Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

Hidden Truths	By : SpeedyTomato Category: Harry Potter > Threesomes/Moresomes Views: 79884 -:- Recommendations : 3 -:- Currently Reading : 13
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter and make no money off this story.

Chapter List
- 7
- 8
- 9
Beta'd by the amazing Tenchi. Love you, woman, you're the best!

Also, thanks to Lynn who helps me with flow, content and not forgetting things!

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Chapter 8

“What we have in mind for today is this—first, we think it's best to divide up the work we're all doing into sections so each faction here has one specific area to focus on. That way we're not all trying to tackle the whole issue. It may go better that way as we don't have so much to deal with. Narcissa is taking the bond marks. The rest of you we'll get to and discuss what you want to take as some of you are better than others at certain areas.” Remus said, looking around. They were all seated in one of the bigger rooms downstairs to accommodate some of the issues that were going on, like with Lucius not being allowed around Draco. It also helped to have everyone together to give a rundown of what they were doing and keep them up to date. Seeing nods, he pressed on.

“Next, Narcissa is going to start going to each couple, save Lucius and myself, personally. We think that it should be safe as none of you view her as a threat. Harry, Sirius and Bill had no issue at all with her, including her touching them. We think that may be the case for all of you. That's something we want to see how it plays out, frankly. If that is the case, it means we just have to stay wary of those who the people in the bond view as threats. Any objections?” He asked, glancing around. Seeing shakes of heads, something he expected, he gave a nod. Good. What he didn't add was they were going to have Narcissa see what she could manage with Charlie and Draco. So far, Draco still didn't have his wand. Which meant something had to give there and that faction needed to do something to work on that particular issue.

Changing topics, he said, “Another thing we need to work on is something Severus suggested. We need everyone to meet so we can fill them in completely on what's going on and the foreshadowing we have about other areas. This is imperative. What we need to do this is a spell or something that makes it to where what's said can't be used to poke, torment or whatever others in the house. I know that we're all trying to get along, but stresses are high and the impulse may override. As this affects all of us, we need something. Each bond allows something different in such areas, so we need each of you to find something that works for you. I don't know what, though, honestly. It's something we want each 'couple' to try to solve on their own. Once we have something in place, we'll all sit down and go over everything. Any objection to that?”

“We'll find something,” Severus assured him. And he would. He wanted to know what in Merlin's name was really going on.

“Let's see what we can do,” Charlie sighed. As it was, there was enough of a mess going on with him and Draco that he wasn't sure working on anything, or even getting Draco to agree with something, was happening. They would try, though.

“We're also going to meet up with everyone today about certain areas and to gauge what's going on,” Lucius added. “Fred, George and Severus seem to now have a much longer tether. We want to figure out how that happened and if it can assist other areas. The new issues with Charlie and Draco also need worked on. There is something we need to get with Harry about as well that's imperative.”

“Anything we can help with on the last one, Lucius?” Severus asked, curious.

“Not really,” Lucius sighed. “We need to get with Harry because we need information on some Muggle products he may know about. His knowledge on those is something I don't think anyone else has and is fresher than yours, Severus.” Before the man could inquire, he added, “It's for safety measures when it comes to the full moon as we are coming up with no spells that the bond isn't having kneazles over. While we'll keep looking when it comes to that, we want to see what else we can find that might assist.”

Understanding, Severus nodded. “I'll think it over myself and see what I might be able to come up with. I'm not sure if there is anything, honestly.” Potter, as he spent most of his life among Muggles up to this point, would be the better option there, that's for damned sure.

Glancing around, Remus said, “As what we've set up so far when it comes to passing information is working well, we'll continue with that. I also think if all of us do work on the areas we take on it may help the situation. That can only aid with what we're all dealing with and get the bonds to settle. As always, if you experience something odd, let us know. Lucius and I will come to see what we can do. As will Narcissa. Sirius, Bill and Harry are passing everything to her as they aren't having problems. If she has questions, she'll go to you as well.”

Quietly, he added, “I sent an owl to Albus this morning about keeping troublesome factions away from the house. Lucius and I worded it in the strongest possible language we could come up with who we think needs to stay away. It's our hope that he listens and does what he can to keep them away. We also made it clear that it might be best if we're left alone for at least a week to deal with what's here. New bits are cropping up each day that we need to take on. We can't effectively do that with people in and out all the time. If there is a need for an Order meeting, I'm going to suggest all of us stay away lest there are problems.” Seeing firm nods, he asked, “Any questions?” Seeing everyone shake their heads, he smiled, “Let's see what we can manage. We're going quite well with how we're handling this. I would say we'll come up with something soon.”

