Chapter Six: Revelations

Chapter Six: Revelations

'You did what?' Sirius flared. 'Do you think this is a fucking game?'

'You shouldn't have done that, Harry,' Lupin reprimanded him mildly. 'I'm really disappointed in you. I've told you before about putting yourself in unnecessary danger.'

'Leave him alone,' Snape said quietly, surprising them. 'No harm was likely to befall him anyway, not with the manor watched day and night by Aurors. You did the right thing, Potter, and gained some valuable information.'

Harry had already told them all the Hogwarts stuff; he'd kept the visit to Malfoy Manor for the end. It had only lasted a few minutes, but he found himself going over it again and again as Snape and Sirius asked question after question. He was surprised at how much he remembered, and how much had slipped into his subconscious, only to be picked back out again and made sense of.

'Legilimens?' Lucius said faintly at last, when it seemed the others had finished.

Harry shared a smile with Draco at that; Narcissa might have had secrets, but it now seemed as though Lucius had none.

*****

Snape stirred the Wolfsbane and the Polyjuice alternately, where they stood bubbling contentedly, side by side.

'Make sure you don't mix them up,' Lupin commented.

The ex-Potions Master stopped, mid stir. For a long moment he stood in silent thought, and then turned towards the stairs.

'What did I say?' Lupin turned to Sirius with a slightly offended look.

'I don't know. Whatever it was he doesn't want our company to think about it.'

'How are you two getting on, anyway?'

'We're not,' Sirius replied flatly. 'Apart from a suspension of our more outrageous hostilities, it's business as usual.'

'Do something about it, Sirius,' Lupin replied.

'I'm open to suggestions. My personal charm doesn't seem to be enough.'

Lupin gave him a long look. 'Are you sure you've tried hard enough?'

'I have agreed not to pressure him.'

'That was stupid.' Malfoy looked up from the book he was reading. 'Surely you know by now that no means yes ... in certain situations.' He let his silver-blond eyebrow rise.

'Here speaketh the expert,' Sirius said cynically.

'I'm not the one who's alone.' Malfoy stood up and opened the door, looking to the sky to where the rising moon was a silvery waxing gibbous. 'Draco, come inside now; it's getting dark,' he called across to where the boy sat talking quietly to Harry.

*****

Snape thought it through one more time; he wondered why he'd never thought of it before. It was simplicity itself, and if it worked it could roll out a multitude of different ways it could be used, all of them underhand, but he wasn't much worried about that. He'd have liked to run the idea past Dumbledore, but he knew he wouldn't be able to speak to him in a portrait until after his funeral, and if it was going to work he'd want to try it before that. He sat on the bed, deciding against going back downstairs; the desultory dialogue, and the way they were all trying to keep lids on their frustrations was wearing him down. He'd rather be alone anyway.

He found his thoughts running where they always ran when he had the leisure. He couldn't make Black's intentions out; he sighed to himself, he couldn't even make out his own intentions. Maybe he should have listened more carefully to Lucius. He was drifting off to sleep when he felt the draught as the door opened. He dragged himself upright, in time to see Sirius dim the room and begin to remove his clothes.

'What the ...'

'Be quiet, Severus. I've decided we should have that quick fix and work back,' Sirius said as his head reappeared from the shirt he'd just pulled over it. 'You can't escape, by the way. I've warded the door and put a Silencing Charm on the room,' he lied easily as his Gryffindor grin slid onto his face.

'Please tell me that wasn't the foreplay,' Snape murmured.

'Yeah, staggering, wasn't it? I bet you're all a-quiver.' The grin began to slip, along with the false self-confidence as Black sat down beside him. 'Help me here, Severus. Meet me part of the way.'

Snape felt his eyes close for a little longer than a blink. He tried to avoid the blue eyes; he knew they would be his downfall, and he'd tried so hard. Somehow it just didn't seem worth it any more; he'd fought the good fight and lost. Maybe surrender wasn't the worst option, whatever victory he had been living had certainly been hollow enough. He reached out, and found it wasn't so far after all, just a few inches, six at most. Just to touch, to feel his body heat and to hold him, that was all, he promised himself, but he knew he was undone.

