Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

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
- 6
- 7
- 8
Beta'd by the amazing Tenchi. Love you, woman, you're the best!

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Chapter 7

Shuffling into the kitchen, Sirius headed straight for the stove and the coffee he could smell. Pouring himself a cup, he started sipping it before walking over to the table and all but flopping down, groaning as he did.

Looking at his old friend, Remus couldn't help but grin then asked, tone one of trying to be helpful, “Would you like me to just fill the sink so you can dunk your whole head in, Padfoot?”

“Shut up, Moony. I'm not awake enough to deal with your sense of humor yet,” Sirius snarled, taking another sip of coffee.

Still grinning, Remus shook his head, going back to sipping at his own cup while looking through some books. “Harry up yet?” He asked, as he shut the one he was done with and put it with a stack of others to take back to the library.

“Yeah, he'll be down shortly,” Sirius told him, rubbing his eyes. Squinting as he looked at his old friend, he asked, “What time is it anyway? I didn't think to check.”

“Pushing close to eleven, I think,” Remus said, casting a Tempus then nodding when he saw it was ten 'til the hour.

Nodding, Sirius sipped more coffee, feeling slightly more alert than he had. Knowing he didn't have too long before his godson made an appearance and that Harry would be touchy about talking over details of what happened, he said, “Before Harry comes down, there is something I need to tell you. Something took hold last night.” Quickly, without too many details, he gave Remus a rundown of what happened.

Listening intently, Remus nodded. Though Sirius didn't give him many details, what he did impart about the second climax with no apparent arousal on either end in such a short time was something he thought was telling. When his old friend finished, he said, thoughtfully, “You're right, it does sound like something took hold in some way. Let me put this mess up since I'm not getting anywhere with it and see what I can find on bonds. Even a standard sealing one should help with it and just firm up whatever it was that took hold.” Stacking the books, he stood and said, “Give me a few minutes to see what I can find. If I can't come up with anything specific, I don't think it'll harm anything to do a standard sealing. I can do that easily in under a minute.”

“That's fine,” Sirius responded.

Nodding, Remus told him, “Let me go see what I can find. Breakfast for the two of you is in the oven staying warm.” Levitating the large stack of books, Remus made his way back to the library with them.

Coming back into the kitchen a quarter of an hour later, Remus found both Harry and Sirius at the table, eating. Unlike Sirius, Harry was fairly with it and talking to his godfather while shoveling food in his mouth. Putting the large stack of books on the table, Remus then poured himself another cup of coffee and sat down. “Morning, Harry,” he said amiably.

“Morning,” Harry said back as he picked up his glass of milk and took another drink.

Looking at the young man, Remus' eyes were drawn to his right forearm. There was something there, something odd, that hadn't been the night before. Looking closer, he was trying to determine if it was a trick of the light or something else. After a minute or so, he realized it wasn't. It honestly looked like sometime overnight Harry had gotten a tattoo of some kind. Lowering his eyes, he looked at the table, trying to think what to do. He did want to examine it, of course, but he knew he couldn't touch Harry directly without setting off visions of some kind.

Looking back up, he tried to think what to do. Glancing at Sirius, he was about to ask him to take a closer look when he noticed, now that his old friend had his sleeves rolled up, the same thing was on his right arm. Eyes locked on it, he reached over then took his old friend's arm and pulled it closer. “Where did this come from?” He asked as he looked at it intently.

Wondering what the hell Remus was talking about, Sirius was about to yank his arm back when he saw what the werewolf was looking at. Brow furrowed, he looked at it. “What the hell? Where did that come from? It wasn't there when I got up.” Peering closer as Remus prodded it with his fingers, he thought it looked like the basic outline of a tattoo. Not really dark, it was hard to determine what shape it was. There appeared to be the shape of lapping water at the bottom with something with wings rising out of it.

Keeping hold of Sirius' arm, Remus looked at Harry then said, “Show me your right arm, Harry. I thought I saw the same thing on it.”

Looking at the strange thing that was similar to a tattoo on Sirius' arm, Harry showed his. Looking down at it, his eyes widened. It was on his arm, too. Glancing between the two, his brow puckered. “They look like the same thing,” he said softly, taking in the details of both of them. Raising his eyes, he looked between the two then said, “That wasn't there earlier. I mean, I didn't have a shirt on and would have noticed I think.”