Looking at her son then sighing as she glanced over to where Charlie was perched on the window sill, gazing out, Narcissa told Draco, gently, “You can't just demand what you want, Draco. The bond has two of you in it. Which means you have to cooperate.”

“I'm used to things a certain way,” Draco huffed, shaking his head. This was still a nightmare as he didn't have his wand back yet and the shorter tether was making it hard for them to do anything.

“That I do understand,” Narcissa nodded, reaching out to give her son's hand a squeeze, pleased when there was no reaction to that. “Your father and I will see to it that you have the money to live at the standard you're used to until both of you can be on your own and working in a career you want. That may take time with all that's going on, we get that. Keep in mind, though, this bond is a partnership like any marriage. That means that both of you have to not only work together, but compromise. When couples just start out together, such as getting married, there are always issues with such matters. Your father and I had plenty as we were both used to going about things a certain way. It took time and work to get the marriage you saw. That you need to do as well. Charlie isn't required to do as you say or go about whatever just because you've always done that or are used to it. He is very different than what you're accustomed to. You need to remember that and work with him to find a solution you can both deal with. That will probably be something you're not used to as well, I do understand that.”

“This is a nightmare,” Draco snarled, folding his arms over his chest. “Being in this house is bad enough as I can't leave then have to put up with plenty and do without. Now there is this bond! Mother, it's not fair.”

“No, it's not,” Narcissa told him honestly. “I lost my husband, someone I loved with all my heart, to it. Your father feels the same way and is bonded to someone he didn't want to be with either. Sirius is bonded to his godson, someone he knew from the time he was born and played with as a child. Severus is bonded to two people that he doesn't get along with. My cousin lost her fiancee. No one finds it 'fair', Draco. They also aren't demanding to get their way or that whatever is done just how they want. If that keeps up, chances are that you're going to make the whole mess harder on yourself. You don't need that. Neither does Charlie. It's time to stop focusing on how bad it is and work towards finding a compromise you can handle.” Lowering her voice, she added, “And only you can do that. Your father probably can't speak or come around you because you threatened Charlie with him. That tells all of us the bond is probably going to force you to deal with the issues on your own.”

Looking at his mother, Draco sighed softly, not sure what to do. He was used to having his father help him when he had a problem. Now he couldn't do that. Shaking his head, he didn't know what to say.

“Charlie isn't someone you're used to, I do understand that. He also does many things in a way you've not ever had to deal with or don't like. That's another area we all understand. However, you're the same way for him, Draco. It isn't easy on him either. He worked out of the country and lived there. He can't do that now either. It's probably going to come down to him transferring here so he can work. There is also the fact he lived alone for a long time. He's only used to dealing with himself since he left home. Factoring you in now has to be hard for him. So, it's bad on both of you. That you need to take into account.” Lowering her voice, she said, “You don't want to end up like what happened with Severus, Fred and George do you? If you work with what is here, you can get out of the house each day to go to work with him. Seeing the dragons is something you'll probably adore, actually. Focus on that small goal for now then press on as you manage that. It at least allows you out of the house for several hours a day. That's not something most of us are going to manage for a time.”

“I would like that,” Draco admitted, brow furrowed as he thought of being on the dragon reserve to just watch.

“That's something to focus on then,” Narcissa told him, smiling a little. “Get to know Charlie and he can get to know you. Both of you will find things about each other you'll like. You just need to talk to each other, not at. Cooperate, Draco. That's going to be the key here. Not demanding and getting angry. Talk out the problem and come to some kind of agreement. I'm sure the two of you can find plenty you would like to do together. Start with those and work from there. You have a lot you like to participate in. Ask Charlie and I bet he can show you areas you didn't know, but will like. He was also on the Quidditch team, and very good from what I heard. You are interested in that.”

“I didn't know about him playing Quidditch,” Draco said with a distracted tone, brow furrowed.

