Visions of an Empath

Chapter 24

Hermione walked into the kitchen and found Luna staring out the window absently. “Hey, Luna. Have you seen Harry this morning?”

“He’s at Hogwarts,” Luna said calmly.

“What?” Hermione screeched. “When did he leave? Why didn’t he take us with him? I’m gonna kill that boy when I get my hands on him.”

Ron peeked into the room with a wary expression on his face. Seeing his girlfriend in a rage, he whispered to Luna, “What’s got her so mad?”

Unfortunately, Hermione heard his question, and she whirled around to face him with a snarl. “That prat went to Hogwarts without us!”

Before Ron could muster up his own anger, Luna cut in. “It needed to be done this way, Hermione. Harry had the best protection from magical attacks because he carries a drake child, and Lucius and Severus are better equipped to protect him from physical attacks.” She looked at Ron and raised an eyebrow. “Can either of you say the same?”

“That’s not the point, Luna. We’re his best friends, and we promised to stand by him until the end,” said Hermione.

Luna smiled at that declaration. “There’s still something you can do to help him.”

“And what’s that?” asked Hermione skeptically.

“Contact the Ministry. As acting Minister, Shacklebolt would probably be the best person to talk to. Inform him of what has happened the past few months and tell him about the ongoing battle,” said Luna reasonably.

Hermione looked at the blond for a long moment and sighed. “You want me to convince him to pardon Lucius and Severus, don’t you?”

Luna just smiled enigmatically.

Hermione shook her head in resignation. “Fine. I’ll see what I can do. Harry so owes me for this, though.”

***

Remus slowly opened his eyes, awakened by the loud cheers. He gingerly turned his head and saw students crowded in front of the castle, chanting Harry’s name. Was he at Hogwarts? What in Merlin’s name was going on? The last thing he remembered was Wormtail gleefully digging that silver hand into his chest followed by excruciating agony. How was he still alive? The silver poisoning should have killed him.

“I’ll take him home, Lucius. You take care of the wolf and Draco.”

Remus jerked in surprise at the sound of Severus’ voice and struggled to sit up.

“Looks like Lupin’s already awake,” said Lucius, kneeling down beside Draco. “Now that your wolf is still alive, maybe you would like to explain why Draco is also here, Harry.”

“Well, you see, you know that wand Voldemort’s been using? That was the Elder Wand, and apparently Dumbledore was it’s master before Sev killed him. When Draco disarmed Dumbledore in the Astronomy Tower, he became the master of the Elder Wand, so he came to give me some additional protection,” Harry hurriedly explained.

“The Elder Wand?” asked Lucius. “As in one of the Deathly Hallows?”

Harry nodded. “That’s it. Of course, it’s a moot point now. It kinda got shattered along with Voldemort.”

Lucius shook his head in disbelief and used Enervate to wake up Draco. The blond teen woke immediately and looked up at his father in confusion. He heard the cheers coming from the castle and groaned.

“I missed it, didn’t I? The Dark Lord’s gone, and I missed it. Dammit!”

“Sorry, Draco,” said Harry apologetically. “But at least I only stunned you. You tried to kill me.”

“What?!”

Draco paled at the twin glares aimed at him. “It wasn’t my fault! The Dark Lord used the Imperious curse on me!”

“Like we haven’t heard that excuse before,” said Harry teasingly.

“Harry, are you trying to get me killed?” asked Draco frantically.

“Fine,” said Harry with a little pout. “It wasn’t Draco’s fault. Besides, he broke the spell before he could actually hurt me in anyway. Happy now?”

“Immensely,” said Draco. He heard movement behind him and turned around, scowling when he saw Remus struggling to his feet. He glared at Harry. “You healed him, didn’t you? Are you that eager to get rid of your mates?”

“What is he talking about?” asked Severus curtly.

“You didn’t even tell him?” asked Draco incredulously. “When he used the Breath of Life, he became a full Earth Drake.”

Severus leaned down and buried his face in Harry’s neck, breathing in his mate’s scent. Harry’s sweet scent now had an earthy scent mixed in with it. Overall, it was very appealing. It reminded him of a picnic in the forest. Severus licked the vein in Harry’s neck and lightly bit down, just barely breaking the skin and bringing a single drop of blood to the surface. The blood hit his tongue, and Severus moaned softly at the taste.

Lucius raised his eyebrows at the pair. Well, that answered that question. Severus was still just as drawn to Harry now as he was before the change. And he wasn’t the only one, either. He hadn’t been lying when he told Harry that nothing would ever sever the bond between them.

