A New Family For Harry

Finally a follow-up to the last part, and an answer to what will happen to poor Severus!



Please review! I'm very curious to hear what you all think of this part.



In the next update, I'll respond more to individual questions and comments. I was a little pressed for time as I wrote this bit, so I mainly wanted to make sure to get this next installment posted, so that no one would have to wait to long to learn how things will begin to unfold. But I really will answer questions next installment, so tune in for that.



Meanwhile, on to the story:









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"Oh, don't hurt him," Harry's childish voice cried out.



Lucius gritted his teeth, jerking the wand against Severus's jugular once more. Snape closed his eyes, apparently giving in to whatever fate lay waiting for him.



"Harry, leave this room," Lucius said in a controlled voice.



A distressed noise came from the boy behind him. "But --"



"Now." Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Harry slide off the mattress, small chest still bare of his pajama top, and inch reluctantly towards the door.



"You won't..." Harry hesitated. "He didn't really --"



"Leave this room at once, and wait for me in my chambers," Lucius added, not turning to see the response.



A moment later, the door clicked shut.



"So," Lucius began in a conversational tone. He did not loosen his hold on Snape's hair. "You must have watched Harry all day, wanting this. You likely coaxed him to wait for you, maybe promised some silly gift or other lure to entrap him. Then I would guess that you pretended to be drunk so that you might take advantage of my inevitable invitation for you to stay at the Manor."



"No, no, I did nothing of the sort," Snape gasped out.



"You've never laid eyes on the boy and thought about ravishing him?" Lucius asked levelly.



"I had never -- I do not normally think of...boys," Severus choked out. "But when I arrived in these rooms, after your elf left, he appeared, saying he hadn't been able to sleep, that he was scared by the dreams that had come to him in the night, and -- I swear to you, Lucius, I would not in my proper state take advantage of a child!"



"Stop." Lucius examined his old friend's face. Severus could shutter his emotions like no one else. But in this vulnerable moment, and with this much alcohol in his system, his face seemed an open book. As Lucius gazed at him, Severus's eyes swam with confusion and anxiety, and the little Legillimency that Lucius possessed showed him only that Snape was quite likely not lying to him.



"Well, well. The little minx," Lucius murmured under his breath as he thought of the way Harry had shimmied his pretty little body on Snape's lap.



He let go of Severus, and watched as his friend crumpled to a heap on the bed.



"We have always been friends, Lucius, since we first met," Severus pleaded.



"And we shall remain so," Lucius replied. He picked up his wand and pointed it at Snape. "Obliviate," he whispered.



*~*



Lucius left Snape snoring and tucked into the bedclothes. A house elf was called in and given instructions to sit and watch over their guest, in case he should awaken in some sort of confusion.



Any unease Severus might feel in the morning about some of the lost hours of that night, any tug of worry about what he might have done or said and forgotten before he had slept would indubitably be attributed to the copious amount of alcohol the man had consumed.



No, Severus would remember nothing of Harry's pretty tricks. But Lucius would.



*~*



After proceeding through the hidden corridors, Lucius slipped back into the main hall on his floor in the west wing of the manor. Narcissa's rooms were a floor above his, and Draco's and Harry's suites were in another wing entirely, so there was no reason to arrive in concealment. Really, if Harry could somehow sense when Lucius was obscured from view, Lucius didn't think there was much of a point in occluding his arrival.



He stopped with his hand on the doorknob, briefly contemplating what might await him on the other side. Would Harry be stretched out on the bed, pleased with himself that his scheme to excite Lucius's jealousy had so obviously worked? Would the boy be naked, eager to have Lucius surge forward to take advantage of him, addled as Lucius would presumably be by the unexpected situation he had witnessed? Would he be coy and eager to learn what punishment had befallen his supposed seducer, hold that punishment as some measure of his own worth to Lucius?



What Lucius did not expect, however, was what he found: when he opened the door and discovered Harry crying wretchedly on the floor next to the four poster bed.



"Please don't send me away," Harry sobbed. He very nearly crawled towards Lucius, and once he was close enough, he clung to Lucius's legs and cried as though his heart would break.



Lucius breathed in and out twice before he trusted himself to speak. "No one is sending you away, Harry," he answered. "Your place is here, at the Manor. Nothing can change that -- we are your family, and I would never allow you to be taken from me."



