Revelations and preparations

Thank you to those who are still sticking with this story. I've got just a few more chapters to go, so I'm winding it down.

I hope you enjoye what's to come.

All canon characters belong to JKR.

Thank you to June for all of her wonderful suggestions and all of her help.

Chapter 21 – Revelations and preparations

Before Lucius went back to the castle following his meeting at the Burrow, he made a stop at Gringotts, as he needed something from the Malfoy family vaults. After he found what he needed, he Apparated back to the castle.

Severus and the children were in the living room, as was Albus. Draco had gone into the village looking for Cho; he decided he wanted to explore the grounds of the castle and wanted to do it with his wife. Before Draco left, Severus pulled him to one side and warned him about any outdoor foreplay, and made sure the young wizard was aware that there was poison Ivy scattered about the grounds. Severus shivered when he thought back on the day he and Hermione had their romantic interlude in the forest, and he found out the hard way about the Count's love for importing plant species from other parts of the world. Severus had spent the longest hour of his life waiting for Hermione to get him the cream for his itch. That kind of torture he wouldn't wish on his worst enemy.

Harry had come downstairs from his self-imposed exile. While in the dungeons with Odin and Sage, Severus found out what spell his children had performed on Harry and made them reverse it. It was simple enough and was done from their little spot behind the walls. Severus informed them that they needed to take that spell away before they hit Harry with the new spell. They agreed that the Veritaserum had worn off by this time.

"A spell on top of a spell sometimes means that the spells will counteract one another. Also, if one is hit with too many spells at once, it can be detrimental to their health," Severus had said to his two future Slytherins.

So there was Harry, sitting by the fire, reading The Quibbler. All was quiet, as Hermione, Ginny and Minerva came into the room.

"Hello, everyone," said Hermione cheerfully. She walked towards Severus and kissed him on the lips lightly, then kissed her children on the cheek.

"Did you ladies have a good time shopping?" asked Lucius.

Ginny smiled and nodded her head.

"You'll never guess who we saw in the little bakery in the village," said Minerva.

"I'm afraid to ask," Severus said glumly. He could feel the hair on the back of his neck begin to stand on end.

"Luna Lovegood," said Ginny.

"Who?" asked Severus and Lucius at the same time.

"Luna Lovegood. She went to school with us," said Hermione as she looked at both men. She rolled her eyes towards Severus. "I'm sure you wouldn't remember her; she was in Ravenclaw. She was a bit..." Hermione stopped, not wanting to speak badly of Luna.

"Off her rocker," finished Harry as he sat reading.

"You seem to enjoy her newspaper, though," added Minerva.

"Well, it's a far cry better than the Daily Prophet. I'll have to give her that. She certainly has made it into worthy reading material," admitted Harry. He'd always thought Luna was a bit of an odd one. But, in some ways, she made more sense to him than most people. He admired the way she had taken over the paper and made it into a respectable publication. But he would never admit that to anyone.

"What is she doing here in Bavaria?" asked Albus.

"It seems she's on holiday as well. I invited her to come and celebrate the New Year with us on Saturday." Hermione smiled and looked towards Harry, who still had not looked up from his paper. "She was very excited to know you were here as well, Harry."

Harry said nothing; he simply stared at his paper and sighed. At this point he thought the last thing he needed was Looney Luna making goo-goo eyes at him. His wounds were still fresh from his break-up with Ginny. 'Break-up?' he wondered, then snorted to himself, 'Face it, Harry, you weren't even a real couple.'

It was beginning to sink in to Harry, that perhaps what Ginny was to him was just a security blanket. She was something ... rather, someone he could always come back to, someone who would never turn away from him. Only now he realized, as he looked at Ginny and Lucius out of the corner of his eyes, there was no more security. She belonged to Lucius now.

The rest of the day went by without incident. Friday was spent as a day of preparation for the party. Hermione met with the house-elves and made sure she instructed them on what to prepare for dinner on Saturday evening. She gave them the cakes and other sweets they had gotten in town on their trip without the men. Severus, in the meantime, made sure to instruct the elves on the fireworks display to be held in the evening as well.

Odin and Sage kept a covert eye on their subject, Harry. Unfortunately he was always within view of others. They didn't want to perform the diarrhea spell on him while anyone else was around, since they didn't have much experience using a wand. It would not do to hit an innocent bystander. The Veritaserum had been simple, in that all they had to do was make sure to put it in Harry's drink. The "Concentio hilaris" spell was also simple. For that, all they had needed to do was add a few extra ingredients to an existing potion, mix it into Harry's shampoo. That proved to be easier than the Veritaserum. This time Odin was the look-out, as Sage did the dirty work. Harry was taking a stroll in that gardens on that day. But this new spell was hard. Their father had managed to make them a small wand by using a branch he found in the forest. It was simple, but effective for what they needed it for. Of course, the unregistered wand and the lesson on how to use it came with a warning.

"If you are caught," Severus had said, "and you take me down with you, know that I will make it so that you, your children, and even your grandchildren will be scrubbing cauldrons until you are all old and gray."

