Triumvirate

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or the songs included in this fanfic nor do I make money off them. These stories are for entertainment only.

~
Things get damaged

Things get broken

I thought we'd manage

But words left unspoken

Left us so brittle

There was so little left to give



I pray you learn to trust

Have faith in both of us

And keep room in your hearts for two



Precious - Depeche Mode



Harry and Draco stormed into Hermione’s room to confront the smug looking portrait of Snape.



“No more bullshit Snape” Harry said, “Where is Hermione?”



Snape looked duly unimpressed just as he had in life. “Rather than blasting the same inane question at me, how about we ask some of our own shall we?”



“What are you playing at?” Draco growled.



“I might ask the same of you Draco Malfoy” Snape snapped, “Now sit down and be quiet, the both of you. It’s long past the time for a man to man chat.”



Former days of obedience kicked in and both men sat on the edge of Hermione’s forsaken bed.



“Can either of you tell me about this fiasco with Ms. Parkinson?” he asked.



They looked away.



“No one? How unfortunate”.



“What about it?” Draco muttered.



“Well for starters to a woman who has never had this sort of relationship before and continues to have self doubts regarding her position with either of you. I would think it matters a great deal. Wouldn’t you?”



His eyes like orbs of obsidian burned into them knowingly. They both flinched under it’s weight.



“Hang on” Harry said, “What do you mean doubts about her position with us? She knows we love her.”



Snape arched a dark brow, “No Lord Potter I do not believe she does. She had told you she loves you yes?”



Draco nodded. “She has. Tons of times.”



“And you? Either of you? Or were you just so busy with the mundane affairs of winning a war that you supposed she was bright enough to figure it out?”



Harry met his eyes, green locking with black in a vicious unspoken battle. “You think she knows. She doesn’t. At this moment she believes that she was simply a toy for your pleasure. A passing trifle.”



Draco shook his head.



“She can’t think that” Harry said quietly.



Snape chuckled darkly, “Oh? And is your power so great now Potter that you control her very thoughts? No? Imagine that.”



Harry tried again, “Why would she think that?”



Severus shook his black hair back, “Perhaps because you toyed with Pansy for three years Potter. Three years and dropped her like so much rubbish. Not to mention the small detail of keeping such a thing from her in the first place.”



“We didn’t want her to get the wrong idea.” Draco muttered.



Snape clapped his hand sardonically, “Well done Draco. I think she got a much worse one.”



Harry lifted his eyes again, “You were her lover” he said baldly, “And she still values your opinion. What should we do?”



Snape smiled an evil smile, “Beg Potter.”



“Please!” Harry shouted.



Snape waved him away, “Not to me you fool. To her.”



Harry rose to his feet stalking to the frame, “You tell me where she is or I will burn you on this very wall.”



“Do your worst Potter. I won’t be telling you a thing until I am certain you understand the damage you’ve done. Mia is heartbroken, feeling cheap and poorly used. Because you two great sots can’t think past the ends of your noses!”



Harry looked up suddenly, clarity shining in his eyes, “You love her.”



Snape sneered at him, looking every inch the nasty potion’s master from his past, “This has nothing to do with me” he said silkily, “And everything to do with whether or not you two are capable of loving her.”



Black eyes flicked from her fiery green to arctic silver. “Well?”



Draco nodded slowly, sadly, “I haven’t a right to, but I do. I love her.”



“Potter?”



“Yes.”



“You were her best friend before becoming her lover, you know that Hermione likes to know the facts about any given issue before making her decision. You didn’t afford her that courtesy because of your own selfish fears.”



Harry was about to protest but Draco nodded, “You are exactly right Sev” he said, “Look at her. Hermione is beautiful, brave and intelligent beyond compare. The two of us.. What can we really offer her?”



Severus lifted his brow, “Go on”



“I am a cursed man living on borrowed time. A few transformations more and I am finished. I will live the remained of my very short life in the beast’s body. And Harry.. As dark lord he can never marry. And he can never be out of the spotlight. He can’t offer any more normalcy than I can.”



Pale fingers stroked an equally pale chin, “Then I suggest…. You leave her alone.”



Harry exploded, “Not going to happen! She’s always been near me, I love her, I won’t lose her.”



Snape smiled coldly, “But don’t you see Potter? You already are.”



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



Hermione felt him all around her. Her dream swathed in black silk curtains and she turned in that darkness.



“Severus?” she called.



