Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/
works/7866322.
  Rating:
      Explicit
  Archive Warning:
      Rape/Non-Con, Major_Character_Death, Underage
  Fandom:
      Harry_Potter_-_J.K._Rowling
  Relationship:
      Lucius_Malfoy/Severus_Snape, Sirius_Black/Severus_Snape
  Character:
      Severus_Snape, Sirius_Black, Lucius_Malfoy
  Additional Tags:
      Drama, Incest
  Collections:
      Ink_Stained_Fingers
  Stats:
      Published: 2005-10-12 Words: 26625
****** Best Savoured Cold ******
by Scaranda [archived by ISF_Archivist]
Summary
     It is the nature of species to become extinct as the world changes.
     The dodo and the dinosaur were helpless onlookers as the last of
     their kind began to die away. When the same threat became real to the
     Malfoys, Abraxus decided to take matters into his own hands.
Notes
     This story was originally archived at Ink_Stained_Fingers, which was
     created in 2002 as a home for Harry Potter slash fiction. To preserve
     the archive, we began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an
     Open Doors-approved project in January 2015. We e-mailed all authors
     about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached
     everyone. If you are (or know) this author or artist, please contact
     me using the e-mail address at the Ink_Stained_Fingers_collection
     profile.
     Author's notes: Thanks to Pauline for her beta, as always.
Best Savoured Cold




  Lucius Malfoy was giving his cock the usual casual attention he gave it
  when he read the Sunday Papers in bed. He'd finished with the "Wizard
  Times", or at least he'd finished with the bits he was interested in and
  his free hand strayed to the "Sunday Prophet". He drew in a little gasp
  over his capped teeth as the silk sheet moved with him and ever so gently
  rubbed over the tip of his cock, that felt good. He considered abandoning
  the paper and finishing the job in hand, left hand that was, but he wasn't
  entirely sure that the effort wouldn't be too much for him, it was Sunday
  after all. He looked to his side but his companion was asleep, there was no
  help for him there, by the time he woke him up properly and Snape
  complained and got up for a pee and came back to bed in a foul mood the
  notion would have left Lucius and he'd still have the rest of Sunday to
  stagger through.

  He sighed and went back to his castle in the air, letting it flit on the
  edges of his awareness as he opened the paper and found himself looking
  back at the object of his fantasies, it was such a pity the picture was
  below the banner headline "WANTED, PREFERRABLY DEAD". He let his hand move
  a little faster, let its grip tighten on his shaft as he felt himself drown
  in those eyes but he couldn't hold the paper open and keep up the delicious
  stroking without three hands, the damn paper kept creasing and his arm was
  getting sore from holding it up in one position. If Severus was any kind of
  friend he would have woken of his own accord and at least held the image
  over Lucius whilst he brought himself off, or even given him a nice blow
  job to help him on his way. He wondered how discreetly he could enquire
  about how to buy the wanted man's freedom, Lucius Malfoy knew everything
  had a monetary value, except himself of course, he was beyond price.

  'Can't you lie at peace for five minutes?' Snape muttered from his side.

  Lucius let his eyes flick shut, let his cock drop from his hand and let his
  lip curl in dissatisfaction, he hated Sunday. 'I was asleep. Why did you
  wake me.'

  'Don't tell lies.' Severus turned. 'You've been jacking off and reading the
  papers, Lucius. It's Sunday.'

  'Only because you've been neglecting me.' He let a small smile curl his
  mouth as his cock reawakened itself. 'Look, you've got your picture in the
  paper again.'

  Severus sat up and swiped the heavy black hair away from his face. 'Damn
  and fuck. I thought they would have got tired of me by now.'

  'The price on your head is now a thousand Galleons, perhaps I shall offer
  to buy you out for two thousand.'

  'You haven't got two thousand galleons, Lucius,' Snape smirked. 'You
  haven't got two brass knuts. Don't you read your mail?'

  Lucius waved his hand airily. 'Nonsense. I have my trusts and my bonds and
  all sorts of things.'

  'I'm not sure how to explain this.' Snape looked at him, the fabled family
  insanity seemed to be encroaching on Lucius even quicker than could be
  reasonably expected, that would be a pity; Severus wanted Malfoy sane
  enough to realise what was happening to him.

  'But you'll try,' Lucius arched his silver eyebrow in amusement. 'Just
  don't be too boring, Severus.'

  'Gringotts are about to foreclose on Malfoy Estates.' Severus saw that
  remark had gone over Malfoy's head. 'When you spend more than you earn,
  Lucius, is it necessary for your advisors, may Merlin help them, to offload
  certain assets to fund your lifestyle. And when such spending goes on year
  after year, with an expensive and acrimonious divorce thrown in for good
  measure, it soon becomes apparent to even the stupidest person that his
  capital is being depleted. Once this downward spiral begins, it feeds
  itself and continues at an alarming rate until the capital is all gone. And
  the goose that lays the golden egg is well and truly cooked.'

  'What are you trying to tell me, Severus?'

  'You're skint.'

  'Where did the geese come into it?' Lucius gave him an artfully puzzled
  look.

  'Will you listen to me, you hopelessly inbred idiot? Any moment now the
  ruddy Goblins will bounce one of your pledges, either to your tailor or
  your ruddy candle maker or anyone else who has been foolish enough to
  accept one instead of cash, and the very worse will have happened. Your
  credit rating will be impugned. They will sell the manor and your personal
  effects and at the end of day you will be left with sweet fuck all as the
  lawyers, accountants and liquidators pick over the scraps.'

  'You worry too much, Severus,' Lucius smiled. 'I shall liquidate some
  assets.'

  Snape grabbed his throat. 'You have no assets, you fool. They are mortgaged
  so many times that their value has no hope of ever paying off your capital
  debt.'

  'How did you let me get into a mess like that?'

  'No, no, Lucius. I shall sit back satisfied in the knowledge that you have
  brought yourself to penury entirely on your own.'

  'Now, what am I supposed to do?' Malfoy had adopted a rather unpleasant
  whine.

  'The only thing a man of your class and breeding should ever consider.'
  Snape smiled, it made him look as though he had indigestion. 'Get married
  again.'

  'To a woman?' Lucius gave him a sidelong look as he let his hand rest high
  on Severus's thigh.

  'Of course you could consider working for a living instead,' Snape supplied
  in confidence that one option was every bit as unlikely as the other.

  'Don't be facetious.' Lucius let the hand travel across to the heavy balls
  but Severus was adept at keeping his mind focussed on one point even whilst
  his body focussed on another.

  'In that case I suggest we start our search for someone with a lot of money
  and very good sense of humour.'

  'Is a fuck out of the question?' Lucius wanted to shut him up now, he had
  things firmly in hand, the press, the situation Snape thought he was in and
  the same Snape's cock to mention but three. 'Only you've quite upset me.'

  *****

  'I have a confession to make, Severus,' Lucius said over the Daily Prophet.


  'Spare me, please.'

  'I want you to come and see something in the cellar.' He laid the paper
  down where it was open at the Situations Vacant page; Severus noticed he
  had circled an advert halfway down the page.

  'You do have ambition after all,' he smirked as he snatched the paper and
  scanned the advert. "Wanted, tall leggy blond for dance routines and
  servicing clients". Apply the Leaky Cauldron, ask for Tom.' Snape looked at
  him suspiciously. 'I'm not sure you're quite what they have in mind.'

  'It was a joke,' Malfoy replied, a touch unconvincingly. 'Severus, I want
  you to get us out of this mess.' Lucius looked around the dining hall with
  its tasteless paintings of generations of Malfoys all smirking down their
  aristocratic noses, their white blond hair and grey eyes suggesting that
  the meticulous washing of their blood over the centuries had also laundered
  the colour out of their bodies. If anyone had really looked closely at the
  occasionally slack mouthed or weak chinned ancestors he would have seen
  what he'd missed, there wasn't an insane one amongst them.

  'I need to stay here.' Lucius looked around again, smiling in affection at
  the wooden floors, covered with layer upon layer of Turkish rugs, where
  dust bunnies chased one another at the slightest draught. He bestowed a
  fond look on the heavy red velvet curtains which had fed so many moths that
  it was a miracle in itself that they still had the wherewithal for their
  dusty drop to the floor. 'I don't fit in anywhere else and I need you to
  deliver a message for me.'

  'Let's see what we can do,' Snape relented. He knew it wasn't quite as
  black as he'd painted it, but it was getting close. Some of Lucius's mail
  was quite disturbing and Severus wasn't quite ready to let the dogs have
  him yet, he wanted something first; he had to get him to understand that he
  had pull in his horns and any other bits that were sticking out. One whiff
  of money trouble and the whole lot would come down around his ears, moths
  and all.

  'I was so happy, all I ever wanted to be was rich,' Lucius smiled vacantly
  as Snape shot him another suspicious look.

  'What was this thing you wanted to show me anyway?' he asked. Lucius was
  holding out on something, but then he supposed he'd really known that.
  Lucius the fool was only one of Malfoy's disguises, one quite often
  presented to the unwary, a bit like the pretty furry coat on a sleeping
  jungle cat. It was just as foolish to poke Malfoy with a stick; he could
  turn just as quickly and with often more disastrous results.

  'It's in the vaults.' Lucius stood up grandly. 'Follow on Macbeth.'

  'It's "lay on, Macduff".' Snape rolled his eyes; wondering why on earth
  he'd bothered, there was absolutely no point he told himself firmly.

  Malfoy gave him a hard look, the one to let him know that he'd shed one
  persona and donned another. 'I know, but you're following, aren't you?'

  *****

  'Where did you get it?' Snape swallowed hard.

  'Good?' Lucius grinned his expensive grin. 'It'll take the pressure off
  won't it?'

  'It would depress the price of gold for a century.' If he hadn't already
  tested its authenticity Severus would have sworn it couldn't be real.
  Nobody could have that much gold, not even Gringotts, he corrected himself,
  not even Lucius. 'Is this yours?'

  'Almost.' Lucius smiled, the inane look had left his eyes, the smile was
  cold and calculating and about as sane as a smile could be. 'Some of it is.
  Most of it, I suppose.'

  'What exactly do you mean by that?'

  Lucius took his arm confidentially and looked around the empty vault as
  though to check they were indeed alone. 'It's Salazar Slytherin's.'

  'Who?'

  'Come, come, Severus, you must have heard of him, even I have.'

  'What's it doing here?' Snape asked. 'He's been dead for a thousand years.'

  'Well, you know how he left Hogwarts when they began to let trash in?'
  Malfoy didn't wait for an answer. 'Well, he was rather heavily indebted to
  the Malfoys at the time. And before he left Britain he sold all of his
  possessions, except for a few, paid his debts and left the balance of the
  money he would not need for his travels with my ultimate grandfather, who
  just happened to be married to Amarlirra Slytherin.'

  'Who?'

  'Salazar Slytherin's sister,' Lucius said. He'd dropped any pretence of
  being anything but the Malfoy he truly was. 'Anyway, as a wedding gift to
  his sister, which he hadn't been able to afford when his money was all tied
  up, he granted that Amarlirra keep any and all interest that was earned on
  his money. It was a considerable amount for the day and it's just sort of
  grown. Of course it would be churlish to keep it all, I mean if the old man
  ever did return I'd need to give him the original amount.' He finished a
  bit like the way Severus had explained about his money the day before, as
  though explaining the obvious to an idiot.

  'Which was?'

  Lucius laughed. 'About a ten thousand galleons in today's money.'

  'Are you saying that that gold has been hanging about for a thousand
  years?'

  'Oh no, every now and again a Malfoy gets into bother with the goblins or
  some such and we use it to restore the balance. It's a kind of slush fund.'

  'Why didn't you tell me about this Lucius?' Snape frowned.

  'I didn't need to.' Lucius took his arm. 'I only showed you it today
  because you were worried, I wouldn't have shown you it at all otherwise.
  Take what you need to get the goblins off my back; I have already earned
  more staving them off than the interest they have added. Make sure you do a
  deal about the interest as well, it's good hard gold they're getting.'

  'Did Tom Riddle know about this?'

  Lucius gave him another hard look. 'Certainly not, do you think I wanted
  that Halfblood upstart trying to claim half the family fortune. He didn't
  even know Salazar had a sister. He might have been the heir to Salazar
  Slytherin, but I'm the heir to the money.' He began to walk away from the
  vault. 'Go to Gringotts tomorrow and make sure you don't get lifted by the
  Aurors. I have something to do anyway.'

  'Why can't you go yourself? I nearly got arrested the last time I went
  out,' Snape complained. He was aware that somewhere over the past hour
  their roles had reversed, he almost heard Lucius's whine in his own voice,
  it wasn't as feeling he cared for.

  'Because I need to get the price taken off your head.'

  They had reached the bottom of the stairs and Snape looked back to the
  vault; he wasn't surprised to see it had disappeared. This changed things,
  he mulled to himself, as he followed Malfoy up the stairs, both for the
  better and the worse.

  *****

  'How much will it take?' Lucius said to the man opposite him.

  'I can't do it Lucius, even you haven't got that much money.'

  'Try me.'

  'No deal, Malfoy. Snape takes his medicine or stays on the run for the rest
  of his natural, which, given the interest in the case, won't be too long.
  Anyway, he'll only get a few years, three at the most if he's a good boy
  when he's inside. I can do that much for him.'

  'You don't want him locked away any more than I do,' Lucius flared. 'What
  is the point of this?'

  'How do you know what I want?'

  'Let us call it an educated guess. Perhaps I should let slip, in certain
  circles, just what deal we cut five years ago to allow you out of Azkaban?'

  'Fuck you, Malfoy.' Sirius stood up.

  Both men turned at the same time as the door opened.

  *****

  It was too late; Snape had already dropped the Charms he'd cast to go to
  Gringotts.

  'Well, well, Black. Come to claim your petty revenge, have you?' He threw
  Lucius a look and turned his attention back to the man opposite him. 'It is
  as they say after all; every dog has his day, even you. Forget it, Lucius,
  even you haven't got enough money to buy him, I blame Godric Gryffindor
  myself, he filled their heads with noble intentions instead of brains, no
  wonder Salazar walked.'

  Lucius looked from one man to the other, he hadn't intended this, damnit,
  it was in fact the last thing he wanted. He'd worked so hard to keep them
  apart. 'I'm sure that Black can find it somewhere in his heart to forget
  that he saw you, without you taking recourse to the more unpleasant methods
  you have at your disposal.' He knew neither man had noticed that he'd
  lifted his wand and had the business end pointed below his vast desk, at
  Sirius's balls. 'Let us behave like the gentlemen we all are, Black,' he
  said with his teeth admirably ungritted, 'and let this pass. I'm sure if
  Severus were to leave the room that you would forget he was here at all.'

  'Behave, Lucius,' Sirius said in a low dangerous voice. 'You know as well
  as I do that everyone knows he's here. One more thing, you arrogant fuck,
  don't ever point a wand at me again unless you intend to use it.' He smiled
  his cold smile as Lupin appeared in a cloud of dust from behind the
  curtains, grabbed Lucius's wand arm and sent the weapon skittering across
  the wooden floor. 'Especially not at my balls.' Sirius stood up and walked
  towards the door. 'And don't forget to ward your windows, you never know
  what's hanging about outside.'

  He stopped at Snape on the way out. 'You'd be better off doing your stint
  than staying with that, Snape.' He nodded to where Lucius still sat behind
  his desk. 'You're a disappointment; I thought you had more guts. Come on,
  Moony, let's go.'

  *****

  Snape said nothing until the cold fury had subsided along with the cold
  hardness in his cock. 'Are you insane?' he whispered once he had some sort
  of command over himself. 'No, don't answer that, let me assure you the
  question was rhetorical.'

  'Calm down, Severus. Black is only interested in money, he is, after all, a
  bounty hunter. He will be back once he works out what he thinks I can
  afford to pay, he will ask for double and I will pay him quarter.'

  'He isn't interested in money, you idiot, he doesn't need money any more
  than you do, he throws his scraps to the wolf. Black is only interested in
  whatever scalp has the biggest price of the day so that he can cover
  himself in pathetic glory.'

  'Everybody is interested in money, Severus,' Lucius said coolly. 'Now stop
  making a fuss, if Black really wanted you he wouldn't have left without
  you.'

  Snape didn't reply, wasn't that just the fucking story of his life to date,
  if Black had really wanted him, he wouldn't have left without him; he
  wasn't sure that Lucius hadn't meant the double entendre. He turned away,
  sickened; by Lucius, by Black's presence but most of all by his own
  weakness.

  'Severus,' Lucius called after him, but he didn't turn, he didn't want to
  have to lie to the question in the grey eyes, he'd more important things on
  his mind.

  *****

  'Just leave it, Moony. Let the bastard serve his sentence where he is.
  It'll be ten times worse than anything Azkaban could ever hope to dish up.
  Malfoy's toady,' Sirius spat the words out in disgust, 'pathetic.'

