The Iridescent Conclusion

Christmas day in Severus’ family home was possibly the loudest, wildest and happiest in a very long time, Sev thought quietly at the end of it.

They’d woken at the same time and he had received kisses from both his lover and his ward; an act that was surprising in itself but also surprising in the fact that Harry was quite happy to ‘share’ Severus.

Sev wasn’t so sure about being kissed by his ward, however. It still seemed wrong – more wrong, in fact, than what he was doing with Harry.

“Hey,” Harry’s voice cut softly through his thoughts as he stepped into Severus’ study, “I could hear you thinking from the other side of the house. And for your information, what we’re doing isn’t wrong; it actually feels very right!” He crossed to where his lover was sitting in a burnished leather chair and then sank down to sit astride his lap.

“And Draco?” Sev raised an enquiring eyebrow, “Is it okay for him to kiss me too?”

“You know it is,” Harry smiled slowly, seductively. “I’ll never be jealous of Draco or of the history that you two share.”

“History?” the Potions master repeated and then looked towards the closed door, “Where is Draco anyway?”

“Writing to Goyle…Greg…” Harry grimaced, still unable to get used to thinking of Draco’s boyfriend as anything but the brainless thug that had loomed threateningly over much of Harry’s school years.

“He’s very fond of him,” Sev reminded him with a hint of rebuke, “and Draco’s struggling with you and I, right now.”

“Hmm…” Harry nodded, looking a little sad before resting his forehead against Severus’. “I realised, last night, that I said the wrong thing. I do regret hurting Draco but…”

“You don’t regret us.” Sev finished with a little sigh. He brought his hands up then and stroked up and down Harry’s back in a sensuous caress. “You like this.”

“I love this.” Harry corrected, arching his back to get more touch.

“Have you had a good day?” Sev asked softly, enjoying the way in which his young lover responded.

“Mmm…” Harry groaned, tilting his head back. Sev couldn’t resist temptation and pressed an intense, sucking bite to Harry’s throat, feeling the younger man’s cock stiffen against him. “So far, it’s been great,” Harry purred, closing his eyes, “but I think it’s about to get better…”

“Do you think Draco will be a long time writing?” Severus asked, now sliding his hands under Harry’s shirt and exploring the warm skin with his fingertips. He’d left a round mark of reddened skin and tiny, broken capillaries on Harry’s throat. As his fingers explored, so his tongue apologised for his mouth’s transgression.

‘I’ll be ages,’ Draco’s voice echoed within their minds with a hint of amusement. ‘When I’ve finished here, I’ll go and have a soak in the bath. You boys have fun!’

“How much do we love him?” Harry grinned, pushing his fingers into Sev’s hair and kissing him deeply.

“Lots…and…lots…” Sev breathed, removing the young man’s shirt and moving to feast on his neck and shoulders.

*~*~*

When they later adjourned to what they’d each come quickly to consider their shared bedroom – shared between the three of them, that is – Sev and Harry found Draco already in bed, curled on his side, looking through a large, leather-bound volume.

‘Hey,’ he greeted them softly, glancing up briefly and then dropping his eyes once more to the book.

Harry exchanged a glance with Severus before moving closer. Yet again, he wished that he could sense Draco’s emotions as Sev could. Instead, however, he had to tentatively rely on his regular senses to determine whether Draco was irritated with them or simply engrossed in the book.

“What are you reading?” he asked quietly, moving to sit down on the edge of the bed.

‘I’m not reading,’ Draco responded, turning a page, ‘it’s a photo album.’

From where he lingered in the doorway, Sev gave a little groan and shook his head. “Is that the one with pictures of your father and myself when we were younger?” he asked, looking pained.

Draco flashed him a wicked grin and turned the album for Harry to see. There were three photos on this particular page: the first was of Platform nine and three quarters – students hurried past, moving from one side of the frame to the other. At first, Harry thought that this was what the photographer had intended but then a very young, easily recognisable Severus Snape sidled reluctantly into view. Harry smirked as the young man glowered up at him before turning and moving out of shot once more.

The second photo was of an older Severus – eighteen or nineteen by Harry’s guess. In this picture, he stood with his head raised at a proud, slightly arrogant angle, glaring up at him with the look of one who surely has better things to do than stand around being admired in pictures.

“So serious,” Harry chided, caressing the picture with one careful fingertip. At his touch, the young version of Sev shifted slightly before tilting his head and offering a truly, smouldering smile.