*****

Sirius couldn't hold on much longer; he knew that, it had been too long and he wanted too much. He felt the shift of position; in the confusion of pain and ecstasy, he felt Snape lift his legs further onto his white shoulders and drive deeper. He heard a raw scream and knew it had ripped from his own throat as he felt him rub off his prostate again. Sirius tried to raise himself up to prolong the sensation, and found he couldn't.

He flailed uselessly, captive of his own making, lying below the man who had more power over him than he could have believed possible; there was no hiding place from him, there never had been. He tried to focus on the one thing he needed, more than his own climax, more than anything else; he needed to know Severus had dropped the final vestiges of the armour he'd surrounded himself with.

The sweat had run into his eyes, stinging them as he tried to blink it away, joining the rest of the pleasure pain as he watched Severus above him, drawing his thin lips across his teeth in what could have been a snarl; Sirius hoped it was. He felt Snape hesitate, almost as though he consciously thought about his change of rhythm, from the relentless but measured pounding, to the last frantic buck as his control was swept away.

Sirius couldn't think; all he could do was feel, feel the new warmth flood inside him as he felt his balls draw up, and his own climax refused to be denied any longer. He felt the breath rasping in his chest and the thunder beat of his heart join that of Severus's as Snape collapsed on top of him in a heaving sweating heap.

'I need to know you forgive me,' Sirius whispered into the long damp black hair.

'I need to know you forgive yourself.'

*****

'Where's Sirius?' Harry asked as he began to pour the tea he'd just made.

'Upstairs furthering his tortuous non affair, I suspect,' Lucius replied, without lifting his head from the book he'd been reading since he'd arrived; he'd almost finished the first chapter.

'What?' Draco blinked.

'Getting shagged senseless,' Lucius replied.

'Lucius!' Lupin objected mildly.

'I believe in calling a fuck a fuck, Lupin, it helps avoid confusion. It wouldn't do for youngsters to rush up the stairs with tea and muffins and catch anyone in flagrante, so to speak.' Lucius looked towards the stairs to where Snape had almost reached the bottom step. 'Ah, Severus, how kind of you to join us. Where's Black? Not that I'm interested, but his godson was asking.'

'I really would not know.' Snape gave him a cool look as he moved to the sink and began to fill the now empty kettle.

'That would be a lot more convincing if you'd cast a Silencing Spell on the room, Severus,' Lucius replied with his eyebrow raised in faint mockery.

'I'll kill him,' Snape snarled.

'We rather thought you had.' Lucius smiled, and seemed to change his mind as Snape gave him a look that froze the outskirts of hell.

*****

'How long will it be before it's ready,' Draco asked as Snape added something from a stoneware bottle Harry had brought him that morning.

'Another two days.'

'Can I have some of it?' Draco had been meaning to ask for days now, ever since Harry had come back armed with Ron Weasley's hair.

'No,' Severus snapped, 'it's not here to play with.'

'Severus,' Lucius chided him, 'don't be so miserable; you don't need it all.' He gave Draco a look. 'And it would get the little fucker out of my hair for a bit.'

'What were you thinking about the other day?' Lupin headed off the potential argument. 'When you were stirring the potions. I meant to ask you.'

Harry noticed Snape sat down beside Sirius; he wouldn't have done that a few days before, even if it had been the only empty seat as it was just then. He was pleased about that; at least something seemed to be going back on track.

'I was thinking about what you said about not mixing up the Polyjuice and the Wolfsbane, and have decided to do just that,' Snape replied. 'I have been taking Wolfsbane along with you this week and will continue to do so until the full moon, and then I am going to effect a change to you with the Polyjuice, just before the moon rises. You are also going to take some Polyjuice, Lupin, and change into whomsoever you choose, as long as it's not me. It will be interesting to see if I turn into a wolf too.'

Sirius seemed to have woken himself up from where he'd had his head propped on his elbow. 'Why?'

Snape didn't answer him directly. 'You are also going to take some Polyjuice, Black, and when you have changed to Lucius I want you to effect your Animagus change. If my thoughts are right, and I'm not entirely sure they are, you will change to whatever animal is Lucius's Animagus alter ego.'

'I'm not Animagus,' Lucius objected, as though it were some type of socially unacceptable disease.

