Union of Three

Union of Three

Chapter 16

Harry bounced into the kitchen and smiled cheerfully at Ron, Hermione, and Dougal. Hermione and Dougal smiled back, but Ron simply glowered at the cheerful brunette. “Someone’s in a good mood today,” said Hermione. “Where’s Draco?”

“He’s taking a nap,” said Harry absently, staring at the food spread out on the table like a starving man. “Yeah, food. Thank you so much.”

“It’s the middle of the day. Why is he taking nap now?” asked Ron indignantly. If he still had to do research, Draco damn well better have to help.

“I think Harry wore him out earlier,” said Dougal, smirking as Harry blushed slightly. “I guess he had just enough energy to carry Harry to bed and collapsed.”

Harry’s face was practically on fire as he realised that Dougal had seen Draco carry him from the library. Hermione just snickered at Harry, a little disappointed that she’d missed the show this time. She’d almost suffered a nosebleed the last time she’d seen Harry and his mates in action. Ron looked completely horrified at the thought of walking in on them again. He still hadn’t forgiven them for making him pass out. It didn’t matter that it was technically his fault for bursting into their room unannounced. Dougal just continued to smirk, thinking that Harry was absolutely adorable when he was embarrassed like this.

“Harry! We have to do research in there, and here you are contaminating the place,” Ron ranted angrily. Harry was his best friend, but he did not want to see him having sex, especially with those damn Malfoys. He especially didn’t want to see Harry having sex when he wasn’t able to enjoy the same privilege, giving Hermione a covert glare. It wasn’t fair that Harry had sex on a regular basis while Hermione barely allowed him to kiss her much less do anything involving a lack of clothing.

“Excuse me?” asked Harry softly. He couldn’t believe that Ron had just said that. “Contaminate the place? What, do you think I’m diseased and that I’ll infect the rest of you with my sickness? Do you honestly believe that, Ron?”

“That’s not what I meant. I just think that ever since you hooked up with those damn Malfoys, you’ve changed and not for the better,” said Ron irritably. “The Harry I knew wouldn’t be spending most of his time having sex, and he would damn well not be having sex where others could easily walk in on him. What happened to you? Did the knowledge that You-Know-Who is your father change you this way?”

“Ronald Weasley! How can you even ask that?” screeched Hermione, glaring at her boyfriend. “Harry is happy with Lucius and Draco, and you should be happy for him. I think you’re just jealous of Harry.”

“So you think I should just throw away all thoughts of happiness and just devote my life to the wizarding world? Just be a pawn forever?” whispered Harry sadly.

At the look of total hurt and confusion on Harry’s face, Ron felt like the world’s cruelest person. Harry’s wide green eyes were filled with tears and his lips trembled as he tried to keep from crying. Ron was ashamed of himself for trying to destroy his best friend’s happiness. After their fourth year, he’d promised himself that he wouldn’t allow jealousy to ruin his friendship, but once again, he’d let his jealousy consume him and done just that. “You’re right, Hermione,” he said quietly. “Harry, I’m sorry. I’ve been a jealous prat, and I’m sorry that I hurt you. I’m glad that you’re happy, even though I still don’t like those damn Malfoys. You do, and that’s all that matters. Besides, they obviously love and cherish you, and that’s good enough for me.”

“Apology accepted,” said Harry, brushing his tears away. He yelped in surprise when Ron suddenly lifted him into an exuberant hug, twirling him around happily. “Put me down before I get sick.” Ron hurriedly put him down and backed away fearfully. He couldn’t handle being around sick people. The smell alone made Ron want to vomit. Harry simply rubbed his stomach and took deep breaths as he tried to allay the nausea. He suddenly clapped a hand over his mouth and ran out the door, almost knocking Severus down in his haste to make it to the bathroom in time.

“I swear that brat can’t get any more rude,” muttered Severus as he grabbed a roll off of the table. “Why was he in such a hurry anyway?”

“Apparently, Ron triggered his first episode of morning sickness,” said Hermione calmly.

“Already? I didn’t think that started until about the sixth week,” said Severus musingly.

“Well, technically he’s in his sixth week,” said Dougal quickly. “Elves only have a five month gestation period.”

“Must be nice,” said Hermione.

“What must be nice?” asked Draco, rubbing his eyes. He was only wearing a pair of pyjama bottoms and the bite mark on his neck stood out vividly. He looked around the kitchen and didn’t see Harry. “Where’s Harry?”

“Morning sickness hit today,” said Hermione.

Draco immediately turned and went to check on his ailing mate. He found Harry in the downstairs bathroom, hovering weakly over the toilet. Pulling Harry’s hair away from his face, Draco rubbed his mate\'s back as he continued to dry heave. When Harry’s stomach finally quit rebelling, he sagged feebly against Draco and silently allowed him to wash his face with a moist cloth.