  Remus watched him, he couldn't remember ever seeing Sirius so angry. 'What
  were you going to do with him anyway?' he asked as he lit one of Sirius's
  cigarettes. 'Keep him a prisoner here?'

  'I was going to collect the bounty and hand him over of course, what do you
  think?'

  'Of course,' Lupin nodded. 'As if.'

  Sirius uncorked the Glenmorangie and splashed a heavy slug into the tumbler
  he'd been glaring at. He tossed it back before pouring another and wetting
  the bottom of Lupin's glass.

  'Sure you can spare it?' the Werewolf raised his eyebrow.

  'Not entirely,' Sirius snapped back. 'I'm not good company tonight, Old
  Wolf, Malfoy really got on my tits.'

  'I'll just go then,' Lupin said as he looked out at the rain,
  unenthusiastically. 'We'll sort something.'

  'What's that supposed to mean?'

  'It means that I'm fed up walking on eggshells every time Snape's name is
  mentioned, every time his name appears in the papers, every time anything
  that might associate itself with Snape comes up. In short Sirius, if you
  can't get over him, do something about it.' Lupin grabbed his worn old
  travelling cloak. 'But don't blame me or Lucius or anyone else, you did it
  all by yourself.'

  Sirius glared at him as he pulled on the cloak, he'd given Lupin a new one
  a few weeks ago, he knew it hung on the back of the door, he'd only worn
  the old one to Malfoy Manor to stay in character. 'Is that supposed to be
  some sort of fucking statement?'

  'Yeah, it's supposed to say that you're not the only one who can be fucking
  stubborn.'

  *****

  'Fifteen thousand galleons.'

  'Don't be absurd,' Malfoy retorted.

  'Plus I collect the bounty from the Ministry, and your boy's off the hook.'
  Sirius held Malfoy's cold grey eyes.

  'And how, may I ask, do you intend to work all that?' Lucius smiled with
  the charm of a scorpion with its stinger raised. 'Doesn't one require a
  body for a bounty or did they change the rules when I wasn't looking?'

  'Leave the logistics up to me, Shirley; I wouldn't want to tax your mind.
  After all, it's got your hair to hold up.'

  Lucius flared his nostrils at Sirius's use of the nickname the Gryffindors
  had used behind his back at Hogwarts. 'I need a bit more than your smart
  words, Black, as I recall your plans have a remarkable knack of falling
  apart, just at the tickly bit.'

  'I've cut a deal with someone at the Ministry. The charges will be dropped,
  they were spurious anyway,' Sirius smiled, 'but we both knew that.'

  Lucius stood up; he refused to act the mad Malfoy any longer. 'You may send
  me an owl when you have a sensible offer, Mr Black, good day.'

  'Sit down, Lucius, or I'll blow the gaff.' Sirius didn't look up; he sat
  smoking and looking at the space Malfoy had vacated. 'There are two Aurors
  standing at the door, on my word they'll lift you for harbouring a criminal
  with intent to pervert the course of justice, the current penalty for which
  is three years in Azkaban, without a hair dryer.'

  'You wouldn't dare,' Lucius replied in a low hiss of fury as he sat back
  down. 'I could have left you to rot, you ungrateful bastard.'

  'Maybe you should have, for all I came out to.'

  'That's what this is all about?' Lucius looked at him as though
  comprehension was dawning. 'The charges, the price on his head,
  everything?'

  'Payback time, sport,' Sirius grinned. 'Or maybe I'll just tell Severus
  instead.'

  'Five thousand,' Lucius said without further preamble.

  'Did you have problem with the number fifteen, Malfoy? Can't you count that
  high?' Sirius let his cold smile twitch his lips. 'Just count out five
  thousand then. Do it three times.'

  'Seven.'

  Sirius stood up and nodded to the two men at the door. 'I'm out of here,
  see ya.'

  'All right, Black, fifteen.'

  Sirius sat back down, relieved, he hadn't a clue who the two punters
  standing at he door were. 'Now that wasn't so hard, was it?' He took a
  Muggle ballpoint pen from his pocket and scribbled a few numbers on the
  linen napkin below the crest of Lucius's London Club. 'That's my Gringotts
  account number, see the money's in there tomorrow.'

  'Leave him alone, Black,' Lucius said quietly as Sirius stood up again.
  'Leave us both alone now, you've got what you wanted.'

  'If I didn't hate you as much as I do I'd feel sorry for you, Lucius.'
  Sirius smiled his cold smile again. 'Have Severus ready for me to interview
  tomorrow afternoon, after the money's in my account.'

  'That wasn't part of the deal,' Lucius flared.

  'It is now.' Sirius began to walk away. 'Make sure he's there, Lucius, or I
  might just let it slip to the "Prophet" certain irregularities about the
  origins of the charges against him in the first place. You might think
  you're a great actor but you don't fool me.'

  If Lucius had had a heart he would have felt it turn over in his chest.

  *****

  'Why should he need to interview me?'

  'Just do it, Severus, and let us put this business behind us.'

  'This is lunacy, he's a ruddy bounty hunter, he has no authority in the
  Ministry. I refuse to explain my whereabouts on the day he probably trumped
  up the fictitious charges against me anyway. I should never have listened
  to you in the first place; I had nothing to hide. I should have gone to
  Kingsley Shacklebolt immediately this nonsense reared its ugly head.' He
  didn't add that he had other things on his mind at the time, he'd been
  quite happy to let Lucius play his stupid game, it kept him occupied.

  'But you didn't and your silence and absence from the Wizarding Community
  was taken as an admission of you guilt.'

  'On your advice, if I recall, although I must admit to the guilt of
  momentary madness for ever listening to it. Why were you dealing with Black
  anyway? Why didn't you go to Kingsley?'

  'Why don't you get yourself off the hook, next time?' Lucius began
  attacking the food on his plate again. 'Anyway, I shall be with you. There
  will be no problems, I have dealt with it.'

  'How comforting.' Snape pushed his plate away; the lamb was overdone
  anyway.

  *****

  'If you would be so kind as to excuse us now, Lucius, I need to speak to
  Severus alone.'

  'Not under my roof,' Lucius replied smoothly.

  'Suit yourself, I had thought you wanted this kept private but we can do it
  just as well at the Ministry.'

  'Don't push your luck, Black.' Lucius stood up and removed his pocket
  watch; he didn't like this. 'You have fifteen minutes.'

  Sirius waited until the door had closed and turned to the pale unforgiving
  man who was standing looking out of the window. He had felt his cock stir
  as Snape had come into the room earlier and he'd smelt the arousal on
  Severus, he wondered what he was going to do with the fifteen minutes he'd
  bought himself.

  He had a few options. He could tell Severus that he'd done a deal to get
  out of Azkaban by promising Lucius he would stay away from him and keep
  quiet about the fact that Lucius had been with Peter Pettigrew when Sirius
  had all but dispatched him, but that would mean admitting that Lucius had
  let him get banged up, not for the supposed crime of the aforementioned
  Peter, but as revenge for Sirius shagging Narcissa and James, both at the
  same time, in the first place. He didn't think that explanation would take
  less than an hour. He could even tell Snape that he'd found out that the
  charges levied against him emanated from none other than redoubtable Lucius
  himself in some mad attempt to keep Snape under his power, that one might
  take even longer.

  It was Snape who startled him from his reverie. 'What, in the name of all
  that is sacred, is this about?'

  'It's about you explaining how you got into this stupid mess. I have
  paperwork to do.'

  'I didn't know you could write.'

  'Just shut up and strip, Snape. I don't want to be here anymore than you
  want me here.'

  'Strip? Are you mad?'

  'I don't intend to find myself at the business end of any wand you've
  stored about your person.' Sirius gave him as hard a look as he could
  manage without keeping too much eye contact. 'Shed your kit.'

  'Very well,' Snape began to take off his black frockcoat, 'let me assure
  you, however, that if you seek to humiliate me as you have sought in the
  past, you have once again picked the wrong target.'

  'Just get a move on, the clock's ticking. We wouldn't want Lucius to come
  in and find you naked, I'm sure even he would find it difficult to believe
  the charges against you were untrue if he did.' He watched Snape for a
  reaction, but it either seemed that he didn't know that it was Lucius who
  had set him up in the first place or he didn't care.

  Severus threw the coat on a chair and began unbuttoning his silk
  undershirt, his hair hanging over his face as he pulled himself free of it
  and tossed it after the coat. The black shoes came next, followed by the
  socks. He began unbuttoning his trousers and Sirius wished he could follow
  suit, it was becoming warm in the room. Severus let the trousers drop to
  the floor and stepped out of them, Sirius had to stifle his gasp, the last
  person he'd expected to go commando was Snape.

  'Now what?' He raised his black eyebrow. 'Or have you had enough free
  thrills for the day?'

  Sirius didn't allow his eyes to drop, it took a manful effort not to let
  them fall to where Snape's cock nestled in the thatch of thick silky hair.
  'Pass over your clothes and redress as I hand them back to you.' He kept
  his voice low and calm as Snape turned and helped himself to a cigarette
  from the silver box on the coffee table as he picked up his silk shirt
  first and handed it to Sirius.

  He bent over the fire to light a taper and Sirius let his eyes slide over
  him quickly, he'd filled out a little, he was still slim but the boyish
  angles had all been padded lightly with a layer of fine muscle and a mat of
  fine hair, all over his back and arse and the backs of his legs to his
  white feet. Sirius felt the physical jolt as he turned with the lit
  cigarette dangling from his lips and his eyes slightly squinted against the
  first smoke. He took the cigarette from his mouth, leaving it open, and let
  the smoke drift from his parted lips as he raised his damn eyebrow.

  'Pass over the trousers, Snape,' Sirius breathed.

  Snape threw them across the space between them without letting go of
  Sirius's eyes. 'I can assure you that you will not find anything you're
  looking for.'

  The arrogant fuck was laughing at him, Sirius fumed as he checked the
  trousers for the wand he'd always known wasn't there, they were still warm
  and the dog in him could scent the man. He had to get himself out of this
  insanity into which he'd landed himself. He found he was still fingering
  the soft alpaca; no cheap stuff now, Severus Snape had come up in the
  world; he wondered if that was why he'd succumbed to Malfoy dubious charms,
  he doubted that, he didn't think he was that shallow.

  'What are you looking for, Black?'

  Fuck it, Sirius thought to himself, he'd lost the place anyway; he was the
  one who was supposed to be in control, the one who was dealing out the
  humiliation here. 'I was just wondering where the hard on you had a while
  back went, I thought maybe you'd put it in your pocket.'

  'Ahhh, perhaps the fuel of my fantasies left the room.'

  'I don't believe that for a second.' Sirius wished he'd shut that fucking
  mouth instead of leaving it open like a fucking invitation. For a man as
  unarguably ugly as Snape was he packed an unfair amount of sex appeal.

  'Why did you leave without me?' Snape asked.

  'What?' Sirius blinked as the question caught him off guard.

  'The shelter, why did you leave without me?'

  'Someone told me you'd already left.' Sirius looked away.

  'Is that the best you can do?'

  'Yes.' Sirius gave him a hard look, one he suspected was sadly off the
  mark; it was better than telling him it had been Lucius who'd told him,
  something was going on under the surface here and it intrigued him. He
  handed Snape the trousers. 'Get dressed before Lucius comes in.'

  'He's not coming in,' Snape replied and drew on the remains of the
  cigarette and threw it onto the fire. 'Not until I let him.'

  Sirius frowned. 'What do you mean?'

  'I mean that I know just who set me up as a wanted man, I know exactly why
  he did so just as I also know that he is right now standing behind that
  door, fast asleep and will remain that way until I lift the restraints from
  his mind. It seems his pocket watch has stopped as well.' Snape let a smirk
  curl his mouth. 'Now all I need to know is whether it was Lucius who told
  you I had left the shelter and abandoned me to what could quite easily have
  been my death only to stage his own daring rescue once the heat was off.'

  'Why do you stay with him?' Sirius frowned.

  'Do I take that as a yes, then?' Snape replied. 'Don't bother to answer. I,
  however, shall answer you in part. I stay here for a few reasons, mainly
  because the lifestyle is good without the drudgery which attaches itself to
  real employment, and I am waiting.'

  'For what?'

  'I'm not entirely sure, but I feel that I shall recognise it when it comes
  along.' He raised his eyebrow again. 'Do not underestimate Lucius, Black.
  He is very dangerous and even more powerful than I had suspected. His
  wealth, contrary to current opinion, is so vast that there are few doors he
  cannot open or silences he cannot buy. In fact there is possibly nothing
  that Lucius cannot buy.'

  'Except for what he really wants?'

  'Converse to the charges laid at my door, I am not for sale.' Snape turned
  again. 'Now are you going to take off your clothes or do I have to rip them
  from you and throw you over that settee and fuck the living daylights out
  of you to see if your technique has improved over the past twenty years? I
  already know your foreplay hasn't.'

  'I haven't been practicing much,' Sirius grinned weakly.

  *****

  Lucius found himself standing in the middle of the hall, for a moment he
  couldn't remember whether he was on his way to the drawing room or the way
  back, he shouldn't have drunk so much at lunchtime. He pulled out his
  pocket watch, fourteen minutes. He walked silently to the door, pressed his
  ear to it and heard nothing; he didn't like that. The doors in Malfoy Manor
  opened automatically on Lucius's unspoken command and the drawing room door
  was no different, he held his breath as it swung into the room.

  Snape was sitting at the fire smoking and Black was scribbling something on
  a scroll, he stood up and crossed to Snape, handing him a quill to sign the
  document.

  'I hope you didn't pay this impostor, Lucius,' Severus said as he nodded to
  the scroll. 'Any idiot could have done that, yourself included.'

  'Watch your mouth, Snape,' Black said in a flat tone, 'or I might forget to
  hand this in.'

  Lucius let the relief slip through him, there was nothing but animosity
  between the two of them, he shouldn't have worried, he shouldn't have paid
  the Animagus so much money either but that was past. 'I would ask you to
  stay for dinner, Black, but the tin opener's broken.' He held the door open
  as though it couldn't manage itself. 'Do I require to have you frisked
  before you leave the premises?'

  'Not unless you want your neck broken, Malfoy.' Sirius stood back up with a
  cold smile. 'I'll try not to lift my leg against the furnishings on my way
  out.'

  *****

  Lupin looked over the paper; he'd just finished reading the retraction at
  the bottom of page seven, underneath the advertisement for Gilderoy
  Lockhart's newest permanent waving lotion. 'I see Snape's a free man
  again.'

  'Yeah,' Sirius said shortly from where he was peeking under the cards he'd
  dealt himself to improve his poker skills.

  'Did you have anything to do with that?'

  'Yeah.'

  'Does Lucius know?'

  'Yeah,' Sirius looked up at last, 'it was Lucius who paid me to do it.'

  'I don't understand what went on.'

  'He was fitted up, Moony. I was owed a couple of favours and called them in
  and sorted it and Lucius paid me some serious dough to do it. Worked out
  quite well, actually.'

  'Except?'

  'Except nothing. I paid your rent for this year and the last three months
  and you got the money I wanted you to get, it's in your account.'

  'Did you see him?' Lupin looked away, he'd never got used to Sirius bailing
  him out, but he didn't have the strength to argue any more, he didn't have
  the money to pay the rent either.

  'Who, Lucius?'

  'Awww, fuck off, Sirius, I'm not going to drag it out of you.'

  Sirius watched his back as he pulled on his cloak, his good one this time
  he noticed. He considered calling him back, but he really couldn't be
  bothered speaking to anyone. He thought he'd get drunk instead.

  He didn't know what he'd expected, maybe some sort of dropping of
  hostility, somewhere he could stop the rot and begin the crawl back over
  twenty years, maybe he'd even hoped Snape would meet him halfway, or at
  least stop running in the opposite direction. He hadn't of course, he done
  what he wanted, he'd humiliated Sirius when Sirius had set out, on the face
  of it, to humiliate him, he'd got his tabs on Lucius and he had come out of
  the whole thing, perhaps not smelling of roses but at least he didn't smell
  of manure either. Severus had got exactly what he wanted, and the irony was
  that he was the only one who had. He wondered if revenge would keep him
  warm at night and how he was going to use it, something about the Snape's
  calm acceptance made Sirius uneasy.

  He'd only go through less than half the bottle of malt when he looked up
  from his one handed poker game, he was worried that he even had to cheat
  when he was the only one playing. Some noisy bastard was knocking on his
  door, Lupin must have forgotten to recast the Charms as he left, he hoped
  it wasn't ruddy carol singers; he didn't think they called in May though.

  *****

  He was on a different plane of existence, another place where all he
  recognised was the touch of the man above him. He was sweating, heaving for
  breath, limbs taut and secured with silk rope, the delicious aching
  reminding him of who he was, what he was. He tried to raise his torso for
  the touch he knew was going to be denied, it wouldn't be long though, he
  could see Severus was having to stifle his own needs now, that only served
  to excite him more.