Suddenly arms were around her and she leaned back against the tall, lean form of her once lover.



She turned in his grasp, her eyes drinking in his beloved face. How had she ever thought him unbeautiful?



Her fingertips traced his cheekbones and his lips before she pressed her own to his. The taste of mint, juniper, and fire whiskey flooded her senses.



“I’ve missed you” she whispered, clutching him tightly, wishing she could crawl inside of his skin.



Long fingers pulled her curls away from her face, “I’ve missed you Mia but we must talk before you wake.”



She mewed, “Why Severus?”



He sighed, uncertain why he should even do this. “Because there are two very confused young men who are very much in love with you I think.”



She blinked up at him, shaking her head, “They lied to me”



He shook his head at her now, “No. They didn’t tell you everything”



“Omission” she shot, “it’s the same!”



“And I was often guilty of the same crime with you. Yet you forgave me. Why?”



“Because I love you Sev!”

“And you love them. Why Mia?”



She turned in his arms, so that she could avoid his seeking eyes. “We…aren’t right” she whispered, “The three of us. Love is not meant to be that. Perhaps a part of me wants that out.”



Severus stoked his hands down her arms, “You once sought an out with me” he purred in her ear, “Do you recall why?”



She nodded, her eyes falling closed, “No one would understand” she admitted, “They would not accept us, what we were.”



Severus turned her slowly once more, “And yet you remained. With me. My lover. Openly. All others be damned. Why?”



She leaned her head against his chest, “Because you were worth it. Our love was special, it was worth it and it you hadn’t gone and gotten yourself ….”



“You would have been Mrs. Snape” he assured her, “And the world would have placed you under the same cold glass it placed me.”



“Wouldn’t have mattered” she insisted, “This is my dream Severus. Please…make love to me. This is all we have now!”



What he said next was very hard for him.



“No Mia” he said gently, cupping her face, “This is all I have now”.



She started to disagree, tears welling in her eyes.



Severus captured her lips in a kiss so gentle it broke her heart, “You must live now” he whispered against her mouth, “Dark days are ahead Mia. Days when I cannot protect you. You must throw off this doubt, speak to them. They were wrong but their intentions are good. You are better than this.”



“I don’t want to throw it off! I want you!”



He smiled gently, stroking the teardrops on her pale cheeks, “In another life perhaps Mia” he murmured, “But my time is done and this life lies before you. Take it Mia, with my blessings….and….all my love.”



Hermione woke sobbing, feeling like her heart had been ripped from her chest. Her soaked eyes going to Snape’s portrait but the steadfast Potion’s Master was nowhere to be found.



She leapt from the bed, pulling his thick robes around her, inhaling his scent and rushed through the halls of Wit’s End, calling his name.



“Severus! Severus!”



In the study, in a portrait so small it hid behind the edge of the tapestry Severus Snape sat quietly, trying to make peace of his decision.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For two long days Hermione looked for him. Peering into every frame wistfully, but Snape, it seemed was gone.



She railed against him, called him a coward but in the end she knew the truth. She was the coward. Hiding from life. Hiding from the life she could have, the life she had wanted so badly. The love she had wanted.



She sent an owl to Harry and Draco telling them she was safe, that she was thinking and that she wanted to know everything. She would not be blindsided again. She didn’t mention where she was at or how to find her. She did say that while she loved them very much, she wasn’t sure that feeling was given in return and that had to change before she came back.



If she came back.



Yes, she was a coward. Couldn’t even say it face to face, but then, if she saw them, she knew her resolve would melt like sugar in water. No, she had to stand firm.



As soon as the owl departed, movement caught her eye.



She turned to see Severus in his frame watching her silently.



She thought of all the nasty things she’d been wanting to say to him over the last few days but oddly enough, seeing him now. None of it came out.



She merely looked up at him, “Ever are you difficult”.



He gave a small grim smile, “So it would seem”.



She pulled his old school robes around her person, taking solace in their largeness and warmth, “I need a few things” she announced, “I’ll have to go out.”



He blinked, “Out? Where?”



“Diagon Alley. There are a few books I can pick up to look deeper into Draco’s curse.”



“Highly doubtful you will find them there. Better luck in Knockturn Alley which is the one place you must not go.” he told her.



She laughed, “Of course not! But I will go to Diagon Alley today”



“I don’t like this.”



“I will be just fine Sev. I am a master dueler you know?”



