Radix Acclaro

8 - Snapes

Severus had managed to keep Dumbledore and the Order at bay by reporting that while the Dark Lord did have Harry and Hermione, they were unharmed. They were being kept in a cell, but were being well cared for, for the time being. The other Death Eaters would not touch them for fear of their Master's retribution and the Dark Lord was too preoccupied trying to secure the loyalties of the Vampires to toy with the two Gryffindors.

While on the one hand Harry was relieved that the Order was staying put, on the other hand he was bloody well pissed off about it. He was supposed to be their Savior, the only one who could defeat the Dark Lord and they weren't willing to rescue him because he wasn't being tortured? What was to keep said Dark Lord from just slitting his throat one night? Why was torture a prerequisite?

Surprisingly Hermione agreed whole heartedly with him, while Tom looked slightly surprised by the idea of simply killing his enemy in such a manner.

"I don't think that would have ever occurred to me, Harry. I was rather obsessed with the idea of making you pay for everything that had happened to me."

Harry frowned at him in annoyance as the boy paced and muttered about 'Wizards and their grandiose bad guy crap'.

Lucius quirked an eyebrow at his young mate.

"What?" Harry snapped. Their final experiment had ended an hour ago and the Gryffindor had yet to let either of his mates touch him. "Bloody Wizards have to make such a big bloody production out of everything. If a muggle had tried to do me in, I'd have been dead years ago!"

The elder Malfoy merely rolled his eyes, snagging Harry's wrist on his next pass of the couch and pulled the resisting teen into his lap.

After a moment he relaxed into the blonde.

For the second test of their bond, Harry and Hermione had stayed together. While this seemed to prevent the emotional backlash from being quite so severe for the two Gryffindors, their two Nest Guards were still unable to stay away for more than six hours.

For the third and final test, Draco stayed with the pair in the hopes that his presence would keep the Egg Bearers stable enough to return to Hogwarts. Tom had already formulated contingency plans if they were unable to do so.

It seemed that luck had once again smiled upon them however, as Draco's presence did allow a twelve hour separation. Actually, Hermione was perfectly fine; it was Harry who had problems. While Draco was able to sooth the teenager, Harry was still anxious the entire time and became progressively more moody and snappish.

It wasn't an ideal situation but at least it would allow the three students to finish their education. While Harry wasn't quite as enthusiastic about that bit as Hermione, he did agree that it was necessary.

Harry murmured a quiet apology for his behavior.

"Quite all right, Luv," Lucius whispered.

Harry lay sprawled over the blonde, back to chest, eyes closed for a good ten minutes before he sighed.

"So what's the plan for us going back to school, or do I just get to bite everyone's heads off for four and half months."

"Not that that would be anything new," Hermione quipped.

Opening an eye Harry stuck his tongue out at his friend.

"Oh?" Tom asked, chuckling.

"Harry's mood swings have become legendary in Gryffindor tower."

"Shut it Granger," Harry growled, but Hermione just raised her eyebrow in a rather Malfoy/Snape way. He found he was rather disturbed by that expression.

"Some of the boys have even said you are worse than us girls when it's time for our monthlies, as they call them."

The Slytherins all laughed at that while Harry reached for a pillow to fling at the girl, but the would-be projectiles were just out of reach. The disgruntled teen had to settle with scowling at his friend.

"I'm never speaking to you again 'Mione."

"Promises, promises Mr. Potter."

"I hope you realize that you're being absolutely horrible to me and I blame your reprehensible behavior completely on your bond-mates there," Harry shot back with a grin.

"Hmmm...reprehensible...a five syllable word! I'm so impressed Harry."

The young man gaped while Hermione smirked and the Slytherins laughed uproariously.

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A bit later Severus spoke, "As to the return to the school, we actually have a two fold problem; Harry will need to spend his nights with his mates and Riddle Manor is no longer safe."

Harry halfway opened an eye at that announcement.

"It appears that Dumbledore has managed to locate the vicinity of the Manor and the only thing stopping him from showing up on our doorstep is his fear for our Gryffindors' lives."

"And you have a solution to this," Tom stated.

Severus nodded, "Snape Castle."

"I wasn't aware that your Manor was still standing, Sev, much less able to house guests," Lucius said.

"The Manor is not, but the castle will stand as long as there is a Snape wandering about somewhere."

"Castle?" Tom and Lucius asked at the same time, making Harry giggle tiredly.

"Of course castle. The Snape family is the oldest Wizarding family still in existence – though only a handful of people know it, and the main reason for that is the protections a rather paranoid ancestor put in place. The castle actually predates Hogwarts by about a thousand years I believe."

Tom cleared his throat, "And how does this solve our problem?"

Severus sounded amused, "You, Milord, and Lucius will relocate to the castle. I will convince Dumbledore that the 'children' are rather traumatized by their abduction and no longer feel safe. As their rescuer, Hermione, Draco and Harry will want to remain close to me and will request chambers adjacent to my own. After classes Harry will floo to the castle while Draco, Hermione and I will stay behind to make sure no one gets too curious.

"To sweeten the pot, as they say, I will offer to resume Occlumency lessons with Harry and to include Hermione and Draco. Draco, of course, will offer to become a spy for the Light like me, having been forced to take the Mark by you Lucius. We will also need to implant a few false memories for Dumbledore to 'see'. He's not very good at Legillimency really and will not be able to dig very far." The last sounded almost like an afterthought.

Harry halfway opened his eyes again to see Tom looking both impressed and pleased while Severus smirked.

"Brilliant, My Friend. Brilliant," Tom said.