Don't mess with Uncle Lucius

Thank you all for your continued interest in this story. I hope you are still pleased with the way its going.

All canon characters belong to JKR.

Thanks to June for all of her help and suggestions.

Chapter 16 – Don't mess with Uncle Lucius.

It was now Thursday morning. Saturday was New Year's Eve, and Count Heinrich's houseguests would most probably all be leaving on the following day to begin to ready themselves for the remainder of the school year. So everyone wanted to use these remaining days to the fullest.

Harry had fallen asleep on the living room couch, but had managed to get up to his room before the sun came up. After what he had done, he thought it best to keep his distance from the rest of the household. Briefly he wondered if he should just leave. It was not like the Boy Who Lived would have to spend New Year's Eve alone. Just as fast as the thought came into his head, another pushed it away. He needed to be around to pick up the pieces when Lucius messed up. He was sure Ginny would never accept the things the elder Lucius had done. Harry decided he needed to stay a while longer.

What he didn't know was, he would most likely be waiting for a very long time to pick up the pieces of Ginny's broken heart. Just a few doors down, Ginny was lying in Lucius' arms. His body was curved and snuggled up against hers. They had only fallen asleep less than half an hour earlier. While all of their prior couplings had been gentle and slow, Ginny showed Lucius she didn't mind letting loose, very very loose.

Albus and Minerva were already up and ready to start the day. The older wizard only slept five hours a night and took catnaps through the course of the day. It kept him rested and kept his mind always fresh and clear. Having spent the better part of the last fifty years with him, Minerva had grown accustomed to Albus' schedule. They crept down the stairs and began to walk the gardens. They were only going to be there a few more days, so they decided to take morning walks in the gardens and watch the sunrise. It would mean missing breakfast for the rest of the time, but they could easily take something to eat with them. They did not have the opportunity to do these things at Hogwarts, at least not during the school year.

Severus and Hermione were still asleep. Just before they finally drifted off, Severus instructed the elves that he and his wife would be having breakfast in bed. He was happy to hear that they weren't the only couple having breakfast in bed. Knowing that these house-elves were gossips, as most were, Severus asked which couple. They informed him that the older couple had taken something with them to the gardens, and the other young couple was taking their breakfast later that morning in the Sir's room. Severus smiled and went back to bed. He would give Hermione the good news when she woke up.

And yet a few more rooms down the hall were the innocent babes – the angel-faced, doe-eyed, ever-curious children of Severus and Hermione Snape. The babes looked so peaceful as they slept, which was a lovely sight. However, anyone wanting to see this today would have been sorely disappointed, since the two were now awake and up to their devilish little arses in potions and charm books.

Odin and Sage Snape had woken up even earlier than they did on Christmas morning. The tunnel they had found the day before did indeed lead into the potions lab. Their father had warded the laboratory's door, and they had been unable to get in before. The tunnel, however, wasn't part of the ward; it led directly to a half-open bookcase, which served as the door of the potions lab from the tunnel.

When the children ordered breakfast earlier, the elves informed them that neither their parents, Ginny, Lucius or Albus and Minerva were having breakfast in the dining room. The siblings breathed a sigh of relief. Now they could stay and further their research and not be missed. They did find out, however, that Harry would probably be the only one to come to breakfast. If they were lucky, they could find something before Harry came down to eat.

"Odin, we can't poison him," said Sage. "I think that might be taking it a bit far."

"We're not going to kill him, dummy. We'll just make him wish we had," answered Odin. He read through a passage about Veritaserum. The siblings were far advanced when it came to Potions and Tranfiguration. But many of the more difficult potions they knew nothing about. Odin smiled as he read about the effects of the truth serum.

"I've got it!" he exclaimed, and then held up the book for his sister. Both their reading levels were far above average, the advantage of having two bookworms as parents.

Sage read the passage and grinned.

"Oh, that's perfect!" she laughed loudly. "Can you imagine?"

Odin stood and placed the book on the table behind him.

"I wouldn't want to be Harry after he drinks that," said the young boy.

"Right, now all we have to do is get it into Harry's pumpkin juice." Sage put down the book she was looking at, and stood next to Odin.

"We'll need to distract the elves; you know what gossips Dad says they are. They might see us and tell," said Odin as he stroked his chin, just like his father often did when thinking out a solution to something.

"Oh, leave that to me. Come on, let's look for a bottle in the storage closet and get to the kitchens.." Sage grabbed her brother by the arm and dragged him to the small closet.

They laughed as they searched for the potion, while wondering if they could still use the media room they found as blackmail. It was obvious that their father wasn't making potions or doing research down in this room like he had told their mother.

Agreeing they would save the information for a later date, when they really got into trouble, they set to the task of finding the Veritaserum. After looking for almost twenty minutes, Odin found a bottle with the name of the potion. He uncorked it and took a sniff. It was odorless, just as the description in the book said. The bottle was also the required dark blue, as the potion lost its potency if too much light were allowed to penetrate it. The bottle's top was made of gold, because it was the only metal that the potion could come in contact with, and any other stopper would absorb some of the ingredients and make the potion lose potency as well.

"Here, I've got it. Come on," Odin said as he jumped down from the stepladder, and they ran back up the tunnel stairs. They made their way to the kitchen, where there was one house-elf busily making Harry's breakfast. The rest of the elves were either scrubbing the floors, cleaning the pots and dishes, or polishing the silverware.

"Wait here," Sage whispered, then walked into the kitchen. She stopped in the middle of the kitchen and sighed heavily.

"Can anyone tell me where I can find a scrubber?" she asked loudly.

The house-elves turned to her and gasped.

"Why does Miss need a scrubber?" asked a frightened elf.

"I'm bored, so I want to clean my bathroom," answered the girl. She knew that the Count's house-elves were obligated to not allow her to do anything that smelled of work. As she expected, there was a collective shudder across the room.

"No, we is cleaning it, Miss. You mustn't do that," said Kooki, wide-eyed.

"No, I can do it. Then maybe I'll clean my room, too."

"Please, Miss, let us; we love serving young witches." Kooki looked at the rest of the elves, then they all popped out of the room.

Odin rushed into the kitchen and opened the bottle over Harry's pumpkin juice. He needed to be careful. The correct dosage was three drops, which would last several hours, according to the book.

"Oh, no, Odin." Sage, who had been standing at the door, turned and whispered loudly over her shoulder, "He's coming, Harry's coming."

Not wanting to get caught, and not having the proper time to carefully measure out the drops, Odin shook the bottle over Harry's glass and quickly hid inside the pantry. Sage crawled behind the large butcher block next to the stove.

Harry strode into the kitchen and looked around. It struck him as odd that the house-elves weren't around, but it seemed they had left his breakfast prepared. Not thinking anything of it, he walked to the counter and made himself a plate of eggs, bacon, and toast. Then he grabbed the glass of pumpkin juice and left for the dining room.

The kids came out and slowly walked to the door leading to the dining room. They peeked out and saw Harry sitting at the table and eating.

"Three drops, right?" asked Sage.

"Well, yeah, sort of," answered Odin.

Sage turned to him. "Sort of?"

"Three drops – really, really, really big...drops." Odin smiled weakly, wondering just how many drops he had put into Harry's juice, how much juice Harry would drink, and how long the Veritaserum would be in his system.

"Uh-oh." Sage looked at her brother. "Fasten your broom belts, folks; it's going to be a bumpy flight."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I took the line in "All About Eve" in which Betty Davis says "Fasten your seatbelts folks, its going to be a bumpy night," as my ispiration for Sage's reaction.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Thank you for reading.