Other Worlds

It was fully dark outside by the time Severus opened his eyes.

 

Across the hallway Mycroft sat in his study, head bowed, as the report detailing the 'rescue' of the Longbottoms and the arrest of Crouch and the LeStrange brothers lay on the desk in front of them. Already it was obvious that there would be no return from the madness the couple had been tortured into, leaving Neville Longbottom more of an orphan than Harry. He knew Augusta Longbottom personally; she'd been a housemate of his mother, and he pitied her having to bring up another child at her time of life almost as much as he pitied the child.

 

Bellatrix had slipped the net, as much to her husband's surprise as to the Aurors' frustration on storming the building. The woman had clearly had a portkey on her; a portkey her husband didn't know about. Which, given her slavish devotion to Voldemort, would certainly be a useful tool in breaking the man. It also meant that with both Pettigrew and Bellatrix at large, it was imperative that Severus, his child and mates, needed to leave Britain as soon as possible, and ensured that the upcoming Trials would be a security nightmare. The funerals were also a too tempting target.

 

The family upstairs still had to be debriefed, but Mycroft acknowledged that he had been awake since 6 am the previous morning, and he was not operating effectively. Bernard had been ordered home at three, under protest, but everyone who had been on duty last night had been relieved at 5pm and sent home for the night by his order.

He stood wearily and headed down the hallway to his suite, checking in, as had become routine, on the three men and the child in the expanded bed. Dark eyes looked up at him, and Mycroft felt a welcome lift in his heart as Severus held eye contact with him. 

 

"It's good to have you back with us, cousin."

 

"Care to explain why I have two men in my bed?" came the reply. Mycroft smiled, the rare but heartfelt expression showing that, while exhausted, this moment was the best he'd felt since yesterday. 

 

"I'll leave that to them to explain. I'll just say that both these men and yourself have a lot of talking to do, but that I am convinced you'll be happy with their explanation. I, on the other hand, am going to bed. Any other answers can wait till tomorrow, or you can ask Sherrinford. I'll send Turnwise in with some food for you all and some toys for Harry." 

 

Severus nodded his thanks as Mycroft left the room, and he turned his attention to a squirming Harry. He kissed him on the forehead. "Oh Harry. You shouldn't be here, should you, but as you are, I want you to know that you will never be alone. I love you."

 

"We all do", came a soft rumble. "And Sev, we love you too." came a deeper voice from behind Harry, as Sirius lifted his head off the pillow to make eye contact. "Me and Remy here have something to tell you, but I want you to know, right away, that I'm in 100%."

 

Severus looked at them both as they sat up and Harry wriggled sleepily onto his lap. "I can feel you both. Harry too, though not the same." His voice dropped to a whisper. "I don't understand. What's happened, Remus? Why can I hear you, even behind my shields? Why can I feel Sirius?"

 

Remus looked grave. "You bonded with me when you gave me nearly all of your magic. You were a Lumos away from burning yourself out when they found us, and given other...injuries you sustained, you were dying. We wouldn't let you go, Sev, we both love you too much."

 

Sirius took over smoothly, covering the news Remus couldn't bring himself to say. Neither of them wanted Sev to think that the bond only occurred because Lily and James had died, though the truth was that their death was the catalyst. "It turned out, the reason the bond was able to form in that way was because Moony here is a werewolf. A werewolf who knew from the age of eleven that both you and I are his mates, and was waiting for the right time to let us know. Meanwhile, here's me, tearing myself up because I'd fallen for both of you and didn't know what the hell to do about it."

 

Severus sat, his mind racing. Mates. It felt right - not complete, but the bonds were deeper already than the bonds with Lily and James. He gasped as he realised that those bonds had profoundly altered. While before he had the sensation of them in his thoughts near constantly, now there was just a sadly sweet feeling of them both twining around his bond with Harry. Tears came to his eyes, and he looked up to meet the golden, loving eyes of his bonded.

 

"They are gone, aren't they" he said simply.