Nodding, Remus prodded the outline of whatever it was on Sirius' forearm but got no reaction. Shaking his head, he said, “It might be something to do with the bond, only thing I can think of. However, it's going to be real noticeable. And if someone sees it and thinks Sirius is taking you out to get matching tattoos, we're going to have problems. Let me try something here,” he said, pulling out his wand. Casting a simple glamour on it, he was relieved to see that it concealed it. Nodding, he told his old friend, “Go on and do that with Harry's. I'm not sure what me trying it with him might do and I don't want to trigger more visions.”

Casting the spell on his godson's arm, Sirius was relieved to see that it worked on Harry's as well. Looking back at Remus he said, “Damn, that's strange! What the hell is it a picture of anyway? I can’t tell. It's too faint for me to see.”

“I couldn't either. It's just a faint outline of something. There weren't enough details in either one to be able to tell what it was,” Remus told him with a shake of his head. Brow furrowed, he sighed. “It doesn't seem to be a picture of anything I've seen before. I don't know what it is.”

Holding out his forearm, Harry looked at it, even though he couldn't see the tattoo-like thing anymore, brow puckered. Rubbing his eyes, he shook his head, “Oh, bloody hell, I don't need any more of this strange crap.”

Putting a hand on Harry's shoulder, he gave it a gentle squeeze then said, “Don't worry about it, Harry. If nothing else, you'll get a tattoo out of it that it didn't hurt to receive.” Grinning, he said, “Right now don't let it bother you. We'll hide it and no one will be the wiser. Let's see what happens with it and not worry too much, alright?”

Sighing, Harry nodded then went back to poking at his breakfast, appetite diminished slightly.

Patting his godson on the back, Sirius sipped at his coffee then looked at Remus who appeared to be contemplating whatever was going on intently. “At least this might give us some direction to look for what kind of bond it might be. If we can find something on that, it might give us a hint of what the hell is going on or what to expect in the future.”

Hearing that jarred Remus out of his ponderings. Nodding, he said, “Yes, it might. It's odd, not something I've heard before. Really, it should give me something to use to narrow down the search. We also need to worry about 'dimming' this more. I'm wondering how much that happened last night but am reluctant to touch you to find out, Harry. Let's wait to see what goes on next time someone comes around then we can judge.”

Making a face, Harry nodded, “Yeah, no touching please. It's too early in the day for one of the headaches.”

“I thought so,” Remus nodded. “As close as I am to you, it's probably not wise. I think we're going to be better off with someone that doesn't have that kind of relationship.” Stopping, he looked at the two then sighed before saying, “That reminds me-- Albus sent a message. He said he's going to come over later this afternoon. There's something he wants to talk to us about.”

Distasteful look passing over his face, Sirius asked, “Any idea what he wants? We've been here less than a day so he can't be checking on us already.”

“I don't know,” Remus said shaking his head. “All he said was it was important.”

Scowling, Sirius shook his head. “Alright, let's see what he wants before we worry about it.” Shoving his mostly finished plate of food away, he took a drink of his coffee. Looking at Harry, he said, “You have everything unpacked, right?” Seeing his godson nod as he polished the last of his food off then finished his milk, Sirius told him, “Alright then, we'll see what we can't do for fun while Remus buries his nose in more books.” Looking at the stack that was there, he shook his head and grinned, “No way I'm trying to sort through all that mess.”

Snorting, Remus smiled then said, pointedly, “Rather than just mess around, why don't you both go out and see what you can do with what passes as a backyard. If you get it cleaned up, we can go sit out there at night or you two can goof around. It shouldn't take much to work with if you use magic.”

“Yeah, I meant to work on that,” Sirius said, scratching his goatee. “If we work it right, we can put some more expansion charms on it and do some flying or something. Alright, I think we can handle that. What do you think, Harry?” He asked, looking at his godson.

Finishing his tea, Harry gave a vigorous nod, “Yeah, let's do that.”

Clapping him on the back, Sirius grinned then said, “Let's get on it then before it gets too hot out to do anything.”

When Sirius and Harry sat down at the table for supper, both where tired but grinning. The backyard was a complete mess, fully overgrown with nasty things living in the tall grass, but it was now not only cleaned out but expanded. No, it wasn't huge but there was going to be enough space for them to fly a little and swat balls back and forth. It had taken all afternoon to tame the thing, but they were pleased with it and grinning.