‘Whoa!’ Draco breathed, speaking for both of them, ‘How sexy is that?’

‘Very sexy!’ Harry agreed and shot a look over to where his lover was preparing for bed and trying very hard not to look as though he was paying them any attention.

The eighteen-year-old Severus had long, black hair – as long as Lucius’ was now – and wore black, leather trousers beneath his open robes.

‘They might be a cliché,’ Draco noted, ‘but they suit him down to the ground. Look at the length of those legs!’

The third picture, Harry saw, had been empty up until just then. But now, standing side by side and talking quietly to each other, were Severus and Lucius. It appeared that Severus was in his early twenties while Lucius was perhaps ten years older. As they stared at the photo, Lucius suddenly headed off to his left and returned a moment later with a small, blonde child.

‘Me,’ Draco uttered silently with a soft gasp. He stared down at the picture with a kind of longing that brought a lump to Harry’s throat.

‘Look,’ Draco said then, touching the photo reverently as Lucius hoisted the little boy higher in his arms and pointed at the camera. The infant Draco, however, kept twisting around and holding out his arms for Severus to take him.

“Do you remember this?” Harry asked him softly as Severus approached on silent footsteps.

‘I…no, I don’t,’ Draco responded and glanced up with tears standing in his eyes. He looked over at Sev then and sat up, opening his arms just as his infant self had done in the picture.

“You were very young,” Severus told him, coming around the far edge of the bed, “barely three.” Without another word, he then sat down on the edge of the bed, opposite Harry and accepted his ward into his embrace. There was, Harry noted, something almost desperate about the way in which Draco clung to his guardian; pressing his face in against Sev’s shoulder and bunching his shirt in two fistfuls of cloth.

“Hey,” he murmured gently and scooted closer to them, reaching out to stroke Draco’s back. “Ssh, Draco, it’s okay.”

‘It’s not, though,’ Draco shook his head and looked around at him, ‘I need you – both of you – and I…’ he sighed and shrugged, unable to find the words.

‘You have us,’ Harry sent the thought to him, continuing with the caress, ‘both of us. We love you and, for what it’s worth, I’m sorry.’

Draco said nothing but closed his eyes, pressing his face against Sev’s shirt. Severus too closed his eyes, as if something pained him. Only when Draco opened his eyes again and Harry got a look at his expression did he realise that Severus was experiencing his ward’s pain. Something then clicked into place and he realised suddenly how Draco had come to be sharing their bed that morning.

Reading Sev and Draco’s memories, Harry saw how his lover had gone to console Draco while he, Harry, had been asleep. He heard their words, saw Draco’s pain and then witnessed Sev bringing him up to sleep on his other side.

‘I’m sorry I upset you last night,’ Harry said softly, ‘I meant nothing by it…I’m just stupid sometimes. I couldn’t deliberately set out to hurt you -’ He stopped abruptly then and tilted his head as Draco’s memory of their break up last week filled his head. Taking a deep, shuddering breath, he then whispered aloud, “I’m sorry. We rowed, we…god, Draco, it was all heat of the moment. I was pissed off with you, I was worried about Hermione and you wouldn’t – WOULDN’T – let me spend time with my old friends. Wouldn’t let me repair any of the bridges I’d burned…”

“Harry,” Sev interjected with a warning tone, “this isn’t helping.”

‘No, no it’s okay.’ Draco glanced at him and then turned to look squarely at Harry. ‘I’m sorry too. I behaved badly. I…’ he chewed his lip and made a face, ‘I guess I didn’t want to share you – not with Granger and Weasley, anyway.’

‘But I would still have loved you,’ Harry reached out to stroke the blond youth’s face. ‘You didn’t need to go to such extremes.’

Draco drew a deep breath, ‘Never did anything by halves,’ he shrugged and then offered a tiny smile.

With a peculiar feeling of warmth and yearning, Harry opened his arms then and Draco moved without hesitation into his embrace.

‘I’ll always love you.’ Harry thought to him and then lifted his eyes to Sev, mouthing ‘love you’ to him as well.

*~*~*

“No bath!” Oscar shouted forcefully, digging his heels in and folding his arms across his narrow chest.

“Yes bath,” Sirius countered as Remus resumed collecting the assortment of brand new toys. “You’ve played all day, Oscar, you’ve had everything your way and now it’s time for bath, story and bed!”

“No bed!” the little boy insisted now. He turned then and scuttled behind Remus, peering out from behind the man’s legs.