With that, he handed his children the small makeshift wand, listened to them recite the incantation, and left them to it.

Dinner that Friday evening proved to be an interesting experience. As they all sat at the table, everyone began to notice a strange odor coming from Harry's direction.

Not wanting to be rude or embarrass Harry any further, they all kept their mouths shut. That is, until Harry's body began to emit strange noises.

At one point, something that sounded like a low horn came from Harry's side of the table. Everyone stopped.

"Severus," said Albus quickly.

Severus looked up from his soup, and dropped his spoon.

"Yes, Albus."

"I was thinking perhaps we should allow the seventh years a few more liberties during the next school year." Hoping their discussion would divert attention from Harry, Albus tried to draw those at the table into the conversation.

Another low blow horn.

"Well, certain students, of course, Albus," added Minerva, as she also hoped to deflect the attention from Harry.

"Mummy, something smells," said Sage.

"Hush, darling. Eat your soup," said Hermione.

Harry felt the rumbling in his stomach. He'd been trying to keep the noise to a minimum, yet knew that he was failing miserably. The only reason he was still sitting down was he knew the minute he stood up, his ass would start spewing not only more gaseous fumes, but chucky bits as well; he could feel them. He didn't want to draw more attention to himself, so he did not cast an odor containment spell.

Odin sat next to his sister, giggling. Draco and Cho attempted conversation with Ginny and Lucius, but nobody seemed to want to open their mouths, due to the foul odor.

Taking pity on Harry, Hermione stood and walked towards him. She leaned down and whispered in his ear.

"Harry, are you feeling well?" she asked.

"Yes, but I've got this...this diarrhea. I don't know what's going on," said Harry in distress.

Hermione looked over to her children and began to suspect that they'd had a hand in this. She quirked her eyebrow and looked in their direction.

Odin and Sage, who were both giggling, now sat silent and stone-faced.

"Well, I do happen to know that you can Apparate within this castle. So if it will make it any easier for you to get to your room, then why don't you just do that."

Breathing not only a sign of relief but also of fresh air, Harry nodded and Apparated to his room.

Hermione walked to her children. She looked down at their innocent faces and leaned over.

"I think we should have a talk. Come with me, you two." Odin and Sage looked at one another, then at their mother. They didn't dare look towards their father. They knew that if there was even a smidgen of suspicion from Hermione in his direction, they were dead.

As it was, Hermione did indeed get a confession out of them. But to their credit, they didn't throw their father under the proverbial bus. As their punishment they would have to tell Harry what they had done to him in front of the rest of the guests. But that wasn't enough for their mother's ire. As a further punishment, they would clean their own rooms for an entire month, thus giving the house-elves at Hogwarts time off for other duties.

Luckily for Harry, their spell and makeshift wand hadn't packed much punch. Within two hours he was on his way back to Constipation Avenue.

As the evening died down, Severus and Lucius sat in the study, drinking brandy. It was late now, and most of the other guests were in their rooms.

"How did your meeting with Arthur go?" asked Severus. Ginny and Hermione still did not know that Lucius had been to the Burrow.

"Arthur found out who gave the transcripts to Harry. It was a friend of his that he attended Hogwarts with."

"I assume they will both be reprimanded severely?" Severus knew Arthur wasn't the type to fire people even when their actions merited such punishment. But the man was fair, and Severus knew that Harry and his friend wouldn't just get away with a slap on the wrist.

"A month without pay or benefits," Lucius said as he took a sip of his brandy. "I gather that will embarrass them and put a sufficient dent in their pockets to make sure they cease from such foolishness in the future."

Both men nodded and remained silent for several minutes.

"Severus, how did you propose to Hermione?" asked Lucius. His marriage to Narcissa had been prearranged by both their parents. There was no need to go about proposing then. But Lucius knew that things like proposals were important to some women, especially if they had been waiting for a while. He wanted to do something special for his future wife, something she would remember for the rest of her life.

"I knew Hermione wouldn't want something elaborate. She likes simple, yet stylish things. I ran into her a month after she graduated." Severus had a dreamy look in his eyes. He loved thinking back when they first met as something other than rofessor and student.

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

July had just reared its head as Severus walked down the quiet streets of Aldwych. There was a small bookstore, invisible to Muggles, just within the circular street. He often found odd rare books with ancient spells and potions. It was his little secret. This was a place he could go to, where he didn't have to worry about being recognized by anyone.

"It's rather late in the day for me to drink coffee," said Severus. He noticed her crestfallen face, then smiled. "But tea would be nice."

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

"When I decided it was time to propose to her, I took her back to the little bookstore. I asked her to marry me next to the shelves she'd been leaning against when I saw her that day."

Lucius smiled. He knew Ginny was the same way. She didn't like elaborate things. She would appreciate something simple, but something that came from deep inside of him. Thanks to his old friend, he knew now just what he would do.

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

I had to end Harry's suffering. I didn't see the point in going on any further. Besides, even I was beginning to feel sorry for him. I do plan on something nice for him to make up for it though.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Thanks for reading.