Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/
works/10019231.
  Rating:
      Explicit
  Archive Warning:
      Underage, Graphic_Depictions_Of_Violence
  Category:
      M/M, F/M, Multi
  Fandom:
      Harry_Potter_-_J._K._Rowling
  Relationship:
      Draco_Malfoy/Other(s), Draco_Malfoy/Harry_Potter, Draco_Malfoy/Harry
      Potter/Other(s), Hermione_Granger/Ron_Weasley, Lucius_Malfoy/Severus
      Snape, Severus_Snape/Other(s), Sirius_Black/Severus_Snape
  Character:
      Draco_Malfoy, Albus_Dumbledore, Rubeus_Hagrid, Harry_Potter, Hermione
      Granger, Lucius_Malfoy, Alastor_“Mad-Eye”_Moody, Narcissa_Black_Malfoy,
      Other(s), Pansy_Parkinson, Remus_Lupin, Ron_Weasley, Severus_Snape,
      Blaise_Zabini, Original_Character
  Additional Tags:
      Explicit_Language, Heterosexual_Sex, Slash_sex, Self-Harm, Sexual
      Content, Spoilers, Threesome, Angst, Tragedy, Bonding, Drama, Humor,
      Parody, Hurt/Comfort, Mystery, Suspense, Pre-Slash, Romance
  Collections:
      HPFandom
  Stats:
      Published: 2008-07-28 Completed: 2010-11-16 Chapters: 113/113 Words:
      204160
****** Not Just Another Drarry ******
by Candy_Bang [archived by HPFandom_archivist]
Summary
     Slytherins are all about self-preservation. That's why Draco has to
     bed -and keep- Harry Potter. The unblemished skin on the arms of
     Draco and his friends depend on it. And then there's the illigitmate
     Jessa, who's more than a little messed up in the head and besotted
     with some other half-blood. Who hopefully isn't the Dark Lord.
Notes
     Note from SeparatriX, the archivist: this story was originally
     archived at HP_Fandom, which was closed for health and financial
     reasons. To preserve the archive, I began manually importing its
     works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in August 2016. I
     e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but
     may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator,
     please contact me using the e-mail address on HP_Fandom_collection
     profile.
***** Prologue *****
This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK
Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books,
Scholastic Books and Raincoat Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being
made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended. I'm just playing
with some of it for my own gratification... oh yeah, and as a gift for
Dracos_Desire xxx
Draco’s mother twisted her lips in an odd way as she regarded her son. He
heaved a sigh in response although he was not genuinely annoyed. She
deliberately did not speak and after it became clear that she had no intention
of doing so, Draco gestured impatiently with his eyebrows.
The irritating woman simply smoothed the immaculate folds of her dress.
“You don’t approve,” Draco surmised.
“I would never say that Draco,” Narcissa stated smoothly, folding her manicured
hands in her lap.
“Of course not,” Draco replied almost sullenly. He retreated upstairs thinking,
‘Not verbally,’ with a slight scowl.
One of the physically stunted members of the help appeared in Draco’s room with
a wary expression and even warier gait.
“Out,” Draco said shortly.
A torn expression appeared on the help’s leathery features but he remained long
enough to stammer, “Is there anything you’ll be wanting Master Draco?” in his
unappealing dialect. At least by having been first employed by Draco's mother
the servant's way of speaking was marginally better than that of the others.
Draco sat forwards and clasped his white hands in a measured movement. A smile
spread on his cold features as he regarded the intruder with his glinting eyes.
The pest departed loudly a moment later.
Draco let out a huff of amusement although he was not really amused, and
lowered himself onto his back in an unhurried movement. He massaged his face
with his hands. He should have kept the help around and practised hurling
aggressive magic at him.
Mother had a point. That did not mean she was right: because it was impossible
to do anything else. Draco raised his hands to grip his hair and tease it
unnecessarily into perfection. He made another noise of dissatisfaction and
pulled himself up into a sitting position on his bed. That would have been
easier if his mattress was not so soft but his sport-trained body was oblivious
to the strain.
He slipped off his shoes and padded over to the window in his socks. He
surveyed the grounds mutely for a while before noticing his reflection. He was
clutching his left arm to his torso. Ridiculous! He stormed away from the
window, stabbed his feet back into his loafers and stormed downstairs. He would
go outside and get lost in the sky.
*
Harry still felt somewhat numb.
Tonks dropped down beside him. “Bearing up?”
Harry looked at his trainers and then sidelong at the young woman. He nodded
blankly. Tonks was quiet and Harry watched her look about the room. He’d taken
to roaming the house since the fiasco that had cost Sirius his life and nothing
seemed so bleak as the suffocating emptiness.
Harry floundered for something to say. “Do you know what they’re upto?”
‘They’ referred to Albus Dumbledore, Remus Lupin and Alastor Moody. They had
been involved in some odd, secretive happening that had them lurking about the
house and attempting to keep Harry away from the more neglected rooms. They had
even attempted to remove Harry from Grimmauld Place altogether but Harry had
railed strongly against that.
Tonks glanced at Harry thoughtfully. “Not really,” she replied. “They’re
acting... strangely though. I think Albus has got Mad Eye’s looking for
something... and Remus is acting... differently.”
“Worse than when Sirius had just died, you mean,” Harry said.
Tonks made a face that clearly said, ‘me and my big mouth’ but nodded.
Harry sighed. “I never get kept in the loop.”
*
Severus had a lot of regrets. He could hear the brats bickering outside his
empty classroom and it irritated him even more than he dared show. His temper
was especially short from a lack of sleep and the accumulated aches and pains
resultant of spending a night pandering to the whims of a sadistic madman.
It was no use sitting here marking papers; the rabble outside were
unconsciously inciting him to murderous urges. Severus threw himself to his
feet and stalked through to his quarters. The free period was before lunch so
he could steal a little over an hour of sleep. Hopefully that could prevent him
from skinning one of the noisy little morons. Not that they would be
undeserving of such a fate.
*
Jessamine swung her feet to idly kick the table before her and ignored the
pressure of Mad Eye’s fingers gripping her shoulder warningly. “What right do
you think you have to take me from my home?”
Mad Eye twisted her shoulder pointedly. Jessamine met and severely disliked the
gaze of the man’s boss. She pulled away in disgust and raised herself from her
chair. Mad Eye grabbed her with more care than he needed to and shoved her back
into the chair. “Watch your manners,” he said gruffly.
***** An Eventful First Week *****

Author's notes: shrugs.
===============================================================================
Okay…so this chapter’s been annoying me for a while, so I’ve tweaked it some.
I'll come back and tweak it some more at some point. I kind of want to just
hack it up and redo it properly but we'll see. And if you’re new and getting
worried looking at the amount of chapters, the rest are nowhere near this long
lol.
 
She slunk into the great hall and trotted quickly towards the staff table,
trying not to catch any more attention than necessary from the students who
were wondering what the black dog was doing here. She ignored the call of
‘Snuffles’ and listed the differences between herself and Sirius in her head,
because that was easier than thinking about Sirius or the godson who got him
killed.
She was smaller. She was obviously a bitch. She was slenderer. She didn’t have
his pale eyes, and her’s were far less human. She ducked past the Ravenclaw
table and swiftly mounted the raised area on which the staff table was
situated.
There were far too many eyes on her despite her discrete entrance, and she was
very aware of that. It was a slight relief to get behind the table and out of
the way of those gazes.
“Jessa? What the devil are you doing?”
 
Ah. She had said she wasn’t going to enter the great hall during mealtimes and
she hadn’t before now…but she was getting restless and creeped out stuck in the
rooms all the time. It was worse since they’d sent her elf to the kitchens.
He’d probably poison the food. Ordinarily she’d be amused by that. She cringed
as she caught the headmaster’s scent.
She knew he was here. She hoped her flinch hadn’t been noticeable. Merlin, the
old coot made her nervous. She shrank smaller as she crept beneath the
tablecloth and pawed Alastor Moody’s leg. He glowered down at her with barely
masked concern. His magical blue eye was fixed on her also, and that was
unnerving.
The dog bowed her head and pulled herself onto Alastor’s lap. She was even
smaller now, and stood mutely as though waiting for a response. When Alastor
did not push her down she nuzzled under his overshirt and remained there.
“Jessa,” he repeated.
She poked her nose out of the neck of his clothing reluctantly.
Alastor continued to glare at her for a while before stroking the tip of her
face and asking softly, “Are you hungry?”
She whimpered in protest but at that moment her stomach rumbled against his.
Stupid, traitorous thing. He scooped her out of his shirt and placed her on the
table beside his plate. The teachers on either side of him scowled at Alastor.
She wouldn’t be that impressed to have an animal on the table either, animagus
or not. Still, that would be a waste of breath on Moody.
Jessa looked in distaste at the unappetising meat on Alastor’s platter. She
nudged something healthier and low-everything onto his dish and began to pick
at it half-heartedly.
“You can’t be enjoying that,” he commented and offered her something warm and
still bloody. She still wasn’t sure how he knew how much she was craving the
taste of raw meat. Merlin she wanted to hunt soon.
She sniffed gently and nuzzled at the proffered meat, lapping the warm liquid
from his large, rough fingers. Hesitantly, she bit into the food and chewed
delicately on a small mouthful. Afterwards she stepped back down onto his lap
and refused the rest of the meat or anything else he offered, although content
to lick more blood from his hands. No reason to give in to temptation too much.
The taste was just making her crave rabbit more and she knew perfectly well
they wouldn’t permit her onto the ground.
She just wanted to kill a little rabbit or two.
“Jessamine I am surprised to see you at our table.”
What? Oh, him. What made him think he had any right to address her? The dog
stiffened and turned, snarling, to the man who had spoken. Albus Dumbledore
looked over his glasses at her with a smile. His eyes twinkled gently but his
friendliness seemed forced. So it should. “How are you?” he asked.
Jessa gave him a filthy look and turned her back on him. She’d like throw salt
in his eyes. Or pepper. She eyed the condiment speculatively.
Alastor stroked her raised hackles soothingly. “You’re being bloody rude
Jessa,” he scolded.
She nipped his wrist gently. “I don’t care; I don’t trust him Mad Eye.”
He cuffed her nose softly, “Be polite, can’t you, girl?”
“Shan’t,” she muttered darkly. He took the pepper and moved it out of her line
of sight. She huffed quietly in disgust. She wouldn’t have done it anyway.
 
The meal ended and Alastor drew the dog from his lap into his arms. As they
left Albus stopped them. “I hope you’ll learn to trust me, Jessamine.”
Mutely, she gave him a pained look and turned her face into Alastor’s chest.
Alastor looked at her and sighed. “Sorry Albus.”
“Quite alright,” forgave Dumbledore. “Perhaps in time?”
Alastor nudged his charge. “I hope so,” he said pointedly. Jessa wriggled
sulkily. She’d forgiven the ‘sorry, Albus’ because he was Moody, but he had no
right to try and make her be nice to the senile, passive-aggressive, odious man
with no sense of style. Filthy muggle-lover.
Albus wandered off looking thoughtful and Moody scowled, pulling Jessa off him
to glare at her. “I’ve a good mind to shake you,” he said severely.
Jessa squirmed in his hold and scrambled onto his shoulder. His large hands
reached up to steady her. “But you won’t,” Jessa replied.
“I’m damn irritated by you,” Alastor pressed.
“Doesn’t mean you’ll hit me,” the dog mumbled into his neck. “I’d never forgive
you.”
Alastor made an annoyed noise deep in his throat and carried her up to his
rooms.
“You never said…” she murmured.
Alastor settled into an armchair by the fireplace with Jessa in his lap. Her
face was settled against his warm chest. “Said what, girl?”
“Why you didn’t want to break my fingers…”
Alastor laughed and reached for his hip flask. That shouldn’t be funny, but it
was such a peculiar comment that he had to laugh. When it was Jessa, it was
always better to laugh than to let her thoughts under your skin. Her head was a
disturbing place to be. Jessa shifted comfortably to allow him access to his
drink before settling back against him.
“You’re tired,” Alastor protested.
“Yes, so talk to me…” the dog pleaded sleepily.
Alastor shook his head. “Get dressed first, and then we can talk before you go
to bed.”
Jessa tapped him hard with her muzzle and leapt down from the seat. Alastor
took a swig from his flask.
The dog returned swiftly; but she was not a dog anymore. Jessa stood awkwardly
against the doorframe dressed in one of Alastor’s most worn shirts. Her dark
hair hung about her face and she played anxiously with the brushed cotton
cuffs. The bottom of the shirt stopped just below the top third of her thighs
and displayed a large amount of her long, pale legs. Her skin was the almost
painful white of those who rarely saw sunlight and livid red and purple
handprints marked the visible flesh. A dying bruise in dotted yellow and green
reminded him of a further incident left unspoken, but this was a paw shaped
marking, larger than a print left by an ordinary wolf.
“Kindred Jessamine Black, must you?”
Jessa sighed. “Don’t use my whole name…”
Alastor swallowed from his flask again. “You do have clothes of your own
Jessa.” Another swig. He knew the comment was lost on her. “Come here and have
your talk with me then, girl.”
Jessa smiled and stepped away from the doorframe. As she walked towards him
Alastor choked. “Jessa!”
Jessa made a face and flounced back into his room. Moments later she returned
with the thin stripe of Alastor’s shorts showing beneath his shirt as she
walked.
Jessa climbed into his lap and settled. “Well…” she began, “After …after what
he did-”
“Remus?”
Jessa avoided his gaze. “After that, when he was there …with Dumbledore …and
you… to…to…”
Alastor felt the animagus girl’s unease. “On the night when we came to get
you.”
Stress and misery glanced across her expression for an instant before
disappearing. “Yes,” she agreed in a tight voice, “when that happened… you
didn’t have to- I mean; you could have –it would have been okay to hurt me!”
Jessa blurted.
“You’d done nothing wrong, girl,” Alastor said calmly.
“That wouldn’t have mattered,” said Jessa bleakly, and with an edge of anger.
“It would have mattered to me,” Alastor replied gruffly, “and both Alastor and
Remus can be trusted.” His jaw tightened momentarily.
 
“Good men can do bad things,” a frowning Jessa retorted.
Alastor glanced at her. “You don’t trust anyone; do you?”
“From what I heard, neither do you.”
When no retort came to his tongue Alastor took another mouthful from his flask.
He wasn’t unaware that that was as close as the girl was likely to get to
vocalising her reasons for trusting him. She seemed to hate everyone else and
because she favoured him so obviously it made it hard to argue with her
sometimes. Only sometimes though.
From where Jessa was she could smell the alcohol on his breath. The
ordinariness of that comforted her.
“You can trust me,” Alastor said after a pause that was too long for a normal
conversation.
“I do,” Jessa admitted softly.
Alastor tightened his grip on her in reassurance. She seemed exhausted. He
glanced at the clock. “Time you were in bed,” he commented.
“I’m not tired!” Jessa protested quickly and with a meagre sliver of panic.
“Bed, Jessa,” Alastor commanded, missing the tiny inflection in her tone.
With a wounded expression Jessa gave her guardian a loose hug and stood up.
Alastor Moody felt his stomach tighten at sight of the bruises that marked so
much of her legs. The pawprints, he knew, had been Lupin’s accidentally, but
the majority of damage the girl refused to account for.
Jessa shuffled tiredly to her room.
When she had closed her door Alastor found himself thinking about the night she
had been collected from the house in Grimmauld Place. She had been there all
along without anyone’s knowledge but couldn’t possibly stay. Especially after
the Lupin fiasco.
By manipulating Kreecher it had been possible to corner the illusive Kindred
Jessamine and …well… trap her. At Dumbledore’s instruction, he, Moody and Lupin
had attempted to transfer her to elsewhere. That proved unexpectedly difficult
because Jessa managed to appear invisible. Said female animagus could not be
seen even by Moody’s bewitched scrutiny because said animagus simply shrunk
herself to elude her three would-be captors.
Still believing the girl to be invisible, but using some unusual form of magic,
Alastor had shuffled around the room attempting to feel for her and had
directed the other men to do likewise. When questioned about the odd shuffle
replacing his ordinary limp, Moody had explained he had no desire to kick or
trod upon the unseen teenager.
Jessa became visible against him for that. After all, she knew she couldn’t
hide forever and at least this man seemed to lack the sadistic streak that ran
through every other person she had ever known. She had clung to Moody, and
refused to allow the other men to come near her without violent protests.
With a sigh, Alastor rubbed what was left of his nose and headed for his own
room; dousing the dying fire with his wand.
 
Alastor woke to the certainty that someone was nearing his room. There was a
hesitant knock on the door. “Mad Eye?”
He heard the quaver in her voice and spelled open the door.
The girl in the doorway looked even wearier than when Alastor sent her to bed.
Around her eyes appeared almost bruised and her eyes themselves were bloodshot.
“I…” Jessa’s eyes were wide and pleading; gleaming in the darkness. “I… I…”
“Jessa.”
Jessa lowered her face. “I can’t sleep and I’m scared andcanIsleepwithyou?”
Alastor stared at her.
Jessa’s expression shifted from worn out to terrified of her actions and their
probable results. She turned to flee with an apology of,
“SorryI’lljustgobacktomyroom!”
“Jessa!”
The girl returned from her own doorway looking fearful.
“Jessa,” Moody repeated.
Jessa met his gaze reluctantly.
“Come here,” Alastor ordered.
Jessa felt trepidation rise in the depth of her stomach. She wasn’t so sure he
wasn’t going to use physical punishment anymore.
She made her way slowly up to Moody’s bedside.
He watched her intently as she approached and settled even his magical blue eye
on her when she paused before him with her head downcast.
“Look at me, girl,” he said roughly.
She did.
“Speak to me again; slowly. What did you say?” He looked incredulous.
Jessa squirmed painfully. “I… asked if I could lie with you.”
Alastor did not break his gaze and Jessa managed to both blush and break out in
a cold sweat.
After an eternity of his disembowelling scrutiny he eventually ripped his eyes
away and threw back his quilt brutally.
Jessa felt her blood pounding in her ears.
“Climb in,” Alastor muttered, not looking at her.
“What?” wheezed Jessa.
“Get in the bloody bed Jessa,” Moody snapped. It was bad enough he was
welcoming a damaged teenage girl into his bed just because she looked so
unnaturally vulnerable, without her making him beg.
The girl obeyed swiftly; avoiding Alastor’s gaze. He tugged the quilt over them
both and rolled onto his side. Jessa lay stiffly a small distance from his
back.
After a while she heard him say softly, “Do you want to tell me about what’s
wrong?”
Jessa bit her lip. After a further pause she had the feeling Alastor could see
her even with his back to her. She rolled over to squint at his head in the
poor light. “I’m just not keen on sleeping alone, is all,” she breathed.
“Liar,” he replied bluntly.
“Yeah,” she agreed sadly.
 
Alastor woke throughout the remainder of the night to Jessa’s whimpers and
muted cries. Each time, he pulled her protesting form into his arms and soothed
her until she could sleep quietly again.
 
In the morning Jessa woke resting her head in the crook of Alastor’s arm. His
other arm was swung over her protectively. She cringed, remembering how
embarrassingly she had acted last night and tried to slip out of Moody’s grip
to leave before he woke. Perhaps he wouldn’t remember.
Alastor felt her shift and woke. His mind registered that daylight washing over
the room and realised it was morning. “How are you, girl?” he asked gently.
Jessa flared red. “I’m fine,” she croaked.
Alastor frowned. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” Jessa protested.
“Lying is really getting to be a habit of yours, Jessa; better keep an eye on
that.”
Jessa coloured further. “I’d better…go…shower,” she said.
“Of course,” Alastor said. He sat up as Jessa padded away from the bed and she
gasped; she had never seen his bare arms or chest in lighting so brutal. So
many scars were brought into relief she was surprised she had not seen them in
the dim of the night.
Hearing her, Moody stiffened.
“Wow,” murmured Jessa. “I’m sorry…wow.”
Moody looked at her.
“You never showed me those,” Jessa said accusingly.
Moody raised his eyebrows in surprise. “I don’t normally give a guided tour,”
he replied.
“Give me one?” Jessa asked, “Please?”
Alastor didn’t move from where he was. “Why in earth’s name would you want a
tour of my scars?”
“They’re interesting,” said Jessa, sitting down beside him. “They have a
story.”
Moody’s expression clouded. “They’re not the sort of stories I care to tell.”
Jessa absentmindedly traced her finger delicately over a silver ghost of an old
wound. It was scored deeply into the mutilated flesh. Her touch sent a spark
down Alastor’s spine.
“Tell me about some of them sometime?” Jessa asked quietly.
“Yes,” said Moody shortly, leaving the room quickly. Jessa’s eyes lingered on
his exposed, marked leg(s) and trailed over the back of his boxers before
mentally shaking herself. ‘Get a grip,’ she thought, and instantly regretted
the pun.
She scowled, putting him deliberately out her mind and got up to start getting
ready. Since when did she act like this anyway?
 
Alastor looked at Jessa questioningly. “Are you coming down to the Great Hall?”
Jessa replied by making a face. “Can’t face eating this early.”
Alastor nodded. “Do you want to for the company?”
“Girl or dog?”
“As either,” Moody responded.
Jessa considered. As a dog, she could sit in the protection of Mad Eye, in
close proximity to him. As a girl, she appeared more intimidating and could
also use the cover of other students to draw less attention to herself. A dog
was noticeable.
“I’ll bring you back up to the rooms before class if you prefer.”
His voice soothed some part of Jessa. Her forehead wrinkled slightly as she
puzzled over how she wanted to spend yet another day in Hogwarts.
“Or you could go exploring?”
“You think it’s safe?” Jessa was surprised.
Alastor surveyed her. “For you, here, yes.” He quirked an eyebrow, “You know
enough nasty little Dark tricks to look after yourself.”
Jessa smirked to herself in agreement. “It was everyone else’s safety I meant…”
Abruptly she became a small mound in her clothing. Alastor watched
affectionately as she poked her nose out of her attire and reached down to
stroke her face. She snuffled his thick fingers and he scooped the dog into his
arms. The house elves could deal with her garments.
“Once you’ve eaten I’ll wander around for a little while then come back here,”
Jessa decided.
“You would probably find it easier to blend in were you in human form,” Alastor
commented.
“I’ll transform after breakfast.”
The house elves had actually better not tidy her belongings away then. Moody
shifted her under his arm and bent to pick up her clothes.
Jessa said little as Alastor carried her down to the Great Hall. Pupils stared
towards them in sharp interest but did not dare scrutinize a professor
directly. Jessa was still aware of their sneaked glances, however.
Moody settled at the staff table and dropped her to his lap. The other teachers
ignored her, except Hagrid who smiled to see a beast at the table, and Jessa
placed her forepaws experimentally on the table to gain a better vantage. With
slight interest she surveyed the room. With a shock she tore her gaze from
Harry, who reminded her nastily of her eldest half-brother. Harry was not yet
seated at the Gryffindor table. He hadn’t noticed her presence.
Her redirected gaze brought her past the Ravenclaw table, where students were
practising transfiguring various objects; past the Hufflepuff table, where an
eclectic mix of teenagers hugged and shared food; to the Slytherin table.
Here were the majority of purebloods.
Moody was stroking between her shoulder blades relaxingly and Jessa settled her
head on her paws to watch them. The majority of these purebloods shared a
bloodline with her –of course they did, a purity of blood meant ‘interbred’-
but she did not look for close relatives. She was more interested in the
hierarchy of the house, but that search led her to a close relative anyway. He
was a cousin at least, and a half-sibling at most. She was pure of blood of
course, but she did not claim to be legitimate.
As though he felt her scrutiny, the teenager glanced towards her. Feeling
perturbed by this, she shifted her eye level to observe the toned males who
flanked him protectively and to look through the brunette girl who grinded
herself so unashamedly against the boy in whose lap she resided.
Still aware the boy was looking at her, and now the writhing, bouncing girl was
looking too, and trying to return the gaze of Jessa’s half-sibling to a jumping
teenage bosom. This irritated Jessa, because she wanted to study the boy’s
exquisite bone structure; was her’s like that? And besides, the lap-dancing
girl’s display of crudeness was both crass and unbecoming of her respected
name.
Seated facing Jessa’s half-brother was a boy with equally fine cheekbones and
feline eyes made up in an Egyptianesque manner. His dark skin appeared flawless
to Jessa’s superior-than-human eyesight and with a flash of recognition she
realised she was appreciating the Zambini boy. She remembered his well-known
mother, but the boy… What had he been called? Blair? Blaen? No; Blaise! Blaise
Zambini.
She considered him further. Wow, he was hot.
Jessa became aware again that Alastor’s big hand was still stroking her
reassuringly. His affection meant more suddenly than quenching her curiosity
and, yes, lust, and she found herself leaning back into his caress.
Alastor looked away from his conversation with various colleagues to murmur
brief words of comfort. She nestled into his warm body and remained there until
Alastor chose to speak again near the end of the meal. “Where are you intending
to go?” he asked in a soft growl.
Jessa wriggled her nose into him to avoid looking shamefaced. “Actually,” she
squirmed, “I want to go back to the rooms…” She pulled back her face to watch
his reaction.
He didn’t appear annoyed or even exasperated at all. “I’ll take you, girl,” he
offered.
“Thank you,” she replied genuinely.
 
Jessa sat by the fire in Professor Moody’s rooms. He was teaching, and her
clothes lay beside her. She’d pulled on her long cotton teeshirt because it was
cool and thin, but nothing else. The heat from the flames burned her face,
exposed arms, and even through her top, but she did not move away. Jessa stared
into the flickering heat without seeing. She brooded silently, but her thoughts
were the opposite of quiet. In her head she heard herself beg softly,
insistently, knowing her plead for clemency was futile.
Her skin burned but she could hardly feel it. The screaming; the screaming; but
it wasn’t all her’s. She felt sick. It hurt… but the memories would not fade.
It wouldn’t stop; none of it would stop. It never stopped –not even if she
begged. Especially not if she begged. Again and again they would –he would…
She jolted to her feet away from the fire clawing and rubbing at herself to rid
herself of the nightmare. Her entire body shook. She wanted to tell herself
that she was far too old for nightmares, but her heart was beating so fast it
scared her.
If she had still been at Grimmauld Place Kreecher would have distracted her far
earlier than now. Stupid, awful Dumbledore! Jessa’s body continued to tremble
violently and her wand …it could be anywhere. She regulated her breathing
deliberately and cast a spell on herself to soothe her nerves. Wandless magic
had been something she had practiced since she was very young and even in her
worst emotional states was not difficult.
Jessa heard the door open and turned around to face it whilst at the same time
moving out of sight. Alastor should be teaching… and it wasn’t Alastor who
stood scowling in the doorway with a curled lip and a leash in his fist.
Nasty, pain-inducing spells leapt to the forefront of the teenager’s mind.
Black robes billowed around him as the man strode into the room. Dark, lank
hair hung around darker eyes in a sombre curtain and a pale, angular nose
protruded from a face which wore a frown of distaste. Jessa recognised him as
the potions master.
“Jessa,” Snape drawled to the room, “much as it pains me, it has been arranged
that during my free period I am to take you for a walk.”
Jessa knew that the doorway was enchanted that all strangers who entered had to
be truthful about the purpose of their presence. Moody would, of course, expect
her to disregard the enchantment for fear that the spell had been disabled or
tricked somehow.
“Jessa!” Professor Snape snapped. “I have only an hour!”
Jessa ignored him and made no move towards him. The dark-haired man’s scowl
deepened and he sat down on the couch. With a flick of his wand a stack of
students’ papers appeared on the coffee table before him and he pulled out a
quill to mark them. Jessa watched as he began to mark them viciously and she
flinched on behalf of whatever student had just had a cruel line scored through
six paragraphs. The professor had not finished either. He continued through the
three foot long essay scratching lines through the tiny print until little text
remained. He tore an enormous ‘D’ onto the page and moved onto the next paper
with equal nastiness.
Irritated by Snape’s uninvited presence, Jessa silently cast a feather light
step charm on her feet and left. He continued to mark papers until Moody
appeared an hour later at break. He did not seem surprised at Snape’s presence.
“I take it she evaded you, then?” Alastor growled.
The potion master’s lip curled, “Quite.”
Moody turned to the room. “Jessa!” he yelled.
Jessa slung her torso around the doorframe. “Yeah?”
Alastor pointed to the sneering man who was not looking at either of them.
“He’s to baby-sit you this period from now on. Dumbledore would like you to
have some supervision.”
As Jessa struggled to keep her expression neutral, Snape and his things
dissapperated with a crack. Really, would it have been so difficult to send her
elf to relay that message? She’d made it clear she didn’t trust anyone but
Alastor or Kreecher.
Moody scowled suddenly as he looked at his charge. “Step into full view,” he
demanded.
Jessa appeared in her teeshirt and jeans she definitely had not been wearing
earlier.
Alastor scowled as his gaze fell on her clothes scattered on the floor.
“You better not have any more bruises on you,” Alastor hissed.
Aware nothing had happened, but feeling uncomfortable anyway, Jessa squirmed
and replied in the negative. “Relax, will you?” she said meekly.
Alastor searched her eyes. “Come here,” he ordered gently. She obeyed.
“He didn’t force me,” Jessa said. She then scowled, thinking of the numerous
others. “Unlike some,” she added quietly. “He just marked some papers. He’s not
a very generous marker, is he?” she said lightly.
Her words did not seem to pacify Moody however. “What the bloody hell went on
here?” he challenged.
“Nothing,” Jessa replied, “he just surprised me by turning up and I went to my
room that’s all. Nothing untoward.”
Moody grit his teeth as he looked at her searchingly. He managed to grate after
a moment, “Go tidy your clothes off the floor.”
Jessa did and then stood before her guardian nervously.
“If you can’t be alone with the professors the headmaster could always make you
take classes,” Alastor warned softly.
Jessa flushed in resentment but Alastor’s face had changed and he said, “I
suppose to keep you entertained we might have some duelling practice.”
The girl turned to him in delight and without pause cast an instant darkness.
In the time it took for Moody’s mismatched eyes to adjust to the gloom Jessa
was several yards away and had transfigured her eyes to canine ones.
Moody aimed his wand at her silently and a slender purple light slashed at her.
As he could see her and it would not betray her position, Jessa allowed herself
to giggle and sidestepped smartly. Without warning an ugly rope of convulsing
black power knocked Alastor to the ground. He gasped as the flesh touched by
the magic burned and he cast something red and violent that caused Jessa to
voice a yelp.
“What have I told you about fucking dark magic?” he roared as he stood.
Jessa had found herself on the floor and knew the duel had paused. “Not to?”
Alastor opened his mouth to give her a further tongue-lashing but noticed Jessa
was silently healing his melted skin.
“No dark magic,” he simply snarled, and used a jinx to bowl her over. Jessa
smiled as she found herself sprawled on the floor once more as she knew Moody
had signalled that the duel had restarted. She did not look at him as she got
up from her knees and with an arc of multicoloured, transparent stars she
caused her duelling partner to hallucinate.
Alastor jumped and then snapped, “finite incantem. Better.”
He froze her silently.
Dammit. Jessa could not break the spell as she did not know what it was, and
she knew better than to invade Moody’s mind to find out. Knowing she had lost,
she cast an irritated blue beam of light in his direction. Then, ‘You win’ she
spelled above their heads.
Moody unfroze her then froze himself, flushing, as he felt the consequence of
the beam of pale blue light. “You monstrous whelp!”
Jessa smirked as Alastor gazed in horror at the risen fabric at the front of
his robes.
“Finite incantem,” he said, to no effect.
“The caster has to be the one to take it off,” Jessa explained sweetly.
He scowled at her. “TAKE it OFF.”
“The spell? Why, when I could allow you to go to class like that?”
Moody coloured further and his frown deepened. “Oh, you were definitely not
whipped enough as a child,” he growled.
Jessa’s smirk of childishly vindictive glee became blank. “That would be
crucioed, actually,” she replied, instantly removing the spell with all trace
of humour bled from her voice.
Moody stared. “Jessa…” he said compassionately.
The girl sneered in indifference. “…Sorry… I… it’s ok,” she said quietly. Then,
“Can we have another round?”
Alastor nodded, and this time forgot to mention dark curses.
 
Jessa spent the rest of the day in the library researching defensive magic –and
the occasional filthy, vicious curse- until the last period of the day, when
Hagrid appeared to supervise her. Moody had forewarned her he would.
Hagrid persuaded her to take a break and took her down to his hut. Fang sniffed
at her intently and slobbered over her. Jessa fussed over him, and cuddled and
kissed and petted him, as Hagrid led her indoors.
The girl took the seat he offered and then threw her arms around the giant dog
crooning, “Lovely, beautiful boy…”
“Like dogs, do yeh?”
Jessa looked up from Fang with a smile. “I adore dogs. I love most
animals…magic or otherwise.”
Hagrid nodded. “You’re an animagus ain’t yeh, and a metamorphagus. Yeh use
different animal forms I’d suppose?”
“Yeah,” Jessa returned, still stroking the excited dog. When more of his saliva
coated her she just laughed, “Hey…” teasingly to him and butted him gently
behind the ear. He pushed back at her weight with his tail thumping against her
blissfully.
“Must be frustratin’ for yeh to be cooped up inside every day when your form’s
a dog. I could take you an’ Fang for runs in the Forest if yeh’d like, Miss
Black.”
Jessa beamed. “That would be great… thank you.”
“Not a bother,” Hagrid replied. His eyes fell on a tuft of unicorn hair he had
left lying.
“Right now, would yeh like t’meet the unicorn herd?”
Jessa looked at him in wide-eyed delight. “Please, I would.”
 
When his class finished Moody came down to Hagrid’s cabin to meet Jessa. “How’s
she been?” he asked of her behaviour.
“I’m right here and can talk for myself!” she snapped.
“But I’m asking Hagrid, girl,” Alastor replied shortly.
“Ah, Miss Black’s a pleasure, Alastor; a pleasure,” Hagrid replied beaming.
Moody looked at him in surprise.
“Really?”
“Aye,” agreed Hagrid brightly.
Jessa laughed in triumph. “See? I amn’t always a burden.”
Alastor raised his eyebrows. “And that’s why you weren’t at lunch this
afternoon?”
The girl made a face. “I’ll remember you threw that at me,” she said lightly.
Alastor laughed softly at her. “Thank you, Rubeus.”
Hagrid nodded and saw them out.
 
Alastor woke again to find Jessa standing with pleading eyes in his doorway.
“In you come, whelp.”
Gratitude radiated off her quietly as she slipped in beside him. Alastor laid
an arm across her shivering form. “More nightmares?”
She nodded tearfully and settled to sleep. Moody squared his body over her
protectively and watched until she slumbered.
 
He rocked her when the nightmares woke them both and soothed her back to sleep
each time.
 
Jessa reddened to find herself once more in Alastor’s bed. As before, he woke
as she left.
“Jessa?”
“I’m here,” she said quietly.
Moody sat up to look at her. “How are you now?” he asked.
The girl’s face flamed. “I’m fine now.”
“Alright,” Alastor said, “come give me a hug then you can shower first.”
Jessa gave a wobbling smile, a tight, grateful hug, and went to perform her
morning ablutions.
 
“Are you coming to breakfast?” Moody asked as Jessa emerged in a long-sleeved,
short black tunic, silver tights and tall, mushy boots.
“I wasn’t going to.”
“You barely ate a thing last night; you skipped lunch; and you didn’t have
anything at breakfast yesterday either,” Moody protested.
“I’m not hungry; I hardly ever eat much,” Jessa replied.
“Come drink something at least so I know you’ve something in you,” Alastor
continued.
Jessa nodded her assent. “…Can I still sit at the Staff Table like this
though?”
“Rizzy!”
A house elf appeared with a pop. Alastor turned to her and asked, “Rizzy, will
you make sure there’s an extra seat at the Staff Table for Miss Black please?”
The house elf bowed. “Rizzy would be happy to and she will do it at once, sir!”
she squeaked.
Alastor looked at Jessa. “Come to breakfast then, girl.”
She smirked. “Thought it was ‘whelp’?”
He sneered good-naturedly back at her. “Come to breakfast, whelp,” he amended.
She allowed him a smile and they made their way down to the Great Hall.
 
Alastor stiffened in his seat as he gazed towards Snape. Dumbledore had already
informed him the professor would be expecting Jessa in his classroom for first
and second period. Despite what Jessa said he was unconvinced about allowing
Jessa to be alone with him. However, the girl seemed nonplussed. He glanced at
her and watched her run her finger around the rim of the goblet. A musical tone
reverberated around her.
“Drink that?” he pleaded.
She did not look up but nodded and brought her instrument to her lips. When she
replaced it back on the table she heard the headmaster continue to Moody,
“there is also a study period fourth. It might be advantageous for Jessamine to
mix with her peers and I would like her to attend all study periods for this
reason.”
“Which houses?” Jessa asked.
Dumbledore peered over his glasses at her in surprise and replied, “mainly
Slytherins and some Gryffindors, but there are a small group of Hufflepuffs you
can be introduced to.
They’re a very welcoming bunch.”
“That won’t be necessary,” Jessa said, adding at Moody’s nudge, “thank you.”
“Not at all, if you’re quite sure,” he returned amicably.
“Why aren’t there any Ravenclaws?” asked Jessa.
“That entire house opted for study periods so they have them together for two
hours on Wednesdays.”
“Does the other class have a double period?”
“Thursdays,” Dumbledore supplied, “and the other Ravenclaw period is a Friday.”
“Alright,” said Jessa. She returned her attention to her goblet as the two men
continued the conversation. As she took another sip of water she allowed her
gaze to rake the students in the hall.
 
After breakfast the potions master led her down to the dungeons. She took his
sleeve unthinkingly; causing him to stiffen and Moody to scowl after them.
“Are you marking papers this morning?” Jessa asked, dropping his arm when he
led her into his classroom.
“Actually I thought I would examine your aptitude with potions,” the man
drawled. “Look in the ingredients cupboard then begin brewing a potion. You may
not use a textbook.”
“Does the potion have to be ministry-approved?”
“For your age-group?” he enquired.
Jessa paused to glance at him in surprise. “No,” she said. “I meant did the
potion have to be common or legal?”
“Legal, yes,” replied Professor Snape, a muscle tightening in his jaw that
expressed his unhappiness at this.
Jessa nodded intelligently at him and began setting up the ingredients and
heating the cauldron. Snape found himself watching curiously despite himself as
Jessa concocted something with a lot of blood, glittering dust and werewolf
sweat. She added so many ingredients he had no idea what she was doing, but she
was preparing them in such a skilful manner it seemed she did.
When Jessa poured the concoction into a beaker for his examination the potion
master found himself staring. What he thought he recognised could not possibly…
“What do you believe you have given me?”
“I do not ‘believe’,” Jessa found herself replying scornfully, “I know.”
“What did you decide to brew!” Snape snapped.
“As it’s the new moon and I had these ingredients I thought it would be
appropriate to create this: it’s the potion to prevent a werewolf mother from
passing on the curse to her children if the father is an ordinary wizard. If
you had more unicorn hoof and aracumantula thread I would have given you the
more potent version.”
“To prevent a werewolf child being born by two werewolf parents?” Snape tested.
Could she give the right answer?
“I’m not stupid; I’m aware that needs a lot of ‘felix’ and several ingredients
your cupboard does not hold. I meant the potion that would effectively treat
twins or a bigger litter. Since werewolves are more prone to multiple
children.” Yes, she could.
Everything Jessa had said was competent and the potion in Professor Snape’s
surprisingly steady hands was perfect. He stared, then snapped, “very good, you
may now tidy away.”
“Thank you, professor.”
When Jessa was finished Snape asked, “What would you like to do now?” He could
not remember the last time he had asked that question.
“Learn new potions,” she replied simply. When he turned to stare once more at
her she flushed and admitted, “Well actually I’d prefer dark potions… but I’d
be happy with the closest I could get. Or at least useful potions. If you were
willing.”
This teenager, Snape realised, could very easily become his favourite person in
the world very quickly. “I’m willing,” he said. He found himself reaching for a
tome of potions far more advanced than anything his seventh years were capable
of.
 
When the bell to signal the end of second period had rang no one left his class
swifter than Professor Moody did. Moments later he strode into the potions
classroom to collect Jessa. Alastor did not like the way the potions master
leered at the girl in the slightest.
“What did you do together?” he asked the moment they were out of earshot.
“Brewed potions,” Jessa replied. Her honesty shone in her eyes, easing the
tightness
Alastor felt marginally.
“What do you want to do now?”
Jessa worried her sleeve. “Would you, um, tell me about some of the scars?”
Moody stared.
Jessa blanched. “Or we could always, um-”
“No, it’s okay; we can talk about my scars,” Moody said softly.
In surprise, Jessa lifted her eyes from her knuckles up to him. His expression
was gentle. She offered him her other hand and they walked up to his suite of
rooms.
He took off his outer robes and sat down on the couch to take off his shirt.
Jessa’s eyes widened in shock and she scrutinised his wounds with open
curiosity.
“How did you get this one?” She brought his gaze to a thick scar that was so
wide it looked like it should have been stitched but hadn’t been.
Alastor told her the story in a soft growl. He pointed to others too,
explaining they were received in a similar way or at the same time as the
first.
“This one?”
He told her.
She traced an oddly–shaped disfigurement on his marked and mutilated skin.
“This?” And he explained it.
His body resembled a minefield a thousand men had walked through and there were
more than enough blemishes to talk about; yet more still that he had no memory
of receiving. When Moody had to leave for class they had only discussed a very
small fraction of his wounds. Jessa reached up to hug him tightly when he left.
She spent the next hour perusing a thick, illegal hardback which explained
different ways of using her ability as a metamorphagus to her advantage. The
chapter she was currently studying suggested ways of preventing others from
grasping oneself by such methods as producing barbs over the skin or by causing
the skin to become toxic, acidic or highly poisonous. As her free time drew to
a close Jessa turned down the latest page –a particularly nasty idea which
caused the person who touched the metamorphagus’ skin to freeze and bleed
heavily- and made her way down to the classroom.
 
The group of Gryffindors were gathered at the front of the classroom close to
the door. As Jessa walked past him, Harry slid along the bench and said, “Sit
here.”
Her lip curled and without looking at him she pushed past. “Thank you, but no,”
she said distastefully.
He visibly flinched and his face reddened.
Jessa strode purposely to the back of the class where the Slytherins sat as far
from the Gryffindors as they could. “Is this space taken?” she asked loudly.
Draco looked up at her in surprise and gestured for one half of his guard to
sit elsewhere nearby. “Feel quite free,” he replied with a pleased smirk.
“Wouldn’t want you to have to mix with them.”
“The ‘saviours of the wizarding world’,” she replied in disgusted tones, “a
halfblood, a blood-traitor and a mudblood.”
“What a Slytherin way of thinking,” soothed Draco.
Jessa smiled benignly. “What a pureblood way of thinking, actually,” she
corrected.
“Oh, that is really it!” snapped Hermione. “You’re not even on the Black family
tree.”
“Actually I am, you silly, conceited, ignorant, filthy, little mudblood,” Jessa
replied quite calmly. Her tone grew frostier, “and if I ever need information
from you, filth, I will demand it. You have no right to force your petty
opinions on pure wizarding ears.”
The red-head beside the insulted girl stood angrily. “Don’t you speak to her
like that!” he bellowed. “You’re not even a student so what right have you got
either! At least Hermione’s not a bastard!”
“Ron, sit down; it’s not worth it, honestly…”
Jessa laughed. “A pureblood bastard, Weasley,” she retorted easily, “and
considering your standing in the wizarding world I would not draw attention to
yourself. Someone who commands no respect because of their blood-traitor name
and dirt-poor reputation would be wise to make themselves look better, not
worse.”
“She has the measure of you, Weasel,” laughed Draco.
“Shut it, Ferret!” snapped Ron.
“Ron…” pleaded Hermione.
“Listen to your mudblood, blood-traitor. I can hardly believe how much she is
slumming it when she sits next to a pureblood!”
“Miss Black, that will be enough,” drawled Professor Snape as he drifted into
the classroom.
“Of course, some halfbloods are superior to others,” Jessa finished softly,
still loud enough to be heard in the now silent room.
 
