Visions of an Empath

A/N: I've had a few requests to make this story a Lucius/Harry/Severus pairing. Let me know what you think about it.

Chapter 10

Bellatrix watched gleefully as Voldemort tortured another filthy muggle. A sudden scowl crossed her face. Ever since Snape's death, her lord had been on a rampage. Snape had been the only one who knew how to brew the Latent Inheritance Potion, so now her lord was denied his magical creature army.

"Bellatrix."

The word whispered in Bellatrix’s head. Her eyes glazed over as the voice commanded all of her attention, the sounds around her fading into nothing.

"Go to your Gringott's vault and retrieve the goblet the Dark Lord gave to you."

Like a puppet on a string, Bellatrix silently slipped away from the meeting and apparated to the Leaky Cauldron. With single minded focus, she strode directly to the bank and ordered a goblin to take her to her vault, oblivious to the stares aimed at her. Once the goblin opened her vault door, she quickly grabbed the goblet and climbed back into the cart.

Griphook huffed in annoyance and steered the cart back to the lobby. Noting the blank look on the woman's face, he shook his head. Mistress Lestrange would be in for a rude awakening when she get back to the lobby. She may not have noticed the fearful looks from the other patrons, but he certainly had. He wouldn't be at all surprised to find Aurors waiting for them when they arrived.

As the cart slowed to a stop, Bellatrix climbed out of the cart and headed toward the lobby.

"Turn left."

Bellatrix immediately veered to the left and found herself in an empty room, or so she thought. A black shape separated from the shadows and stepped toward her.

"Give me the goblet."

Bellatrix held out the goblet, staring blankly at the dark form as the goblet disappeared into the darkness.

"Go back to the lobby."

Bellatrix obediently turned around and walked out of the room. As she walked into the lobby, though, the voice commanding her withdrew its presence. She stopped abruptly and blinked in surprise, taking in her surroundings in seconds. What the hell was she doing in Gringott's bank? It was then she noticed the Aurors surrounding her and reached for her wand, but it was too late. A stunner hit her in the back, and she fell into darkness.

***

Severus apparated back to the safe house and went inside. That had been remarkably easy. And the fact that the bitch had been apprehended was just an added bonus. Severus headed directly for the library in search of Harry, figuring that would be the most likely place the teen would be. He was right, of course. There was Harry at his favourite table, reading quietly.

Severus silently moved toward Harry, slipping behind him unnoticed. As he neared the teen, he unconsciously breathed in Harry's delicious scent, biting back a moan as the wondrous smell ensnared his senses. Severus leaned closer to Harry, alerting the teen to his presence, and whispered, "I have the goblet you wanted."

Harry jerked in surprise, a shiver going down his back at the deep voice whispering in his ear. "S-Severus!" Then the words registered, and he turned to face the other man. However, he failed to realise just how close Severus was when he did so. Harry found himself nose to nose with the other man and started to pull back, but Severus leaned closer, so that their lips were barely touching.

"You smell so delicious, Harry. I just want to taste you all over," Severus growled softly, tongue flicking out to taste those petal soft lips.

"You can't," said Harry, bringing up his arms to push Severus away. "I'm Lucius' mate."

"You're my mate, too," snarled Severus, eyes flashing red as jealousy raged inside him. He grabbed Harry around the waist and pulled the teen closer, leaning down to claim the lips denying him.

Harry turned his head away to avoid the kiss and wriggled frantically, vainly trying to get his arms free. Severus wasn't deterred, though. He trailed his lips down Harry's neck, nipping the skin lightly to bring the blood closer to the surface. He wanted to mark his mate for the whole world to see.

Harry shuddered in pleasure at the tiny bites and once again tried to push Severus away. He needed to get away before it was too late. Severus' emotions were beginning to drown out his own, desire and possessiveness and some deeper emotion overshadowing everything else. Severus suddenly bit down hard on Harry’s neck, pulling a pained gasp from the teen’s throat, but the pain didn’t last long. The pain was immediately washed away by a sharp jolt of euphoric pleasure.

