Bonds that Tie

This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoat Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

A/N.... thank you for your patience in waiting for a Beta'd copy. Thanks to Kei for your work. If anyone finds something that needs to be corrected, or you need explained, please let me know so that I can correct/explain it for you.... luvs ya

Chapter Two

The morning of Harry's birthday dawned bright and cheerful, although the atmosphere at 12 Grimmauld Place was anything but. The three days leading up to it had revolved around the adults planning every little detail about what would happen when the Death Eaters attacked, and gradually a slight sense of panic started to settle over them as they realized their plans had their children as the main target. Harry and the DA on the other hand watched this all with amusement, knowing no matter what the adults planned, they would do exactly what they had been training to do for the past few years.

Every night since Harry had interrupted that one Order meeting saw him falling asleep in the presence of both Dark wizards, having been up late talking and arguing with the two of them over exactly where the DA would be, and what they would do. That morning was really no different then the few before, except this time he rolled out of the bed that he had no knowledge of falling into at all.

Being on autopilot, he did not notice either of the men at first, and it wasn't until he was actually finished dressing for the day that he noticed them watching him in amusement. “Before you ask, the whole Order plus the DA are in the house,” he growled before continuing, “Which means the two of you should have been gone long ago. So why exactly are you still here?”

“Indeed they are, Mr. Potter. I hadn't really noticed the adolescent hormones pervading the air,” Snape sneered at him which only caused Harry to grin.

“Alright then, it looks like the snarky git is almost back in fine form,” Harry said before continuing. “Now, what exactly is it that you want?”

“I see that you are as dense as normal Potter. You will be, of course, introducing us to the nitwits who are following your harebrained plan, and letting them now know that if they need help we will do our best to provide it.”

“No.”

Snape's eyes narrowed dangerously as he hissed. “No, Mr. Potter?”

Harry made sure to keep eye contact with the darker of the two, although Mr. Malfoy stood right behind Snape. “You heard me correctly, Professor. I said no. I will not risk either of your safety by letting even more people know that you are spies. If something happens, I will do my best to keep those with me out of your way, even if it means facing you myself,” he told them in a determined voice. “Especially as I cannot guarantee that they will keep this information to themselves at a later date.”

A silent battle of wills ensued between the two of them, neither giving into the other. Just as Lucius was about to interrupt the tense silence between the two, Harry took a slight step back and relaxed slightly.

Taking a deep breath Harry broke one of the few rules they had between them. “I'm sorry Sev'rus, but I can't risk you.” With a quick glance to a set of worried grey eyes, he added, “Either of you. Even if everyone promised not to tell, just a wrong word where it could be overheard would mean death for the two of you. I can't do that, so please don't ask it of me,” Harry pleaded softly, lowering his eyes as he felt tears threaten to fall.

Severus dropped his head and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “It's already too late for that Harry,” he said just as softly, as he reached over and pulled Harry close enough for him to rest his chin on the top of Harry's head, and for Harry to rest his forehead against the black clad chest, with one hand resting lightly on Harry's slim waist, while the other gently rubbed against his back.

Lucius stepped from behind and walked around Severus so he instead stood behind Harry, wrapping an arm around the young man’s waist with his hand resting over top of Severus' and dropped his head low enough to speak directly in Harry's ear. “Severus is right Harry. We were seen by a group of them while on our way up here.”

Harry allowed the warmth generated from both older wizards warm his soul for a moment before shaking his head in denial. “They didn't see you. The Manor is hiding you from everyone who doesn't know you are here or are spies,” he told them as he wrapped one arm around his middle, resting his hand on top of Lucius's and raising the other to latch into Severus's robes. “Like I said, I won't risk either of you, especially if it's within in my power to protect you.”

Lucius straightened up and looked at Severus, reading the emotions flickering through the darker eyes, knowing that the same emotions could be seen in his own. Sighing softly, and hating himself for allowing it, he whispered in the younger man’s ear, “You win this time, Brat. We'll allow you to protect us, but we will discuss this later.”