“And wanted by the death eater army. No doubt the dark lord would love to heave that pretty head of yours on a pike. Maybe feed you to one of his damned snakes!”



“Sev” she coddled, “I will be back in two hours. I promise.”



But Severus Snape had long relied on his sixth sense to warn him and it did now. Hermione was out of the house before he could stop her so he went to the one place he never thought he would.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



Harry sat in his study trying to right all the many wrongs of his war when he heard a tussle. Inside of his office.



He looked up to see Narcissa moving swiftly about in her portrait as though making room for some invader.



“Severus!” she snapped, “What in blazes do you think you are doing?”



“Shut it Cissa this is important. Where is Potter?”



“Looord Potter” she replied as though Snape were terribly dimwitted.



“Woman be silent and move for Merlin’s sake!”



Harry had risen and watched this small conflict with some amusement.



“Snape” he said lightly, “Out for a social call or come to harp on me and Draco again?”



“Mia” he said breathlessly, “She is in danger I feel it”



Harry’s brow furrowed, “Wait, what? I thought to said she was safe.”



“She was until she left our home. She has gone to Diagon Alley and I sense that dark things are about to happen there. You must hurry!”



Harry saw fear, real fear dance in Snape’s dark eyes and it terrified him.



He summoned Draco and Ron’s team with a nudge of power through his ring.



They burst through the door, united.



“Mione. Diagon Alley”



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



Hermione scoured the shelves, keeping one hand on her wand and one ear tuned to danger. But after nearly an hour none came and she slowly relaxed. Though not by much.



She was finding nothing to help her and Snape’s words repeated in her mind. “Better luck in Knockturn Alley.”



No, she shouldn’t go there. Still… the death eaters wouldn’t be this close to Harry’s domain. It was madness, suicide! Knockturn alley should be safe, if she was quick.



The little dark book shop just around the corner, she could be there and back in no time. Didn’t Draco deserve any shot she could give him?



She felt a twinge of guilt as a pair of silver eyes swam in her mind’s eye. Followed by green. She wasn’t giving them a chance was she?



She made up her mind then, she would see if there were any answers here today and then she’d go see them. Hear them out. If she still could.



With a plan in mind she hurried down the crowded street, her bushy hair hidden beneath her knit cap as she headed for Knockturn Alley.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



The bookshop was all but empty and no one paid her any mind as she entered. She browsed the titles and then ventured deeper into the shop. Further back into the stacks she went.



In the darkest, dustiest corner she found a small section of rare books and ran her fingers over the spines as she read them.



“Obscure Blood Curses” she whispered aloud, her eyes widening. She reached up to pull the book down when she heard commotion.



Glancing up she saw Harry burst through the door and she jerked.



"Mione!"



The book came free in her hands and she was swallowed by brilliant blue light and harsh swirling winds.



Harry shouted her name as the portkey carried her far from him.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



Harry roared his outrage to the skies and every soul in Diagon and Knockturn Alley alike flinched as power swept over them like stinging nettles.



Draco was kneeling in the spot she had vanished from. His pale head bent low, “It’s him Harry” he said darkly, “He’s taken her.”



On the floorboard, charred like a mocking love note was the dark mark. Staring up at Harry like a middle finger in the sun.



Harry swore softly then apparated to this study to find Severus and Narcissa standing in the portrait waiting.



"What is it?" she asked, her voice tight with worry, "What's happened?"



Harry met Snape's eyes and the potion master cursed. "How did it happen? He has her doesn't he?"



Harry nodded, noting how pale Narcissa had become. "Tell me about the prophecy. He wouldn't have taken such odd measure to just kill Mione. He wants her for something. What is it?"



Severus growled at the woman, "He doesn't know?"



She met Harry's eyes fearfully, "The prophecy... it....well...."



"Today!"



"It applies to the current dark lord....and since there are two of you presently.."



Harry felt his blood run cold, "It can apply to either one" he breathed.



She nodded, "But I never dreamed he would get her Harry!"



He looked at Snape, "Where has he taken her?"



Snape shrugged and then paced in the confines of the frame, "Any number of places. Likely an old place, with ancient power. He is still weakened Harry, to get an heir he must bond with her. He will need that old power to make it binding. You must hurry. The moon will be full in three day's time. If he's going to do it, it will be then."



"Why the full moon?" Harry asked preplexed.



Snape looked like he wanted to throttle him, "Her cycle Potter. Hermione will be most fertile then, his chances of success greater. Do. You. Comprehend!?"