Rescued

When everyone was awake and sitting at Severus’ table to eat the feast that the house elves had brought down for them, they decided it was time to talk.

“We still have to decide what’s going to be done about those idiots who hurt my Draco,” he said then blinked when he realized he had said my Draco. He shook his head as Draco smiled and snuggled as close to him as he could from a different chair and Snape laughed. Dumbledore just twinkled.

“Yes, I believe we do need to decide on that. Minerva has given her recommendation, and now all that’s left is for the three of you to decide.” He smirked, very much unlike himself, as the other three at the table gawked at him. He sighed and went on to explain, “Now, Harry and Draco were entering into a relationship when this happened and it seems as well that you, Severus, are also now included in their little ‘unit of love’,” he said cheerily, knowing the phrase would chafe the Slytherin’s hide.

Severus glared at the headmaster then raised a brow at the two brats- no, he couldn’t call them that anymore- who then nodded and he gave in with a sigh, “Perhaps the three of us can speak about this at a later time, in private. As for the punishment, I’m not above sending the whelps to Azkaban, but it would seem Harry and Draco don’t want that. What did Minerva suggest?”

Albus nodded, “She thought that they could be turned over to the muggles. Unfortunately we would have to fabricate an offense that would get them a higher punishment than assault and battery would in the muggle world. That would take some effort and time. They aren’t known or wanted for anything outside the Wizarding World.”

Harry blinked and Severus nodded, Draco just snuggled closer to Harry and tried to eat, “Perhaps,” Severus said, “We could come to a compromise with their government. I know we’ve made deals with them before in regards to arrests and whatnot. Hmm, even if they only got the maximum for assault in the muggle penal system, they would still have their wands broken and after release, would have to live as muggles for the rest of their miserable lives.”

Draco raised a brow, “Yes, I k thk that’s a good idea. Best one I’ve heard yet.”

“I have to agree. I’ll have to thank Professor McGonagall when I see her again. That is a most wonderful idea,” Harry said then kissed Draco’s forehead and began to eat again.

“Ok, I shall make the arrangements. Would any of you like to see them before they are sentenced? They’ve been held in private rooms since Draco was attacked.”

Surprisingly, it was Draco who answered first, “Yes, I would like to see them. And even be the one to break the Weasel’s wand.” The smug, superior look was finally back on faceface and Harry was more than glad to see it.

“I wouldn’t mind snapping Hermione’s, after all, she was the one who organized it,” the Gryffindor said.

Severus smiled, “Hmm, and breaking that moron Longbottom’s wand has been a dream of mine since I first had him in class…”

Albus was a little taken aback but smiled none the less, “I shall have it all taken care of, then. Why don’t the three of you talk and I’ll come back in a few hours to take you to them.” They were all looking at each other and he nodded then showed himself out; there was no need to disturb them.

As the door clicked shut Severus stood and walked to his sidebar, realizing he had no more scotch. Then there was a knock at the door. When he opened it the meddling headmaster was standing there with a bottle, “I figured you could use this, my dear boy. Enjoy.” He handed him the bottle then walked down the hall humming.

Severus shook his head and closed the door, walking back to Harry who was taking out three glasses and Draco who was smiling and sitting himself comfortably on the couch. The older man joined them and poured the scotch.

“I believe there is much we need to discuss, gentlemen,” he said as he handed the blonde his glass then sat in his favorite chair. “Apparently we’ve all been hiding things from each other.”

Draco looked up from his glass and raised an eyebrow, “I believe you mean that neither of us told you we love you? Or that you failed to mention you feel the same? Perhaps both?” He said with a smirk then took another sip of the alcohol as Harry chuckled.

“Yes, I believe that’s precisely what he meant, Draco, love. The three of us were in denial. But I think its way past time to be honest. I think the three of us need to get this out, all of it, once and for all.”

Severus sighed and set his glass down, leaning forward and rubbing the bridge of his nose, “You don’t known what you’re asking for, Harry. There’s a lot I haven’t told. To anyone. Not even Lucius.” He picked up his glass once more and drained itttintting up to fill it again.

Draco nodded, ignoring his father’s name, “Perhaps, Severus, but you owe us as much of the truth as we owe you. All of it.”

The older man whirled around and looked at Draco for a moment, “When did you get back to normal? You’ve been moping around for months, even after Harry saved you…”

The blonde smirked, “He promised to save you, for me, because he hadn’t realized he loved you yet, then told me he loved me and kissed me. It’s more than anyone else, besides my mother who is now dead, ever did for me. I now know she never would have blamed me, she didn’t kill herself because of me, she did it because of him.”

Harry pulled him close and kissed him, whispering that he loved him in his ear. Severus bit his lip for a second then made a decision; he had to know what they actually felt for him and tell them how he felt in return, “And regarding me…?” He said softly, tentatively, almost afraid of the answer.