“Exactly my point,” Narcissa said, reaching out to pat his hand. “The more you talk to each other and learn, the more you might find in common. That's needed, Draco. It's very doubtful this bond can be broken. Which means you're going to be together for a long time. Getting along and finding mutual ground is far better than fighting all the time, isn't it?” Lowering her voice, she added, “And if you start cooperating and stop fighting, I bet you'll get your wand back.”

“Understood,” Draco told her, thinking that over seriously. His wand—he needed his wand back. That's all there was to that. And if this wasn't breakable, he didn't want it to continue on the way it was. After all, that would just lead to a nightmare. So, he probably had to give just a little in some areas.

Straightening up, she patted her son's hand again then said Charlie's name. When he looked at her, she said, “Can you join us? I'd like to hear what's going on from the both of you, not just what was said in the notes. That and see if we can find something so we can set up that meeting Remus and Lucius want. The faster we can manage some areas, the better we're all going to be.”

Nodding, Charlie came over and sat with them. Though his mind wasn't on this. Instead, it was on waking up with Draco in bed with him. His first thought on that was to start yelling, not wanting the brat that close, but he didn't. Instead, he laid there and just took in the sensations. Those felt good. He also wondered what they meant. As Narcissa was asking about such areas, he thought it was a good thing to impart that reaction as well. Then they could see what the others were doing.

Focusing, he began to tell her about the whole mess, not leaving anything out. Then they would see what she had to say and, maybe, get clues of what they could do to help. Any little bit would make a huge difference right now, that's for damned sure.

Still seated at the table after his mother left, Draco found he couldn't look at Charlie. It was—uncomfortable to do that after waking up in bed with him. Oh, Charlie hadn't said anything, of course, in fact he hadn't even looked at him for most of the morning, but you could tell he was uncomfortable as well. Draco, though—well, he was going to crawl in bed with him again as it felt so good to sleep there. Not to mention the pull he had been experiencing abated. That felt good.

Shaking his head, not sure what to do, Draco glanced over where his wand was lying on a stand. He wanted that back, of course, but knew he couldn't pick it up. Which meant he had to take some of his mother's advice and try to get along with Charlie.

Not sure where to start with this, he sighed then asked, figuring it was neutral topic, “You played Quidditch in school? Mother said you did.”

“Bill and I were on the house team, yeah. We won the cup each year, too,” Charlie told him.

“Really? What was your record like?” Draco asked, genuinely interested.

“We did good,” Charlie nodded then began to talk about that. At least it was a topic he didn't think would cause problems. Or so he hoped anyway. Because he was just tired of this whole mess and was sure it wouldn't take much to set him off again.

Watching Harry get up and head to the loo, Remus asked, glancing between Bill and Sirius, “Is he feeling better?”

“Oh yes,” Sirius told him with a firm nod. “The cast should vanish sometime tonight when it gets the signal that the bone growth is done. Whatever they gave him is working when it comes to the pain. That's about all we can hope for at this point. The block spells won't be bad and it's doubtful he'll feel a thing from them. That's good, though.”

Tuning out what Sirius was talking about, Lucius' attention was drawn to Harry when he fully shut the door to the en suite. Glancing at the other three, he waited to see what the bond would do. He knew what theirs did, of course, and that it would yank them back together. Nothing like that appeared to be happening, though. After another glance at the shut door then to Bill and Sirius, he asked, bewildered, “How long have you been able to shut doors and not have the bond throw a tantrum over it?”

“We can't,” Bill told him, looking at him, puzzled.

“Apparently you can as Harry just fully shut the door,” Lucius said, pointing to the closed door to the en suite.

Eyes wide as he looked at the shut door, Sirius then glanced at Bill, who appeared equally befuddled, before saying, “Um—that's new! Up until now, we've had to leave it open a crack.”

“Let me try something,” Bill said, somewhat excited by this development. Seeing nods, he exited out of the room and shut the door, planning to see how far down the stairs he could get until the bond began to pull.

Staring at the door that Bill just left through and closed behind him, Remus shook his head. Quietly, but tone firm, he said, “Sirius, you need to tell us what you've been doing to get this kind of tether! I do understand that the relationships here are something none of the rest of us can recreate, but there should be hints of some kind that we can use.”

Thinking it over, glancing between the two shut doors, Sirius shook his head then told them honestly, “I don't know, I really don't. We've just been working with what's there, nothing more.”

“Anything at all new you did last night that might have helped?” Lucius asked, wanting to sort this so he and Remus could have the same kind of play in what they were dealing with.