Severus licked across the bloody wound, watching in satisfaction as the bite healed with a noticeable scar. He brushed his fingers across the new scar, causing Harry to moan softly at the gentle pleasure of the touch. Now he just had to give Harry some of his blood to complete the new bond.

However, before he could do so, an animalistic growl sounded in the library, distracting Severus and giving Harry a chance to pull away. As Severus growled in response to the challenge, Harry stumbled clumsily away from the vampire, flinching in pain at the sudden onslaught of rage that filled his senses. Trying to regain his balance, he saw Lucius rush across the room, attacking Severus with a snarl of fury. Bombarded with the rage of both men, Harry fell to his knees, covering his ears and closing his eyes in a useless attempt to block them out.

Draco, who had followed his father into the library, watched in fascinated horror as his father and his godfather tore into each other with vicious determination. He heard a soft whimper and looked over at Harry to see the other teen covering his ears and crying softly. Draco carefully edged toward the brunette and gently pulled Harry to his feet, guiding the shivering teen out of the room.

Draco pulled Harry to the study and pushed him down onto the sofa. Harry didn't even seem to be aware of Draco's presence and just stared blankly at the fireplace. Draco sighed and grabbed his father's decanter of brandy, pouring a glass and handing it to Harry.

"Drink up. It will make you feel better."

Harry obediently took a drink only to sputter and cough as the brandy burned a trail down his throat. "What the hell was that?" Jolted back to awareness by the fiery liquor.

Draco smirked. "That was brandy. You're supposed to sip, not gulp it."

Harry glared at Draco and set the glass aside. "You could have warned me."

Draco shrugged lightly. "What's the point? You were in shock and wouldn't have noticed even if I'd said something."

Harry looked at Draco sharply and gasped as the memories of what had happened in the library flooded his brain. "Lucius and Severus! We have to stop them!"

Draco crossed his arms and shook his head. "You're absolutely insane if you think I'm going to get in between a vampire and a drake while they're fighting. What the hell happened anyway? Father was absolutely furious."

Harry flushed guiltily and looked down at his hands.

Draco saw the guilt in Harry's eyes and glared at the brunette, coming to his own conclusions. "You betrayed my father? How could you?"

Harry flinched at the questions and pulled his feet up onto the sofa, hugging his knees to his chest. "It wasn't intentional, Draco."

"Not intentional," scoffed Draco. "And I guess that makes everything all right? That’s a lie and you know it."

Harry could clearly feel Draco's anger, and it fed his own. He jumped to his feet and glared at the blonde. "What would you know about it? You're not the one who has to deal with feeling everyone's emotions every single day. You have no idea what it's like to be so overwhelmed with someone else's feelings that you can't distinguish it from your own. You don’t know how..." Harry broke off the rest of his sentence and took a deep breath.

"Is that what happened?" asked Draco softly, watching as Harry visibly tried to calm himself down.

Harry looked away from the blonde. Yes, Severus’ emotions had overwhelmed him, but he also couldn’t deny the pleasure he’d felt before that point. He’d always found Severus attractive in a dark, dangerous sort of way, but the man’s own attitude had made it easy to ignore.

Before Harry could answer, though, the study door opened. A very bruised and bloody Lucius walked into the room and headed straight for Harry. Harry flinched as Lucius' anger battered his senses but stayed in place. He deserved whatever punishment Lucius planned to give him. Lucius raised his arm, and Harry closed his eyes in resignation, bracing himself for the blow to come.

Lucius, reaching out to grab Harry’s shoulders, saw the resigned acceptance on Harry's face, and all of his anger just drained away. No matter how angry he was, he would never hurt his mate. He couldn’t blame Harry for thinking that, though. Not after the way he’d reacted when Harry’s scar had disappeared. Lucius wrapped his arms around Harry’s waist and pulled him close, murmuring softly to calm the teen.

