The Third Time is a Charm

Posted: 1 November 2009



Chapter 41: Surprise Surprise



As Harry and Reg were taking care of things upstairs, there was a sort of organized chaos below.



The healers each took a person and determined whether or not they needed immediate attention. Severus let them work as he started with the less severe injuries with some of the potions and healing spells he knew. "Where\'s Harry?" He asked as Becca came up to his side to see what she could do to help.



"I sent him upstairs to deal with things." Becca looked around her and noticed the two Death Eaters still in the corner of the room, now surrounded by five of the snakes. She leaned in closer to speak in Severus\' ear and say, "Nobody knows where they are and that we are underground. The muggle police would have been called when the alarms went off. Harry and Reg are taking care of it."



Severus nodded his head as he was feeding another potion to the small child in front of him with a nasty slash down his leg. He placed a gentle hand on the child\'s head and assured him, "Everything will be alright." He then completed his spells and moved on to the next person as Becca started putting on the salve to heal the wound further. The child\'s parents were in worse shape and the healers were working furiously trying to close up all the wounds to stop the bleeding.



Becca could see they were fighting a losing battle and called out. "Fawkes! Fawkes we need your help!"



The brilliant fire phoenix flashed into the room and took in the view of the injured people in front of him. He started trilling to calm the humans and Becca stooped down to whisper compassionately in his ear. "The child will lose his parents, can you help?" There were tears in her eyes as she looked at the bird.



Fawkes looked into Becca\'s eyes and nodded then spread his wings and flew over a man as the healer was working on him. "Doc, I can\'t figure out what the counter curse is. These wounds keep opening up again! I have already fed him three blood replenishers!"



Doc looked up and saw Fawkes hovering above the man in the bed. "I think you have all the help you need. Look." The other healer moved as Fawkes landed next to the man and cried tears on the slash above the man\'s heart then moved and cried more tears at the slashes across the abdomen. They watched as the wounds mended together and closed.



Fawkes trilled and started for the leg that was also slashed, but the healer pointed to a woman that also had the severe wounds across her chest and abdomen. "I can get the rest, if you can get to her. She doesn\'t have much time." So the bird with red plumage went to the next bed to perform the miracle healing on the next victim.



"Severus," Doc shouted from his patient, "do you know what kind of hex this is?" The older man didn\'t notice that two men had looked up to see who he was talking to. The older one, which was not detained by the snakes, looked at some of the others and answered him.



"Sectemsempra." Severus said with a frown. "I know the counter curse; here let me teach all of you. It is a favorite of a few Death Eaters."



Malfoy and Snape looked at each other with curious looks on their faces. How did this man know that? How did he know the counter curse? Why did he answer to the name Severus? It was not a common name.



Becca, who was watching the two men, walked over and looked at them before picking up Seventh Born. **"Hello, Seventh. Thank you for taking care of these two while we are busy with the other humans. These are not to be trusted and we need to keep them here."** She then addressed the others, still hissing. **"Thank you all. If they reach for their wands, you can use what ever means you need to keep them here. I don\'t want you hurt but I don\'t want them killed."**



"Gentlemen," she said as she turned to address the men. Both of them were white faced with fear as they had heard her speak to the snakes. "These are basilisks and I am sure I don\'t need to tell you that they can kill you before you could get a spell off. Don\'t make them mad by trying to use your wands or... moving." She gave them her best smirk, put Seventh Born back down on the floor after kissing the snake\'s head and turned to go back and help the others.



Upstairs was another story altogether. As soon as Petunia came across the lawn shouting about drug dealers, Harry started to explain to the officer that they were not involved in illegal activity. His heart was racing and he was regretting his little joke on his \'non\' aunt, as he liked to call her. As the police officer turned to Mrs. Dursley he asked, "Are you Petunia Dursley?"



"Yes, I am officer. I have reported it before, these people are drug dealers, and they told me themselves!" Petunia was gathering a crowd with her screaming out accusations. She definitely liked to draw a crowd.



"Mrs. Dursley, you need to keep your voice down. Now, do you have any proof of this crime?"



Petunia only screamed louder. "They are drug dealers! You have to arrest them."



The officer shook his head and looked at Harry. "Did you tell her you were drug dealers?"



"No sir," Harry replied. "She asked me what I did and I told her we distribute specialized pharmaceuticals."



"And this woman thought that meant dealing drugs?" Harry just raised his eyebrows and shrugged, it sounded like the officer wasn\'t going to arrest him right away.