Thinking it over, he looked up as Bill came back in then Harry came out of the loo. “I can't think of anything we did that could have caused this.” When Harry sat down between him and Bill, he explained what was going on. Looking at Bill, he asked, “How far did you get?”

“Midway down the stairs to the first floor before I felt it starting to pull. That's where I stopped and figured I should come back,” Bill told him. “And that is longer than anything we've had.”

“Which means something happened to lengthen it,” Lucius huffed, leaning back in his chair, arms crossed over his chest as he tried to think.

“Did you do anything at all differently last night?” Remus inquired, looking between the three. When they had been in the room with them yesterday, that length of tether just wasn't there. Which meant something happened to help lengthen it.

Thinking it over, Sirius groaned then shook his head before saying, “And this goes nowhere else, got me?” Seeing the two nod, he shrugged and said, “We all took a shower together. Nothing more. Just basic mucking about with shampoo horns and the like. That's it.”

“Harry and I were in the shower when we felt something from Sirius and the bond. So, we just had him join. Nothing more than that. We spent a good half an hour just goofing off. That's all,” Bill explained with a shrug. “I don't honestly see that as any more than we've done up to this point. After all, we're sleeping together and working with everything else. That wasn't a big deal.”

“I don't see where it was either,” Remus said with a distracted tone as he thought it over. “Especially if it was a case of just mucking around and nothing serious that was anything else.”

“Nothing else, I swear,” Sirius told him. Grinning, he added, “I ended up with gazelle horns that were purple. Bill had ram horns that were bright orange. And Harry had yak horns that were green. It was just some laughs. We slung bubbles at each other, squirted water, the normal kind of playing about.”

“Which shouldn't have this effect,” Lucius groaned, rubbing a hand over his face. Shaking his head, he let it drop forward and tried to think. Nothing was coming, though, which had him frustrated.

“We'll pass this to Narcissa and see what she thinks. Her perspective is a more neutral one than those of us right in the middle of this muddle. Let's see what she says or if she has any hints of what we need to look at or ask about. That can only help us. She won't pass it around, you know that.” Remus said, looking between the three.

“That's fine,” Bill said after looking at Harry and Sirius, both of whom nodded.

“We'll do that when we're done here,” Lucius told him in a determined voice. Changing tracks, he said, “We need Harry's help.” Quickly, he ran down the issue of the looming full moon and how nothing they could find was working then how they were pondering Muggle means as a stopgap measure. “We thought about the kennel/cage bit but don't think that's viable for obvious reasons. We're hoping you have some idea of what we can come up with to minimize accidental infection. Any little bit you can think of will help.”

Looking down and tossing around what he knew in his head, brow creased, Harry said after a couple minutes, “The only two things I can think of are a muzzle and sled dog booties.” Seeing puzzled looks, he gave the basic rundown of what both were. “I'm sure you can come up with something like those that the bond won't have fits over. In fact, I don't think it would either, especially the booties.”

Nodding vigorously at that, glancing at Lucius and seeing a relieved expression on his face, Remus said, determined bent to his voice, “Those should work nicely. We'll come up with something we can use or send someone out to get them then tweak them for what we need. Thank you, Harry, that was most helpful! We'll get on that as fast as we can so we have it in place.” Quietly, he said, “We don't think the bond will allow him to be hurt purposely, but there are accidents. Those we want to avoid.”

“Understandable,” Sirius nodded. “We'll come up with something. Even if we can just get pictures of what they are, I'm sure we can recreate them or build something that would work.”

“We'll send this one off to Albus. He can probably get his hands on them,” Lucius said, greatly relieved that they finally had something. Pressing on, he began to discuss other bits, such as the nightmare with Draco and what Narcissa was going to attempt with everyone. It was more just so everyone was up to speed as the three in the room were the ones Narcissa would come to for information. That they needed.

Smoothing down her robes after taking a seat once she touched everyone, she said, looking between the three faces, “I think the theory of me not being a threat to anyone is the key to this part of the mess. And a good one. That makes some areas far easier on all of us.”

“It does,” Severus said with a firm nod. “At least we don't have to worry about some completely bizarre reaction or you ending up injured over it.”