Harry released the breath he had not known he was holding in a deep shuddering sigh. “Thank you,” he barely whispered, knowing both of them had heard him. Taking another deep breath, he released his hold on both of them and stood up straight, once again ready to play his part as the Savior of the Wizarding world. “You'll both have my complete attention for any questions you may have about this later. Right now we need to get ready to go.”

Lucius and Severus both released Harry, and stepped away, Severus pausing long enough to wipe a tear off of Harry's face. “Yes we will, Mr. Potter,” he said bringing back that degree of formality that they all needed. “But for now you need to get going, otherwise you are going to miss your party in Hogsmeade.”

Harry offered them a small smile as he stepped over to the door. “Of course Sir, we wouldn't want that now would we?” Just before walking out the door, he paused and looked back. “Stay safe, both of you. I won't be held responsible for my actions if something should happen to you.” Then, he was gone.


~~hp~~

Albus Dumbledore stood with the rest of the Order of the Phoenix in the living room going over final plans for the day. Despite the effort to hide the evidence, he had noticed Harry's slightly puffy and too-bright eyes. Most of the others who saw the same thing chalked it up to nerves and the slight excitement that they all felt, but he knew better. He saw the faint tear tracks and wondered just how hard this day was going to be for Harry.

A slight noise from the stairs had him looking up as he saw both of his spies come down and glance around the room. When their eyes came around to where he and Harry stood, and realized they were being watched, they both nodded in acknowledgment. He also noticed that the Harry's shoulders tensed under their gaze, but didn't look up like he would have done normally. As the two left, he heard Harry release a shaky breath, and Albus was hit hard with the understanding that the young man beside him was extremely worried for one --if not both-- men. Placing a hand on one slim shoulder, he bent down and whispered that they would both be fine, and receiving a slight nod of the head in response, turned his attention once again to the final plans for the day.

~~hp~~

Harry and company did a whirlwind tour of Hogsmeade before going to the Three Broomsticks for lunch, laughing and joking the whole way. To anyone else, it looked like the group were spending a carefree day celebrating Harry's birthday, and only those in the Order who knew what they where looking at could actually say that they were acting.

As the group of teens went into every store in town, even if they didn't need to, they left the same message behind: “Attack imminent; keep customers inside if possible, be ready to defend yourself and others”. As new customers came into the stores, the shopkeepers spread the message, and soon the town was sitting on complete alert, ready to hide and defend at a moment’s notice.

It wasn't until they had just about finished their light meals that the first sounds of Apparition came to them, followed by a scream of fright and the first sounds of battle.

The DA, reacting to the danger, quickly and calmly dashed out and joined the battle, knowing that surprise was on their side and not the other way around. Curses and hexes filled the air around them laid heavy with the scent, smell, and taste that was Magic.

The core group of the DA, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville, Luna, with the addition of the Weasley twins, stayed together like the well trained team they were, cutting a path through the Death Eaters with practiced ease, and leaving bound bodies behind them. The rest of the DA fanned out around them in groups of three, escorting those who needed it to safety and following the Death Eaters who tried to move away from the main group.

Harry did his best to ignore the familiar sense of well known magic mixed with undertones of Dark magic, and focused on capturing as many Death Eaters as he could. He knew that Voldemort was not present, as his scar did nothing more then tingle in reaction to the many Dark Marks around him. His focus was finally broken by a rough female voice that he knew all too well.

“Aw, has widdle baby Potter come out to play?”

“Bellatrix!” he growled and swung around to see part of Voldemort’s Inner Circle.

Bellatrix Lestrange's crazed laugh rang loud in the sudden silence as the last of the stray Death Eaters were rounded up, the rest either bound and taken away or escaped. “Did you miss me, widdle Potter?”

Glancing around trying to see how many of those with him where still standing, he noticed that only about a dozen members of the DA and a handful of those from the Order remained. Relaxing his stance slightly Harry faced The Bitch. “You know my life isn't complete without you in it, Trixie,” Harry mocked, and had the privilege of seeing her draw back in shock, before hissing in anger.