'Be quiet, Lucius,' Snape said absently, in the way Harry noticed he addressed Malfoy most of the time; he hadn't even bothered to drag his gaze from Sirius to Malfoy. 'It is my belief that everyone has an Animagus form, whether they ever use it or not. Of course, Black, a true Animagus, like yourself or Minerva, is born, but as you very well know any wizard can effect the change if they learn how to do it; even Pettigrew managed.'

'What if I'm a lamb or a rabbit or something awful like that?' Lucius asked in what looked like genuine chagrin.

'I wouldn't advise that, Lucius,' Snape murmured. 'Lupin might begin to view you as dinner if you are.'

Harry snorted into his tea; he'd never thought Snape was capable of making a joke, certainly not one that was remotely funny.

'One of Hagrid's Blast-Ended Skrewts would be good though, wouldn't it?' Draco nudged Harry in the ribs and collapsed in a gale of laughter.

'Let us hope for something in good taste, Lucius. Nothing fancy, no emperor penguins or woolly mammoths.' Snape smirked.

'What about a sloth,' Sirius offered unhelpfully.

'Up yours, Black,' Lucius said with a flare of his nostrils, 'with a porcupine.'

'Just out of interest, Black,' Snape asked, ignoring Malfoy again, 'did Potter and Pettigrew pick the animals they eventually changed to?'

Sirius shook his head. 'Nope, not as far as I know. Would you have chosen to be a rat?'

'No, but then I am not Pettigrew.'

'Where are we going with this, anyway?' Lupin asked.

'Black's alter ego of the dog is fine when he isn't accompanying you or Potter, Lupin,' Snape said. 'One dog is much the same as another, but too many people would make the connection if he were seen around either of you.'

'Okay,' Lupin agreed doubtfully. 'But what about the wolf bit?' When Snape said nothing he went on. 'You're just doing that for fun, aren't you?' he accused mildly.

'Academics, Lupin,' Snape said vaguely, as though that should be enough to put the matter well over the rest of their heads. 'Let us see what Lucius can conjure up.'

Harry was pleased to see Malfoy looked worried.

*****

Sirius dropped his trousers quickly and turned to Harry. 'Is it there?' he asked with a grin that didn't suit Lucius's face.

'Is what there?' Lucius flared as Sirius tried to look over his shoulder at his newly padded arse.

'The tattoo that says "THIS SIDE UP".'

'Severus, tell him to stop that,' Malfoy complained as Sirius began exploring the rest of his nether regions. 'And stop baring my body if you don't mind; it's sensitive to cold.'

'He's a big boy, Remus; don't let him back you against a wall,' Sirius said with another grin.

'When you've finished playing, Black, could we turn to the task in hand?' Snape said testily. 'Effect your change, and may Merlin have mercy on our souls.' He gave the real Lucius a long hard look.

*****

Lupin looked surprised, Snape looked reluctantly impressed, Draco looked quite proud, and Malfoy looked enormously pleased with himself; Harry suspected the only one who wouldn't be happy was Sirius, but it was a bit hard to tell.

'I suppose it could have been worse, and it will certainly allow us another avenue I had not considered.' Snape watched as the olive-green cobra flared its hood and scented the air with its tongue. He nodded to the real Malfoy. 'Very good, Lucius, you do have a use after all. Who would have thought it? Change back, Black, we've got no spare animals for dinner unless you want Lucius, but I'm not sure how that would affect you when you're actually doubling in his body.' He paused for a moment as though he were considering whether the academic merits of the experiment would be worth the risk.

'Bloody Slytherin,' Sirius muttered as he dusted himself down and seemed to remember he was still Malfoy. 'I should have guessed. What the fuck use is a ruddy great snake?'

'The cobra is one snake which is quite happy to kill other snakes, Black,' Severus replied.

'So?'

'Nagini is a snake, and I confess she has always concerned me.'

'Okay,' Sirius conceded doubtfully. 'But how do I get around. Wherever we're going, it's a long way to slither.'

'Potter and Draco will take turns in carrying you,' Severus replied, and turned to Draco. 'In a basket, Mister Malfoy, not around your neck.'

'Does that mean I can get some Polyjuice?' Draco beamed.

'I shall think about it.'

'There's something else as well, Professor,' Harry said.

'Do call him, Severus, Potter, I keep looking around to see if Dumbledore has risen from the dead,' Lucius offered magnanimously.