When the period ended Jessa left quickly and pushed past the Golden Trio. Draco
smiled as the surrounding Slytherins snickered. “I like that girl,” Draco said
thoughtfully.
Pansy scowled.
 
That night, Jessa’s nightmares were particularly traumatic. Alastor was forced
to shake her violently awake from her torture, writhing, and horror. Magic
thickened the air and even Alastor’s enchanted blue orb struggled to see
clearly. Jessa screamed and cried; even attempted to bite; and Alastor had to
put all his weight on her to subdue her desperate thrashing. It took all his
energy to hold her down but eventually she tired enough that he could murmur
soothing words to her.
Once she stopped fighting she started shaking. Jessa heard Alastor’s voice
through the fog of sleep and opened her eyes. She reached out weakly to her
guardian and clung on desperately. Jessa trembled so violently in his arms the
whole bed rattled.
Alastor could not comfort her for the next hour and a half, but out of sheer
exhaustion
Jessa eventually fell into sleep.
The man held her tightly in his arms and fell into a light doze himself.
Forty minutes later he was woken by her scream. She cried and kicked and he
went through the same pain as before. When she woke, she appeared almost
bloodless. She soon vomited, and then cried so hard she was sick again.
Alastor held back her hair, stroked her, soothed her, and cleaned up the mess.
He wiped her mouth, changed her sweat-drenched nightshirt, and held her until
she returned to sleep.
Quarter of an hour later the girl woke again. She was sick with fear again.
Alastor cleaned her up, comforted her, and soothed her back to sleep.
She woke up at intervals throughout the night until she begged for a vial of
dreamless sleep. Alastor summoned it promptly but she was unable to keep any
down, and could only safely swallow so many doses.
Alastor stayed up with her the whole night.
 
“Professor?”
A very tired Professor Moody woke reluctantly and fixed his blue eye in the
direction of the voice. Harry was stepping hesitantly into the living area.
“My bedroom,” Alastor called out to him gruffly.
Harry made his way towards him. “It’s almost ten: no one knows why you’re not
in class…”
He stopped dead as he entered the room. He saw the pureblood girl in Moody’s
bed. In Moody’s arms.
“We must have slept in,” Alastor grimaced. He swung his legs out of bed and got
up stiffly. He cast several quick cleaning charms on himself and summoned his
clothes.
“You’re an adult,” Harry finally managed.
“Imagine that, Potter,” growled Alastor, “now don’t you bloody wake her!”
Jessa was already stirring. “Mad Eye?” The space beside her was warm, but
empty.
Her gaze fell on Harry and filled with dislike. “What are you doing here?”
Harry pushed back his hair in agitation. “I got sent to find Professor Moody
–who’s late because for some reason you’re in his bed.”
Alastor squinted at him irritably. “Get your mind out of the bloody gutter,
Potter.”
Harry looked at him in surprise.
“We’re not sleeping together, half-blood, not that it’s any business of yours.”
Alastor glanced at her angrily. “And you really better watch your mouth!”
“Oh, screw me,” she muttered irritably. She turned away and pulled his pillow
over her head.
“You’re wearing his shirt,” Harry yelped.
“Mad Eye! Get this bloody half-blood away from me!” came Jessa’s muffled
exclamation.
Alastor paused and looked towards the bed. “You use that word like that again,
Jessa, and I’ll hurt you, girl.”
“‘Bloody’?” came the disembodied voice. “No you won’t. You’ve never hit me and
you’re not likely too. ’Fraid you’re one of the good guys Moody.”
“Being a good guy only means I’m the one who’s meant to turn you over my knee
to teach you right from wrong,” Alastor retorted before turning to Harry. “You
can get back to your class. Tell Albus I’ll be half an hour and I’ll explain
myself after the period.”
“Yes sir,” replied Harry. He left quietly enough to hear Alastor continuing to
berate Jessa as he left.
“I don’t care if he’s prying into your personal life Jessamine, I had better
not catch you using a slur like that again, do you hear?”
“Or else what?” Jessa challenged.
“I’ll punish you.”
“You won’t,” said Jessa casually.
Alastor sat down on the bed beside her. “I don’t want to hear you say anything
bigoted like that,” he said seriously.
Jessa sighed. “I hear you.”
Alastor raised his eyebrows for a moment then asked, “how are you feeling now?”
Jessa flushed and sat up, pushing away his pillow. “I’m better,” she replied.
He held out his arm and she nestled into him.
“Thanks,” she said quietly.
He lifted his face from affectionately nuzzling her scalp.
“For being here for me,” she clarified. “For all that stuff you did for me last
night. And… for just hugging me and letting me be around you and stuff.”
Alastor resumed nuzzling, and held her a little nearer to him. “You look better
in my shirts anyway,” he said.
Jessa laughed into his shoulder and he pressed her close before he pulled away
and stood up. “I’d better teach my class now; will you be alright by yourself?”
Jessa nodded. “You can tell him I’m not going to the study periods,” she
muttered as she wriggled down under the quilt.
“Albus?”
“When you go talk to him,” she clarified.
“Alright whelp,” he agreed, and left.
 
“Jessa are you coming for lunch?”
“I still feel kind of rough,” said Jessa. “I don’t really want anything.”
Alastor strode through into his room. “You’re still in bed?”
“I was thinking about getting up actually.”
“Do you want me to bring you anything?”
“I told you; I’m fine.”
 
“Jessa! Have you got out of bet yet, girl?”
She was curled up in his armchair. “I’m dressed and everything: look,” she
remarked dryly.
Alastor limped into the living area and cheerfully tweaked the shoulder of her
stripey-sleeved jersey. “I see that.”
Jessa turned and raised her arms to envelope him in a caring embrace. He held
her tightly for minutes before he ruffled her currently-dark hair. She raised
her eyebrows then cuffed his torso to impress on him her lack of amusement.
Alastor only laughed then shifted her out of his seat. He pulled her back down
onto his lap.
“What did you do all day whelp?”
Jessa laid her head against his chest. “Slept. Read.”
“That’s all?”
Jessa raised her shoulders ruefully. “I puked a bit too. Rizzy gave me a potion
to sort it.”
“When was that?” asked Alastor as he tightened his grip on her in concern.
The girl looked tired. “Maybe three quarters of an hour after you checked in on
me at
lunch.”
“How are you feeling now?”
Jessa shrugged again. “I’m alright… I just got thinking about… last night… got
panicky… puked a tiny bit.”
“Do you feel panicky now?”
Jessa’s eyes were wide. “No.”
“Do you want to tell me about what you were dreaming about?”
Jessa shook her head to Alastor’s soft growl.
At that moment Dumbledore wandered in.
Alastor stood up, sliding Jessa tenderly in the seat and stood protectively
before her.
“Ah, Alastor; Jessamine,” the old man greeted benignly. “I just wanted to pop
in on you, considering the events of the day.”
Jessa turned her head away behind Alastor’s back. Without turning around he
reached behind himself and gripped hold of her hand, comforting her instantly.
Albus’ eyes twinkled unseen by the pair. Moody’s ability to make the wary teen
feel safer was better than reassuring. The girl needed someone and Moody seemed
to be ‘someone’ to her.
“Albus, may we talk?”
Dumbledore’s gaze flicked to Alastor’s immediately. “Certainly, my boy.”
Alastor inclined his head towards his charge. “Please go into the bedroom for
now, Jessa,” he requested.
Jessa did not protest and mutely left the room, taking a book from the table to
amuse herself with. Both men privately noted her lack of resistance and that
she had went to
Alastor’s room in favour of her own.
Alastor spoke.
 
Much later that night Alastor hobbled into his room. “You’ve not eaten.”
Jessa lay sprawled on the bed with her face resting on her hand. She looked up
from her pages. “No.”
“You should have eaten something.”
“I’m not hungry.” Her voice was bored.
“Oh, what are you then?”
“Nothing.”
Alastor raised his brows. “Actually,” he said as he moved towards the bed she
lay spread lazily upon, “you look something to me…”
“Yeah. What?” She dragged herself up into a seated position.
He took the book from her; marking it then setting it aside on the surface near
him. “You look tired.”
Jessa lowered her eyes.
“You were waiting up for me?”
Jessa did not look up but her posture stiffened.
“It’s late, girl.” Alastor reached down to pull her into his arms. “It’s time
you got to sleep now.”
Jessa resisted. “Mad Eye, I…”
“Just try to go to sleep Jessa.”
She pulled away. He let her.
“I’m scared,” she muttered into the space between them.
Alastor eased himself down beside her. “I know that, but your head was nodding
when I watched you with that book. It’s time for your bed whelp.”
Jessa made to go to her own room but Alastor pulled her back down. “You’re
sleeping here
all night,” he told her.
“You’ll be here when I wake up,” Jessa murmured.
“Yes,” said Alastor even though it wasn’t a question.
 
To the surprise of them both Jessa slept rather soundly that night, waking only
once and settling almost immediately. Dawn woke the pair and beckoned the usual
routine. With a sigh Jessa stared at the man she had unintentionally woken. He
had cheerfully muttered something in her ear that displeased her.
“That’s not fair,” she scowled, “I don’t see why I have to go to classes today
just because I slept better…”
Alastor laughed at her protests and went to shower. “Tough, whelp!”
 
Jessa strode into the Potions classroom looking more volatile than she truly
felt. One of Draco’s bodyguards was absent from his side, paired instead with
an equally vicious girl named Millicent, and as Jessa appeared in the doorway
Draco slid further to his end of the bench to accommodate her.
Pansy did not like it at all.
“Morning, Pureblood,” Draco greeted.
Jessa sat down beside him and smirked. “Morning, Blondie.”
Surprise shaped Draco’s features momentarily. No one was so familiar with him
except Pansy and he did not know whether to smirk back or scowl.
The entrance of the Golden Trio ceased his inner turmoil.
“Slut,” hissed Ron towards the back of the class. Harry said nothing but
narrowed his eyes in Jessa’s direction.
Draco stiffened and became poised to draw his wand. “Who the hell do you think
you’re
talking to, Weasel?”
This time Harry was the one to speak. “Didn’t you know your little girlfriend’s
been sleeping with a professor, Malfoy?”
“Shut your mouth, Half-blood, or I’ll hex it off for you,” Jessa returned
coldly.
Harry sneered. “Or what, I tell your master what you just said and he spanks
you?” He made to turn away.
“How dare you speak to her like that, Scarhead!” Draco spat as he stood and
drew his wand.
Ron and Harry drew their own. “Mind your own business, Ferret!” Ron yelled.
Jessa remained seated. “I’d put your wands away you silly boys,” she said
serenely.
“Or what?” demanded Ron.
“Or you and Mister Potter will find yourselves with detention, Mister Weasley.
Put your wands away and sit down –now!”
The Gryffindors seated themselves reluctantly.
Professor Snape sailed towards his desk and sat down. “Twenty points from
Griffindor for poor behaviour,” he drawled casually. “Miss Black, will you come
to the front of the class please.”
“Yes, Professor.” Passing Harry, Jessa took the opportunity to whisper, “He let
me fuck him raw yesterday when you left…”
Harry frowned angrily at her as she stepped away.
Jessa stood before Snape’s desk. “Sir?”
Was that amusement in those black eyes? “I want you to study this for your next
time in my classroom,” he said sedately and handed her a textbook.
Jessa smiled at him. The suppressed laugh danced quietly in her eyes as she
took the book from him then she returned calmly to her seat.
When, as she walked past, Harry’s quill flew to the floor, Snape was looking
down at the homework on his desk.
Jessa slid in beside Draco. “Thank you,” she murmured.
“Of course,” he replied just as quietly.
 
The rest of the class proceeded without event and Jessa left with her mind full
of complex potions: obscure poisons and their antidotes. Snape caught the
satisfied smile on her face as she left, but his mind worried at the comments
made by Potter. Jessa was certainly in Moody’s pocket but not sleeping with
him, surely? And master? Spanking? Just what was being done to that girl?
 
Alastor met Jessa in the dungeons and she hugged him cheerfully. The potions
book dug into him. The potions master watched, and narrowed his eyes.
When Jessa returned to Snape’s classroom her face was still flushed pink with
pleasure.
“Hi, Sir,” she said happily.
Snape scowled before nodding curtly in greeting. “You read it like I told you
to?”
“All of it,” she said, sounding satisfied. “What are you teaching me?”
Snape leant over the book with her and turned to a predetermined page swiftly.
They spent the rest of the lesson working in an amicable quiet together. At
lunch the professor took her up to the staff table and Jessa seated herself
between him and Alastor, where she sat and picked moodily at her meal.
“Stop playing with that and eat it properly,” Alastor snapped.
Jessa looked at him, raised her eyebrows, then snatched a stick of celery and
bit into it violently. Unnoticed, the potions master almost choked.
Alastor rolled his eyes at his charge’s actions and returned his attention to
his plate.
During this, Draco stepped up to the table. “Care to join us, Jessa?”
She smiled and looked towards Alastor for permission. He hesitated to send her
to the Slytherin table, but what harm could it do? Eventually he growled, “So
long as you make sure she actually eats something for once.”
Draco quirked an eyebrow but agreed and led Jessa to the Slytherin table where
his year made space for them at once. Pansy dropped down opposite them. “New
friend, Drakey?”
His colourless eyes sparkled at her. “Jealous, Panse?”
She placed her hand on her chest theatrically. “Utterly,” she declared. “I can
hardly contain it. How does it feel, Jessamine, to sit with the boy who
probably owns more beauty products than you and I combined?”
Jessa laughed. “I’m afraid, with his bone structure, he must need them.”
Draco choked most unaristocratically on his pumpkin juice but said nothing.
Pansy leaned over the table and in a conspiratorial stage whisper said to
Jessa, “And he wants in your panties as well!”
Jessa smirked at the pair of them. “And why would I allow that, supposing I was
wearing any?”
Pansy sat down with a look of astonishment that was only partly feigned. “You’d
turned down the Prince of Slytherin?”
Jessa turned to Draco and looked him up and down in an exaggerated manner. “I’m
afraid he’s a bit too perfect for me,” she teased.
“Ahh,” nodded Pansy understandingly, “you just like them rugged and battle-
scarred, eh?”
Jessa smiled dangerously. “Oh, I didn’t say I didn’t also like the occasional
pretty boy,” she replied sweetly.
A slither of alarm flickered across Pansy’s face but she grinned widely and
continued with her game. “And what pretty boy do you have your eye on then, my
awful dear?”
“I couldn’t tell you that,” protested Jessa, her smile turning playfully feral.
“Oh tell us…” pleaded Pansy.
“Well,” said Jessa, leaning in close, “don’t you think Blaise is gorgeous?”
Pansy’s expression almost caused her to laugh aloud, but Jessa may not have
felt like laughing so hard if she had caught the brief emotion that clouded
Draco’s expression.
“Eat your celery,” he muttered.
 
After eating, and obtaining permission, the Slytherins led Jessa down to their
common room. Pansy linked arms with Jessa, suddenly warmer now that she no
longer felt threatened.
In the common room there were several seats arranged around the large fireplace
in a spacious curve. Pansy gravitated immediately to the second most attractive
seat, expecting Jessa to sit herself beside her.
Jessa placed herself aristocratically on the best armchair by the fire.
The common room immediately hushed. “You can’t sit there,” Pansy warned in a
frantic hiss.
Jessa raised her eyebrows as Draco walked directly towards her.
“Move,” he said.
Jessa tossed her head back and smirked. “I do not think so Drakey,” she said
serenely.
“I’m sure you would be more comfortable on the arm.”
Draco did not know whether to retort she should sit at his feet or reply that
she would look very pretty on his arm. So he said neither. “Only since you’ll
make this up to me later,” he returned and took his place on the arm of his own
chair.
“Of course I won’t Sweetie,” Jessa teased. “So Pansy, tell me what Slytherin
has to offer…”
Pansy tried to smile. “You’re going to be sorted?”
“Wouldn’t that mean I’d have to share a room?” Jessa laughed. “No, I’m happy
houseless thanks.”
“You do share a room –with a professor,” Draco sniped.
“Now Draco,” said Jessa mock-sternly as she turned to face him, “if you really
can’t behave I will have to send you out of the room so Panse and I can talk.”
“And you know what we’ll talk about, darling,” sneered Pansy cheerfully.
“This is mutiny!” Draco commented.
“You enjoy it Blondie; stops you getting displacent.”
Draco growled good-naturedly. “You’d never make a Slytherin.”
Pansy laughed. “Oh really? I think she’d fit in just fine.”
Draco cuffed Jessa. “Stop corrupting my Slytherins, you!”
Jessa’s eyes sparkled. “Or what?”
Draco’s own eyes glittered with promise and he murmured a threat.
Jessa tutted. “You just can’t behave, can you Drakey?” She pretended to sigh
then forced
him cheerfully from his seat. “That’s it! Off you go to your room. Pansy will
be up to deal with you later.”
As Draco opened his mouth to protest he felt a palm connect with him smartly.
“You heard what Jessa said, Draco, go to your room.”
Jessa didn’t bother to muffle her laughter at Pansy’s audacity or Draco’s
expression.
At that moment Theo came in with Blaise. He choked something bitterly and
stormed up to the boy’s dorms.
Blaise made an irritated gesture and walked towards the fire. He flopped down
on a two-seater.
Pansy beamed. “What do you say, Jessa, does Draco deserve one last chance?”
“Only if you smack him again,” Jessa grinned.
Pansy stifled her friend’s exclamation and continued, “Why don’t you sit with
Blaise and let Draco have his seat?”
Draco swallowed his protest and watched Jessa move over to sit with his rival
for her affection. That witch Pansy!
Blaise was sitting feeling annoyed, but watched his friends’ antics with a
small smile. “These girls bullying you Draco?”
Draco growled.
“Cheer up Drakey, we love you really,” said Jessa. Draco glanced at her but the
warmth in her eyes and voice were devoid of lust. He cursed Blaise and Pansy
inwardly.
“I feel so lucky,” he drawled.
Jessa nudged the boy beside her, “What’s wrong with you, Grouchy?”
He jerked his shoulders and stifled a sigh. “Nothing. You’re Jessie, right?”
“Jessa,” Draco corrected curtly.
“Sorry,” said Blaise softly. “Jessa.”
“Yeah,” murmured Jessa.
“I’m Blaise.”
“Yeah, I’ve seen you around.”
“She follows you with her eyes this one,” teased Pansy. “She thinks you’re
sexy.”
Draco just about died inside as he watched Blaise digest that information.
Things obviously could get worse.
“Is that so?” Blaise purred.
“It may be,” Jessa returned lightly, “I suppose it depends on what you were to
do with that information…”
Blaise brought his face close to her’s. “You mean if I were to use it to my…
advantage?”
“That would be very Slytherin of you,” Jessa conceded. The boy’s breath was
warm and sweet on her face.
Draco slapped down the urge to punch Blaise and snarled at Pansy, “Hey
Parkinson, I want you in my dorm now.” Looking pleased, Pansy allowed him to
grab her arm roughly and storm upstairs.
Aware Draco was currently throwing Pansy down on green sheets, Blaise met
Jessa’s mouth in a passionate kiss as her limbs folded beneath him.
 
“I don’t care that Malfoy Jr got you to eat your lunch Jessa, I’m still
expecting you to have
dinner. Now eat.”
Jessa turned kohl-rimmed eyes on him rebelliously. “I’m not hungry...”
“I don’t care whether you’re hungry you will eat or so help me girl…”
Jessa made to pull away from the table. Silently, Moody took hold of her arm
firmly. “You will eat something or else I am taking you straight to your room
and you are getting ready
for bed.”
Jessa glanced at him a little fearfully. “Bed?”
Alastor nodded stiffly. “And you will stay in your own bed all night,” he
warned.
Jessa moved her eyes to her plate looking subdued. The food on her plate was
plain due to surviving on very little whilst living in hiding. Pomphrey had
pointed out very early on that despite Jessa’s pure blood, rich food simply
would not agree with her for a long time.
Everything had also been cut up into small pieces to persuade her to eat.
Feeling Moody’s grip on her arm slacken, Jessa took a large sip of water then
reluctantly reached for her fork.
Jessa had eaten three quarters of the food on her plate when she replaced her
glass on the table with a trembling hand.
“Jessa?” Moody looked at her in concern. The water had sloshed around and the
glass itself had nearly fallen over.
Jessa’s eyes had closed in distress. “Give me a minute,” she asked, leaving the
hall quickly.
Alastor waited anxiously, wondering what was wrong. He inhaled deeply, and
caught the scent of wolfbane that clung to the hair and robe of the potion
master beside him.
Wolfsbane. It was close to the full moon. Starvation could stop a girl’s
monthly cycle and also… oh that stupid girl!
Moody got up rapidly from the table and raced to where he knew he would find
his responsibility. The scent of dark magic hung in the air, almost making him
reluctant to enter the toilets.
She was standing head bowed at the sink washing her hands and splashing her
face with water. One of the cubicles behind them almost seemed to crackle with
evil.
“What the fuck have you been doing?” he demanded.
Jessa flinched, startled. “I-”
“Where’s your wand?” Alastor interrupted.
“In the rooms.”
“What spell did you just use?”
Jessa told him, and Moody wondered for a moment if he would actually be sick.
The spell she had used was a brutal and old one which was designed to purge
werewolf spit from the blood. Jessa would rapidly throw up every toxin in her
body, and at least half a pint of uncontaminated blood, before her legs gave
out and her magic began to heal her.
He crossed the room in four strides and took hold of her right hand. The
knuckles were pink, as though her hand had been forced down her own throat.
Moody let go of Jessa’s hand immediately.
“Open your mouth,” he growled.
Jessa avoided his gaze but obeyed. Her breath was scentless, she’d already
charmed it, but the back of her throat was still raw and inflamed. The tiniest
spot of blood glued a few strands of her dark hair together.
“Pomphrey,” he snarled. “Now.”
Shortly Jessa was sitting on a bed in the hospital wing being examined.
Alastor’s suspicion’s were confirmed.
Alastor gazed directly into Jessa’s eyes. When she squirmed and looked away he
grabbed her jaw and wrenched it back towards him. “Now you know the dangers,”
he grated, sounding dangerous himself, “you know to leave magic like this well
alone. You know the mortality rate of that spell! It makes your own blood come
up your throat so fast you can kill or brain damage yourself from oxygen
deprivation. You even know that damaging your stomach lining can kill you, that
tearing it lets your stomach acid burn up your internal organs.”
When Jessa didn’t answer he roared, “Don’t you?!”
Jessa cringed. “Yes,” she whispered.
“Yes, what?”
“Yes, I know that… damaging my stomach lining can… kill me.”
“So you knowingly put yourself in danger?”
Jessa was silent for a moment.
“Did you knowingly put yourself in danger?”
“Yes!”
“And you know that putting yourself in danger is directly disobeying me.”
“Yes.”
Moody let go and shut him eyes in thought. He breathed out through his nose
angrily. “Alright,” he said at last.
Jessa glanced at him fearfully.
“You are going to go to your room and then I am going to punish you for your
behaviour.”
“Yessir,” Jessa whispered.
Moody nodded at Madam Pomphrey then strode towards his quarters. Jessa avoided
the nurse’s eyes and walked swiftly to keep up with him.
Alastor said nothing but the door to their rooms slammed unaided behind his
charge.
“I-,” Jessa began.
Moody looked at her furiously. She flushed and closed her mouth unhappily.
“Bedroom,” Alastor ordered.
Nodding, Jessa went to her room and knelt oddly on the floor. “What the hell
are you
doing?” Moody barked.
Jessa flinched. “Getting ready for crucio,” she murmured.
Moody’s expression darkened. “Do I look like a fucking dark wizard, girl?”
She coloured and stared at the floor. “No sir.”
He turned around and sat down on the bed. “Come here and pull down your jeans.”
“Sir?” Jessa bravely glanced up at him.
“Unless you feel like further punishment I suggest you do not continue to
disobey me
Jessamine,” Alastor warned.
Jessa promptly obeyed.
Alastor pulled her closer then pushed down her briefs. The girl blushed and
lowered her face away from him as the cool air hit her exposed flesh.
He pulled her down onto his lap with more gentleness than she expected. His
hand rested on her skin and Jessa felt a thrill of trepidation course through
her. She pressed her eyes closed.
“You understand why I’m going to punish you, don’t you?”
“Yes sir,” Jessa murmured.
“And you agree that you deserve to be punished?”
Jessa squirmed in embarrassment but Alastor held her still. “I agree,” she
choked out.
“Alright,” said Moody calmly. Without warming he raised his hand and brought it
down hard on Jessa’s unprotected bottom. Jessa gasped in surprise at the heat
and the pain.
Alastor brought down his hand again.
Jessa jerked in his lap but remain silent.
Alastor brought down his hand, now on an unmarked area this time.
He brought his hand down on a different area again.
Again he brought down his hand, and this time he struck the skin where her
buttocks
curved into her thighs. Jessa bit back the wince.
Another hard slap rained down on her; and another. Jessa was used to extreme
pain but never claimed immunity to it. As Moody swiftly followed a smack to her
seat spot with another to the join between the back of her thigh and her
backside she felt her eyes begin to burn.
Further consecutive blows fell on her. Jessa blinked hard to stop from crying
because not only was it humiliating but it hurt so badly. Moody’s palm
connected with her flaming skin and she found herself kicking a little. Jessa
fought to remain still as she was punished -determined not to debase herself
further. With all the rounds of cruciatus she had endured as a child it should
have been easy but every time Jessa felt that hand it was hard not to forget
her resolve. It hurt! It hurt so much! Only a survival instinct almost as old
as she was reminded her not to reach back and cover her aching rear lest she be
beaten worse for it.
Although she wished he would, Jessa knew Moody seemed to have no intention of
stopping any time soon. His hand stung her sore rump once more and she gave in
and wept.
On hearing her cry, Alastor brought down six slaps in quicker succession, all
harsher than before. Then he pulled the crying girl into his chest, rubbing her
abused bottom soothingly.
“I-I-I’m sor-sorry,” Jessa whimpered.
“Shhh, whelp, I know,” Alastor murmured into her as she cried, “I know.” He
rubbed circles into her back. “My good, good girl,” he praised, “it’s alright.”
Eventually Jessa’s sobbing quietened. Moody continued to hold her for a few
more moments before pulling her back from him and glaring at her sternly. She
sniffled miserably and looked up at him with red rimmed eyes. Her lashes had
formed wet spikes. Moody’s expression did not alter marginally. “I do not
regret punishing you in the slightest,” he scolded, “and you had better
understand I will not hesitate to spank you again should I think you deserve
it.”
Jessa flushed and murmured, “I wo-.”
“Don’t tell me that,” Alastor warned, “because if you break your word I am
going to go to town on your sorry little arse, understood?”
“U-understood.”
Moody sighed and pulled his charge against him. “You’re not a werewolf, Jessa.”
Jessa glanced at him in surprise. “I… know.”
“Nothing’s going to happen on the full moon.”
“I know.”
“And even if Lupin had bit you I would not condone your behaviour. The spell
that you used has an extremely low survival rate. You could very easily not be
in the game anymore right now. Not to mention what would have happened to you
if you had still changed with hardly any fat resources…”
“I know.”
“So what the bloody hell were you thinking?!” Alastor demanded.
“I was just scared …I wanted to make sure…”
“You told me you understood you were not-”
“But just because I know can’t get rid of this little bit of doubt in the back
of my head!”
“Jessa, don’t shout at me or you will be facing the floor again.”
Jessa coloured. “Sorry.”
“I should think so,” Alastor replied sternly. His voice softened. “Is there
anything else you think you should talk to me about?”
“No sir.”
“Alright,” said Moody, “in that case you are going to strip down and get into
this bed and I don’t want to hear a peep out of you the whole night, you got
that whelp?”
Jessa agreed tearfully.
“I’ll come and get you when I’m going to bed,” Alastor continued softly.
“Thank you,” she whispered. He pulled her into a short embrace before leaving.
She pulled
up her boxers, gasping as they brushed her smarting flesh, then kicked off her
jeans and pulled her top over her head. There was no way she was going to be
able to lie on her back.
For the next few days Alastor was quite short with her. Although he still
cuddled her at night, he was very impatient about the promptness with which she
obeyed him, and allowed her no slack. The only time Jessa had tried to return
to the cheeky banter of before Moody had issued her already sore rear with a
stinging slap and sent her to her room for an hour. Mealtimes were hell, and
Jessa had not been allowed to eat with the Slytherins once. Draco had came up
to the table every day, but each time Alastor had made Jessa explain she
couldn’t as she was being disciplined. Her face burned almost as red as the
cheeks she was forced to sit on during these exchanges, but the blonde had not
been a jerk about it yet.
It truly bothered Jessa that Alastor seemed so angry with her and seemed to
ignore her all day. The pain of her situation clouded her thoughts during
everything.
Breakfast had been hell. Then Moody had got a house elf to sit in with her
first period and the elf had even been ordered to walk her right into the
potions classroom.
“JESSA!”
Jessa looked up in alarm at the rage in Snape’s voice. He grabbed her roughly
by the neck and waved an incantation at her potion just as it began to vomit
angry balls of smoke.
“I can hardly believe your carelessness!” he roared. Snape swung her around to
face him.
“You know that potion demands great care! What were you doing? You weren’t
paying attention at all. Neville Longbottom would not have made those
mistakes!”
Snape’s fingers were beginning to cut into Jessa’s neck very painfully. “You
could very easily have got yourself killed,” the potion master snarled. “I let
you work with these volatile potions because you are capable. You almost blew
yourself up with sheer carelessness!”
Jessa remained silent throughout his tirade. Her shocked eyes were round and
fearful as she gazed up at the livid professor.
Snape looked directly into her gaze. “You cannot afford to make mistakes at all
with this potion and I am finding it difficult to believe you could have made
mistakes of this magnitude… I can hardly believe you are responsible of such
thoughtlessness!”
The man let go and brought his hand near his face as he fought to control his
anger. After a long pause he was finally able to look at the pale girl. “I will
not have such recklessness from you,” he snapped quietly.
Jessa did not know how to react. She wasn’t even sure what had happened. What
Snape was accusing her of was fair, however. She could not even remember what
she had been dropping into the potion. Her mind had entirely been on Moody’s
cold indifference.
“Go stand by my desk,” Professor Snape hissed.
Jessa felt her stomach plummet. She knew perfectly well what that translated
into. She’d very recently been disciplined for another instance of putting
herself in danger, after all.
Without argument she followed his instruction.
Snape followed and positioned her clinically. Then he beat her soundly. “You
will not behave in a manner that is dangerous to yourself or others around
you,” he bit out. His hand came down hard against her on each word to fully
engrain the warning.
Jessa began to squirm and cry much earlier than Snape had expected. He did not
stop but with each slap he gave her his foreboding grew. Soon Jessa was crying
without abandon.
A thought came to Snape unbidden: hadn’t the Potter brat been taunting Jessa
before about a spanking? Had Jessa already been punished –or just plain hurt-
recently?
“Take down your jeans Miss Black.”
Jessa obeyed reluctantly expecting further retribution. The thong she was
wearing allowed Snape a clear view of her abused rear. It should not have been
such a dark, painful red. Snape felt uncomfortable. He examined her further,
realising he had struck Jessa over a lesser expanse of her flesh than had been
during her previous beating. Whilst he had concentrated mainly –though not
exclusively- on the fullness of her bottom someone had clearly taken something
to her sit spot. The skin there was bruised and unpleasantly coloured but
lacked the glow Snape had so recently added.
“Miss Black,” he drawled softly, “when was the last time someone has hit you
before now?”
Jessa shifted uncomfortably, feeling exposed. “You mean properly?”
“Properly?” Snape repeated.
“Um, as in a full, proper spanking like this, or are you including quick smacks
too?”
The colour of Snape’s complexion altered slightly. “Both,” he said gently.
Jessa was currently feeling very grateful the potions master was unable to see
her face whilst he had her so positioned. “I… I was pretty bad a few days ago,
um, but I’ve got a few slaps since then,” the girl replied in a mortified
voice.
“Pretty bad?” questioned Snape.
“I… do we need to talk about it?”
The colour of Jessa’s skin persuaded Snape not to swat her rear for that
comment. “Yes, I do believe we need to discuss this.”
“Well,” sighed Jessa, “just don’t get mad, okay?” she pleaded.
Snape stared at the back of her head for a moment. “Speak.”
Jessa flushed and ducked her head further before saying in a rush, “Mad Eye
caught me using dangerous dark magic on myself.”
“Like what?”
Jessa expanded. As she did Snape felt himself paling. “Damn werewolf,” he
muttered of the unfortunate Lupin. Sighing, the professor squeezed the bridge
of his nose. “And the other times?”
“That I was sick?”
“That you were struck.”
Jessa appeared to give a noise of distress.
“Miss Black?”
“He’s really mad with me,” Jessa blurted. “And he hardly looks at me and
anytime he speaks to me… It’s just… I really…”
Jessa was quiet for a while.
“It’s like he hates me,” she whispered.
Snape sighed. “He doesn’t hate you.”
Jessa turned to look at the man with pain-filled orbs. “How do you know?”
Snape had little practice in replying to such comments. He hesitated before
saying firmly, and feeling quite inadequate for his words, “Trust me. I just
know.”
Jessa sniffled and buried herself in his robes. Snape froze. He had no
practical knowledge about what he was expected to do in this situation
whatsoever. Firstly, the girl was crying and expecting comfort from him, and
secondly, she was cuddling him. Him. Scary potions master, renowned Death Eater
and head of the same house whose ghost was the Bloody Baron -and had produced
Tom Riddle. Yet she was mewling into the front of his robes like she thought he
was some sort of Hufflepuff or something.
Crying was not something Snape had a great deal of experience of. He’d seen
plenty of Death Eater victims cry, and he’d cried plenty times as a boy who’d
spent too much time in the company of his father, but apart from that he had
not really cried since the night he had returned to Dumbledore all those years
ago.
What had he done? Well, he’d helped him off the floor of course, but Jessa was
standing against his chest. Dumbledore had pulled him against him, hadn’t he?
He’d wrapped his arms around him and held him. He had also murmured soothing
words and rubbed circles in his back and even kissed his head.
Well forget that. Holding the girl would prove disconcerting enough without
kissing her. Snape had never kissed many people, apart from Lucius who rather
liked kissing, and Sirius, who had been an idiot but had once been a very good
kisser. Snape had slept with a rather larger amount of people, but hadn’t
really bothered to kiss them.
Albus hadn’t given him that sort of a kiss anyway. It wasn’t the kind of kiss
Snape had given his Lord’s robes either. That was a rather reluctant, debasing
thing whereas Snape remembered Dumbledore comforting him feeling rather more
warm and… well comforting really. Rather like a kiss from Lily. Actually,
nothing like a kiss from Lily. A kiss from Lily was rather different from a
kiss from Albus, even the sort of kiss she’d given him after they grew up and
she decided she’d rather just give Those kisses to Potter.
Snape enveloped Jessa in his arms rather stiffly. She clung on to the wet front
of his robes for a few more moments then slid her arms down to encircle his
waist. Damn. Snape had not expected her to do that. Did it affect what he was
meant to do?
Hesitatingly, Snape rubbed the circles in her back in a faithful imitation of
Dumbledore’s actions.
It seemed to work. Eventually her body stopped trembling and she quietened.
Snape expected her to let go when she stopped crying but she merely clung on to
him calmly. He waited for what seemed to be a very long while but she showed no
signs of moving.
Maybe the kiss was important then? Was she waiting for him to do that? Or did
he have to say something? He didn’t have a bat’s thought in hell what he was
supposed to say to a crying teenage girl. The only conversation he had ever had
with such a creature involved saying to her: ‘I’m sorry for calling you a
mudblood…’ and that did not hold much relevance here.
Snape pressed his lips very softly to the back of Jessa’s head and murmured,
“Pull up your jeans now.” As he spoke, he pulled away from Jessa gently.
Jessa obeyed and stepped back. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” Snape drawled back with discomfort. As he spoke Moody
appeared in the doorway.
“Alastor, I wish to speak to you,” Snape said. His customary sneer had bled
from his voice.
Alastor seemed to notice as he turned both eyes on the other man briefly.
Oh shit. Oh shit. Snape was going to tell Mad Eye, wasn’t he? Jessa’s hand
found the potion master’s.
On feeling her hand, Snape looked down into the fearfulness of Jessa’s gaze.
“You may relax Miss Black,” he drawled, and squeezed her reassuringly before
letting go.
Snape took the other professor aside. He could see no easy way to do this, so
he might as well throw himself into the deep end. “Miss Black has informed me
she gave you reason to discipline her recently.”
Alastor’s natural eye widened. “Yes.”
“While I am making no comment on your methods of disciplining her, would you
please enlighten me to what methods you believe you have used?”
“I discussed with her why she was being punished. I spanked her and afterwards
we discussed her motivations for what she did. I then sent her to her room. She
is also expected to remain under my supervision during mealtimes –although,
concerning what she was doing, that’s not only a punishment so much as I want
to keep an eye on her eating,” Moody growled.
“And apart from these restrictions, have you done anything else that Miss Black
would find upsetting?”
Alastor considered how short-tempered he had been with Jessa recently. “I don’t
understand…”
“Do you feel that asides from what you have mentioned things between you are as
they were before you caught her acting unacceptably?”
Alastor paused. “I’ve been sterner with her. Stricter.”
“Miss Black tells me she feels as if,” Snape curled his lip, “well, her direct
quote was that she thinks you ‘hate’ her. She is very worried that she has
damaged the closeness of her relationship with you. She mentioned you do not
look at her or talk to her as much as usual.”
Moody glanced over at his ward. “She thinks I hate her?”
“She was very distraught about that, yes.”
“I don’t hate her.”
“Would it be possible to inform her of that fact then?” Snape sneered.
Alastor’s gaze snapped back to the other man. “Why did she tell you this?”
“I have no idea, I don’t view myself as the obvious agony aunt either,” Snape
snapped. “It seems she was just so upset she had to tell someone.” After nearly
blowing up the classroom of course.
Moody scrutinised him for a moment. “You know the front of your robes are wet?”
“Really?” Snape drawled, “I had no idea. Perhaps it has something to do with
being cried all over by the teenage girl you deeply upset.”
“She cried on you?” Alastor sounded horrified.
“You’ve obviously traumatised the girl. She seemed to think I was the perfect
candidate to soak.”
Moody managed a smile at that. “Thank you for looking after my girl, Snape.”
“It was for purely selfish reasons I assure you. I have no desire to be blown
up by a
distraught girl attempting to brew potions.”
Moody sighed. “I’m just worried about what will happen to her if I can’t keep
her from hurting herself…”
Snape became alarmed. Since when did Moody ask to be consoled by him too?
“Bearing in mind she has spent most of her life with only that insane house elf
for company, and after that she had Sirius Black fresh from Azkaban as her only
human companion. You should expect her to be somewhat crazy until she becomes
used to life here.”
Alastor nodded and turned to call Jessa to them. He threw his arms around her
and held her tightly. “I promise I don’t hate you, okay,” he murmured into the
girl’s hair.
When Jessa was comfortable letting go of him she stepped away and pulled the
potions master down to her height to kiss his face gratefully. “Thank you,
sir,” she said warmly.
Alastor watched with a mixture of affectionate horror and humour. His colleague
seemed appalled. Also terrified.
“Sirius Black escaped Azkaban; evaded dememtors; outwitted the ministry –and
was killed by drapery,” the potions master sneered. “So glad his sensibilities
reside in this one.”
Jessa merely giggled at this and pulled away from the man. “Thanks.”
“That was not a compliment,” Snape grumbled.
Jessa smirked. “You love me really.”
His eyes narrowed. “Mad Eye,” he growled, “remove your charge before I poison
her!”
“Alright there whelp, looks like you’ve done enough here, off we go now.”
 
At lunch Draco valiantly appeared once more at the staff table to request
Jessa’s presence at his own. “She may not,” Alastor growled, “but you are
welcome to join her here under my eye.”
To the surprise of many, the boy agreed.
 
“Are you doing anything next period?” Draco asked at the close of the meal.
“I’m free then.”
“That’s Mad Eye’s decision,” Jessa said regretfully.
“May we, Professor?” prompted the blonde.
Alastor looked over his charge. “Only if she will behave?”
Jessa answered with a blush and an affirmative.
“I suppose that will do then,” Moody growled. “However,” his eyes fixed
dangerously on the Malfoy heir, “you will be answerable to me if there is
anything questionable about the actions of either of you, understood?”
Draco murmured a respectful, “Yes, Sir.”
 