“So you’re all still mates?” asked Draco hesitantly.

Lucius smiled at his son. “Yes, Draco. Severus and I are still Harry’s mates, just as I told Harry we would be.”

“Wait! Harry healed me?” asked Remus, staring at the four of them in confusion. “How is that possible? Silver poisoning is impossible to cure.”

“What part of ‘he used the Breath of Life and became a full Earth Drake’ did you not understand, Lupin? He sacrificed his humanity to save your worthless hide,” snapped Draco.

“How is that possible?” Remus repeated dumbly. “Harry’s just a wizard. How could he possibly become a drake?”

“I had an Earth Drake animagus form, Moony,” Harry explained. “Luna told me I could use my animagus form’s power to save you, but it would transform me into a true drake.”

“Harry, you shouldn’t have done that,” said Remus despairingly. “I’m not worth that kind of sacrifice.”

“Well, at least someone agrees with me,” Draco muttered snidely.

Harry scowled at Draco. “It was my decision, and I thought it was worth it. Your son needs you. And... I didn’t want my godson growing up without his parents like I did.”

Remus’ face softened at Harry’s halting confession. “Thank you, Harry. You are a constant amazement to me.”

“Enough of the sentimental garbage. Can we please go home now? Stress isn’t good for the baby, Harry,” whinged Draco.

“Baby? What baby?” asked Remus, staring at Harry with dawning suspicion. Malfoy couldn’t possibly mean what he thought he meant. Harry couldn’t pregnant, could he?

Harry smiled happily and rubbed his slightly rounded tummy. “I’m pregnant, Moony. I’m due in about four months. We’re having a little boy.”

“F-Four months?” Remus stuttered in surprise. “B-But that means...” He turned a murderous glare toward Lucius. “You didn’t give him any time to get accustomed to the idea of becoming your mate, did you? You didn’t even have the grace to marry him before you knocked him up.”

Harry blinked in surprise at the accusation before he realised why Remus thought that way. “No, Moony. It wasn’t like that. Drake pregnancies are only twenty-eight weeks long, and I am definitely carrying a drake child.”

Lucius sneered at Remus. “Not that it is any business of yours, but I asked Harry to marry me long before he was with child.”

“Then why aren’t you married yet?” asked Remus skeptically. “And what’s the deal with Snape? I thought drakes were possessive of their mates, but you seem to be awfully calm about a vampire holding your mate.”

Harry blushed slightly. “Uh, that’s because Severus is also my mate.”

“What?” asked Remus incredulously. “You’re sleeping with Lucius and Severus? Why the hell am I just now hearing about this?”

“Because you haven’t bothered to contact him in any way?” Draco suggested snidely.

“You could have written, Harry,” said Remus disappointedly.

“I did, actually,” said Harry softly, stifling a yawn with his hand. “Hedwig kept bringing my letters back. Were you hiding someplace owl mail couldn’t reach you? The same thing happened when I tried to send Ron and Hermione letters when they were in hiding.”

“Yes, Tonks and I are staying with the Weasley’s until the baby’s born,” said Remus guiltily.

“You didn’t hide very well if the Dark Lord managed to get his hands on you,” sneered Draco.

Remus scowled at the irritating blond. “I was captured when I went to Diagon Alley to stock up on supplies.”

“Draco, leave him alone,” said Harry wearily. He was so tired, and he just wanted to go home and go to sleep. The fact that he had conducted this entire conversation from the safety of Severus’ arms should have made that clear to everyone, but obviously he was going to have to be blunt. “I’m tired, and I want to go home. I used a lot of magic to save Remus, and I need sleep, dammit!”

Lucius smiled indulgently at his irritable mate. “Take him home, Severus. Draco and I will handle things on this end.”

Severus smirked and nodded, carrying Harry into the shadows and transporting them back to the safe house. He was more than happy to let Lucius deal with Lupin.

“And why exactly did we have to stay here?” sniped Draco. “As far as I’m concerned, we’ve said all that needs to be said.”

Before Lucius could say anything, they heard someone shout, “Malfoy, wait!”

Both Malfoys looked in the direction the shout had come from and saw the youngest Weasley running toward them. Lucius fought not to growl at the girl as she approached. The bint better not be planning on making a move on his mate. Harry was his!

“Where’s Harry? Is he all right?” she asked worriedly.

“What business it of yours?” snapped Draco.

