignore her. If she asks
you to spend time with her that you haven�t promised to Snape and Malfoy, then
spend it with her. Come for dinner as much as you can. Show that you appreciate
her.�

�� I�ll try,�
Harry said. �I never was very good at that kind of thing.�

�� Then he
remembered again that he had the rest of his life to get better at it, and
smiled. He could actually set out to meet Snape and Draco again in a cheerful
mood.

*

�� Draco narrowed
his eyes. Maybe Harry, deeply involved in an argument with Severus over the
merits of a house with a pre-prepared potions lab, didn�t notice, but Draco
did.

�� All the
eyes that followed them. All the muttering that chased them. The way that some
people dared to look in a hostile way at Harry, as if he were somehow tainted
just by being with Draco and Severus.

�� Draco
suffered a momentary urge to flinch. There were more of these people than there
were of the three of them. They might hurt him as badly as Pepperfield had,
with the Scalding Arch Curse. Though Harry had healed the pain completely,
Draco was still not fond of the memory of the few minutes he�d spent under it.

�� But then he
remembered that if he flinched now he would be flinching all his life, when he
entered considerably larger arenas than Hogsmeade�the way he wanted to. So he
put up his head and walked on, his eyes focused straight ahead, not openly watching the envious and idiotic
hordes. That would be granting them a dignity they didn�t deserve.

�� I have my life. I didn�t die at the Dark
Lord�s hands. I won�t be a slave or a coward.

�� Harry shook
his head at last, rolled his eyes, and said, �Fine, I�ll ask about one with a
pre-prepared Potions lab, just to put a stop to your whinging,� and vanished into the house of the woman who knew all
the properties for sale in Hogsmeade. Draco was surprised to see Severus look
after him with a faint smile on his lips, instead of the deadly scowl that the
�whining� comment once would have provoked.

�� Or maybe�not
all that surprised.

�� Draco
stepped close to Severus. �Have you noticed the hostility directed at us?� he
murmured. �It might get worse if we live here.�

�� Severus
glanced around with the air of an eagle being asked to notice crows. �Of course
it will,� he said. �Briefly. Then they will see that their precious Chosen One
is living with us, and they will have to reverse their opinions. I predict an
equally brief period of mindless adulation and attempting to court our favor.�
He sniffed. �And then they will settle back in mingled wonder and confusion,
and we can lead something like a normal life.�

�� Draco
laughed in spite of himself. �Have you thought about what you�d like to do for
Christmas?� he asked, slipping an arm around Severus�s waist. That earned him
more stares. Draco stared back at the rudest person, a woman with two children
beside her, and she flushed and turned away at last. �Mother might welcome us
to the Manor, now that I think about something other than Potter day and
night.�

�� Severus
slowly inclined his head. �A night in the Manor would be�acceptable.�

�� Good.�
Draco leaned his head on his shoulder so that he could murmur in Severus�s ear.
Some things he was willing to commit to the censure of public opinion, and some
he wasn�t. �I can�t wait until I can fuck you in my own bed. It�ll put paid to
every one of my pale teenage fantasies. I never imagined anything like what you
did to me last night.�

�� Someone
would have to know Severus very well indeed to see that the dark fire burning
in his eyes was pleasure, rather than contempt. He snorted a bit. Then he said,
�I would also not be averse to further experiment. But please, Draco, spare me
stories of your childhood. I saw more than enough of it to content me.�

�� Draco
laughed, but not for long when he saw the subtle way Severus�s face stiffened.
Severus still hated to be reminded of the age gap between them, Draco knew, and
appeared to regard himself sometimes as if he were an old man preying on a
child.

�� Draco
didn�t understand that, frankly. He knew he would never fit in comfortably with
someone of his own age. They were trying to bury their experiences during the
war, or they hadn�t suffered like he had.