At the end of fifth period Jessa met Draco at the end of the corridor that led
to his class. He smiled warmly at her and they fell into step. “Since you’re
not allowed on the grounds, where do you wish we go?” he asked. Don’t say the
dungeons because I don’t want to have to dispose of Blaise.
“I don’t mind really.” It’s just nice to be with you.
Somehow they ended up in the room of requirement after a lot of wandering the
corridors aimlessly. The room had provided two stuffed green armchairs and a
sofa of similar design all arranged around a pleasant-looking and vast
fireplace.
Jessa took the initiative of claiming the sofa and when Draco placed himself
beside her she curled into him. Surprised but smiling, Draco coiled his arm
around her. For moments he said nothing before asking, “Just what did you do
anyway?”
Jessa immediately knew what he meant. “Something not up for discussion,” she
replied in a voice that brooked no argument.
Draco blinked. “Alright. What is up for discussion?”
Jessa made a face. “Quidditch. Potions. Slytherin. Dumbledore. The lake…”
“Do you play?”
“Quidditch?” Jessa made a face. “I am a really terrible flyer,” she admitted
ruefully. “You play though, don’t you?”
“I’m seeker for my house,” Draco said slightly smugly. “You’re good at potions
though; old Severus seems to like you.”
Jessa grinned. “‘Old Severus’?”
Draco grinned. “Yes, I would probably not quote me on that.”
Jessa smirked. “Blackmail material!”
He laughed. “Don’t you dare. My godfather would gladly have my ass.”
Jessa giggled. “Now there’s an image.”
Horror crossed the teen’s face. “Oh…” he groaned in disgust.
“Aw, Snapey’s lovely really,” Jessa continued.
“My godfather is an absolute bat,” Draco protested. When Jessa continued to
snicker he prodded her side. “What about embarrassing you?”
“Embarrassing me?”
“Yeah. What was that all about in ‘Snapey’’s class when the Weasel decided to
call you a slut?”
“I have no idea Ferret.”
“Ferret my arse,” said Draco. “Potty was warbling on about you getting spanked
by your master.”
“Well I’m sure it could be arranged for Pothead to announce it if we persuaded
the Dark Lord to paddle your’s.”
Draco’s lip curled. “Jessa you are disgusting.”
“Oh I don’t know,” she teased, “I think Tom Riddle was kind of hot…”
“Jessa,” said a very suffering Draco, “please never repeat that. Ever.”
“It’s not like I said Hagrid…”
“Uh! Stop! As if I want to think of that oaf-”
Jessa cuffed Draco’s leg warningly. “Be nice. Hagrid’s a lovely man.”
“Jessa!” Draco howled. “Fine! I fancy Albus Dumbledore and get turned on by his
knobbly knees and like it when he ties me up with his beard. Are you getting
nasty pictures yet?”
“Oh Drakey I am gonna be sick,” snorted Jessa. “That’s just wrong.”
“And the Dark Lord isn’t?”
Jessa grimaced. “I’d do Snakeface. Totally. Anyday. Urg! Dumbles! You very sick
boy.”
“Have you noticed how he calls everybody ‘my boy’? I just want to grab his wand
and beat him to death with it!”
“How very muggle of you. I just want to beat him to death. Then curse him.”
“What has he done to you?” Draco teased.
Jessa grimaced and shook her head. “…What about you? What do you think about
him?”
“I don’t know really,” admitted Draco. He looked at her. “There’s a lot you
don’t talk about, isn’t there?”
“Adds intrigue,” said Jessa.
***** Home Is Where The Scarhead Is (Stupid Murderer) *****

Author's notes: Jessa gets dragged back to Grimmauld Place to find herself
sharing a room with a boy she doesn't love very much and distracting an unhappy
spy.
===============================================================================
Characters and such aren't mine, with the exception of KJ Black. Just playing,
and making no money. Full disclaimer can be found at the top of the first
chapter.
As term went on Jessa found herself settled into routine at the school: sharing
her time between Slytherins, their head of house, Alastor Moody and Hagrid. She
quite enjoyed making life as stressful as possible for the golden trio and
generally could be found joined at the hip of either Draco or Pansy, if not
always both, basking in the conflict achieved that day.
Jessa let herself into the common room and took her seat on the arm of Draco’s
chair. He curled his arm around her and returned to his conversation with the
rest of the room’s occupants. This was how Jessa spent most afternoons when she
had returned from her run in the forest with the gamekeeper. She idly carded
her fingers through Draco’s hair as she observed the discussion with amusement.
“Miss Black.”
Everyone turned warily to see the black clad potions master. Jessa got up
quickly and crossed the room. “Sir?”
The man pinched the bridge of his nose, his black eyes mere bright slits. “Come
with me,” he said shortly. Jessa said an abrupt goodbye to her friends and
quickly followed, her hand finding his, to the man’s infinite consternation.
“Sugar quills,” Snape snapped, his glare directed at the stone gargoyle before
them. As the statue obliged the girl found herself dragged along to the
headmaster’s office.
“What..?” Jessa began before her guardian shushed her. She did not let go of
the potions professor but eyed Moody curiously.
“Jessa, you know we,” the man gestured at himself and the two other men in the
room, “do things in Grimmauld Place, don’t you?”
Jessa looked at him evenly. “The Order stuff?”
“Exactly, my dear.”
Jessa squirmed on hearing the white-haired man speak to her. She was trying to
pretend he was not present.
Noting the girl’s discomfort, Albus looked over his glasses at her and
continued, “It is necessary at the moment that Alastor is involved with some
work of this nature, and he will need to spend time on it in Grimmauld Place.”
Jessa brought the sleeve of her white sweatshirt to her mouth. Snape had still
not managed to get her to relinquish her grip on his hand and she held it
tighter. “Can Professor Snape stay with me?” she asked quietly.
Three faces turned to her in surprise. “What the headmaster meant, girl,” said
Alastor, “is we’ll be staying at your home for a little while.”
“Oh,” said Jessa. “Great!”
Dumbledore’s eyes were doing their twinkling act again. “Severus will have work
to do there too, of course.”
Moody eyed the dark-haired professor irritably.
“When are we going?” asked Jessa.
“After supper, my dear.”
“Where do I tell Draco I’m going?”
“Boot camp?” Alastor teased.
Jessa scowled. “You can’t seriously expect…”
“Of course not,” Professor Snape said. It was the first time he had spoken
during the conversation and Jessa turned to stare up at him. “You will be
telling him that you have to deal with the proper paperwork in regards to your
vaults and that Mad Eye is accompanying you.”
“Are we doing anything with my vaults?” Jessa
asked suspiciously.
“No, whelp, we’re not.”
Dumbledore smiled down at Jessa. “That was all, Jessamine.” He glanced up at
the potions master, “Severus, will you please take Jessamine down to the Great
Hall while I continue to speak with Alastor?”
“Certainly, Headmaster.” Snape turned to leave.
Dumbledore’s eyes glinted again. “Thank you, my boy.”
Snape led Jessa up to the staff table and began cajoling her to eat. As Jessa
reluctantly played with her soup a certain blond meandered up to the table.
“May Jessa eat with us, sir?”
“I am sorry, Draco,” Snape said, “but I cannot let Miss Black leave the table
until I have seen her eat properly.”
“Come on, Jessa,” demanded Draco.
Jessa squirmed. She couldn’t eat when she was excited, and she did not want to
leave Professor Snape sitting beside both her’s and Moody’s empty seats.
“Can’t Draco sit up here, sir?”
Snape rolled his eyes and agreed grudgingly. “Certainly, Miss Nuisance,” he
sneered. Jessa grinned and glanced up at him before sampling her food. Over the
meal she explained to the Malfoy heir she would not be at school for the
following days.
“Don’t even consider taking too long,” Draco scolded.
Jessa smiled at this and hugged the boy. He curled his lip but embraced her
tightly. “See you soon.”
After dinner, which Alastor missed, Snape took Jessa back to the headmaster’s
office, from which they flooed to Grimmauld Place. Draco, flanked by Greg and
Vincent, and not the least distracted by a nattering Pansy, walked down to the
dungeons deep in thought. There really was no point contacting his mother while
she was at the health spa, despite the letters she sent him daily, but perhaps
his father would have information on Jessa. If Draco piqued his father’s
interest, he might be able to turn the conversation towards what he really
wanted to discuss.
Jessa arrived in the fireplace with Snape. He held her still as he dusted ash
from them both before he stepped out into the room. Jessa followed. “When will
Mad Eye arrive?”
Snape glanced at her. “Shortly,” he said. “Why don’t I take you to your rooms
to see if the house elves have brought you your things yet? When we’re done he
will likely be sitting in the kitchen waiting for you.”
The latter part was fine, but what did he mean by the first part? “I know where
my rooms are,” Jessa said in confusion.
Snape made a face. “Dumbledore has requested you use a different set of rooms.”
Jessa’s eyes flashed angrily but she said nothing in this tone to the dark
haired man, instead following him mutely. He led her to a room with two beds
and two large chests of drawers. There was a trunk at the foot of each bed and
a large mirror on the wall. ‘Mad Eye’s sharing with me,’ Jessa thought, and
began rummaging through the drawers discovering which of her things the elves
had supplied. After a while she followed Snape down to the kitchen.
“Where are you sleeping?” Jessa asked.
“The right door opposite you,” the man replied.
He reached to open the kitchen door and when he did, Jessa was greeted with the
sight of her guardian eating calmly at the table.
“There you are, whelp,” he said. She smiled and slid into the seat along the
corner from him whilst bizarrely, Snape began to brew those infernal cups of
tea Albus was always conjuring. The muggle method seemed to steady his nerves
and he placed a cup before Jessa, remaining to drink his own by the counter.
Jessa looked over to him. “Are you ok sir?”
The professor widened his eyes in surprise. “Drink your tea,” he glared.
Moody watched the interacted with a sigh. “I knew she didn’t know,” he said.
Jessa’s eyes narrowed dangerously. “I didn’t know what?”
At that moment a black haired boy Jessa’s age scuffled into the kitchen.
“What’s she doing here?”
To see him, of all people, in Siri’s house. For a moment, Jessa was almost
sick. Her hands tightened on the cup she clasped so very firmly.
“You murderer,” she whispered sharply before she threw herself out of the room.
In the kitchen Harry started his own tantrum. Perfectly aware Snape didn’t have
a chance of quieting the boy, Alastor sent the younger professor after the
girl.
“Miss Black!” Snape roared, not in the least mindful of the portrait that had
already been set off. Snape knew perfectly well Jessa would have went to her
own, private rooms, which regularly sealed themselves off from the rest of the
house. Should the girl have retreated there it was highly unlikely he would be
able to retrieve her without the headmaster, Kreecher and Moody.
Snape kicked the entrance to Jessa’s rooms. “Miss Black, you shall not hide
away in your rooms! You will come out this instant or you will find I shall
make you a very sorry girl!”
After a great deal of threats, a door on the landing above opened. Jessa
stepped towards the banisters looking tearful. “Professor?”
Snape turned and fixed the girl with a thunderous expression.
“I wasn’t in my rooms, professor.”
Snape began striding up the stairs towards her. Jessa unexpectedly began to
walk over reluctantly to meet him. Reaching her, Snape took a hold of Jessa’s
arm and squashed down the urge to swat her, hard.
“Was that display necessary?”
Jessa glanced up at the potion master’s annoyed snarl. “Sorry,” she said in a
small voice.
“Have you broken anything in Black’s room?”
Jessa looked horrified. “Of course not.”
Snape noted the girl’s tone with relief. He could perhaps deal with the girl
crying; if he had to clear up messes both teenagers were bent on creating every
time they lost their tempers, he would lose his own with them very swiftly.
The man marched Jessa to the bathroom, where he wet a flannel and cooled her
face, then brought her downstairs.
Moody had no intentions of pandering to Harry’s nonsense and when the boy had
cried himself out the professor insisted on the boy repairing the broken
utensils, before seating him firmly at the table. Where he sat uncomfortably
and glowered at the space before him. On seeing the others return Harry turned
his attention to picking at the old wood of the table. Alastor smacked the
boy’s hand away wordlessly.
Snape pulled out a chair and glowered at Jessa. “Sit,” he ordered. Without
looking at anyone, the girl obeyed.
“Now,” said Snape dangerously, bringing his palm down disturbingly hard on the
tabletop, “we are going to get a few things straight. First of all, Potter is a
foolish, negligent brat, but it is Lestrange who killed Sirius Black. And a
piece of drapery.”
“He wouldn’t have been there if it wasn’t for him!”
“Jessamine,” warned Alastor sharply.
“You think I meant to get him killed, he was the closest I had to a father! I
was meant to live with him when things were over!”
“I wouldn’t have minded you living with him, but then you went and got him
killed!”
“You stupid bitch, I-”
“Enough!” Snape roared. Even Moody looked a little worried by the man’s tone.
“Listen here,” he said coldly, “the next of you to continue this argument is
going over my lap, and will be remaining there until I am assured they will not
be so foolish as to start up again. Have I made this point clear?”
Harry looked equally furious and incredulous about the threat, but said
nothing. “Sorry,” said Jessa.
“You will be if there’s another peep out of you,” Snape admonished. “The same
goes for you, Potter. Now, I have had quite enough from both of you this
evening, so you will both be retiring to your room for the evening. If you kill
each other, rest assured my wrath will still reach you pair on the other side.”
Jessa looked severely alarmed. “Mad Eye, I can’t-”
He reached over to her sympathetically. “I know, whelp, but Dumbledore wants
you to try this. I’m only going to be the door on the left opposite –I won’t be
far.”
“Sod what Dumbledore wants,” Jessa protested.
Moody took hold of her chin and stared into her eyes. “Now stop that,” he
scolded gently. “I want you to do this tonight, alright.”
“You do not,” said Jessa, “it’s all on your face that you don’t.”
“You will do as I tell you, girl.”
Jessa paused and looked thoughtfully at Snape. “You said room.”
“What?” said Harry.
“You didn’t mean we’re going to share?” The girl sounded aghast.
“I did,” said Snape.
“But we can’t share,” said Jessa.
“Exactly,” said Harry quickly, “She’s a girl; I don’t share with Hermione.”
“Only because you prefer boys,” Jessa muttered.
“Miss Black!”
“Sorry,” sighed Jessa. “But it is true: we can’t share.”
“You will be sharing,” said Snape shortly.
“But-”
The man glared at the pair. “You will do as you’re told and go upstairs to get
ready for bed this instant. Both of us,” he gestured towards Moody, “will be up
momentarily. If I do not find two well-behaved young people when I go upstairs
I will be making both of you very unhappy.”
Without protest, but looking severely put out, Jessa and Harry got up from the
table and went upstairs.
Jessa barged past Harry and straight into the adjoining bathroom, deliberately
taking as long as possible, then stormed past him again and, kicking off her
DCs, jumped under the quilt to pull her outer clothing off.
Harry glanced in irritation at her and stomped into the bathroom, closing the
door audibly. When he finished, he took off his jeans and trainers and threw
himself onto his bed. The bland cream walls and framed Chinese proverbs did
nothing to soothe his dark mood.
Snape and Moody appeared in the open doorway to find the two teens glowering on
their respective beds. “I do hope,” Snape drawled, “this is the last of your
tantrum.”
Neither teen quite dared to glare directly at the dark haired man, scowling at
their own laps instead.
“A reply, if you please…”
“Yes, sir,” said Jessa.
After a pause, Harry managed to grate out, “Yes, Professor.”
“Very well. Goodnight both of you,” Snape turned to leave, “There will be no
fighting at all tonight, and, should I only discover one of you alive in the
morning, rest assured I will gladly hex you both.” The man left the room with
his robes swinging around him.
Alastor lingered to cuddle Jessa and murmur reassurances. After a few moments
he straightened up, bid the reluctant pair goodnight, and left the room. He
pulled the door closed behind him.
Snape met his eyes. “They’ll both be dead by morning.”
“Don’t say that,” Alastor said dryly, “Or you’ll have no one to hex come
morning.”
The other man flashed his teeth. “Quite.”
Alastor’s gaze flickered to the door.
Snape rolled his eyes and cast a listening charm. He quirked his eyebrow at
Alastor’s expression. “It’s not as if we won’t both be here all night,” Snape
drawled, rearranging his robes about himself and settling on the floor against
the doorframe. After a moment’s hesitation Alastor joined him. His magical eye
fixed intently on the room behind him, where Harry and Jessa remained scowling
on their beds.
Eventually both teenagers found sleep.
The wait for the girl to begin screaming felt unnervingly long to Moody. When
she finally did the man’s stomach knotted as he was under instructions not to
go to her. At all.
Snape had not expected the chest-piercing screams, nor had he expected Moody to
fidget and squirm upon hearing them, almost foaming at the bit to get to Jessa.
“This is hardly helping Potter sleep,” Snape sneered.
“Potter’s not currently top of my priority list,” Moody growled in agitation.
To Snape’s confusion, the other man’s jaw abruptly dropped and he turned both
eyes on the door.
A few moments later they heard Harry’s voice murmuring soothingly until Jessa’s
screams lessened to hoarse breathing and the occasional juddering gasp. The two
men swiftly exchanged glances before Alastor returned his gaze to the door.
Jessa glanced in horror at the teenage boy gripping her arms. It did not take
her long to realise Harry had shaken her out of her nightmare. She flushed and
avoided his eyes. “Sorry.”
Harry shook his head wryly. “Don’t worry about it. It’s new to be on the other
end of this.”
Jessa peered at him unwillingly. “You get nightmares?”
Harry reached into his trunk and lifted out a tray of dreamless sleep and pain
potions. “I get nightmares,” he agreed. He picked up a vial of dreamless sleep
and proffered it to her.
Jessa took it warily. A childhood reliance on the substance had left her
somewhat intolerant but she had not used it in a while- so she could depend on
the potion tonight.
Harry closed the trunk and returned to bed. “Goodnight.”
Jessa was still holding the potions vial. She looked up. “Night, Potter.” She
swallowed the liquid and placed the vial on the dark wood chest of drawers.
“Thanks Potter.”
Harry glanced briefly at her and looked away, wearing an odd expression. “Don’t
worry about it.”
Jessa quirked an eyebrow in what could have been a disturbingly Malfoyesque
mannerism before noticing her quilt was still at the bottom of the bed where
she had kicked it in her sleep. ‘Well that explains it,’ she thought as she
dived to pull the duvet over her barely-dressed form.
In the morning, Snape and Alastor awoke leaning against the doorframe to the
teenagers’ room. The youths had not killed, or indeed even hexed, each other.
Snape stood up, straightening his robes and his reluctant body, and strode into
the bedroom.
Jessa’s quilt had found its way to the floor again, despite her drugged, and
therefore undisturbed, sleep. The man adverted his gaze from the rather
interesting tangle of female limbs and brightly coloured string that
masqueraded as underwear, and glanced across at Harry. The boy’s hair was even
more of a mess than usual.
“It’s morning,” Snape announced loudly.
Harry flinched, rolled over and glared momentarily at the potions professor
with great loathing before sitting up and stretching. Jessa sat up, noticed the
departure of her errant quilt, and groaned. She brought her knees together,
pulled herself up, and rolled her legs over the edge of the bed to lean over
and snatch the quilt, which she promptly pulled onto her lap.
“Glad to see some modesty kicking in, Miss Black,” Snape sneered.
“You know you love it,” Jessa muttered, wondering how she was going to get to
the bathroom in her g-string and rather less than modest bra without
humiliating herself. After a long moment’s debate with herself she decided to
drag the quilt with her. She made it almost to the bathroom door when Snape
said, “Miss Black.”
Jessa turned, hand reaching for the handle, and managed to drop the stupid
piece of material. She huffed in irritation and turned around.
Snape valiantly managed to keep his eye level above her chin. “Breakfast will
be served in half an hour and I expect both yourself and Potter to have had the
opportunity to wash. Do not take long.”
Jessa gave the man a dangerous look, kicked the quilt out of her way, and
marched into the bathroom.
In a record elapse of a mere fifteen minutes Jessa returned to the bedroom
wearing only a dark coloured towel and an underlying perilous expression. Harry
quickly picked up his clothes and retreated to the bathroom, not daring to
wonder why adolescents were cursed with raging hormone levels.
Jessa found black, cut off combat pants and a tight, dark purple vest top
within the chest of drawers. When Harry bravely re-emerged she had added a
white zipper and was casually charming her toenails to coordinate with her
outfit.
She stared at him for a moment.
“Are your clothes meant to be that size?”
Before the boy had replied Jessa had surmised the answer was a negative. She
wordlessly shrank them down to fit his figure.
“Thanks,” he said awkwardly.
Jessa was not really listening, instead rummaging about in a drawer for
something she had seen earlier. Harry watched her warily as she pulled out a
black snake belt and unselfconsciously began looping it through his own jeans.
“Better,” she said.
He glanced at her warily before flicking his gaze towards the mirror. He did
look better.
Jessa smirked at him, reading his expression, and bounded down to breakfast.
Harry followed.
To Jessa’s delight, Kreecher was serving at the
table. She sat down and began cheerfully eating what he placed in front of her.
She caught the murderous look Harry’s eyes held and he swiftly found her nine
inch thestral hair wand jabbing into his throat.
“Don’t even think about it,” she said sweetly before withdrawing her weapon.
“He’s more responsible for your brother’s death than I am!” Harry snarled.
“But I like him better than you,” Jessa continued in that same, disturbing
voice. She began eating again.
Harry merely growled, catching Snape’s eye and not daring to do anything else.
“Thank you,” the man said snidely. There would be no fighting at the breakfast
table.
Jessa finished and pushed her small bowl away. When it became obvious she had
no intentions of eating anything else, Alastor scowled. He was willing to
ignore Jessa’s wand-drawing, but that had a lot to do about the guilt he was
feeling over ignoring her distress last night. “That’s not enough,” he growled.
Kreecher sneered at the man. “Mistress is needing to be eating in small
amounts,” the elf admonished sharply. “Mistress’s organs not ordinary witch’s
organs. They change like Mistress’s features do, and shan’t cope like silly
ordinary witch’s normal body.”
“Tonks eats a lot,” said Harry.
“That would be because Tonks is a pig,” muttered
Jessa.
At Alastor’s glare, Jessa continued, “Her metabolism’s different; she burns up
more energy than I do when I change. Because I don’t have a real fixed form my
insides are constantly in flux and can’t cope with dealing with a large amount
of food. Treating me as though I’m Tonks will only make me sick.” Upon the
man’s continued scowl she scowled back and expanded, “I don’t make a big point
of considering my organs when I change, so they tend not to be big. This,
coupled with how I’m likely to forget about any digesting food in my system
means I gotta eat a little, fairly often, and have to be conscious about how
long something will stay in my system.”
At that moment the fireplace became active.
Rather glumly Jessa watched Dumbledore step into the room. “The others should
be here shortly,” he announced. Jessa got up to leave.
“Where are you going?” Harry asked.
“The Order’s about to meet,” she explained.
“You’re welcome to stay, my dear,” the headmaster suggested.
Jessa blinked. “Thanks,” she said, “but I really think I should go.” As she
moved to the door there was a commotion from the fireplace as it began to expel
Weaslies. She quickly closed the door behind her with a firm yet casual click.
The meeting lasted for hours. Jessa had time to raid her personal rooms for as
long as she wished, and also the dark library. When Kreecher alerted her to the
meeting’s end Jessa was curled up on the bed and idly charming different images
to dance along the ceiling.
Jessa cancelled the spells and sloped down to the living room, where she placed
herself in her customary lap. Moody grunted and shifted to accept her weight.
She snuggled into him and attempted to spirit away his hip flask. She’d never
managed to take it without his noticing.
He lazily slapped her hand away. “You leave that alone whelp.”
She pouted and shifted in his lap again to make him as uncomfortable as
possible. He murmured several colourful phrases he forgot she would still be
able to hear and pulled her elbows away from his squashed vital organs.
Jessa noticed Snape sitting very quietly in the armchair at the other end of
the room. His head was bowed and drew his hair over face, preventing her from
reading his expression, but the knuckles gripping the chair’s arm in a clawlike
vice were
bone white.
The girl observed him for a moment longer then shifted again. “Will you stop
moving around on me!” Alastor grumbled.
“In a minute,” Jessa promised. She shifted down into a dog the size of a small
spaniel and wrestled out of her clothes. Alastor held open the neck of her top
and helped her. “What do you reckon you’re doing girl?”
“Trust me,” she said quietly.
Moody watched as Jessa jumped off of his lap and padded over to Snape. At first
he ignored her, but he fixed her with a glare when she dared to paw his leg. “I
do not especially like black dogs Miss Black,” he snapped, “particularly not
when they appear like a miniature grim and invade my personal space.”
Jessa stared at him with the condescending gaze only a cat regularly uses and
leapt onto his lap. He pushed her off immediately. “Get off,” he demanded
crisply.
Jessa ignored him and returned to his lap. He pushed her off firmly. “Desist,
Miss Black.”
She ignored his warning and he gave her his ugliest glare. He used his death
eater voice when he insisted, “I said no.”
She wagged her tail slowly and crossed his lap to wriggle under his arm.
Snape squeezed the bridge of his nose. “Miss Black,” he snarled.
Jessa looked up cheerfully and grinned at the man. He scowled down at her and
levelled their faces. “Move.” She squeezed out and licked his face. He picked
her up by the folds of skin at the back of her neck and dropped her onto the
floor. Whining, she pawed his leg and rested her head on his knees.
“Miss Black, as you are capable of speaking English, please stop acting like
you don’t.”
Jessa sighed and put her front paws on his knees. “Cuddle me.”
“I am not in the habit of ‘cuddling’ people.”
“I’m not ‘people’,” replied Jessa. “I’m a dog.”
“You are not a dog. You are a teenage girl. Remove yourself.”
“No,” said Jessa simply.
“Do as you are told,” Snape said dangerously.
“Don’t wanna,” retorted Jessa.
“Do you realise you sound like a three year old?”
“So?”
“Do you know how I would punish a naughty
three year old?”
The dog pulled back just a little. “Like before,” she squirmed.
Snape smirked, “Actually,” he said, “I was going to threaten the corner –but a
spanking is an excellent suggestion Miss Black.”
“But I’m a dog.”
“That doesn’t matter. Climb onto my lap,” said
Snape.
Dumbledore chose that moment to enter. “Did I hear you right, Severus?” he
twinkled, “I thought I heard you tell Jessamine to climb onto your lap.” He
stuck a finger in his ear and twirled it around with a daft expression.
“I was offering Miss Black a spanking, Headmaster.”
Dumbledore laughed outright. “And what’s your motive?”
“She licked me.” The childishness of the man’s answer made even Jessa grin. She
pulled herself onto his lap again and nuzzled his throat affectionately,
ignoring Snape’s hand as he tried to bat her away.
“You are definitely getting an early bedtime,” he growled quietly to her.
She licked his ear.
Snape scowled at both the girl and the room in general, half-enraged as he
caught sight of Moody’s twitching lips.
“Be nice,” muttered Jessa.
Snape turned to her and bared his teeth in a sneer. “What makes you think I
have the capacity for that?”
Jessa sighed. “Just be nice. Please. For me.”
“And what bargaining tool are you?” he drawled back.
Jessa wriggled into the warmth under Snape’s arm. “I’m just nice too,” she
muttered.
“I’m still going to send you to the corner,” the man grumbled.
The girl jabbed his chest with her nose. “Was that a joke?” she teased. “Did
you forget to be scary?”
Snape took hold of Jessa’s muzzle and pulled it up level to his face. His dark
eyes sparked, promising danger. “Do you want me to be scary?”
Jessa shook her head seriously. She did not break her gaze from the cold
obsidian orbs.
Alastor chose that moment to stop pretending to ignore the pair’s conversation.
“Stop scaring my girl, you.”
“I’m not scared,” Jessa lied, before Snape could retort.
He scowled. “You should be.”
Jessa rubbed against him lazily. “No,” she said.
Dumbledore became very interested in the décor as Snape stared at her. At his
questioning glare, Jessa expanded. “You might be a death eater,” the two
eavesdroppers twitched, whilst Snape’s foul expression grew considerably
darker, “but you’re tame enough.”
“‘Tame’,” repeated Snape.
Jessa stood and stretched. “Oh, don’t fall out with me,” she whined. “Tame in a
nice way.”
“Have we not established I am not ‘nice’?”
Jessa lay down along his legs. “You’re nice to me,” she said gently.
“Look where that gets me,” Snape groused. “…I am not nice to you.”
“You look after me,” Jessa countered. “Just like Mad Eye.”
‘Nothing like Mad Eye,’ both Moody and Snape personally hoped. Snape denied the
accusation.
Jessa sighed. “Take me for a walk later?”
“I think that will be unlikely,” came Snape’s
almost exasperated sigh.
“Of course he will, my dear,” said Dumbledore.
‘Thanks a lot old man,’ thought Snape.
The day progressed uneventfully until Snape lost his temper with both teens and
declared it bedtime. Somehow Jessa found herself sharing with Harry again.
Moody had lost the private arguments he had had with the old headmaster on the
matter.
***** Nightmares, Bonding, and Snape's Arse *****

Author's notes: Wherein Jessa returns a favour, Moody and Snape learn
eavesdropping teaches you things you don't need to know, and Jessa gets what
she wants because Mad Eye is worried she's thinking about sex.
===============================================================================
The only thing here entirely mine is a certain randy teenage girl and a bit of
lusting. Credits mainly to JK R and co.
It was Harry’s nightmares who caused the first disturbance. Jessa woke and saw
him thrashing about clutching his skull and screaming. She crossed the distance
between them and shook him awake. His trunk was sitting open and as soon as he
stopped screaming she brought him the tray. Squinting at her and wincing, he
took two pain potions in quick succession before staring blearily at her.
“You okay?” asked Jessa.
Holding his head, he blinked and mumbled an affirmative. When he did not say
anything else Jessa lifted his quilt from the floor and threw it over him,
before returning to her own bed.
“Thanks,” said Harry hoarsely.
“’Night,” replied Jessa.
Both teens attempted to recapture sleep, only for Harry to awaken screaming a
further three times. Jessa had found herself in the rather odd position of
holding him whilst crooning soothing nonsense for the last two nightmares. When
Harry calmed, Jessa returned to her bed and sat gazing idly at the facing wall.
Although she doubted she would sleep any more tonight she was thankful it was
not her own nightmares which had woken them both tonight.
Harry sat up at the head of his bed and leaned against the wall. His expression
as he glanced nervously, and a little desperately, at Jessa, suggested he
wanted to talk.
“Say it,” Jessa muttered.
Harry stared at her in surprise. “What?”
“If you want to talk, talk.”
Harry was quiet for a moment. “I don’t know what to talk about,” he admitted,
“I just-”
“Want to focus on someone’s voice,” supplied Jessa. “Yeah, I get that.”
Harry blushed. “You don’t mind?”
“We’ve got all night,” the girl shrugged.
Harry looked around the room for inspiration and his eyes fell upon Jessa’s
DCs. “You spout all that pureblood rubbish but you’re wearing muggle trainers?”
“I have muggle friends,” Jessa admitted stiffly.
Harry sat up a little. “What?”
Jessa scowled a little. “I’ve been hiding from the wizarding world practically
my whole life, obviously you realised I didn’t have many pureblooded
playmates.”
“That was allowed?” Harry asked. From Sirius’s opinion of his mother’s views,
it seemed unlikely.
“Of course not,” the girl sneered. “But Mumma’s hardly aware of anything that’s
out of view of the hallway.”
“But you hate muggles,” Harry continued.
“I don’t especially like wizards either,” Jessa pointed out.
Harry was thoughtful for a moment. “When you were bitchy in potions, was it
just because you wanted in Malfoy’s pants?”
Jessa managed to look offended, angry and nauseous. “I will never want in
Draco’s ‘pants’,” she said, sounding ill.
Harry glanced at her in surprise. “You’re not-”
“No,” Jessa answered short.
“I thought-”
“No.”
Harry sat back with a puzzled expression. “Why
not?”
It was Jessa’s turn to be shocked. “What?”
“I thought all the girls wanted to date the Slytherin Prince.”
“I’m not into inbreeding thanks,” Jessa sneered.
Harry laughed. “All that shit about me being a half-blood and you’re not into
inbreeding!”
“Potter, I call you a half-blood because it pisses you off more than yelling
‘Oi, specky!’”
“Hermione never did anything to you,” Harry protested. He assumed Jessa wanted
to piss him off over the ‘death of her big brother’ thing.
“She’s an arrogant, overly opinionated cow who hates anyone who won’t bow down
in awe of her IQ. And besides, she’s friends with you.”
Harry was frustrated with himself to find the comment stung. “What’s wrong with
me?”
Jessa stared at him quizzically. “Asides from my hating you?”
The boy flinched. “But you gave me potions and stuff tonight.”
Jessa’s gaze was level. “You looked after me last night.”
“What about my clothes?”
“You’re a walking crime against fashion. Besides,
you’re a Potter, you shouldn’t be wearing muggle cast offs.”
Harry flushed. “I… what did I do to make you hate me?”
Jessa curled her lip. “Well for a start, if Siri hadn’t went off to the
ministry for you when they found me I would be his responsibility, not fucking
Dumbles’. On top of that you’re Dumbles’ ‘golden boy.’ You disrespect my Snape
all the time. You-”
“’Your Snape’?” Harry said quietly. He flushed. “You’re not-”
“Mine and Draco’s,” Jessa amended. “And unfortunately enough, I’m not currently
bedding this professor either.”
“Too bad,” said Harry. Although Jessa was sure he meant it as a sneer, he was
sure she heard something else in his voice.
“You fancy him,” she whispered in restrained glee.
Instead of contradicting her, Harry continued to redden.
“Oh hell, you do!” Jessa cackled.
“So what?” demanded Harry gruffly.
Jessa’s smile faded a little. “I thought it was cute,”
she said.
“Sorry,” the boy muttered.
“What’s wrong?” Jessa asked quietly.
Harry gave her a dark look. “Asides me fancying a bloke?”
“What wrong with that?”
Harry looked genuinely surprised. “You don’t mind?”
“Why should I?”
The teen looked depressed. “Ron would hate me if I told him.”
“And the Mu-Granger?”
“I think Hermione knows,” Harry said quietly, “but I’ve not told her.”
“It’s no big deal, Scarhead,” Jessa said gently. Harry looked at her and she
gave a conspiratorial grin. “You think I’ve never had a girl before?”
The boy’s jaw almost clanged to the floor. He looked at her suspiciously. “You
and Pansy…”
Jessa merely issued a bark of laughter. When she met his eyes she grew more
serious. “Seriously though, it’s not like it’s hard to fancy Snape, is it?”
Harry just groaned laughingly, sliding down onto his back. “It’s the voice,” he
admitted ruefully, “it’s just so deep and commanding and …really sexy.”
Jessa grinned. “I love his eyes,” she admitted.
“They’re so dark, aren’t they?” Harry said softly.
“And so deep,” concurred Jessa. She grinned. “He gives me these long looks when
I make him mad; they make me so unbelievably horny!”
Harry laughed with understanding. “Sometimes when he yells at me I go fucking
hard even though I’m pissed off at him. I get worried he’ll tell if he looks in
my eyes.”
“I think he’s scarier when he doesn’t yell,” Jessa pondered, “when he’s so mad
he just stares at you and his eyes just hiss… promise!”
“When he’s all up in my face,” Harry said, “and yelling at me I wonder about
him loosing his temper and jumping on me and what he’d do to me…”
“Grab you by the tie and yell at you in that deep voice… He’d bend you over the
table and tell you what a stupid, headstrong boy you were, and that he’d had
enough of it. He would show you who was in charge and fuck you hard to teach
you it…”
Harry let out a groan, imagining this image, before grinning at Jessa. “That
was fucking hot,” he laughed.
“You’d like your greasy git on top?” Jessa teased.
“There has to be a more effective way of punishing me when he hears me say
that,” Harry mused, “if he promised to make me a sorry little Harry instead of
giving me a stupid detention…”
“Then you wouldn’t say anything else.”
“Hey Jessa?” Harry looked embarrassed again.
“Yeah?”
“When Mad-Eye Moody threatened to spank you… has he? Ever?”
Jessa bowed her head a little. “…Yes.”
“What’s it like?”
“It hurts. A lot.”
“Then I wouldn’t like it if Snape spanked me?”
Jessa flushed, dwelling on her own experience. “Being spanked by your guardian
can be a bit different from being spanked by your lover.”
“Why?”
“Well, most people don’t like getting hurt too much,” Jessa said. “It’s more
normal to use the fingertips rather than the palm if you didn’t want it to
really leave an impression.”
“Fingertips?”
Jessa demonstrated with her hand. Harry grinned in embarrassment.
“I thought you meant…” He gestured with his own hands.
Jessa’s eyes took on a slightly distant expression.
“You’ve not?” Harry sounded both shocked and delighted.
“It’s nice,” the girl squirmed.
“What’s it like?”
“I told you… just… nice…”
“No,” Harry sounded bashful, “what’s it feel like?”
“It stings a little. At first,” Jessa admitted. “Then it’s just… nice.” She
looked to him. “You’ve never?”
“I’ve never been with a guy,” Harry admitted.
“Because you’re not out or...?”
“I just don’t know anybody else like me.”
Jessa giggled delightedly. “There’s one in your dorm!”
“What? Who?”
Jessa cackled. “Finnegan is only the sluttiest little gryffindork your house
has!”
“How do you know?”
“He’s friends with Theo and Blaise,” the girl said simply.
“What? They’re Slytherins!”
“They share similar pastimes,” Jessa continued to giggle.
“But they’re Slytherins,” wailed a horrified Harry.
“And you don’t like a single Slytherin? Well of course excepting their head of
house.”
“Malfoy,” Harry blurted.
Jessa’s eyes widened. “You like Draco?”
Harry flushed. “That just came out!”
Jessa laughed. “You can have my br-best friend if I can have Snapey.”
A happy look came over Harry’s face. “I’d settle for both,” he said.
“I’ll just stick with the one thanks,” shuddered Jessa. “Snape’s got a
beautiful arse.”
“I’ve never really seen him out of his robes,” said Harry regretfully, “Malfoy,
on the other hand, has my seal of approval on his pretty, pretty arse.”
Jessa made retching noises.
Harry snickered before a mischievous glint appeared in his green eyes. “You
said you weren’t bedding Moody…”
Jessa looked at him. “Yes?”
“Would you?”
“Yes…” squirmed Jessa. “Except of course he’ll never take advantage of me
unfortunately… Snapey neither,” she sounded quite glum.
“How can you handle being in bed with a guy, both of you wearing his shirt and
boxers, all night, every night, when you fancy him?”
“I’m usually too distracted by the nightmares to be honest.”
“Who would you rather: Mad Eye or Snape?”
Jessa shrugged. “I love them both,” she said.
“Love them?”
“They’re not just crushes, Scarhead,” Jessa said softly, “I need them and they
look after me and I can trust them not to let me down. That means a deal to
me.”
“So which one would you shag?” Harry pressed teasingly.
The girl considered. “Snape,” she said at last. “Mad Eye could probably step
into the role of ‘dad’ but Snape’s not my guardian so he wouldn’t have that to
give him guilt.”
Both teens were growing drowsy as day grew closer. Before they crashed for the
final few hours before breakfast, Jessa mumbled, “Mad Eye has a crackin’ ass
though, even if he is practically my dad…”
Outside the teens’ door, both eavesdropping men looked ready to go into shock.
The combination of discovering neither teen was entirely straight, and their
surprising revelations of just who they were infatuated with, left both men
feeling slightly weak. Potter’s sexuality was less of an issue to Snape than
Moody, but the crush the boy had on the potions professor was certainly most
problematic for Snape. Whilst this would have amused Alastor in other
circumstances, the infatuations of the other teen in question made it difficult
to laugh. Like Jessa, Moody was too distracted by her nightmares to notice
anything arousing about his bed partner or her attire. However, he had noticed
how she walked about his rooms in just his shirt. Whilst at the time he had
told her to cover up Alastor wondered if the overprotectiveness he felt towards
Jessa was not paternal at all, but the possessiveness of a lover, or perhaps
his way of fighting off the opportunity for impure thoughts…or actions. He
pushed the thought to the back of his mind. The girl had said she trusted him
not to let her down and taking advantage of a teenage crush would most
certainly be that.
When Moody had organised his feelings for Jessa he remembered the girl admitted
to liking the potions master as well. While Alastor could not deny his earlier
suspicions he did know Severus would not really take advantage of a youth.
Privately Snape was wondering just when the girl had been dropped on her head
to think he was trustworthy or nice, never mind the opinion she had of his eyes
or arse. Also, whilst the ‘tame’ comment had annoyed him (and very marginally
soothed him at the same time though he was loathe to think it) Snape found
himself disturbed by the scenario the girl had described to Potter, not least
because it sounded very much like how he would behave with a less forceful
lover.
Now, of, course, was most definitely not the time to think of lovers,
particularly in such company.
“I’m sure it would be best for it to be you who calls them for breakfast,”
Snape said, standing as if to go. The professor had not even fully straightened
his robes when Alastor rose to his feet and strode quickly towards the stairs.
As Moody insisted Snape would be the one performing said task it occurred to
neither of them that Kreecher could have done it.
Somehow Snape lost the argument. He scowled as Moody limped downstairs
purposefully and resisted the urge to hex the older man. Pinching the bridge of
his nose, Snape stood for a moment before storming to his room. He was most
certainly not going to wait at the teens’ door until it was time to wake them.
Snape did not want to think about the boy’s crush on him. Not because Potter’s
orientation bothered him, but simply the utter bizarreness of it all.
When Snape could not ignore was Jessa’s confession. Her insistence about lying
along his lap the day before had not seemed like flirting. Jessa sounded merely
friendly, although her eyes had curiously held a veiled concern that the spy
had noted. He had not misread her; had he?
Too soon for the man’s liking it was time to waken the bewildering pair. Snape
got up from his bed reluctantly (he had had no opportunity to use it the past
two nights) and crossed the hall into the teenagers’ room.
Potter was sprawled along his bed with only his feet tangled in his covers. His
burgundy teeshirt had ridden up to reveal a slice of his pale back and even
more intriguing were the tight cotton boxers, a pale gold of course, hugging
his enticing globes. The boy shifted in his sleep and the permanently messy
hair abruptly made the boy look so very well shagged. The reflected glow from
the teeshirt gave Harry’s cheeks a faint glow and his parted lips looked only
sinful.
Snape adverted his gaze yet in doing so caught sight of the girl he had least
wanted to see. She was cuddling her scrunched up quilt and had one leg astride
it in a way that dragged the man’s attention to her rear. To his surprise she
wore a silver g-string made of a shiny, stretchy material. The t-shaped piece
of metal at the back was a delicate design of shining serpents with winking
emerald eyes. Snape chivalrously tore his reluctant eyes from the view. His
gaze travelled upwards to the matching shiny emerald bra and her strangely sexy
shoulder blades.
Oddly, it occurred to Snape that Jessa had been wearing purple yesterday, not
green.
“Time to get up,” he announced loudly, before he thought anything else.
Harry woke first again and scowled at the man, every trace of last night’s
admission gone. Jessa remained asleep. The boy got up from his bed and shuffled
drowsily to the bathroom.
“Miss Black,” Snape said sharply. When the girl did not wake Snape reluctantly
moved closer and spoke again. She emitted a string of incoherent baby nonsense
yet remained asleep. “Miss Black!”
Jessa opened her eyes blearily and focused briefly on the professor before
returning to sleep. Snape quite accidentally found himself grasping her
shoulder and shaking her awake.
Jessa focused on him once more, looking at him with more clarity.
“Morning, sir,” she greeted sleepily. As she sat up Snape’s eyes were drawn to
the silver snakes on the front of her bra straps. They were charmed to move and
occasionally tilted their heads to flick their tongues at him.
Snape ignored them and left the room. The girl did not seem to notice his
attention.
*
After an uneventful morning Alastor found Jessa settled on an armchair looking
glum. She was hugging her knees but looked up when he entered.
“Something wrong whelp?”
The girl sighed. “Doesn’t matter Mad Eye.”
The man came in and sat down on the seat beside her. “Obviously it does if
you’ve lost your smile, girl. What is it?”
“Forget it,” she said calmly, “I won’t be allowed.”
“Allowed what?”
Jessa sighed again, and Moody became alarmed when it occurred to him she might
be reliving the conversation she had had with Harry last night.
“I used to go out with my friends when I lived here,” Jessa said. “I miss
them.”
Jessa was confused by the relief that flooded Alastor’s features. “You want to
see your friends?” he said.
“Yes,” the girl said gently. “I want to go out.”
“I’ll fire-call Dumbledore,” said Moody.
***** Picking Up Professors In Mudblood Clubs *****