 

Remus nodded, his eyes sorrowful. "It was fast", Sirius rumbled, taking his hand. "He AK'd them both, no torture, just meant to be a quick in and out mission from how it looks. Mycroft and I, we got there just as he cursed Harry, and the house exploded. We don't know how, but he's gone. I got you their wands, Sev", and his voice broke, just a little. "They would want you to have them. You and Harry."

 

Remus took back over. "Once I regained consciousness, the doctor explained to me what was happening to you. I've been to her clinic before, and she knew that bonding was a possibility. There was no way of reaching you, or we both would have asked for your consent, Sev. We both wanted to do this anyway, not because of the situation. So, Siri looped his magic into my core, and I fed both it and mine into yours and looped it round and through us all until we were all levelled out.'

 

"And then he spliced our brains."

 

"Padfoot, that is not a helpful analogy", Remus said firmly.

 

"S'true, though", shrugged Sirius. Severus rolled his eyes. "Care to translate for the hound, Remus?"

 

"It's hard to explain, other than how it felt. The Mind Healer was taking the bond between you and Harry, and wrapping the severed edges of your bonds around it to strengthen it. It looked like a rope once she'd finished, so I went looking for the one we'd formed, and Sirius' energy was coiling around it in the same way. Your outer shields were gone; your inner shielding had great tears in it, and the parent bond was weaving over the gouges and healing them, so I just, um, copied it and helped it along by pushing our magic at it until you were all shimmering and gold. I could feel you were alright, so, um..."

 

"So he fell asleep," finished Siri. "I think I lasted another 30 seconds or so. We must have separated our magic at some point after that, because I can't feel it flowing in and out of me any more, but, I can feel you in here", as he tapped his head "just the same as I feel Remus'.

 

"Can you feel Harry?" wondered Severus, but both men shook their heads. "I didn't touch the parent bond at all. You are Harry's blood-father and have been since the ritual. We can work out what you want us to be for Harry once you know whether you want to take the bond further between us", Remus said firmly.

 

Severus looked astonished at that, but Sirius gently squeezed his hand. "Sev, you didn't get to have any say in this. The decision to complete the mating bond is going to be completely down to you. You know we both want you, wanted you before this, but while I hope that you will want us in return, neither of us want to take any other choices away from you." Remus was nodding in agreement as Sev looked from one to the other.

 

Whatever he was about to say was cut off by Harry's voice saying "Papa, Hawwy hungry. Eat now?" As if summoned by the child, Turnwise popped into the room and swiftly turned the second bed into a table and chairs, then summoned the food. Sirius sprung up to help Remus up from the bed, but stood back to let him limp to the nearest chair, Severus scowling to see the ungainly movements of such a graceful man. "We will be talking about that next, just so you are aware, Wolf." He swung his legs out of the bed and stood, carrying Harry over to the high chair and settling him in, before turning and pulling Sirius towards him.

 

"I thought you knew, Hound. I started falling for you not long after Lily and James welcomed me as a friend, but the night of the Marking? You were all I could hold on to. All I could think was that I wanted to get back to you, needed you, and then when I got back and you held me all night? I have never felt so safe." He leant into the shell shocked man's body, and raised his lips to Sirius' in a soft kiss. "You've had my heart in your grubby paws since then. You on the other hand, Wolf, have been the cause of the most ridiculous crush since I was 13. Lily used to tease me mercilessly about it, and even at my most broodingly over-dramatic, you stalked my dreams. Those eyes of yours, sweet Merlin! So if you are worried that I might resent this bonding? Stop it now." 

 

Rather than let go of Sirius, he pulled him over to Remus side, where he let go of his hand to cradle Remus' head in both his, planting a searing kiss on the Were's lips. "I'm yours, both of you. And you're mine. And when we are not all reeling from losing James and Lily, and have worked out where the hell we're going to be, then you", and he kissed Remus again "and you", kissing Sirius, "are going to take me to bed, and we are going to complete this bonding in every way we can think of. So. Anything else I should know?"

