Indago:3

Chapter Seven


Twelve years ago…

“Dad says that he won’t come down until you apologize.”

Draco rolled his eyes. “And what am I supposed to apologize for now?” he asked in exasperation as he watched his daughter come all the way down the staircase.

“Perhaps you looked crossly at the robin on the window ledge,” Snape offered and both men chuckled.

“Don’t laugh!” Maia shouted in anger. She may have only been five-years old, but she knew when her father and Sev were being ‘superior prats’, as her dad called them when he was really angry.

Draco raised an eyebrow at his daughter. “Would you like to rephrase that, madam?”

Maia hunched her little shoulders at her father’s warning tone, but didn’t back down. “Dad’s crying and sad. It’s not nice to laugh at someone.”

Sighing, Draco glanced at Snape before addressing his daughter again. “We are not laughing at your Dad. We are merely laughing at the situation. This happens every year and we become frustrated.” His lips moved into a smirk. “Besides, if the person warrants it, it is perfectly acceptable to laugh at someone. Fools deserve it. Not that your dad is a fool. But others certainly are and should be laughed at and ridiculed as much as possible so that they either mend their ways or slink away into deserved solitude.”

The slight whistle in the air gave Draco just the split second he needed to dodge the framed landscape painting that smashed into the wall behind him.

“You self-righteous bastard! You are no better than you were in school, you supieror prat! How dare you tell my daughter such nasty lies! Get away from her! Now!”

All three occupants looked at the flushed and angry Harry at the top of the stairs. His fists were balled at his sides and he was snarling and showing a fair bit of teeth.

“Maia, go get the biscuits from the side table next to my chair,” Snape ordered quietly. Maia looked from her deranged dad to her cool Sev and quickly ran into the sitting room.

“Don’t tell her what to do!” Harry bellowed. “You have no rights over her! She should be outside playing! In fact, that is what we are going to do right now! Maia! We are going to play outside!”

“Harry, it’s bitterly cold outside. Why don’t you wait a bit,” Draco suggested nicely as his husband stormed down the stairs. The back of his neck throbbed from when a bit of the wood from the frame had hit him as it ricocheted off the wall. Draco thanked the fates that he had been able to duck or he feared he would be an unconscious pile on the floor at the moment.

“Don’t tell me what to do!” Harry hissed.

“Why does he insist on skipping breakfast?” Snape groused as he backed away from the bottom of the stairs.

“Don’t talk about me as if I can’t hear you! You just want to steal my daughter, don’t you? Don’t you?” Harry snarled as he came to the bottom floor. He glared at Snape and then at Draco.

“Harry rarely eats breakfast,” Draco explained. “And suggesting it to him this morning nearly cost me an eye along with the alabaster statue from Germany,” Draco added. “Why he chooses art to throw, I’ll never comprehend.”

“Stop talking about me!”

“Here, Sev!” Maia ran back into the room toward Snape but was intercepted by Harry as she ran past. He scooped her into his arms, causing the plate of biscuits to hit the floor with a crash. Draco and Snape immediately straightened and tensed.

“Maia, darling, we are going to go outside and play, all right? I’ll push you on the swings,” Harry crooned while holding her tight and rubbing his cheek on her head.

Draco stepped forward, fear for his daughter evident in his manner, but Snape restrained him with an arm across his chest, indicating that he wait.

“Dad,” Maia mumbled into Harry’s neck. She wiggled and was able to pull away enough so that she could look up into his face. “Daddy, you’re acting crazy. You should eat a cookie and sit down and think about what you are doing,” she stated in perfect imitation of Harry when he was reprimanding her about something. Draco and Snape watched in surprise when Harry nodded slowly and sat down on the bottom step with Maia in his lap.

“I… I get a bit dotty,” he admitted quietly to her.

“It’s okay,” Maia soothed, running her hands through the hair at the side of his head. She slid off his lap and picked up one of the biscuits off the floor and brought it to him. “It should be all right. The floor’s clean and it’s only been down there a minute,” she assured him. Nodding, Harry took the cookie and began nibbling at it, staring impassively at the wall ahead of him as Maia combed her fingers through his hair.

Draco turned to Snape with a shocked look on his face and found the other man had produced parchment and quill and was busy scribbling away his notes and observations.

“Was that miracle performed because of the parent/child relationship or the fact that they are both Subicios?” Draco asked in a hushed voice while pulling Snape back toward the doorway into the dining room.

Snape barely glanced at the hand still on his arm and had only glared for a moment when he was moved bodily as he answered, “Too soon to know that for a certainty. My guess would be a combination of both. Harry wouldn’t hurt her, even in this state, and she may understand what he needs through either instinct or scent. Or she herself could be emitting a scent that stabilizes him. But whether or not it is because he needs to be in control because his child is near or because another sub is there, is also uncertain.” Snape stopped his distracted murmuring and continued writing whatever thoughts or notes he had.

For his part, Draco realized that the first stage of Lustrum would be much easier from then on with his daughter around. And that meant, he thought with a wicked grin forming on his face, that the transition into the second stage would be more congenial. Rubbing his hands together as he watched Harry start to come back to himself, Draco couldn’t wait for things to progress.