Petunia was still insisting. "You need to arrest him. He told me he sells drugs!"



"Mrs. Dursley, am I correct in assuming that you are the anonymous caller that keeps giving us tips on drug dealers in the neighborhood?" the officer asked her tiredly.



Petunia stuck her nose in the air and refused to answer.



"Did they introduce themselves to you? Do you know their name?" Again Petunia refused to answer. "These people own British Pharmaceuticals which not only has the best homeopathic medicines I have every come across for my diabetes, but also funds most of the \'Drug Free Brittan\' program." The officer made sure he was heard by the surrounding neighbors so that the reputation of the inhabitants of the house did not suffer from this foolish horse of a woman. He then turned to Harry and asked him a question.



"Mr. Prince, would you like to press slander charges against this woman?"



Regulus, who was standing there this entire time with the snake around his neck, gave a sort of half cough and told Harry, "I am going to the back and put the snake down."



Harry felt the wash of magic in the form of a silencing spell as soon as he left the room.



Harry, who also was trying not to laugh, smiled to the officer and said, "No sir, I believe I have caused you enough trouble for one night, I didn\'t mean to set off the alarms."



The officer nodded his head and turned back to a pinched faced Petunia and explained to her, "I don\'t want to receive any more phone calls about this address. I don\'t want to hear any more accusations, and I don\'t want to have to come out here again. Mr. Prince has decided not to press charges so everyone can go home." He gave a pointed look at Petunia and then the rest of the crowd before turning back to speak with Harry.



"I own a house three streets away, because the real estate developers helped me get a loan when my credit suffered while I was sick. They had the same insignia on their uniforms as you have on yours. My sister suffered from depression and has been treated at your research center. Five years ago I almost had to leave my job because my diabetes was so bad the doctors were having a hard time controlling it. Your Pharmaceutical Company helped me with the correct herbs and vitamins so instead of leaving my job, I was promoted. The same insignia on your uniforms is also on my bottles of daily supplements I take every day. I am honored to be able to stand here and say thank you."



Harry was awed by the man in front of him. He actually knew more about his company than he did. However he shook the officer\'s hand and said. "It\'s all about us taking care of each other. Thank you for what you did this evening."



The officer nodded as he shook his hand. “Here is my card. If there is anything I can do for you, just call and I will be right over. I didn’t realize you moved into this house or I would have offered sooner.”



“We only moved in a couple weeks before Christmas, so have not been here long. Thank you for the help.” After Harry accepted the card the officer left to make sure the remainder of the neighboring residents disbursed and went home.



As soon as the officer left, Harry started thinking about Petunia\'s face when she was told about pressing charges. He closed the door and threw up a silencing spell before he just lost it. He started laughing until the tears were streaking down his face, there was a stitch in his side and he still couldn\'t stop laughing. Regulus heard this and entered the room, without the snake, and looked to see if Harry was alright. He had finally gotten himself under control but when he saw Harry, he started laughing again. It took both of them a good ten minutes to sober up.



All of a sudden, Harry said “Oh shit, Reg, there are injured people downstairs. Let’s go now.” He called to Second Born, wrapped him around his neck with First Born and headed back downstairs.



As Harry and Regulus entered the receiving room where everyone was, they saw beds and people being healed. When they looked to the other side of the room, there was Malfoy and Snape, still in the corner not moving a muscle. Harry went over to the other snakes and put his two down.



“Hello, gentlemen, is there anything I can do for you before I go help the others?” Harry wasn’t really inclined to do anything for them, but they had been standing there for almost an hour and he thought he would play host.



“We could use some chairs, and would like to know exactly where we are.” Malfoy replied, obviously not accustomed to being ignored. Harry called for an elf and had two chairs brought to them.



“Make yourselves comfortable gentlemen. You will be here for a while.” Harry told them as he handed them the chairs.



“Where are we?” Malfoy asked again.



“That is something I cannot tell you. You’re questions will have to wait until the others are taken care of.”



“Can we at least have use of the facilities?” Malfoy again, he just didn’t know when to shut up and since he was older, he thought he could intimidate Harry.



“The facilities?... Oh you mean the bathroom. I am sure you know a spell to take care of that. I wouldn’t move right now though if I were you. The Seven might get upset.”



“The Seven?” This time it was Snape who spoke, almost as if he couldn’t stop the words from coming out of his mouth.