"I didn't mean for you to hurt him," Harry said through choked breaths. "I only wanted -- I thought if you came in and saw it, you would take me out of there, and...and..." He looked up at Lucius, eyes swimming with tears. For all of the boy's juvenile machinations, Lucius could see that Harry did not have a clear idea of what would happen next at that juncture. Something grand in gesture, no doubt, something that would provide that Harry got his way, whatever way he wanted.



But in this the child fell short of his role as delectable tempter. He wanted, that much was certain. But what precisely he wanted, and the possible outcome of those desires, well. Those things were out of reach for his as-yet relatively innocent mind. And if that mind was to remain at least genuine and not jaded, if not precisely continue on innocent, then Lucius had to implement more clear methods of control.



"It was a dangerous game you played with Severus," Lucius commented. "A dangerous game you are playing with me, Harry."



Harry swallowed and turned his small tear-streaked face up to Lucius, and Lucius reached down to comb his fingers through Harry's mussed hair.



"I meant what I said before, with every fibre of my being," Lucius continued in a quiet voice. "And I will stand by what I said, swearing an oath to the honor of my family that I hold dear. You will never be sent away from here, from me."



Harry hiccoughed and clung a bit harder, but eventually his breathing became more regular, and the tiny shudders working through his body ceased. He kept the tight hold on Lucius, as though in reassurance to himself.



"However." The boy stiffened at the word. Lucius took another deep breath, and went on. "You cannot play such tricks in the future, Harry. You cannot try such strategies as you did tonight, not with men who may not call a halt to the feelings you have roused in them, and not with those who may not resist temptations you are not even aware of possessing."



Harry worried his lower lip as he kept his eyes trained on Lucius.



Again Lucius reached down, this time to run a thumb gently along the boy's cheeks to dash away lingering tears. "Understand, Harry, that I wish to keep you safe."



That full lower lip quivered in response.



"And that, Harry, is why I must punish you," Lucius said with a sigh.



"Are you...going to take away the presents I got for my birthday?" Harry asked. His green eyes were wide.



"No."



"But you'll still let Ron come visit, won't you?" Harry hurried to inquire. "Oh, please, he is my friend --"



"I will not stand in the way of your friendship with Ronald Weasley," Lucius corrected him.



Harry looked down but said nothing. His posture tensed as he obviously waited to hear what exactly his punishment entailed if not the removal of toys or the deprivation of another boy's company.



Lucius moved away from him, and Harry made a muffled cry, scrambling after Lucius, seemingly afraid to let Lucius move from him.



"On the bed," Lucius gave the clear order.



Harry's small mouth gathered into a surprised "o".



Lucius seated himself on the mattress and waited.



Harry clambered up, and after a pause, sat beside Lucius.



"Now. You will move onto my lap, like so," Lucius said with a gesture of demonstration indicating that Harry should stretch across his legs.



"You're going to -- beat me?" Harry asked. His voice was strained, and his eyes took on a wild expression.



Rather than answer right away, Lucius tilted his head to the side. "Have you been beaten before?"



"A few times," Harry answered. A note of panic had threaded through his voice. "I remember that my aunt, she used to -- she had a hairbrush -- and my uncle, with his belt, a few times, when I had done things that....that I couldn't help, like made the kidney pie explode all over Dudley when he jeered that I wouldn't get any, or somehow had frogs hopping into the guest's drinks at a garden party they held because they kept me inside."



"No one, however, has spanked you," Lucius clarified. "They used belts, brushes, but no one put a hand on you directly."



Harry shook his head from side to side.



"This will be different," Lucius promised him. "I am not going to beat you in some blind rage or a fit of pique. I am aiming to demonstrate to you that there may be consequences to your actions, that you are not to entangle others in any irrational bids for attention. Most of all, I wish that you will in the future hold your own safety at a higher regard, and trust my decisions about certain things."



"Like...what you said in the study earlier today," Harry said slowly.



"Exactly so." Lucius held himself back from stroking the boy in comfort. It would not do until afterwards. "Harry, I hold you very dear to me."



The boy's cheeks burned red, and adoration shone from his eyes.



"And what I hold dear, I must also protect, do you understand?"



Harry gave him a small nod, never wavering in his steady gaze on Lucius.



Lucius stroked the boy's hair with measured caresses. "You must allow me to protect you, by deciding what is best for you."



"Yes," Harry breathed.



Lucius hid a smile. It wouldn't do, not with the actual gravity of the situation, and not with the message that he wanted Harry to feel he was being disciplined. But perhaps, in the boy's yearning for something more, something of this nature had been what he wanted all along.



"All right, then." Lucius indicated his lap once more, and Harry scrambled to drape himself across Lucius's legs.