�� Draco
wasn�t interested in doing that for the sake of some bright new summer of the
future. The things that marked him had happened,
and he would use the memories to strengthen himself and as a warning against
ever becoming involved in anything like the Death Eaters again. He didn�t want
to marry and have children, the way Pansy was already doing. He didn�t want to
retreat into the safety of his family home and never come out again, the way
Theodore had done. He didn�t want to flee to another country, like Blaise.
Britain was his home, and he intended to make a stand there. Severus, and Harry
in a lesser way�so far�were part of his life. Why deny them?

�� But one of
the things that would make Britain a comfortable
home was humoring Severus�s little fancies, so Draco stopped laughing and
patted Severus�s shoulder. �I know,� he said. �I promise that I won�t make you
relive any Potions classes.�

�� Particularly
not ones with Longbottom involved.� Severus shuddered, his voice sounding
dipped in acid.

�� Draco
leaned heavily against Severus, and he slipped an arm around Draco�s shoulders
in response. Draco was still the one who had to initiate the kiss, however.
Severus was oddly shy about demonstrating affection in public.

�� It took
less than a moment before the incredulous, offended stares faded from his
notice. Severus had improved at kissing in the weeks since they started
sleeping together. He had a wonderful manner of filling Draco�s mouth with his tongue in a way that still allowed
him to breathe and not choke.

�� Someone
coughed, and Draco pulled away from Severus�s lips to look about. Harry,
flushed and wearing a faint grin, stood politely looking away, whilst the bond
surged with bright red fireflies of embarrassment. Draco licked his lips and
thought about leaning in for another kiss, but Severus stepped stiffly away
from him. Draco kept the arm around his waist, and raised his eyebrows at
Harry.

�� Yes?�

�� Three
houses have a pre-prepared potions lab, and the owners are looking into selling
them.� Harry addressed the list he held more than the two of them. Luckily, he
seemed to have overcome his mumbling habit. Draco refused to have a lover who
mumbled. �One in the center of Hogsmeade, two on the outskirts��

�� The one in
the center may be discarded,� Severus said, his voice cool. Draco closed his
mouth, which he had opened to say the same thing.

�� Harry
snapped his head up and stared at them incredulously. �Come on, Snape. Are you going to run away
from your enemies forever? You should��

�� Living on
a day-to-day basis with slighter protection than you have,� Severus said
harshly, �and with, in the case of a house in the center of Hogsmeade, more
neighbors, makes one consider many matters of simple practicality.�

�� Harry
shifted his gaze to Draco, but Draco looked back and nodded. He intended to
make people accept him�eventually. That was no reason to run stupid risks, as a
house in the center of the village would be.

�� Harry
rolled his eyes, but turned and led them away in silence. Draco and Severus
followed, Severus walking slowly enough that Draco could keep his arm in place
without effort.

�� The fools
around them would not know how profound an interest and affection that bespoke.
Draco would rejoice in his private knowledge.

*

�� From the
moment he saw the second house, Severus knew this was the place.

�� It was two
times larger than Spinner�s End, but not sprawling, not taking up space in the
wasteful way that Malfoy Manor did. There were two rooms on the second floor
fitted as bedrooms, and far enough apart that Potter need not be disturbed by
the sound of Severus�s and Draco�s activities. A bathroom was off one bedroom,
and Potter volunteered at once to move into the other. Severus wondered idly
how much of that was due to Gryffindor nobility and how much to the fact that
the bedroom at the front of the house had a large window, taking up more than
half the eastern wall.

�� The first
floor contained another bathroom, two rooms that the present owner appeared to
be using as pure storage space and which might easily serve that function or as
studies when they moved in, and a wood-paneled, empty room that Severus
patrolled with an approving nod. He would never match Minerva�s skill in
Transfiguration, but he knew enough to easily shape the walls into shelves;
this would be the library.

�� The ground
floor was the largest, and held a kitchen, two private eating and sitting
areas, and a room with an odd tiled floor that appeared to have been used as an
aviary in a circle beyond the entrance hall.

�� And the
potions lab.