“This is the end, Potter. I'll see you in hell!” she screeched, raising her wand and casting a wandless spell that felt like a noose had wrapped around Harry's neck.

“You first, Bitch!” Harry snarled back through the choking pain, and raised his own wand, noticing out of the corner of his eye that those around him were mimicking his movements and casting strong shielding spells, and felt the “noose” loosening its hold on him.

A bright flash of light dazzled everyone's eyes, just as Harry threw a darker version of a binding curse towards her. When his eyes cleared of the bright spots left behind from the brightness, he started to swear in three different languages when he noticed the Inner Circle had disappeared.

With a last hissed curse of anger, Harry joined the rest in cleaning up as much of the damage as they could.


~~hp~~

After being pulled into the Infirmary, poked and prodded, fed healing and pain potions and declared fit to leave (as long as he took a vial of dreamless sleep potion with him), Harry quickly returned to Grimmauld Place in order to get any news about the battle. Unfortunately when he arrived, he was once again treated like a child and told to go to his room, take the sleeping potion and everything would be “discussed” in a few days. Translation: you've done your job, now go and play with the other children.

Slamming his way up the stairs in another fit of anger-- the third since the Inner Circle disappeared-- Harry mentally adjusted the wards around the Manor to no longer allow members of the Order to gain entrance, and, for those already in the Manor that had other places to go, subtly encourage them to leave. At the same time he made sure that they allowed Snape and Malfoy through and to let him know when they arrived.

Two hours later, after a long shower to wipe away the blood sweat and tears, never mind the dirt and grime of battle, Harry was working on wearing a path in the floor with his pacing, his mind going into overdrive on what reasons the two spies could have for not showing up yet, none of them good. A slight tingle combined with a light chime sounding in the air, told him that the wards had finally been breached and sighed with relief, grimacing with pain from his still sore throat.

~~hp~~

Severus Snape landed outside Grimmauld Place carrying the barely breathing body of Lucius Malfoy, urgency rushing through his own body to the point that he barely registered the Wards that tingled across his skin that told him that they were both safe.

Kicking open the door, he barely slowed down as he passed a few of the DA members still in attendance even as the pulled their wands on him. Carrying the blond into the sitting room, he looked around and blinked in the only sign of shock he would give in finding so few of the Order in residence. Spotting Remus Lupin sitting in the corner of the room, he laid his burden on the sofa and with a curl of his lips snarled, “Where is Potter, Wolf?”

Remus, after giving both Snape and Lupin a quick once over, met the burning black eyes before him. “We sent him to his room with a vial of Dreamless sleep and told him to get his rest,” he said mildly, moving from his chair to check on Lucius's condition.

Severus breathed slightly in relief. “Then he's still awake,” he murmured and strode over to the stairs. “POTTER!”

~~hp~~

Harry paced his room in agitation as he continued to wait for word from the two spies. Worry making it impossible for him to sit down, he finally decided that it was stupid to be in his room when he could be with the others, regardless of what they wanted him to do. As he started down the stairs the bellow of the Potions Master came to him and two things struck him within the next few seconds: utter relief that the two of them were safe, followed by panic at Snape's tone of voice.

Taking the stairs down three at a time in his rush to get to Snape, Harry missed his step and started to fall down the remaining steps. Bracing himself for impact, he spread his arms in front and slightly to the side of him to find something to catch his fall on, only to find himself caught and braced against a strong chest, his hands find purchase on a set of quivering arms. Looking up into Snape's eyes he could see the pain and despair in them. “Are you alright, Sir?” he whispered, wary of his sore throat.

Closing his eyes to hide his feelings from the far too aware green ones in front of him, Severus nodded his head slightly. “Yes Mr. Potter I'm fine. But Lucius…” he trailed off and turned Harry around so he could see the figure on the sofa, not surprised at the growl of anger he heard coming from the teen.

Harry's eyes widened at the sight of the blond aristocrat before they narrowed in fury. “That fucking son of a bitch,” he hissed. “He keeps giving me more reasons to kill him!” Were the last words coherent words he actually in English as his fury pushed him to start in Parseltongue as he advanced on the sofa.