  He felt his limbs being released from their bindings and one leg being
  lifted up onto Severus's shoulder as he let a groan of anticipation slip
  out, he couldn't help it. He felt Snape run his hands down over his aching
  balls and down under him to find the chain of the stainless steel plug he
  had put inside him. He'd screamed when he'd felt the violation of the cold
  unyielding steel, almost in fear, but not quite, if Severus had appeared
  over him with a chainsaw in one hand he would have trusted him. He'd warmed
  the plug now, with his own body heat, once he got used to it he had felt
  oddly comforted by it. Severus had called it a pacifier.

  He felt him pull gently on the chain, which hung out of his body, with a
  tinge of regret, he felt almost bereft as he sensed it sliding slowly away
  from him, leaving him empty, vacant, waiting to be filled again.

  He watched Snape throw back his head, he knew his own desires must be
  overflowing now, much like the way his own cock had been leaking a silky
  rope of precome. Sirius watched him spit on his hand and slick his cock.

  He broke his vow of silence again with a scream that ripped from his throat
  as Severus clipped off his prostate as his balls tightened and he felt
  Severus shudder his hot climax deep inside him. He wasn't sure if he
  actually passed out with the intensity of his own orgasm, it was almost too
  much to feel. He found himself whimpering and gasping with the force of the
  aftershocks as Snape collapsed on top of him.

  *****

  Lucius let his hand stray to Severus's waist, waiting for the tell tale
  flinch, the involuntary drawing away of the reluctant lover; he wasn't
  disappointed.

  'Your hands are cold,' Snape murmured as he sat up, he knew the excuse was
  lame.

  He watched the hurt flare in the grey depths to be doused a moment later by
  something else; he was going to have to be careful, too much and Lucius
  would become suspicious, not enough and he would become suspicious, Malfoy
  was nothing if not predictable.

  'I meant to ask, Severus,' he began, 'where on earth were you all day
  yesterday? Surely a visit to your tobacconist doesn't take an entire day.'

  'One of the reasons I did not marry was that I didn't care to answer
  questions concerning my whereabouts,' Snape replied, with just a hint of
  annoyance. 'I believe I am now a free man.'

  Lucius looked as though he was going to take the matter further and then
  seemed to change his mind. Severus slipped back down inside the bed, he'd
  managed to avoid making contact with Malfoy's body, quite a feat as it took
  up most of the available space, bits of it always seemed to be everywhere.
  He let Lucius stew in his own indecision for a bit, he wouldn't keep quiet
  for long.

  'Stay away from him, Severus,' he said quietly, at last.

  Snape was pleased to hear the uncertainty. 'Stay away from whom?' he asked
  coldly.

  'The Animagus.' Malfoy pulled the mixture of fur rugs and ancient
  eiderdowns aside and got out of bed.

  That move surprised Snape, but it didn't matter, it would save him the
  effort of a fuck he didn't really feel like right now. 'I don't know what
  you're talking about.' He let his eyes slide slowly to Lucius's; he had his
  own face composed into a cool mask. 'Why should I want any contact with
  Black?'

  'Why indeed?' Lucius was becoming angry and upset. 'He has nothing to offer
  you.'

  Snape said nothing; he knew Lucius would take his silence as an admission
  of some imagined guilt.

  'You were with him, weren't you? Yesterday, that's where you were.'

  'Yesterday, Lucius, I was at Hogwarts, my input has been missed somewhat
  over the past few weeks. I had a meeting with Dumbledore and Minerva and
  the Minister of Magic amongst others, none of whom was Sirius Black.'
  Severus got up from his own side of the bed. He threw Lucius a look of
  disgust as he walked past him. He was quite pleased with how he'd handled
  that, he'd wrong footed him nicely, he'd quite enjoyed that. He knew Lucius
  would check just who was at Hogwarts, perhaps he'd find out that Severus
  had only been there for a short time, perhaps not, it didn't really matter,
  for now he had turned the tables quite neatly on him.

  'Severus,' Malfoy called to him as he passed out of the bedroom into the
  bathroom. 'He can't love you the way I do. Nobody can.' He'd dropped the
  hostility and accusation from his voice, just the uncertainty remained,
  just the hesitation.

  That much was true, Snape thought to himself as he closed the door, leaving
  Lucius standing in the middle of the floor. Malfoy was a wonderful actor;
  he reminded himself not to let his guard down.

  *****

  Sirius was still playing poker when Lupin came back two days later, he
  didn't lift his head from his game as the Werewolf slid down into a chair
  opposite him. There was still a whisky bottle on the table and Lupin began
  to wonder if he'd moved at all since he'd left.

  'You've got to stop this, Sirius,' he said quietly. 'You'll kill yourself.'

  He blinked in surprise as Sirius eventually dragged his attention from
  where he'd somehow managed to bluff himself. He was clean-shaven and the
  expected dull blue of his eyes was clear and sparkling instead. 'You're a
  mess, Old Wolf, have you been sleeping in a dustbin?' he grinned the old
  familiar grin, the one Lupin hadn't really seen for a while, something like
  twenty years.

  'What are you up to?' Lupin nodded to the whisky bottle. 'I thought you'd
  been sitting drinking since I left.' He noticed there was another glass on
  the table; it didn't look like the one he'd been drinking from the other
  day.

  Sirius gave the whisky bottle a disinterested look. 'Nah, I just haven't
  put it away.'

  'Had a visitor?' Lupin nodded to the glass. He knew that Sirius was playing
  with him now.

  'Yeah.'

  'Enjoying his freedom, is he?' Lupin felt the smile, he was trying to
  suppress, slip though.

  'Seems to be.' Sirius stood up and stretched. He gave Lupin another grin.
  'Anything else you want to know?'

  'Nope,' he smiled again. 'That just about covers it I think. Is there
  anything to eat here, I'm starving?'

  'Kreacher made breakfast so I think you'll want to discount that,' Sirius
  grinned again. 'Let's go out and get something. I feel like going somewhere
  posh and upsetting the clientele.'

  'Sure you can spare the time?' Lupin laughed. 'I wouldn't want to drag you
  away from more important matters.'

  Sirius looked across to the clock on the wall, it read two thirty, that
  would make it about eleven forty five, or so. 'Nah, I'm fine for a few
  hours. Anyway, I don't want to starve either. Who knows, I might need the
  energy later.'

  'Watch out for Malfoy, Sirius. He won't be pleased.'

  'I can live with that.'

  *****

  'I'm sorry, Mr Malfoy, that table is already taken.' Carlos bowed in
  apology. 'I wasn't expecting you and the other gentlemen have already sat
  down. The one next to it is free.' He wrung his hands in feigned despair.
  'Would that one do?'

  Snape nodded before Lucius got the chance to tell the unfortunate Carlos to
  move whomever had had the audacity to sit at his favourite table.

  They followed the strutting Maitre de through the busy restaurant. It took
  quite some time as Lucius felt obliged to ensure that everyone had noticed
  him, including the two men who looked across from the table set deep into
  the window recess. Snape smiled to himself, Lucius wasn't going to be
  pleased that the Werewolf was sitting on his seat. He considered his
  options quickly. 'Is this your idea of a joke?' he said coldly as Malfoy
  straightened from his brief chat with the outgoing Minister of Magic.

  'Pardon?' Malfoy gave him a puzzled look as he let his eyes sweep the
  restaurant again. The men who were sitting at the window table had turned
  around. He froze in his tracks, his nostrils flared in fury. 'Did you do
  this, Severus?'

  Snape continued walking. 'Don't be stupid, you only decided to go for lunch
  when the elves over cooked the lamb, again I may add. Come on, don't make
  an exhibition of yourself.' He smirked to himself; this was an unexpected
  little bonus.

  *****

  'Did you come here deliberately?' Lupin frowned.

  'Yeah,' Sirius grinned, 'but I didn't know they were coming. I thought this
  was a classy joint.'

  Lupin watched him uneasily. 'Don't start, Sirius. Don't make a scene.'

  'Trust me, Old Wolf.'

  Sirius watched Malfoy begin walking again from where he'd stopped in his
  tracks when he spotted them. He had to admit the old Snake looked good; he
  wondered what kind of fuck he was. He waited until Carlos had fussed them
  into their seats and stood up. 'Carlos,' he called loudly as the waiter
  straightened from spreading Lucius's napkin on his knees, 'make sure you
  get hard cash from Malfoy. I've been hearing rumours that his pledges
  aren't worth the parchment he scribbles them on these days.'

  'Sirius!' Lupin glared at him. 'You promised.'

  'I know,' Sirius sat back down and looked away in contrition, 'I lied.'

  *****

  'You just cannot help yourself, can you?'

  Sirius looked up from the Quidditch magazine he was reading over Lupin's
  shoulder. 'I see it didn't put him off lunch.'

  'Don't push him, Black. He a very dangerous man, and only a fool
  underestimates him.'

  'You do it all the time, I bet,' Sirius grinned as Lupin stood up. 'Stay,
  Old Wolf. I won't get such a row if you're here.'

  'I need to go, I'm meeting Bill and Charlie for a drink,' Remus lied. They
  didn't need him to play this game.

  Kreacher had been looking up at the men in turn as they spoke since leading
  Snape in, muttering over his shoulder about bastards in black, his grey
  green eyes filled with loathing. It was hard to tell which of them he hated
  most, they were such good candidates for his contempt. 'Kreacher will show
  out the sponging Halfblood contaminated abominable...' he broke off with a
  yelp before running out of adjectives as the Quidditch magazine caught him
  across his shiny head.

  Lupin smiled tightly at the elf that had dramatically prostrated itself at
  Sirius's feet, an action he should have thought better of in the Werewolf's
  mind. 'Thank you, Kreacher, I know the way.

  The elf put its hands over its pointed ears as though the very uttering of
  words from the Halfblood's mouth would somehow contaminate them as Sirius
  absently aimed the kick Lupin had anticipated.

  Sirius waited until he heard the door close and turned to Snape. 'Well, the
  foreplay was nice,' he grinned at the stony faced, black garbed man
  opposite him, trying to pick out what on earth it was that attracted him to
  him. 'Fancy a shag or did you just come to defend the fat blond?'

  Snape looked around the kitchen without bothering to veil his distaste at
  the surroundings. 'This place is a tip, can't you get that elf to clean it
  up a bit?'

  'Was that a yes?' Sirius had moved close to him now, he could hear him
  breathing, smell him, it was a heady mixture. The dog in him recognised
  Snape's sexual arousal, it was having an alarming effect on him, he began
  to feel almost light headed as his blood took route one to his own cock.

  He felt Snape drop his head to his shoulder as his knees began to buckle,
  he wondered if he was going to make it up the stairs, maybe Severus would
  just bend him over the kitchen table and fuck him there, it would be
  quicker that way, quick would be good. 'Fuck,' he groaned, wondering what
  it was about Snape that awakened such a hot rush of desire every time he
  saw him. It had always been the same.

  He found himself alone in the kitchen, Snape was standing in the hall,
  looking at the stairs, one hand on the black Spanish mahogany banister, a
  remnant of the days of glory when someone actually cared for the most Noble
  House of Black, polished now only by Sirius's hands as he staggered up the
  stairs drunk.

  'Are you coming?' Snape asked over his shoulder. 'Or shall I just start
  without you?'

  *****

  Sirius let his hand drift across the pale chest down to where the silky
  hair thickened, he could see Snape was deep in thought and he knew he
  wasn't the subject matter.

  'What are you up to?' he pulled himself up on one elbow and let his chin
  rest on his palm.

  'Up to?' Snape let his eyebrow rise. 'What makes you think I'm up to
  anything?'

  'I can hear the cogs from here.'

  Snape had hauled himself out of the bed and cast a quick glance about the
  room, curling his lip in distaste. 'Why do Wizards always seem to think
  that dust and cobwebs are an acceptable part of interior decoration?'

  'Don't go yet,' Sirius said, frowning as Snape changed the subject, 'it's
  still early.'

  'I need to get back, I want to spend some time with Lucius.'

  'You can spend tomorrow with him,' Sirius pouted.

  'And I probably shall do so, but tonight he will be feeling a little
  vulnerable.' He let a grim smirk twist his lips.

  'What are you up to, Snape?' Sirius repeated.

  'I have an experiment I want to work on.'

  There was no point in asking, Sirius supposed. 'Be careful,' he frowned
  instead. 'Remember your own advice, he's very dangerous.'

  'Thank you for that.' He had pulled on the white silk shirt and now he was
  pulling on the soft wool trousers. Sirius watched him as he put on the
  black boots before tucking the shirt in tightly and buttoning the trousers
  down to the ankles. The cravat came next; he wound it around his neck twice
  before tying the ends in a loose knot, which flattened the rest of the
  spare material into submission. When he put on his frockcoat the cravat had
  all but disappeared, Sirius wondered why he bothered. He turned in the
  doorway and held Sirius's eyes. 'I may not be back for quite some time.'

  'You're not coming back, are you?' Sirius felt his heart jump in
  realisation.

  Snape looked away. 'I have something to do, Black, I cannot afford
  distractions.'

  'It could work, Severus,' Sirius said to his back, hating the pleading tone
  in his voice. 'If we both tried it could work.'

  Snape turned again but his black eyes were unreadable. 'I have something to
  do, Black, and I cannot afford distractions,' he repeated.

  *****

  Malfoy stood up and made to top up Snape's wineglass.

  'Are you feeling well, Lucius?'

  'Of course I am. Why shouldn't I be?'

  'It's just that unless you have spiked the wine with poison or killed the
  elves I cannot think why you have risen to serve me at the table,' Snape
  replied with a smirk.

  Lucius slammed the bottle down. 'Pour it yourself then. And top mine up too
  while you're at it.'

  'What is the matter?'

  Malfoy looked away as he slumped back down into his seat. 'Nothing.'

  'It would be as well for you to tell me now, you'll only spoil your
  admirable appetite if you don't.'

  Lucius pushed his plate away; it was empty anyway. 'Are you seeing Sirius
  Black?'

  'You seem to have developed quite an obsession for Black over the past few
  days, Lucius. Is there something you want to tell me?'

  'Don't try to play your mind games with me, Severus. Just answer the
  question.'

  Severus looked at him, he was such a turmoil of doubts and indignation and
  anger and pain that he almost felt sorry for him. He was simmering nicely;
  it would be a pity to let him boil over just yet. He stood up and lifted
  the wine bottle from where Lucius had slammed it down. He went around
  Lucius's back and topped up his glass, letting his free hand rest on his
  shoulder. He could feel the tension. He dropped his head to Malfoy's and
  let his mouth find his neck as the hand squeezed his shoulder. The relief
  was palpable as Lucius moved back to his caress. His grey eyes were wide
  and ingenuous when he met Snape's, the naivety could almost be real,
  sometimes Severus suspected it was, just sometimes.

  'I'm not really hungry any more, Lucius,' he murmured.

  Malfoy looked at the table with regret, he hadn't had his pudding yet. He
  was a man torn between the twin highlights of his life, he could always
  have the apple pie later, it would keep, Severus, on the other hand, might
  not.

  *****

  Black had really taken it out of him, Snape cursed to himself as he willed
  his body to some type of reaction, realising with a jolt that he wasn't
  twenty anymore. He didn't want to bring Lucius off too quickly, he wanted
  him to feel secure again, nothing would be served if he felt rejected, not
  tonight. He pushed Lucius down with a hand on each shoulder, he had a
  wonderful mouth, it could awaken the dead, which was just as well, Severus
  thought wryly; he didn't look so powerful on his knees with a cock in his
  mouth either.

  He felt himself harden; Malfoy certainly knew how to turn him on. He let
  Lucius work him for a while; losing himself in the physical sensations;
  once he was sure he was aroused enough he dragged him to his feet and
  pushed him over to the bed.

  Lucius looked up at him. 'You're angry with me, aren't you?' He closed his
  eyes for a moment. 'I can tell.'

  'Shut up, Lucius, and speak only when you're spoken to,' he snapped and
  watched Malfoy's cock jump at the reprimand, slut that he was. He pulled
  his legs up onto his shoulders as though he was about to enter him and
  paused. 'You're right, I am angry. Turn over, slut, and bite the mattress
  instead, you don't deserve to look at me.'

  He watched the hunger flare in Malfoy's grey eyes, it suited his purpose
  well enough, but he needed him face down; he had things to do. He had to
  maintain his own arousal long enough to fuck Lucius into the floor, to make
  him feel needed; he'd something else to do as well. He turned Lucius over
  and shoved a couple of pillows under his stomach, as though his own gut
  wasn't enough to support him. He widened his eyes and two little pots
  appeared on the nightstand, one filled with a clear lubricant, the other
  one was empty, for the moment. He debated whether he should fantasise about
  Black or not, he'd been quite good, an unexpected bonus, the second bird
  for the original stone. He set his mind to the task in hand, he would draw
  this out a bit, give Lucius his money's worth; after all it was going to
  cost him a fortune.