Harry slowly relaxed in Lucius’ arms, burrowing his face in the blonde’s neck. The hot anger was completely gone, replaced by worry and a faint sadness. The sadness made Harry feel even worse. He’d never meant to hurt Lucius like that.

“I’m sorry,” whispered Harry hoarsely.

Lucius sent Draco out of the room with a pointed look. Once they were alone again, Lucius pushed Harry down onto the sofa and sat down beside him. Pulling Harry back into his arms, he stroked the brunette’s hair gently as he talked.

“It’s not your fault, Harry. If anyone is to blame, it’s me. I knew that Severus’ vampire half had chosen you as his mate. I foolishly believed that as long as you didn’t donate blood anymore, he would choose someone else. I should have known better.”

Harry absently rubbed the scar on his neck as he listened to Lucius, completely unaware of his actions. Lucius, on the other hand, noticed the unconscious movement and turned Harry’s head to the side, growling when he saw the vampire’s mark. Harry tried to flinch away from him, but he tightened his hand in Harry’s hair, not hard enough to hurt him but firm enough to keep him still.

“He marked you,” snarled Lucius. “Did you take any of his blood?”

“N-No,” gasped Harry.

Lucius slowly released his hold on Harry’s hair and took a deep breath, nodding curtly. “Then the bond is not complete.”

Harry looked at Lucius sharply. “What does that mean exactly?”

Lucius sighed and stared at Harry intently. “It means that Severus has initiated a mating bond with you. With the bond incomplete, he still has a chance to find another mate.” He looked away from Harry and muttered, “Though that’s extremely unlikely.”

“So what will happen now?” asked Harry hesitantly. “Is Severus going to leave?”

“Is that what you want?” asked Lucius calmly.

Harry looked down at his hands and shook his head. “Severus shouldn’t be forced to leave because of me.”

“If he stays, he’ll only try to complete the bond, Harry,” said Lucius.

“W-Would he stop if we...” Harry trailed off, unsure of how to continue. He wanted to bond with Lucius, but he didn’t want it to happen just to deter Severus’ claim.

“If we bond together?”

Harry nodded.

Lucius sighed and stood up, pacing across the room restlessly. “I don’t know, Harry. He’s already marked you. Our bonding probably wouldn’t deter him in the least. In fact, it could make things worse.”

“What do you suggest we do then?” asked Harry. “I can’t avoid him completely. We live in the same house, Lucius.”

“I know that,” said Lucius irritably. “If you had just stayed away from him none of this would have happened.”

Harry jerked back as if struck. “I can remedy that right now.” He climbed to his feet and stalked to the fireplace, grabbing a handful of floo powder and tossing it into the flames.

Lucius grabbed Harry’s arm and pulled him away from the flames. “What in Merlin’s name are you doing?”

Harry jerked his arm free and glared at Lucius. “I’m leaving, Lucius. This entire situation was obviously my fault, so my leaving should rectify that mistake. Right, Lucius?”

Lucius growled and grabbed Harry’s shoulders. “I didn’t mean it that way. I just don’t know what to do right now.”

Harry sighed and ran his hand through his hair. “I really think I should leave.” Lucius started to protest, but Harry cut him off. “Just for a few days. Long enough for everyone to cool down and decide what we should do. I’ll be at Grimmauld Place, so I should be perfectly safe.” He gently pulled out of Lucius’ grip and walked back to the fireplace. “You’ll be able to firecall, but you won’t be able to floo over. Let me know what’s been decided.”

Harry stepped into the flames and called out his destination. Stepping out of the fireplace at Grimmauld Place, he looked at the dismal surroundings with a pang of sadness. Harry quickly blocked the floo, allowing only firecalls, and went to bed. Sleep would be long in coming tonight. Lucius’ presence at night had comforted him more than he was willing to admit, and now that comfort was denied to him.

With a soft sigh, Harry dimmed the lights and tried to get some sleep. It was just a few days. Surely they could work something out within that time. He already wanted to go home.