 

Sirius cleared his throat. "Um, yes. Your son is wearing his dinner. And Remus is the Alpha."

 

Remus nodded. "There will be biting. Sorry about that."

 

Severus snorted as he vanished peas from the back of Harry's neck. "Biting I can deal with. I just refuse to let either of you call all the shots. You got yourself a really pushy power bottom when you linked with me, and I am extremely high maintenance." He took a bite of his own dinner and savoured the look on both his mates faces, as, sensing something funny had happened, Harry crowed with pleasure.

 

"You saved my life, Sev", Remus quietly stated. "You and Mycroft. Peter meant to kill me. He must have been working out how for some time. While he was, um, working on me, he was very clear that he hated the Marauders, Siri in particular." He looked at Sirius and reached out a hand across the table. "He said he was 'just' killing me, that it wasn't personal, would you believe. You, on the other hand, he was trying to drive you insane by killing all your friends and framing you for it all. He said you would go chasing after him in some heroic fashion, and either get taken down by Death Eaters or Aurors, but that people would believe you were the Secret Keeper and a Death Eater; that you wanted James' inheritance and title. He wanted you to die, Kissed or in Azkaban."

 

Sirius paled. "Then Mycroft saved my life." He quickly explained that after grabbing Harry, Mycroft had grabbed them both and side-alonged them straight to the Trewissick house. "If I hadn't have been on the team that went to James and Lily's, I'd have gone after Peter, no question. He locked me out of the Floo and Apparition permissions for here as soon as we got here, but of course by that time you were both being worked on here and Padfoot took over, basically."

 

Severus looked at him, gravely. "He studied your weaknesses as much as Remus'. Without knowing this you'd still be planning to hunt him down, wouldn't you?" 

 

Both the other men nodded.

 

"I don't think you'll be able to now, though", Remus added. "The bond is going to prevent us from moving too far from each other for some months until it settles, and, well, you know" he finished awkwardly, blushing. Severus smirked. "Indeed", he murmured. "Bonding aside, Pettigrew didn't think that Voldemort's and his followers would fall, and Sirius was quite demonstrably not screaming in pain from the Mark in front of Aurors and Unspeakables, which will defuse that allegation. A controlled interview with Veritaserum in front of unimpeachable witnesses will prove you were not the Secret Keeper."

 

Sirius ran his hand through his shaggy hair. "Without wanting to sound like an egomaniac, I don't understand why Pettigrew hates me at all. Let alone enough to kill our friends in some nightmarish plan to get me Kissed or sent to Azkaban. I'd never have thought he had the balls to attack anyone even if he hated them, let alone do what he did to you, Remy."

 

Remus shrugged. "Apparently you belittled him for six years, made fun of his animagus form, sabotaged his school work, stopped others from befriending him and stole potential girlfriends. Lots of teen angst type stuff, but he was pretty much frothing at the mouth when he was ranting at me about it, and then he'd start in with the curses and knives again."

 

Severus covered his hand with his own. "You can talk when you're ready about this, and when Little One isn't around, but the limping concerns me." Remus shrugged. "He hamstrung me, and the tendons need to finish regrowing; apparently muscles and tendons take longer than bones. I have just over 3 weeks before the next change, and they should be able to sustain the change by then; I'm just going to have to take it slow."

 

Severus nodded. "I can look into some potion combinations, or see if I can come up with something to speed up recovery for you." A yawn overtook him, and Sirius quickly rose and came to his side, guiding him back to the bed. "You need to rest love", he urged. "You and Remy are both still healing, and with the mental injuries you had, you're still expected to be asleep more than you're awake."

 

Remus rose too, and gingerly limped towards the bed. "I'm done for the evening too, Sev, so budge over. Siri can bathe Harry and get him down for the night, but you and I are going to curl up and snuggle."

 

There was a muttered "I don't 'snuggle', Wolf" from a clearly exhausted Severus, and Remus grinned as he wrapped an arm around the drowsy man and pulled him in close. 

 

"You do now, love. You do now."