Author's notes: Jessa and her muggle-born friend go to a club and Jessa cops
off with someone we know =]
===============================================================================
Not mine, just getting him laid. Cheers JKR.
To Jessa’s surprise, later that day she found herself walking alone down the
street to the Butterfly House. The house was a landmark in the area due to the
ornamental butterflies on its face and was home to a muggle friend.
Kay greeted the pureblood warmly and very shortly they apparated to a much-
frequented club. Being friends with the bouncer, the girls were not in the
queue long. However, Jessa had to wait whilst Kay and their friend flirted and
arranged a place to meet within the club when he finished his shift.
The pair went first to the bar, Kay using her legitimate ID and Jessa abusing
her metamorphmagus abilities to obtain highly potent and brightly coloured
drinks.
The club was owned by half-bloods and was filled with muggle-borns, more half-
bloods and their muggle friends, even occasionally siblings of muggle-borns.
Squibs also were known to frequent the place as it was a pleasant mix of the
muggle and magical worlds.
Because of this, after lining their stomachs with muggle cocktails the two
teens were able to move onto the colour-changing wizarding alcohol that
bubbled, sparkled and sang silly songs.
Before long the bar was crowded with friends Jessa had not seen in a long time.
When suitably drunk, Jessa allowed Kay and their friends to drag her onto the
dance floor. The club quietened as Kay led the way and as a result the music
seemed to deepen. There was something mesmerising about the way Kay danced that
made people look at her and made their heart beats slow. Time became a bit
redundant when Kay danced. Everything seemed rather underwater and vague. The
diluted veela blood in her veins had a lot to answer for. It must have been
hours later when the bouncer appeared beside Kay and joined in her dance.
It was then that Jessa noticed a surprisingly familiar face crossing to the
back of the club to one of the staircases that led to the next floor. The
ground floor tended to be pack with teenagers and students in their twenties
whilst the next floor was for darker, sleazier and usually a little older
clientele, although the Lolitas congregated there also. The happenings on the
uppermost floors were too depraved to mention. But the male on the staircase...
What the hell was he doing here?
Jessa glanced at Kay. She was pretty occupied. Jessa told one of the other
girls to tell her she was going to meet someone and made her way to the
bathroom. It was blessedly empty. Jessa hated when bouncers sat on a little
chair in the toilets, not just because it was weird and a violation of privacy,
but because it was difficult to get away with changing her appearance. In the
secrecy of a cubicle Jessa aged herself up a little bit more, changed her eye
colour and lengthened her nose. Wandering over to the mirror she thoughtfully
altered her cheekbones and played with the dimensions of her lips. As a final
touch of inspiration she added a tiny tattoo of a bird near her throat. When
she was satisfied she made her way back into the main part of the floor.
Jessa ordered a Larkhall Lady at the bar. It was a fluorescent pink drink which
was streaked with other bright colours which glowed brightly and faded. Every
now and then, the liquid would become red and darken like blood, until abruptly
it was black streaked with toxic green flickers like liquid lightening.
The moment Jessa ordered the drink people knew who she was; Jessa being the
only person able to order a ‘double ell’. The drink was not technically a
drink; it was derived from a potion which showed the colours of a person’s
soul. Until the bartender handed Jessa the ‘drink’ it was clear, the pink
igniting the instant her fingers curled around the thin glass. If anyone other
than Jessa ordered a Larkhall Lady it would remain clear until their breath hit
it; when the potion reacted with another person’s breath it would show only
faintly their own unique colours and could do no more as it was Jessa’s blood
coded into the potion.
The potion itself did not always taste the same. Sometimes it was even
tasteless yet with strong scents which often altered Jessa’s head. Most
commonly a Larkhall Lady smelt of cut grass, wet paint, nail varnish, old
paper, new paper, vanilla, vodka, ink, jasmine or rain. At this moment the
liquid in Jessa’s hand smelt most strongly of Severus Snape.
A fierce-looking girl with gleaming black make-up slicked in shards across her
eyes and the bridge of her nose tugged on Jessa’s pale wrist and brought her to
the dance floor. Jessa stepped into the dance her nameless friend had begun and
twisted elaborately around the eight or so females she knew around her. Whilst
to every observer she only appeared to be dancing she was in reality searching
for the dark-eyed man.
Finally. There he was, across the floor. She grinded ferociously against Lynn,
a girl in her late teens with her blue-black hair held in braids either side of
her skull. Lynn’s sister, who was around five years older, joined the dance.
For a moment Jessa was distracted by the bright embroidery on the older girl’s
tight silk dress then Jessa rested her chin on a silk-covered shoulder and met
Snape’s gaze.
Of course he was staring. The girls Jessa was dancing with were the girlfriends
of a dangerous local gang, and were that themselves in their own right. They
were also provocative and seductive dancers that seemed to have twirled out of
a hallucination. If they so chose, they could have anyone on the floor.
Snape broke away his gaze but not before he had registered Jessa’s wide, bright
smile.
Jessa twisted around and circled the ring of females. Every now and then
throughout the dance she caught the man’s eyes and each time she smiled. His
expression was characteristically unreadable.
After a while Jessa moved to the bar. Snape stood there sipping a firewhiskey
and watched her draw near. Jessa was unaware that the man, who circled the
floor almost as much as she did, was not only at the bar but had watched her
approach. Her eyes lit up when she saw him, especially when she realised he was
looking at her.
She grinned, one eyebrow raised. “How many times do I need to smile at you to
have you smile back?”
He smirked coolly at her. “You assume I should?”
“Seven.”
“You counted? How droll.”
Jessa merely smiled at him and moved closer. Snape took in the eight inch heels
of her platforms with the black gladiator style uppers and the straps all up
her white legs. He took in the figure-hugging, short black jumpsuit with the
angular cut-out strips. At her throat was a thin, vivid choker –a hoop of a
smooth green stone that was used in potions. Malachite. Gazing upwards, Snape
noted her ears were studded with small, smooth, fat, little hearts which were
silver in one half and the banded green stone in the other. The design drew
similarity with the yin-yang symbol. Peace, love and Slytherin all in one
little design. How dreadful.
The woman was only taller than Snape by a small amount, and that was due to her
heels. She met his eyes evenly, which would, if she had known him, have
impressed him. What impressed Snape was the challenge, and the quiet promise,
in her eyes.
Jessa placed her drink on the bar and Snape watched the dark red in her hand
instantly turn black when her skin left the glass. Bright green explosions
slashed through the drink, and then it all grew mostly transparent.
Snape moved his gaze from her drink and returned it to the woman.
“So,” smirked Jessa, “how many smiles will it take for you to dance with me?”
Snape thought about this. He danced perfectly adequately at the formal balls
thrown by the Malfoys but he got the feeling those skills would be unable to
help him with the dance this woman would lead.
“Why would you presume I would care to?”
“Because I want you.”
Snape sneered. “And that matters?”
Jessa took his glass from him and led him by the wrist. “Yes,” she said, “it
does.”
Well, the dancing was certainly an education. It occurred to Snape the woman
had been dancing with a gang of girls whose reputation was more hellion than
homemaker. Girls who were all very much the property of another reputedly
dangerous gang.
“I’m not part of the gang,” the woman’s thoughts broke into Snape’s thoughts,
“and I’m not attached either.”
How had she known what he was thinking? More importantly, Snape felt her
smiling against his jaw line as she languidly kissed her way down. “Relax,” she
said.
Snape scowled at her and met her gaze. “Do not presume to tell me what to do.”
Jessa’s face lit in a feral grin and she met his eyes in a predatory fashion.
“Did you,” her voice was slow as she watched his pupils contract, “just give me
an order?”
Her lips crashed down on Snape’s and she forced his lips open as she plunged
her tongue within. She thwarted each attempt the man made to dominate the kiss.
When she ended the kiss she pulled back and watched the edges of the plundered
mouth before her remain upturned. Snape’s lips were bright and swollen, and the
sight compelled Jessa to throw him up against one of the pillars that encircled
the dance floor and recommence the activity.
When Jessa finally chose to surface for air Snape remained against the cool
stone and watched the woman almost casually, his eyes dark with lust.
Jessa lazily slid her hand beneath his shirt and watched his reaction as she
moved her fingers across his hot skin, sticky from the exertion of their
dancing, and discreetly toyed with his nipples. To her frustration he still
appeared remotely tense, despite the pleased smirk spreading swiftly across his
slightly flushed face.
She moved to nip his already swollen lower lip to demand entrance. Snape’s lips
parted at once as he accepted her possessive kiss which she eventually broke to
look masterfully into the man’s dark eyes.
“You do not tell me what to do, boy,” she growled.
Snape normally did not like taking orders. There were two separate men in his
life who let him know regularly that they owned the commodity that was his
life, and he did not care to take a third master. Or mistress.
However, the woman staring into him was not removing her hand from where it
comfortably rested beneath his shirt. She was so close she seemed to be
breathing in his soul and doing him the particular favour of returning some of
himself each time she deigned to exhale.
“No?” he said quietly, his tone low yet not meek.
The woman nuzzled his throat. “No,” she agreed in a growl. Snape felt her
gently bite him.
She’d just marked him. Snape fought down the horror of another mark and
remained where he was. Her touch was gentle and rather pleasant after all.
“Do you want me?”
“Not particularly,” Snape lied.
Jessa shrugged. “I can live with that.”
Snape very almost did not stifle the whimper he very almost made when the woman
moved away from him. Jessa noticed his discomfort and much to Snape’s
frustration she chuckled. “You didn’t think I was going to let someone as
pretty as you out of my clutches; did you?”
She moved closer and cupped him in her hand, her lips curving into a smile
against Snape’s shoulder as he pushed against her.
“Do you think you should change your answer?” Jessa teased.
Snape met the woman’s eyes then smirked.
She met his eyes evenly (wow, he loved that) and said, “I’ve got a room at the
Leaky. Are you coming?”
“Yes,” Snape drawled.
Jessa smiled the smile Snape was growing to really like. “Good,” she said.
Without saying anything else, she made her way down to the floos near the
cloakroom. Snape quickly followed and became enveloped in the flame.
***** Sevvie Doesn't Know *****

Author's notes: Everyone's favourite potions professor unknowingly lets himself
get taken back to a room at the leaky by Jessa and isn't allowed to nox the
lights.
===============================================================================
Not mine. Just getting him off. (I wish). JKR owns.
Jessa did not wait for Snape to catch up to her but went to the desk. Snape was
alert for traps as he stalked up behind her. In the moments before Snape
reached her, Jessa made eye contact with the person behind the desk. The pupil
of her left eye spiked into a five point star for ten seconds then returned to
ordinary.
In recognition, Jessa was handed a key. “Your room, miss.”
“Thank you.”
Jessa grabbed Snape’s hand and yanked him upstairs.
As she threw him into her habitual room she grinned. Snape met her eyes and to
her surprise he grinned back. Fuck, that was hot. She unhurriedly made her way
purposefully towards him.
To his astonishment, the woman took his wrist and meticulously began to undo
every one of the twenty four tiny buttons on the forearm of his shirt. When she
had done so, she reached for his other arm and did the same for the other
sleeve. As she began to undo the tiny buttons that fastened down from his
throat she commented, “The sort of man who wears a shirt like this is either
very anal, neurotic and self-absorbed, or he’s keeping something valuable under
wraps.” She let the black shirt drop to the floor. “The latter, then.”
Jessa’s eyes greedily drank in the sight of his scarred-yet-chiselled torso
before she knelt and removed Snape’s boots and socks. His dark eyes met her’s
as she reached for his belt. He allowed her to remove it before he intoned,
“You seem to be placing me at rather the disadvantage.” Without allowing Jessa
pause to reply, he gripped the front of the woman’s playsuit, snapped open the
fastenings, and as she tumbled onto his lap he thrust his hand inside.
He smirked as the woman’s breath became ragged and watched her squirming on top
of his fingers. She wasn’t the only one who could make the other dance.
Jessa finally won the presence of mind to focus. She straddled Snape and
pressed her fists against his shoulders. The weight of her knocked him to the
bed and she grinned.
“Who gave you permission to do that?” she growled.
The man snorted. “You could not possibly be complaining.” He pulled back his
hands and licked his fingers casually. Jessa swallowed.
“You’re still wearing your trousers. Of course I’m complaining,” Jessa
muttered.
Snape heard her. “You’re still wearing everything,” he groused back.
“Whose fault is that?” Jessa said innocently as she bent her head to lick his
right nipple. “You really should remove your trousers, you know. At the very
least…”
Snape bucked his hips beneath her. “It’s hardly easy to do that with you lying
on top of me,” he protested.
Jessa rolled her eyes and reached down to undo his fly. When she had, she
fitted the arches of her feet on top of the sides of his hips and slid his
trousers to the bottom of his thighs. He kissed the top of one of her knees and
kicked off the offending garment. As Jessa began kissing, nipping and licking
out a map of Snape’s flesh, the man arched beneath her. The action led his hand
to brush the touch lamp on the bedside table. It threw the man’s scars into
relief and he abruptly stiffened.
Jessa found that her companion had stopped paying attention to the path of her
tongue and was instead reaching for the lamp. She snatched his wrist away.
“Leave it,” she said. “I like it on.”
Snape attempted to break her grip and was frustrated to find that he couldn’t.
“Let me go,” he snarled.
Jessa was vaguely aware of his body heat on her skin as she regarded him. She
said, “Will you switch the light off?”
“Yes,” the man snapped. Irritating bitch.
“Then sorry, no,” Jessa replied as she gently tugged her arm towards her.
“Switch. The goddamned. Light. Off,” Snape gritted out.
The woman cuffed him lightly. “Watch your mouth,” she scolded. “What’s your
problem? You seemed up for this a minute ago.”
“I want the light off,” Snape hissed.
Jessa brought her lips back to his chest, variating with small flicks of her
tongue, quick nips and languid licks down his ribcage.
Snape found it harder to concentrate. “I want the light off,” he repeated with
a frown that faltered as her hair brushed his skin deliciously.
Jessa sighed, and the woman’s breath tickled against his skin. “Why,” she
teased lightly, “are you ashamed of me?”
“Don’t be stupid,” Snape growled.
The woman laughed dryly and bent down to kiss his nose. Her hair fell softly
against his face before she pulled back. “What position are you in to call me
stupid?”
He narrowed his eyes at her. “Beneath you, you mean?”
Jessa laughed softly. “Hey, I’m not complaining, beautiful.”
Snape narrowed his eyes again impatiently and reached for his wand. “Nox.”
Jessa scowled. “Lumos,” she said. The room became brighter than before.
With one hand around his wrist and the other drawing lazy knots on his skin,
Snape was aware the woman had not used her wand. Damn. “Nox,” he said
stubbornly.
Jessa growled and swatted him crossly. “What’s your problem? Lumos,” she said,
more softly than before.
A more gentle light filled the room. “I do not want the light on.”
“Why?”
Snape gave the woman a poisonous look. “...My scars.”
Jessa sat up and fixed the man with a look. “The scars that are probably wet
with my saliva by now? Those scars?”
The man scowled at her expression of affectionate exasperation. He deigned not
to answer.
Jessa sighed and without warning flipped him over onto his stomach. To silence
Snape’s protests she warned him with a light swat. Surprisingly, the man
immediately quietened.
“Good boy,” Jessa found herself murmuring.
The scars truly were horrendous. Jessa traced her fingers along them angrily
before bowing her head to cover them with her mouth. Her kisses alternated
between almost lovingly soft and possessively hard. Snape found himself
writhing beneath the woman’s lips wishing very much that she would move her
mouth around to encircle a very specific part of him. He rolled over, but the
woman merely flipped him back into place. Twisted woman. She allowed her tongue
to roam the curve where his arm became his rib and along his limb, swirling her
tongue upon the crease of his elbow; down his forearm and between his fingers,
sucking on his index in a way that really was driving him crazy; taking his
entire fist into her mouth and squeezing her tongue beneath his fingers in a
way that was also bizarrely enjoyable.
“Please,” he groaned.
Jessa removed her mouth from around his hand and lapped away the excess
wetness. “Please?” she questioned, moving down his body to lick the –scarred-
undercurve of his sculpted ass in a way that made him wriggle and even forced
him to whimper with need. She traced her swollen lips lightly down his
–scarred- thigh and nuzzled the back of his knee. Jessa made it to the thin
skin covering the inside of his ankle when Snape started to kick. She moved her
head and bit the fleshy inside of his thigh a little harder than usual. “If you
dare move,” she admonished, “I will stop.”
“Don’t stop,” Snape pleaded. Fuck. She hadn’t even looked at his cock yet but
here he was already begging.
“Don’t make me,” was the woman’s retort as she threw him onto his back. Snape
met her hungry eyes and forced himself not to move. She grinned at him, the
caution not quite faded from her eyes, and she bent down to latch herself onto
the salty chords of his neck. When every visible expanse of his flesh tingled
and shone with a mixture of his own thin sweat and the woman’s warm saliva, the
man broke.
Jessa had tasted down Snape’s body and back up again, leaving all of him
shining except the fevered flesh where he wanted her touches most. Currently
she was circling his belly button with her tongue in a way that could have been
brave if Snape had not been such a clean freak.
Snape interrupted the tongue-fucking to angle himself towards her. Watching
what she was doing was making it too difficult to think but he was aware he
very much wanted her mouth that one place that was being so fully ignored.
The woman cracked her hand briefly against Snape’s rear and held it there
cupping him warmly. With Snape contorted vulnerably in the almost-crab position
Jessa caught the emotion that burst in the man’s eyes and betrayed him.
Yes, she did notice just how much he had liked that.
“Didn’t I warn you not to move?” Jessa said in a low voice.
Painfully, the man nodded.
“What did I tell you would happen if you disobeyed me?”
“You’d,” Snape swallowed, finding his throat was dry, “stop.”
“Alright,” said Jessa as she pulled back.
“No!”
Jessa met Snape’s eyes.
“Please,” said Snape, “please, don’t stop.”
Before Snape had quite finished the sentence Jessa bowed her head and took him
in his entirety into her mouth.
“You want me like this?” the woman rumbled against him as she used the tip of
her tongue in a very nice way.
The vibrations coupled with the other sensations sent Snape swiftly over the
edge and he quickly came hard. Jessa swallowed faithfully and pulled herself up
to meet his eyes. He kissed her even harder, enjoying knowing the taste of her
was now him, and when they eventually pulled apart, Snape was hard again.
Jessa charmed her playsuit onto the chair near the bed. Snape tore away her
thin, frilled knickers and without preamble plunged into her. It was about that
point he noticed he had no idea what had happened to his boxers. Then the woman
twined her legs around his waist and he promptly forgot about them entirely.
***** Life Goes On and The Potions Master Gets It Up (Again) *****

Author's notes: Severus asks for Jessa's name and a spanking. You've been
warned: Severus is a kinky boy.
===============================================================================
That lucky JKR. That lucky Jessamine as well actually. Irn Bru anyone?
Snape woke to a kiss and a fully dressed Jessa a few hours later. “Morning,
beautiful,” she said. “’Fraid I’ve got to go to work now but Tom’s making your
breakfast.”
Snape was immediately awake and stretched. Jessa noticed the glamour on the
inside of his left arm remained.
Snape sat up to watch her. She grinned and brushed his black hair from his
face. “Maybe I’ll see you around,” she said.
Snape spoke as the woman walked towards the door. “You never gave me a name,”
he said.
“It’s North,” said Jessa, smiling ruefully as though she could not comprehend
the motives of her parents’, “North Swallow.”
“Sure you’re not South Burns?” Snape smirked.
Jessa put her hand over her heart. “Oh, ouch.”
Unusually, Snape laughed. “Severus Snape,” he said.
Jessa walked back over and kissed his cheek. “Bye Sev.”
“Severus,” he corrected.
She just laughed and walked out the door. She checked in at the Butterfly House
where she changed her appearance and transfigured her clothes. Kay caught her
eyes. An amused smile spread across Kay’s face. “You got him then?”
“Oh, I got him!” Jessa groaned, and the two girls spent the following hour
relating to each other their nights after they split up. After that Jessa made
her way back to Grimmauld Place.
Moody was arguing with Dumbledore. To avoid being noticed Jessa moved swiftly
upstairs, and found Harry sitting darkly in Sirius’ room bouncing a snitch off
the wall. The poor thing kept trying to fly away but the teen kept catching it
and smashing it off the wall again.
“Chill out,” Jessa said.
Harry hadn’t noticed her come in. “You have a good night?” he asked, trying to
sound bright and keep the bitterness from his voice.
Jessa briefly considered the night spent with ‘Sev’ which could not have been
more phenomenal if choreographed by Irn Bru advertisers. “I had a great night,”
Jessa replied. “Now you gonna tell me what’s up?”
“It’s that obvious?”
“Very. What’s wrong?”
Harry shook his head. “Never mind.”
Jessa sat down behind him and took the snitch out of his angry hands. “Did you
get dressed in the dark this morning?” she asked.
Harry scowled at her but allowed her to shrink his clothes. She didn’t stop
there. His horrendously ugly, stretched, cotton vest became a green similar to
his eyes and his jeans became a more seasonable style. His trainers were jaw-
dropping. Jessa considered shoes to be an important statement about a person.
Powerful, important people had to have awesomely eye-catching shoes.
“Thanks,” said Harry.
“No problem Scarhead,” said Jessa, getting up to leave.
“Hey Jessa..?”
The girl turned around.
*
It seemed everyone completely forgot about lunch, but in the late evening the
teens were summoned to dinner. Moody looked deceptively calm and the headmaster
was nowhere to be seen. After the meal Jessa found herself alone in the lounge
with Moody making idle conversation.
“Whelp?”
“Yeah, Mad Eye?”
“What were you upto with Severus last night?”
For a moment Jessa thought he knew, although she kept that thought from her
face. Then she realised he meant the animagus incident. “Distracting him,” she
said.
Alastor paused. “From what?”
“From whatever you were discussing at the meeting,” Jessa said accusingly.
“Oh,” said Moody. He wondered if he should tell the other man this.
Jessa went to bed that night and spent at least half of it talking to Harry. He
wasn’t so bad, for a half-blood.
The following night Jessa spent at the club. She felt her heart racing when she
caught sight of her most recent lay, even though she cautioned herself he might
not acknowledge her again. After all, he’d already fucked her; he had no reason
to continue entertaining her.
Jessa allowed almost an hour to pass before she left the protective gaggle of
friends and crossed the room to the bar. She would sit for the length of a
drink, without nursing it, and would do nothing more provoking than smile in a
welcoming yet distant manner. If Snape approached her, she would certainly
reply, but if he did not, then she would return to the dance floor. She
absolutely, positively, was not allowed to make the first move.
Snape saw North approach the bar and sit down, not beside him, and order that
bizarre drink again. Although he had told himself it was irrelevant, he felt a
minute, minuscule, tiny, little, stab of pain that she was ignoring him. He was
about to turn away when she met his gaze. Her smile was wide and bright and for
a moment Snape was comforted.
Then Snape realised she was not going to walk towards him. He turned away and
spoke to his nearby associates. When he turned back North was turning her face
towards him again. She smiled warmly. ‘Come here,’ he mouthed.
North’s smile widened. “You know I don’t take orders.”
Hesitantly, although he tried to make it look as though he wasn’t, Snape took a
few steps towards her. If she chose to turn him down now it would be in front
of a number of his peers, and needless to say all the servants of the Dark Lord
would hear of it.
Jessa crossed the rest of the space between them. “Hey babe,” she said softly.
Snape squinted at her mockingly. “What happened to your ego?”
North grinned wickedly and twisted her hand in his lapel. “You like this better
Sev?”
North was acting fully involved again. Snape scowled at her, although his heart
was thumping cheerfully. “You know not to call me that.”
“Of course not, Sev,” replied North. “Are you ready to go?”
Snape’s eyes widened in surprise. “Now?”
Jessa shrugged. “If you don’t want to…”
“No,” said Snape, “Don’t be ridiculous: of course I want to.”
The delighted flash of North’s teeth was dizzying. She turned towards the floos
and Snape followed. When the woman bumped her hand against his for the third
time Snape took it.
North kissed Snape before she stepped into the fireplace. “I’m glad you’re
here, beautiful.”
Snape followed her. She paused momentarily at the reception before leading him
up to the same room as before. This time she was wearing a skirt and for once
Snape appreciated stairs –he was walking behind her, after all. North unlocked
the door and unexpectedly wrapped her fingers in Snape’s shirt front again,
dragging him inside.
Snape took the opportunity to slide his hand underneath her skirt and cup her
warm, pert rear. She grinned as he did. “You gonna fuck me, Sev?”
“Severus,” ‘Sev’ corrected sternly, playfully tracing his fingers along her
bottom. “And yes,” he promised, “I am.”
Without the platforms North fit perfectly under Severus’ arm. “Good,” she said.
Severus brought his roaming hand around to the front of her. “I’m not wearing
underwear,” Jessa said unnecessarily.
Severus’ breath caught when he realised the woman was already ever so slightly
wet. “You want me this much?” he asked gruffly.
“I want you more…”
Lie or not, Severus found himself growing achingly aroused at North’s comment.
She pushed her hand between his legs and tilted her head to kiss him. When she
pulled away the air seemed thick and his trousers were uncomfortably tight.
North hadn’t taken back her hand.
“Go stand by the bed,” she ordered, “then strip for me.”
Severus was already moving to comply when he turned back. “Strip?” he said
awkwardly.
Jessa closed the door and met the man’s eyes. “You can unbutton your shirt
first.”
Severus felt his face burning against his will and bowed his head to slowly
fumble with his buttons. His fingers felt thick and he felt stupid. Severus
watched the woman’s face from beneath his sooty lashes as he obeyed, and
sneered to her when he finished, if only to keep his lips from trembling.
North met his eyes and her raised eyebrows compelled Severus to slide off his
shirt. The garment dropped silently to the floor and for the longest time the
woman stared at his chest.
“Unfasten your shoes and take them off slowly,” Jessa said, finally pitying
him. Severus obeyed. “Remove your socks now too.”
Severus did not understand that command –she’s seen his feet last time, after
all, so she must have noticed how long and monkey-like his white toes were.
Jessa did not voice her desire was really just to watch him bend over. When
Severus thought North might say something about his procrastination, he bent
down to comply.
“Now stand,” the woman demanded when Severus had finished, and started to try
to bury his feet into the carpet. “You may take off your belt and bring it to
me.”
Severus’ eyes darted towards hers’ for reassurance. She quirked one eyebrow at
him and that gave him reason enough for his hands to move down to his buckle.
He unfastened the belt and slowly threaded it out the loops as he stepped
towards North.
The woman took the piece of leather from his hands and doubled it over. A
thrill of fear crackled down Severus’ spine. North held the belt flush against
his side and placed her thumb and index finger along Severus’ jaw, which she
then pulled down in order to kiss his mouth.
She moved back. “Now you are going to return to the side of the bed and undo
your trousers.”
Severus crossed the floor and North dropped down the belt. She watched him
fumble with the button of his fly, and then the zipper.
He raised his head and met her gaze. “Drop them,” she said. He did, and she
stepped towards him. She sat down on the bed and raised her ankle to his hand.
Severus braced her foot gently and unbuckled each of her patent heels in turn.
She then mutely raised her arms in a toddler fashion and he pulled off her
shirt.
Severus then reached down for her hips and tugged her towards him. “This is
coming off too,” he said as he reached for her skirt. The garment fell to the
floor and Jessa’s breathing quickened. He had left her in only her bra. She met
his eyes and he reached over to snap open the clasp between her breasts. Her
last piece of modesty fell away.
Severus tweaked the piercing at her naval. “I must confess to feeling
overdressed,” he admitted.
“Let me help you with that,” the woman said, and pushed down his shorts.
Severus met her eyes and waited for her next suggestion. She gazed pointedly at
the bed and he lay down. North stepped over and straddled him. He reached up to
cup her breast.
“You have such gorgeous eyes,” Jessa blurted. Severus’ expression turned wary
but as North reached down to brush away his hair from his face he seemed to
relax.
“Isn’t that my line?” he smirked.
“Not when you’re so pretty,” the woman teased.
Severus scowled. “I’m far from ‘pretty’.”
North carded her fingers through his dark hair. “I wasn’t allowing you an
opinion.”
Severus scowled again. It only made the woman laugh, and she bent down to
bruise his lips.
“Shall I point out you look like a cute little boy when you scowl?” North
teased.
Severus drawled, “Shall I point out looking like a little boy made you kiss
me?”
To Severus’ frustration North just seemed to find this funny. “Aren’t you
cranky when you’re complimented,” she mocked.
Severus opened his mouth to reply just as North began brushing her fingers
along his nipples. “My mark’s fading,” he found himself saying.
North tweaked a nipple and met his eyes curiously. “Your mark?”
Severus twisted his neck to show her the bruise.
“You’re asking me to reapply it?”
Severus nodded. Jessa complied and when she pulled away, her breath no longer
warm on his throat, he brought his fingers up to trace the wetness. He didn’t
say anything. The woman dropped a kiss on his face and reached down to fondle
him.
“I had a glamour over it,” the man said. “Are you angered?”
North’s fingers continued to move upon him. “That depends,” she said, “Do you
think I should be?”
Severus was beginning to rethink his rash impulse. “Possibly,” he said.
“Well do you belong to me?”
“Yes,” Severus said hesitantly.
“But you were concealing my claim on you?”
“Yes,” said Severus, equally as hesitantly.
“And you think I should disapprove?”
“Maybe.”
“And if I did?”
Severus met her eyes. “If you did…”
“Do you think I should punish you?”
Severus squirmed beneath her. She had had no problem swatting him their first
night, right? “Possibly.”
Jessa stopped stroking him and met his eyes seriously. “So theoretically, how
do you think you might deserve to be punished?”
“A spanking, perhaps?”
“A hand spanking?” the woman confirmed.
Severus nodded uncomfortably.
“On your bare ass?”
He gave another uneasy nod.
Jessa’s lips curled slowly. “And should you be put to bed straight after?”
Severus’ head was bowed, but he gave a tentative smile at North’s suggestion.
“Well,” said North, “I think I should perhaps punish you, to ensure to
discourage you from such naughty behaviour in future.”
Severus met her eyes, and North reached out her hand. “Yes,” she declared, “a
bare-bottomed spanking is exactly what you need after being such a naughty boy.
You’re lucky I’m not choosing to slipper you after what you did.”
Jessa shifted to the edge of the bed and pulled Severus towards her. He scooted
over and she helped position him across her lap. She curled her arm around his
torso to hold him in place.
“A good long spanking, is that what you need, Severus Snape?” the woman
queried, stroking his ass comfortably.
“Severus Tobias,” Severus whimpered.
“Do you deserve a long spanking, Severus Tobias?”
“Yes, I do,” whispered Severus Tobias Snape.
Jessa stilled her hand on the man’s cool, pale bottom and he immediately
stiffened. She raised her hand and brought it down moderately lightly. Severus
yelped, more surprised by the noise of a palm striking his rear than anything
else. North began delivering a smack to the fullness of either cheek and upon
the crease. After a few circuits Severus’ spanked bottom had become a pale,
rose pink. At this, North raised one leg and turned her attention to the newly
exposed undercurve of his rump. Here, where she knew Severus would be extra
sensitive, she began to spank him more unsympathetically, although still not
bringing his colouring to a darker shade of pink. Severus began squirming,
despite not being punished very hard. It wasn’t that his sit spot was a
vulnerable area: his member had become trapped when North had shifted him, and
was now being rubbed rather disturbingly each time he was struck.
North began to deliver a scolding in rhythm with the swats. “Your behaviour has
been exceedingly naughty,” she admonished, concentrating very hard on keeping
the smile from her voice. “You know better than to conceal your ownership,
Severus Tobias. I am very disappointed you behaved in such a way. What do you
think of your behaviour, Severus Tobias?”
She was expecting him to answer? When she was raining smacks down on his sit
spot? “Naughty,” he gasped. Fuck, but he was enjoying this.
“What was that Severus?”
“*Ow*, er, my behaviour… I was ex-exceedingly naughty!”
“And do you know what happens to naughty boys, Severus?”
“Yes…” he hissed.
“Tell me what happens to naughty boys Severus.”
“They get sm- punished.”
“And how do they get punished?” Jessa pressed.
“They get smacked!” Severus exclaimed.
“Where do they get smacked?”
“On their bottoms!”
“Where else do naughty boys get smacked?”
Severus considered. “Their arses?”
“Language, Severus!” she scolded, smacking him especially hard.
Severus yelped and bit back the self-deprecating laughter he could feel rising
in his throat. *That* one had hurt. He considered the question again and
hazarded, “Their legs.”
“Why do naughty boys get spanked on their bottoms or their legs?”
“For being naughty.”
Jessa pressed, “But why do they get spanked for being naughty?”
Severus thought about this. “Because it hurts?”
“And where do you hurt, Severus?”
“My arse. *Ow!*”
“Try again Severus.”
“My bottom,” Severus pouted.
“And why is your bottom hurting?”
“I was naughty…”
“I see. And did you keep your trousers up?”
“No.” What?
“How are you being spanked then?” Jessa questioned, casually landing a harsh
smack that made him flinch.
“On my bare bottom!”
“And why is that?”
Severus hung his head for a moment, simultaneously amused and embarrassed.
Really, he was going to say that again? “I was naughty!”
“Remind me what naughty boys deserve.”
“A spanking!”
“Tell me what a spanking is, Severus Tobias.”
Seriously? “A smacking! On my- ow!”
“Pardon, Severus?”
“On my bum! A spanking’s when I get lots of smacks on my bare bum!”
“Very good, Severus,” the woman said abruptly. She delivered a final swat on
his reddened bottom –bumping him hard against her lap, then began to rub
circles soothingly on his tenderness.
Shit. That last smack had just made him come. And on her leg. That would not
have happened if he was circumcised. His wretched foreskin just insisted on
being damnably sensitive didn’t it?
Jessa had been oblivious to Severus’ growing arousal due to the concentration
she was using on not really hurting him. She bent down to kiss his aching
posterior. “Mmm, such ruby red cheeks.” She sat back up but continued to stroke
away the hotness of his bottom until she heard him sniffle. When she did, she
pulled him upright in her lap, his legs straddling her to keep his weight off
his sore behind, and rubbed circles in his back instead.
“Are you alright?” she asked as she hugged him close.
Severus’ face was red and she followed his gaze. Oh. She hadn’t even realised.
She’d just attributed the warm wetness to sweat. And... well... her wetness. He
squirmed and whimpered so deliciously.
“Tsk,” she said.
He met her gaze worriedly.
The woman reached down and dipped her fingers in the warm spillage. She made
contact with Severus’ slightly nervous eyes and brought her hand to her mouth.
She licked the substance off her fingers. North then bent her head and kissed
where the mess had came from, chasing away the last of the white liquid with
her tongue. Severus squirmed. “Naughty boy,” she whispered.
North laughed as he hardened quickly and she lay down on her back. “Didn’t I
promise you an early bedtime after your spanking?”
Severus eyed her. “You don’t mind…”
“Beautiful, if I minded, I wouldn’t be letting you top so you didn’t have to
lie on your glowing, raw arse.”
Severus smirked slowly.
North swatted his chest. “Don’t sit there wasting time smiling at me, Severus
Tobias, you promised me a good long fuck!”
Severus laughed outright and moved towards her. Jessa leant up and kissed him
thoroughly. “I want you,” she promised.
***** Neglect Is Not An Option *****

Author's notes: Wherein Severus has his hair washed and his butt tanned before
a pleasant wakeup call and a less pleasing revelation. Warning: spanking of a
death eater spy.
===============================================================================
Not mine just insisting he has a bath =] JKR owns.
It was three days before Severus saw North again. He gestured for her to come
over as soon as she smiled at him. She grinned wider and complied, and he
snatched her hand as they walked towards the fireplace.
The first thing Jessa did upon entering their room was nip Severus’ bruised
throat to remind him he belonged to her. He smirked and to her delight nuzzled
affectionately against her.
“How’s your ass?” she murmured in concern.
“Pretty,” he said matter-of-factly.
Jessa laughed and slid her hand around to cup him as she pulled him into a
fierce kiss. “All of you is.” She helped him out of his shirt and bent her head
to kiss his nipples and his naval.
It was then than she noticed how pronounced his bones were. “Beautiful?” she
asked, “are you sick?” Or had he always been quite this thin?
“I’m fine,” Severus replied, puzzled.
“Have you been eating?”
Severus felt her fingers stroke his ribs. “I may have skipped a meal.” His
stomach protested audibly.
North pulled away and reached for the phone.
“Who are you calling?”
“Room service,” North replied severely. “If you won’t look after what’s mine
then I certainly will. Why haven't you been eating properly?”
Severus scowled. “I missed one meal. I forgot.” Since when was this chit in a
position to question his eating habits?
“You wouldn’t have lost weight from skipping a meal,” North retorted. “Do you
want to tell me what’s wrong?”
Severus’ scowl deepened and he absently brushed his left arm. Jessa understood
and her face softened. “Beautiful, are you alright?”
Alarm flickered briefly in the man’s eyes. “What do you mean?”
“I mean what I’m asking,” North said gently.
Severus moved his hand away from his hidden mark. “I’m perfectly fine,” he
snapped.
“Oh good,” said North, “then after you’ve eaten you’re getting a spanking for
not looking after what’s mine.”
Severus’ lips twitched. “Oh really?”
“You can stop looking so pleased- you’re getting a serious spanking not a play
one.”
At that moment a house elf appeared with a meal for Severus. North thanked the
creature and placed the tray on the bed. “Come here,” she ordered curtly.
Severus glanced momentarily at the woman through hooded eyes then obeyed.
“Sit,” North said. When Severus settled stiffly beside her she handed him some
food. “Now eat.”
Severus glanced annoyedly at her yet obeyed. North continued to hand him food
until he made the mistake of reaching for it himself. She took hold of his
wrist and moved it away firmly. “You can’t be trusted to feed yourself so I’ll
do it for you,” she scolded. His hair fell over his eyes and she habitably
moved it away. His hair was greasy.
Severus met her stare. He surmised from her gaze that greasy hair fell under
the same neglecting himself category as not eating properly.
Severus looked away and finished eating quickly. North pulled him to his feet
and he met her eyes again apprehensively, expecting the promised smacking.
Instead North marched him towards the en suite.
“What-”
North narrowed her eyes at him and Severus reluctantly quietened.
She started to run the bathwater.
Severus met her resolute gaze. The bathtub was filling almost immediately due
to the wonderful thing that was magic. “Strip off,” North ordered.
“You cannot seriously expect to-”
“Take off your clothes, Severus Tobias Snape, or I shall do it for you, and add
several swats for the pleasure.”
On meeting North’s scowl Severus toed out of his shoes and socks and dropped
his trousers. Was he seriously taking orders from this pretty little woman? He
protested, “North…”
“Severus,” the woman replied sharply.
Severus slid down his boxers and stepped towards the bath. Yes, apparently he
was going to do what she demanded. He was taking orders from his cock, that was
all. Really.
“Wait,” North said, placing a staying hand on his warm hip and dipping her hand
in the water, “How’s the temperature?”
Severus copied her actions. “It’s fine,” he said. At the woman’s nod he
unenthusiastically stepped into the water.
Jessa reached for a washcloth and knelt to dip it in the steaming water. “Close
your eyes,” she murmured, gently bringing it to Severus’ face. Severus flushed
yet leaned into the contact as she bathed him. It was sort of nice. Sort of. He
could tolerate this since he was going to have a magnificent fuck afterwards.
The tenderness and efficiency with which she excavated the shells of his ears,
pink from the water’s heat, left him in awe. Had he ever been treated so gently
before? She moved the cloth along his body, making him wriggle when she
deliberately tickled his chest, then lifted each of his legs up to lather them
and rub them down.
“Stand up,” North said softly. Severus stood and allowed her to wash the
intimate parts of his body. He flushed when his member became interested in the
activity. North continued regardless and kissed the offending organ murmuring
an, “All clean,” when she was done.
“Sit down now beautiful.” North was reaching for a jug and two bottles.
Merlin but he hated having his hair washed. “Not conditioner too,” Severus
pleaded.
“Severus…” North said warningly.
Severus sighed and sat still as she rinsed his hair. She began to lather his
hair gently and even when she rinsed the shampoo away, squeaking his hair to
show him it was clean, North did not allow any of the shampoo (or even the
water) to reach his eyes. She then insisted on repeating the ordeal with the
conditioner, but that experience turned out to be pleasurable also. The liquid
smelt pleasant and the kind way North was treating him, without pulling his
hair or stinging his eyes, soothed Severus. She was taking the time to look
after him. Silly wench.
North drained the bath and wrapped Severus in a thick, fluffy, bath sheet size
towel. She dried him off and then led him back through to the bedroom. Severus’
good mood fell slightly as North pulled away from him and sat down seriously on
the bed. He dropped the towel and grudgingly settled on her lap.
Severus’ skin was still damp and when North slapped his bottom hard it really
hurt! She immediately concentrated on his sit spots to turn them a burning red.
Severus quickly found himself crying out and eventually whimpering; and at some
point found his eyes filling with unshed tears. He wasn’t sure if it was the
punishment itself (on his damp skin) or the reason behind it that was causing
him most distress. North sensed Severus was close to breaking so landed six
swats then peeled Severus off her lap and comforted him. “Will you look after
yourself?” she asked sternly.
Severus swallowed a sob and agreed. His damp hair dripped down his face.
“There’s my good boy,” North murmured. When the man composed himself she
murmured, “Looks like I’m going to have to let you top again beautiful.”
Severus managed to reach her eyes and curled his lip. “Quite.”
North began to kiss him, lying down and pulling him atop her as she did.
Severus wrenched his lips away and feverishly began kissing every part of her.
She was his; right now she was his. She clung onto him tightly, whispering
tender nonsense. After all, I love you; I care for you; I like you a lot, these
weren’t things she could possibly admit, and neither could he. North moved her
legs apart and cupped Severus’ face. She stared into his eyes.
In the afterglow, Severus rested his head on North’s shoulder. A pillow kept
his rear propped off the bed. North smiled at him and brushed his hair from his
features. “Not just a pretty face,” she said.
He sneered and slung his arm over her waist. “Flattery will get you nowhere.”
“Actually, it got me into your boxers,” Jessa said with a grin. “That’s
somewhere to me, Sev.”
“Severus,” Severus growled, not really minding at all.
“My Severus,” North corrected sleepily.
*
When Severus woke in the morning, it was with a mind-bending orgasm. The next
thing he noticed was North’s lips grinning around his dick.
“What are you doing?”
“Having breakfast,” she smirked.
Severus sat up to look at her properly and hissed, his hand immediately moved
to his rear.
“Will you be alright beautiful?”
“Of course,” Severus muttered dryly.
“You better be,” said North. Then she smiled dangerously. “I got Tom to promise
he’d put you across his lap if you don’t eat all your breakfast.”
Horror spread across Severus’ face. “I know Tom!”
North grinned and kissed Severus goodbye. “You’d better be a good boy then,
eh?”
***** Malfoys and Mudbloods *****