�� Severus
opened the door with a reverent hand. The owner, who had gone to the Continent
to seek better treatment for a war injury than St. Mungo�s could afford him,
had of course taken all his ingredients with him, but Severus knew expert care
when he saw it. The shelves were numerous and of varied kinds: flat and plain
for boxes, covered with notches for vials, full of the round depressions that
were best for stacking cauldrons. And the shelves were even of different
materials. Severus approved. Not everyone knew that metal, stone, and wood were necessary for a lab
because potions ingredients sometimes reacted badly to being placed in contact
with one or the other.

�� The shelves
were at eye level. Cabinets and cupboards crowded the walls at knee height, for
the storing of ingredients used less often. They, too, were of metal, stone,
and wood. And in the center of the immense room were a number of tables,
including a Taylor Transfigured Jointing-Table, which Severus examined with
slightly trembling fingers. The table could be sized appropriately at the tap
of a wand, and had a �memory,� such that it would automatically Summon the last
cauldron and ingredients one had worked with when used.

�� The owner
said that anything left in the house is for us,� Potter said.

�� Severus
started. He had not heard Potter enter the room, and was unnerved to think that
he might have been caught staring dreamily at the table. He turned around and
tried to make his voice harsh in compensation. �You are sure of this?�

�� Potter
leaned on the door of the potions lab, and his faint smile refused to waver,
though he redistributed his weight when Severus moved a step closer to him, a
step that could have been threatening. �I�m sure,� he said. �I asked Mrs.
Redberry, and she gave me the instructions the owner left. He didn�t want to take
a lot with him. It reminded him too much of his old life, he said.�

��

�He was a fool not to take this,� Severus said under his breath,
and turned back to the Taylor Table, to see if another claim about it was true.
Yes; a single brush of his wand from the wooden side to the stone side was
enough to extend the wood or the stone in a long swathe, and then to transform
it back again when the wand passed the other way.

Though he had not meant it to
happen, Potter overheard him. �Yes, it looks like that from the way you�re
regarding it, sir,� he said calmly. Neutrally.

Severus turned to regard him. That
same neutrality had been behind everything Potter said to him this morning,
even the arguments. He was moving as cautiously as possible in the way he
treated Severus.

�� Whilst
Severus reckoned that caution better than hostility, it was still not like his
relationship with Draco or Potter�s friendliness with Draco, either of which he
would have preferred. And it was clear that it would be up to him to change
matters. Potter would not risk exposing himself to the ridicule he still
thought Severus likely to heap upon him.

�� My name is
Severus,� he said, quietly but emphatically.

�� A wrinkle
crossed Potter�s brow. �I know that, sir.�

�� Severus
experienced actual physical pain from holding back the comment on Potter�s
intelligence that rose to his lips. �I meant,�
he said after a moment, �that you should call me by that name.�

�� He was
unprepared for the way Potter�s eyes flashed and the bond heated like iron
plunged into fire, his temper rising to the surface for the first time in
several days. �Oh, yeah,� he said. �And then I suppose that you�ll call me by my first name, instead of choking on it? I know that you won�t,� he
added bitterly, instead of allowing Severus to get a word in edgewise. �You
enjoy the sound of my last name too much. It reminds you of my father and all
your old injuries, and allows you to go on mumbling over them and chewing on
them and brooding over them��

�� Severus had
done harder things than speaking the word he said next, in a low tone that
undercut Potter�s blathering, but he could not remember them at the moment.

�� Harry.�

�� Potter
caught his breath, and stared at him, his words dying away into nothing. Then
he narrowed his eyes. �That was just once,� he said.

�� Harry.
Harry. Harry,� Severus said, lightly, half-mockingly. �I could go on, but when
one repeats a word so often, it tends to dissolve into nonsense,� he added.
�And I do not want that to happen.�

�� He did not
realize the impact that his last words would have on Potter until after he said
them. Potter swallowed convulsively, eyes never leaving him. Severus stared
back, fascinated in spite of himself. He thought he had lost the last chance of
seeing eyes that color look at him with anything other than hatred after his
seventh year.