“Meet, The Seven.” Harry said indicating the snakes around them, and with that last statement he went to go help Severus.



When he approached Severus, the older man turned his head as if he knew Harry was there before he saw him. He gave the younger man a smile and said, “Go see about Remus. He wouldn’t let us look at him until everyone else was treated. We are almost out of blood replenisher and healing potions so if you could call one of the elves and tell them to go to the pharmaceutical company and get some that would help.”



When Harry looked around to find Remus, he was laying in the bed with his arms around a child. Harry approached them and spoke to the man. “Remus, do you need anything? Where are you hurt?”



“The others, Harry, see to them first.” Remus replied in a weak controlled voice that spoke of great pain.



“All the others are being taken care of, you are next. Where does it hurt?”



“My back.”



Harry carefully pulled the sleeping child from his friend and set him on the next bed with another child. He then heleped Remus roll over so Harry could inspect his back.



What he saw there was nothing he had ever seen before. The skin was split open in huge slashes and in some places you could see the bone. Blood was oozing out all over and the bed was soaked in it. Harry called for an elf and when it popped in he demanded. “I need at least two blood replenishers. You will have to go to the company for them and bring in enough to refill the stocks here. We also need healing potions. The supply here is completely depleted. I need some healing salve to use while you get the other medicines from the factory. Hurry!”



The elf popped across the room for the healing salve and handed it to Harry, then popped again out of the room to the pharmaceutical company to get the needed potions.



“Remus, I need to take off what is left of your shirt and robes so I can treat your back.” Remus nodded at what Harry was saying, barely moving as the pain was so bad. Harry carefully pealed some of the clothing from the wound using a small cutting hex. “Can you tell me what happened?”



“Fenrir and his pack attacked us. We were meeting at the secured place I use for the werewolves that want the cure. Snape and Malfoy used the portkey I gave Snape at that particular time to speak with me about coming to see your Severus. I was told to do that.”



Harry knew this and it was planned so he didn’t question Remus, but let him continue. As he waited for Remus to catch his breath, he was gently applying the salve to the slashes on his back.



“Fenrir told me he knew I was cured and wanted to make sure I didn’t get away from him a second time. His other pack members were attacking the others and I grabbed the little one before he was slashed or bitten.”



“Do you think Snape or Malfoy had anything to do with this?”



“No, they seemed to be just as surprised as the rest of us.” Remus was beginning to relax as the salve started to heal the cuts and his voice was getting drowsy.



Just at that time the elf appeared at Harry’s side with the required potions. Harry took two blood replenishers and one healing draft and spoke to Remus again.



“Remus, don’t go to sleep yet, I need you to take these potions.” He gently helped the man to sit up a little and gave him the potions. Then he let him lie back down on his stomach and go to sleep.



It was about two hours after the alarms started blaring before they had everyone fixed up and most of the injured were sleeping from the potions they had consumed. Now Harry and Severus need to go take care of two Death Eaters that were still sitting in the corner not moving in fear of some snakes on the floor.



“Hello Gentlemen, you will relinquish your wands to me, now.” Severus said in his most stern voice. It was hard to address his counterpart that way, but he knew he needed their wands to be able to have any kind of discussion with them. He couldn’t trust them yet.



“And why should we do that?” Malfoy tried to be intimidating back, but it didn’t work on the older man. He had seen too much of Malfoy’s posturing before and was immune to it.



“I think we can both agree that you are not in a position to bargain or argue. You wands, now. I will return them after we have conversed.” Severus knew that they would be interested in what he had to say.



“Who are you?” Malfoy wanted to know. This man looked too much like an older version of the younger one sitting beside him.



“My name is Severs Prince. That is all you need to know for now. Your wands please.”



Malfoy pulled a wand from his inside pocket in his robes and handed it to Severus standing before him. Snape did the same and they both waited. They still were surrounded by the snakes.



“And now you can hand me your cane Malfoy and Snape, you can take the other wand out of your boot.”



Knowing that there was nothing else they could do, they both handed their backup wands to the older man, wondering how he knew about the second wands. Only the Death Eaters knew that they all had second wands.



Severus then bent down and hissed something at Fifth Born and picked him up to place him around his neck, while Harry did the same with First Born. The two Death Eaters in front of them grew pale as they realized both these two and the woman could all speak parsletongue. They thought only the Dark Lord could do that.