“Maia states that she ‘just knew’ that Harry needed the sweet and petting. Since last year he elected to be sedated through Lustrum and the years before that she was too young to understand -- adding in the fact that they were not normal Lustrums due to Harry’s instability -- she could not have known to do that by remembering past instructions. Therefore, instinct was the driving force behind her actions yesterday. This may also account for her need to be near him more. Of course we can’t rule out that it could be simple concern on her part over the obvious distress of her parent. But for an admittedly spoiled child, she appears to be acting more protective of and maternal with him. Again, this could have more to do with their familial relationship and not their shared status, but it would be far more likely that, with her being a child of two Indago, she is obeying instinct. It may be necessary to study her brain cells to see if they differ enough from our own.”

Draco raised an eyebrow at Snape’s idea of going into his daughter’s head as the two of them sat in Draco’s office. Snape had taken over a corner of it with his own desk and bookshelves housing books that would not fit in his own room or were not suitable for little eyes and hands. Since Maia was not allowed in the office, they were safe there. Draco was happily ensconced at his desk with a book while Snape was writing industriously in his notes and consulting scrolls of parchment.

“Harry should be shifting stages by tomorrow,” Draco said, breaking into Snape’s verbal dialectic. “Will you be staying?”

Snape didn’t stop his movements, but the air became thicker. Draco let the silence reign for a few moments, content to let Snape make the next move.

“Are you asking?”

“It was a question, yes.”

Setting down his quill, Snape straightened and looked at Draco. “And Harry?”

“You and he have been dancing around this issue for nearly a year, haven’t you?” Draco asked calmly. “You two remind me of a couple of teenage virgins the way you non-flirt with each other,” he added with a chuckle.

Snape’s eyes narrowed in annoyance. “And you?”

“I shall be there, of course.” Draco smirked. “Quite modest in your speech all of a sudden, aren’t you? If it’s due to offending my sensibilities, you should know I do not have them. And, if you recall, I have no problem sharing and am quite attracted to the idea,” he added, skirting an unpleasant memory. Draco saw the recollection cross Snape’s mind and then the older man nodded briefly.

“I will stay. If he is agreeable.” Snape turned back to his own desk. “I will not risk a relapse occurring after all this time.”



The bodies writhed together, looking as if there was no end or beginning to be found between the men. Even with the sun rising in the window, the activities had yet to cease.

“Harry, move up, love. I need your mouth,” Draco growled, but didn’t bother to wait for Harry to move on his own. Placing his hands under his husband’s armpits, he pulled Harry up to lie full length on top of him and began ravaging the bruised and swollen mouth. Not that Harry was complaining. Once the second stage had begun, he had been more than forward in his needs and desires, proving through his actions that he was doing much better.

“Ahh…!” Harry breathed in pleasure and his hands gripped tightly to Draco’s shoulders, bringing the blond out of his reverie. He looked over Harry’s shoulder and smirked.

“Bit more warning, eh? He has a tendency to claw and bite when he likes it.”

“Stop daydreaming and you would have noticed,” Severus grunted as he pushed back into Harry.

“Why don’t you both shut up and get on with it,” Harry growled and gave a long slow lick along Draco’s jaw line.

“I shall do as my husband commands,” Draco growled back and began preying upon the extremely delicious neck, biting and nipping a bit harder than normal in retaliation for Harry’s reprimand. Not that Draco felt anything close to anger. In fact, he practically glowed whenever Harry showed backbone in the bedroom. Draco had nearly unmanned himself with weeping the night Harry had tentatively initiated more than a hug and kiss in bed without the feeling that Harry was merely placating him.

“Draco… more…” Harry moaned and once again Draco was pulled out of his wandering thoughts. Harry was undulating against Draco, cock to cock, as Severus thrust into him from above. Severus was good at the pacing. Most likely due to his age, Draco thought with a smirk. But he was able to keep Harry on the knife’s edge for a protracted amount of time. Harry was not having it that morning, though, and was going to have his husband help him. And Draco was more than happy to help. With a murmured incantation, their bodies became wetter where they touched and Draco thrust up against Harry, rubbing and grinding. “Ahh, yesss…” Harry hissed and pushed back.

“Over,” Draco ordered. Severus grunted in annoyance but did as requested. His hands came around Harry’s chest and he rolled onto his back, bringing Harry along with him, never breaking their intimate connection. Draco followed them and, while Snape thrust up from the bottom, Draco thrust down from the top. Harry shouted and everything came to an immediate halt.

“Don’t stop!” Harry yelled and his fist hit the bed in frustration. “Merlin! Don’t stop! I like it! I like it!” With a shared relieved grin, the two Superos went back to pleasing Harry.



“You should think of retiring from teaching, Sev,” Draco commented over the rim of his coffee cup. “You could make a nice living just making your elixirs and whatnot.”

Snape raised an eyebrow as he buttered his toast. “Are you saying you miss me, my dear Draco? I never knew you cared.”

Smirking, Draco swallowed his bite of muffin and said, “Oh no, you mistake me. I merely inquire because my daughter is quite infatuated with you and has asked me to beg you to stay with us. Of course, I promptly lectured her on the rule that Malfoys do not beg, which she fully comprehended. As she should, being my daughter.”

“Of course,” Snape retorted dryly.

“But truly, spending your summer holidays with us as well as your winter holidays and then add to that this pleasant week in October, you should consider just settling with us permanently,” Draco continued.

“I have never had the intention of moving to another continent. These visits are quite adequate.”

“Are they?” Draco raised an interested eyebrow. “You must know that we would be…more complete with you here.”

Snape merely hummed noncommittally.

“Besides, I believe our return to Britain will not be too far away. Things are beginning to shift the way I want them to.”

“Then speak to me again then.”

The two men finished their breakfast companionably and Draco accompanied Snape to the Port-Key Port in the cool October morning.