�� Then Potter
looked away, seeming to wrench himself free of Severus�s gaze with a physical
effort, and nodded. �All right,� he said. �Severus. I reckon I can do that
much,� he added in a choked tone, �for Draco�s sake.�

�� And he left
the lab before Severus could reassure him that it was not only for Draco�s sake
that he wished to hear the name.

�� It was then,
standing alone in the potions lab of his new home as he had stood alone in the
old one when he came to his epiphany about Potter needing genuine emotions from
him, that he blinked, realizing what he had just done.

�� That was genuine. I didn�t calculate. I
acted only on what I wanted, what I would like to have, and what I saw in
Potter�s eyes.

�� For the
first time in two decades, Severus had done something new to himself.

�� And, he
thought as he braced himself with a hand on the Taylor Table, he could stand
doing it more often.

*

�� Harry took
a step outside the house and gulped in a deep breath of the cold winter air,
hoping that would clear his head of the mist that seemed to have clouded it
during the conversation with�Severus. That conversation had seemed awfully and
solemnly important, instead of simply an agreement between two adults who
probably should have agreed with each other a lot earlier.

�� For Draco�s sake.

�� But he said it wasn�t only for Draco�s sake.

�� Harry shook
his head impatiently and moved a few steps away from the house, smiling faintly
as he heard Draco�s whoop of joy from the study, or the room that would be the
study. He�d probably discovered a hidden tunnel or something else of vast
importance to a Slytherin.

�� It sounded important to him.

�� But I can�t allow it to be that important to
me.

�� Harry
paused, a new thought blowing through his head like the wind whirling
snowflakes along beside him.

�� Why, though? Why would it really matter
if�Severus, damn it�did care about whether you said his first name, instead of
joking around and pretending to care?

�� Harry
sighed. It doesn�t matter, not really.
I�m letting something bother me that shouldn�t.

�� He
dismissed the thought from his mind with a physical shove, and turned to more
important matters. They would need to go back to Mrs. Redberry and negotiate
the price of the house. The money would come mostly from Harry�s vaults, of
course, probably the Black vaults, but he knew that�Severus�and Draco would
insist on paying what they could. They would hate to be regarded as charity
cases.

�� And then he
would sneak back to Hogsmeade after he took Severus and Draco to Spinner�s End,
so that he could find Christmas presents they might like. And a Christmas
present from Ginny, which he had put off until the last because he wanted it to
be special.

�� Severus and
Draco�s gifts would be delivered by owl. Harry had decided he should do that
much.

�� I�ll do a lot for them. But not everything.
I don�t see how anyone could accuse me of ignoring or neglecting them or the
bond if I give them part of my attention and not the whole.

�� There are other people in my life.

�� It was of
one in particular�red-haired, bright-eyed, and hard to understand�that Harry
was thinking as he wandered back into the house to the sound of Draco�s shout.

*

�� Yami
Bakura: It�s summer holidays for me now, so we�ll see about the pace! And
things continue to look up for a little while, at least in this one.

�� Nikte:
Thanks for reviewing! Harry is mostly afraid that Snape and Draco will use their
knowledge of his emotions to taunt him more effectively than ever.

�� It�s not
sex as such that made Draco grow up, more someone wanting him for himself and
believing in him.

�� SilverLion:
Maybe, and maybe not. But Snape does seem to make the best advances when he�s
not trying to advance.

�� Emily
Waters: Thanks! Harry does still think about Ginny as the center of his sexual
life, and it�ll take him a while to move on from that.

�� DTDY: Oh,
yes, but he recovered nicely.

�� ColdWater:
Ah, all right. I understand now.

�� And yes,
you�re right. Though part of the problem is that Harry genuinely doesn�t think
he wants power, so he�s reluctant to admit it.
- 5
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