The green eyed beauty locked eyes with him and smiled, “Draco here always knew he loved you, he just never said anything. Probably because he thought you would shoot him down. Me, on the other hand, I didn’t know it until I came back to save you then saw you getting pissed. It hit me when you were about to drink the poison. I knew I had promised Draco, but I couldn’t let you go either.”

Draco shrugged, “It’s easy, Severus, we both love you as much as we love each other and want you to be a part of us,” he looked at Harry who nodded, “Forever.”

Severus struggled for a few moments with what they had just said, they said forever. As in they wanted him in their lives, and not just for kicks or to keep him alive, they loved him. “You want me forever? But you two aren’t even 18 yet and barely together as it is! And you want me to join in? I…I don’t know. You would both be better off without me there to ruin it and I’m not young anymore. I’m almost 40…You do realize what you’re saying, correct?”

Harry and Draco looked at each other for a moment and smiled then turned back to Snape, “Severus Snape, will you bond with us?” They said in unison, which was freaky enough as it was, but to have them both smiling at him in that eerie way was almost too much, “Have you two taken something? You’re acting very odd…”

They both laughed and Draco tried to catch his breath to answer, “No, we were planning on it for ourselves anyhow. We just figured it would be nice to include you since we all love each other,” he said matter-of-factly.

By then Harry had calmed down and began to speak as well, “Severus, we do love you. And we love each other. Even before we admitted that much we were going to bond so that we could keep each other safe. Of course it wasn’t going to be a soul or marriage bond, but I think now it will be. If you don’t want to, then tell us. We’ll be upset but we’ll understand.” Draco nodded at what Harry said as they both kept their eyes on him.

Severus thought it over for a few minutes, sitting down in his chair and staring off into space. He had a lot of things to tell the two young menore ore he could willingly agree to this, but he wanted it; Merlin how he wanted it. “Harry, Draco, before I tell you my answer e are are a few things I need you to know first,” he took a deep breath and a gulp of scotch before forging ahead, “I have always loved Draco, I was forever in his life from the day he was born. Lucius and I…we were lovers for many years,” the Slytherin looked to the two young men and at the blonde’s nod continued, “I began to love Harry when we fought together against Voldemort and it grew from there; the day he first saved you, Draco, was the day I fell completely in love. I’m not a nice man, and some would say that I’m neither a good one, but one thing I know is I love you two more than I ever ght ght myself capable.”

Before either of them could comment he went on, “I know it will be hard, but there are things, about my past, that you need to know before I will allow you to go through with this. Things that are horrible. Things I’ve seen, things I’ve done, things I’ve had done to me; some willingly, some not,” he hung his head, refusing to look at their faces, “And I will understand after hearing it all if you rescind your generous offer.”

Harry and Draco shaa loa look and as one got off the couch and knelt by Severus’ feet where he sat in his chair, “Severus, I know some things, having been inside your head from Occlumency and some from fighting beside you; others from my bond with the masochistic megalomaniac. What I don’t know can’t be much worse and you should know that nothing can turn love away. Not even horrible past memories.”

Draco nodded, taking the older man’s hand, “And I know things from being there my whole life, things Harry doesn’t know, things about Voldemort and my father. But I know those things already and I love you nonetheless.”

Severus smiled and cupped Draco’s cheek with his hand, doing the same to Harry with his other hand, “I don’t know who saw fit to give the two of you to me, or why, but Merlin am I glad they did.”

“There’s nothing the three of us can’t tackle or overcome together, and we would most definitely love for you to be a part of our future. Whatever it is, we’ll deal with it,” Harry said softly and kissed Severus’ palm.

At that moment there was a knock at the door. Severus got up to answer it as Draco and Harry smiled at each other and whispered little promises of love and things to come. When he opened the door Dumbledore was standing there looking jolly as ever, bouncing on the balls of his feet.

“Ahh, are we all ready to go and see our prisoners?” He asked cheerily, “And did everything get solved?”

The older Slytherin eyed the Headmaster speculatively with a raised brow, “Mmm, some. The rest can wait until later, after we n thn the punishment of those cretins.”

Harry snorted and Draco outright laughed as they stood and walked over to the older men. They just wanted to get this over with and get back to Snape’s rooms as soon as possible to continue their little talk. As they walked through the corridors, Draco and Harry arm in arm, staring at each other and Severus, while the Headmaster and Severus walked a little ahead, speaking of the punishment and other things, the students stared, gawked, whispered, and shot accusing looks their way. Most people thought Harry had betrayed them by taking up with Draco, others thought he was drugged, and still more assumed Draco was faking everything to get Harry back for killing his ‘Master’. They were all wrong. And there would be even more rumors flying once the addition of Snape to their little relationship got out.

The four arrived at the room where the ‘prisoners’ were being held and the younger two took a deep breatforefore entering. Severus, on the other hand, let his real anger and loathing show through; the five pipsqueaks deserved everything they got and more.