Snape gave Lucius a frosty look and raised his eyebrow in query. 'What else, Potter?'

'I can speak Parseltongue.'

Snape nodded, grudgingly impressed again. 'Yes,' he said slowly, 'so you can.'

*****

Hermione chewed a wisp of hair as she reread the passage. She wished she didn't feel so isolated. She hadn't wanted to admit it to Harry; she felt it was good for him to spend some time with Sirius, but he'd been away for two whole days now, and she was stuck pretty much on her own.

'Is there something you would like to talk to me about, Miss Granger?'

Hermione jumped; she'd been so engrossed that she hadn't even noticed the Library door open. 'No, Professor McGonagall, thanks.'

'Very well, then. Has Potter done yet another disappearing trick?' The sharp gaze was somewhat softened by a mixture of grief and the warm candlelight in the Restricted Section.

'He's gone to the Burrow, I think,' Hermione replied. She wasn't very good at lying to the Headmistress; she always felt caught out before the words left her mouth.

'I see.' Minerva McGonagall pulled herself up to her not very impressive height and clutched her green velvet robes to her bony breast. 'Whenever you feel you can trust me, Miss Granger, my door is open.'

Hermione looked down, for some reason ashamed. 'Of course I trust you,' she blurted out. She was on the verge of tears, as though a false accusation had been laid at her door.

McGonagall softened. 'Now, now, my dear, I didn't intend to sound harsh. I shall leave you to study. You seem to have much to do,' she said knowingly. She turned and made her way slowly up the rows of books and scrolls.

'Professor,' Hermione called to her ramrod back. 'Why did Sirius Black die behind the Veil? Everything I've read suggests that it was just put in place by the founders for study. All I can see are hints to mysticism.' She waved her arm at the mountains of books. 'Nothing says a death chamber is behind it.'

She watched the Headmistress stop, not suddenly as though in shock, more as though she had been waiting for something to pull her back. 'And is death not the last great mystery?' McGonagall turned and gave Hermione a mildly reproving look. 'But that is not what you're really trying to ask me, is it?'

'You mean that you know he's alive?' Hermione whispered.

'Of course he is alive, Miss Granger. Or perhaps you thought Mr Potter was hallucinating? Now, don't you think you should begin to allow someone to help you with your burden?'

'Yes ... I don't know what to tell you ... what you know.' Hermione scrubbed the tears away as she felt the rush of relief when the Headmistress walked back along the rows.

'Let us say that I know that Severus Snape is as innocent of the actual crime he is accused of, as the evidence would seem to point otherwise. Do I take it that he has taken Draco Malfoy to Black in the safe house?'

Hermione nodded. She hadn't betrayed anything; McGonagall knew or had guessed everything so far.

'Is Lupin there too?'

'Yes, and Lucius Malfoy,' Hermione replied.

The Headmistress clutched her chest again as she sat down. 'Oh, not the ruddy Knight Protectors of the ruddy Shield of Merlin again; please tell me they've not all got together again.'

'They've got together again,' Hermione replied with a grimace. 'Is that bad?'

'It is a disaster waiting to happen, Miss Granger. It is as well we are having this little chat; at least we women will have a chance to run after the boys and close the doors on their more glaring errors, as they go charging forward like the Light Brigade, with as little net effect.'

Hermione could see her remarks were tempered with nostalgia and affection and regret, as though she were being given an unexpected second chance at something she'd failed at in the past. 'We can help them, can't we?'

'Of course, and as long as they do not realise it, they will accept our advice.' Minerva looked at the piles of books Hermione had being trying to cross-reference. 'I shall owl Andromeda Black right away; she has been champing on the bit for days to find a starting point. It may be wise to keep the boys in the dark for the time being, Miss Granger; we don't want them closing ranks and keeping secrets.' She gave a tight little smile. 'That's what happened the last time, you know. And it cost James and Lily Potter and Regulus Black their lives, and Sirius Black twelve years of his.'

'But they're older now,' Hermione offered. 'Older and wiser.'

'I'm disappointed in you, Miss Granger.' McGonagall smiled at her, a woman-to-woman smile. 'Boys never grow up, they just get bigger, and some get bigger than others.'

*****