“Draco, I don’t like this. Can we wait a few years before we decide to have a baby?” whimpered Harry pitifully.

“Sorry, kitten,” said Draco sympathetically. “It’s too late for that. But don’t worry. I’ll help you through this and so will father.”

“I didn’t even get to eat first,” whinged Harry. “How did I get sick when I hadn’t even eaten anything?”

“Well, come on. We’ll go and get you something to eat now,” said Draco, pulling Harry to his feet and leading him back to the kitchen.

*****

Lucius stayed with Aracely and Urian for three days, making plans for the battle against Voldemort. By the end of his stay, he’d managed to get them to agree to send a total of sixty elves to aid them. Lucius hugged Aracely and promised to bring Harry for a visit as soon as the war was over before opening a portal back to Godric’s Hollow. Since it was still early, his destination was the bedroom. Stepping into the room, Lucius immediately sought his mate’s figure on the bed. Unfortunately, the only one still lying on the bed was Draco. Then he heard the retching coming from the bathroom.

“Harry!” exclaimed Lucius, seeing Harry kneeling in front of the toilet.

Harry finally quit heaving and leaned against the toilet, too tired and weak to do anything else. “I hate you, Lucius. This is all your fault,” muttered Harry petulantly. Three days of running to the bathroom to empty his stomach was enough already. He was ready for this to be over, and he still had over four months to go. He wasn’t sure he’d make it.

“You hate me?” asked Lucius, staring at Harry in disbelief. Then he registered the rest of the sentence. “What’s my fault?”

“Morning sickness,” snapped Harry. “Your baby, your fault. Gods, I need a bath. My hair is filthy now.”

“Oh, my poor kitten. It hit hard, didn’t it?” asked Lucius sympathetically. “Here, I’ll run us a bath.” He turned on the water and let the bath fill while he helped Harry up to wash his face and brush his teeth before stepping into the bath. Stripping off his clothes, Lucius joined Harry in the bath and pulled his sorely missed mate into his arms. He carefully washed Harry’s thick mane of hair, making sure to clean the strands thoroughly. Rinsing the soap out, he leaned back and relaxed with Harry. “I missed you, kitten.”

“Hmmm, I missed you, too,” said Harry sleepily, the bath relaxing him completely. Now that he wasn’t heaving over the toilet, his weariness was setting in. He hadn’t slept well last night for some reason, waking up every one to two hours. It wasn’t long- not even ten minutes, in fact- before Harry had dozed off, sleeping contently in Lucius’ arms.

Lucius smiled when he realised that Harry was asleep and carefully maneuvered them both out of the water, using his wand to cast a quick drying spell to keep from waking Harry. He carried Harry back to their room and gently placed him in the bed, climbing in beside him, and pulled his mate snugly into his arms. This was one of the things he had missed the most while he was away. After all, his kitten just fit so well into his arms. Glad to be back home, Lucius cuddled Harry closer and fell into a deep, content sleep.

*****

“Harry, you’re looking better. No sickness today?” asked Hermione, smiling when Harry bounced into the room.

Now that Lucius was back and he’d gotten a few hours of sleep, Harry was once again his cheerful, slightly hyper self. Of course, most of his good mood probably had to do with the waking up part of his day. Lucius had awakened him with gentle kisses that quickly turned passionate. Harry had quickly pulled Lucius onto him and begged his mate to make love to him. Lucius had eagerly complied, hastily preparing the brunette before burying his cock with one thrust. All in all, it had been a lovely morning, and Lucius had provided his daily feeding as well. “No, I got sick this morning. But Lucius came back today, and we slept for a few more hours,” said Harry happily, smiling brightly at Hermione.

“Well, I guess that makes everyone,” said Hermione. “Remus got back an hour ago.”

“Please let someone have some good news,” said Harry fervently. “I don’t think I can handle just bad news today.” He grinned sheepishly when his stomach growled loudly. “Food first, though. Taryn and I are hungry.”

“Kitchen it is then,” said Hermione teasingly, leading Harry into the kitchen. She stopped suddenly when she saw that everyone had already gathered in the kitchen, and someone- she glared pointedly at Ron, who had crumbs littering the front of his shirt- had already eaten the muffins she’d made earlier.

“It’s about time you woke up, brat,” said Severus calmly, lacking the biting edge in his voice that he usually had when talking to Harry. “We’ve been waiting to give our reports. You could have at least gotten here on time.”

“Feeling better, kitten?” asked Lucius, pulling Harry into his lap. It had quickly become one of his favourite positions. He smiled when Harry’s stomach rumbled demandingly again because Harry immediately blushed and buried his face in Lucius’ neck in embarrassment. Draco fixed Harry a sandwich and set it down in front of him, kissing the brunette quickly on the lips before resuming his seat. Harry proceeded to devour his sandwich in record time and stared expectantly at Dougal, awaiting the vampires report.