When they walked in they saw Neville, Dean, Seamus, Ron and Hermione sitting on chairs, but not restrained. Of course they wouldn’t be made to be uncomfortable; it would give them hope that their punishment wouldn’t be too bad. False hope was a worse fate than getting all the bad news at once.

Dumbledore was the first to speak, “The five of you have disappointed me greatly and will be punished accordingly. Harry, Draco and Severus would like to speak to you before your sentence is carried out.” He moved to stand by the door and give the other three the room.

Ron was bright red with fury as he spat, “I’ll rot in hell before I listen to anything the ferret has to say!”

Severus moved close to him, nose to nose, his tone soft and deadly, “Than BEn BE arranged. Listen well, Weasley, all of you, because he’s more forgiving than either Harry or I.”

They all looked to Harry who nodded and looked at them with disgust. “I know why you did it, and I knew you would never trust me,” Draco began, “But what you did was cowardly and although I can forgive you for the harm you did to me physically, can you forgive yourselves for losing your one true friend?”

Harry sneered at them from beside the blonde, “What I don’t understand as why, as my friends, you couldn’t just talk to me,” he saw Hermione begin to speak and stopped her, “Granger, keep your know-it-all mouth shut or I’ll hex you.” She frowned as tears came to her eyes which made Severus smirk, “I don’t care what happens to you after your sentence, butt know this; if you ever, and I mean EVER cnearnear either Draco, Severus or I again I will NOT hesitate to kill you.”

All five Gryffindors stared at him as if they didn’t know him, and really, they didn’t. They hadn’t taken the time to get to know him after the war had taken its toll on him, and he hadn’t bothered trying to get them to; if they weren’t going to do it on their own, he didn’t want their friendship. Severus moved forward to speak now, the gleam in his eye frightening.

“In case you haven’t heard the extent off your ‘punishment’ yet, let me tell you what it entails. You will, when we are through with your sorry arses, have your wands snapped, by us, and be taken into custody by aurors who will then take you to the Ministry where a muggle officer waits to take you to a muggle jail where you will wait for trial and sentencing. The four of us,” he gestured to Harry, Draco and Albus, “Will be called in as witnesses and the prosecution to make sure you get the maximum sentence for your crimes. The trial is just for show and believe me; you WILL get the maximum sentence bestowed upon scum like you in the muggle world. After you have served your time, you will be released into muggle society, banished from the Wizarding World forever, to live as muggle ex-convicts. Just so you know I’m I’m sure Miss Granger can fill the rest of you inept morons in, muggles see people who have been convicted of a crime and served time in jail to be lower than low and it will make it extremely difficult for the five of you to acquire employment.” He watched their faces and smirked at the despair he saw there, reveling in it and putting some aside to enjoy at a later date.

Albus, usually a kind looking man, was smirking after Severus’ speech, “My as accurate as that was, dear boy, not to mention highly amusing, it was short but to the point. Is there anything else anyone would like to say?” They all ignored it when the guilty tried to speak, “Good. Shall we begin?” At everyone’s nod, save the five accused, he produced five wands. “This one is Mr. Weasley’s,” he handed it to Draco, “And here is Miss Granger’s,” which he handed to Harry, “Mr. Longbottom’s,” went to Severus, and the rest stayed in Dumbledore’s hand. Before anything could happeere ere was a tap at the door and McGonagall walked in looking furious. She nodded to those important in the room and when Albus handed her Seamus’ wand she took it with a satisfied look on her face, ‘Professor McGonagall has requested she be allowed to take place in the proceedings, I assume this is all right with the three of you?” He asked Harry, Severus and Draco who nodded and waited for him to continue, “Right, now, let us begin.”

The first to go was Neville’s; Severus looked him in the eye and snapped his wand in two. The boy flinched when his wand snapped then fell to the floor in two pieces. Seamus’ went next as Minerva snapped it cleanly and let it drop to the floor. Dean’s followed shortly after; he was sobbing and unable to control his anguish. Harry and Draco looked at each other while the blonde snapped Ron’s wand. They heard a horrified gasp as it too hit the floor. The raven haired young man then turned to the group of people he used to call friends, Hermione’s wand held inn his hand. “I want you all to know, that this most definitely hurts you more than it hurts me.” He smirked and looked into the girl’s eyes, “You should have known better than to fuck with me, Granger, I’m not a good person to have as an enemy.” Tears slid down her face a her precious wand, the only thing left that to connected her to the world she had grown to love, was snapped and dropped like it was trash.

Albus nodded to the three men, letting them know they could leave, and proceeded to inform the five ex-Gryffindors of what would happen to them now. The horrified and sorrowful cries that echoed the corridors faded into the background the further they walked. Draco looked a bit upset, Harry looked pleased, and Severus looked concerned; usually those expressions were on the opposite person. No matter, all was well with the three of them as of now and the talk would continue once they reached his rooms.