  He drew his hand along the smooth back, just beginning to feel tacky with
  sweat, and watched Malfoy shudder in anticipation as he reached his waist
  and began to work ever more slowly downward. He spread him, whore that he
  was, and dipped his fingers into the pot of clear cool gel, probing his
  waiting arse with first two fingers, then three, coaxing and spreading him;
  loosening him up. Lucius groaned in pleasure and pushed back towards him.

  'Fuck me, Severus,' he moaned.

  Snape reached a hand under his chest and found a nipple, he toyed with it
  for a moment before squeezing hard as Malfoy gasped in pain. 'What did I
  tell you?' He squeezed again, harder, and Lucius cried out as his cock
  spasmed, dirty little pain slut that he was.

  'Not to speak,' Lucius gasped, 'unless I'm spoken to.'

  'Now be quiet, like a good boy,' Snape murmured into the back of his head
  as he bent forward and coated his fingers with yet more gel. He slicked his
  own cock with it and spread Lucius again, he was ready, dirty tramp that he
  was. He entered him slowly at first, waiting until he relaxed from his
  involuntary tightening and drove in deeply, stifling his own gasp as he
  felt Lucius clench again.

  He caught up an easy rhythm, one that kept Lucius on the edge without
  pushing himself over. He put one arm around Malfoy's waist and pulled him
  close as he slipped the other hand between his legs to fondle his balls, a
  sharp discouraging squeeze would stop him coming until Severus was ready.
  He let his hand glide along the silky shaft as he drove deeper and ever
  deeper inside the man below him. He felt his own passion begin to rise in
  earnest as Malfoy groaned like the cheap tart he was.

  He ground in deeper and leant across Lucius's back again, taking the empty
  pot from the nightstand; it wouldn't do to forget why he was doing this.
  Malfoy was lost in himself now, his own hand working his cock as Snape rode
  him.

  He knocked the hand away. 'I'll do that,' he murmured and took Lucius's hot
  cock in his own hand; he'd know when he was ready, he needed to know. He
  drove in harder, he was ready for him now, and let himself go deeply enough
  to rub off Lucius's prostate, the low keening told him he'd hit the spot.
  His own needs were becoming alarming, he tried to push his thoughts inward,
  but he was slipping over the edge himself, he needed to make this quick. He
  slammed into Lucius again and again, shafting his cock with his hand to the
  same rhythm, he felt his hips buck below him, he knew Malfoy's balls were
  drawing up.

  He let his other hand drop from Lucius's waist and lifted the pot
  underneath him as he brought Lucius off, watching in satisfaction as he
  spurted his come into it. He pulled it back quickly; Lucius was past
  noticing anyway, he was gasping for breath, the sweat running liberally off
  his body. Snape drew his finger down his side and flicked a bit of the
  sweat into the pot too, for good measure. He caught Lucius about the waist
  again and slammed into him, feeling his own balls tighten as he watched the
  cheap bitch still spread below him, just the way he loved them, as his
  vision starred and he climaxed hard.

  *****

  Sirius splashed some more whisky into the glass; he'd considered tipping
  the bottle to his mouth instead, it would save him bothering to notice the
  glass was empty. He wondered how drunk he could get before he passed out,
  before he forgot not to wonder if Snape was shagging Malfoy right at that
  moment.

  He tossed the whisky over, nope, he was still awake, and he was still
  thinking.

  It had been four days since he'd last seen Snape, since they last fucked,
  it might as well have been forty years. He should have made him tell him,
  made him make some kind of commitment, the cold fuck. He could have asked
  him, asked him how long "quite some time" was supposed to mean, but he'd
  bottled that, just in case it meant forever. He tried not to wonder what
  the "something" Snape had to do was, what he meant by "distractions". Was
  that what he was, a distraction? Something like an annoying fly which makes
  one lose concentration, Sirius the fly, he tried it out, nah, that didn't
  go, Sirius the distraction.

  He tried to stand up, he needed to pee but the effort of dragging himself
  up was too much; maybe he wouldn't bother, he didn't seem to be becoming
  upright far less ambulatory. He tried to think for a moment, he really
  needed to stand up, the alternative was unthinkable, even to him, he
  thought sourly, as some ungracious bastard began hammering on his front
  door. What was the point of having an unplottable property if every nosey
  bastard and his brother came hammering on the fucking door? Couldn't a man
  get drunk in peace?

  'Fuck off,' he yelled at the door, stopping for a second to realise he had
  somehow managed to drag himself upright after all. He was sure there was a
  bathroom down here somewhere, he distinctly remembered Kreacher cleaning
  the bath with some horrible abrasive material which took the coating off it
  and left it forever unusable, he just had to open the right door and he'd
  find it. That was the tricky thing in this house, opening the right door, a
  mistake in his condition could be disastrous; anything might jump out and
  bite him.

  'Kreacher,' he shouted, 'where's the fucking bathroom gone?'

  The hammering on the front door began again as the elf slid into the hall
  and opened a door onto a room tiled in ugly green tiles. 'Go a-fucking-
  way,' Sirius shouted at the front door as he staggered into the bathroom,
  avoiding looking in the mirror and almost avoiding the toilet bowl as well,
  he hoped he could find his cock, for all the good it was to him. When he'd
  finished he splashed water on his face, he couldn't think why, but he
  supposed it would save him the effort later, and found there was no towel.
  He dragged his sleeve across his face instead, fuck but he was in a mess.

  He lurched out into the hall again and almost jumped out of his skin, in a
  mixture of shock and relief. The front door was open and Kreacher was
  looking up at the man who stood in the hall, in a mixture of loathing and
  utter contempt.

  'What, in the name of all that is scared, are you doing to yourself?' the
  fucking voice asked.

  'Drinking, why?'

  'Have you looked in a mirror, Black?'

  'What for?' he replied. 'I know what I look like.'

  'I doubt that. Why, may I ask, are you in the state you are in?' Snape took
  his arm and led him unresisting back into the kitchen.

  'Seemed like a good idea,' Sirius replied bullishly. 'What's it to you,
  anyway? Has Malfoy flung you out?' He wasn't sure why he was getting up on
  his high horse, but that seemed like a good idea too. He slumped back onto
  the chair he'd been sitting in for the best part of four days.

  'No, he has not "flung me out", nor is he likely to.' Snape had sat down
  opposite him. He poured himself a glass of whisky and tossed it over his
  throat in one gulp. Sirius had an idea he was seeking Dutch courage from
  it. 'I had wanted to talk to you about something. I'll come back another
  time, when you're sober.'

  Sirius put his hand to his forehead, in an attempt to think, why was it
  that now he wanted to think, he couldn't? He didn't want Snape to go but he
  couldn't think how to stop him. He'd waited for four fucking days for him
  to come back and now he was standing back up again, and he'd only been
  there for fucking five minutes. 'Don't go.'

  Snape raised his eyebrow. 'You should sleep that lot off.' He began to turn
  away. 'I shall come back another time.'

  'When?' Sirius managed. 'And don't dare say "it might be quite some time".
  I've already been waiting a fucking week for you to come back.' His tongue
  ran away from him as Snape's eyebrow rose.

  'Four days, actually,' Snape said over his shoulder.

  Sirius watched him frown. 'Don't go, Severus. Stay here with me, I don't
  want you to go.'

  'Why?' The frown deepened.

  Sirius looked up at him, even his frown was an unpleasant scowl. He took in
  the eyes, so black that the pupils lacked anything but more black, and the
  hooked nose, which could have added character but only added unkind
  shadows, the pale skin that looked pasty to the eye but felt smooth and
  taut to the touch, the long unkempt black hair, which had smelt clean, but
  still looked dirty. On another man the features might have been oddly
  attractive, off beat even, but on Severus Snape the sum total of them made
  one of the most singularly unattractive men he had ever seen. He wondered
  what Malfoy saw in him, surely a man like Lucius could have the pick of
  hundreds of glittering men or handsome boys, and yet it was Snape he had on
  his arm in every fancy restaurant in London, Snape he displayed like a
  trophy wherever he went, like some glamorous accessory the world would
  envy; maybe they did, maybe Malfoy saw the same as Sirius.

  'I can't think of one good reason,' he said blankly. 'You're an ugly, bad
  tempered, self opinionated fuck.'

  Snape raised his eyebrow in what looked like genuine amusement. 'Don't get
  sentimental on me, Black. I can't stand gushy declarations any more than I
  can stand maudlin drunks.'

  'I hadn't finished,' Sirius blinked a little owlishly as the room seemed to
  sway. 'I was going to say I've wanted you forever.' Fuck, but he was drunk,
  why had he said that? He stood up. 'I think I'm going to throw up.'

  'That's about as gushy as it gets.' Snape sidestepped as Sirius bolted for
  the newfound bathroom, considering how drunk he was he went in a very
  straight line.

  *****

  Snape watched with detachment as Sirius splashed what surely must be last
  of the whisky into the toilet bowl. He hauled him back by the scruff of the
  neck, and pulled the long old fashioned chain on the high level cistern,
  the water seemed to cough before sending a veritable flood through the
  plumbing, for a moment Snape thought the whole ruddy mess was going to wash
  over the floor.

  He thought for a moment, wondered how long he could absent himself from
  Malfoy Manor without arousing too much suspicion, the Hogwarts excuse was
  shaky at best and he didn't have time to set up an alibi, he hadn't
  intended being too long. He wasn't ready for Lucius to find out, not just
  yet. He wondered if Black had an owl, which hadn't been eaten by whatever
  predators lurked in the corners of Grimmauld Place, he could get a message
  to Bill, he was always good for a favour, he was sure he'd given him a shag
  he hadn't repaid yet. He couldn't afford to upset the delicate balance of
  his master plan by indulging himself, but he could hardly leave Black in
  the state he was in, he didn't want to anyway. Damnit, he cursed to
  himself, he'd already changed part of his plan because of Black and now he
  was distracting him further. If he had any sense at all he'd leave the
  pathetic drunk to wallow in his own misery and drink himself into oblivion
  but he needed him for the plan ... and he didn't want to anyway.

  He realised Black was looking up at him from where he sat crumpled on the
  horrible green tiled floor. The elf was scuttling about in the hall,
  muttering to the harridan in the portrait, he hoped she wasn't about to
  start.

  'Is there a clean bathroom in this pit?' he asked pointedly as he took in
  his surroundings properly, the grimy window set behind the old cast iron
  cistern, the green tiled walls and floor, the bath with its rusty marks
  leading from taps which had dripped a century of water from long forbidden
  lead piping. The bath looked as though someone had scraped the surface
  coating off the cast iron at one time in an attempt to find something more
  acceptable than the years of grunge which presumably coated it.

  'I doubt it,' Sirius groaned. 'Kreacher doesn't clean, he just spreads the
  dirt.'

  Snape hauled Sirius to his feet; the purging of the whisky seemed to have
  sobered him a little. He pulled out his wand and finished the job.

  'Bastard,' Black hissed at him. 'Now all I've got is the fucking hangover.'

  'Life can be like that.'

  *****

  Sirius frowned again as Snape unfolded his plan; he began to wonder if
  Severus was totally sane. 'What do you hope to gain?'

  'A petty revenge, I know, but satisfying none the less.' Snape let the
  smoke from his slim black cigarette drift from his lips.

  Sirius wished he wouldn't do that, there was something incredibly sexy
  about it and he hadn't the energy to even think about it right now. He
  narrowed his eyes. 'Is is just me or is this plan not awfully complicated?
  Why don't you just leave him?'

  'And leave all that gold behind?' Snape raised his eyebrow. 'I think not.'

  'I hadn't taken you for a mercenary,' Sirius grinned. 'Well done, Snape,
  you're just like the rest of us, who would have believed that?' He hid his
  concerns under the grin, there was something so driven about the hatchet
  job Snape was planning on Lucius that he wondered just what was behind it.
  It couldn't only be the few odd stunts Lucius had pulled, like leaving him
  injured to rot in a shelter with the Dark Forces advancing from all sides
  only to rescue him two days later when he knew they'd retreated and
  everyone else assumed Severus had changed sides again and buggered off; or
  his latest offering of setting him up with fictitious charges of soliciting
  information for the same Dark Forces in order to undermine the Ministry
  only to save him again. Malfoy's games weren't enough to cause the single
  minded hatred that Snape held for him, there must be something far deeper;
  Severus had been the object of enough cruel hoaxes to have inured himself
  to them by now.

  He wondered uncomfortably what penalty attached itself to sending the same
  Snape to Lupin when they were at school; he seemed remarkably able to hold
  a grudge. Sirius frowned inwardly, Snape must be used to being the butt of
  every dangerous prank around, he'd had plenty of practice. He wondered what
  it was about the ex Potions Master that had always made others want to see
  how far they could push him, he realised with a start what it was. The new
  knowledge made him grin and then laugh out loud, the world and his next
  door neighbour wanted to impress him and no matter what they dealt out the
  cold bastard remained unmoved.

  'I'm glad you find the plan funny, Black. It will make your part easier for
  you.'

  'My part?'

  'Yes, didn't I tell you?'

  'It must have slipped your mind.' Sirius grinned again. He was feeling much
  better, whatever muck was in the Potion that Snape had cobbled up at the
  kitchen sink it had cured his hangover, he supposed it was rotting his guts
  as well, but for now he felt better. 'What's my part?' he asked, not at all
  sure he wanted to know.

  'I want Lucius to know the sting of rejection. Then I want him to think he
  has his revenge for it, which I suspect he may unleash upon you, even he
  must be becoming sick of playing his warped little games on me, especially
  when they never seem to give him the satisfaction he seeks.'

  Sirius didn't think he was going to like this at all. 'My part, Snape. Spit
  it out.'

  'It is a kind of cameo role, for want of a better expression. He will seek
  to wreak his revenge upon me by destroying that which he thinks steals my
  attention from him.'

  'Forget it,' Sirius said flatly.

  'You don't know what it is.'

  'I know enough about Lucius to guess that a sojourn in Azkaban would be
  high on his list of priorities.'

  'Yes, he is a bit predictable, isn't he?'

  Sirius watched him again. 'What's this all about? And don't start spewing
  up your cryptic bullshit at me. Keep it nice and simple, I'm a Gryffindor.'

  'He has debts to honour.' Snape's eyes had gone the flat unreadable way.
  'Just let us say that payday has come.'

  'Not enough, Severus.'

  He surprised Sirius by looking away, for a moment he though he was going to
  stand and go, but he turned again and Sirius didn't think he liked what he
  read in the black eyes. 'I hate him.'

  'Yeah, I hate him too,' Sirius suddenly wanted to keep him talking. 'What
  did he do to you, Severus, what did he do that makes you want to go to such
  lengths to utterly destroy him. I'm sure there are much easier and less
  complicated ways.'

  'It doesn't matter.' The voice was cold and flat, but Sirius could see that
  was the result of years of schooling, he didn't think it would take much to
  peel away the surface veneer and find the howling rage underneath, now he
  suddenly didn't want to.

  'Forget it, Severus, what ever you're thinking of, forget it.' Sirius
  wanted the subject to drop now, he'd begun to feel uncomfortable, the
  intensity of Snape's hate was too much, to deep, it was as though it would
  rip from screaming at any moment. 'Anyway, apart from existing he's never
  really done anything to me.'

  Snape gave him a look that made Sirius suspect he knew something of what
  had happened before he went to Azkaban, or maybe he just suspected. 'I
  would have thought you would have been one of the first to condemn him, to
  seek revenge.' He stood up. 'Put it out of your mind, Black, I was wrong
  about you. You don't have the balls you were born with, no wonder they
  didn't put you in Slytherin.'

  'Why should I want revenge on Lucius?' Sirius said slowly as he realised
  the only thing Snape could mean. 'Come back here, Severus. Tell me, why
  should I want revenge?'

  'I thought you knew.'

  Sirius shook his head dumbly. 'I do now. He killed Regulus, didn't he?' It
  made sense though; someone had to have delivered the killing curse that had
  taken Regulus, Malfoy fitted the bill perfectly.

  Snape nodded. 'There was nothing I could do, believe me, Black, I didn't
  even know until it was done.'

  'Okay,' Sirius said flatly. 'I'll do it, but only if you tell me why.'

  Snape had sat back down. 'What do you mean?'

  'I need to know what he did to you.' Sirius couldn't even hold his eyes;
  he'd never seen such pain. 'I need to know I'm doing this for the right
  reasons.'

  *****

  It took a long time and for periods Sirius suspected that Snape forgot he
  was even there as the ugly facts unfolded themselves, layer upon layer of
  treachery and deceit, sprinkled with rape and outrage, each single act
  horrendous enough in itself but the broader picture building up to such a
  catalogue of physical and mental abuse until it was hard to believe that it
  could be have been borne. Sirius reckoned that the blow that had snapped
  Severus was when he found out the reasons for what he had endured.