Remus smiled with a soft sigh, put the toys back into Oscar’s rucksack and then scooped the child up into his arms. Oscar, in turn, promptly slipped his arms around Remus’ neck and fixed Sirius with a hard stare. Chuckling gently, Remus kissed the boy’s face and began murmuring quietly.

“Do you remember your new boat?” he asked, taking the item from the top of the rucksack, “Wouldn’t you like to sail your boat in the water?”

After a moment’s consideration, Oscar nodded solemnly.

“Shall we ask Siri nicely if he’ll fill the bath with some water for you?” Remus cajoled smoothly. With a wry smile and a shake of his head, Sirius gave his lover a smouldering look that promised to make this up to him later.

Oscar meanwhile was nodding but looking warily at Sirius.

“Say please,” Remus prompted. “Say, ‘Please run me a bath, Siri’?”

“Please bath, Si-wi,” Oscar managed, apparently having switched from demon-child with a strong aversion to water to perfect angel, in seconds.

“Bring Moony, then.” Sirius sighed and headed towards the stairs.

Later, when Oscar was asleep, the bathroom was tidy and the tiles, carpet and floorboards were drying slowly, Sirius yawned and stretched where he sat on the sofa and looked down to where Remus had his head resting in Sirius’ lap.

“I’m sort of glad that his aunt didn’t want Oscar to go back straight away,” he confessed quietly.

“Hmm…” Remus concurred, almost purring as Sirius carded his fingers through his hair. “You can’t blame them for wanting a few days to get their heads round the loss of Thomas.” He added, “And I like having Oscar about too.” He smiled.

“Are you sure all those presents came from them?” Sirius asked for the umpteenth time.

“Them or Dumbledore,” Remus replied. “Feel free to pull out any grey hairs while you’re there, Siri.” He instructed with a smile.

A gentle fingertip caressed his forehead. “Too many for that, I’m afraid.” Sirius murmured softly. “My silver wolf.”

“Arroooo!” Remus retorted with sarcasm overlaying the satirical howl. A second later, he felt his lover’s body quiver with a laugh. He loved that Sirius didn’t mind his premature ageing: his greying hair, drier skin and tired eyes.

As if reading his thoughts, Siri then ran the same gentle fingertip over his face; tracing across his cheekbones and then down the jaw line to toy lightly with his bottom lip.

“Love you, Moony,” he breathed.

“So take me to bed and show me how much.” Remus responded.

*~*~*

Alison sat back on her heels and stared at the embers of the fire as the green flames winked out.

“Any luck?” Jenna asked, bringing in two glasses of red wine.

“Nope,” Alison shook her head thoughtfully. “I’ve tried everyone I can think of; no one’s seen Daniel since last week.

“Well, we saw him over the weekend,” Jenna countered. “He can’t have gone far. Maybe he’s got a new girlfriend.”

Alison gave her a funny look, “That’s what I was thinking but I didn’t like to suggest it…you know...”

“Ali, Dan and I have been divorced for a long time now. I’ve moved on, so should he!”

“Hmm…if you say so.” Alison nodded, “I’m just a bit miffed that he didn’t tell me about her – whoever she might be.”

“Maybe she’s a he,” Jenna suggested quietly and then, when her former sister-in-law gave her a sharp look, she shrugged. “Well, we both know he had a penchant for the occasional bloke.”

“Occasional? Jenna, come on; there was one guy! Although, to be fair, how could anyone not fancy Sirius Black back then? Even I fancied him and I was only thirteen! But really – you can’t state that Daniel’s bi-sexual simply because he fancied one boy in his own year.” She paused for a second and then looked at Jenna again, “Can you?”

Jenna shrugged again, “Depends on the individual. In Daniel’s case, I’d say it was slightly more than just a crush or a one-off occurrence.” She shook her head then, “This isn’t helping. We need to get a message to him – even if it’s just to say call us.”

“Well, I’ll write to him. Can I borrow Arezz, please?”

Nodding, Jenna then paused and asked quietly, “Ali, you’d tell me if I’d out-stayed my welcome, wouldn’t you?”

“What? Where’s this come from?” Alison demanded, looking up in surprise as she got to her feet.

“Just…well, I know I got on Dan’s nerves over the weekend and, what with the news about Thomas…”

Alison shook her head, “Jen, I need you around more than ever, right now. So long as you’re happy to stay, I’m happy to have you. Okay?”