Author's notes: After violently hexing Hermione, Jessa's parentage comes to
light and she ends up seven years old after a brief spell as a caterpillar.
===============================================================================
Not mine, just letting KJ rough her up a bit before people protest. JKR owns.
Jessa arrived home before Severus. She took a dark tome up to Siri’s room and
began to read. At some point Harry joined her and they quietly spoke for a
while, pausing comfortably for long enough that Jessa managed to finish several
chapters on how to hurt people.
When Severus returned to Grimmauld Place there was an Order meeting which
required the presence of Harry, several Weaslies, and a few aurors, amongst
others. Naturally Jessa declined to attend. It was when the teenagers had been
excused from the meeting that Jessa ran into Hermione.
“Get the hell out,” Jessa whispered.
Hermione scowled and opened her mouth to reply.
“I said to fucking leave, mudblood!”
Hermione retorted and drew her wand, which only made Jessa angrier.
“This is the Black residence,” Jessa snarled. “Get your filthy blood out of my
home!”
“Harry owns here!”
“Only forty per cent!”
Hermione paused and walked towards Jessa.
“Get OUT!” Jessa swiped her fingers towards Hermione’s throat. More than a
dozen steps away, a slit ripped cleanly through it and a thin line of red
beaded out.
Hermione whimpered, panicked, and touched her fingertips to the burning pain.
Her hands came down bloody.
Severus and Alastor came running up the staircase at that moment, witnessing
what was happening. Both noticed the lack of Jessa’s wand.
Severus grabbed Jessa whilst Alastor helped Hermione stay on her feet. Severus
could feel the darkness crackling in the air and turned weakly to the Granger
girl to spit out the counter curse.
Hermione put her fingers clumsily back to her throat. She was pale, and in
shock, and she clung onto Moody as though she was drowning.
Severus was too sick to look at the girl he was holding; too worried to see
what might be there.
Moody pulled Hermione away.
Severus spun Jessa around. “What the fuck were you doing?”
Jessa stood stiffly. Severus wasn’t sure if she cared at all. He certainly
didn’t know what to do. Then she met his eyes with fury.
“I need to calm down,” she said. “I need to… I need...”
Severus held her as she started to quiver.
Then she threw him from her and bolted to her rooms.
*
When Hermione had mentally recovered, the first thing she did was find the
Black family tree. She tried every spell she could think of until she found
Kindred Jessamine Black.
Her sire was Lucius Malfoy.
*
Just at the moment Severus had persuaded Jessa to leave her rooms, Hermione ran
into the corridor.
“You’re a Malfoy!” she screamed.
Without thought Jessa slit the other girl’s throat. She didn’t lift her hand
this time. She wasn’t doing it for effect.
When Severus healed Granger he called for Kreecher to bring him Moody. Hermione
stared at Jessa. The girl stared casually back.
Alastor was beside them in minutes. Jessa leaned against Severus. “Get me away
from here,” she whispered. She became a caterpillar on the man’s lapels.
Both men exchanged glances in confusion then Severus made a decision and took
Jessa the caterpillar up to his room. He did not want her to be able to lock
herself up in her own rooms and the room that she shared with Harry could bring
her into contact with another teenager, one with only half-blood, and Severus
currently did not believe this was a sensible option.
Severus sat down on the room’s sole chair. “What’s going on, Miss Black?”
“Couldn’t think of anything else that didn’t have claws or teeth,” said Jessa.
That was not what he was asking. “What made you think you shouldn’t have claws
or teeth?”
“I can control my magic… but I can’t always hold down my temper. I didn’t need
to take that chance.”
“Without our interference you could have killed Miss Granger. Twice.”
Jessa snickered bitterly. “I wasn’t trying to kill her. I was making her
believe it.”
Severus glanced down at her angrily. “You made me believe it!”
“Then you obviously don’t know me very well. If I was going to kill her I would
have used the killing curse.”
“If you had no intentions of killing her then you hardly needed to take away
your physical ability to do it, did you?”
“Of course I did! Even when I cursed her I wanted to run up and punch her… if I
let myself hurt her without magic I didn’t know that I could stop.” Jessa was
quiet for a while, and then she transformed back, although only into a seven
year old version of herself. The naked child clung to Severus’ shirt. “Close
your eyes for a minute,” she said.
Severus warded the door closed then –much against his better judgement- he
complied. Jessa pulled out a strand of her hair and transfigured it into a
large teeshirt. She pulled it over her head and said, “You can open your eyes
now.”
Severus looked down at the small weight in his lap. “Why so small?”
Jessa shrugged. “Everything’s bigger. I’m more likely to hesitate.”
“You think that’s a good thing?”
“I’ve got my magic if I need to defend myself but otherwise this makes me a
lesser threat.”
“You do realise I’m going to have to bind your magic after what you just did,
don’t you Miss Black?”
Jessa did not loosen her grip on Severus’ shirt. “You can try,” she said.
Severus met her eyes seriously. “This is not a joke Miss Black. There’s no
option of not binding your magic and nothing you can do to prevent it.”
“I believe different.”
“And what makes you think that?”
“Because they did it before,” Jessa said simply.
“Who did?”
Jessa lifted her face to him, but her eyes were distant. She didn’t answer.
After a pause Severus said, “You know we’re going to have to discuss what Miss
Granger said?”
Jessa blinked back into the present. “It’s none of your right to tell him but
mine.”
“Then he is your father?”
Jessa scowled. “Which doesn’t mean anything. All he did was knock my mother
up.”
“Which makes him your father.”
“You know him,” Jessa said accusingly. “You can’t possibly believe he’d be a
good father if he was given the opportunity?”
Well, no. “Draco adores his father-”
“Don’t avoid my question,” Jessa sighed.
Severus sighed himself and stood, carrying the child close to his chest.
“Sir?” Jessa asked.
“Miss Black.”
“Will you be able to forgive me for this?”
“For your father?”
“For the other thing.”
“I will; not that you deserve it.”
Jessa rested her head on the man’s shoulder. “Thank you,” she murmured.
“Idiot girl,” Severus replied. Jessa didn’t mind.
*
When Alastor found Jessa and Severus, he had not expected to find Severus
standing with the small child clutched tightly in his arms.
“Are you really mad?” Jessa asked uncertainly.
“I’m livid,” Alastor replied.
“Ok,” mumbled Jessa.
“No, whelp, nothing’s ok. What the fuck did you think you were doing?”
“Making sure she’d leave me alone.”
Moody stared at her. “I cannot believe you.”
Jessa shrugged.
“Don’t you fucking shrug at me, Jessamine!”
“Mad Eye,” snapped Severus, “you’re scaring her!”
“She’s scared? So she bloody should be! She just slit a girl’s throat! Twice!”
“Perhaps we should put that information to the side for a while and consider
the other revelation for now,” Severus suggested.
“Or perhaps Mad Eye could just punish me,” Jessa suggested.
Severus lightly slapped the back of Jessa’s bare leg. “No one was speaking to
you.”
Alastor watched Severus tap Jessa and was surprised to find he wasn’t furious.
“Have we really been raising a Malfoy?”
“No,” said Jessa.
“Yes,” said Snape.
“Albus is going to love this,” Moody groaned.
“You didn’t tell him?” Jessa howled.
“Calm down,” Severus soothed. Jessa met his eyes and reluctantly put her head
back on his shoulder. She inhaled deeply.
Severus stroked her back and met Alastor’s eyes. “I presume Miss Granger made
it his knowledge.”
“Yes.”
At that moment Harry appeared at the door Moody had left open. “Is Jessa
alright?”
Severus held Jessa more tightly. “Shouldn’t you be with Hermione?” asked Moody.
“They’ve sent her back to the school. I wanted to check Jessa’s alright.”
“Mister Potter I do not consider this the safest place for you to be right
now.”
Jessa gave Severus a shrewd look. “Just because he’s half-blood doesn’t mean I
want to kill him. You’re a half-blood too and I haven’t hurt you.”
“Miss Black I would be entertained to see you try.”
“You would not. And you know I wouldn’t hurt you.”
“Oh no?”
“No,” said Jessa firmly.
Alastor sighed. “As touching as all this is I think we’d better go find the
headmaster.”
“Let’s not,” said Jessa. Severus narrowed his eyes at her. “Oh yes, let’s,” she
said.
Dumbledore, it turned out, had already decided Jessa was to return to school,
and had also contacted Lucius Malfoy.
“What an intelligent idea,” Jessa grumbled. “I prove I’m a vicious would-be
killer of teenagers and Dumbles sends me to a school full of them…”
“You said you weren’t going to kill her,” Severus snapped.
“Yes, but I never told him that…”
***** Avoiding The Parents and Snape Sulks Before Bedtime *****

Author's notes: Lucius and Narcissa get in on the act, and ground Jessa for
using dark magic on Granger. Severus stews over his blossoming 'relationship'.
Warning: allusions to spanking. And Jessa goes blonde.
===============================================================================
Not mine, just like using imperio on people who aren't actually real (and
giving frigid mister Snape some emotions).
Severus sighed and untwisted the arm of the small girl’s jade turtleneck. He’s
found himself picking out an outfit for the child when Jessa had expressed her
intention to shrink down a short skirt and strappy pair of heels.
Draco was irritably declining lemon drops in the headmaster’s office. “Why are
my parents coming?”
“It seems most opportune to discuss your half-sister, my boy.”
“What half-sister?” Draco repeated.
“Why, Jessamine, of course.”
Severus encountered Lucius and Narcissa in the corridor that led to the
headmaster’s office. The dark-haired man had Jessa in his arms and a paternity
potion, which he had ventured down to the dungeons for, in his pocket.
“I never thought of you as the mothering sort, Severus,” Lucius drawled.
“It would seem I have a knack for bringing up your children, Lucius,” Severus
returned evenly.
Lucius narrowed his eyes. “That child’s barely more than five year old.”
“Seven- thereabouts,” corrected Jessa, turning to glance at her father. “But,
as I’d expect you’d know, my mother was hardly able to be bearing children
seven years ago.”
“I suppose the headmaster neglected to tell you the girl’s a metamorphagus,”
Severus drawled.
“Evidently,” said Narcissa.
“I do suppose the old fool has summoned Draco?” Lucius enquired.
“I would expect so,” said Severus, moving forward to mutter ‘blood pops’ to the
gargoyle. “As you can see I have been attending to other things.” He stepped
onto the staircase without waiting for the others to follow.
There were three empty chairs and a seated, irritated, Draco, in front of
Albus’ desk. Severus elegantly seated himself with Jessa in his lap and the
pair of regal blondes took the remaining chairs. Alastor was conspicuous by his
absence.
Severus took the potion from inside his robes and sat the girl on the table.
“Let’s proceed,” he sneered, pricking Jessa’s extended thumb and allowing the
blood to fall into the potion.
“Lucius,” Severus intoned.
Lucius gave his old friend a decidedly haughty look and stood up to submit his
own blood.
The results were positive. Narcissa reached to pluck Jessa from the table.
“You intend to take her now?” said Severus.
“Of course,” replied the woman, “I want to get to know my daughter. We’ll need
to arrange for something to be done with this hair to start with…”
Jessa quirked an eyebrow and allowed her black hair to turn platinum. “Does
this help?”
Draco stared at her, his stomach tightening with the realisation Jessa looked
exactly like him. His parents had apparently not caught the impolite tone Jessa
had used.
“How lovely, darling,” said Narcissa.
“I’m afraid, of course, we cannot allow Jessa to be released into your care
straight away. She has been responsible for some very grave actions and I
cannot in good conscience wave her off without observing her behaviour to
ensure the wisdom of such a decision.”
Lucius glared at Dumbledore. “I do suggest you expand.”
“I would appear Miss Black, that is, perhaps I should say, Miss Malfoy here was
responsible for a quite violent attack on a muggle-born girl,” supplied
Severus.
“Who?” said Draco.
“Granger,” Jessa said disgustedly.
“Not only were her actions potentially lethal but the curse that I am sorry to
report Jessamine performed twice was a very high degree of dark magic. Without
involving Severus here’s expertise it is highly likely the other young lady
would not have survived.”
Lucius raised his hand for pause. “Are you telling me,” he drawled, “that my
daughter performed a high calibre of lethal dark magic on a student no other
than Hermione Granger?”
“Correct,” agreed Severus.
“Then I am afraid I have no choice but to give you a very long grounding…
Jessamine,” drawled Lucius.
Draco bit down hard on his laughter.
“I understand… Father,” smirked Jessa.
“Perhaps we may excuse the children now to discuss practicalities,” suggested
Narcissa.
“I’m afraid Jessa is required to be supervised during all interaction with
other teenagers,” Severus pointed out.
“Why Severus,” said Lucius slowly, “are you suggesting my son is a
*muggleborn*?”
“Not at all,” Severus replied, “it’s hardly Draco who worries me.”
Jessa sighed and held her palm up. “Sir, I promise not to kill anyone, ok?”
Severus nodded and watched the girl slide down from the desk. “Miss Malfoy.”
Jessa met his eyes at the strange name. “Yes sir?”
“Only go to the Slytherin common room and do not let me find you at your proper
height, is that perfectly clear?”
Jessa sighed again and reached up to hug the man. “Alright.”
Severus ignored that sin and opened his mouth. “And Miss Malfoy?”
“Yes sir?”
“No irritating the Bloody Baron again either. And resolutely avoid Peeves or
else.”
“Understood sir,” Jessa grinned, and followed Draco from the room.
Lucius met Severus’ eyes to convey he had indeed seen a small girl interrupt
the scary potion master’s lecture to hug him. Severus glared back.
“Ah, now, practicalities…” Albus began.
*
Pansy was the first to turn around in her chair to see Draco enter holding
tightly to the hand of a white blonde little girl.
“Draco, who’s that?”
“My sister.”
“Who can speak for herself,” said Jessa.
“Since when did you have a sister?”
“My half-sister,” Draco elaborated, settling into his chair tiredly and
watching Jessa hop onto the arm casually.
“She’s as pretty as you,” said Pansy.
“Fuck off Panse,” Draco replied.
“Oh, charming,” said Pansy, “just wait ‘til Jessa’s back and I unleash her on
you.”
“Yeah, Drakey, just wait,” said Jessa.
Draco narrowed his eyes at her. “You can watch it, little sis.”
Jessa leaned in to whisper in his ear, “Who says I’m the youngest?”
“Fuck off Jessa,” said Draco.
The collective Slytherins turned to look at Draco.
“Jessa?” repeated Blaise.
Draco sighed. “Everyone, meet my half-sister, Jessamine Malfoy Black.”
“Black Malfoy,” protested Jessa.
“Hey, if our father has his say in the matter it will
be plain Malfoy.”
“As if there was plain Malfoy anything.”
Draco quirked one eyebrow. “Quite.”
*
Severus held the arms of his chair in a tight grip. It was the only outward
indication that he was in an irritable mood. ‘Discussing practicalities’ had
eaten into hours of his time, although at least the Malfoys weren’t being
handed Jessa for a week or so at least. Severus was disinclined to admitting
such things but he really did not want to see the girl, as utterly madcap as
she was, in his dear old friend Lucius’ cruel clutches. Of course, there was
the likelihood of the girl spending the bulk of the summer weeks at the Prince
mansion, as Draco always did. The boy would have been appalled if Severus had
suggested spending any of that time at the small house in Spinner’s End, but at
that moment, Severus was rather longing for those few days of the holidays that
Severus would spend there.
The reason for this, of course, was the club. Or rather, the woman Severus had
been looking out for at the club. With all the goings-on there was no
possibility of Severus escaping any time soon, which meant his most likely
reprieve from Albus’ plotting would be the next Death Eater meeting: and of
course that was no reprieve at all. Severus was not a person who relaxed easily
but the ‘North’ woman seemed to be capable of relaxing him almost instinctively
–he’d fallen asleep three times in her presence, and not only that, but had to
be physically wakened by her also.
An evening with North was precisely what Severus needed to shake the events of
the day from his mind for a much needed few hours. Severus was not stupid: he
knew he’d slept with North three times; knew that was often the limit for an
entirely casual relationship; and knew he was already far too much involved
with the woman. He was at this moment pining for her- a sure sign that he
should immediately cut out this addiction.
The most worrying thing was that Severus knew he did not intend to- he was
going to find a way to leave the school tomorrow night in the hope he would
find North at the club. She might not be there; she might not decide to even
acknowledge him, but Severus had to go tomorrow. Perhaps the best thing would
be if North decided to ignore him. It would stop this foolish infatuation,
whilst Severus knew that if she wasn’t there, or if she slept with him again,
he would continue going back. He knew he had to stop this, and stop it soon,
but for the first time in he couldn’t remember how long, Severus simply wanted
to play weak and be left to dally with the woman forever until fate intervened.
He had not forgotten that if he continued to see her he would without a doubt
get hurt, yet he was alarmingly willing to damn himself and let himself get
hurt if it meant not throwing away the relationship –what relationship?- that
he had with North.
Severus got up and stared into the smoky mirror over the fireplace. His hair
was hanging in his face again, which he knew fine well he had adopted to hide
from people, but he combed it gently away with his fingers to expose his eyes
–the way North did. His nose, he knew, was a lost cause, but first he glanced
over the rest of his features, wondering how they gauged, before forcing
himself to meet his own eyes. They were hard, and accusing, and confused, and
bitter, and miserable. Unless North was a sadist into that sort of thing, and
Severus rather doubted she was from the protective way she pulled him towards
her for a snuggle, then Severus had no comprehension of the supposed ‘beauty’
North, or indeed Jessa, claimed they saw in his eyes. They weren’t ‘deep’, they
were barren, and they weren’t dark, they just lacked brightness.
Of course, if North heard him muttering such beliefs, Severus rather thought
she might think he’d earned another bit of discipline. Although he showed no
visible sign of the, er, spanking that Severus had received last night, his
hindquarters were still throbbing unpleasantly- as a reminder, North had told
him, to take care of himself. Woe betide him if he dared use a salve for the
sting, she had said, resting on his chest running her fingers along his
collarbone as he clutched his tender backside and groused about the pain.
Well he remembered the pain now and he remembered what it was supposed to
remind him, Severus thought sulkily as his hand unconsciously slid around to
cover his sore rear. It had been horrible, having to sit down the whole time
those damned ‘practicalities’ were discussed and not let it show he’d gotten
himself spanked. What had been even more embarrassing was the fact that Lucius
and Albus both knew what Severus looked like after that particular brand of
discipline and would have quickly understood if Severus had squirmed. Not to
mention young Draco had been pulled over his knees over enough consecutive
summers that he would probably have made the right conclusion if Severus hadn’t
hidden his discomfort.
Damn her! Severus thought irritably, trying to force the assurance out of his
head that if he were with North now she would be peeling down his boxers and
kissing him better.
North kissed him rather a lot. Despite the rather predatory stance she stood in
most times when she regarded him, there was affectionateness in the way she
spoke to and treated him that Severus rarely found in other casual lovers.
There was more of a ‘friend with benefits’ aura around her, as though she
already liked him and the sex was just an additional gain.
Severus snarled at himself frustratedly. So North was unusual. That did not
mean, nor would it ever mean, that she liked him, and he should not think of
her as a friend. He’d only met her three times! Even if each of those three
times she’d held him and stared lovingly into his eyes as though he were
‘precious’ or something it did not mean she liked him. Period. It meant she was
setting him up or after something or crazy possibly, but it did not mean she
actually enjoyed his company. Of course, if she was crazy, maybe they could
enter into a relationship after all.
There could be no relationship! Severus was a spy and even if it wasn’t
ridiculous, the idea of him being in a –ha!- loving relationship, well, he
didn’t deserve one anyway. He was a poisonous, evil, twisted man who did not
deserve love or any pleasure or happiness unless it was torn from him to punish
him even more.
Severus was aware if Albus knew he was having these kind of thoughts he could
expect a session with a heavy wooden-backed brush that Minerva thought Albus
kept on a ledge in his office for taming his pointy, white beard (whilst it was
actually kept there as a visual reminder that if Severus messed up, the old man
who played manipulative father figure to him would not shy away from
administering a thorough, sound, bruising punishment to Severus’ scrawny, pale
rear for his misdeeds.) With this thought in mind, Severus winced. His bottom
hurt now, but the spanking North had administered was not nearly so harsh as
the blistering Albus was compelled to bestow now and then. The thought of
receiving a punishment from Albus on top of his already tender behind was
enough for a childish knot to tighten in Severus’ belly.
Angry with himself, Severus poured himself some firewhisky. Albus and his evil
hairbrush be damned.
Severus glanced at the bottle and sent it back to the cabinet. Drinking in
excess of the glass he had already poured as he had intended (half a bottle of
it, had been his original intentions) was probably not, he thought, what North
considered looking after himself. It seemed there was a lot North would be
displeased with, if Severus allowed her to glance in at his life. Although
after the spanking, of course, she would insist on holding him and cuddling him
and somehow making him laugh and then she would lick all up and down his body
and they’d have rounds of mind-bending sex until about three or five in the
morning.
Of course, the thing Severus liked about North was that he wasn’t required to
misbehave before she decided to pull him onto her lap and squeeze him to death.
The sex also seemed like one of those things she didn’t scrimp on.
Severus thought about coming home bloody and drained in the small hours of the
morning and North having waited up for him in their, his, bed, demanding sex.
Would she be able to lighten his mood, and if he angrily pushed away from her,
how would she react?
That led, of course, to the question how would she react to the lovely
disfigurement he’d begged to have burnt onto his left arm. Would she be furious
with him if she found out? Would she cry? Would she be disgusted and hate him?
Would she be pleased?
And if he told her about the Order would she join? Would she pester him about
doing his job? Would she be bullying him to be risking his neck spying on
Voldemort?
Severus emptied his glass and made his way to bed, aware he was rubbing his
bottom, and not caring in the slightest. As he got undressed he pushed down his
boxers and stared at the discolouration North had not left there. He covered
himself up and climbed into his bed, imagining he could feel her cuddling
against him, stroking his hair.
***** Manipulating The Menfolk *****

Author's notes: Wherein Jessa wakes up in Moody's arms, begs a favour from
Harry, and two from Severus, including 'walkies'. And Jessa has an entirely
inappropriate conversation with the potions master.
===============================================================================
Jessa, as it turned out, had found herself spending the night once more in
Moody’s arms, which she found pleasant. He hadn’t brought up any of the recent
events, and she hadn’t either. The problem was, what she wanted was to feel
Severus’ hands clasped tightly in hers’ and his naked body pressed warmly
against her own. She missed the heady feeling she got from teasing him and the
awe of staring into his lust-filled eyes.
There had to be ways out of the castle. The problem was, once she found them,
and she would find them, would the wards alert the adults to her disappearance?
The next problem was, if Jessa escaped without setting off the wards, would
Snape actually go to the club if it was during term time and he was at the
school?
It was with these thoughts in mind that Jessa went to breakfast, and found
herself crossing the great hall to reach the Gryffindor table. The Mudblood and
the Blood-Traitor stood and drew their wands as she approached, and she could
tell without looking that Mad Eye had gotten to his feet.
“Hey Scarhead,” she said quickly, “can I have a quick word?”
Harry turned around, met her gaze, and immediately stood, already walking to
the door. “Yes,” he said stiffly.
“Thanks Potter,” Jessa said when they were outside. “Sorry I asked you in front
of you know.”
Harry caught her eyes. “Yeah,” he said, “what is it?”
“Do you know ways to get out of the castle without getting caught?”
“Yeah, why do you-”
“Will I set off the wards?” Jessa interrupted.
“They shouldn’t do.”
“Later today can you show me where they are?”
“Yes,” said Harry, “but it’s not for anything bad, is it?”
Jessa bit her lip. “You know when I’ve been meeting my friends?” Harry nodded.
“Well, there’s this club I go to… I’m kind of seeing this guy and um… I really
miss him.”
“No problem,” said Harry. Jessa gave him a smile and as she thanked him they
went back to the great hall. Harry slid back into his seat and began resignedly
answering his friends’ questions without really answering. Jessa raised her
gaze to the staff table and smirked ‘reassuringly’ at Moody before batting away
Draco and slipping elegantly onto the space that appeared as he moved down the
bench.
“What,” Draco demanded sharply, “were you doing with Potter, sis?”
Jessa gave her half-brother a disparaging glance. “Don’t you even bother
pulling the ‘big brother’ card, small fry,” she said disapprovingly. She
reached for a small roll and began buttering it calmly.
“Might I remind you that you currently average approximately four feet tall,”
Draco snapped back.
Jessa met his eyes again and gave a smile that was reservedly warm and told
Draco she found mirth in baiting him. “But you love me, little brother.”
Draco narrowed his eyes. “You will refrain from calling me that.”
“Oh shush, little brother,” said Jessa, placing the butter knife down and
turning to face him with a teasing glint in her eyes. “Or do you not want an
answer to your very rude question?”
Draco looked affronted at being called rude, but was willing to ignore her
repeated use of ‘little brother’ if it got him the knowledge he wanted quicker.
“If you must know,” Jessa announced reproachfully, “I was eliciting his advice
on how to cause mischief for certain persons.”
“‘Certain persons’?” Draco quoted dubiously, “You certainly had best not mean
me.”
Jessa’s eyes danced at that retort. “I assure you, you ill bred albino, that I
can irritate you perfectly well without Scarhead’s insight.”
Draco looked suitably insulted enough that Jessa pulled him tightly to her in
an affectionate, one-armed embrace. She lifted the roll from her plate and
sedately began to eat.
*
Severus entered Alastor’s rooms to find Jessa looking blankly into space. She
glanced up as he closed the door beside himself and he was gratified to see the
vaguely haunted look disappear from her face to be replaced with affection.
“Hello, sir,” she said, standing and crossing the room to hold him in her arms
briefly. For no reason that Severus could comprehend he bent and pulled the
girl up into his own arms. She rested her head against his shoulder.
“Sir?”
“Yes Miss Black,” Severus closed his eyes irritably at the error, “Miss
Malfoy.”
“When I have to stay at the Malfoys’, will you come with me?”
Severus paused, stunned, and scrutinised the girl’s face. “You’re a Malfoy
also,” he said carefully.
“By blood alone,” Jessa said darkly.
“You fear Lucius?” Severus asked softly.
“You know he is sadistic and cruel…”
“I do,” said the man, “but how do you?”
“Regie taught me plenty,” Jessa returned quietly.
It was Severus’ turn to look momentarily haunted. “Young Regulus?”
Jessa pressed her face into the side of Severus’ neck. “Please do not make me
go there alone.”
Severus held the girl to him tightly and immediately stood. “I never would,” he
said.
Jessa shifted in his grasp. “Where are we going?”
“To inform the headmaster,” Severus said grimly.
Severus insisted on the girl remaining outside as he closed the door and turned
to face his employer and mentor. “Tea, Severus?”
Severus accepted as it was something to occupy his hands.
“You seem preoccupied, my boy,” Dumbledore rumbled from over his teacup.
“I refuse to allow the girl to stay unchaperoned with her father,” Severus
stated bluntly.
“You do not believe Narcissa to be a threat?”
Severus curled his lip. “The girl is the greatest toy Lucius had ever given
her. A living, breathing, doll of a daughter, just as pretty as her bloodline
should be, and someone she can coddle without being accused of encouraging to
be too effeminate.”
“But Lucius?”
Severus’ expression was drawn. “You remember I told you of Draco’s accidental
magic during the summer?”
“You said the boy had managed to apparate.”
“Lucius had been beating him again, Albus.” Severus’ expression was drawn. “The
damage was… considerable. I cannot in good conscience allow Miss…Malfoy, into
such a situation without a degree of protection.”
Albus looked over his glasses at Severus with a look that Severus rather did
not like. The headmaster reached over to add more sugar to Severus’ teacup and
said far too calmly, “Lucius will permit this?”
Severus pinched the bridge of his nose. “You can inform him my presence is to
monitor and curb if necessary the girl’s violent streak.”
Albus popped a lemon drop into his mouth. “Your thoughts are occupied?”
Severus blinked away the sudden thought. “When Draco stays for the summer I may
be able to watch Miss Malfoy also. Clearly there will be problems if the girl
does not have the reassurance of her brother’s presence.”
“Will that be all for now, my boy?”
“Yes, headmaster.”
Albus spoke as the younger man made to leave. “Severus? I suggest you take time
away from the castle this evening for yourself. Recent events have been
unpleasant for you, I’m sure.”
Really, the headmaster had an uncanny knack for knowing things he shouldn’t.
“Yes Albus. Thank you.”
Albus waved him away. “Be well, my boy.”
When Severus left he found Jessa fidgeting on the chair which Severus had
deposited her upon earlier. She glanced up at him nervously.
“Come,” he said simply, moving to the stairway. Jessa followed and brushed her
pale hair away from her face. When navigating the corridors that led to Moody’s
chambers Jessa slid her fragile hand into Severus’, forcibly reminding him of a
younger Draco. He stopped walking and threw the girl up into his arms before
continuing.
She grinned into his neck. “I do know how to
walk, you know.”
“Your legs are too short to keep up,” Severus retorted.
Jessa made a face, and when the man settled on the couch in Alastor’s lounge
and dropped her in the space beside him she pointedly clambered back onto his
lap. Severus put out a hand to steady her and pulled her towards his chest.
“How come you’re nicer just because I’m little,” Jessa grumbled, pulling back
to accusingly meet his eyes.
Severus glanced down at her in irritation. “It’s my new plot to disturb you,”
he replied in a mildly aggravated tone.
Jessa giggled childishly and hugged the man’s neck. “Yes sir,” she said with an
attitude that suggested she did not believe him in the slightest.
Severus scowled.
Jessa reached up and traced the angry lines of Severus’ face. “You’ll cause
wrinkles, you know, with always frowning the whole time.”
“Yes, Narcissa,” Severus snapped.
Jessa didn’t seem in the least perturbed by his manner. “Seriously,” said
Jessa, “cause if you act like a dick you’ve gotta at least look pretty or no
one’s gonna like you ’cept the clever people or other dicks.”
“Thank you for that insight Miss Malfoy,” sneered Severus, gently removing the
girl’s fingers from his face. “However, what gives you the impression I want to
be liked?”
Jessa grinned. “Little kid intuition.”
“‘Little kids’ shouldn’t be using language such as the kind you so elegantly
described me with,” said Severus, baring his teeth slightly.
Jessa looked confused for a moment. “Oh, you mean ‘dick’?” she flushed. “I
didn’t mean it in a bad way sir.”
Severus arched one eyebrow. “Quite,” he said. “Unfortunately if I hear you
using that word again I will be sure to need to scourgify your eloquent mouth.”
Jessa sighed. “So what do I call, um, those?” she whined, gesturing.
“Young ladies in polite society do not mention such things.”
“Who said I was polite?” argued Jessa.
Severus gave the girl a warning look. “This conversation is over, Miss Malfoy.”
“If I’m old enough to sleep with someone I should be able to mention a guy’s…
parts,” Jessa protested.
Severus looked momentarily disturbed. “Forgive me, but I find it difficult to
remember such facts when speaking to a seven year old curled up in my lap,” he
drawled, “yet regardless you have no licence to discuss such things.”
Jessa looked frustrated. “Then how do you discuss it?” she demanded.
“It is not something I commonly discuss in the presence of women,” Severus
replied.
Jessa looked stunned. “I thought you swung for girls too,” she said.
Severus greyed, looking down to meet the girl’s face. “I do,” he said stiffly,
“I meant that it was something men discuss in private with their associates
when in high spirits and certain company.”
“Sorry for accusing you of being bi,” Jessa mumbled. “I kind of just assumed.”
Severus regarded her stiffly, reminding himself that she was more than double
the age she looked. “You were not wrong to assume,” he said crisply.
The girl tilted her head. “Have I pissed you off?”
“Only with your language,” Severus replied.
Jessa’s face reddened. “Sorry,” she mumbled, feeling vaguely mortified, “it’s
just habit.”
“See that you break this particular habit,” Severus scolded. “It is very
unbecoming for a young lady of your parentage.”
Jessa shyly gave a rueful grin. She was momentarily quiet before, “Hey sir?”
Severus met her chocolate eyes reluctantly. “Spit it out Miss Malfoy.”
“Take me walkies?” Jessa pleaded with a winning smile.
Severus grimaced at her, but stood and transfigured a stray item from his
pocket into a collar and leash.
Within seconds Jessa was attempting to find her way out of clothes that weren’t
as large as usual. Severus chuckled and knelt beside her, muttering a charm he
tended to use in very different situations, which stripped the puppy of her
clothing immediately.
Jessa stored the spell away for later use.
Severus scolded her still and fixed the collar around her throat before
attaching the leash.
Jessa jumped up at him and wagged her tail delightedly. Severus immediately
pushed her firmly into a sitting positing. He scowled into her eyes and
lectured, “Don’t you dare jump up on me, you brainless canine.”
Jessa barked cheerfully.
Those students who witnessed their potions master playing with a hyperactive
puppy in the shade of a tree that overshadowed the lake were uncertain if the
bizarre scene now burned onto their retinas was more disturbing than catching
sight of the severe man striding by balancing protectively on his hip a small
seven year old child with an expression of affection and peace on her features.
***** This Is My Woman *****

Author's notes: Wherein Jessa escapes from Hogwarts, has a few drinks, gets
declared Severus' woman and terrifies a death eater. Draco also accuses her of
having it off with Harry.
===============================================================================
Not mine, just ensuring love interests. JKR owns.
It had been, Jessa came to consider, surprisingly easy for Harry to show her
the various passages out of the castle. It had also given her an alarmingly
warm feeling that the boy had been pleasantly surprised to discover her
friendliness with the gamekeeper. Really, this ‘being friendly’ thing was going
too far.
As it was, Jessa now found herself with the problem of what to do about
disappearing for a whole night when realistically she knew it was expected that
she spend the night in Moody’s arms. Additionally, her excuse had to be
something that would not prevent her from sleeping with the man in future.
Bugger.
And that was when Jessa had the enlightened idea of claiming she was spending
the night with Draco.
Which meant she had to get Draco and inform him of this intention before
finding Moody.
Draco was seated in his throne with Pansy swallowing his face when Jessa
entered the common room. To Pansy’s distaste, upon noticing her Draco batted
Pansy away from his mouth and gazed around his girlfriend to meet his sister’s
eyes.
“You looking for something, Princess?” he asked.
“You, unfortunately,” Jessa returned, ignoring the ‘Slytherin Princess’ jibe as
she wanted to enlist the boy’s help.
Draco gave her his full attention. “Is there a problem?” he drawled, noticing
Jessa’s aggressive stance.
“You owe me a favour,” said Jessa.
“I do not,” said Draco. “What do you want?”
“If Panse will let me borrow you for a minute I can tell you.”
Draco glanced dismissively at the girl on his lap and slid out from underneath
her elegantly. “Of course.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll bring him back,” Jessa promised with a light smile.
When suitably far away from anyone’s earshot Draco stood and met Jessa’s eyes
again. They were a dark colour alien to the rest of his family and as he
scrutinised them, Jessa spoke.
“Can I ask Mad Eye if I can stay the night with you, like a sleepover?”
Draco met her gaze with incomprehension. “You may,” he said carefully.
“Will anyone notice if I’m not there?”
Draco was thoughtful. “My bed could be transfigured into two and if we kept the
curtains closed there shouldn’t be a problem.”
“Great. So I’ll ask Mad Eye tonight then.”
“Wait,” said Draco. “You can at least explain what’s going on.”
“I’m going to test the castle wards tonight,” said Jessa.
Draco’s eyes moved discreetly to his half-sister’s left arm.
“I’ve a more carnal reason than that,” she said dryly.
“Don’t let Uncle Sev catch you,” said Draco seriously.
Jessa’s eyes took on an odd sparkle at that. She said nothing, but smiled as
she turned to return to Pansy.
“Pureblood,” began Draco.
Jessa turned in concern. “What?”
“This has nothing to do with Potty, does it?”
Jessa shook her head. “I used him to show me the ways out of the castle.”
“If that dirty half-blood breathed on you…” the blonde boy left his threat
unfinished.
“Don’t be vulgar,” Jessa replied disparagingly, “he’s Dumbledore’s boy through
and through, remember?”
Draco gave a half-smile. “I mean it. You can do better.”
Jessa smirked and kissed his cheek. “Thank you, brother. I am aware of that. I
appreciate that you believe I would stoop so low as a Gryffindor.”
A small amount of pink grew along Draco’s cheeks. “I apologise,” he said
gruffly. Jessa nodded her acceptance and walked back to the chairs that
encircled the fireplace.
*
It was almost laughable, in a slightly nerve wracking way, how easily Jessa
managed to find herself outside the castle wards, seemingly without setting
them off although she couldn’t be certain, and apparating to a suitably dark
and unfrequented alleyway where she sufficiently transformed her appearance.
Her fashionable shorts, peacock green blouse and silver sandals, which again
criss-crossed their way up her legs, should appeal to her target’s tastes.
Assuming, of course, that he was there. Jessa briefly fingered the slender
chain of her silver necklace and crossed the road to queue for the club.
If Severus wasn’t here, Jessa reminded herself, she would just have to enjoy
tonight’s freedom.
*
The Severus in question was currently standing shirtless before his dressing
mirror and scowling at his Mark, his arm, his body, his scars, his appearance
in general, and the skinny man in the mirror who sneered and bared his teeth.
Dumbledore had said to go out. This effectively quashed any considerations
Severus held on not going out. It was going to leave him feeling ridiculous,
Severus thought darkly, when North was absent from the club –or worse, was no
longer interested in him.
Severus cast a strong glamour over his blemished left arm, snarled at his
reflection, and pulled on an emerald dress shirt. Still giving the mirror
violent looks, he moved to the dresser and opened the drawer which housed the
pair of silver serpentine cufflinks which slithered up his wrists and twined
themselves into position, hissing softly.
*
Making a valiant effort not to feel crushed by the distinct lack of a Severus-
shaped silhouette at the bar, Jessa ordered a Larkhall Lady, and in rapid
succession, two dirty waiters, and for the hell of it, a blowjob shot, before
storming onto the dancefloor and convulsing provocatively against whoever
yanked her wrist. When Severus scaled the stairs to the floor he habitually
visited, he saw North dancing almost pornographically with one of the girls
she’d danced with before, with a half empty ’Lady in one hand and a red liquid
in the other. She turned around with a feigned look of …something, and saw him.
Severus found himself gratified at the way the woman’s face softened when she
did. Then one of the females gyrating nearby said something, and North turned
to her, her face turning back to one of determination to party hard. North said
something in reply, then turned back to Severus with eyes that danced. She
downed the red drink and grinned merrily at him.
“Come dance with me!” she yelled over the music and noise.
Severus obediently crossed the floor towards her. The empty glass that had
contained the red liquid was spirited back to the bar by some other woman and
North reached her hand through the thin crowd to pull Severus to her.
“I didn’t think I was going to see you tonight,” she said.
“Are you disappointed?” Severus replied.
Jessa shook her head to reassure him. “Never,” she grinned.
Severus was forced into close proximity to North as a seemingly popular muggle
song he didn’t know caused people to surge to the dancefloor. His hand settled
around North’s waist and it remained there. He fought down the pleased feeling
this gave him, whilst also trying to shut up the voice in his head telling him
to drop her at once and leave.
“It’s crowded,” Severus said. “Do you want to go to the bar?”
The woman smiled at him. “Poor Sev, you haven’t had a drink yet, have you?” and
she led him to the bar. He was intrigued to observe how everyone surrounded her
seemed to glance at her drink, and then her face, before always moving aside to
allow them both through.
“What’s in that?” Severus rumbled.
North glanced at the drink, and then Severus. “You mean the looks I get?”
“The looks your drink gets, not the looks your outfit gets,” Severus teased.
Jessa curled her lip sardonically. “Some of the mudbloods aren’t fully used to
seeing things like it, but mainly the looks are because only certain people
order it.”
“‘Mudblood’ isn’t a word this place hears overmuch,” Severus commented.
“Sorry,” said North, “it’s only habit.”
Severus met her eyes calculatingly. “So which is it? Half or pure?”
The woman laughed. “Pureblooded I’m afraid. Yourself?”
“One should never be ashamed of pure blood,” Severus said carefully. “I’m only
half myself.”
North tilted her head. “You act like a proper wizard,” she said.
Severus’ lips twitched. “I shall take that as a compliment. Thank you.”
“Don’t make fun of me,” said North, although she was smiling.
“I apologise,” murmured Severus smoothly.
The woman moved into his space a little more.
“What people order your drink then?” Severus asked.
North regarded him at the change in conversation. “Just a group of people I
belong to. To do with work mainly, it allows us to recognise each other.”
“So you know who not to irritate?”
North smirked over the lip of her glass. “Exactly.”
To Severus’ apprehension, some associates of his own were at the bar, that he
had not noticed earlier. They would not willingly admit to frequenting this bar
to their lord, but they had just witnessed him with his arm around some pretty
young woman.
“Who’s this, Severus?” one of the men asked, leering a little.
North’s arm went down to circle Severus’ waist firmly. Taking strength from
this gesture, Severus said, “This is my woman, North.”
The men eyed her. “You’re a bit pretty for him, aren’t you?” one said bluntly.
North let her lip curl as she dragged her gaze up and down the man’s body. “Too
bad your boyfriend,” she let her gaze linger on the man standing closest to
him, “cannot have the same said about you.”
“You filthy little muggle!”
Jessa raised her hand slowly to reveal a white band evident on her pinkie
finger, where young ladies with prestigious bloodlines often wore gold bands
depicting their father’s crest. Just the gesture was a mark of high breeding,
and warned the man he had made a grave error in his words.
“Forgive me,” he said stiffly.
The woman smiled softly at him with one eyebrow raised. This was a highbred
signal that all was forgiven, but not forgotten, and the man had better watch
his step.
Severus was finding all of this rather unnerving, yet also felt a small wave of
awe and pride at North’s ability to cow the death eater.
“I am afraid it is Severus’ sin for counting so many crude characters amongst
his friends,” the woman said with a predatory smile, extending her hand to her
insulter.
“North’s not a wizarding name,” the man protested in way of an apology as he
bent his head to greet her courteously.
“Do you think I’d use my real name in this… place?”
That made sense, and the man grinned gratefully at his pardon. The death eater
to his left accused of being his lover pulled him to the back of the group lest
he cause another scene.
“Forgive Silíace, my lady,” the taller man murmured regretfully, “he is not
regularly in company.”
North inclined her head graciously, “I would see that you keep him on a shorter
leash in future Mister Fiyer.”
No one missed the way Severus’ eyes flicked to his lover, indicating his
ignorance as to how she knew the man’s surname. Fiyer also looked disturbed,
but continued to be polite as he inquired, “You know me, Miss?”
“Not for many years,” the woman replied furtively, “but my brother was fond of
you during your schooldays.”
Fiyer sensed the name of her brother was not to be forthcoming and nodded
respectfully. “Allow him my regards.”
“Of course,” said the woman, Severus catching something odd flicker in her
gaze.
Severus did not really want his drink now. “I think it is time we said our
goodbyes,” he suggested slowly.
North glanced at him, and he was heartened at her regard. “That would be nice,
beautiful,” she said, moving to press her lips to his cheekbone. Her breath
smelt, bizarrely, of cough syrup, until Severus’ mind made the link between the
glass of red alcohol and Jägermeister.
Severus put out of his mind the description North had used of him. The small
congregation of death eaters were wisely not making any immediate comment on
it, and Severus took this as their cue to leave. Especially since he had just
noticed their his-‘n’-hers’ outfits. North finished her ’Lady and placed it
down on the bar before allowing Severus to steer her towards the floos.
The collective of death eaters began to discuss this most recent scandalous
event, voices becoming less reserved with their growing inebriation.
***** Severus Is Shown How Much He Is Held In Esteem *****