  He listened without expression or comment, smoking cigarette after
  cigarette as Snape told him things that no other living soul knew. He told
  him how Eileen Prince had been just an ordinary girl from a modest
  background, rather plain and unprepossessing, neither poor nor rich but
  pure blooded. She had been cast out from her family when she went home from
  her seventh year at Hogwarts, pregnant with Abraxus Malfoy's child; the
  result of a brutal rape two months before she left school; she had refused
  to tell her parents who the father was. Sirius listened with mounting
  puzzlement; he knew Abraxus was Lucius's father. Even with a quick guess at
  the year; Snape couldn't be talking about himself, he wasn't old enough for
  the child Eileen carried to have been him.

 Eileen had been a promising student but her distress at what she had         
  endured had caused her to fail some of her NEWTs and barely scrape through
  on others. In her usual surly way she wouldn't tell anyone what had caused
  the decline in her school performance, nobody knew there was no one she
  could confide in, after all, what would one dull uninteresting girl's word
  be against that of Abraxus Malfoy. She had not taken up the invitation to
  go back and repeat her seventh year and nobody at Hogwarts had taken the
  time to understand why she couldn't.

  She lived with an aunt who grudgingly took her in until the child, a boy,
  was born. She named him Arial. He was a happy blond haired boy who favoured
  the Malfoy looks and when he was almost two years old she contacted Abraxus
  to let him know that he had a son, she had found herself in desperate
  straits and she hoped he would perhaps offer to feed and clothe Arial; but
  he didn't even reply to her. She didn't know that he had married shortly
  after leaving school and his wife had also borne him a son.

  Eileen's aunt found her a husband, a meek man of impoverished means who was
  willing to take a hard working woman as a wife, even one with another man's
  young child; she didn't know the change that came over Tobias Snape when he
  drank. Eileen told Tobias about Abraxus and he got in touch with Malfoy in
  an attempt to blackmail him where her previous plea had failed. He was
  surprised when he found that Malfoy was now willing to support the boy and
  in fact began to make overtures that perhaps Eileen could accommodate him
  again and bear him another child. That suited Tobias Snape very well; he
  could drink the fruits of Eileen's labour; it was better than being sober
  and looking at the ugly bitch.

  Malfoy thought he saw an answer to his dynastic concern of the increasing
  infertility of the Malfoy males, Lucius had only been conceived with the
  aid of Dark Magic, and it seemed that Eileen was a fertile woman where his
  own wife had suffered several miscarriages. He began to plan for the future
  generation, if it should be that Lucius's eventual wife was unable to
  conceive he would have to ensure the continuation of the Malfoy line with
  Malfoy blood, even at two years old a few girls had already been earmarked
  for that role in life. To further his ultimate aims Abraxus continued to
  visit Eileen, as plain and mousy as she was, until she once again gifted
  him a son. He seemed to have no interest in Arial who was by that time
  almost four years old.

  As time went on it became clear that the boy of Abraxus's own marriage,
  Lucius, would not succumb to the childhood ailments that had often in the
  past claimed young Malfoys in the years leading to maturity. Abraxus's
  concerns turned to the fact that Lucius was not the eldest Malfoy son. It
  was unthinkable that a bastard be the rightful heir to Malfoy Estates but
  as the boy, Arial, was already at Hogwarts, a year above Lucius, it was
  difficult to dispose of him whilst he was under the watchful eye of Albus
  Dumbledore. Eileen kept her word to Abraxus and Arial never knew that his
  father was not Tobias Snape.

  Abraxus's plan was half way ready. The younger boy, Severus, was so unlike
  the light hearted blond Arial that he was his opposite; he was studious and
  often sullen, small and dark and favoured the worse of both Eileen and
  Abraxus's features. Something about him brought out the most unpleasant
  traits in the increasingly drunk Tobias Snape, and the boy was the
  recipient of his supposed father's belt far more often than he could
  possibly merit it. That didn't trouble Abraxus as long as the boy lived, he
  was a Malfoy and, as he was younger than Lucius, he was not a threat.

  As he matured Abraxus sowed the seeds of his plan to maintain the Malfoy
  line. He began visiting the boy and asserting what he referred to as his
  parental rights over him. He raped him every time he visited, looking for
  signs of the boy's sexual maturity. The summer before Severus went to
  Hogwarts was the last time Abraxus visited him; it was the time he
  collected the boy's seed in a charmed vial and saved the Malfoy line from
  extinction.

  Eileen Prince was a helpless onlooker in the atrocity of her younger son's
  desecration; Abraxus had made it clear to her that he would kill Arial if
  she interfered in what he referred to as his dealings with Severus. He
  promised her that if she kept her mouth shut Arial would be spared. She
  found herself unable to even look at Severus, something she knew the boy
  would take for disinterest rather than the shame it was.

  Sirius felt what blood was left in his face drain away, even if he could
  have thought of anything to say, he couldn't have spoken through the tight
  band of rage in his chest.

  'They moved Arial to Durmstrang the year I went to Hogwarts,' Snape said in
  the same flat tone he'd been using. 'I suppose to keep him away from Lucius
  and let people begin to forget about him, forget he had ever lived. He was
  the only person ...' He shook his head and trailed off, unable to finish.
  'He used to send me owls but he didn't even come home over the summer. I
  never saw him again.'

  He stopped for a moment as though trying to stop his emotions overflowing.
  Sirius could feel the howl rising in his own throat, he knew what he had
  been trying to say, that Arial was the only person who cared about him, the
  only person who'd ever loved a small dark ugly boy, with even darker uglier
  secrets.

  'When Lucius joined the Death Eaters part of his initiation rights was to
  prove his ability to use Unforgivable Curses.'

  'Severus, stop.' Sirius couldn't stand any more. 'I can't bear this.'

  'He killed Arial, as though he was a piece of shit, he just killed him. At
  the time I didn't know he knew they were brothers, but he did, he killed
  his own brother ... my brother, to prove he was a man.' Snape went on as
  though Sirius hadn't spoken. 'On the day we buried Arial someone broke into
  my mother's home and stole all of the letters Arial had written to us, it
  was as though he had never existed.'

  He lit a cigarette and collected himself as Sirius sat in silence, it
  wouldn't do to interrupt him again. 'My stepfather had finally drunk
  himself to death and my mother was alone. She had no money and she'd taken
  to doing odd jobs for people and working in a shop when she could so she
  could afford my books and clothes. She asked Abraxus for the money to pay
  for Arial's funeral; she didn't tell him she knew Lucius had killed him, of
  course. He didn't even reply except to tell her never to get in touch with
  him again. She wrote down everything I have told you and with last brass
  knuts she had she paid a lawyer to deliver the letter to me on the tenth
  anniversary of her death, she thought I'd be old enough to deal with it by
  then. She was wrong though, there are some things you're never old enough
  for.' He paused again, but only for a moment. 'They promised her and they
  killed him anyway.'

  Snape looked up. 'She was so fucking poor that she had to borrow money to
  pay for her son's funeral. She couldn't pay it back so she went out to the
  barn beside the room she rented on a farm ... she slung a rope over the
  rafters and hanged herself.' He dropped his head to his hands, purged,
  empty of the hate that had held him together for so long.

  *****

  Sirius let him sit like that for a while, he couldn't do anything anyway,
  he found he couldn't even swallow. He scrubbed a tear furiously away from
  the corner of his own eye, fuck, it was too much, too much to bear, he
  could hardly fucking breath. He pulled himself together and stood to try to
  find anything resembling a clean glass. He uncorked the whisky bottle with
  a pop, the smell made him recoil, as his stomach turned. He poured a heavy
  splash into a glass and shoved it across the table, he couldn't think of
  what else to do. He blinked in surprise as Snape swept it off the table
  without looking at where it smashed on the floor.

  'Is Draco Malfoy your son?' Sirius's voice was hard and cold; he wouldn't
  let it betray the pity or outrage Snape would loathe him for or the guilt
  he couldn't even start to examine. He wouldn't allow himself the luxury of
  that, not here, not just now; he would look at that later, when he had the
  guts to take stock of himself.

  'Probably, but the truth is, I do not know, nor do I care.' Snape looked up
  again, his face a blank mask as though the smashing of the glass had broken
  his mood. He stood up, Sirius couldn't understand how he could manage under
  the burden he bore, how he didn't stagger under its weight. 'I must go,' he
  said quietly and turned to the door.

  'You're not fucking going back to that place.' Sirius stood too; he knew he
  was a physical match for the slimmer, slightly smaller man.

  'Oh yes, I am, Black, I am going back and I will stay and carry out my
  intentions. You may help me or not as you see fit. I really don't care.'

  'You're a fraud, Snape; you care about everything. You care about every
  fucking bit of trash that's been thrown at you. You can pretend you don't,
  you can fire your fucking animosity at everyone in your range, but it
  doesn't change a thing.'

  'You're wrong,' Snape said coldly. 'I have not cared for so long that it
  just does not matter any more.'

  'Well if you don't, I fucking well do.' Sirius pushed him back down,
  relieved at least that, drunk as he'd been, he had made some sort of
  declaration of his feelings to Snape before he'd heard his story. At least
  he'd done that much, at least Snape might believe he cared. 'Now you'll
  stay here and we plan this properly.'

  'He'll know I am here,' Snape replied. 'My aims are best served at Malfoy
  Manor.'

  'Yeah?' Sirius snarled. 'You know what, Snape? I hope he comes here looking
  for a fight. In fact I can't think of anything I'd fucking like better
  right now.'

  'Nothing at all?' Snape raised his eyebrow.

  Sirius grinned in relief that he'd put it away, put it back where it
  belonged for now. 'Is that an offer?'

  'No, I do not offer. I take what I want, when I want it ... but not right
  now.' Snape nodded to the kitchen door. 'There is a distressed Werewolf
  standing in your hallway, Black, perhaps you should let him come in, I
  shouldn't want your mother to start on him.'

  Sirius blinked, he hadn't known Lupin was there, well maybe that wasn't
  true, he always knew when Lupin was there. He watched him come into the
  room; he knew he'd listened to most of it. He was surprised that Snape
  didn't seem to mind, maybe care was a better word, Severus didn't care, or
  so he would have the world believe.

  'Lupin,' Snape nodded curtly. It wasn't a greeting or an insult; it was
  just an observation. He looked him up and down. 'You don't look well,
  Lupin. You've been taking cheap Wolfsbane again.' He shot an accusing look
  at Sirius as though the last hour hadn't happened, as though Sirius had
  dreamt it. 'You don't look after him, Black, you don't deserve friends.'

  Lupin had looked away.

  'Why didn't you tell me?' Sirius flared and turned to Snape. 'What's that
  cheap crap doing to him?'

  'Why didn't you know, Black?' Snape asked. 'Surely a few of the Galleons
  you piss against the wall could be put to better use.'

  Sirius carded his hands through his hair and sighed.

  'What day are we on, Lupin?' Snape asked as he stood up yet again.

  'Nineteen.'

  'Very well. Your Wolfsbane will be here on time.' Snape turned and walked
  to the door. 'Don't buy the other trash.'

  'When are you coming back?' Sirius asked.

  'I do not know, Black. I still have a lot to do.' He didn't turn back
  round.

  Neither Lupin nor Sirius said anything until the front door had been shut
  for a few minutes.

  *****

  'What's he going to do?' Lupin asked as he began to pick up the shards of
  Snape's glass. 'Kill Lucius?'

  'No, I wish he was, at least that would be a done deal. Dead men don't
  fight back.'

  'I know what you're thinking, Sirius, and don't. You didn't know, none of
  us knew.'

  'That Arial probably died while we were in fifth year, dosing out the
  shit?' Sirius said flatly. 'That we didn't really do much? All we did,
  after all, was just add a little more shit to the pile of manure that was
  already there.'

  'Don't, Sirius. We had no way of knowing this.'

  'It's a good bet it was the same year, Remus, Lucius would have been
  seventeen.' Sirius sat back at the table. He made to pour a glass of whisky
  and changed his mind. 'And while we were laughing at his poor clothes and
  dingy underwear and baring his arse for the whole school to laugh at, and
  let's not forget it was the same arse his fucking step father had belted
  and his own bastard of a father had raped; all the time his mother was
  doing other people's laundry to pay for his books and the clothes we
  laughed at.' He couldn't stop it pouring out. 'We were great, Moony; a
  couple of really great guys, James and I, no wonder everybody loved us.
  It's just a pity she's not still alive, I could have told her she nearly
  had two funerals to borrow money for, that would have been nice wouldn't
  it? She could have hanged herself twice.'

  He didn't know when Lupin stood up and put his arm across his shoulders, it
  just made him feel worse, just made him feel the guilt that no one had ever
  pulled the boy Severus to them to comfort him or his plain ugly mother.
  'Poor bitch,' he wept into his hands, 'poor fucking bitch that she was.' He
  had to let it overflow, Eileen Prince deserved a few tears, she deserved at
  least that much.

  'Have you finished with this?' Lupin asked.

  'Nope, not until Lucius Malfoy is dead.'

  'You're not going to do anything stupid, Sirius. Please.'

  'I'm afraid I am. I'm going to go to the letter of Severus's plan and just
  pray that we come out the other end of it. And if we do ... well, maybe our
  turn will come after all.' He looked around the horrible kitchen. 'But for
  now we're going to clean this lousy joint up, it's a fucking tip.'

  Remus looked at him in surprise. 'Clean? You?'

  'You too, Old Wolf. I forgot to say, you're going to live here now where I
  can keep my eye on you. I'm not having him blame me if you don't look after
  yourself,' Sirius sniffed noisily as he wiped his face with the heel of his
  hand and grinned. 'See if the Landlord will give you a bit of next year's
  rent back.'

  *****

  'I think you and I need to talk,' Lucius said coolly as Snape sat at the
  dining room table. He had made no attempt to see Severus since he'd come
  back from Grimmauld Place late in the afternoon; he'd been away all day.

  'About what?' Snape asked with a degree of impatience.

  'Sirius Black.'

  'I see. And what would you like to discuss about him now, Lucius? I had
  rather hoped we would have exhausted the subject by now.'

  'You may have, you can require one to be quite energetic at times.' Lucius
  raised his wine glass to his lips; he seemed to have been drinking quite
  heavily. That suited Severus.

  'Are you expecting some type of response or is there more?'

  'I shall not tolerate you seeing Black behind my back, Severus. I have a
  very long arm and both you and he would be fools not to recognise that.'

  'You appear to have made up your mind that I am conducting a clandestine
  affair.' Snape stood up. 'If you'll excuse me I may as well go. I'm as well
  to be hanged for the proverbial sheep as I am for a figment of your
  imagination.'

  'Sit down,' Lucius said very quietly.

  Snape didn't break his stride, it was a long walk to the dining room door,
  he knew that as well as Malfoy, the seconds would give one of them time to
  back down. Severus didn't intend to be the one. He'd almost reached the
  door when Lucius spoke.

  'Don't leave me, Severus.' His voice was barely a whisper but for all that
  Severus heard the panic; real or feigned, he couldn't tell, but he heard
  it. 'Don't leave me. If you need to see him I won't stop you. But don't
  leave me.'

  Severus turned. Malfoy was still toying with his wine glass as he looked
  down at the table, if Snape didn't know him better he would have thought he
  looked defeated. He crossed the room again and stood behind Lucius with a
  hand on each shoulder, it would be so easy to break his neck and then throw
  him down the stairs, with the amount of alcohol he consumed no one would be
  terribly surprised and, after all, there was another Malfoy waiting in the
  wings. 'It's nothing, Lucius.' He dropped his mouth to the silver blond
  hair. 'It's nothing, just sex.'

  He felt Malfoy start, he knew even that admission of what he already
  assumed was a blow to him. He wondered if he should have kept up the
  denial, but there was no real point. He knew he needed to step this along a
  bit, there was only so long he could spin it out. As Lucius raised his
  wineglass Snape widened his eyes and the goblet shattered, sending shards
  of glass, reddened by the spilt wine and Lucius's blood, across the white
  linen.

  *****

  He rechecked his notes, it should work, there was no reason for it not to.
  He'd already made sure that Lucius was still asleep, not that he needed to,
  but it cost nothing to be careful, not when he'd come so far.

  He mixed the drops of dried blood from the broken glass with the semen and
  sweat he had collected and put three drops into the Polyjuice Potion he had
  prepared, carefully stoppering the small flask with the remainder of
  Lucius's body fluids. If this worked, until he took the reversal Potion he
  would not only look like Lucius Malfoy, he would actually be Lucius Malfoy,
  he just hoped he would retain enough of his own mind to change back, that
  was the unknown.

  He almost gagged on the mixture as he swallowed. For a moment or two
  nothing happened and then the familiar roiling of skin let him know that he
  was metamorphosing into Lucius. He waited for almost ten minutes before
  heading down to the cellars, it was better than he'd hoped, he could feel
  Lucius in him as though he was hovering in the background. At the end of
  the corridor he stopped in front of the door and it swung open on his
  unspoken command. Snape smiled to himself in satisfaction, even Malfoy
  Manor thought he was Lucius Malfoy. Two floors above him Lucius stirred in
  his bedchamber and woke up with a puzzled frown.

