No Longer

Dungeon Detention

A/N: Chapters 1-60 is 129,841 words. Thanks for reading!

Harry Potter**

He walked down to the dungeons for his second night of detention. Honestly, he wasn't sure what to expect. The night previous, some revelations had been made to Severus, and Harry could say with tolerable certainty that the mannerisms of his Professor would change towards him.

He was less certain as to the nature of the changes however, whether Severus would treat him as any other student, or perhaps somewhat better, owing to their shared experiences. He could only take a deep breath to ready himself for whatever came next, and he pushed the door to the room open and stepped forward.

"Potter. The cauldrons still need cleaning. You have two hours, and I expect you to work the entire time period. Any unwarranted breaks, and time gets added."

Okay. Harry could do that. That was actually a reasonable detention, and anyways, he enjoyed the rhythm of cleaning. In a moment of deja vu, he removed his tie and outer robe so he was only in his button up t-shirt and slacks.

With practiced motions, he sat down amongst the large collection of dirty cauldrons and began to clean them with the lye. It was very relaxing, and he found himself lowering his defenses. 

"So, Professor Snape, why don't you like Mr. White?"

Harry didn't bother to raise his head, but he knew that his professor was glaring daggers at him.

"Have you ever heard of personal privacy Potter?" Severus nearly bit out.

"Yes."

"Respect mine."

"But I don't understand why you wouldn't trust him to look after me. He's really nice, and I know both of his other mates like him too."

"Both? He has two other mates?" Severus said, the words dragged out of him by his surprise. Harry knew he hadn't meant to ask.

"Yeah. Didn't you know?"

It was apparent that Severus didn't want to be drawn into conversation with the precocious little eleven year old with no respect for personal boundaries, but he couldn't seem to help himself. As they say, curiosity killed the cat.

"What are their names?" the other man asked, sounded resigned. 

So, Severus had accepted being dragged into conversation with Harry. That was at least something. A genuine smile lit up his small features, and his voice came out warm and happy as he spoke with this mate of his that confused him so.

"Well, you already know about Draco's dad, Lord Lucius Abraxas Malfoy in full. According to Mr. White, he's ukasi bonded, so he had to come into his own and claim his mates before they realized they even have other mates. So far, Lucius has accepted the bond, as has his other mate.

"His name is Tom Aodhan Slytherin. He also accepted the bond, and has met Lucius. The three of them are very close, I think. I'm not technically supposed to know this, but Mr. White is the Dominant, then is Tom, then you, and Lucius is completely submissive."

"You're right," Severus said, "You aren't supposed to know that."

"Do you want to know more about them? What they look like, how they act?" Harry asked, keeping a chatty tone as if the conversation didn't much matter to him as he scrubbed the cauldrons with lye.

"No." Severus bit off in a way that suggested he did, but would rather not know than ask.

Because he was sure the black-eyed professor did want to know, Harry chatted away about the appearances and mannerisms of Era, Tom, and Lucius. When he was satisfied he'd given a decent description, he allowed a small lull in his chatter, arranging the pristine cauldrons by what material and size they were.