Author's notes: otherwise known as Fellatio and A Bit Of Mind Invasion
===============================================================================
Not mine, just lowering his trousers. Thanks JKR.
“You never mentioned your birthright,” Severus accused quietly.
“Do you really want an argument Severus? I was under the impression you still
found it unpleasant to sit.”
Severus willed himself not to colour at the illusion to …past events. He did
not want to discuss that in any place that wasn’t private.
“Now do you think we could have this conversation somewhere less public,” Jessa
said pointedly.
Severus glanced at her unnerved by her unusually hard tone and was relieved to
find her eyes meeting his own softly. The woman smiled reassuringly. “I wasn’t
scolding,” she said.
“Good,” Severus returned as gruffly as he dared, and stepped into the flames.
“You would really benefit from being less frigidly reserved,” North grumbled,
stepping out of the fire after him into the lobby.
Recognising her, the man at the desk sailed the room key towards her. She
smiled graciously as she took it from the air beside her and led Severus up the
stairs.
“Did I anger you?” Severus enquired softly as Jessa unlocked the door.
The woman turned her back to the door to look at him directly. “I was just
calling you stiff,” she said, bringing her hand up to cup the man’s jaw, “and I
didn’t mean a thing by it, beautiful.”
Severus covered her hand with his own and stared at her with wavering eyes.
“Ridiculously insecure boy,” the woman scolded, pulling Severus close. “Did you
really think it was possible to make me angry with you over a silly comment?”
Her question was answered by his worried expression. Jessa sighed. “Get
inside,” she said, “obviously you need shown how much I hold you in esteem.”
Severus smiled uncertainly at that and obeyed when North gestured that he enter
the room.
“Slide down your trousers and boxers and lie back on the bed,” North said.
Severus quickly removed his boots before complying with the woman’s
instructions.
Jessa charmed her sandals to remove themselves and upon closing the door
bounced over to the bed.
“Are you going to pay attention?” she demanded, her tone entirely at odds with
her expression as she grinned and moved to hold herself over Severus.
The woman paused the descent of her head to glare –mouth still grinning hugely-
at Severus. “Yes miss,” he blurted.
“North would have been adequate,” North commented dryly, before ducking her
head to engulf him in the heat of her mouth.
Severus gave a short moan and raised his hips towards her. It amused Jessa that
this man, a spy no less, was reliant in schooling his reactions, yet as soon as
he was touched he whimpered and squirmed and bucked and mewled.
Jessa noticed Severus was keeping his hips high the whole time. She finished
the man off, savouring the incoherent noise of bliss he made, and sat down
beside him. Severus rolled onto his side and looked at her. Jessa bent down
first to kiss him soundly, then pulled back and flipped him over. “Are you
still sore?”
Severus rolled his eyes and twisted around to watch her. “I thought we had
established in the club that I was.”
“There’s next to nothing visible,” North said anxiously.
Severus snickered at her. “You didn’t leave any marks,” he said.
North met his eyes for a moment. “Was it a bludger that hit your neck then?”
Severus’ smile became small and content. “I don’t know, perhaps you could
remind me?”
Yes he was going to be entirely silent about the marks she was leaving on his
heart.
North moved up alongside him and kissed along his throat. “I thought you wanted
to talk.”
“Moodkiller,” admonished Severus. He sat up, carefully, and was surprised to
find ‘his woman’ still attached to his neck. “You have to get off me to talk,”
he pointed out.
“No I don’t,” said North, “and I like it here.”
Affection flooded Severus’ voice, “Do as you’re told.”
The woman bit him lightly in rebuke. “Don’t start a fight you’ll loose
Severus,” she sing-songed.
Severus smirked and reached around her to hold her closely to him.
“So I’m ‘your woman’, huh?” North began.
“Why do you sound so pleased,” Severus returned, “don’t you realise this means
you’re ‘mine’?”
North let go of his neck to kiss his available chest. “I’m happy with that.
You’re already mine after all; so I suppose it’s fair.”
That’s right. She had declared him hers’. That meant it wasn’t completely
stupid to claim her at the club.
That meant he was being even more stupid by getting further involved.
Severus kissed the top of the woman’s head. “Shall we talk?”
Jessa sighed, sliding up his shirt to slip her fingers underneath, where they
rested on warm skin. “About which topic?”
“Tonight,” said Severus.
“What shall we cover first, that I lied about my background, or that I knew
Fiyer?”
“You know what Fiyer is?” Severus said.
Jessa met his eyes, her hand remaining on his warm abdomen. “I know what all of
those men
are,” she said.
“And,” Severus spat the word with difficulty, but ‘North’ moved to kiss his
shoulder. “And I’m aware of what’s on your arm also,” she said.
Severus felt cold, and he swallowed.
“That doesn’t make me dumpable, does it?” the woman asked seriously.
“Your brother,” said Severus.
“Was killed,” the woman said. “My…father…is still marked and my younger
brother… will likely take the mark with encouragement.”
“And what are your thoughts on it all?”
“My loyalties lie in people like yourself and my brother. Where your loyalties
lie I will fit in.”
‘Your’, Severus understood, was plural. However, he had the distinct feeling
there was something deeper stressed in her wording that he did not comprehend.
Which brother was she comparing him to?
He met her eyes, and she pulled back indignantly. “Don’t you dare just walk
right in!” she snapped.
Severus sat back, heart pounding. No one normally felt it. ‘North’ was an
occlumens. This was a trap. Someone doubted his loyalty.
The woman was sitting up, but to his surprise, she merely settled into a
different position, staring down at him. “You can look about,” she said
stiffly, “but you may not look at everything. I have valid reasons for keeping
my identity quiet.”
Severus glanced at her, then mirrored her position in order to meet her eyes
comfortably. He was unhappy to discover the position meant his rear hurt
slightly, although not all of his weight was on his abused parts.
Oh yes, that was deliberate.
The main problem was, however, that if the woman’s skills were greater than
his, he might not be able to push her out of his thoughts if she cared to
invade.
“Ready,” he grumbled.
“Alright,” the woman said gently, and Severus felt himself being tugged in
through her eyes to her thoughts.
~
A small girl was padding along a hallway in the dark. She opens the door to a
bedroom, and there is a teenage boy holding himself and crying quietly. His
hair looks black in the lack of light, but it could be any colour. Not enough
light hits his face to identify him, and his hair obscures the rest. The little
girl sneaks softly up to him and takes his pale hand tightly in her own. The
boy pulls his left arm back from being cradled against his skin and the Dark
Mark, swollen and wet and looking poisoned, gleams on his skin. The little girl
knows it is painful, worse than a snake bite, and blows a kiss millimetres away
from the tortured flesh to land there. This evidently still hurts, but the boy
seems comforted and pulls the much smaller girl into an embrace, where she
cradles his arm tight to herself instead, and the boy continues to cry.
~
Severus is standing shirtless in front of her. He looks starved and sick and
his eyes look tired and haunted. He looks awful. Compassion and worry and love
comes off of North in waves, and she steps towards him. North notes the
familiar way the man almost reaches for his left arm and realises he’s been
kept up late by several death eater meetings. North bites down on the anger and
urge to pull Severus behind her as though his master was there in the room.
When she calms she is still worried about the obvious neglect Severus is guilty
of, and the following events are familiar.
~
It’s too dark to see, but Dumbledore’s voice is evident from wherever the girl
is lurking near. The man is arguing Severus Snape’s good points, a surprisingly
high number of them, to someone unseen whose voice is a great deal less clear.
Then it becomes apparent that whoever Dumbledore is with is an order member, as
the conversation turns to things the girl has no interest in.
~
Severus is sleeping on the bed. His soft hair lies around him like the halo of
a dark haired child and his nude body is stretched out in a blissfully content
pose. The visible expanse of flesh is mouth watering, and North’s hand brushes
lovingly along his warm skin. The only thing wrong with this perfect image, in
the woman’s opinion, is that the sleeping man’s eyes are closed, his sooty,
long lashes resting on his cheeks. She wants him to open his beautiful eyes,
and look at her, but she will not wake him. Then a dark expression flits across
the man’s face and he squirms, his peaceful expression becoming a frown as a
sound of distress falls from his lips. The woman is hugging him immediately and
Severus awakens in her arms to a kiss, and promptly forgets his dream.
~
North showed him image after image of himself, and various murky images of both
order and death eater members, leaving it apparent that the woman holds the
leaders of both in disdain.
Severus was shaken by the revelation that this mystery woman genuinely adored
him, and found him attractive: his face, body and even scarred skin.
Severus didn’t want to know who North was just yet. He had the feeling the
truth would tear them apart, and right now all he wanted was to touch her and
feel her and taste her until the fragile moment was smashed into irreparable
shards.
“Severus?” Jessa said quietly.
***** Sexerus *****

Author's notes: The sex scene that takes place between the chapters. Not
necessary to read to still understand the next chappie but you're welcome to
read.
===============================================================================
Not mine, just giving him some exercise. Lucky JKR owns the man.
“Bite me,” Severus whispered needfully.
Jessa looked to him and leaned over, tracing his bruised neck with her tongue.
Severus lay down and pulled her with him. He began to kiss her all over
frantically.
“Severus…” North began.
The man met her eyes, the faint gleam of pain and even madness evident there.
“Just for now,” he breathed, “let me have you for now.”
“You can have me forever,” the woman choked, rushing to touch him, reassure
him, feel his skin warm under her hands.
Severus kissed her starvingly, gripping Jessa so tight she felt the warm pain
of achieving bruises.
Jessa fumbled with her blouse, and Severus helped her swiftly pull the garment
over her head. He then snatched up her hips and ripped her shorts down. Jessa
wriggled and reached for Severus’ shirt. The buttons were taking much too long.
She spelled them off desperately. Severus allowed her a wary glance at another
display of wandless magic. He spelled off her underwear.
Jessa straddled him and bent down to kiss him forcefully, taking hold of his
thin wrists in one fist as she did. Her other hand she slid down to navigate,
and Severus groaned in need as he felt himself swallowed up by her heat.
“Let me fuck you so you forget who you are,” North growled into Severus’
shoulder.
“Yes…” Severus moaned weakly. He raised his hips.
North crashed down against him. “You’re mine,” North insisted roughly, her pace
brutal and possessive.
Severus writhed beneath her, reaching up to kiss her harshly. “Fuck…”
The woman met his eyes and grinned briefly. She slowed her pace teasingly
before smashing against him again. He whimpered and shifted, causing her to
gasp and clutch him a little less gently. “Want you so much…”
“Want you more,” Severus gasped huskily. He rocked his hips violently,
appreciating how her flesh bounced as she rode him.
“Yeah, fuck me…” Jessa praised.
Severus intensified his thrusts. “C’n you handle this..?”
North gave a shuddering laugh. “I can take anything you give me…”
“You want it like this?”
Jessa mewled as she clung on. “Fuck yes, Sev…”
Severus savoured her voice and the way she looked and felt on top of him. Her
collarbone was beginning to shine with exertion and he reached up to taste it
with a broad swipe of his tongue.
“Severus.”
When he met North’s eyes they were dark with desire.
“Do you want me?” Severus blurted.
Honesty shone in her hazel orbs. “Of course. I want you so much Sev...”
Severus drove himself upwards into her, tearing a raw moan from deep in her
throat. “Tell me again,” he said gruffly.
“I want you. I need you. I adore you. I can’t stop thinking about you. You’re
amazing- oh yes, fuck, there!” North swallowed and blinked for a few moments
then bumped against him in revenge. “I want you so fucking much.”
Severus plunged sharply into her. “I want…you,” he whimpered.
North closed her eyes once more, and moments later, when she opened them, she
was smiling down at her lover. “Don’t you forget it,” she growled.
Severus pressed his lips upon her shoulder.
North stared down at his shining torso and bucked her hips in rhythm to
Severus’ own.
Before long, Severus felt his balls drawing closer to his body. He was so
close. He twisted one wrist and North met his eyes. She let his hand escape and
he allowed it to settle on her hip, his fingers curling naturally around her
side and his thumb sliding perfectly into the hollow behind the jutting bone.
“Slow down,” Severus said quietly.
North obeyed and met his eyes questioningly from beneath her lashes.
Severus concentrated on hitting her sweet spot whilst his hand disappeared down
between the meeting of her thighs.
Jessa’s breathing became promptly irregular and she twitched, squirming,
gasping, under his administrations.
The woman’s eyes flew open and she arched back like a spooked horse. The grip
holding Severus’ wrist was suddenly tighter, her other digits entwining in the
bedsheets as she broke out in a cold sweat. Jessa was unseeing although she
simultaneously sensed her awareness of everything becoming sharper and more
intense. Her stomach was clenching. All her muscles were tightening. Waves of
pleasure cascaded over her and flooded her; her chest; buttocks and inner
thighs as her body rocked and spasmed in pleasure.
Moments later, inspired by North’s muscles contracting around him, Severus
climaxed inside her with a yell as North slowly came down with a strangled
howl.
Jessa was feeling rather melted and dazed, existing as a puddle of utter
contentment upon Severus. Severus curled his free arm around her. Jessa laid
her head down on the man’s shoulder and Severus kissed her. She kissed the skin
nearest her lips. She felt Severus move his arm, and turned anxiously. He was
retrieving the corner of the quilt and pulled it over them both. Jessa placed
her head back down and as she felt Severus replace his arm she closed her eyes.
They fell asleep in that way.
***** Waking Up *****

Author's notes: Gives you the idea of what went on in the last chapter if you
didn't want it quite so graphic. Actually has some relevance to the plot. Quite
sweet, relatively speaking.
===============================================================================
I don't own him I just got him naked for a chick who doesn't actually exist.
JKR owns.
When Severus felt daylight kiss his exposed throat and shoulder, he was aware
of a weight on his chest. He opened his eyes and found his arm encircling
North. He held her to his chest as he wriggled into a seated position. Jessa
squirmed and turned to look at him.
“I didn’t mean to wake you,” Severus said softly.
“You didn’t,” North admitted, stretching, “I just didn’t want to move.”
“Then don’t,” said Severus.
Jessa looked at him, and laid her head back down on his shoulder.
“What time is it?” asked Severus.
“Early,” answered Jessa.
“When do you have to leave?”
Jessa could feel Severus’ heart beating against her own chest, the rhythm equal
to her own. “Soon,” she said regretfully.
Severus continued to hold her. He was still buried inside her and was reluctant
to lose that intimacy.
Jessa brushed Severus’ ear. “We don’t need to talk this morning,” she said
gently.
Severus glanced at her self-protectively. “I suppose you think we could meet
again?” he said. He didn’t know what he was supposed to do. They had to end it,
didn’t they? Hadn’t she said as much last night? How could they have one last
night?
How could he allow this to be their last night?
North sighed, and the noise sounded distraught. “I don’t know when I can,” she
muttered, “my…family,” Severus caught the disparaging tone in North’s voice,
“have requested my presence. I don’t even know yet if I’ve gotten away with
tonight.”
Severus carded his slim fingers through her choppy hair.
“Beautiful?” said North.
Severus met her eyes.
“You really are Severus Tobias Snape, aren’t you?”
“I believe so,” Severus replied ironically.
“What if I owled you?”
Severus met her eyes unflinchingly. “Then you would be in very big trouble if
you did not show up when you write me you will.”
Jessa smiled. “I better be.”
Understanding that he was damning himself, Severus bent and delivered a
scorching kiss regardless. Let the consequences be damned for now.
Jessa sighed and rested her head on Severus’ shoulder.
Where it belongs, Severus thought.
“You are wonderful, beautiful,” Jessa murmured.
“You seem to have me confused with someone else,” said Severus slickly.
Jessa nudged him with her forehead. “Maybe I like you better when you don’t
speak,” she teased.
“Maybe I like you better,” said Severus. He froze, realising what he’d just
said.
North looked at him. “I like you too,” she said.
Severus rested his head against her. What was he doing? “Remind me when you
have to leave?”
Jessa considered. She could apparate from the bedroom directly to the edge of
the school wards, then she had to cross the grounds and make her way to the
Slytherin dorms.
Providing she insisted on Severus having breakfast, she should be able to make
it inside the castle before he did.
North wriggled in Severus’ lap. “Long enough.”
***** Why Severus Snape Is A Sadistic Bat *****

Author's notes: Jessa gets caught in wet PJs by Snape, Draco tries to punch
Blaise after discovering the Slytherin has slept with Jessa, and Snape uses an
unusual method of punishment. Blaise redeems himself using newts' eyes.
===============================================================================
Nope, not mine. JKR does.
At the edge of the anti-apparition field Jessa moved to the shadows to change
back her appearance and transfigure her clothing into sleepwear. She had
crossed the grounds, entered the school, and had just reached the dungeons when
she heard a voice that cracked through her like a whip.
“Miss Malfoy!”
Shit. Shit, shit, fuck and balls.
Jessa turned to face a rather displeased looking Severus Snape.
Her mouth felt dry. “Good morning sir.”
“Come here,” he said angrily.
Jessa obeyed, and was rewarded with the potion master’s fingers bruising her
shoulder.
“Shouldn’t you be in bed?” Severus snapped.
“Well,” said Jessa.
“And correct me if I’m wrong, but you look far from seven years old.”
“Yes. Well-”
“Let’s avoid your lying to me,” Severus said. “Where should you be?”
“Draco’s dorm,” said Jessa.
Severus narrowed his eyes at her. “Then you best find your way there this
instant. You can expect your punishment after breakfast.”
“Yes sir,” mumbled Jessa.
“That would be now,” spat Severus.
Jessa fled.
Draco was awake when Jessa entered the room. “You’ve been gone almost the whole
night,” he hissed.
Jessa was wearing long, soft sleep pants low on her hips which were covered
with grass stains and soaked with dew at the bottom. Her tank top was tight and
the dungeons were cold.
“You look freezing,” Draco snapped, instantly performing warming charms and
pushing her to sit on the bed.
“Draco, will you shut up?” Blaise sat up and noticed Jessa, back at her normal
height, wearing form-fitting clothes and who had also obviously been outside
the castle. “Where you been, girl?”
“Shagging,” Jessa said bluntly.
Blaise turned and threw a pillow at the next bed. “Greg, get up, you tube.”
Jessa watched in confusion as Goyle sat up, gave Blaise a murderous look, then
calmly threw the pillow at Crabbe. “Vince!”
Then Vince sat up, gave his friend a blood-freezing glare, and looked around.
“Oh, right.” He got out of bed and crossed the room, pulling bedcurtains aside
and punching one bed’s occupant. “Theo!”
Nott yelped and sat up, rubbing his arm. “What the fuck Vince?”
“Something’s happening,” shrugged Vince.
“Thank you,” Draco snapped. He turned to his sister, “If you-”
“Not him,” Jessa sighed.
Blaise looked interested. “Not who?” Theo, who had forgiven his boyfriend,
crossed the room and sat down on Blaise’s bed. “Tell me you two aren’t at it
again,” Nott snapped.
Draco became livid, “You what?”
“Draco calm down,” Jessa sighed.
Draco stormed over to Blaise. “You fucked my sister?”
Jessa watched her half-brother shove Blaise then grabbed him by the back of his
top as he pulled his fist back.
“Stop that,” she snarled. More blandly she said, “You were busy screwing Pansy
at the time.”
“That’s different,” Draco growled.
“How is it?”
“Pansy’s a slut!”
Jessa punched him then sighed, gesturing towards Blaise. “Shagged the poof,”
she said of herself, “not exactly Mother Teresa here.”
Blaise grinned and shoved her a little. “He’s the poof,” he corrected, fondly
throwing an arm around Theo, “I’m merely a happy bisexual.”
“And a complete fucking slut,” Draco snarled.
“Draco? Baby?” said Jessa, “I kind of have bigger problems right now.”
Draco looked at her. “Like what?”
“You’re not pregnant?” said Blaise.
“No,” said Jessa shortly. “Draco, feel free.”
Draco moved to hit Blaise but was tugged back by Greg.
“What kind of goons are you?” Draco demanded.
“Draco!” Jessa shouted.
“What?”
“Focus please.”
“Alright…What’s wrong?”
“Remember what you said I mustn’t let happen?”
“Well it wasn’t keep Zambini out of your vagina was it?” Draco snapped.
Greg cuffed the boy upside the head.
“What sort of a bodyguard are you?” Draco screamed.
“Don’t talk to your sister like that,” Greg said.
“Draco!” Jessa howled, avoiding further eruptions.
“I’m sorry. What?”
“Snape!”
“What?” A moment later the blood drained from the boy’s face. “I said: don’t
get caught!”
“Well I obviously didn’t manage that!”
“Fuck!” Draco said.
Greg hit him again. “Watch your mouth, I said.”
Jessa glanced over. “I don’t mind, Greg.”
Draco sighed, rubbing the back of his
head. “What did he say?”
“That he’s going to punish me after breakfast.”
“We have class then,” said Vincent. Not long into the term the study period
before lunch had been swapped with the first period of the day.
Jessa paled, remembering the last time the man had punished her in his
classroom. “He wouldn’t do it in front of the class, would he?”
“Snape doesn’t punish Slytherins in front of the other houses,” Theo said.
“Yeah, but I’m not really a Slytherin, am I? It’s not like he can take points.”
“He never takes points from us,” Greg said. “Just detentions.”
“Or-” Vincent stopped, “but you’re a girl so he wouldn’t do that.”
“Or what?” said Jessa.
Vincent blushed. “He’s got…”
“Alternative methods,” Draco supplied.
“I think I’ve experienced those,” said Jessa with dread. “Would he ever, you
know, in front of…”
“I don’t think so,” Greg said uncertainly.
“Well that’s just grand,” Jessa sighed.
*
Jessa breakfasted with the Slytherins, hoping there was safety in numbers. She
toyed with her food, until Draco snapped at her and bullied her into eating,
and then she sat at the table for as long as she dared. Ten minutes later she
appeared reluctantly at the staff table beside the potions master.
“Sir?” she mumbled.
The man narrowed his eyes at her. “Yes Miss Malfoy?”
“Don’t you want to see me sir?” Jessa said nervously, “You said…to come to you
after breakfast.”
“Really, Miss Malfoy, why ever did I bid you to do that?”
Jessa got the distinct impression Snape just wanted her to say it. Wretched
man, embarrassing her like this after the sex she’d given him before breakfast.
“For my punishment, sir,” Jessa answered bravely.
“I see,” Severus said, toying with the food on his plate to make it appear he
was still eating even although he’d eaten at the Leaky Cauldron. “Perhaps you
should remind me what you’re going to be punished for?”
Damn the sexy man. “For being out after curfew and looking normal-sized.”
The potions master took a sip of pumpkin juice. “And?”
“And?” Jessa repeated blankly. What ‘and’? There was no ‘and’.
Severus turned fully and regarded her shrewdly. “You can’t think of anything
else you did, Miss Malfoy?”
From Jessa’s vacant expression it was apparent she did not follow his line of
thinking. “Um, isn’t what I said enough?”
Snape glared. “Consider your attire,” he prompted.
Jessa looked down. She was wearing a baby blue polo shirt, pale jeans and white
trainers. What was wrong with her clothes? Did they have to be green or
something?
Was the girl seriously this air-headed? “Last night, Miss Malfoy.”
‘Last night,’ Jessa mouthed, thinking hard.
The girl had been wearing relatively thin pyjamas that fit snugly around her
feminine curves and were not remotely suitable for wearing in a dorm full of
boys, where she shouldn’t have been in the first place, if Severus had not been
overruled by some insane Headmaster Reasoning, but more importantly, the girl
was caught wearing just them outside the dorm, which the temperature did not
permit, not to mention she’d obviously been outside, being covered in green
stains as she was, and soaked to the bone with dew. If not for the obvious
danger posed by being outside, barely clad, during night hours, there was the
high likelihood of the silly creature becoming ill from her exposure to the
cold and damp.
“Um, the grass stains?” Jessa ventured, wishing there was some way to read the
man’s mind without his knowing.
“And what would the grass stains indicate Miss Malfoy?”
“Er, that I’d been outside?”
“You don’t sound certain.”
“That I was outside.”
“Were you now,” said Snape. “And what where
you wearing outside? Not those thin pyjamas, surely?”
“Oh,” said Jessa.
Severus stood abruptly, noting that the girl had at least the sense to follow.
To Jessa’s discomfort, she was led into the potions classroom.
“You realise that you could have caught your death of cold?” Severus snapped.
“Your meagre attire was sodden; not to mention you should have known the
dungeons were much too cold for just your pyjamas, never mind outside! I doubt
Lucius would have been pleased to hear the school had allowed his errant
daughter to catch pneumonia.”
Jessa looked up to smile shyly, but it was quelled by the man’s angry
expression. “I hope you realise why I chose not to punish you right then, aside
from wanting you changed into warm, dry clothing and into bed to be remotely
fresh for my class?”
Jessa met his eyes in question. “To give me time to think about it?”
“To give myself time to calm down,” Severus snarled. “If I’d punished you last
night you can rest assured I would have blistered your tail.”
Jessa felt colour rushing up to her cheeks.
“As it is, you are going to point your nose in that corner until I decide to
release you,” the man snapped, gesturing to the corner at the back of the class
most visible from his desk
Jessa turned to him to speak, but was instantly silenced by the black look
Snape gave her. She fled to the corner.
Severus grimly took his place behind his desk to wait for the classroom to
fill. Jessa found the angry presence behind her, boring holes into the back of
her head, was disturbing her somewhat fiercely.
Draco was first to enter the classroom, flanked by Crabbe and Goyle, whilst the
others preoccupied Pansy. Should there be anything unsightly happening in the
class when he arrived, his bodyguards would prevent the gryffindors from
entering until whatever was happening was finished.
As it was, Draco was met with what, at first glance, appeared to be a classroom
occupied only by the professor, yet housed in one corner an only partially
contrite young female who was mentally cursing Snape and vowing that he was
never, ever, receiving fellatio from her ever, ever again.
“Sit down and be silent, Mister Malfoy,” Severus intoned. “Stop loitering in
the doorway, boys.”
Greg and Vincent reluctantly entered and seated themselves, the room gradually
becoming filled with students.
“Silence,” Severus demanded. “Your instructions are,” he jabbed his wand, “on
the board, and you will all keep your eyes directed to the front. Begin.”
Ronald Weasley was first to be deposited in another corner for disobeying his
professor’s instructions. After that, everyone resolutely ignored Jessa,
although Blaise, who was sitting rather close to the redhead’s corner, did
renew Draco’s favour by pelting newts eyes at the boy who was warned to stay
perfectly still on threat of a dreadfully horrible death.
Severus appeared not to notice.
*
“Did I give you permission to move, Miss Malfoy?”
Jessa pouted. “The period’s over.”
“And yet your punishment has at least another hour.”
Jessa spun around. “But-”
“Miss Malfoy I will keep you here until dinnertime if I so choose, I’m sure my
other classes can accommodate you. Turn around and be silent.”
If Jessa had been truly afraid of the potions master she would likely have
obeyed. However, she dared risk his wrath: he seemed to be in what was, for
him, a charitable mood.
“Sir, my muscles are sore.”
Severus did not look up from the potions journal he was skimming. “If it takes
away your muscular pain from standing still you may come here and I will
address the matter by making another part of you very sore.” He lifted his
head. “Turn back to the wall Miss Malfoy.”
Foul man.
***** Gargoyles Smiling Is Not A Good Omen *****

Author's notes: The Malfoys require Jessa's presence.
===============================================================================
Severus did not make Jessa remain in the corner until dinnertime. Six minutes
into the interval, when Jessa resigned herself to remaining facing the walls,
he dismissed her.
The first person Jessa met was Harry.
“What did you do?” he greeted her.
Jessa shrugged. “I was coming back in last night and he caught me in the
dungeons with grass stains on my bottoms.”
“Bad luck,” the boy winced.
Jessa gave a rueful smile. “At least I managed to get out.”
“How was your night?”
“Not bad,” said Jessa. Her eyes danced. “Have you tried Finnegan yet?”
Harry blushed. “You were right. I actually found Dean in his bed early this
morning.”
Jessa laughed. “What did you say?”
“I said they should have asked me to join in -then retreated like a coward to
the bathroom,” Harry admitted.
“My, that Gryffindor courage sounds great. We’ll get you a boy yet, Scarhead,”
Jessa teased affectionately.
Harry grinned and they parted ways, Jessa making her way to Moody’s rooms. She
lay down on his bed and breathed in the smell of the man. She’d missed him
somehow.
*
“Lucius, is this true?” drawled the Dark Lord, casually ending the curse.
Lucius remained sobbing on the floor. He had been subjected to the cruciatus
curse for an entire five minutes.
Voldemort sighed. “Crucio.”
Screams were torn from the man at his feet.
Voldemort lifted the curse seconds later. “Really Lucius,” he scolded. “Focus.”
The blonde had the presence of mind to gasp, “Yes, my Lord.”
“I expect you to bring her to me –crucio- soon.”
*
During fourth period, Jessa could be found quietly reading a rather disgusting
potions tome that was grimy to the touch and was written so long ago there were
random ‘e’s at the ends of nearly every word. The combination of faint
lettering, old spellings, the smell and the dust was giving her a headache.
Severus was not speaking to her, instead ripping his quill viciously through a
stack of fourth year essays.
Jessa kept her eyes on the words in front of her as a note flew into the room.
Yes, reading the ancient book was hell, but she did not want placed back in the
corner, thank you.
Whatever the piece of parchment said it hardly seemed to please Snape. He got
up with an annoyed flourish of his robes. “You are to come.”
Surprised, Jessa left the book open and quickly followed. She risked bumping
her hand against his. Twice.
The second time, Severus took it and met her eyes briefly.
Whatever was happening must be bad then.
“Sugar quills,” Severus hissed at the gargoyle.
Jessa got the distinct impression the stone creature had rolled its eyes at him
as it stepped aside. She reached up and stroked the side of the gargoyle’s face
as though he were a great dane and not a carving. “Never mind him,” she said
consolingly, “he’s worried.”
The girl was no less surprised than Severus when the gargoyle smiled at her.
Severus tugged her up the stairs.
Lucius was standing glaring at the headmaster when the pair entered the office.
“What held you up?”
“Your daughter was gossiping about me to the gargoyle,” Severus answered.
“The gargoyle?”
Jessa smiled cheerfully. “He grinned at me.”
“‘He’?” Severus repeated dubiously.
“He,” Jessa agreed blithely.
“Isn’t that amazing,” said Dumbledore.
Lucius tapped his staff on the floor to draw attention back to his preferred
topic.
Jessa turned to him with an open expression that wasn’t at all felt.
“It seems both of you are coming home with me,” Lucius drawled. He paused.
“Where is Draco?”
‘Not here obviously,’ Jessa thought.
Moments later footfalls could be heard on the stairs and the boy in question
appeared. “Hello there Father.”
Lucius nodded. “Good morning Draco.”
“Is something happening?” Draco asked.
“Nothing important,” Lucius said.
*
Jessa was disturbed by the short amount of time it took to arrive at Malfoy
Manor. At least she’d managed to change before being bundled into the floo.
Arriving in jeans and a pair of muggle trainers- wouldn’t that have been
horrifying. Her father had not seemed to notice but she was sure that he had.
He doubtlessly could hardly have missed the Fred Perry top.
As it was, she was wearing hot pink, glittery heels and a floaty white dress
cinched by a belt the exact same material and design and (fabulous) make as the
shoes.
Draco reached over to squeeze her arm reassuringly. “You look lovely,” he
promised.
Which was important, as Narcissa was shortly about to join them in the drawing
room.
When Narcissa did, she eyed Jessa critically
before she noticed Severus.
“Lucius?” she questioned.
“The old fool insisted on Severus keeping an eye on your daughter. As if I do
not know how to control my own children.”
“Quite,” said Narcissa, crossing the floor to examine the girl more closely.
Jessa, who was dwelling on the ‘your daughter’ and allusion to discipline that
Lucius had made, did not notice until the woman had firmly-yet-lightly taken
Jessa’s face in her hands.
“You have flawless skin,” said Narcissa, “but it is strange to see a Malfoy
with eyes as dark as yours’, they’re almost as black as Severus’.”
“Ought I change them?” Jessa asked quietly.
“Oh no dear,” Narcissa protested, “you must keep something of yourself. Smile.”
Jessa obeyed, and was surprised when the woman began pushing aside her lips to
expose her teeth. “These won’t need alteration either,” Narcissa said in
praise.
“What will?” Jessa asked when she had her mouth back.
Narcissa scrutinised her. “Here,” she said, running a thumb over an ear that
was more pointed than a Malfoy ear, “and here also,” she indicated the girl’s
knees and calves, and brushed her slim fingers over Jessa’s stomach. “Your
bellybutton,” the woman said, “does it show in or out?”
“In,” said Jessa.
“Change it,” said Narcissa. “Malfoys don’t.”
‘Ridiculous,’ Jessa thought, keeping the irritation from her face and eyes. She
had no intention of altering her bellybutton!
“You are remarkably pretty,” Narcissa commented. “Of course, that is to be
expected, with a mix of Malfoy and Black blood.”
“Thank you,” Jessa said uncertainly.
Narcissa circled her. “You’re like Nymphadora?”
“Similar,” Jessa said, a small amount of irritation seeping into her voice.
Narcissa regarded her with approval. “You dislike that association?”
“I believed poise was still considered a valuable trait,” Jessa said carefully.
“Indeed,” said Narcissa, leading Jessa to an ornate mirror and leading Draco
also, so that Jessa might copy her half-brother’s ears.
For her legs, Jessa used Narcissa’s example.
Shortly a house elf appeared informing them it was time to change for lunch.
“I have provided suitable outfits and placed them in your closet,” Narcissa
said to Jessa.
“Thank you,” said Jessa.
Severus looked up. “Where is her room?” he asked.
“The south wing. Why?”
“I need to be close to her at night also.”
Lucius looked close to affronted. “The girl attacked a mudblood, Draco’s in no
danger.”
Severus glanced across. “She’s…highly strung. This isn’t about Draco’s safety…”
The man didn’t finish. Jessa somehow felt glad he hadn’t explained it was for
her sanity.
“Is there something I need to know, Severus?” Lucius drawled.
“Not if I can help it,” the man replied smoothly.
Lucius showed his teeth but allowed the conversation to end. “Your things are
in your usual room regardless. The house elves can move them to a more
convenient room for you after luncheon.”
“Thank you, Lucius,” Severus said sedately.
***** Hide It Better *****

Author's notes: Lucius displays his dismal parenting skills by introducing his
daughter to the Dark Lord.
===============================================================================
You know who owns.
Draco slipped along to Jessa’s room. Her bed was covered by outfits and it
wasn’t difficult to pick out something suitable and return the rest to the
closet.
“How did you know I’d struggle?”
Draco looked at her. “Because I know you well enough to know that you are
nervous. Hide it better,” he said.
Jessa glanced across, picking up the chosen dress. She didn’t ask why and she
didn’t ask how.
Draco left to wait outside. When Jessa was suitably attired he took her arm and
led her downstairs to the dining room.
The room itself was large enough to seat much more than one hundred people, but
the present table, placed in the middle of the room, only seated twenty. From
the scent of magic on it obviously it could be extended out. Draco slid into
the tall-backed chair that was beside Severus and adjacent to his father. With
only minute hesitation Jessa chose the chair across from Severus, and was
relieved when Narcissa seated herself beside Lucius without signalling that
Jessa had been mistaken.
The meal itself was ridiculously pretentious. Jessa’s luck held, however, as
the woman beside her surveyed her small selection of foodstuffs making the
assumption Jessa was watching her figure.
After eating was when Jessa’s luck did give out. Lucius was sitting on the edge
of his seat, twirling the expensive wine in his expensive crystal glass, when a
flicker of pain showed briefly across his face, and the arm that had held his
glass went to the inside of his left arm.
Severus did the same.
“Daughter, come here if you would,” Lucius drawled, a quiver of pain threading
through his strained voice.
Jessa felt her muscles tense. Without a word, she stood and obeyed. Severus
contained the concern he felt rising up his chest. Lucius stood to take Jessa’s
shoulder. He focused on the burning of his arm, then dissapperated with a
crack. Moments later Severus also obeyed the calling.
The trio had apparated to what appeared to be a room of a large and expensive
home. Another manor, perhaps. The walls were covered in broadly striped blue
and cream satin-effect wallpaper, that probably had once cost twenty pounds per
roll, but were grimy and old. The lighting was ineffective and gloomy; there
many places Jessa would have preferred to be.
Particularly as the Dark Lord was without question somewhere far too nearby.
Both men seemed familiar with the setting. Lucius had let Jessa go and was
moving through a doorframe that had no door. Severus turned back and placed his
hand soothingly in the hollow of her back before leading her out of the decayed
room.
The hallway was in no less disrepair. Lucius ducked past cobwebs that seemed to
reach out to snatch at him. Severus followed behind, moving the unpleasant
objects out of the way to push Jessa past them. Jessa did not stray from the
space between the man’s arm and chest until her father led them into a large
and much grander room. Everything here was ostentatious and clean, but lit only
by the feeble glow of a solitary, squat candle bobbing bravely in the corner.
The light reflected off the walls but did not bounce far enough to light the
opposite side of the room.
From this darkened corner an ominous silhouette emerged, and observed Jessa
with eyes that remained red, even in the meagre light.
Jessa felt Severus and her father drop to their knees behind her, although
Severus pulled Jessa down simultaneously.
“Let her stand,” said Voldemort.
***** Determining Levels of Corruption *****

Author's notes: Lord Voldemort has a poke around in Jessa's head and likes what
he sees.
===============================================================================
Not mine, just providing him with someone with a backbone. JKR's.
Jessa stood smoothly, wishing she were able to ask the others if she were
permitted to dare lay eyes upon their master.
It was not through bravery but an inexplicable compulsion which made Jessa look
at the man before her. The lighting was soft but by it the man was pale and
striking. Were it not for who he was Jessa may have called him beautiful.
The dark lord had been gazing at the girl intently when he saw her raise her
eyes to regard him. She started first with his torso then looked up to the
features of his face, looking briefly at his eyes without actually meeting
them. He watched the fear fade from her face to be replaced with the calm awe
of a captivated child who assumes themselves safe.
He was about to say something angry about that, when she met his eyes.
He stared, perfectly transfixed for moments, before something called to him to
push into her mind, and he did.
Her voice, which was gentle and quiet and lightly chiding, danced before the
haphazard memories that crowded her mind. ‘Don’t you know,’ she asked, ‘that
you are being very rude?’
Voldemort shifted his weight in surprise. ‘A fairly clever child, aren’t you?’
he said. He rarely met anyone who was able to protest when he invaded their
mind.
‘At times I can be,’ the girl replied softly. ‘What are you looking for?’
‘Your level of corruption?’ the man suggested. ‘Your intelligence; your
motivations?’
‘Shall I help you look?’
The dark lord had not expected her to ask that. A small measure of distrust
coloured her voice, as did varying levels of passivity and tentative affection.
‘What do you think you ought to show me?’ he retorted.
Voldemort sensed the shrug in her voice. ‘Most anything you want. I just would
prefer to chaperone you rather than risk you leaving me an enormous migraine.’
Voldemort moved deeper into the girl’s mind and felt her defences moving back,
although he sensed her voice was still present, merely silent.
The man sifted through her memories, gaining an idea of her ideals and flaws.
He also gained knowledge of her initial thoughts of him, her mistrust of her
father, and some affection for Severus. Occasionally Voldemort would feel the
girl move knowledge away from him, although he could also feel what was hidden
was not volatile towards him, only private. There was, however, a ball of
knowledge that she obstinately refused to allow him access to.
‘My followers do not keep secrets from me,’ he said in warning.
‘You haven’t marked me yet,’ the girl replied carefully.
‘You would be honoured to wear my mark,’ Voldemort replied only a little
sharply.
The girl’s next reply was clouded with childish sorrow, reminiscent of a child
who believes they have hurt a parent’s feelings. ‘I believe it would be
pleasant to be free, but am not trying to insult you.’
‘You sound regretful.’
‘I angered you.’
‘Does that not make you fearful?’
Her next reply was surprised. ‘Of course.’
‘Yet you still insult your Lord?’
The dark lord would swear to himself he sensed the voice squirm like a toddler
who expects to be put to bed with neither their desert nor a story. His lips
twitched. ‘It is you who chooses to find my honesty an insult,’ the girl said.
‘You think I should not still curse you for not begging to be marked?’
‘I expect you shall,’ the girl said resignedly, ‘but I also expect the
punishment for telling you a truth you do not wish to hear is not so unpleasant
as the consequences for telling you the lie that you do.’
‘And what good is a girl to me who won’t take my mark?’
‘I tell you the truths you do not wish to hear. What servant of yours’ dares to
do that, or would you be lied to instead?’
‘It is a fool who lies to Lord Voldemort,’ he replied coldly.
‘I do not doubt that.’
‘You believe yourself entertaining?’
‘I doubt I would find that a reprieve.’
The dark lord exited the girl’s mind. “It is unwise to make assumptions about
my future action,” he said severely.
Severus steeled himself for whatever followed. Lucius considered the likelihood
of being hexed for siring an unsatisfactory product.
Lord Voldemort moved back to the wing-backed chair he had occupied previously,
his features obscuring in the darkness.
He gestured to the space at his feet. “Sit,” he ordered.
Jessa dared give the man a quizzical look as she moved to obey. He glared at
her, and she adverted her gaze quickly.
“Your daughter is interesting, Lucius,” the dark lord said lazily.
“My Lord,” Lucius said blandly.
“Entertaining, even,” Voldemort continued.
Lucius was still uncertain whether to be pleased or worried.
“I am certain she would produce intelligent death eater youths given the right
man,” the dark lord said.
Lucius watched Voldemort’s gaze move pointedly towards Severus.
Severus bit down the protest that Jessa was only a child. “But my blood, my
Lord,” he ventured bravely.
“I agree it is unfortunate, Severus,” the dark lord agreed, glowering at
Severus as though his parentage was a fault of his own making, “but I dare say
your sour temperament would balance Miss Malfoy’s positivity.”
Jessa glanced up again, not daring to speak yet willing the dark lord to make
eye contact with her once more.
Lucius’ lips curled at the mention of Severus’ ‘sour temperament.’ “I was not
aware my daughter was ‘positive’,” he said.
“She is brave,” the dark lord admitted, “and she is honest. Did you know of
these values?”
Lucius dared not consider he was being insulted. “I have not known her long, my
lord.”
“You would do well to do so,” Voldemort said. He then turned to meet Severus’
reluctant eyes and smirked. “And it seems you have finally found someone who is
able to see some worth in you.”
“That is why you are pairing them?” Lucius blurted.
Voldemort’s cool glare expressed his displeasure. “Your manners, Lucius, are
not equal to your daughter’s,” the man said warningly. “As for your
grandchildren I have no want to see them so soon.”
Lucius appeared simultaneously relieved and confused.
Voldemort regarded him coldly. “I expect they would make a good pairing in
time; I am not yet declaring them paired at this time.”
“My lord,” said Lucius with an incline of his head. It was apparent he was
still perturbed.
The dark lord turned away in dismissal, looking instead to the teenager at his
feet. He met her eyes.
‘You think you can be my confidant? My sounding board?’
‘Is your snake not your confidant? And my value as a sounding board rests on
how much value you place on my opinion.’
‘Does it not occur to you to save your own neck?’
‘I have said nothing that has no validity.’ There was pause, then the man heard
her say, ‘You should perhaps drink more water.’
‘What?’
‘When you stood in the light, your eyes were red.’
‘My eyes are red.’
‘Not your irises,’ the girl said, ‘if that mattered at all there are colour-
changing charms, or coloured contact lenses. I mean the whites of your eyes
were red.’
‘And why do you suggest water?’
‘Because no one would risk poking you in the eyes; I doubt you have hayfever; I
doubt your eyes are irritated; and I dare not yet ask if you are upset.’
There was pause again, but it was the dark lord who broke the silence. ‘Do you
believe that is true?’
‘Do you like me for my bravery or my stupidity?’ the girl replied.
‘You are not incorrect,’ Voldemort said, ‘although I prefer to believe the
visibility of my blood vessels is a sign of madness.’
‘Why would you wish for insanity?’
‘It grants a man strength.’
‘And your sorrow?’
‘It remains the core of my strength.’
‘Then you are welcome to share your strength with me when you wish.’
Voldemort felt the connection break, and watched the girl stand. “Is that all
you wish from me, my Lord?”
Her actual voice is years older than the one he has become used to. “For now,
little Courageous.”
Jessa inclined her head and stepped back.
Voldemort glanced back at Lucius. “What did you say was your daughter’s name?”
“Kindred Jessamine, my Lord,” Lucius answered gracefully.
The dark lord smirked. “Your name is ‘Family’?”
Jessa regarded him evenly. “It is,” she said.
“What an intriguing name,” said Voldemort. He glanced at his two men. “Lucius,
you may take your daughter home. She has done well. Severus, you will stay a
while. I have need of you.”
“Of course my Lord.”
***** Seduce for Peace *****