Without responding to the question, Jenna went on, “Only, I woke up late, last night, and you weren’t here.” She studied the carpet for a moment, “And, Ali, I recognise magically induced sleep. I use a variant of it in a form of hypnotherapy.”

“Ah.” Alison said softly, thinking of her exceedingly dull mission to London with Rabastan. Her hastily completed report, detailing her task of following the Hunter spell to Grimmauld Place, had been sent to Cornelius Fudge’s office where it would no doubt sit until the Minister returned after the Christmas break.

“So,” Jenna nudged very quietly, “are you going to tell me where you went and why you had to knock me out first?”

“Um…I can’t.” Alison shook her head and added, “Sorry.” She then sighed, “You’re just going to have to trust me. I’m doing some work that I can’t talk about – nothing dangerous!” she insisted at Jenna’s widened eyes.

Jenna, however, didn’t look convinced.

*~*~*

‘Sev,’ Draco began, his voice sounding sleepy and contented, even within his guardian’s mind.

“Hm…” Severus responded from where he lay on the bed between the two young men. Sated still from making love to Harry downstairs, he lay in a happy doze with Harry sleeping on his right shoulder and Draco curled with his head resting against the left side of the Potion master’s chest.

It was probably quite late, although Severus couldn’t be bothered to lift his head and look. Really, they should think of going to bed properly instead of lazing around like a pack of snoozing canines, he thought idly.

‘You know the presents you bought?’ Draco began again, still not moving from his curled position.

Severus grunted again in affirmation, recalling Harry and Draco’s surprise that he’d managed to carry the magically-shrunken gifts all through his ordeal with the Death Eaters and the fire, ready to present them on Christmas morning.

‘Well, there was one missing,’ Draco lifted his head and gave a little frown of concern. ‘It was the one from Hilary Encendra’s. Were you able to purchase it before you were abducted?’

Severus frowned too then and gestured to where his cloak hung on the back of the door. “I bought it,” he stated, “but I’m not sure if it survived the trip. I thought I’d fished out all the miniaturised parcels.”

Draco got up and moved towards his guardian’s cloak. After a few moments of fishing around in the various pockets, his face suddenly lit up and he bounded back to the bed with the gift held tightly in his hand.

The bouncing of the bed was enough to disturb Harry and he blinked sleepily as Draco returned the gift to its original size.

‘Here,’ he handed it to Severus and Harry, ‘it’s to share.’

Suddenly awake and excited all over again, Harry took the gift and then looked at his lover.

“Yes, you can open it,” Sev responded with the trace of a fond smile. Harry unwrapping the few presents that morning had warmed him with his expression of almost childlike delight. The contrast between that expression and the sexy, responsive young man that had writhed on his lap earlier was…disquieting.

The expensive paper was ripped away unceremoniously, revealing –

“Oh!” Harry uttered softly with a tone of reverence and pleasure. He pulled the last of the paper away and held up a large, solid gemstone. It appeared to be amethyst; the surface smooth and highly polished. It twisted around itself in a way that surely must have been sculpted with exceptional skill and patience and was finished with three tiny gold rings that were threaded right through the rock. It was exquisitely beautiful, with the colours shifting from deepest indigo to pale lilac and back again.

Harry turned it over and over in his hands, touching the rings with gentle fingertips and then handing it to Severus.

“This is old,” he stated with a hint of wonder to his voice. He looked questioningly at Draco then.

‘I knew she had it – Hilary Encendra, I mean. I saw it in there years ago when my father took me to Knockturn Alley and I knew its story. This,’ Draco took the gift from Sev’s hands as he looked at Harry, ‘was crafted by the original witch and wizards to cast the Nameless spell. There were only three of them originally, you see and when the spell expanded to take the whole of the community, the original three wanted something to distinguish them as…separate…special.’

‘So they made these rings?’ Harry asked telepathically, ‘Did they wear them?’

Draco nodded and then slipped his left little finger into one of the rings before holding out the twisted rock for Sev and Harry to do likewise. As soon as the other two rings were occupied, so all three suddenly became detached and slipped comfortably onto each of their little fingers.

As the rings left the gemstone, a simple phrase appeared on the smoothest plane, glowing gold:

‘Out of place and out of time; there at the end, call me Legion…for we are many.’

“‘Out of place and out of time…’” Harry repeated with a little frown. “What does that mean?”

“I’m not certain,” Sev responded, glancing briefly at Draco. “It may be that there’s more to the Nameless spell than has been documented. There is, after all, very little recorded about a spell that has only been cast to completion once.”