  Snape had made his way down to the room where the vault with Salazar
  Slytherin's gold was located. It sat just where he remembered. He opened
  the cage like structure and fingered one of the stacked bars, carefully
  arranging his thoughts as he did so. It was enough, he knew this worked;
  there was nothing to stop him now.

  He began to climb the stairs again.

  He got to the room Lucius had given him to use as a study and carefully put
  his notes away in their hiding place. He drank the reversal Potion and
  waited until he had become Severus Snape again.

  *****

  Lucius groaned sleepily as Severus slipped into bed, at least he was spared
  a shag tonight, tomorrow morning he might not get off so lightly. He
  finally let himself think of the one thing he'd denied himself since he
  left Grimmauld Place as Malfoy feigned sleep at his side.

  He wondered if they could make it, if he and Sirius could ever have what
  he'd wanted for so long, what had taken second place only to the howling
  cold revenge he had harboured for as long as he could remember. Maybe they
  could, he thought Black might just be sincere and if he wasn't, well, he
  was used to disappointment; he would survive and it wouldn't really matter
  any more, nothing would matter.

  Until a few days ago he hadn't even bothered to think about what would come
  next, what he would do with the rest of his pathetic existence stretching
  out before him like an accusation, but now maybe there was something for
  him as well. He was glad at least that he hadn't gone with his first
  instinct of sacrificing both Black and Lucius, whatever Black's sins had
  been they hadn't been as many as he had originally thought; boyish pranks,
  the result of too much money and too much time; they were nothing to what
  the House of Malfoy had poured upon him.

  *****

  'Are you going out again today?' Lucius asked over the Daily Prophet.

  Severus had been pretending to be asleep to see if Lucius would get bored
  and get out of bed. He grunted something, which could have been yes, or no,
  depending on what the listener wanted to hear.

  'Stay with me today, Severus.'

  Snape heard the rustle of the paper being laid aside and the shift of the
  mattress as Lucius slid further down under the pile of rugs and covers. It
  took an effort not to flinch away from his touch, but he knew there was no
  escaping this. He could make it quick, he supposed, and discarded the idea,
  he decided to let Lucius do the work for a change, it would do the lazy
  bastard good.

  He felt him scoot further under the covers until he disappeared completely;
  it wasn't long before he felt Malfoy's mouth on his cock, wakening it
  quickly with alternating soft and sharp little sucks; he knew how to give a
  blow job, that was one thing. He wondered if Lucius had ever gone down on
  anyone else, he doubted it; the act was too submissive, he would never
  allow that to become common knowledge.

  He found himself fantasising about Sirius as Lucius's ministrations became
  more and more frenzied, he sighed to himself, he wasn't going to get away
  without at least a little input. He put his hand under the covers and
  yanked Lucius upwards by the hair, the gasp of pain he gave almost as
  satisfying as his hot mouth on his cock had been.

  He laid him flat on his back and tucked a couple of pillows under his arse,
  with any luck at all this would be the last time he would ever do this, to
  Lucius at any rate, he wondered if he should feel more sentimental. He
  lifted Malfoy's legs and laid one on each of his own shoulders, just once
  more for old times sake, he smiled to himself as Lucius's torso arched
  upwards for his touch. What a tramp, he would miss the very trashiness of
  him, the gutter whore lying below him, every quiver of his muscles
  screaming in desperation to be fucked into next week. He rode him like a
  mustang, his hate fuelling his desire until he felt Malfoy flail as he hit
  off his prostate with each thrust.

  He toyed with his nipples, he knew he could make Lucius climax from that
  alone, perhaps he would, but it would be a pity not to stroke that
  beautiful heavy cock again. He felt Lucius buck below him, he wouldn't be
  long now, they were both close. Malfoy's grey eyes flew open as Snape ran
  his hand across his chest, just missing each nipple as he tossed and tried
  to catch the touch, spreading himself like a wanton below him. Severus felt
  his balls draw up as he drew his hand faster along Lucius's cock; it was
  going to be a race. He felt his lips draw back across his teeth as Lucius
  bucked again and shot his climax across his chest, heaving and panting like
  the bitch in heat he was, as Severus pumped his Malfoy seed into him for
  the last time.

  He was almost asleep again when he felt Lucius get up from bed and go into
  the bathroom, closing the door behind him.

  *****

  He found Lucius looking across at him reproachfully.

  'What's wrong now?' Snape asked testily.

  'You're going out, aren't you?'

  'I haven't decided yet,' he replied as he picked up his butter knife and
  gasped. Drops of blood dripped from his finger onto white linen. He stuck
  his finger into his mouth noticing tiny flakes and shards of glass
  sparkling around his place setting. 'Haven't those ruddy elves changed this
  cloth?'

  He felt Lucius at his side. 'Don't do that,' he pulled the hand down from
  Snape's mouth. 'There might be glass in it.'

  Snape winced as Lucius squeezed his finger; there wasn't any ruddy glass he
  could see, just more blood. He snatched his hand away and saw the tiny
  splinter of glass sticking from his finger, he picked it out and stuck the
  finger back in his mouth, it was safer there than with Lucius squeezing his
  lifeblood through the tiny puncture.

  Malfoy had gone out of the dining room to wash the blood off his hands,
  Severus wouldn't stay any longer, he didn't really need to. He'd already
  stood up when Lucius came back in.

  'I'll be back in a while,' he said shortly.

  Lucius sighed. 'You are coming back, Severus, aren't you?'

  'Of course I am. I have a meeting this morning; feel free to contact the
  Ministry. The Department of Foreign Magical Affairs to be precise.'

  'Why didn't you say that when I asked you this morning?' Lucius frowned.

  Severus could see his jealousy eating at him. 'I was sleeping, you idiot.
  Stop this, Lucius, I don't like it.' Snape could see he wanted to believe
  him, believe in him, he could feel the struggle. He put his arm around
  Malfoy's waist where he stood beside his chair; he was taut as a bowstring.
  'Stop this, Lucius,' he repeated and kissed the blond hair and felt Malfoy
  move nearer to him. 'Don't do this to yourself.'

  'You know I love you, Severus, don't you?'

  'Of course I do. I won't be long, I promise.'

  *****

  Lupin looked from one to the other and then back, ending on Sirius. 'You're
  insane, both of you.'

  Snape nodded, Sirius nodded.

  'You'll either end up dead or in Azkaban.'

  The two men nodded again.

  'Is there anything I can do?'

  'I thought he'd never ask,' Sirius remarked.

  Lupin looked at them both in turn again, he smiled to himself, as opposite
  as they were they seemed to compliment one another, he wondered if it was
  just the mad scheme Snape had put together to get his revenge on the
  Malfoys that had drawn them together or if there would be anything left for
  them after, if there was an after. He hoped so, they'd fight like cats, but
  they'd probably enjoy that. 'As long as it doesn't involve me going to
  Azkaban with you when the invitations are issued, I'll do it.'

  'About Azkaban, Lupin,' Snape said slowly. 'A part of the plan is that the
  very invitations you are joking about will be issued, not only that, but
  they will be taken up.'

  Lupin looked at them both again, they were mad after all. 'What do you need
  an insider in the Ministry for?' he asked, quite sure he didn't want to
  know the answer.

  *****

  It was Sunday; Snape lay pretending to be asleep as Lucius stroked his cock
  while flicking through the paper with his free hand. It was a pest to turn
  the pages single handed but he was looking for something. He had expected
  it to be front page news but the result of the ballot for Minister of Magic
  had been announced and Kingsley Shacklebolt's face took up all of the
  available space with the reports on his life and times taking up the next
  four pages.

  He found what he wanted on page six. There really was nothing Lucius Malfoy
  couldn't buy. He smiled in satisfaction, trying to make up his mind if he
  should wake Severus and show him or let him find it himself. Fuck it, he
  thought to himself as he laid the paper down and surrendered himself to his
  dubious fantasies as Sirius Black's picture gazed at the ceiling from below
  a WANTED headline.

  *****

  Lucius looked up from the papers he was shoving disinterestedly around what
  was his desk on the few occasions he graced the Ministry of Magic with his
  appearance. Nobody in the Ministry was very clear of what his function was
  and it was assumed correctly that it served his own ends but in view of the
  fact that Malfoy paid dearly for the privilege nobody really saw fit to
  question him.

  He frowned at the redheaded man in the doorway in annoyance.

  'What do you want?'

  'A quiet word if I may, Lucius,' Arthur looked around to the empty corridor
  to check he wasn't about to be overheard. 'I heard something rather
  disturbing which I think should be brought to your attention.'

  Lucius looked at him again, he couldn't think of anything Arthur Weasley
  could possibly know that would be of any significance to him. 'What?' he
  asked without bothering to stifle his impatience.

  'I overheard a rather fascinating conversation not too long ago between a
  couple of Aurors and visitor,' Arthur said importantly.

  'I'm not really interested, Weasley. Now if you will be so kind as to close
  the door when you leave.'

  'Suit yourself, Malfoy, the charges aren't about to be levied against me.'

  Lucius looked up. 'What charges? Against whom?'

  'Against you, Lucius,' Arthur said as he made his way to the door.

  'Arthur,' Lucius asked quietly, 'who was the visitor?'

  'Severus Snape,' Arthur smiled thinly. 'He had a rather large amount of
  gold with him.'

  'Sit down, Arthur,' Lucius smiled with the charm of a great white shark
  that had missed lunch. 'Perhaps we should have that little chat after all.'

  *****

  Snape waited until he heard Lucius coming back from the Ministry from
  putting in his once a week appearance. He heard the clip of the well-heeled
  feet walking along the long oak floored hall and stopping for a moment
  outside the drawing room door, as though Malfoy was composing himself. He
  let the door swing open and came into the room, giving Snape a quick look
  where he sat listening to the Wagner Lucius hated, drinking his nineteen
  fifty six cognac and smoking one of the slim black Russian blended
  cigarettes he favoured.

  'Have you been in all day?' The voice was cool, betraying nothing.

  Snape dropped the slim volume of verse he had been pretending to read and
  watched Lucius stand in front of the fire, warming his hands as though it
  was December outside instead of early June. He looked pale, despite what
  must be his best efforts to maintain outward calm. 'Yes, I forgot you were
  going to the Ministry, I had hoped we could have spent some time together,'
  he replied. 'We haven't really been doing that for a while, not properly.'

  Malfoy raised his eyebrow. 'Well, I've been in for the last fucking
  fortnight, Severus, so if one of us is to blame for that, it isn't me.'

  Snape looked away, Lucius wouldn't take it for confusion but he might take
  it for guilt. It didn't really matter; he was only moving the pieces to
  waste time towards the end game.

  'I have something to do, I'll see you at dinner, if you can hang about long
  enough now that you know there is a danger of us actually crossing paths.'

  'Don't be facetious, Lucius. It suits you too well,' Snape muttered and
  dropped his head to the book.

  'I don't really ask for much, you know,' Lucius said in his best 'I have
  been injured' whine.

  'You don't ask for anything, Lucius, you demand, cajole, blackmail or just
  take, but you're right, you don't ask.'

  'This is going nowhere, Severus. If you're hoping to make me lose my temper
  and tell you to fuck off so that you can storm out and spend the night with
  the Animagus, forget it.'

  'If I wanted to spend the night with anyone but you; I would already have
  left. Now sit down and behave, you're making me uncomfortable.'

  Lucius turned on his heel and left the room.

  Severus put the book back down, he hoped everything was in place, he was
  relying on other people for some things and he didn't like that. Once he
  thought he'd given Lucius enough time he went to his bedchamber. He found
  him sitting with his head in his hands, he couldn't be sure if Malfoy had
  heard him coming up the stairs and along the galleried hallway or not. He
  stifled the one thing that could undo all of his careful planning, whatever
  happened in the next few hours he would not allow himself to feel sorry for
  Lucius, or remember the one thing that he knew would haunt him to his own
  grave, he would not admit to himself the one fact over which he had no
  control.

  Lucius looked up at Snape first and then at the two brandy glasses he held.
  'We're finished, aren't we?' It was more a statement than a question.

  'Yes, I think we are.' Snape handed him the glass.

  'After all they did to you, the way they treated you, how could you?'
  Lucius let the lights of accusation flare in his grey eyes.

  Severus didn't reply.

  'We've been through it all, Severus, you and I. The war, school, the Death
  Eaters ...everything.' He looked up again as he toyed with the glass.
  'Don't you even remember who had to watch out for you, who looked after you
  when your mother died, who helped you come to terms with Arial dying, don't
  you remember? It wasn't him. I was the only one who cared, I was the one
  who always looked out for you, even now.'

  Snape was glad he'd said that, glad he felt the hot surge of outrage as
  Lucius said Arial's name, it helped to keep him focussed. 'Oh yes, I
  remember.'

  Lucius looked away for a moment as though coming to a decision. 'There's
  something you need to know, Severus, something which I'm afraid may come as
  a shock to you.' He smiled now, as he delivered his coup de grace. 'The
  Animagus may not be there when you call next time. He was taken to Azkaban
  two hours ago.' He lifted the brandy glass and tossed the contents over his
  throat. 'So it looks as though you're looking for alternative lodgings,
  perhaps you can shack up with the Werewolf.'

  Snape closed his eyes as his own brandy glass slipped from his hand. 'What
  have you done?'

  'I've told you before, there is nothing money cannot buy, not even you.'
  Lucius raised his eyebrow again in his ultimate triumph and then seemed to
  frown. For a moment he swayed. 'What?...' he trailed off and slumped to the
  floor.

  Snape bent over him, found him to be out cold and smirked down at him. 'Of
  course he's in Azkaban, Lucius. I wrote the script.'

  ****

  He hoped the timing was right, he hoped Bill had done a good job on
  convincing Arthur, he hoped Black hadn't freaked out at Azkaban, he hoped
  Lupin wasn't bottling it, he hoped Lucius would stay unconscious for the
  correct length of time. He hoped he hadn't emptied the gold out of the
  ruddy vault.

  He downed the Potion and waited, as he felt the adrenalin course through
  him chased by the Polyjuice. Once he was satisfied he was in fact Lucius he
  made for the vault, relieved he still had the access to it as he'd had on
  the other occasions he'd been there.

  He went back upstairs and was walking across the hall when the great gong
  announced a visitor. Two men he didn't know were standing in the doorway
  when the elf opened it; they stepped inside without invitation. He looked
  across at them.

  The first man had a scroll in his hand. 'Lucius Malfoy, you are under
  arrest. The charges against you are listed here.' He unrolled the scroll as
  Snape stood staring at him, he had a little vial of the reversal potion in
  his pocket. He made to remove it and found himself bound in a thin
  unbreakable magic chain.

  'I am Severus Snape,' he said quietly. 'I can assure that Lucius Malfoy is
  upstairs asleep.' Fuck, he even sounded like Lucius.

  'Yes, so you are.' The first Auror looked at the second one. 'Come on,
  Wilfrin, we'll read the charges at Azkaban.'

  'Are you insane?' Snape asked. 'What are you talking about?'

  'We're talking about a few dabbles too many in the Dark Arts Mr Malfoy, and
  that's just the tip of the iceberg. But if you were Mr Snape you'd know all
  this, he levied the charges.'

  *****

  Lucius waited until he heard the door close and went to the window; it was
  weird to watch himself walk down the front path chained between two Aurors.
  He took the copy of Snape's notes from the drawer in his desk and reread
  them. He took the vial with Snape's semen, which he had taken from his own
  body, and the blood he had collected from Snape's finger and put it into
  the Polyjuice Potion. He watched the Aurors Apparate with Snape between
  them. He looked at the Potion in distaste, trying not to think about how he
  had retrieved the ingredients. He lifted it to his lips and drank, gagging
  at both the taste and the thick gluey texture.

  He sat in front of the mirror for a few moments almost frightened to look,
  he only raised his head once the horrible creeping in his flesh stopped,
  and barely stifled his gasp as Severus Snape looked back at him. 'You
  really shouldn't have tried to cross me, Severus,' he smiled and gave his
  mirror image an appraising look. 'Now I must do something about that nose,
  and perhaps the teeth too.' He smiled again in satisfaction.

  *****

  Snape was lead down a flight of stone stairs to a small room where his
  clothes were removed and he was handed a pair of rough pyjama like loose
  black trousers and a black buttonless shirt. He didn't know any of the men
  who dealt with him. He tried to collect his thoughts, nothing would be
  served if he panicked, but the walls in here wept terror and bled despair,
  he couldn't have imagined how bad it could be, he wondered how Black had
  kept his sanity.

  'I said, move it, Malfoy.' A guard wrenched him by Lucius's blond hair.
  'They're going to have fun with you.'

  Behind him a second guard gave an ugly snigger.