Author's notes: After debating that Draco may not be capable of behaving
appropriately during a death eater raid he comes up with a plan to end the war.
===============================================================================
Not mine, just conspiring to get him to have Potty's cherry. JKR owns Potter's
cherry and everything else.
Draco was hidden from view, sitting tensely on the window seat, when a loud
crack alerted him to his father’s return. He stretched out his long legs and
moved aside the curtain to get up. Jessa was stepping away from their father
and wearing an unreadable expression.
Lucius’ eyes fell on his son and his lips thinned in a smile. “Have you been
waiting for news of your sister’s success with the Dark Lord?”
“Of course, Father,” Draco said. “She was successful?”
Lucius glanced down at his daughter curiously. “She was indeed.”
Jessa met his eyes. “You do me a disservice by doubting me,” she said in a
jesting tone that did not match her mood.
“I did indeed,” Lucius agreed, noticing that his son was waiting impatiently
for details as he did so. The boy was eager to be of service to their Lord.
“May we be excused, Father?”
“Certainly,” the man replied, watching his children leave his office before
stroking the silver head of his cane and moving to his desk to pull out some
parchment. Draco could be heard badgering his sister with ‘What was it like?’
before they ascended the stairs and became too far away for Lucius to hear
through the open door.
*
Jessa met Draco’s eyes, now suitably far from their sire. “It was odd,” she
said, frowning in thought yet retaining the presence of mind to keep her voice
low.
“In what way?”
“For such a powerful man he seems…” Jessa trailed off, unsure how to continue.
She trailed her hand in the air to signify her difficulty. “He is short-
tempered, certainly, but he just seemed a bit tragic, that’s all.”
“Tragic?” Draco repeated incredulously.
Jessa was thoughtful. “His snake is the only one who doesn’t fear him, that
must be a lonely existence. Not to mention being reputedly evil when his
intentions are noble…”
“You believe that killing off the mudbloods is noble then?” Draco said
carefully.
Jessa glanced at him. “No,” she admitted softly, “but his motivations aren’t
ignoble.”
They were outside Draco’s room now, and the boy opened the door and followed
her inside.
Jessa sat down on the black silk sheets of the bed. She hadn’t expected them to
be black; green perhaps. The harsh colour made Draco seem bloodless and
otherworldly. It was probably his intention.
“What happened?” Draco asked.
Jessa leaned against his headboard, picking up one of the shiny pillows and
holding its cool weight against her chest. She played with the frill that edged
it. “He went into my head,” she said, “and asked me some questions.”
“What questions?” Draco asked.
Jessa looked up. “He searched my head to figure out my…” she closed her eyes to
remember, “level of corruption, intelligence and motivations. He made a point
to impress on me that I better never lie and supposedly he thinks I have a
backbone.”
Draco tried to look nonchalant. “Do you think I have a backbone?”
Jessa nodded, moving her legs to rest them on his lap. “As much as I do,” she
said.
He played with one of the tiny buckles on her shoe. He sighed.
“Do you even want to be a death eater?” Jessa asked.
Draco met her eyes bravely and shrugged. “I haven’t much choice.”
“I can’t see you raping a muggle to be honest,” Jessa said, “I’m not sure you
could even torture properly.”
“I could torture someone. It’s in me. I would be happy to torture a
Gryffindor.”
“No you wouldn’t,” Jessa said, “Gryffindors are your rivals –that’s warfare.
Muggles are completely at your mercy. It’s completely different.”
“It isn’t,” Draco replied shortly.
Jessa retrieved her wand from where it was flush against her torso, held in
place by her bra. She held it loosely in her lap. “Hex me,” she said.
“Something that will hurt a bit.”
Draco looked at her dubiously before casting a stinging hex.
Jessa cancelled the hex then handed Draco her wand. He examined it curiously.
“What’s its core?”
“Thestral hair,” Jessa replied.
Draco looked vaguely impressed.
“I now want you to immobilate me and then hex me.”
Draco gave her an odd look and immobilised her, but hesitated before eventually
hexing her.
Jessa casually cancelled both spells, her wand still clutched in her brother’s
hand. “You felt that?”
Draco gave her a cold look. “Felt what?”
“You hesitated to hex me.”
Draco glared at her. “I still did it.”
“But could you still do it if you were being asked to use secrumserpia or
something more violent?
Could you crucio someone?”
“Of course I could,” Draco said churlishly.
“And what if you had to crucio a child? A pregnant woman? Could you do that?”
“Yes,” Draco said stiffly.
“Could you? Could you really?”
“Yes!” Draco snapped.
“I couldn’t,” Jessa said.
Draco glanced at her. “No?”
“Not when they weren’t attacking me. When they were lying broken on the floor
watching the destruction of their loved ones.”
Draco was quiet for a long time. “May we discuss something else?” he asked
stiffly.
Jessa threw his pillow at him. “Of course.”
Draco caught it. “What are your plans for world peace?” he said.
Jessa laughed. “You want Plan A or Plan B?”
Draco blinked. “You have more than one plan?”
“Yes. Have Voldie seduced or train Potter ourselves.”
“And Plan C?”
Jessa shrugged. “Kill Voldie, Potty and Dumbles.”
Draco blanched. “Kill the Dark Lord?”
“Which is why it’s Plan C.”
“I don’t even want to know if you’ve got a Plan D.”
“Force the Dark Lord to fall in love with either the Golden Boy or Dumbles.”
“And if he’s straight?”
“Plan E: persuade Pansy to give Granger a makeover and teach her to seduce the
Dark Lord.”
Draco used his pillow to stifle his laughter. “Do all
your plans involve seduction or death?” he asked when he recovered.
“Mainly,” agreed Jessa.
Draco was thoughtful. “Why did you try to kill Granger?”
Jessa sighed. “I wasn’t trying to kill her I was just trying to make it seem
that way so she’d back the fuck off.”
“Has it worked?” Draco asked.
Jessa shrugged. “Hardly seen her.”
Draco sniggered and lay back on his enormous bed. His pale hair spun about his
face, making him seem angelic and serene, and Jessa was reminded of Severus
with his shining black hair fanned around him upon white sheets.
“So what’s your plan?” Jessa drawled.
“It’s got to be recruit the Half-blood,” he said regretfully. “We can’t kill
Dumbledore and Voldemort’s invincible. The only way to end the battle between
dark and light is to corrupt the Golden Boy, or kill him.”
“I’d rather he wasn’t dead,” Jessa admitted reluctantly. “He’s our rival more
than old Tom’s. I want him whole when I hex him.”
Draco snorted. “When was the last time you hexed him? You might as well dress
in red and gold.”
“I can just see myself at the Gryffindor table between Weasel and the
Mudblood,” Jessa drawled sarcastically.
Draco regarded Jessa thoughtfully. “You said it was Potty who snuck you past
the wards?”
Jessa nodded, watching her brother sit up on his elbows.
“This might actually be possible,” he mused.
“What?”
“You,” Draco said, “We get you to corrupt Potter…”
“How?”
“Seduce him, of course.”
Jessa snickered and leaned back against the headboard. “I hope you have a Plan
B.”
Draco sat up. “I’m serious; it could work. Admittedly you’d have to pretend to
like a Gryffindork but-”
“No,” said Jessa, shaking her head in amusement, “you don’t understand: he
won’t be seduced by anything I could do.”
“You’re a Malfoy,” Draco said. “All you need to do is unbutton your shirt and
anyone watching is yours.”
“You don’t get it,” Jessa protested. She covered her mouth with mirth.
Draco was perplexed by her laughter. “Why wouldn’t it work?”
“He doesn’t swing my way,” Jessa explained gently, her shoulders still shaking
with contained laughter.
"What about Cho?"
Jessa looked blank. "Who?"
"The hot Asian girl in the year above that he hooked up with in fourth year.”
“I guess it didn’t work out,” said Jessa, “he told me he’s into guys and he
didn’t seem interested when he caught me in my underwear.”
Draco’s eyes narrowed. “When was this?”
“A while ago,” Jessa lied, “he walked in on me in Mad Eye’s by mistake.”
Draco was quiet for a moment. “Then I will conquer the Golden Bumboy,” he said
decisively.
Jessa stared at him. “You?”
“It’s impossible to share a dorm with Blaise and Theo without picking up
habits,” said Draco dignifiedly. “It’s a sacrifice, but I can seduce Potter.”
“Why?” giggled Jessa only half-exasperatedly.
“For world peace,” said Draco. “And so I don’t need to put myself inside
muggles during death eater raids.”
“Draco,” Jessa said delicately, “you realise the fight between Harry and the
Dark Lord isn’t the same as the fight between the Dark Lord and the lowbloods?”
“Exactly, Pureblood,” Draco agreed imperiously, “that’s why I’m going to seduce
Potter. Harry.” He handed Jessa back her wand.
***** Don't Talk To Nagini *****

Author's notes: Wherein Lord Voldemort demands the presence of Lucius' children
and Jessa is accused of acting like a Gryffindor and the lord acts oddly
===============================================================================
JKR owns everything but an insulted fake blonde.
Severus returned later in the day. Lucius met his eyes for a moment then
lowered his gaze again to focus on the letter he was reading. “He’s going to
call us again tonight.”
Lucius looked up in surprise. “Tonight?”
Severus shrugged. “He didn’t say what’s going on. He asked for both children to
attend, however.”
“You don’t suppose he intends to mark them?”
“Tonight? No. He would have suggested Narcissa attend if that were the
intention.”
Lucius nodded in dismissal and began to ink a reply to his letter.
*
Draco met her eyes warily as he settled under his father’s arm. Jessa slid her
fingers across to brush his, and then they found themselves in the same
striped-wallpaper room. Lucius led the way, but this time to a bright parlour
where about eight unmasked death eaters were gathered. Some were seated or
leaning against furniture whilst some merely stood.
A few turned to stare at the young Malfoys curiously. “Who’s the other one,
Lucius?” Nott Sr. asked.
“My daughter,” Lucius drawled.
“Dark eyes like yours Severus. There I was thinking you were just bad-tempered
when I met you but turns out Malfoy just got you pregnant, eh?”
Jessa turned to see the younger man with the familiar voice who had spoken. He
was grinning cheekily.
“My, you’ve grown up from the prat who threw up all over our carpet,” said
Jessa disparagingly.
Fiyer’s head jolted back in surprise. Someone behind him laughed. “Plenty birds
remember you, Fiyer. Did he lead *your* brother into trouble as well, darling?”
Jessa smiled. “I remember it being the other way around to be fair.”
There was a spattering of laughter during which Fiyer ducked his head ruefully.
The laughter stopped abruptly as Lord Voldemort glided into the room. “Enjoying
yourselves boys?” he murmured, arching one brow.
The men nodded nervously whilst, without waiting for a reply, the Dark Lord
turned to Lucius. “I intend to speak with the children first then I will deal
with you pair and the rest of these miscreants.”
Jessa stepped towards the door, guiding Draco with her.
“Mister Fiyer I am sure my dealing with you is no reason to blush like that,”
the Dark Lord said deprecatingly.
“No sir,” Fiyer spluttered, attempting to maintain the deepness of his voice.
Voldemort smirked at him and followed the teens from the room, herding them
into another close by.
He glanced at Jessa. “How are you, my little Gryffindor?”
Jessa’s mouth fell open in indignation. “That’s not funny!”
Draco glanced across at her in alarm, but Lord Voldemort merely smirked again.
“Brave and foolish, no?”
Jessa scowled. “I don’t know why you’re in such better spirits than earlier but
I do not approve.”
The Dark Lord laughed at this. “See? An entirely Gryffindorish reply.”
Draco gave Jessa a questioning look.
“Why the change in demeanour?” Jessa asked seriously.
“The Dark Lord needs no reason,” he replied, beginning to narrow his eyes.
“What did you want with us?” Jessa asked, changing tact.
“There’s a more Slytherin action,” Voldemort said approvingly. “To answer your
question, Kindred, I thought you would both profit from spending more time here
to determine your own feelings upon accepting my Mark.”
“I…think I feel the same as before,” Jessa said gingerly.
The Dark Lord gave what was almost a pout. “Spoilsport,” he grumbled, before
bowing and indicating they step out the door, “Go explore,” he said, “I will
speak with each of you personally later.”
Jessa met a pale Draco’s eyes moments later. “Did the Dark Lord seem wasted to
you?” she murmured.
“I think so,” he drawled back quietly.
Not wanting to fall foul of dark objects, the pair did not explore very far
into the old house, which was only half refurbished after a long period of
neglect. Jessa and Draco found themselves near the foot of the staircase
holding a shallow conversation whilst they waited for the meeting taking place
to end.
“Who was that man you embarrassed earlier?” Draco asked thoughtfully after a
pause.
“Fiyer? He was friends with my brother at school.”
“Who?” said Draco.
“Regie.”
“Black?”
“Yes Black, who else would,” Jessa paused as she noticed Draco was looking past
her, and turned around. The Dark Lord’s enormous familiar was twining herself
up the banister and gazing at them both coldly.
“Hello, lovely,” Jessa greeted, “are you feeling left out?”
“You shouldn’t talk to Nagini,” Draco said definitely.
Jessa glanced back at him. “Why not? It’s not like she can curse us for not
bowing or anything.”
“You don’t talk to snakes unless you’re a parseltongue and considering who that
snake belongs to, I’m sure she is capable of cursing us if she wants to.”
“Where’s *your* Gryffindor courage?”
“I am a Slytherin!” Draco snapped, “We come with an inbuilt sense of self-
preservation.”
Jessa turned to the snake to roll her eyes. “What do you think, Nagini?”
“Don’t bring her into it!”
Jessa grinned at Nagini before turning back to Draco. “Relax, Drakey.”
Draco’s eyes narrowed. “What have I said about calling me that?”
“Nothing,” Jessa said innocently, “…Little brother.”
Draco pointed his finger at Jessa. “Cruio!”
Jessa pretended to writhe in agony. She stopped when she noticed Nagini’s
interest. “That wasn’t in bad taste, was it?”
Draco sighed and glanced towards a doorway. “Perhaps we shouldn’t tempt fate.”
“I’m bored though; I want Voldie to come back out.”
“You can’t say Voldie in front of Nagini!” Draco hissed. “And besides, only
boring people get bored.”
“Or it could simply be your sparkling conversation,” Jessa said. “Besides, it’s
not like I called him Tom.”
Draco sighed and banged his head dramatically off the stair level with his
skull. “She’s-still-there!”
Nagini began to slide towards him curiously. Draco stopped immediately. Without
thinking, Jessa reached out to stroke her. “He’s trying to be funny,” Jessa
explained.
Nagini regarded Jessa intelligently.
“I bet you really can understand everything I say,” Jessa said
conspiratorially.
Nagini bobbed her head slowly, and curled closer towards the hand petting her.
“Do you like that?” Jessa asked. When the snake didn’t answer Jessa said, “We
should make a deal: you teach me how to speak with you and I’ll stroke you any
time you want.” Jessa paused. “Although if I could understand you, I suppose
you could ask for anything really.” She continued to stroke Nagini, whilst the
snake curled her tail around her carefully.
“I bet you’re really useful when it’s cold,” Jessa teased.
Draco sighed. “Please don’t annoy the Dark Lord’s snake.”
“I’m not annoying her, am I Nagini, lovely?” The snake swayed curiously. “See,
we’re bonding.”
“I’m not sure bonding with Nagini is necessary either,” said Draco.
“But she’s so gorgeous,” said Jessa, “and smart… see, she can tell I’m saying
good things about her.”
Draco laughed when Nagini began to unwind from Jessa and begin to slither away.
“You’re not her type,” he laughed.
“I could try red eyes,” Jessa mused.
Draco startled. “Don’t,” he said.
It was not long after this that the death eaters began to disperse from the
conference. The Dark Lord glanced over at them both.
“Nagini’s been telling me things,” he said.
***** The Bellybutton Revolt *****

Author's notes: Wherein Snape shocks Lucius and Jessa amuses Draco
===============================================================================
Not mine simply getting them into trouble JKR owns.
“Are you going to tell me about this woman then, or not?”
Severus made a decidedly threatening yet defensive noise from somewhere in his
throat. He turned, glaring, to Lucius, before composing himself. “Jealous,
Lucius?”
“I have nothing to be jealous of, I’m sure,” Lucius drawled, returning his
attention to the small burn close to his wrist.
Severus sighed. “Stop picking at that; it will worsen.”
“As I said, I don’t need to be jealous,” Lucius replied.
Severus narrowed his eyes and smirked sarcastically. “Your arrogance is
tiresome.”
Lucius rolled his eyes and pointed his wand to his friend’s face. Severus gave
him a bored look, but Lucius merely healed the minor cut on the man’s swollen
upper lip, smirking.
“It’s highly unnerving when you heal me,” Severus commented.
“Consider it your atonement.”
Severus scowled. “The cursing wasn’t enough?”
Lucius placed his wand away. “It was a foolish thing to do, you know.”
The other man’s frown deepened. “I’m sure I’m aware of that.”
“Well what did you expect?”
“I lost my temper,” Severus growled.
“You never lose your temper,” Lucius retorted. “Who was the distraction for?”
Severus looked up in surprise. “It wasn’t a distraction.”
Lucius sighed. “You haven’t the need to tell me that, you realise,” he said
almost scoldingly. “I am perfectly aware you never break you temper and any
time that it appears that you do you are merely detracting attention from
something else.”
Severus brushed his own cheekbone pointedly.
“That,” Lucius replied, “was not you losing your temper. That was a Slytherin
manipulation to ensure I behaved in a way you did not find too unacceptable.”
Severus gave the other man a dark look. “I hit you because you made me very
angry.”
“You hit my face,” Lucius drawled back, “You knew my weaknesses and manipulated
them accordingly.”
“I was angry,” Severus said.
“Yes you were,” Lucius agreed, “but you maintained control of your temper. You
knew precisely what you were doing.”
Severus did not bother to continue to argue. “When’s the potion going to take
affect?” he
muttered.
“You’re the potions master,” Lucius drawled back, a little uncertainly.
“I forgot to look at the time when you gave me it,” Severus admitted stiffly.
Lucius met his eyes, startled. “You genuinely lost the plot,” he said in
wonderment.
“When did you give me the potion, Lucius?” Severus sighed.
“Seven minutes ago,” the man answered, glancing at the clock. “The pain should
lessen
shortly.”
Severus sighed again.
Lucius leaned back in his chair. “And Severus?” he growled, not waiting for a
reply, “If I *ever* have to take another cruciatus because I pulled *you* out
of trouble, the cursing the Dark Lord gave you will seem like petting.”
Severus nodded mutely.
*
Jessa pushed the door to Draco’s room open. He was leaning against his
headboard slowly incendioing pieces of paper that he had charmed to fly around
his room.
“I *told* you not to talk to Nagini,” he said.
Jessa crept into his room wearing an apologetic expression. “He only made fun
of us a bit…”
The boy scowled and ignited another small ball of paper. “Malfoys are not the
butt of jokes,” he growled.
“Fiyer teased your dad and Snape.”
“That’s different; Father is above Fiyer. *Our* Father. We, on the other hand-”
“Are beneath the Dark Lord, yes, I know,” Jessa sighed. “I thought Malfoys were
supposed to be above everyone.”
Draco chose to cast incendio on a piece of paper very close to his sister’s
head. “I’m trying to have an argument. Refrain from changing the subject.” He
paused. “And being beneath the Dark Lord is entirely Father’s idea.”
Jessa rolled her eyes and sat down on the bed. “I caused the Dark Lord to laugh
about you; I’m sorry.”
“You are not sorry,” Draco huffed. “And what good are parseltongue lessons to
you anyway, if you’re not a born parseltongue.”
Jessa shrugged. “It will be fun. I pick up languages quickly.”
Draco sighed, and his expression became thoughtful. “I wonder why Uncle Severus
started duelling with that heathen.”
Jessa tried to laugh, even though her mouth suddenly didn’t want to smile. She
didn’t doubt that when Lord Voldemort walked in on two of his followers
fighting he would have reacted with displeasure. “I don’t know,” she said.
Sensing Jessa’s unease, Draco moved along slightly and encouraged her to join
him at the top of the bed. “So what are Potty’s turn ons?” he asked lightly.
Jessa managed a chuckle. “I don’t know; natural blondes?”
Draco teased a strand of Jessa’s hair towards him. “It creeps me out slightly
that you’ve gone blonde.”
Jessa’s lip curled in amusement. “Why?”
“Because you look like my fucking clone,” Draco answers.
“My ears are an exact replica,” said Jessa slyly.
Draco laughed, shaking his head. “That was so awful.”
Jessa pushed up the top she had changed into, exposing her midriff. “My private
rebellion,” she said.
Draco examined her bellybutton interestedly. “Mother will raise hell if she
sees that at the spa,” he said. “Although to be honest, I think Malfoy ones are
obscene.” He lifted his own shirt to reveal his own.
Jessa sniggered. “A revolt against obscene Malfoy bellybuttons!” she declared.
Draco sniggered and righted his clothing.
***** Secrets and Bedtime *****

Author's notes: Wherein Lucius performs the first kind act Jessa had ever
witnessed and Severus allows Jessa to sleep with her feet on his warm shins.
===============================================================================
When Jessa ventured along to Lucius’ office, she was surprised to find the two
men sitting drinking with their shirt sleeves rolled up and their marks
consequently on view.
“Is it alright for me to go to bed?” she mumbled sleepily.
Lucius glanced upwards at her. “Of course, Jessamine. Sleep well.”
Severus sighed. “Wait up Miss Malfoy, you can’t go to bed by yourself.”
Lucius gave the other man a sharp look. “Was the Dark Lord trying to tell me
something earlier? Is one woman not enough for you?”
“Go to hell, Lucius,” Severus said with little venom. “I am not going to
interfere with whatever virtue your daughter may have.”
“You are so rude, you know,” Jessa snapped. She turned to her father. “I don’t
sleep well and …” she trailed off, unsure what to say that would not irritate
the blonde.
“Bluntly speaking, your daughter sleeps better in company,” Severus drawled. He
glanced at Jessa. “Are you going to tell me you weren’t meeting somebody when
you left the castle?”
Jessa made a disparaging noise. “I appreciate you criticising my levels of
intelligence. I’m actually not stupid enough to lie to you.”
Severus made a non-committal noise and returned to his drink.
Lucius gave his friend a thinly veiled glower of suspicion. “You sleep better
in company?” he confirmed with Jessa.
The girl nodded. Her father transfigured another chair into a small bed. “Sleep
with us for now and I’ll take you up to your room when Severus and I retire.”
Jessa warily glanced at her father with confusion; this is the first kind thing
he has ever done, to her knowledge. “Thank you,” she said.
Her father transfigured her attire into sleepwear and watched his daughter
clamber into the bed.
Severus automatically reached across to pull the quilt over her.
“Why did you fight with that death eater?” Jessa asked curiously, nestling into
the sheets.
“I was feeling irritable,” Severus answered shortly, taking another sip of
firewhiskey.
“Why?” asked Jessa.
“Because I was worried about the possible antics of you brats,” Severus
growled.
“And the idiot insulted his woman,” Lucius said.
Jessa smiled. “North?”
“How do *you* know about North?” Severus grumbled.
“The other death eaters were talking about her,” Jessa answered. “They said she
was hot.”
Severus afforded a small smile. “Quite.”
Lucius looked at him with an interested and vaguely annoyed expression. “Is she
indeed?”
“Lucius this isn’t important,” Severus said.
“Just go sire a Prince heir already,” Lucius snapped.
Severus answered with a foul look and took another sip from his glass. The two
men sat in a mildly annoyed silence for a moment, as Jessa wrestled her pillow
into submission.
“Your appearance has been rather more kept of late,” Lucius commented blandly.
The dark-haired man said nothing, but a flush that may not have been the
alcohol tinged his cheeks.
“Severus?”
“Yes Lucius,” he said mildly.
“You never tell me anything.”
Severus laughed. “I dare say my secrets would amuse you greatly Lucius.”
Jessa wondered how the two men would feel about her own secret.
The two men conversed long into the early hours of the morning. At four o’clock
Lucius, who had rather begun to sober up by then, lifted a sleeping Jessa from
the bed and carried her in his arms upstairs to her room. Severus followed
unsurprised, having seen Lucius carry a drunken or exhausted Draco to bed on
more than one occasion when Severus himself had not done it first. Lucius’
strength came mainly from his behaviour during raids, but Severus did not
consider this at the time.
Severus stripped for bed as Lucius settled his daughter in the room next door.
Lucius peered in on his way to his own bed. He leaned confidently against the
doorframe, with arms and ankles crossed, and an arrogant expression on his
face. A shirtless Severus regarded him over his shoulder momentarily before
returning to his task. Lucius watched Severus finish unbuckling his belt and
slide it to the floor, before loosening his trousers and allowing them to join
his belt.
Severus still stood with his back to Lucius before the bed and now wearing only
his briefs. “Good night, Lucius,” he said.
Lucius smirked at the pale shape of Severus’ back when he had climbed into the
bed. “Goodnight Severus.”
Lucius retreated to join his sleeping wife in their marital bed.
At eleven minutes to five o’clock Severus was awoken by a familiar scream. The
walls were thick, and he was unsure how long it had been going on for. Draco’s
room was near by yet not close enough for him to be disturbed and her parents,
well, they slept in the opposite side of the manor.
Severus picked up his trousers from the floor, pulling them up quickly and,
without bothering with his belt, moved quickly towards Jessa’s door.
When he stepped inside, the girl was already awake, and crying quietly.
“Miss Malfoy?”
Jessa flinched and then turned to see Severus walking towards her, barefoot and
shirtless.
Her voice was raw when she asked, “What time is it?”
“Almost five,” Severus answered.
Jessa nodded from where she was seated with her knees drawn closely to her. She
stretched and stood quietly.
“You’re not getting up?” Severus drawled.
“Five means morning,” Jessa said. “I don’t really feel much for going back to
sleep.”
“You’ve slept for a few hours at most,” Severus said.
“And I made it to morning,” Jessa said.
Severus stood beside the bed and crossed his arms. “Get back into bed,” he
said.
“No,” Jessa said.
“At most you’ve had three hours’ sleep,” Severus said reasonably.
“I can function on that.”
“I’m not making a request,” Severus said.
“Please,” Jessa said.
Severus sighed. “I’m not going to leave but you *are* going back to bed until
six at least.”
“Promise?” Jessa blurted, before feeling stupid.
“Unless you would prefer the corner Miss Malfoy go back to bed.”
Jessa gave the man a dirty look, and was surprised when he climbed in
afterwards. The bed was more that big enough to comply.
“I’ve had less than an hour’s sleep,” Severus warned, seeing Jessa begin to
open her mouth, “so please shut up and close your eyes.”
Severus had laid down and his own lashes were already lowering. Jessa snuggled
into him, her
back against his chest. Severus felt her feet settle on his shin. He said
nothing, but slung his arm stiffly over her stomach and quickly went to sleep.
***** Did You Enjoy It? *****

Author's notes: Tom's in a fairly bad mood and conversation does not go in
Jessa's favour.
===============================================================================
Not mine. You know the chick who owns.
“I don’t suppose the wards would appreciate it if I chose to leave the manner,”
Jessa said conversationally as Draco scowled at his arithmancy essay.
“Of course not,” Draco said, barely glancing up, “But we’ll be back at school
in a week at most. You were only pulled out to get paraded before you-know-
who.”
“And why were *you* pulled out?” Jessa demanded, looking up from the handful of
his photographs that she was perusing curiously.
Draco finally looked over to smirk at her. “Because it’s only fair that I don’t
have to go to school if you don’t.”
“*I* don’t need to go to school at all though,” Jessa replied with an elegant
snort, “I’ve already been home schooled in anything I could possibly get a
certificate for at Hogwarts.”
“Isn’t Uncle Severus teaching you advanced potions?”
Jessa nodded dismissively. Thoughtfully, she said, “What will they do if we
need to be summoned at school?”
Draco had returned to the concluding paragraph of his essay. “Father or Mother
have always managed to get me out of school when he has decided to see me.”
Jessa regarded the picture in her hand, of Draco flanked by his goons and Pansy
pulling his face away to kiss him. Theo and Blaise were splashing about in the
lake just behind them whilst Daphne and Millie were each moving out their
respective edges of the photo. Everyone had their ties loosened and swinging
free, except Pansy whose tie cinched her waist, and Blaise, whose shirt was
flying open and whose tie was knotted around his head as he tried to topple
Theo into the water they were wading in. “Will all the Slytherins be marked?”
“I expect Pansy shall be,” Draco said slowly, “and Greg and Vincent. The
Zambinis have always been neutral, so Blaise won’t, and that might sway Theo
into not being marked, if his parents don’t get a hold of him first. He’s too
young to get marked yet but once he comes of age I expect the Zambinis will
take him in. I don’t know about the others. Bulestrode could go either way.
She’d enjoy the violence but hasn’t much interest in politics.”
“And if you aren’t marked?”
“I don’t know if it would stop Pansy, but so long as I could keep them
protected from their fathers Vince and Greg will stick by me.”
Jessa stared at the smiling teens in the picture then placed all the
photographs back on Draco’s bookshelf. “Looks like we don’t have much choice
but to follow your Plan A,” she sighed. “I’m going to find Snape.”
“What are you going to say to him?” Draco murmured cautiously.
Jessa shrugged.
She found him in the office once more with her father. She crossed the room to
sit on the arm of Severus’ chair.
“Are you bored of Draco, Miss Black?” the man taunted. Lucius looked up.
“No, he’s just still working on his homework. He’s about finished his
arithmancy essay but he’s still got another two essays to complete after he
does.”
“Shouldn’t *you* be studying, Miss Malfoy?” Severus said pointedly.
“I don’t take proper classes,” Jessa whined, “I don’t have anything I need to
do.”
“You take potions with me,” Severus said smoothly, “Is that not a proper
class?”
“I’m not going to be tested at NEWT or OWL level though am I? I’m not taking
exams at all.”
Severus glared at her. “You’re taking a far higher level of potions,” he said,
“and I assure you I will be testing you at the end of the year.”
Jessa pouted. “But potions is my *fun* subject,” she protested, “you can’t
*grade* me!”
“Oh, I assure you I can,” Severus said.
Lucius looked irritated. “Isn’t my daughter being *taught* at school?”
“I’ve already been taught just about all of it. I potter about in Snape’s class
with the projects he sets me or I brush up on defence, or go into the forest.”
“Or you read up on Dark Arts,” Severus added. “I’m not blind to those books you
submerge yourself in, Miss Malfoy.”
“Potions and dark art books?” Lucius said dubiously, “Severus, she sounds more
like your child than mine, does she not?”
“If she were *mine* she would be far more obedient,” Severus declared. Jessa
swatted his arm and he reached deftly to snatch her wrist. “An unwise move,
Miss Malfoy.”
Lucius’ lips curled. “Is it necessary to be so formal, Severus? Or has Draco
become Master Malfoy to you?”
Jessa smirked. “Does that mean I get to call him Uncle Sev?”
Severus choked. “It means nothing of the sort!”
Lucius thinned his lips delightedly. “Perhaps
Uncle Severus might be wiser,” he suggested to his daughter.
“But it’s such a mouthful,” Jessa protested, “Whereas Uncle *Sev* rolls right
off the
tongue.”
“Kindred Jessamine,” Severus enunciated slowly, “you will never use that name
again, or I promise you, you may expect a scourgified mouth and a thorough
paddling.”
“Father, Uncle Severus is bullying me,” Jessa whined.
Lucius merely smirked at Severus’ expression.
*
It was four days before the Dark Lord summoned anyone again. During this time
Narcissa had dragged Jessa along to her day spa and enforced hours of strutting
through shops that deigned not to display their astronomical prices. Draco
largely plotted the seduction of his nemesis in between periods of enforced
study, and Jessa had caught hints, although no actual outbursts, of her
father’s temper. Severus had on two occasions sent Jessa to a corner for useage
of the first three letters of his name, but thus far had neither yet
scourgified her mouth or spanked her.
Voldemort was not in especially high spirits upon the arrival of those
summoned. He glared at everyone and even cursed a man –for an entire minute-
before even explaining the ordering of events.
Draco was not present, and because of this Jessa chose to hover near Severus
during the unpleasantries. After at least ten minutes of raging, the Dark Lord
–seemingly having forgotten about demanding Jessa- suggested sharply that she
wait where she was, speaking with Nagini if she wished, and that everyone else
could make themselves over to the usual room immediately.
It took almost three hours for whatever everyone was doing to finish. Jessa was
by this time irritable herself, and bored, while Nagini slept in her lap, her
tail draped over Jessa’s shoulders.
When the death eaters began to leave –rather eagerly- Jessa saw them through
the open door and got up, purposefully crossing the corridor to wait. Lucius
and Severus left the room together. The few years spent with Regulus made it
easy to identify their problem.
“How many?” Jessa asked. The look her father gave her was of mild surprise, but
Severus did not look up. Instead he answered in a strained voice, “Only twice.
Each.”
Lucius looked as though he was about to say something, his actual intentions
being to chide Severus with, ‘Though I’m astonished you escaped more,’ but at
that moment Lord Voldemort followed the last death eaters from the room.
Bellatrix was speaking quickly to him, but was soon silenced with a raised
hand.
Voldemort largely ignored the other two men and gave Jessa an appraising look.
“Come,” he said shortly. Bellatrix moved to follow but he fixed her with his
stare and ordered her coldly to attend to her husband. The mad woman
reluctantly obeyed, lamenting irately to herself that if her husband was stupid
enough to go to her side when the Dark Lord rightly chose to punish her it was
his own stupid fault.
Sensing Lord Voldemort was in no mood to be kept waiting, Jessa hurried up the
stairs after him. He gestured for her to step into a room and she did,
nervously taking in the surroundings to avoid his face. The man settled angrily
in a chair and Jessa responded to his glare by promptly dropping herself into
the seat before him. Nagini appeared, curving her head mutely through the
doorway.
~You took your time,~ Voldemort hissed. Nagini hissed something in retort and
the pair argued for a moment, before Nagini said something that made the Dark
Lord’s eyes flash before dulling slightly, and Nagini crawled up to the man to
settle on his shoulders. She annoyedly hissed some reassurances into his
conveniently placed ear. Voldemort relaxed marginally.
Jessa warily met his eyes. “Are you alright?”
The man glared resentfully at her and leaned back in his chair. He turned away,
scowling at nothing in particular, before turning back to glare again. “No,” he
gritted out, “I am not –I do not feel- alright.”
“How can I help you?” Jessa asked quietly.
The cold gaze the Dark Lord settled on her was animalistically empty. “You
think,” he sneered, “that you can help do what I cannot?”
“Perhaps I can aid you to help yourself,” Jessa replied in the same calming
tone.
The Dark Lord snarled, then turned his attention to the snake tongue tickling
his ear. He listened to Nagini for a moment then sulkily took a deep breath.
“Perhaps,” he snapped.
“What do you need?”
He looked at Jessa waveringly. “I don’t know,” he said.
The girl reached out a hand, but Voldemort glared ineffectively at it and shook
his head fiercely.
“Perhaps you would care to fight?” Jessa suggested.
Lord Voldemort regarded her mutely. “Expelliarmus,” he said eventually. He
paused, looking bewildered when no wand clattered to the floor or floated to
his hand.
Jessa froze. “I forgot it,” she said, her voice a mixture of horror and
embarrassment.
“*How* does one forget their wand? Do you ever forget your own arm?”
“I actually *use* my arm,” Jessa retorted as brusquely as she dared.
The Dark Lord considered her. Bizarrely, the first hex that entered his mind
was the jellylegs hex, and he uttered it serenely.
Jessa deflected it automatically with a shielding spell.
“Tell me, Miss Malfoy,” Lord Voldemort drawled, “do you actually *need* your
wand?”
Jessa silently shook her head.
“Why did you not declare this before?”
“I’m not supposed to tell people…”
“Please assure me your father did not ask you to keep this from me?”
Jessa glanced up. “Of course not,” she said, “or you would have seen it in his
mind.”
“Would I?” the Dark Lord asked sharply.
The girl sighed. “I’ve been trained since I was an infant to use wandless
magic. Lucius –my Father-
has likely not even noticed yet.”
“How could one not notice?”
“Well you didn’t realise either, did you? People assume I do what everyone else
does.
Occasionally I wave my wand about. That’s how it is.”
“Why?” the man growled.
“I don’t know,” Jessa said, too shortly, “I suppose I was meant to be raised as
a weapon, except
everyone died before bothering to tell me.”
“Lucius told me today that you’re highly educated,” the Dark Lord said.
“I’ve been given an understanding of just about everything, that’s right,”
Jessa snapped.
Voldemort’s eyes burned in warning. “Check your tone.”
Self-preservation lowered Jessa’s aggression but did not fully destroy it. When
Lord Voldemort asked, “And the Dark Arts?” Jessa’s tone was stiff.
“Take a look around,” she said, meeting his eyes in challenge. The man’s brows
lowered, but he accepted the invitation. Lord Voldemort explored the depth of
her mind, and was shocked by her knowledge.
“You will take my mark,” he said.
‘What makes you so confident?’
‘I have made my decision.’
Jessa broke away, leaving mild discomfort in both their skulls. “I don’t
believe in slaughter, rape or torture.”
“You would be good at it,” Lord Voldemort said smoothly.
“I could not willingly bring myself to grievously harm the helpless.”
“So I take away your choice in the matter,” Voldemort shrugged.
“How many of your followers are impotent?” Jessa asked diversely.
“Some,” Voldemort admitted briefly. “And what?”
“How many were impotent before they partook in raids?”
The Dark Lord’s face tightened.
“Not everyone wants to taint themselves with *lowbloods*,” Jessa said. “Why do
you insist on raping muggles and mudbloods when you claim breeding with muggles
is an injustice to the wizarding world?”
“Because I enjoy hurting people,” Voldemort admitted, “and muggles are the
lowest form of ‘people’.”
“That doesn’t give you a right,” Jessa said.
“No; merely an inclination,” the man agreed, “However, I am powerful enough to
enact my inclinations.”
“Hunting the weak is immoral.”
“Of course it is. If it wasn’t it would hardly feel so good.” The Dark Lord
interrupted Jessa’s retort, “Tell me, Kindred, have you ever felt another
person’s blood warm on your skin?”
“Yes,” the girl admitted frustratedly.
“How did it feel? You cannot tell me not a part of you enjoyed it.”
“Of course I enjoyed it,” Jessa said, “It felt good; almost as good as it felt
bad.”
“If it felt so bad, Kindred,” said Lord Voldemort seriously, “why did you
perform lethal dark magic on Hermione Granger?”
“To scare her,” Jessa whispered.
***** Conscience, Some Itching, And A Letter *****

Author's notes: In which being marked becomes more appealing and Jessa begins
to plan for her return to the castle.
===============================================================================
Not mine, just messing with their fictional little minds. JKR's imagination
just as (and I would like to claim more) reponsible than my own twisted mind.
Jessa was curled up in an armchair by the fire, brooding. She couldn’t stop
thinking about all the things he had said, all the sly digs and the things that
rang so badly true. He was right of course.
Although he did not know the half of it. Jessa did not like to be a victim. No,
she most definitely did not.
Letting go, however, the man understood perfectly. The problem, Jessa knew, was
that she *did* enjoy breaking someone. It was her conscience that prevented her
from harming others, but if she pushed that aside, she would be able to knock
someone to the ground and kick, and kick, until the ground beneath her feet was
slippery with the blood, and then she could fall to the floor, grab that
person’s hair and smash their skull repetitively into the floor. Whether they
died or not was irrelevant, because by stomping down her conscience she would
be deliberately ignoring that her hypothetical victim was a sentient being.
Less than human was not a relevant excuse; Jessa found it difficult to kill
insects, never mind torture ‘animals’.
Pushing her conscience aside was key to leaving someone unmoving in their own
–or perhaps someone else’s- blood.
Jessa wasn’t quite sure what she would do after that, but if she got herself
marked, tidying up became the Dark Lord’s responsibility, didn’t it? *He*
thought out how to evade the authorities and all she had to do was obey those
instructions.
Her eyes glazed as she remembered her words to Draco. No, she could neither
slaughter nor kill a pregnant woman, but if she did not consider a victim
alive, she could cause it neither pain nor death. Like the sea, no blow would
matter.
Jessa did not pull leaves from live twigs. She plucked fruit from trees and
could cut up a carrot, but she did not pull apart live flowers or shred grass.
She abhorred the pain of any living thing, as unrealistic as that made her.
She considered the abuse she’d been prey to from living in a Dark house –a
house that held human parts as potions ingredients; a house that had occasions
*harvested* human parts for use in potions ingredients. The noises had
terrified her as a child, but her abusers? Jessa could remember scuffling with
them, and the hot, metallic taste of blood flooding and staining her mouth as
she bit down –the disturbing crunching noise as her teeth scraped through a
vein- on an attacker’s wrist. Jessa had been wild with fear at that point, and
willing to break any threat to her, but even in her calm states had not
forgotten the feel of warm blood upon her face as she hit back as hard as she
could.
The Dark Lord didn’t know that. If she obeyed him, she had free reign to hurt
people again. Any people. Any way she fucking liked.
Jessa considered the people at the club she had plucked Severus from. If she
took her mark, it would be those innocent, ordinary people she preyed on. Jessa
could ignore her conscience when she was in a blind rage, forgetting it
completely, even, if she felt seriously threatened, but if she required to
attack these ordinary innocents could she really continue pushing her
conscience down every time it flared? Could she live with the emotional price
afterwards if she ‘suceeded’?
The girl was vaguely aware the men who had brought her back to the manor
remained in the room with her. Lucius and Severus were seated, and while Lucius
was merely suspicious about why his master had kept his daughter for such an
extended period of time and had released her in such an occupied state, while
Severus merely worried quietly. Draco had come to ask about the meeting, but
his sister had been too distant to form a logical answer, only murmurs and an
unseeing gaze.
Draco, of course did not like this. Eventually Jessa seemed, for the most part,
to break out of her stupor, and gain an awareness of her surroundings. He
caught her staring, more than once, with a puzzled, awed reverence at her bare
left arm, but then she blinked the fog away and grinned brightly at him,
engaging him in intelligent conversation.
*
Severus was irritable. His mark itched and burned with the combined truth that
it had been active of late, that he had displeased the Dark Lord, and that the
build-up burn that foretold a call to be anticipated, which made him edgy in
its own right, was present -although it was not painful enough to suggest the
call would be tonight. The pain annoyed him, and despite it being still mild
enough for him to bear to scratch, he didn’t, as his skin would increase in
irritation the entire night until it felt like it should look shiny and wine-
coloured and wet.
The Dark Lord was not overly pleased with him at the moment, but he was not
furious. The displeasure expressed by the discomfort of his arm did not signal
punishment on his arrival. No, the Dark Lord was merely a little rankled, and
letting it be known. If that were not the case Severus could have expected his
arm to burn as though torn open and nastily infected.
Lucius was also being chided through his mark, though not to the same degree.
The man pinched the itching skin discreetly, frowning a little.
Neither may have been in severe pain, but their moods were tellingly short.
Draco had absented himself from their company in as inconspicuous a matter as
possible for this reason, and this absence was conspicuous.
*
Jessa was sitting, once more, on Draco’s bed. She was hoping Narcissa would not
find her –if she was paraded and praised like a purebred bitch on a leash any
longer she would snap- and was instead watching Draco use his wand to
straighten his hair.
“Don’t you get bored?” Jessa blurted.
The amused look Draco gave her reflected in his mirror. She met the eyes of his
reflection and bit her lip. “Isn’t this…boring?”
“I thought only boring people got bored?” he returned.
“You’re probably contagious,” Jessa grumbled.
Draco laughed lightly. “I find it all very entertaining,” he said. “Mother is
making you miserable; Father finds you perplexing, and Uncle Severus…” his eyes
flashed with humour, “Well… How many times is it now ythat ou’ve found yourself
in a corner?”
“Seven,” Jessa bit out.
“Do continue pushing him,” Draco said, “I would like to see you have your mouth
washed out.”
Jessa scowled at him. “Just wait ‘til Daddy hears you’ve sucked off the Golden
Boy.”
“You are unbelievably crude, do you realise that?” Draco sighed.
“I’m not the one who wants to be on his knees,” Jessa returned evenly.
“Oh no?” replied Draco. “What if it was Uncle Sev with his fingers in your
hair?”
Jessa grinned wickedly. “That, my dear brother, is the stuff of Hallmark
greeting cards.”
Draco gave her a blank look.
“I enjoyed the imagery,” Jessa said.
“Oh,” Draco said. “Yuck.”
Jessa smiled serenely. “How long ‘til we return to the castle?”
“A day,” Draco answered, mildly confused at the subject change, “At most, two.”
Jessa closed her eyes on the image of Severus entering her room each night
after the nightmares in never more than his trousers. She longed for the time
when he did more than hold her in slumber.
She got up off the bed and Draco turned to glance across at her. “What’s wrong
now?”
“I need to write a letter,” she said.
Then she paused. Even if she transfigured herself into an owl, that wouldn’t
fool the wards. She could write the letter now, if she kept it charmed and
hidden, but she could not deliver it until they had actually flooed back to
Hogwarts.
‘Dear Severus Tobias Snape, if that is your real name,’ Jessa wrote,
‘if you would care to be fucked so you forget who we are…’
***** Breath and Owls *****

