A RUMOR OF PEACE

          Ardyn swore sharply, then looked at the brothers standing before his desk.  They stood stiffly, and despite the warmth and amusement in their voices a moment ago, their faces were now closed down their eyes...Roark's silver was burning with the inner fire of fury barely held in check, and Harry's was not much better, sparking with his inner lightning.

          "Hell and damnation, what a fucking mess," he said, running fingers through his hair.  "Very well, then," he finally said with a sigh, "sit down, both of you."

          Harry and Roark looked at each other silently, eyes meeting...holding, neither of them moving until a throat was cleared, making them turn their heads to look at Severus.  They HAD been considering a refusal.  Until that is, Severus had cleared his throat, gaining their attention.  When they had looked at him, he had given them a slight shake of his head.  Flashing him a grin, they each moved to take the chairs set before the desk, hands coming to rest on their knees.

          Neither spoke.  Nor did they move further, simply sitting, looking at Ardyn...waiting...

          Ardyn sat forward.  "Look, Rory--"

          "You have not been given leave to address him by that name, Captain," Harry said with a sharp snap to his tone.  "Only family and friends can call him Rory."

          "I AM your friend, Harry."

          "Hadrian.  Only family and friends are permitted to address me as Harry.  And no, Captain, you are not our friend.  Our FRIENDS would not pass judgment on us about what we can or cannot do, what we are CAPABLE of doing.  Our FRIENDS would accept that neither of us would be in the uniform we are in if we could not do the job required of it...or of us."

          Ardyn shook his head, hearing the icy fury in his voice.  "You're right, of course, and I AM sorry.  We've just lost Kale, and I can't help but be worried that the two of you are here to go after the very man who murdered your parents...tried to kill you."  He looked back and forth between them, then sat back in his chair.  "Very well, then.  Why don't you both tell me why you were sent here?"

          "Those papers you've been shuffling through, but not looking at, tell you everything you need to know."

          Ardyn's brow arched, arms raising to cross over his chest as hazel eyes moved first over Harry's so handsome face before his gaze shifted to Roark's.  "I would just as soon hear it from you, Lieutenant.  Reports are all well and good, but the telling is always different than the reading."

          "Not in this case.  Everything is in those reports."

          "Not everything is ever on paper, Lt. Hadrian," he snapped back, his own temper beginning to stir.

          "As we wrote what is in those reports, Captain," a tip of Roark's head to the open files on his desk, "it's all there.  We left out nothing that was relevant, or, for that matter, irrelevant.  EVERYTHING is in those reports."

          "You are both very close to insubordination, Lt. Roark.  I would advise you both to be very careful," he said in a warning tone.

          That got him two mockingly arched midnight brows.  "So report us."  They said together.

          That response earned them a chuckle from Severus, who had moved to take a seat on the couch near a small sideboard on the right side of the office.  That chuckle earned him a glare from Ardyn, to which Severus merely raised a midnight brow, sipping from the tumbler of amber liquid he had helped himself to before he had sat.  

          These two, Severus thought as his gaze went to the brothers, were going to shake up the entire Counter-Intelligence Unit.  Just, he suspected, as his father-in-law wanted when he had recruited them.  Their people had gotten too complacent, too...fixed in the traditions and the way things had always been done, compared to how things now were thanks to the changing times, and fresher, freer thinking blood. 

          Harry and Roark Peverell Potter were the new blood.  They didn't give a damn about how things were SUPPOSED to be done.  They thought out of the box, always looking at things from ALL angles, instead of just one.  They analyzed everything thoroughly before even THINKING of making any kind of a move, though that wasn't to say they also didn't do things a little too...recklessly.

          Sometimes they tended to be just a little too reckless for ANYONE'S comfort, which was only a small part of why he was here.  It was hoped he could--  "Damn it, boys, stop being so fucking DIFFICULT!" came Ardyn's sudden growl.

          'He hasn't seen difficult yet,' Severus thought as silver and emerald eyes flared, the room beginning to heat up dramatically as fire and lightning magic crackled in the air of the office, a fine sweat appearing on Severus' brow.

          "Hadrian.  Roark."  He said calmly, sipping.

          That was all that was needed, both of them realizing that their magic had slipped their control because of their fury.  It was reined in at once, the room cooling.  He smiled,  giving them both a nod as he saw shock in Ardyn's eyes. 

          Surely he had known that the boys were magical? 

          No, Severus realized, watching him closely as he looked between the boys.  He HAD known.  He just hadn't realized how powerful they were.  Separately, but especially together.

          "Trust me when we tell you, Captain Ardyn, you have absolutely no idea just how difficult we can become should the situation warrant it," Roark all but snarled.

          That earned yet another snort from Severus.  "So true that."