“Is it safe?” Harry asked, torn between wanting to keep the ring and all that it symbolised and wondering if they were entering into something sinister.

‘I think it’s safe,’ Draco asserted. ‘After all, the rings were crafted by the original spell casters. We’re linked now,’ he added earnestly. His eyes held an almost fey light and seemed to dance with magic.

“We were linked anyway,” Harry said and then smiled. The ring on his finger seemed to be warming him, stirring his blood and bringing remembered images of Draco lying in his arms. “Thank you.” He said softly, caught by the sense memories. Then, without thinking about it, scooted forward on the bed to press a soft kiss upon Draco’s lips.

Draco’s mouth opened immediately and the kiss deepened quickly, leaving them a little breathless. Then, keeping one hand on Draco’s side, Harry turned and silently invited Severus to join them.

“I…” Sev began, shaking his head. He had just caught a brief glimpse of Harry’s memories and found now that they were being superseded by recollections of Draco lying beneath him in his bed. As if it was happening here and now, he could almost feel the press and roll of Draco’s hips against his own.

‘Just a kiss,’ Draco shrugged and reached out to touch his guardian’s face. The contact was Sev’s undoing and he leaned forward with a soft groan to kiss the blond youth’s mouth. Draco was rather more chaste with Severus, though – although Harry took shameless advantage and slid his other hand inside the Potion master’s shirt to caress his chest.

So when Severus sat back again, he looked a little wild-eyed and breathless.

Harry sniggered and revelled in the sound of Draco’s giggle within his head.

*~*~*

On Boxing Day morning, Lucius sat before a roaring fire with a cup of rich, dark coffee and took a moment to consider his plan thus far.

Rabastan had reported the final destination of the Hunter spell. He had then enquired into Lucius’ next mission, the nosey little twat! No doubt, he intended to throw his own numbers into the equation and claim a portion of the success for himself…

Lucius sneered and took a swallow of his coffee. The flames reflected in the black depths of his cup and caught his attention for a moment. Was he doing the right thing?

Of a certainty, capturing the elusive Sirius Black and Remus Lupin would draw immeasurable favour from Lord Voldemort but, more and more, Lucius found himself considering Daniel’s opinion in all of this. After all, there was also the infant child to consider.

Daniel didn’t yet know of his brother’s demise and the news would hit him very hard; questions might be raised…awkward questions concerning the boy too…

Lucius drew a deep breath and inhaled the heady scent of coffee beans. Perhaps he could skilfully draw Daniel across to the Dark Lord’s service?

“Lucius?” his lover’s voice drifted magically down from the bedroom above, “Are you going to bring some coffee up to me or shall I come down?””

“I’ll be there shortly,” he responded, speaking in a soft, mellow tone that gave no indication of the turmoil he felt within.

No, that could not be an option. For one, Daniel despised Lord Voldemort, his Death Eater followers and all that they stood for. For another, Daniel had lost his own brother to Death Eaters (although he wasn’t yet aware) and, finally, the Dark Lord would surely take Daniel away from Lucius as a means to test his loyalty. He’d done the same with Severus, after all.

About to take another mouthful of his coffee, Lucius heard the sudden flutter of wings, signalling the arrival of the morning post. Instead of coming to his drawing room window, however, the owl flew up to the bedroom window; meaning that the delivery was for Daniel…

Taking Daniel’s cup along with his own, he then stepped smoothly and swiftly upstairs.

His lover was standing by the open window, an opened letter in his hands and his head bowed, reading silently.

“Daniel?” Lucius enquired softly, placing the cups on the dressing table. “Are you well?”

“I…” Daniel responded, finally dragging his eyes up to meet his gaze. And oh, those eyes; such torment and desperation Lucius had never seen expressed as by the eyes of his lover.

In three long strides, he was at Daniel’s side and then the younger man was in his arms; shaking, crying silently with terrible wracking sobs that surely one body couldn’t withstand without falling apart.

“He’s…dead…” Daniel forced out in a whisper between sobs, “Death Eaters… bastards … Gods, Lucius, why him? Why Thomas?” And then there were no more words as grief took over and all Lucius could do was hold him.

After a few moments, Daniel’s legs went from under him and, unable to support his weight, Lucius was forced to the floor with his lover almost howling into the front of his robes. And there, then, for the first time in all his life, Lucius found himself damning the Death Eater brethren.