“Okay, I guess I get to go first,” said Dougal wryly. “The Dark Lord has added blood wards, and only his six most trusted Death Eaters are allowed access. The rest have to either be escorted by one of the six, or they have to wait until the wards are lowered for a meeting. He’s also created magic dampeners specifically designed for fae magic and Korbin teleportation.”

“This is going to be tricky,” said Harry quietly. “I can still get through the wards because I have Riddle blood running through my veins, but I can’t apparate everyone through the wards all at once. Unfortunately, that’s what we would have to do to avoid being picked off one by one. As soon as we apparate through the wards, he’ll know we’re there, and we’ve lost our advantage.” He looked at Hermione and she simply nodded. “Okay, Remus, what about the werewolf situation?”

“Well, my contact with the Dyad pack said that about fifteen members of the pack joined Voldemort. The rest of the pack is moving on. With Fenrir Greyback’s entire pack in league with Voldemort, you’re looking at least fifty werewolves against us,” said Remus gravely. “There are probably even more than that because there’s no way I can accurate count.”

“Lucius, what about you? Any luck with gaining us some fae allies?” asked Harry, leaning back against Lucius and looking up at him.

“Surprisingly enough, yes,” said Lucius smugly. “I did more than that, though.”

“What do you mean?” asked Harry curiously.

“It seems that my mate can open more doors than I had imagined,” said Lucius dryly. “Queen Lisselle was going to refuse our plea for aid until I mentioned the names Aracely and Urian Evenstar.”

“How did you know about them?” asked Harry.

“Who are they?” asked everyone else almost in unison.

“They are Harry’s elfin grandparents,” said Lucius bluntly. “Aracely is the royal seer for King Athelly and Urian is the king’s Chief Chancellor. They are both well respected by both the elves and the fae. Only the fact that Harry is grandson to such important people swayed Queen Lisselle into agreeing to provide us with allies. She is sending forty archers and swordsmen to aid us.”

“That’s great,” said Harry enthusiastically. “At least my name is good for something. I can’t believe my grandparents are still alive, though. I’m glad I still have some family left.”

“That brings me to my next bit of news,” said Lucius warmly, smiling at Harry’s happiness. “I met Aracely and Urian. They agreed to send sixty elves to help us in the war.”

“You got to meet them? What were they like? Did they know about me? Do they want to see me?” asked Harry eagerly, almost bouncing in Lucius’ lap in his excitement.

“Yes, great, yes, yes,” said Lucius affectionately. Harry’s happiness was contagious and Lucius could only smile with his energetic kitten.

“Focus, Harry,” said Hermione sharply, not wanting to ruin Harry’s good mood but knowing it was necessary. “We have a hundred allies to help, but forty of those can’t use their magic. And we still have to find a way to get everyone where they need to go. We have to find a way to break those wards if we hope to have a chance.”

“Fortunately, the fae are not entirely reliant on magic,” said Lucius evenly. “They are also very adept at weaponry, especially archery and swordsmanship. All they need is a target, and we are providing that in abundance.”

“Besides, there will also be numerous wizards who can deflect oncoming spells away from the ones who can’t use magic,” said Draco quickly. “Our biggest concern is just getting everyone in position.”

“When is the next meeting, Dougal?” asked Harry quietly, turning to look at the silent vampire.

“Tomorrow,” said Dougal.

“Lucius, when are our allies arriving?” asked Harry.

“In four days,” said Lucius apologetically.

“Okay, that rules out this meeting,” said Harry calmly. “Dougal, you’ll need to find out when the next meeting is, and keep tabs on what’s going on in that camp. Right now, all we can do is wait. Once reinforcements arrive, we can come up with a strategy and take that bastard down. Severus, how are the potions coming?”

“I have already brewed the potions you requested. I also took the liberty of brewing a few flash-fire potions,” said Severus. At the numerous confused looks when he mentioned the second potion, he actually took the time to explain. “You throw them down and a flash of bright light temporarily blinds your opponent, giving you a chance to immobolise the enemy. Just be careful to close your eyes when you throw it so that you won’t be blinded as well.”

“That’s a nifty little potion, isn’t it?” asked Harry admiringly.

“I’ve only been telling you the value of potions for the last six years, Harry,” said Severus with a long-suffering sigh.

“I had no doubts whatsoever that potions were valuable. It just wasn’t my favourite subject- well, the first five years, it wasn’t my favourite subject. I actually liked potions in my sixth year. Must have been the absence of a snarky teacher who loved to torment me that brightened the subject,” said Harry teasingly. “I discovered a fondness for potions and it was all thanks to a little book belonging to said snarky teacher.”

“I don’t know why I bother with you, brat,” said Severus, glaring at the brunette.

“Because I am an adorable little elf who is your key to defeating Voldemort,” said Harry with a bright smile.

“Riiight,” said Severus sarcastically, making everyone snicker.