“He’s fine, Ginny,” said Remus soothingly. The Weasley girl might not hear it, but he had no problems hearing the soft growls that rumbled in Lucius’ chest at the girl’s appearance, so he stepped between them to prevent the blond from killing her. “He wasn’t hurt at all.”

“Then where is he?” Ginny demanded. She was hoping that now that Voldemort was truly dead, Harry would come back to her. Just because Lucius Malfoy had decided Harry was his mate didn’t mean that Harry actually had to stay with him. Besides, Harry desperately wanted a family, and that was highly unlikely since male pregnancies were so rare. “Why isn’t he here?”

“Harry’s... well, apparently, he’s...” stuttered Remus. He still couldn’t wrap his mind around the fact that Harry was pregnant much less inform anyone else.

“Harry’s pregnant,” said Draco, sneering at the werewolf. “However, the reason Harry is not here is because the idiotic prat decided to heal Lupin from near death.”

“Harry’s pregnant,” Ginny repeated numbly. With those two words, her hopes were completely dashed. Harry would never leave Malfoy now that he was pregnant.

Draco smirked at the redhead. “Yes, Weaslette. Harry’s pregnant with my little brother.” He stepped closer to her and whispered, “He wouldn’t have come back to you even if he wasn’t pregnant. He loves my father and Severus, and they love him. Your dreams of becoming Mrs. Potter will never come true, so you may as well just give up and move on.”

Ginny sobbed softly and ran back to the castle.

Remus sighed and gave Draco a look of disapproval. “You didn’t have to be so mean to her.”

Draco snorted derisively. “Yes, I did. The bint needed to know she had no chance with Harry. He’s happy now, and he doesn’t need her causing problems for him.”

Lucius sighed softly. Although he agreed with Draco’s sentiment, he knew Harry wouldn’t be happy with the way they handled it. Obviously, he would need to deal with things on his own. “Draco, why don’t you go on home? I’m sure Luna is waiting for you.”

Draco blushed slightly at the comment about Luna and glared at his father. “Are you trying to get rid of me or something?”

“Of course not, Draco,” lied Lucius. “I simply thought that you would prefer to spend your time with Luna rather than dealing with irate professors and Aurors.”

“Well, when you put it that way,” said Draco musingly. “I’ll just be on way then. But don’t take too long, and be careful. Harry will be extremely upset if anything happens to you.” With a cocky grin, Draco almost ran to the apparition point and apparated away.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” asked Remus softly. “After all, you are an escapee from Azkaban.”

“I’m not an escapee. I was forcibly removed from the prison,” Lucius corrected.

“Yeah, but I don’t think the Aurors will see it the same way,” said Remus wryly.

Lucius looked at Lupin and raised an eyebrow. “Well, then I guess you’ll just have to vouch for me, won’t you? After all, Harry would be devastated if something were to happen to me when you could have stopped it.”

Remus scowled at the reminder. “Don’t remind me. I still think Harry deserves someone a lot better than you... and Severus.”

“That may be true, but he chose to be with Severus and me, and he’s happy with us,” said Lucius bluntly. “Shouldn’t that be more important than what you want for him?”

Remus reluctantly conceded the point to Lucius. Before the conversation could continue any further, several Aurors ran from the castle to surround Lucius.

“Lucius Malfoy! You are under arrest for escaping from Azkaban!”

“I didn’t escape,” snapped Lucius irritably. “Voldemort kidnapped me!”

Kingsley slowly approached the irate blond. “Stand down, gentlemen. Mr Malfoy has been pardoned for his former crimes in honour of his participation in Voldemort’s recent death. He is now a free man.”

“What about Severus? He helped, as well,” said Lucius.

Kingsley nodded and smiled. “Hermione told me about him, as well. His pardon was also approved.” He cocked his head thoughtfully. "I was told that Severus was dead, though. Mind explaining?"

“Well, technically he is. The Dark Lord forced him to drink the same potion he forced me to drink, and Severus was turned into a vampire. He’s also Harry’s other mate,” said Lucius.

Kingsley shook his head in amusement. “Only Harry could pull something like that off. Tell him I’ll send him an owl in a few days.”

Lucius nodded and said, “In that case, I think I’ll head home now. Harry’s probably worried himself sick, and with him pregnant, that’s not a good thing.” Without another word, he turned on his heel and strode to the apparition point.

Kingsley gaped at the retreating blond before looking to Remus for answers. “Did he just say that Harry was pregnant?”

“Yes, he did,” said Remus wearily. “Don’t feel so bad. It was a total shock for me, too.”

“That boy just can’t do anything normal, can he?” asked Kingsley incredulously.