“Oh, yes,” Narcissa smiled. “I didn't fancy meeting the wall the way Fleur did.” Pressing on, she asked, “Any idea how you've managed to extend the tether? It's obviously much longer than it was yesterday. Any clue at all will help. I can say that Lucius and Remus sent a note saying that Harry, Sirius and Bill can actually shut doors now. And none of them are sure why they managed to get one that long. We know what went on and it's nothing more than an extension of what they've been doing.”

“How long do they have?” George asked, bewildered.

“And they can go to the loo alone with the door shut?” Fred inquired, looking at his brother.

“Bill made it midway down the stairs to the first floor before the bond began pulling,” Narcissa told them. “And we don't know why. Which is why I want to know how you managed to lengthen yours. If I can get all the information you have, we might be able to put clues together as to what's working.” Glancing around, she added, “We do know that the cooperation and acceptance is something in play there as well. It's aiding it, we know that, but it's more. And we're not sure what. Which means, we want to figure it out in order to help all of you.”

Scrubbing a hand over his face, Severus groaned then shook his head. “I don't know, I really don't. It just—lengthened. We've not done anything differently than we were when the all out war stopped.”

Sighing, Narcissa made a note of that and shook her head. “I'll add that to my daily summary, if you will, to Lucius and Remus to see if they can sort something out of it or see something we aren't. From what they said, though, they are baffled as well.” Putting the quill down, she asked, “How is it going with the spell we discussed. Charlie and Draco—well, they have issues to work out before we delved into this area.”

“We think, maybe, we have something,” Fred said.

“It's a play on Silenceo that is automatic,” George told her.

“We're going to apply it to all three of us so we're all affected by it,” Severus continued without realizing that's what he did. “We can set parameters for it to not poke others or torment. That should make it even for all of us thus the bond not having complete fits if it's employed. From what we found, it should work for everyone in the house, no matter who they are. It's not perfect, but should suffice for what we need. Give us a day or so to work with it once it's on then we'll pass it along. It's innocuous enough that Charlie and Draco shouldn't have a problem.”

“We also thought that we need everyone with the bond to apply it,” Fred added.

“That way we don't accidentally set off total war,” George sighed.

“Let's face it; Severus and Draco aren't the only ones with issues,” Fred told Narcissa.

“Harry and Sirius would as well if stressed enough,” George mentioned.

“As traumatic as this whole nightmare is, all of us may end up with problems. This could stop that as setting one faction off will just ignite others,” Severus huffed, shaking his head as he leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest. “It may not be the intent behind it, but it wouldn't take much to do it.”

“Agreed,” Narcissa nodded, making a note of that as well. “Go ahead and do what you can then let me know and I'll pass it around. That way everyone in the house is on equal footing and we can stop the nightmare if it starts.” Pressing on and changing topics, she began to walk them through what she thought they would be best at when it came to research. It was her hope that they would take on the issues coming from the bonds and see what they could find. Severus was analytical enough that he could focus and see patterns where some of the others couldn't. He would be most helpful in that area. Plus, she thought it would give them all a way to keep working on what they were doing and, hopefully, continue to smooth out the rough patches so they could move forward.

Looking over at what Lucius was doing, Remus gave a pleased nod. He was sorting everything they had into four different books to go to the various people based on what the theme was. That way they had all the information they would need in one place. While his partner was doing that, Remus was taking on applying the auto-updating charm to everything they had. This way they only had to write something in their master ledger for it to go to the right place. Perfect. “This is going to save much time and effort. Wonderful suggestion, Lucius!”

“It is,” Lucius replied, looking smug. “And it's bound to save wear and tear on all of us. That can only help. This way we aren't rushed to get information off and it can go into the right hands as we get it. That can only assist in this mess.”

“Oh yes,” Remus agreed. Glancing around at the mass of books, papers, whatnot, that was all over the table, he chuckled, “We most certainly need to get on organizing what is here, as you said. If we don't, we're likely to start missing areas. That we don't want.”

“I say we take tonight and do that. Let everyone sort through what they have and work. I believe we're caught up with what we got earlier, so, unless something completely calamitous happens, we're fine,” Lucius suggested. Frowning, he didn't like this kind of disorganization anyway. It tended to make him mental as he couldn't ever find anything when areas were like this.

“We'll do that. I'm sure your elves can come up with some kind of furniture for a system we can use. The books alone are beginning to take over a portion of the room. As Albus keeps sending more as he comes across them, we need something before we end up sleeping with them,” Remus chuckled as he worked.