  Snape was turned around and marched along a stone corridor; he was
  somewhere underground. One of his guards stopped outside a door with the
  number six gouged into the rock in Roman numerals. He turned a key and
  muttered a ward at the door and it swung open. Snape could see a man lying
  huddled at the back wall, he was wearing the same type of clothing as he
  was; he had his shackled arm raised to his eyes against the sudden sooty
  light.

  The first guard laughed, a short back. 'In you go, Princess, I forgot to
  say, we're overbooked, you'll need to share for a few months.'

  The man in the corner dropped his arm from his eyes as they became
  accustomed to the light. 'Well, well, Shirley, come in. I'll look after
  you, don't worry about a thing.' There was something hysterical lying under
  the amusement that made Snape's blood freeze.

  He found himself dragged into the cell and shackled wrists and ankles to
  rusty but strong chains, which were embedded into the opposite wall from
  the other man. He heard a clang behind him, it sounded like the back door
  of hell being slammed, as Sirius Black stood up rattling his own chains
  behind him.

  Snape sat on one of the rough pallets; he said nothing at all until he was
  sure the guards had moved away.

  'Severus?' Sirius said quietly. 'It is you, isn't it?'

  Snape smirked though Malfoy's lips. 'I am afraid so.'

  'Fuck, you gave me a shock, I thought you really were Malfoy.' Sirius
  stopped his grin when he caught Snape's look. 'Don't think about it, don't
  think too much, it'll be all right.'

  'I hope so, Black; quite a lot is riding on it being "all right". Was Lupin
  with you when they called?'

  'Yeah, he'll be okay. Trust me.' Sirius grinned again as Snape winced. 'Did
  Malfoy swallow it?'

  'Yes, Lucius tends to swallow everything around.'

  'I could have lived without that information.' Sirius said. 'Can you tell
  what he's doing just now?'

  'To a degree. The Potion will actually increase gradually in strength as
  his blood begins to recognise its invader and drop its guard.'

  'I haven't got a clue what that means,' Sirius admitted. 'I fucking hope
  you have.'

  'Of course I do. The notes I left Lucius to find are only a variation of
  the Potion I took myself. Where I can become physically and to a degree
  mentally, Lucius, he has done the same. However the amount of my blood he
  has put into his Potion will allow the invader, me, to take control of the
  host body's mind. That is, of course, if the fool made it properly.'

  'I hate "if's",' Sirius said with a tight grin. 'Couldn't you have made it
  for him?'

  Snape ignored his remark. 'He has checked his vault. He wasn't too happy
  about the hole he found in the middle of the piles.'

  Sirius watched him, he knew on some level how hurt Snape was, he could feel
  it. 'Don't think so much, Severus,' he repeated and tried to touch him,
  only managing to reach his arm with his fingertips; he felt the frisson
  between them. He'd known it was going to be hard for Snape, twisting his
  poison through Malfoy, watching him fall apart from a distance as he
  realised the depth of Snape's planning.

  Severus had told Sirius that Lucius would feel Snape's memories flitting
  through his mind, memories and feelings that he would have no control over,
  until he felt the full intensity of the pain Snape had endured. Once he had
  felt that, Severus would move in and control his mind completely. This was
  the bit Sirius didn't like; it made him nervous, he didn't understand it
  all, he hoped Snape could carry it off. For the first time in his life he
  was glad he was in Azkaban, but he hoped Lupin and Bill were at the
  Ministry talking to Kingsley; he didn't like it that much.

  *****

  Lucius poured another glass of brandy as he tried to harvest his scattered
  thoughts from the welter of confused images that chased around his mind. He
  tossed it over, he wished Severus was there, fuck, he was Severus. He
  poured another glass, he just need to come to terms with this, it would
  slip into perspective, tomorrow he would feel better and would begin to
  plan his life as Severus Snape. Of course he'd need to leave the Manor, but
  the treacherous bastard had left most of the gold behind, he had enough to
  buy a small country.

  He was going to have to move fast, Draco would have his feet under the
  table before he could say Snape's bastard, he'd probably bring his fucking
  mother too. He began to climb the stairs as he felt something else in his
  mind, he swayed and grasped the banister, as he felt Snape's memories
  again, only it wasn't memories this time, he couldn't think what it was.
  He'd think when he got upstairs and lay down, that was what he needed, to
  lie down quietly and think.

  He hoped Severus would be back soon, he would help him ... he was Severus,
  why was he here at Malfoy Manor when he'd sent him to Azkaban? It didn't
  make sense. He wished he'd brought the brandy bottle upstairs; the brandy
  would help him sleep until he made a Potion, he'd been the ruddy Potions
  Master after all. He sat in front of the mirror again trying to gather his
  thoughts while Snape's awareness invaded his mind; he frowned in utter
  confusion at the man who scowled back.

  *****

  He needed to keep talking now, he knew it wouldn't be long, bit by bit,
  more and more of Severus Snape was creeping through, Sirius reckoned he
  knew what that meant.

  'I cannot do this, Black,' Snape whispered. 'I'm sorry, I thought I could,
  I thought it was what I needed to do, but I can't do it.'

  'Yes you can, and you will. All the hard bits are done.' Sirius kept his
  voice low and even, regretting more than anything that he couldn't touch
  him properly, just a drift of the outstretched fingers. 'I understand what
  you're feeling, believe me, Severus, I understand.'

  Snape shook his head slowly. 'You cannot understand, nobody can.'

  'I do.' Sirius watched as Snape looked up; even in the dim light he could
  see the grey of Malfoy's eyes already beginning to darken. 'I understand
  you love Lucius.'

  Snape frowned through Lucius's features. 'How can you understand what I do
  not understand myself?'

  'Love's a sneaky bastard, Severus; it creeps up on us when we're looking
  the other way and picks the worst possible matches for us. We've got no
  control over it; believe me, I know.' It was happening fast now, he needed
  to keep talking, keep Snape's mind off whatever nightmare was being acted
  out at Malfoy Manor, just talk him through it until it was over. 'It
  happened to me once, more years ago than I care to remember. I was still at
  school. Picked me about as bad a match as it could. I never got over him.'

  Snape was watching him, puzzled, one part of him miles away and the other
  half listening to Sirius. 'Fucking Death Eater he was too,' Sirius added
  with a grim twist to his lips, he had a funny feeling Severus had thought
  he meant James, 'ugly as original sin and just as bad tempered.'

  'What happened to him?' Snape asked quietly as the last traces of the grey
  of Lucius Malfoy's eyes was replaced by black. Sirius could see he was
  breathing in short sharp gasps; that he was trying to hold on to the
  reality of this cell on the bottom floor of hell.

  'He got himself banged up in Azkaban for a while. He got in tow with an ex-
  con in there.' Sirius tried his best to smile; he doubted it worked.

  'And?' Snape had closed his eyes.

  'Last I heard they were going to try for happily ever after.' Sirius
  stopped as he saw Snape drop his head, and saw the black hair fall over his
  face and the chains bound to Lucius fell to the floor as Malfoy pointed his
  wand at Severus Snape in the mirror of his bedchamber. 'It's okay,
  Severus,' he whispered, 'trust me, you're going to be okay.'

  'He's dead.'

  'I know.'

  'He shot a killing curse at his mirror and it shattered, a piece of glass
  cut his throat.'

  'Fuck,' Sirius whispered, it was his turn to close his eyes.

  'Don't feel sorry for him, Black. It was Lucius who paid to keep you in
  Azkaban for twelve years.'

  Sirius looked up, something seemed to have shifted, the pressure of
  Lucius's poison he supposed. 'I know that, I just didn't want you to.'

  Snape nodded his silent thanks. 'I hope they hurry, this place is as bad as
  Grimmauld Place.' He looked around the cell for what was the first time. He
  stood up and examined the chains holding Sirius but they were magically
  sealed to him the same way his chains had been sealed to whatever of Lucius
  Malfoy had been inside him. 'I need to get to the Manor before Draco gets
  there, I'm not sure that he couldn't find the gold if he is the new Lord of
  the Manor.'

  'Have you taken leave of your senses?' Sirius said and grinned, he thought
  the expression was a touch Snapeish.

  'I don't know what you mean.'

  'You're not going back there.'

  'Of course I am, I'm not leaving the gold to Draco.'

  'You can't go back, you'll get caught.'

  'I lived there, I have belongings there.'

  They were still arguing when the cell door creaked open.

  'I see you're still at it,' Lupin smiled shyly from the door. He had two
  Ministry scrolls in his hand.

  *****

  The Manor was ablaze with candlelight when they Apparated to the grove of
  trees just to the west of the kitchen garden.

  'This is madness,' Sirius hissed. 'How do you think you're going to get
  inside. The place is probably crawling with everything from the scum of the
  House of Black to the cream of the Ministry of Magic.'

  'I'm going to knock on the ruddy door, Black,' Snape replied. 'It is only
  fitting that as Lucius's oldest friend that I am first to offer my
  condolences.'

  'That gets you where?'

  'Inside,' Snape replied shortly.

  Sirius watched him steel himself. In the few hours since they had been
  released from Azkaban Snape seemed to have put away whatever was troubling
  him, Sirius suspected he'd just hidden it below the surface. He didn't like
  this, he didn't fancy the fact that Snape was going to take his ruddy
  Potion again and see if he could get to the gold, he wasn't entirely sure
  that essence of dead man was an aperitif even he would try.

  'Stay out of sight,' Snape said over his shoulder as he strode up the broad
  elm lined carriageway.

  *****

  Snape was admitted by an elf that looked across the hallway to the young
  man who stood in the doorway of Lucius's study before allowing him to cross
  the threshold. Despite the blazing windows of the Manor there were only
  three Aurors and a couple of Ministry Investigators actually inside. And
  Draco Malfoy.

  'What happened here, Severus?' Draco asked.

  Snape gave him a long appraising look. He hadn't changed much, he was the
  same polished blond young man as he been a boy. Urbane and assured, aware
  of what he considered was his own worth, he wondered if he was indeed his
  son, and decided with a start that he didn't even have to pretend to
  himself that he didn't care. He had moved forward after all.

  'One dangerous game too many,' he replied.

  Draco shook his head, more in disgust than sorrow. He'd divorced himself
  from Lucius's machinations about the same time that Narcissa had divorced
  herself from the rest of him. 'I'm only surprised it took so long.'

  'Is your mother here?'

  'Not yet. I am the advance party,' he looked down at the papers he had been
  rummaging through, 'although on the surface it appears that it is hardly
  worth the rest of them coming.'

  'I have some belongings here, Draco,' Snape said. 'I know this is a
  difficult time for you but I need to get some of my things. I left in
  rather a hurry, as I'm sure you've been informed.'

  'Yes ... yes, of course. On you go, whatever you need.' Draco frowned,
  looking at the papers strewn over Lucius's desk again. 'Is it as bad as
  this lot seems to indicate?'

  'Probably not. I suspect Lucius had funds around somewhere. He never seemed
  short of money to splash where he felt the occasion merited it,' Snape
  replied sourly. 'Like bribing the Ministry to keep Azkaban full of those
  whom he considered a nuisance. He gave me a large amount of gold to pay off
  the goblins a few days ago, he must have money somewhere,' he added. Draco
  would find that out for himself, it cost him nothing to say it and let him
  gauge the boy.

  'Wherever it is the ruddy elves don't know.' Draco looked across at him and
  Snape knew what he was going to say before the question even fully formed
  in Draco's mind. 'Was Lucius my father, Severus?'

  'I really don't know. You would have to ask Narcissa that,' he replied.
  'You're certainly a Malfoy.'

  Draco nodded absently, wherever his suspicions lay, Snape didn't think they
  lay in his own direction. 'I might need help to get through some of this,'
  he said as he looked down at the clutter again. 'I don't suppose you have
  any idea of where to start?'

  Snape shook his head. 'No, not really. I'm sure his business advisors would
  be able to do that.'

  Draco smiled wryly. 'There are about five "pay up or else" letters from his
  business advisors, so I don't take a lot of comfort from that.'

  'I shan't keep you then, I'm sure you have enough to do here. I only really
  came to offer whatever condolences were appropriate.'

  'How kind.' Draco gave him a look. 'You'll stay the night of course,' he
  said with another frown, 'and however long you need to until you make your
  own arrangements.'

  'Thank you, but that will not be necessary,' Snape replied. 'I have already
  spoken to Dumbledore, he can put me up at Hogwarts until I get something
  organised.'

  Draco raised his eyebrow at that; it obviously wasn't what he was
  expecting, it made Snape wonder if he'd been in touch with Harry before
  he'd come here. Draco gave a little sigh, part frustration, and part
  disappointment. He'd obviously hoped for a more triumphal return to his
  birthright at some time. 'I'm sorry, Severus,' he said with a sincerity
  that surprised Snape again. 'It is I who should offer you condolences. I
  know this was your home this last few years and I know, however unlikely it
  seems, that at least someone felt something for him other than contempt.'
  He looked to the ceiling to where Snape supposed Lucius's body still lay.
  'I think at least I'm glad of that.'

  Snape felt the tug of regret he'd tired to stifle and reminded himself that
  he indeed felt more than contempt for Lucius, amongst the other conflicting
  emotions, his hate for Lucius and Abraxus had borne him through the
  staggering outrages he had endured. 'Yes, at least somebody cared.' He
  turned away, Draco didn't know about the gold, that was all he wanted to
  know from him. He'd almost reached Lucius's study door when the young man
  spoke again.

  'Is the fact that I am your son so distasteful to you?'

  'Just the facts surrounding the fact, so to speak.' He was going to turn,
  but he thought better of it.

  'I'm sorry it can't be different,' Draco said to his back. 'For what it's
  worth, I always felt more than respect for you, at least you taught me some
  values.'

  Damnit, Snape cursed to himself, willing Draco to let this drop, he wasn't
  prepared for any direction this conversation could take. To turn would be
  an invitation, to walk away would be weak. He caught sight of the black
  nose of a large dog peering around the leg of a table that sat in an alcove
  opposite the drawing room door and found he had to suppress a smirk that
  was half annoyance and half something he wasn't ready to examine. He wasn't
  alone, not now, he had an uncomfortable feeling that Black might be as easy
  to shake off as a summer cold and just as irritating, but for now it was
  good to know he wasn't alone.

  He turned with a confidence he hadn't felt before. 'Draco, whatever you may
  know or believe you know, you and I have no relationship to explore. As far
  as I am concerned the only connection we ever had was that of pupil and
  teacher, roles that neither of us bothered to fulfil to their potential.
  You are Lucius Malfoy's son in everything with the possible exception of
  one. If it should be, and I have no way of either proving or disproving it,
  but if it should be that I am your biological father, the seed that
  produced you was not given willingly. I say that, not to injure, but to
  make my own case quite clear.'

  'You're not interested?'

  'I am not interested. Not even interested enough to wonder if it true.'

  *****

  Draco had been asleep for almost an hour when Snape went to the room he had
  used as a study. He lifted the Charm from the cavity in the wall below the
  window and took the vial of Lucius's blood, sweat and semen and the flask
  of Polyjuice from their hiding place. It hadn't been disturbed.

  Lucius's body had been removed to the Ministry and the Aurors and
  investigators seemed to have contented themselves that Malfoy had committed
  suicide over the fact that he was almost bankrupt. That was the one thing
  that Snape regretted above all, or thought he did, the fact that the gossip
  mongers would relish that little titbit, he would have spared Lucius that
  much, that final indignity of what he would consider lesser people
  sniggering behind their hands. Perhaps he would leave a little of the gold
  just so that they wouldn't have their day, just so Lucius could bow out in
  style, Mad Malfoy had a much kinder ring to it than Bankrupt Malfoy.

  Sirius watched him as he measured the contents of the small vial into the
  flask. 'Are you sure about this?'

  'No, of course I am not sure.'

  'I don't like it, can't we just nick a couple of paintings and the family
  silver?'

  'We shall do just that if you know of anyone who would like the dubious
  pleasure of paying for a painting of one of the Malfoys so he can sneer
  over their breakfast day after day,' Snape replied as he shook the flask
  and unstoppered it again. 'You know what to do if it goes wrong?'

  'Yes, kill you and run like hell.'

  'Just so we both know what script we're reading from, Black, what will you
  actually do if it goes wrong?'

  'I don't fucking know, I'm an instinct guy,' Sirius grinned. 'Right now my
  instinct is that you do not swallow that muck.'

  Snape raised the bottle to his lips and drank off the Potion, forcing
  himself not to gag or grimace.

  *****

  He didn't say anything for a few minutes, the physical change had gone
  smoothly but Sirius was concerned about the mental aspects.

  'What's wrong?'

  'Nothing ... It's just ...' Snape had closed his eyes, '... I can't
  describe it.'

  Sirius didn't like this a bit, he lifted the bottle of restorative that
  Snape had given him for safekeeping. 'Take this now, Severus, I knew we
  shouldn't have done this.'