Digging into the pizza that Remus had gone out to get for supper while sipping Muggle soda, the three of them were joking around. Remus had found some things on the bond but Albus was due over shortly so they didn't want to get into that yet. Instead, they were talking about other topics, just having a good time.

Just as they were pressing onto the cakes that came as desert, Albus and Moody came in. Seating himself at the head of the table with Moody sliding in next to Remus, the headmaster said, “Ah, suppertime! Pizza! Do you mind?”

“Help yourself, Albus,” Sirius said, shoving the box with the last few slices in it. While doing that, he glanced at Harry, brow furrowing. He could feel his nephew press tightly to him and one of Harry's leg's wrap around his. Seeing the young man had a sour look on his face and was starting to rub his temples, he was concerned. Looking across the table at Remus, he saw his old friend looking at Harry, frowning slightly.

“Pepperoni, my favorite,” Albus proclaimed, taking a bite of pizza. Looking around, he spied Harry then asked, brow furrowing slightly, “Harry? Are you alright?”

“Headache,” Harry said simply, squeezing his temples slightly, wincing. The thoughts he was getting from Moody and the headmaster, but mostly from the headmaster, were almost overwhelming, making his whole head throb and his stomach churn.

“Yeah, I think we got too much sun today while cleaning out the backyard,” Sirius said as a way of an explanation. “There's some headache potion up in the bathroom we share. Why don't you go take that and lay down.”

Nodding, though giving a wince from the pain that caused, Harry said, “I better. It's getting pretty bad.” Rubbing his temples, he stood up and all but fled the room, trying to get some distance from the other two.

Looking after Harry, concerned, Albus then looked at the two and asked, “Normal headache or vision?”

“Nothing to worry about, Albus, just a normal headache,” Remus soothed. “Sirius and Harry spent the day in the backyard cleaning it. I assume it was just too much heat and sun is all.”

Nodding, relieved, the aged headmaster said, “Ah, good. Nothing to worry about then. From what Severus said Harry shouldn't be getting visions as Tom is blocking the connection from his end. That's what had me concerned.”

Feeling his own temples throbbing slightly, something that started shortly after he noticed it from Harry, Sirius rubbed them, glancing covertly at Remus. He assumed this was coming from the connection with Harry as his godson was telling him it was almost overwhelming and he had to stay away. As he hadn't picked up on the pain before, this was new and not all together pleasant either. If Harry was getting it worse than he was, his poor godson had to be in agony. Sending back where the headache potion was and telling him to lay down until he got there, Sirius hoped that Albus would hurry up then get out so he could talk this over with Remus.

Polishing off his slice of pizza, Albus gave a contented sigh, “It's been a while since I had pizza. That was delicious!” Shifting around, he looked at Sirius and Remus then asked, “I take it there were no problems with the Dursley's and getting Harry here?”

“It was all fine, no problems,” Sirius told him shortly, pleased that Harry had taken the potion and his headache seemed to be lessening on his end.

“Good,” Albus nodded then his face took on a serious cast. “Alastor and I just came from a most intriguing and useful meeting. I think we may have to house someone else here over the summer.”

Glancing at Sirius, brow drawn down, Remus asked, “Who? And why?” Already, his mind was skipping to the fact that Harry was having issues. Tossing others into the mix was going to mean there would be more and someone might discover that there was something beyond normal going on. Not to mention endangering their planning to get out of this mess.

Pulling out his ever-present flask, Moody took a drink then snorted, “The Malfoys.”

“What?” Sirius asked, eyebrows going up. Looking between the three other men, he said, “No, Albus. No way. That would endanger everything. It would lead the other side right to us.”

“I was concerned it was a trick as well, Sirius. That's why I took Alastor with me and questioned them under Veritaserum. It's not a trick. They are trying to get away from Tom. The potion came straight from Severus and you know there is no way to get around it.” Stopping, he looked at Remus and Sirius then said, softly, “The information they can give us isn't something we can get anywhere else, even from Severus' role. Lucius is willing to give up everything he has on that side in exchange for us protecting them. I don't need to tell either of you what we could gain from such a defection.”

“This won't work, Albus,” Sirius told him firmly. “Harry and Draco together will cause nothing but fighting. And there is no way in hell I’m putting up with Narcissa and Lucius. It would be nothing but a huge explosion if they were here.”

“I know,” Albus told him with a weary sigh. “The problems between everyone will be horrible. What I can say is this; it's temporary. We'll keep them here until we can find or construct somewhere safe for them. Once Tom realizes they're gone, he's going to turn over all of Britain and half of Europe to find them. He's not dumb and knows what Lucius can give away.”