“I draw the line at books in bed with us unless we fall asleep reading one. I care not what the bond says about it,” Lucius said, amused. “They are right painful to roll over on in the middle of the night.”

“Very true,” Remus grinned. “They tend to be rather unforgiving when digging into your flesh. We'll come up with something.”

“The elves can find an organizational system we can deal with. That and I believe some more expansion charms are in order as well. Perhaps taking the empty room next to us and making it an office area is wise. That way we have more room,” Lucius suggested, trying to think how to go about this as it was plenty complex and they needed certain areas easily accessible at all times.

“And another wonderful suggestion that we should take,” Remus nodded, liking the idea. Quietly, he added, “As it looks like this mess is unbreakable, we may want the elves moving everything we have in here, save a manor full of furniture. We've both put that off thinking that we could do something to negate what happened. I believe the time for full acceptance has happened.”

“Very true,” Lucius sighed. “Yes, we'll do that. I'll set them to the task. I believe I should send off a note to Sirius, Bill and Harry as well. They seem as though they, too, realize that there is no breaking this. I'll hold out on the others until they reach that state.”

“It's probably wise,” Remus told him. “Sirius isn't a problem, obviously, but I think Bill may as well give up his apartment. I can't see paying for something when he can't use it. With who he's bonded to, it's doubtful they can chance staying there.”

“Oh yes,” Lucius nodded, quickly penning a note to the three then sending an elf off to them. “I don't see Bill grousing much. If it's as he said and he planned to stay as close to Harry as he could to protect him, he won't say a word.”

Nodding, Remus was pleased with this. As he continued with the easy task, he said, “We may want to consider looking ahead slightly to the upcoming school year. It's over a month away yet, but we have issues, Lucius. Not only do we have to look at both Draco and Harry not being able to go back and us having to take on their education, but I somehow don't think, at least in Harry's case, that his career path is a viable option.”

Stopping what he was doing, Lucius looked at Remus then gave a slow nod after he thought it over. “Quite true. Yes, it's something we need to start worrying about. There are a myriad of problems we have to tend to, quickly, to deal with the situation. And they don't relate to the classes themselves. There is paperwork that needs filed, forms to fill out, plenty of other bits and bobs to do as well. Yes, we need to say something. And it's one we're going to need help with as that paperwork has to go through the Board. There is one person I know on it that, though not a Death Eater, is a source for the Dark Lord. The minute we come across with the bondings of Harry and Draco, it's going to get into his hands. So far, from what Albus said, he's protected this the best he could. Which means we have a delicate dance to take on.”

Face grave at that, Remus nodded then added a note about it on a running list they had of parts that needed covered. “We'll see what we can find. Albus—yes, we need him for this. I don't think we can manage it on our own. Not even you.”

“No, I can't,” Lucius sighed, rubbing a hand over his mouth. “I can tell all of you what to get and help filling it out, but we need Albus' influence to take it on. And I'm not sure what we can do about some classes, if we need them. There is also the fact that, unlike in the past, Charlie is now Draco's legal guardian. Harry has Sirius and Bill for that. Which creates other issues we didn't plan on.”

Groaning, Remus shook his head. “Understood. We need to start as soon as we can.”

“We'll bring it up at breakfast tomorrow and go from there. I say send a missive off to Albus tonight about the problem. He should be able to get the paperwork with no one the wiser. We hope anyway.”

Finishing the last of what he was doing, Remus pushed it away then looked around while Lucius finished up. “I say we keep this as the bedroom then use the other as an office. What do you think?”

Glancing around, rubbing his chin, Lucius nodded, “We can do that. I say redecorating is in order as well. We'll find something nice that's comfortable. If we're stuck together, we may as well get as comfortable as we can.”

“Very true,” Remus smiled. This was something that could actually be enjoyable as he never had the funds to redecorate the small cottage his parents left him. So, it would be a new experience he would like.

Tossing out a card, grinning as Bill groaned, Sirius looked around as the elf Lucius assigned to them was hard at it. This was good. “You're not going to have a problem giving up your place, are you, Bill?” He asked, not sure about that as some landlords were tetchy about those areas.

“No problem,” Bill said as he sorted through what was in his hand. “My lease is due up anyway. I was only doing short term as I wasn't sure what we were going to do. It'll be fine. It's good they thought of it, though. Like the note said; no sense in paying for something I can't use.”