A flash of blond hair, and a wand jammed up against his chest stopped him before he was halfway there, and the cold words uttered in a tone that reminded Harry of the elder Malfoy brought him back to the point of noticing those in the room with him.

“You will have to go through me before you'll ever touch my father, Potter!” Draco snarled

Harry blinked as he took in the chips of ice that formed in Draco Malfoy’s eyes, before glancing around to see the core members of the DA with wands drawn pointed at Lucius, Severus and Draco. Even as he did so, those Order members still in the house pulled their wands on Harry. “Put your wands down,” he snarled at the DA before turning his attention back to Draco. “I suggest you stop being a total arse and get out of my way. The only thing I plan on doing is healing your father, and the longer I take arguing with you, the greater chance he has on not making it. Now move Malfoy before I make you!” he growled out before casting his eyes on the rest of the room. “You all know that I know he's a spy, what makes you think that I'll do something stupid now?” he demanded of them.

Draco stepped back in shock more from the barely constrained anger he saw in Harry's eyes then the snarled words. Stepping to the side, he allowed the darker teen to pass him, and moved to watch from the other side of the sofa, his eyes losing the icy quality and instead morphed into despair.

Both the DA and the Order dropped wands and eyes in shame.

Studying Malfoy Sr., Harry extended his own magic to pin point the heavily damaged areas. Kneeling beside the sofa he directed his magic to smooth out the knots in Malfoys own magic before he started healing the physical injuries, wincing slightly at the feeling of evil he was getting off the Dark Mark. “Professor, how long was he held under the cruciatus curse?” he asked the dark figure standing directly behind him as he healed the broken bones caused by the spasms from that one curse, as well as his other external and internal injuries.

“Too long,” came the soft response.

“Shite,” Harry exclaimed just as softly. Laying his wand beside Lucius’s still form, he moved the long blond hair out of his way, and placed his hands on Lucius's temples. Feeling a slight awareness, Harry started talking softly. “Lucius, it's Harry. I need you to open your eyes and look at me.” Harry continued to repeat various forms of this over for a few minutes before slumping down and looking up at Snape. “He's not listening Sev'rus.” he said, his voice quivering as a single tear ran down his cheek.

“You need his cooperation Harry. Do what you must,” Severus answered.

Nodding his head, Harry stood up. Being as gentle as possible, but knowing that he needed to cause some pain to get a response, Harry straddled Lucius waist and once again placed his hands on the man’s temples. “Lucius you sadistic bastard open your eyes and prove that you truly belong in Slytherin and not Hufflepuff,” Harry snarled in the blonde’s ear, and had to blink back more tears when he finally received a faint sound of disgust from the man beneath him.

“Could be worse, I could be calling you an idiotic Gryffindor. It certainly seems to fit the bill. I mean going back to the man you call 'Master' when you knew that you failed and would be punished by a half blood doesn't seem like the thing a Slytherin would do now does it?” Harry mocked.

This time Harry saw the man’s eyes flutter open for a moment before once again closing, and he could have cheered. Knowing that he almost had the man right where he wanted him, he raised a sound proof bubble around the two of them, totally blocking out his next words. “If you don't open your eyes and let me in Luc, I'm going to steal Sev'rus away from you, and I won't be giving him back!”

It took a minute for Harry's words to make any progress, but his reward had him unable to hide his tears. Grey eyes opened and gave him a weak glare as Lucius croaked out despite his abused throat. “Mine.”

Harry grinned and dropped the bubble so that everyone could once again hear. “We'll discuss that issue once we have you healed. You're going to need to open your mind for me so that I can prevent any more damage.”

Lucius briefly closed his eyes as he fought against both the pain and nausea before opening them once again and nodding his head in permission to the younger man. “Do your worst, Harry,” he said weakly.

“Your wish, Lord Malfoy, is my command,” Harry answered softly, letting his mind and magic sink deep into the man under him, secure in the knowledge that Severus Snape would protect both of them from anything that came their way.