  'It is working, Black, it's just somehow slower, more sluggish.' He opened
  his eyes, Sirius thought there was something eerily disconcerting about the
  fact they were Lucius's grey. He stood before the study door and it opened
  on his unspoken command. He turned and gave a cool smirk to Sirius.

  They made their way through the silent house down to the cellars and to the
  vault to which Lucius Malfoy only had access.

  'Fuck sake,' Sirius whispered, 'how much is there?'

  'Millions.'

  'Fuck sake. How are we going to spend all that?'

  'I am confident,' Snape said with another smirk. 'I had considered leaving
  some,' he faltered for a moment.

  'What's wrong now?' Sirius frowned; he was becoming a bit uneasy about the
  seesawing of Snape's mood.

  'Nothing ... It's just, I would prefer the world not to gloat over his
  downfall.'

  'And we can't carry it all anyway.'

  'No, and I'd like some too. After all, I had to put up with him too,' Draco
  said from the bottom of the stairs. He had a wand in his hand. 'Now perhaps
  we can go upstairs and discuss this like gentlemen.' He pointed his wand at
  the man who had taken the persona of Lucius. 'You first, Severus, I think
  I'd like to keep my eye on you.'

  *****

  'I think I want to know two things, Severus,' Draco said as he sat behind
  Lucius's desk.

  'Just two?'

  'For the moment, yes,' Draco let a cool smile twitch his lips. 'How and
  why?'

  Sirius looked from one to the other. Something was puzzling him, apart from
  the wand that lay on the desk, there didn't seem to be any malice in Draco.
  Then again, Lucius had been an accomplished actor, perhaps he'd learnt the
  art from him.

  'I could make up any story, you know,' Snape said from Lucius's mouth, he
  had made no sign to Sirius that he wanted the reversal potion.

  'But you won't, you're too honourable for that, too noble by half,' Draco
  smiled. 'Merlin, but I wish you knew how that used to make everyone's teeth
  ache. I could never understand how you got into Slytherin.'

  Snape raised his eyebrow. 'Indeed?'

  'That and the towering vanity. You were almost as bad as Lucius and I'm
  sure you'll forgive me for saying so, but with far less reason.'

  Snape flared Lucius's nostrils. 'Just what is that supposed to mean, Mr
  Malfoy.'

  'Well, you're no oil painting for starters,' Draco said, with slightly less
  confidence.

  'Can we cut to the chase?' Sirius put in before it was morning and they had
  to explain the presence of a living breathing Lucius Malfoy when his corpse
  was lying on a bier in the Ministry awaiting its release back to the family
  crypt.

  Draco looked at him. 'I agree with the Animagus,' he said in just the way
  Lucius would have, the same degree of dismissal and disdain, except for the
  fact that he agreed. 'And I'd prefer to do so before Narcissa arrives and
  sees the gold, she might get quite the wrong idea.'

  'Like?' Sirius asked.

  'Like she might think she has some sort of entitlement. I do not intend to
  swell the Black family coffers. Anyway she is the only person involved with
  Lucius who is not owed some type of reparation.'

  'What are you wanting, Draco?' Snape asked quietly. Sirius could tell he
  was becoming fed up with whatever game they were playing.

  'Half the money. I shall allow you to leave enough here, a part of each of
  our shares, to leave it in no doubt that Lucius was merely insane and not
  broke, I have a feeling we both want that much for him.'

  'And your conditions?' Snape asked.

  'That you help me to get my gold out. I've been down to that cellar often
  enough to know that I would never see it again.'

  'And?' Snape held his eyes as Sirius felt something flow between them,
  something that made him feel uncomfortable and comforted at the same time.

  'That you acknowledge me as your son.' Draco looked away for a moment and
  Sirius could see he'd been working this out. 'You see, that way I will
  still inherit, eventually, and I will at least get it all back one day, on
  the not unreasonable assumption that you will die before me. But I know
  enough of the murky family history to know that you are Lucius's brother on
  the all important Malfoy side and as his nearest relative, you will inherit
  anyway.' He gave a little smile of triumph. 'In fact, you could consider it
  to be a loan, I will lend you Lucius's gold, until you die.'

  'And you expect anyone to believe that I am Lucius's brother and you're my
  son, especially when the debts get miraculously paid off with good hard
  gold?'

  'I don't have to convince anyone, Severus. Your birth papers name you as
  Severus Malfoy. Abraxus bought them many years ago, just in case Lucius
  came to an untimely ending before the line was secure; he never got around
  to changing them to Snape.' He seemed to think for a moment. 'As it turned
  out that was quite fortunate because they became 'lost' for quite some
  time.'

  'And why should I bother?' Snape asked coolly and nodded to the wand that
  lay on the desk. 'I'm quite sure that you are aware that you do not have
  the power to harm me in any way.'

  'And I'm sure I don't need you to tell me that.' Draco stood up. 'I'm a
  loose end, Severus; you won't cut me adrift. With all that insufferable
  honour and nobility I'm surprised they didn't put you in Gryffindor.'

  Sirius watched him; he'd already worked out that Severus wasn't going to
  dump the boy. He noticed Snape had stopped putting up any arguments about
  Draco's immediate ancestry.

  'Is it your intention to stay in the Manor?' Snape asked.

  Sirius suspected he wanted to earn himself a little more time.

  'Oh yes, I have long harboured delusions of grandeur, Severus, and now I
  can be Lord of the Manor in a way I had always hoped for.' He looked down
  at the papers that were still strewn on Lucius's desk. 'I confess this lot
  gave me a bit of a start though.' He picked up a random scroll and tapped
  it on the fine mahogany of the desk. 'I shall turn the question to you now.
  Is it your intention to stay at Grimmauld Place?' he asked with the
  faintest arch of his eyebrow which made Sirius suspect that Draco Malfoy
  knew a lot more that either of them thought.

  'I have no intentions at this point in time.' Severus made an admirable
  attempt at not appearing startled. 'What is to stop you just taking the
  gold and destroying whatever papers you think exist proving any claim I may
  have on Lucius's fortune?'

  'I don't have the papers, Severus. Your mother's lawyer has them,' Draco
  said quietly as though he was wary of what reaction the reference to Eileen
  Snape might invoke. 'Apart from that, if I don't have you I can't get the
  gold either.'

  Snape had looked away. Sirius suspected he was uncomfortable with the fact
  that someone seemed to know not only some of the secrets he'd thought were
  his alone but some he didn't even know. When he looked back he was cool,
  almost cold. 'Just what do you think you know about my mother,' he began,
  'and just what is the source of that knowledge?'

  Draco looked to Sirius in some sort of appeal as though he was stepping
  over into uncharted waters and was afraid he was going to drown in a sea of
  his own making. 'Your mother wasn't the only person who suffered at the
  hands of my grandfather, Severus,' he said quietly. 'His inheritance lives
  not only through her letter to you.'

  Snape had whitened in fury; even through Malfoy's face he looked every inch
  Severus Snape. 'Shut your mouth. How dare you compare what he did to my
  mother with anything else he could have dredged up.'

  Draco stood his ground. 'I'm not and I don't pretend to know what went on.
  But my grandmother was married to him, Severus. She was a meek woman,
  totally dominated by him. But she had one ally, one person with whom she
  had at least her suffering in common and although they never met and she
  had no way of allaying Eileen's suffering she had at least a soul mate of
  sorts. She found a message that had been delivered to Abraxus begging for
  money to give her son a decent burial and I'm sure that you don't need me
  to tell you that it came from Eileen Prince Snape. Cassiopeia Malfoy wrote
  a letter herself, one that had to be opened by any grandchild she had on
  the death of the son who was forced upon her.' Draco dipped into the pocket
  of the black velvet doublet he wore and pulled out a document written in
  black ink in a spidery feminine hand.

  'She wrote a letter to an unborn child?'

  'No, Severus.' Draco looked at Sirius again. 'Help me here, Black. Help me
  make him understand this.'

  'Understand what, Draco? What are you trying to tell us?'

  'The letter from my grandmother wasn't written to me, the original
  recipient was supposed to be Eileen Snape, but she didn't know she had
  already taken her own life. The message also enclosed your birth papers, my
  grandmother removed them from this house to the only place she considered
  them to be safe. Once she knew Eileen was dead she delivered them and her
  letter to Eileen's solicitor, Merlin alone knows how she found out who he
  was.'

  'What do you want from me?' Snape turned to look at the boy, much more like
  father and son when he was Lucius. Sirius thought he was beginning to
  struggle a bit with the Malfoy persona.

  'For myself, nothing but the money ... if there is nothing else.' Draco put
  the letter back into his pocket. 'For them, Severus, for both of them, I
  want what you want.'

  'You are appealing to the honour you somehow seem to think overrides my
  actions?'

  Draco nodded. 'Even the one that let you somehow stage-manage Lucius's
  suicide while you were safely incarcerated in Azkaban. Even by your
  standards that was very clever Severus; perhaps one day I can tell my
  grandchildren how you did that.'

  'Perhaps I shall leave a letter with my solicitor when I die,' Severus
  smirked at last.

  'Come on, let's get this fucking gold before it disappears,' Sirius
  grinned. 'I don't think you want to be found looking like that if anyone
  calls.' He watched Draco pocket his wand; both men seemed content now that
  they could at least trust one another.

  *****

  'I hear from Harry that Lupin has moved in with you,' Draco commented over
  his shoulder from between them as they walked back down the stairs to the
  cellar.

  Snape turned. 'Lupin?'

  'Thank you, Draco,' Sirius snarled and turned to Snape. 'Ah, yes, didn't I
  tell you?'

  'No, it must have slipped what passes for your mind.'

  'It was your fault, you were the one who said he needed to be looked
  after,' Sirius accused and gasped again as he saw the piles of gold lying
  before them.

  Draco walked into the vault and frowned. 'Maybe the gold will just
  disappear the same way as the vault does.'

  'No, it is the vault that is charmed, the gold is quite real, I assure
  you,' Snape smirked.

  Sirius thought he'd begun to look tired, he didn't want to imagine what the
  mental baggage of carrying a dead man around in your head felt like. 'Come
  on, let's get moving here, this stuff's going to be heavy.'

  'How long can you stay like that?' Draco looked across at Snape as though
  he was having the same reservations.

  'Let us just say that we should make this as quick a we can.'

  Sirius frowned at him. 'Are you sure you're okay. I mean d'you want to
  change back for a while.' He nodded to the gold. 'After all, that lot's not
  going anywhere without you.'

  'Black's right, we can do this tomorrow, Severus,' Draco agreed quickly.
  'I'll fire off a few owls and keep the vultures at bay for now, there's no
  rush.' He looked to Sirius. 'You can trust Lupin, can't you? And I'm sure
  Harry would help. I think we want to keep it in the family, so to speak,
  although we can bypass the rest of Blacks if you don't mind.'

  Snape shook his head. 'No, I don't want to do this again,' he said quietly
  and Sirius could see he was struggling.

  'Why don't you wait over there and Draco and I can levitate it out into the
  main cellar and we can Charm it ourselves?'

  'It will take a while,' Snape said in doubtful agreement.

  *****

  Snape watched as Sirius and Draco removed the piles of gold bit by bit to
  the main cellar. He wasn't sure how much longer he could do this; he felt
  the soft blackness try to encroach upon his senses again, all but snuffing
  out everything around him.

  Most of the gold lay outside the vault now, there were only two small piles
  left, about ten thousand Galleons perhaps, Salazar Slytherin's original
  stake. Sirius and Draco looked exhausted, even levitating the weight of so
  much gold was taking its toll on them. He felt himself start, he needed to
  stay awake, he knew what the alternative was.

  They were both in the vault when Severus felt his heart stagger in its
  regular beat, the out of kilter pulse frightening him; he had done too
  much, waited too long. Draco had been right about his towering vanity, he
  wasn't nearly as powerful as he had thought; it was the last notion he had
  as he felt the stab of pain in his chest and slipped from consciousness.

  *****

  'Hold his ruddy mouth open,' Sirius gasped as he unstoppered the flask of
  the reversal Potion.

  'I'm trying, he bloody bit me,' Draco replied as he tried to prise apart
  the jaws that Snape had clenched in agony.

  'I don't know how much to give him,' Sirius muttered. 'Fuck it, the
  arrogant fuck, couldn't he have said something?'

  'Come on, Black, just make a decision.' Draco said with rising panic. 'He's
  a terrible colour.'

  'Fuck,' Sirius snarled and tipped the bottle to Snape's mouth. The gooey
  mixture ran down his chin. 'Hold his head back, for fuck sake.'

  Draco took the bottle from him. 'You hold his mouth open.' He began to pour
  the mixture slowly down Snape's throat, massaging it every couple few
  moments to make him swallow.

  'What now?' Sirius asked, his own panic threatening to break loose.

  'I don't know, do I?' Draco ran a hand through his blond hair and turned to
  kneel beside the man who was slumped against a pile of gold that would have
  bought a controlling share in Gringotts. 'Come on, Severus,' he pleaded,
  'there's no point to any of this if you don't wake up.'

  The boy's words warmed Sirius, he cared, and not just about the money.
  'Maybe we should give him more,' he said from Snape's other side. It was
  useless trying to remember the change he had made in Azkaban, that had been
  brought about by Lucius's death. They could hardly march into the Ministry
  and ask if they could kill Malfoy again.

  'It's working ... look,' Draco gasped in relief as he took a handful of the
  white blond locks and held it up to the guttering wall sconce. 'It's
  definitely getting darker.'

  'Give him some more,' Sirius said as he prised Snape's mouth open again and
  hauled his neck back in an arm lock.

  'For the love of Merlin, Black,' Snape groaned, 'I'm sure there are easier
  and less painful ways to kill me.'

  Sirius dropped his stranglehold. 'Why didn't you say something, you
  arrogant fuck?' he accused in a rush of relief. 'For all you know we might
  not have noticed and you might have fucking died. That's just typical of
  you, you know. Too fucking arrogant to ask for help.'

  'Have you finished yet?' Snape asked dryly, he seemed to be quite himself
  again.

  Sirius couldn't have explained how relieved he was that the Malfoy look had
  been dropped and the familiar dark scowl glowered back at him. 'No, I
  haven't actually, I've just started.'

  Draco smirked at them for a moment. 'Can we attend to that lot?' He nodded
  to where the gold still stood. The significance wasn't lost on any of them,
  Snape had changed back to himself and the piles of gold were still there,
  only the few bars they had abandoned in the vault had disappeared.

  'It's a pity about the bit we left, isn't it?' Draco said with mock regret
  as he looked at the space where the vault had been and Snape finished
  casting the Charm around their own gold.

  If Salazar Slytherin ever came back for his share he'd have to find it
  first.

  *****

  EPILOGUE

  'My Dear Eileen,

  You do not know me but I know you know of me. I am Cassiopeia Malfoy,
  Abraxus Malfoy's wife, for want of a better term. Please read on, Eileen,
  this letter is sent to you as an appeal, from one woman wronged to another
  more deeply wronged.

  I have just come across a letter that you sent to Abraxus asking for help
  in burying the son who has been stolen from you. I do not know how my son
  or husband are involved in his death but suffice it to say that I know
  enough of both of them to assume that their hands are, as ever, involved in
  the deed. I can only offer you whatever crumb of comfort you can take from
  knowing that I, at least, share your sorrow. I know these are perhaps
  futile words but I beg that you accept them as some sort of indication that
  someone is not only aware but understands the type of suffering that the
  Malfoys can inflict upon those unable to stand up to them.

  I recently came across the enclosed documents of birth, which I suspect
  relate to your own sons, Arial and Severus. I return these to you as an act
  of defiance which I am fairly sure will go unnoticed, but they name your
  sons as Malfoys and, who knows, maybe one day the boy you still have at
  your side will be able to use the knowledge that he has a claim on the
  Malfoys to better use than either you or I have done.

  My own son, if I should even call him that, was taken from me at birth and
  brought up in the true Malfoy traditions of greed and lust for power in the
  same way as my body and I suspect yours was taken to be used as a vessel
  for the same purpose. I have no contact with Lucius at all, considering the
  fact that he is even more of a Malfoy than his own father, having even been
  conceived with the help of Dark Magic, I regard that as a disguised
  blessing.

  I am unsure of how I can assist you, Eileen, but if you have a Gringotts
  account perhaps I could put some money into it for you to help your
  circumstances, a small amount on a regular basis would be easier for me
  than finding large amounts as Abraxus does not offer me access to the
  Malfoy deposits. I seek not only to assuage the conscience that my husband
  does not possess, but perhaps also to help you in bringing up the boy,
  Severus. He is after all the only chance either of us will ever have of
  visiting the sins of the Malfoys back upon them. The boy is young I know,
  and maybe we should keep the knowledge from him until he is old enough to
  deal with it. I do not say lightly that we could both be in our own graves
  by then. Perhaps even that would be appropriate; it is often said the dish
  of revenge is best served cold.

  With kind regards and hope for at least one future

  Cassiopeia Malfoy.'

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