“Very true,” Sirius chuckled, shaking his head as Harry moaned at what Bill tossed out. “We'll get this comfortable, don't worry. I'm sure we can expand it more and find something nice for furniture. We'll see.” This was good, though, they were just mucking about, having some fun and relaxing. Nothing stressful. They all thought it would be good to just relax and have some fun.

As Sirius pondered his next move, Bill asked, “Any clue what happened to give us the tether we have? I'm coming up with nothing. Us just messing about in the shower wouldn't do that. It wasn't anything we haven't done before. Hell, we're doing about the same thing now.”

Scratching his chin, thinking that over, Sirius then shook his head, sighing. “No idea there. Sorry. I'm drawing a blank as well. We've all accepted it, so that shouldn't factor in. Hell, I think we did the first night. We may not have liked it, but we accepted it. And we've just pressed on. Got me what the big trigger was for the tether. I'm damned sure that wasn't there last night.”

Seeing Harry give a shrug, Bill sighed, “I didn't think so, but thought I would ask. I'm sure we'll end up with a couple clues somewhere about it as time goes on. Until then, we press on.” Grinning as he laid the next card down, “Like with giving Harry a sound thrashing.”

Groaning at that, Harry shook his head, but grinned, “I make this too easy on both of you.”

“You do,” Sirius grinned, chuckling. “It's fun, though! I'm sure we can come up with something else to do. Between the three of us, I'm damned certain we can have some fun and cause a bit of havoc in the house. We have to keep everyone on their toes, after all.”

“That could be highly entertaining,” Bill snickered, grin growing. “We just have to stay wary of retaliation. Especially from Fred and George. After all, they have a whole shop full of pranks they could use on us.”

“Very true!” Sirius admitted, shoulders shaking. “Between you and me, though, there is plenty of experience there. Add in what is in Harry's genes from James, and we'll give them a run for their money.”

“And ideas for new products,” Bill laughed. “It'll be fun, though!”

“Oh, yes,” Sirius chuckled, taking the cards back and shuffling them. “Which means we need to start plotting! Cissy is fair game, though I say we go easy on her. Remus—that's out. He'd know it was me and prepare for them or get even. The others are a wait and see though I don't think it will go too badly. Not if we start small and work our way up.”

“This should be good,” Harry said, taking a sip of his butterbeer.

“It'll definitely stave off boredom,” Bill added.

“I also say we get Albus just once. He needs a blue beard for a time. We never wanted to chance anything with him while we were in school, but he's fair game now. That should be easy enough and something we can manage.” Sirius said, chuckling evilly.

“And that would be a riot!” Bill said. “Which means we have to. All there is to it.”

“Oh yes,” Sirius nodded then started talking about spells they could use.

Listening in, Harry was still grinning. This could be a lot of fun, that's for sure. He had known since meeting Bill that his first thought of him being another version of Percy was wrong, he just didn't think he'd involve himself in a prank war. This was good though. And would be funny. Besides, it was great in another way. Though he didn't like the bond or that it was forced on any of them, he loved this. Now he got to spend plenty of time with both of the people he loved the most in the world. Yeah, he loved them in a different way, but he did. No one else in the world was like Sirius and Bill. And that was wonderful. He wouldn't trade it for anything either. Anything that came along with it he would just handle like he had so much else in his life. Besides, unlike so much of the past, he now had two people with him that wouldn't allow anyone to pull anything stupid and would protect him in a way he had never had before. That was even better and something he adored. Though wary of what could be coming from the bond, as none of them were sure, he didn't see it as a bad thing. Whatever it was, he could handle it and would probably like it.

Focusing back on the two of them, he laughed as they talked about a color shifting spell that would last for about 24 hours and how they could get it applied to Dumbledore's beard without him knowing they were doing it. Oh, that would be a right riot to see! And he planned to help all he could in managing to do just that. After all, it wouldn't hurt anything and would just be fun, so he didn't see the harm. Besides, that beard being all kinds of colors for a day was bound to be hilarious. Not to mention if they could even pull it off. That would require serious stealth and he wanted to see how they would manage it.

Yeah, the bond? It wasn't expected, but Harry decided that he liked it. It would just take getting used to. That he could easily do.
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Hidden Truths