After a glance at Sirius, Remus looked at Moody then asked, “Is it real? He didn't pull some trick?”

“It's real,” Moody said gruffly. “I tested the potion myself before Albus gave it to them. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is threatening Draco over Lucius' failure in the Department of Mysteries. The slippery snake apparently has decided his son means more to him than the power he gets as a follower and went to Albus. He's willing to give up everything he has.”

Looking back at Sirius, Remus gave him a pointed look. This was a big catch, he knew that, and to argue would look damned suspicious. They had their own plans, of course, and would have to be careful, but he didn't see a way to turn it down without raising a lot of suspicions in Albus.

Looking at the ex-Auror, Sirius asked, “Any wiggle room in this?”

“Nothing,” Moody told him firmly with a shake of his head. “Albus and I made sure of it. It's not a trick. He wants out and protection. This is the only place we have right now that we can put them that's safe. Everything else is either under warded or too obvious. We're going to look into beefing up warding and other things, but for now this is all we have that is the safest for someone like him.”

Scrubbing a hand over his face, Sirius looked between the three, thinking. He could understand why they wanted them here and knew if he didn't agree it would look damned funny. There was also the plans they were trying to make to consider as well as the problems Harry was having. Looking down at the table, pretending to think it over, he quickly relayed to Harry what was going on, explaining the dilemma to him. Though his godson was less than pleased about who this was, he understood there was no way to turn it down without alerting Albus that there was something else going on. No, he couldn't do that. After promising that they would work on what's going on and trying to find a way to dim the connection to the point that Harry wasn't having to avoid everyone, Sirius looked at Albus then said, “Alright, I agree. There are terms here though. And I'm firm as steel on them.”

“What are those, Sirius,” Albus asked, pleased that he hadn't had to work too hard to get Sirius to agree.

“This is Harry's home. Period. End of discussion. Draco starts his shite with my godson and they are out. Make that clear. The same goes for Narcissa and Lucius. It's mine and Harry's home, we're not going to put up with them or their superior attitudes. They accept it or you find somewhere else to stick them. What I say goes around here and there is no arguing,” Sirius told him, tone clear and hard.

“I will make it clear,” Albus said with a nod. “We told them that the feud that's going on between Harry and Draco has to end. It's the same with other issues. I'll pass along what you said, though.”

“I mean it, Albus. There is are no second chances with any of it. They start, they're gone,” Sirius told him, looking intently at the headmaster. “They can act decently or don't bother. We're not going to give them shite and will leave them alone, so we expect the same thing in return.”

“As I said, I'll make sure that's clear,” Albus nodded again. Relieved, he said, “I've agreed to allow them to bring a couple house elves to help around the place and get cleaned up. Molly did a good job last year but more needs to be done. Same with bringing some furnishings. I know this was the cart before the thestral, but I thought it best to understand what they wanted. I didn't think those were things you would mind.”

“I don't care one way or another about any of that,” Sirius told him with a shake of his head. “As long as they don't use those elves as messengers, we're fine. Let them do what they want. I just want that in place before they show up.”

“We've made that clear,” Moody said with a nod. “As well as every other form of communication we could think of. They are slippery, we know that, but there's no wiggling here.”

“Alright, I agree,” Sirius said with a wary look, glancing at Remus who didn't appear to like the idea any better. “I mean it though, Albus. One time and they are gone.” Seeing the old man nod, Sirius rested his forearms on the table then looked at the headmaster. “When are they coming? And I’m not sure where to put them.”

“Within a few days,” Albus sighed, shaking his head. “The matter is pressing. Tom is making overtures about holing up in Malfoy Manor. They don't want that. What I was thinking was putting Lucius and Narcissa in your mother's room. Let Draco have Regulus'. I can take Buckbeak back to Hogwarts. We can just rename him and I doubt anyone would be the wiser.”

Nodding slowly, Sirius said nothing but was relieved. He had been worried about what to do with the hippogriff when it came time for them to vanish. This would make Buckbeak happy and he'd be safe. “Alright, that's fine. It'll work. Just tell them they have to clean that room out. There's no way I’m getting rid of all the ferret bones.”

“I believe their house elves can take care of that,” Albus told him with a relieved sigh. “I'll get back with them and set this up. I imagine that it'll be only a couple days before we have them over here so you might want to prepare Harry.”