“Doc!” Severus called from where he was standing, “We am going into the small war room area on this floor. If you need us, or Remus wakes up you can send an elf to come get us.” He then turned to Regulus and said, “Reg, you should probably come too.” He then moved his attention to Becca. “We will probably be a few hours. You look tired and should head on to bed. We will be alright here.”



As much as Becca hated the coddling, she knew he was right and was only looking out for her health and that of the baby. She nodded her head and bid good night to the healers in the room before leaving for the lower levels.



There was a small suite of rooms on the first level, just as there was on the other levels. Severus made his way past the wards in the reception room to the door leading into the next area. Pressing his palm to the plate, he stated his name, Severs Masterson Prince, and waited for the door to slide open to the next area.



Snape and Malfoy followed taking in every detail with an awestruck demeanor, trying not to let their feelings show in their face. They stayed silent even though they both had many questions they wanted answered.



When the five men reached what Severs Prince called the ‘little war room’, he used the mini floo to talk to Security. “Security!” Severus called through the mini floo, “I need you to go to reception level one and find out if anyone has a tracking spell or something that could have been traced. They were attacked at the secure location point we have been using and we need to find out how the attackers found them.”



“Yes, Master Prince. We will take care of that immediately.” Said the answering elf. Severus had called through the floo because the elves were under strict instructions not to leave their post unless verbally commanded to. You could not ‘call’ them out of the room.



“Now, gentlemen.” Severus directed his attention to the two intruders. “I am sure you would like to freshen up before we have tea. Come this way.” Severus led them to two different bedrooms adjoining the room they were in. Each room had its own bathroom and sitting/bed area but nothing elaborate. “You have ten minutes before tea arrives.”



With Snape and Malfoy in their separate rooms, Severus went to Regulus and Harry and asked them if there was anything specific they thought should be discussed with their two intruders.



Regulus thought they could be trusted with the knowledge that the dark mark could be removed and Harry pretty much stayed out of the conversation, realizing that he didn’t know them at all and the other two did.



First Born hissed at Harry and he looked up to see the two men coming back into the room. Tea came just as the men entered the sitting area they were in.



Tea was placed on a low coffee table that was raised to be the height of a regular dinner table. Chairs were placed around the table and the five men sad down to tea. The two intruders were hesitant to drink or eat anything, but watched carefully and noticed that they were served from the same teapot and plates of scones and sandwiches that the others were eating from.



“Gentlemen, I would like to know how you came to be here.” Severus didn’t see any reason for small talk, he wanted some answers.



Snape was the one who answered. “Lupin gave us a portkey when the group was attacked by Fenrir and his pack. We didn’t know anything about the attack. It was not told to us and we were just as surprised as everyone else. Lupin had given me a portkey to get to what he called a secure location, to talk to me about a potions apprenticeship. I knew it was somehow connected with Prince Publishing and ask Lucius to come along.” He didn’t see any point trying to lie; he knew they would find out anyway. Remus would tell them the same thing when he was awake.



“How do I know you didn’t bring those murderers into an area we have promised others would be safe?”



Harry spoke up then, “Actually Sev, Remus told me they were just as surprised as he was and he did give them the emergency portkey to get here.” He didn’t want to interrupt the older man, but he knew the information would have to be known.



“He also said, Fenrir told him he knew about his being cured and he would not get away from him a second time.” Harry looked at the younger version of his lover. “Did you know we developed a werewolf cure and did you tell Voldemort?” He watched Snape and Malfoy wince and hiss as if in pain.



“Please don’t say that name.” Malfoy said.



“Alright, did you know we developed a werewolf cure and did you tell ‘What’s-His-Name’?” Harry smirked.



All four men sitting there raised their eyebrows and astonishment. “What’s-His-Name?” Severus repeated.



“Yeah, I refuse to call him ‘You-Know-Who’. It just sounds stupid. So I gave him a new title. ‘What’s-His-Name.”



“You should not be so disrespectful of Him. It will only get you in trouble.” Lucius said tersely at him.



“Tom Riddle has been making my life one big mess of trouble since I was born, I don’t see the point in giving him respect now.” Harry volleyed back to the aristocrat. “It’s you two that have trouble now. You follow him blindly like sheep to a slaughter.”



“What do you mean ‘sheep to a slaughter’?”



“You will follow him to your death, Mr. Malfoy. You and your family unless you take heed of what we have to say.”









A/N Over ten thousand hits. Yeah.

Thank you to all my reviewers and readers. I know you are out there. I can hear you breathing.