“We'll handle it, Albus,” Remus told him, glancing at Sirius.

Standing up, Albus said, “I'll take Buckbeak with me so we don't have to worry about it later. Come on, you can say goodbye to him.”

Standing, Sirius nodded and led the way upstairs, filling Harry in as they went.

After Moody and Dumbledore left, a very disgruntled Harry was back down in the kitchen with the two men. Leaning against Sirius, he was looking dour. Glancing at the two men, he said, “You know this is going to end up in disaster, right? I mean, I was picking things up from Draco at school. There's no way I can be around him until this mess dims. And it's going to look real odd if I have to hide away.”

“I know, Harry, I know,” Remus sighed with a nod. “There was just no way around this that we could see.”

“I know, doesn't mean I have to like it though,” Harry huffed, looking down at the table. “You know Malfoy isn't going to leave me alone. He always says he will, but never does.”

“Yeah, well, he either does or he's gone. I'm not bluffing on that,” Sirius told him firmly. “He toes the line or they are out. I'll make that clear and I'm sure Albus will as well.”

Nodding, Harry sighed then slumped. “This is going to be a nightmare.”

“I agree, there will be problems,” Remus conceded. Looking at the young man, he asked, gently, “What was the problem with Albus and Alastor? You seemed to be more affected than normal.”

“It wasn't Professor Moody,” Harry said, looking at him. “I was getting a little bit from him but it wasn't anything I couldn't handle. It was Dumbledore that was the problem. What I was picking up from him was like it was being blasted at me. Nothing I did stopped it. Nothing I did even dimmed it, including touching Sirius.” Rubbing his eyes, he shook his head, then looked at both of them imploringly, “It was bad. I mean, I have no way of knowing this stuff and I don't want to!”

“What kind of things, Harry?” Remus asked. “Is it something that we could use or about plans? I know Albus is good at Occlumency as well. That should block you from getting anything from him.”

“It didn't, at all,” Harry said. Face taking on a sick look he said, voice almost a whisper, “He's gay. And he had something going with that Grindelwald when he was younger. In fact, he still loves him and visits the man. I mean, I have no way of knowing this! I don't want to know this! And if he's shielding, wouldn't he have done so with information that personal?”

Eyes widening, Remus looked at Sirius who appeared to be as floored as he was. “I-- uh-- wow. I didn't know about that. I mean, we all knew Albus never married but assumed it had to do with his pursuits of knowledge. And, I agree, if he's shielding, that's something he would have hidden.” Looking at Sirius, he waited to see what his old friend had to say.

Shaking his head, Sirius said, “I didn't know that either. And, I agree, if you're going to shield, you're going to hide that! I don't think I ever heard anything about Albus being gay.”

Rubbing his face, Remus looked at the table, trying to think. After a couple moments, he said, tone distracted, “Maybe it has to do with how powerful Albus is. We know he is. That might affect what's going on. Until now, you've only been around average when it comes to power levels. And it might explain why Sirius got the headache as well.”

“Either that or the bond is growing stronger,” Sirius added quietly. “He was trying to use me to ground it and I was getting bleeding from the headache. Maybe it has to do with the bond solidifying last night.”

“That could be,” Remus said, nodding. “Either way, it means we have to step up what we're doing to block this. As Harry said, people are going to notice if he has to keep vanishing. Especially with the Malfoys here. I think we can pass it off for a while as Harry trying to stay away from Draco to keep the peace, but something’s going to have to give, or it’s going to look strange.”

Sighing, rubbing his eyes, Sirius said, “I think we need to work on finding what this bond is, sealing it, something, before our new housemates show up. There has to be something here we can use to stave this off. And we don't have much time to figure out what.”

“I agree,” Remus nodded. “Let's get some sleep tonight then work on seeing what we can find tomorrow. I'll get what I can out of the library tomorrow then set you two working on that. While you're hunting, I'll go to Diagon Alley and see if I can't find some kind of book on the topic. Maybe I can stumble on some things in a few small bookstores I know.”

“Let's sleep first, but we need to do some fast finding,” Sirius said. Seeing Remus nod, Sirius patted Harry on the shoulder and told him, “Let's go get some sleep. We'll see what comes in the morning.”

With a tired sigh, Harry stood. After telling Remus goodnight, he and Sirius headed for their room.

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Through the Veil and Back Again