Author's notes: Wherein Jessa finds the Dark Lord getting increasingly under
her skin, she delivers and recieves a letter, and Draco begins with an
annoyingly subtle approach.
===============================================================================
I think the ante's getting upped, don't you? Wotcher JKR.
When Jessa opened her eyes, the warm breath on her throat became Severus’ once
again. In sleep, he was moulded to her, and it was quite pleasant really, even
if he was unaware of this. However, it was difficult to shake the memory of the
Dark Lord’s breath hot on her face and throat and ear as he trapped her under
his arm.
When he’d spoken to him at first, his eyes had swiftly widened in surprise.
“You are considering it, aren’t you?” he had accused. Jessa had made faces,
because she didn’t dare lie outright, and the conversation had worsened. The
entire situation worsened, to the point where Lord Voldemort had grabbed her,
and leaned in almost tenderly to whisper, “Please stay…and… call me Tom.”
She had no idea where she got the inclination from, but she had reached up to
comb back glossy hair that had not existed moments before, and had supported
the man’s face in one hand.
“I am leaving for school tomorrow Tom,” she had replied, and had no idea if
that was a smart or stupid thing to do. His eyes had been unreadable, but then
he covered her hand in his own, bringing it slowly to her side, and allowed her
to leave.
At the doorway, Jessa had hesitated, and gone back and embraced the Dark Lord
tightly to reassure him. She’d sought out Severus and her father, who were with
Dolohov and Nott Sr., and she had grabbed fistfuls of Severus’ robes then
buried her face from view, refusing to tremble, remaining that way for the
forty-five minutes or so until Voldemort appeared impassively to permit the
trio to leave. At the last moment Lord Voldemort had reached out and squeezed
Jessa’s shoulder, and then turned his back and cast the cruciatus curse on
Dolohov.
And now she was here: it had already become the small hours of the morning and
Severus had put her to bed. A glance at the time had told her that it had taken
less than half an hour for the man to creep from his bed to her own. Her
father’s room was too far away for Lucius to know, but Jessa did not doubt the
man had wards or surveillance charms in place that gave him this knowledge,
although he did not act on it.
Severus’ breath smelt bizarrely like the innocent; like milk and ice and things
it never smelt like, with only the tiniest suggestion of the lemon that she
usually tasted beneath the firewhiskey.
The Dark Lord’s breath smelt of aniseed and cocaine, or something similar and
addictive at the back of Jessa’s mind that caused her heart to pound.
Conversely, the Dark Lord himself also smelled of sex.
An hour or so later Jessa dressed, breakfasted (while the house elves packed
her belongings), retrieved the letter, and was making her way downstairs, when
she heard a noise that sent a mildly disturbed chill directly to her stomach.
In his arrogance, Lucius had left the door ajar and from where she stood Jessa
could see his profile and that of his wife reflected in an ornate mirror.
Narcissa bowed her head, not bringing her fingers to her face, and watched her
husband leave coldly through another door. The woman lifted her wand to her
face without even glancing in the mirror and left through the open door. Jessa
descended the stairs, but Narcissa had disappeared from the corridor before
Jessa reached so much as the ajar door.
Jessa quietly went to find Severus and Draco. Draco smirked at her, and Severus
used the fabric of the front of her dress to drag Jessa towards him. She
pressed her forehead to his shoulder for a moment, then Draco stepped into the
green flames of the fireplace, and Jessa pulled away to follow.
*
Jessa stepped out of the fireplace and was greeted by Albus Dumbledore. He
looked at her pensively until Jessa stepped away to allow Severus past the
hearth, and the look was broken. Draco was impatient to leave, whilst the men
had things to discuss, and Jessa found herself clasping Severus’ wrist then
letting go and leaving the room before Dumbledore insisted on her presence.
“Draco?”
The teen paused at the foot of the stairway, giving Jessa time to absently
stroke the gargoyle. “Where would you go, if you wanted absolute privacy for
any length of time?”
Draco narrowed his eyes at her. “The room of requirement…”
Jessa grinned amusedly. “He’s gay, remember?”
Draco looked haughty. “Well as he’s now mine I am making the decision not to
use that room. When he submits to me it will be in the Slytherin dormitory.”
“You Slytherin,” Jessa admonished cheerfully. “Now please show me this room of
requirement.”
Draco took her, after three circuits of certain corridors and some elaboration,
to the door.
“I require some time to myself,” Jessa said, resting her palm on the handle of
the door.
Draco met her eyes questioningly.
“Please,” Jessa said.
Draco pointed his finger at her before he relented. “You, Pureblood,” he said,
“had better explain yourself later.”
Jessa smiled and watched him leave before entering the room. The door, to her
relief, locked itself heavily behind her. The room was small, but spacious, and
was unfurnished other than a small shelf. There was a large, open window
dominating one wall.
Jessa pulled the letter out of her pocket, removed the secrecy charms, and
began pulling off her dress and unfastening her shoes.
She paused.
Severus could spell the note to reveal the face of the author, and if he did it
would show her.
Fresh parchment, ink and a quill appeared on the shelf, which lowered to
accommodate her height. Jessa transformed into North and meticulously copied
the letter onto the blank, untraceable parchment. She allowed the ink to dry
and stripped herself of her underwear before destroying the original letter.
She rolled up the letter and tied it with a purple ribbon that appeared near
her fingers.
Jessa transfigured herself into a brown school owl and after attaching the
letter (she had to transfigure her hands back to achieve this) she cast an
invisibility charm and sailed out of the window. She left the boundaries of the
wards and in the cover of some foliage altered her appearance to that of a
moderately nondescript grey owl. She reentered the wards and found Severus
Snape.
He was in his classroom teaching a small handful of seventh year Slytherins and
Ravenclaws. Jessa delivered the letter, nipping the man’s fingers
affectionately, and settled on his desk. The potions professor glared and undid
the princely ribbon.
He skimmed the letter emotionlessly, then folded it and placed it within the
hidden inner folds of his robes. He lifted his quill and, completely ignoring
his relatively competent class, wrote a reply. Before he handed the new letter
to the handsome owl he picked up the ribbon and charmed it to reveal the image
of those who had touched it last. Reflected on the lacquer of his desk appeared
the owl, then a pair of pale, unadorned, feminine hands, and at last, North.
He tied his reply to the waiting owl, stroked its feathers once and withdrew
his hand.
Jessa departed to the boundaries again and changed her appearance before flying
back to the room of requirement.
A chair was now waiting for her in the room. She transformed back, to North,
because she felt the moment asked it, then without dressing settled in the
comfortable chair and slowly undid the ribbon in anticipation. She read.
*
DADA found Draco and Harry out of their seats and crowding around a
demonstration. Draco brushed Harry’s arm lightly and met the boy’s gaze without
malice. Moments later he broke eye contact and turned away, moving further from
the teen.
Harry frowned and found himself staring after the blonde.
***** Blushing On Cue *****

Author's notes: Wherein Lucius sends a slur Severus' way and Draco begins his
mission.
===============================================================================
Some pre-slash goodness at last. On with the story! Oh hi, JK R. No I'm not
straying from the purpose for which theses characters were created. Popcorn?
“Please tell me,” Severus bit out, “that this is your idea of a joke, Albus.”
The headmaster regarded the young man solemnly from over the lip of his teacup.
“I’m afraid not, my boys.”
As Severus pressed his lips together Alastor’s fingers drummed absently on his
hip flask.
“I cannot deny him his wishes, Severus,” Albus said reasonably. “You are as
loathe as I am to have Miss Malfoy withdrawn from the school.”
Alastor glanced at his peer a bit suspiciously. Severus merely bowed his head
and pinched the bridge of his nose. “What did his letter say?” Severus snarled
after a pause.
Albus handed him it wordlessly, not chiding when the dark-haired man snatched
from his grasp. Severus read quickly, his scowl becoming more pronounced after
each line.
He handed back the offending piece of parchment stiffly. “The additional wards
will be entirely unnecessary,” he said angrily, “but I insist on their
placement.”
“Additional wards?” Alastor queried.
“The girl was having nightmares again,” Severus replied moodily. Before Alastor
could ask him to expand Severus said, “Lucius is aware of my presence in her
bedroom after we had both retired.”
“And the wards?”
“To alert the headmaster should anything untoward occur,” Severus said
irritably. He glared into his teacup.
“That’s ridiculous,” said Alastor, turning both eyes on the headmaster for
conformation.
Dumbledore nodded slowly. “It isn’t that there is any doubt on Severus-”
“Lucius is merely chiding me. His main incentive is to remove his daughter from
a Light influence and be able to reasonably remove her entirely if the school
does not comply.”
“Quite so, Severus,” Albus agreed resignedly.
“There won’t be any need to add another room,” Alastor said, to indicate his
own resignation to the idea, “The whelp’s only going to end up in your bed the
whole night anyway.”
*
Draco was not an unintelligent boy. In fact, to most intents and purposes, he
gave off the impression that he really was rather clever. Which was why, when
he stumbled down past the portrait of the fat lady with his shirt open, his tie
gone, his perfect hair dishevelled, and only one sock on, it was not for any
other reason than a Cunning Ploy.
Several Gryffindors were leaving the common room at this point.
“What are you doing here, Malfoy?” demanded Potter’s cold voice.
Draco ran his hand dazedly through his hair and gave a disarming, though
decidedly drunken looking smile. “Hello, Potter,” he said breathlessly. He
sighed happily and rocked on the balls of his feet. “Life’s beautiful, isn’t
it?”
With a last blank smile that encompassed every violent-looking Gryffindor
present, he turned his back and wandered off, in a not especially straight
line, in the direction of the dungeons.
Ronald Weasley was in most cases of the opinion Malfoy was up to something.
However, he watched the blonde stagger merrily away. Dubiously, he said,
“Anyone hit Malfoy with any curses recently?”
“He looked drugged,” Lavender said, having paused with Pervati behind the Trio
and Ginny when the Slytherin walked past.
“With love potion,” Parvati added.
“Well,” Hermione said grimly, “he did just walk past from the direction of the
astronomy tower…”
“Shouldn’t Pansy be with him then or something?” said Ron.
“Assuming he was with Parkinson,” Ginny said.
The others looked at her.
“Didn’t you notice the way he was walking?” she elaborated.
“Yeah,” Ron said, “Like he was doped up with love potion and loopier than
Loony.”
Hermione, however, was wrinkling her forehead thoughtfully. “You mean like
Seamus, Ginny?” the girl asked shrewdly.
“That’s what I thought,” Ginny shrugged.
“Harry, bring out your map for a moment, won’t you?” Hermione asked, “I want to
see who’s leaving the direction of the astronomy room.”
Harry, who had been silent during this exchange, obeyed and scanned his
Marauders’ Map. The only person anywhere remotely near the tower was Minevra
McGonnegal. “There’s no one there,” he said, allowing the map to be pulled out
of his hands for closer inspection.
*
As it turned out, Harry found him looking forwards to potions rather more than
he generally did. Yes, Snape was sexy and all, but also had a tongue that could
tear you to pieces, and that was preferable to him in very small doses.
Draco left it as late to slide into the classroom as he possibly could without
being actually ‘late’. Beneath lowered lashes Harry registered the barely
flushed face; the swollen lips; the forlorn tie. He observed sidelong the
ginger way Malfoy lowered himself onto his seat; the way his mouth kept
quirking upwards of its own accord; the way –throughout the entire lesson- he
shifted unconsciously and kept standing to fidget with something on the far end
of his desk when he should have been sitting writing instructions or recording
information.
Draco caught Harry’s eyes only once, during which time he kept his eyes dreamy,
offering a half-hearted snarl, and then turning away with both a grin and faint
pink hue spreading across his face.
Oh yes, Draco Malfoy could blush on cue.
***** Short Skirts and Ambushes *****

Author's notes: Wherein Jessa falls out of favour with Severus and Draco pulls
Harry's hair.
===============================================================================
There was no way in hell that Severus was not going to provide the brat with
her own room. He knew he had to have somewhere to deposit her out of his notice
or he would swiftly loose whatever was left of his sanity.
He surveyed the bedroom. It was spacious and bright, with a glass desk and
bookcase. The silver framework of those furnishings echoed the silver bedpost
and the closet was closed off with floor length, sliding mirror doors. He’d
spelled large windows into existence using a variation on the spell used on the
great hall’s ceiling. The frilled satin curtains and bed coverings were both an
appealing green colour.
Severus couldn’t escape the feeling that somehow the room he’d conjured seemed
whorish.
Jessa appeared around the main door to his rooms. The expensive dresses that
had become her wardrobe staple at Malfoy Manor had been replaced by a
shockingly short skirt that rode low on her hips, over-the-knee socks that were
not both riding over her knees, and several layers of thin, low vest-tops that
left her arms bare. Her forearms were enclosed in long, fingerless gloves and a
collection of thin belts congregated on her waist and hips.
“Is anyone going to tell me what’s going on?” she said accusingly.
Severus found himself crossing his arms and glaring at her. “This is a school!”
he roared.
Jessa took a step back. “Yeah,” she said.
“There are hundreds of hormonal teenage boys populating this *school*!”
Jessa brightened slightly. “Yeah.”
“That skirt,” Severus said slowly, “is four inches long.”
Jessa looked down. “Yeah.”
“I doubt it even covers your arse!” Severus thundered.
“That’s kind of the point,” Jessa said, turning her back and then peering over
her shoulder at her skirt.
“Don’t turn around!” Severus howled. He paused. “Are you even wearing
underwear?”
Jessa spun around again nonchalantly. “Of course,” she said, “I’m wearing a g-
string. It’s important to leave a little mystery though, you know? The whole
is-she-isn’t-she question.”
Severus promptly forgot about the misgivings he held about her new bedroom and
found himself reaching for the girl’s ear and dragging her into the room. He
resisted the urge to smack her and instead tightened his grip on her ear. “This
is *not* suitable attire,” he snarled.
Jessa winced. “That *hurts*!” she snapped.
“You’re lucky a sore ear is the worst of your problems,” Severus retorted, “I
expect you to get changed into something that doesn’t scream ‘whore’.”
Jessa shifted the size of her ear and pulled away. Her weight rested evenly on
each leg and she crossed her arms. “No,” she said, her eyes narrowed.
“Don’t force me to make you, Jessa,” Severus said in a dangerously soft voice.
The girl’s expression faltered on hearing use of her given name, but then
resolve flooded back into her eyes. “I will fucking well dress like a whore if
I want to!” she screamed back, and stormed out the door before Severus could
reach her.
Severus remained where he was, feeling the fury in his chest and waiting for it
to subside. Why the fuck did *he* have to be the one dealing with Lucius’
spawn?
*
“What the fuck do you think you’re wearing?” Draco demanded.
Jessa looked up and sighed. “Don’t start.”
Draco turned to glare at a nearby Ernie McMillan. “If you don’t stop eying my
sister I will break your *face*,” he warned.
“Don’t speak like such a muggle-born,” Jessa snapped, “If you want to defend my
honour you can fucking well use your wand.”
Draco eyed her. “What’s up?”
Jessa seemed to deflate. “I screamed at Severus.”
Draco leaned back against the wall. “Well that was a stupid thing to do,” he
commented.
“You think I don’t have any idea of that?” Jessa sighed and rested against the
wall beside her
brother.
“I don’t suppose this had anything to do with being dressed like a baby
hooker?”
Jessa gave him a dark look. “Of course it did.”
“Then why didn’t you just apologise and put on a pair of leggings?”
“I don’t know,” said Jessa. She surveyed the corridor. “Drakey?”
“Yes?”
“Do you know the charm to pull your socks up?”
“No,” the teen replied.
“Then could you, um, pull my sock up?”
Draco looked at her incredulously.
“This isn’t really a skirt I can bend over in,” Jessa explained.
*
Jessa really had no desire to go to the great hall. Aside from getting sick of
pulling her skirt down all the time, she was dreading Severus’ reaction. She
bravely decided to get the unpleasantness out of the way and made her way up to
the staff table.
Severus narrowed his eyes at her, but indicated the empty chair beside him.
Jessa reached for a roll and began to butter it.
“You wanted to know what was going on,” Severus said. Jessa nodded mutely.
“Your father has gotten wind of your sharing a room with Moody and has decided
that you will live in my quarters.”
“Are you angry at me?”
Severus’ lips curled. “For what?” he said, “Defying me? Swearing at me?
Shouting? Throwing a tantrum? Running from me?”
Jessa bit her lip anxiously. Her hand played restlessly with the hem of her
pleated skirt. “Is it going to hurt?”
“You’re grounded,” said Severus calmly.
“OK,” said Jessa quietly.
“Stand up,” the man said abruptly.
Jessa did so nervously, but all Severus did was charm the length of her skirt
lower and order her to sit again.
The girl moved her chair closer and rested underneath Severus’ arm.
“Finish your meal,” he said severely.
By the time Severus was ready to return to his rooms Jessa had finished her
meal. She had also somehow managed to sidle her way onto his lap. It was
because of this that Severus failed to notice the loaded glances between two
members of rival houses.
*
Three days after Draco’s first display, Harry was walking down a poorly-lighted
corridor unescorted when he encountered Draco and three of his Slytherins. It
was not difficult to silence or disarm him, or for Vincent and Greg to drag him
into an unused classroom.
Pansy followed Draco into the room. “You really should be more careful,
Potter,” Draco drawled, stepping towards the other boy lazily. He watched the
boy mouth something angrily and then smiled. “Perhaps I should teach you a
lesson.” He undid the silencing charm, but left the boy restrained.
Draco listened to Harry’s retorts with a thin smile. “Really,” he said, “That
Gryffindor foolishness does get the best of you.” He moved forward slowly and
grabbed a fistful of the other boy’s red and gold tie. “Are you afraid, Potter?
All alone without Weasley or your mudblood to help you? You are *nothing*
Potter.” Draco sneered. “I don’t need anyone’s help to hurt you, Potter.” He
glanced up at his henchmen and Pansy. “Wait outside for me,” he said.
“But Draco-”
The blonde quelled Pansy with a look. She, Vincent and Greg left and Draco
wound the narrow length of the Gryffindor’s tie around his fist, encouraging
the noose to tighten.
“Some hero of the wizarding world,” Draco whispered. “You are pathetic, do you
know that, Potter?”
Draco lifted his hand and clenched his fingers tightly into black hair. “What
hope are you?” he demanded. “Can’t even protect yourself from some baby death
eaters.”
He forced Harry to look him in the eyes and lowered his voice. “How the *fuck*
are we supposed to rely on you to keep us from getting marked?” he spat.
Harry’s eyes widened, but Draco fisted hold of more of the boy’s hair and
snapped his head back painfully. Harry felt breath warm against his throat.
“You fucking pussy,” Draco hissed softly against the exposed skin. “A *saviour*
are you, Potter? Why is it *I* have to risk my neck to protect you? Why is it
*me* who has to defend my friends? This is your job, Potter. *Yours*. I’m going
to watch your every move, Potter, and do you know what you will do to thank me?
You will do your *job* Potter. Malfoys were not born to take orders.”
***** Reflections In Bed *****

Author's notes: Wherein Severus suffers Jessa settling in and the boys reflect
on the earlier ambush (and hair-pulling.)
===============================================================================
Yes, we all know JKR owns and that there is a proper disclaimer present at the
start of the first (rather dismal) chapter. Apologies for neglecting to post
anything for a few days but there's been at least four birthdays recently. On
with the story.
When Severus returned to his rooms he was met with the astonishing sight of
Lucius’ daughter wearing one of his own black shirts and sleeping in his bed.
Even in sleep she looked exhausted and he wondered briefly just how much she
was actually managing to catch. Moody had reminded Severus once more that Jessa
was largely intolerant to dreamless sleep –but if the girl was draining herself
Severus would surely have to find or concoct something to help her doze.
Ridiculous creature. He could not believe she had stolen his shirt –gone
through his closet to find it, even- and she had the audacity to crawl into his
bed. This was not acceptable.
Severus crossed the room, his robes billowing behind as though fearful of him,
and reached down to wrench the duvet from the sleeping girl’s grasp. When he
drew this close he could hear her whimpering quietly. Thin lines of tears
streaked her slumbering face.
Severus ripped the duvet from Jessa’s grasp and she darted awake, gasping.
He regarded her coldly. “There are pyjamas in your room.”
“I don’t wear pyjamas,” Jessa murmured, focusing on Severus’ face sleepily.
“Well you certainly do not wear my clothing,” Severus snarled.
“Smells like you,” Jessa mumbled.
Severus concentrated his frozen, black gaze on the teen. She flinched but made
no move to run from his bed. Severus curled his lip, snarling, and stormed
through to the empty bedroom. He retrieved a pair of sleep shorts and a
matching top, which he carried back through and threw down before the girl.
“Get changed,” he snarled.
Jessa pulled his shirt over her head.
“By what warped line of reason did you conclude that you should change here?”
Severus barked.
Jessa flinched again. “Didn’t think it mattered,” she muttered. “Already seen
me in my underwear.”
Severus glared and lifted the sleepwear, pushing it into her hands. He snatched
up his shirt and placed it out of Jessa’s reach.
She pulled on the pyjamas. “You took forever,” the girl said unaccusingly.
“That is not an invitation to my bed,” Severus growled.
“Well I wasn’t going to bed alone,” Jessa snapped back defiantly.
“I fail to see anyone else stupid enough to climb into this bed.”
Jessa gave the angry man an irritated look. “The sheets smell like you,” she
said.
Severus pressed his lips together. “You believe that is significant, I
suppose.”
“You think I should have slept in a new bed with unused sheets?” Jessa
retorted. “Why don’t you just write my subconscious a note saying I’m alone and
there’s no one to protect me?”
Severus looked at her.
“You make me feel safe,” said Jessa bitterly. “Being able to smell you
reassured me you were close by.”
“Why did you not merely join us tonight?” Severus asked in more muted tones.
Jessa awarded him with an incredulous look. “I’m grounded, remember?”
“That doesn’t mean you are unable to spend an evening in the company of Moody
and myself,” Severus said.
“You were discussing me,” Jessa said.
“So it would have been more opportune to have you with us,” Severus said.
Jessa sighed. “Maybe…perhaps it would be best for you to outline my
punishment.”
Severus regarded her. “When I ground you, you will attend classes and outwith
those periods you will remain in my company or confined to these rooms.”
Jessa nodded, looking subdued. “Are you coming to bed now?”
“Shortly,” said Severus.
“You won’t kick me out?” Jessa asked uncertainly.
“Far be it for me to deprive a Malfoy of her wishes,” Severus sneered. He
reached under a pillow for his nightshirt and withdrew to the bathroom.
Jessa pulled the quilt around her and waited for Severus to re-emerge. When he
did his eyes sparked annoyedly at her and he slid stiffly into the bed beside
her.
“Are you mad?” Jessa whispered.
“I am relieved to note your insecurities,” the man muttered back.
Jessa lay down quietly. The sheets felt smooth and cool against her bare legs
and her torso was cocooned in the thin fleece of her top. There were patches of
heat along the bed where she had been lying previously. She brushed her toes
against them and stared at the bunching of quilt clutched in her hands.
Severus felt overly conscious of the cool silk of his nightshirt against his
flesh, and the unhappy presence beside him. He was sandwiched between silk
sheets warmed by her body.
He felt a smaller foot connect softly with his shin. Severus observed Jessa’s
body straighten in surprise, but she did not draw her foot away. She pressed
her sole against his leg as though she were cold and her other foot joined
after a few minutes.
“M’sorry,” Jessa mumbled. “I picked a fight with you twice today.”
“We can discuss it in the morning,” Severus said gently.
Jessa sat up, and Severus felt the loss of her feet from his shins. However a
moment later she had scooted over and Severus felt instead her body pressed
against his chest. He let his arm slide protectively around her, and made no
protest when she entwined her legs with his.
*
Harry sighed and touched his fingertips lightly to his throat. Malfoy was a
prat. A gorgeous prat, he admitted grudgingly, but a prat none the less. More
importantly, Malfoy was a prat trying to fuck with Harry’s mind. It was all a
trap.
Slytherins who didn’t want marked? Yeah right.
Harry glanced across at Ron’s closed curtains. So if Malfoy was being a prat,
why hadn’t he told Ron?
He sighed once more and fisted his hand in his hair. ‘Because you liked it,’ a
voice in his head told him smugly.
He dropped his hand as though the memory of the night had burned him.
*
Severus was unnerved to find that Jessa woke early; earlier even than he. He
eyed her suspiciously.
Jessa grinned at him. “You were asleep for *hours*,” she said.
“I believed that to be ordinary practice,” Severus snapped.
“Well yes, but wouldn’t you have preferred to have spent all that time yelling
at me instead?”
“I will be sure to inform Lucius that his daughter is a masochist,” Severus
muttered dryly. “How long have you been awake?”
Jessa glanced over at the clock. “About three and a half hours?”
Severus glared. “I didn’t even come in until after midnight!”
“Yeah,” said Jessa. “But I was asleep before then.”
The man sighed. “And how have you spent your three and a half hours that you
should have spent in sleep?”
Jessa shrugged. “Waiting for you to wake up mostly. I figured I’d better not
wake you up by going for a shower: you looked pretty knackered.”
Severus sighed. “Go for your wretched shower,” he said.
Jessa’s expression grew distrustful. “We’ve just had a whole conversation with
you hardly shouting at me. What’s going on?”
“I’m not fully awake,” Severus snapped back. “Rest assured by the time you’re
dressed I will have reverted to full ogre mode.”
Jessa smirked. “There’s the bat I know and love,” she said. She darted up to
retreat to the shower.
Severus was pacified to see the pillow he threw after her connected. Shame he
hadn’t thrown something harder. The clock, perhaps.
*
Draco carded Pansy’s hair through his fingers thoughtfully. It was glossy and
dark, and pleasantly cool to the touch. She hadn’t woken yet. She wouldn’t wake
until about eight. He had roughly an hour in which she would be blessedly
silent.
She really was quite pretty like this. Her skin was entirely unblemished and
that irritating viciousness had melted from her expression. She looked almost
the way she had when they were children, except now of course she had pale
breasts, already devoid of the livid marks his teeth had left that night.
Her hair was almost as dark as Potter’s.
Pansy claimed to like it when Draco grabbed her hair roughly or entered her
forcefully. He hadn’t really cared before, but now he did wonder. Last night,
that had been about teaching Potter how weak he was, and how powerful Draco
was.
Yet if that was all that happened, did Draco imagine that small flicker of
delight in the other boy’s eyes, jostling behind the fear?
***** Favours Owed *****

Author's notes: Wherein whispered conversations ensue.
===============================================================================
Sorry for another delay guys I've just been busy. I don't own Harry Potter blah
blah blah...
Harry was disgruntled to find that Malfoy appeared to be ignoring him. As
discreetly as he possibly could, the Gryffindor had been glancing up at the
blonde all through breakfast, trying to meet his eyes in between classes, and
had spent the last two periods attempting to unobtrusively force the stupid
bloody pureblood to notice him and react.
But of course Malfoy was being a prat and was *not* looking at Harry and was
therefore *not* reacting; which meant Harry had no clue as to how to act or
what to think. On top of this, Harry didn’t do ‘subtle’ very well, and not only
Hermione but even Ron seemed to notice Harry’s preoccupation, although they
seemed to think that being ignored by Malfoy for a whole morning was making
Harry edgy in anticipation of an attack. How could they be both so completely
right and yet be so completely wrong at the same time?
Harry wished they would both just bugger off and stop flanking him for
reassurance so that maybe Malfoy would kidnap him again. Then again, how stupid
would he be to get ambushed by junior death eaters *again*?
As it was, inspiration hit him during lunch, when he was entering the great
hall with Neville. Neville’s clumsiness truly was a thing to be treasured.
After all, if Neville hadn’t fallen into Jessa, Harry wouldn’t have caught them
both, and certainly would never have thought to whisper in Jessa’s ear, “I need
a favour of my own.”
Jessa stood, brushing herself down, and nodded discreetly. She then smoothed
her hair and sneered, stalking away.
Neville swallowed.
Harry glanced at his nervous friend. “What?
“Do you think she’ll set Professor Snape on me or do you think she’ll just
curse my throat open?”
Harry watched the girl laughing with Malfoy as they stepped away from the
Slytherin table and towards the back of the room. “I don’t think she’ll do
either, Neville.”
*
‘Of course it’s my real name you ridiculous creature. Now, as for fucking me so
I forget who we are, just who are ‘we’ exactly? Or, more specifically, who are
you, North? You do realise I am not in the habit of introducing my casual
partners to my associates, do you not? Be careful North, because this can be
more than a game. Of course I would care to be fucked by you, just as much as I
would care to fuck you so deep and so hard I break you in two. Do you know what
you’re getting yourself into?’
*
Draco laughed appreciatively, his grey eyes sparkling like cut stones. “He’s
taking the bait so quickly?” he murmured, brushing his lips close to Jessa’s
ear.
Jessa smirked, sitting close to her brother in the potions classroom. Harry had
caught her moments before as she made her way alone to the class, and his
‘favour’ was interesting to say the least. “You’re a Malfoy, dearest brother.”
“And you’re amazing, Pureblood,” Draco replied. “How did you get him to agree
to this?”
“This is his request. I didn’t suggest it.”
Draco’s eyes widened almost imperceptively with surprise. “*His* suggestion?”
he parroted.
Jessa nodded, and then bowed her head to her book as Severus glared at them
both. She’d cast a silencing spell, and a notice-me-not, but he had still
noticed them talking even though he couldn’t hear them.
‘A properly brewed tracking potion is reliant on the method of…’
*
“Hey Scarhead,” Jessa called, hanging close enough to the door that Severus
could see her, but not hear her.
The dark-haired boy in question extracted himself from his two suspicious best
friends and walked back up to the door of the class he had just vacated
hurriedly.
“About that favour I owe you,” Jessa said.
“Yeah?”
Jessa lowered her voice. “He says ‘same place’. I don’t know what he means but
I presume you do?”
Harry stifled a grin. He nodded and then stormed away, as though what had been
said by the half-sister of his godfather was not the most exciting and
brilliant thing he’d ever heard.
***** Say It *****

Author's notes: Wherein Harry returns to that unused classroom.
===============================================================================
She who is not me owns.
“What did *she* want?”
Harry met Hermione’s eyes uncomfortably. If only he wasn’t so undernourished he
would at least be taller than her. As it was Hermione looked pretty scary and
he would have liked some sort of advantage over her to reassure him he wasn’t
about to have his ass kicked.
“She owes me a favour,” Harry admitted.
Hermione gave a sigh of frustration. “I heard that,” she snapped. “I want you
to explain.”
Ron was looking to him for an explanation too, hovering at the girl’s side and
towering over both of them. His original dislike of the Malfoy-Black female had
multiplied severely since her attack on Hermione.
“I did her a favour and I called her on it that’s all,” Harry said, hoping his
friends would drop the subject.
Which of course they didn’t. “What sort of favour?” Hermione demanded.
Harry sighed. Really, if he lied to them it was their own fault. He was hardly
going to admit he’d asked Jessa to pimp her brother in return for his informing
her of the illicit ways out of the castle. “I already knew about her being a
Malfoy and kept it quiet for her. I called her on it and told her to leave you
alone. We were discussing it just now.”
“You were protecting Hermione?” Ron said. He batted down the uncomfortable
feeling that his friend had done his job for him.
“Of course,” Harry lied. “Why else would I talk to her?”
Hermione did not completely swallow her suspicion. “Why did you cover for her
in the first place? She’s a Malfoy, Harry.”
“She’s also a Black,” Harry said, “Sirius’ younger sister. And because you
blurted out who her father is she’s now going to be spending her summer in
Malfoy Manner.”
“She attacked me, Harry,” Hermione said dubiously. “And have you forgotten how
she spoke to you when you offered her a seat? How she snubbed you and got all
cosy with Malfoy?”
“It’s because of me Sirius is dead. *Her brother* is dead.” Harry felt sick
suddenly.
“Harry we’ve been through this,” Hermione said softly.
“It’s not your fault mate,” Ron added gruffly.
“She thinks it is,” Harry retorted. “And all my ‘new’ gear I’ve been wearing?
She’s been transfiguring all my Dudley cast-offs. She’s stayed up all night
with me when I’ve had nightmares. That whole time I was in Grimmauld Place we
talked and stuff. She’s alright!”
“‘Alright’?” Ron repeated incredulously, “She slit Hermione’s throat!”
“I didn’t say she was perfect, did I?” Harry snapped. He really could do
without this conversation. He could do fine without any conversation actually.
“She’d been living practically alone in Grimmauld Place with just Kreecher
–obviously she’s a bit nuts. You both helped clean that house so you know the
sort of things that went on there. And then when Sirius moved in, did you know
he thought she was a hallucination? That he was half-crazy from Azkaban and my
parents’ death and being on the run –and that she took the brunt of his madness
because he didn’t believe she was real? Dumbledore told me that before he sent
me there to do stuff for the order the other week. Have you got any idea how
scarred her mind must be?”
“Oh that’s a great excuse,” Hermione scoffed, although looking a little cowed,
“She’s had some bad experiences so it’s okay to try to kill me?”
“I don’t know why she tried to kill you!” the boy howled. “I’m not her keeper
and I’m not yours either; I’m just trying to keep you from fighting.”
“Harry, your mind’s pretty scarred and you haven’t tried to kill anyone, mate,”
Ron said.
“No? I’m just getting groomed to kill Voldemort!” Harry snarled and stormed
off, leaving the rest of the Golden Trio looking confused and upset.
He found himself in the Owlery. It was cold, but Hedwig flew down to him and
fussed over him, which soon took his mind off of it.
“How are you, girl?” he crooned.
*
Severus scowled. This ‘grounding’ thing was beginning to grate on his nerves.
It was more a punishment for himself that it was for her, really. Jessa had
been stuck to him since he had finished teaching classes and now he was trying
to grade essays while she snuggled up against him. The brat even had the
audacity to wear the most blissfully peaceful expression he had ever seen, and
it irritated him to no end.
He’d tried moving to the armchair to remove her, but she’d simply settled at
his feet, resting her head against his thigh. Her warm weight was more
tolerable against his ribs than his legs –particularly with one of her wretched
little hands stroking absently at his ankle- and he’d resigned himself to
taking back his seat on the sofa.
“Sev’us?” she mumbled.
“Refrain from butchering my name.”
The teen blinked and said more lucidly, “Sev’rus.”
Severus sighed inwardly. The imbecile was
improving at the rate of one letter per chastisement. “Severus,” he corrected
coldly.
Jessa sighed and shifted against him, knocking his arm and scoring a vivid scar
of red in through a second year hufflepuff’s homework. It *was* garbage anyway.
Severus turned to the girl and glowered.
Jessa appeared not to have noticed her accident and looked up into his scowling
face. “Severus, you’re getting all scowly on me again.”
*
It was an hour or so before curfew when Harry made his way cautiously towards
the unoccupied classroom. He’d checked the marauder’s map to discover Malfoy
really hadn’t brought any backup and, drawing his wand anyway, entered the
room.
“Expelliarmus.”
No sooner had Harry passed the doorframe when his wand flew out of his grip and
felt his hair wrenched into an unforgiving grasp. The door shut itself behind
him and he heard it lock.
He was so stupid.
“Gerroff, Malfoy!” he raged, twisting furiously.
“Stop squirming Potter, you’ll only hurt yourself,” the blonde drawled
contemptuously, sounding almost bored.
“Let go of me!”
“Now, now, Potter,” Draco scolded, sounding amused, “It won’t do to forget your
manners you know. Or didn’t you learn any, getting dragged up by muggles?”
Whatever Harry was about to retort with was lost as Draco’s hand cracked
casually across his face.
“Don’t say anything that I’ll make you regret Potter,” Draco said, as way of an
explanation. “I do believe I told you to *stop struggling*.”
“What the hell, Malfoy? Should I just take it when you slap me?”
“A half-blood like you? Yes,” Draco replied. “And you really should know better
than to use my name alongside a curse word. Scourgify.”
Harry choked as the taste of soap filled his mouth but Draco swiftly cancelled
the spell. “I won’t have to do that again, will I?”
“Go to h-”
Draco’s hand rang off the green-eyed boy’s cheek again, a little harder this
time, but still only playfully. “Really now, don’t be foolish. I didn’t agree
to meet you here just to teach you some manners.”
“No? Then what did you come here for then?”
“I might *tell* you if you would stop struggling.”
Harry obeyed reluctantly and to his surprise the other boy loosened his grip on
his hair until the slim fingers were only twisted around the black locks and
not causing any actual pain.
“My wand,” Harry demanded.
Draco scoffed. “I’m rather fond of my face the way it is, Potter.”
“And what about mine? What colour is it now?”
“Relax, Potter, there’s not a mark on you. Well, apart from your scar of
course.”
“Let go of my hair,” Harry snapped.
“Why would I do that? I thought you liked it when I pulled your hair.”
Harry flushed. Deliciously. Draco’s eyes widened in surprise. “You’re blushing
Potter.”
Harry knew he was. He could feel the heat spreading across his face. “Don’t be
insane, Malfoy. It’s dark, how could you see me blushing? What’s wrong with
you?”
“Lumos.” The gentle light caught Harry’s face, exposing the retreating red.
“Pink suits you, Potter,” Draco drawled. “Now the question is not what’s wrong
with me, but what’s wrong with you?”
“I-” Fuck, he was blushing furiously now.
“I like it when you blush, Potter.”
“Malfoy…”
“Why did you want me to meet you, Potter?”
“I…”
“I think I know why, don’t I?” Draco whispered. Harry couldn’t speak as he
stared into the melted steel eyes.
Draco stowed the wands away and reached for more of the other boy’s hair with
his now free hand. He carded its tangled length through his finger gently.
“Do you like boys, Potter?”
Harry swallowed. His mouth was so dry. He nodded once.
“Good,” said Draco. “Now, what guy, specifically?”
“You know who I want,” Harry whispered reluctantly.
“Of course I do,” said Draco. “But if you want me the very least you can do is
to say it.”
***** You Know I Do *****

Author's notes: Wherein Draco seduces for peace and is left with a bitter taste
in his mouth.
===============================================================================
Damn I wish I owned. Anyone want to tell me how you like it so far? The boys
have got a way to go yet, but yay! something actually happens in this chapter.
^_^ Ahh, slashy goodness.
Harry swallowed. Both of Malfoy’s hands were tangled in his hair and the boy’s
proximity brought his scent to Harry’s nostrils. He smelt of heavy, expensive
cologne and something more feminine that was underlying; presumably his
shampoo.
There was the minute sense of Malfoy’s breath just hitting Harry’s face in the
most gentle caress.
“I don’t fancy you,” Harry said.
Malfoy coaxed him closer with a gentle tug on his hair. Suddenly their hips
were touching. The noise of their belt buckles connecting sang quietly in the
air.
“If you don’t fancy me Potter,” the blonde drawled, “Why are you half-hard?”
Harry pulled away but Draco dropped his hand from the dark locks and snatched
the other boy’s tie. He pulled the red and gold striped fabric towards him and
forced the reluctant boy closer.
Their faces were little more than an inch from touching. Malfoy had not noxed
the light and Harry could see his features perfectly: the long colourless
lashes resting on his cheeks; the ash-blonde strands of hair falling neatly
across his face; the grey eyes and pink lips.
Abruptly Malfoy crossed the distance and brought his lips crashing down on
Harry’s. Harry fell back, his lips parting in surprise as he emitted a startled
squeak.
Draco twisted the Gryffindor’s tie over his fist to slow the boy’s fall and
leaned over him, resting his weight against the stone wall behind them both.
His lips had not left Harry’s, instead pushing the boy backwards, and his
tongue took advantage of the parted lips to plunge his tongue inside. He fisted
his other hand though Harry’s hair ungently and pressed him tightly against the
stone.
Harry was breathing heavily, his body folding under the other boy’s easily. He
was uncomfortable, but not hurt, and found his treacherous hands snaking up to
grab the front of Malfoy’s robes and pull him closer.
The blonde broke the kiss with a cold chuckle and stepped away, straightening
up as he did.
“For someone who doesn’t fancy me you didn’t seem so unwilling Potter.”
Hurt flashed across Harry’s eyes and he pushed past Draco angrily. “Go to hell
Malfoy. What are you going to do now, tell everybody? You sick-”
Draco grabbed the back of the other boy’s shirt and threw him back against the
wall. “You’re not going anywhere,” he growled.
Harry struggled to break his grip. “What-”
“Shut up Potter. All you need to say is that you want me and I’m not letting
you go until you do.”
“What for? You’ve already made a complete fool of me, Malfoy.” Harry’s hands
had curled into fists and he reached up to throw the blonde’s hands off of him.
“Don’t be such a little bitch, Potter,” Malfoy said impatiently.
Harry raised his gaze swiftly with a murderous expression.
Malfoy sighed. “Don’t take it like that.”
Harry’s eyes narrowed. “How should I take it then?”
“On your knees and moaning?” Draco suggested flippantly. He sighed again at the
glare the other boy shot him. “Potter…please, Potter.”
Harry glanced up in surprise. “What?”
“I just said ‘please’ Potter; I will *not* beg you,” Malfoy growled.
“Beg me for what?”
“To give me permission.”
Harry blinked owlishly. “For what?”
“Are you thick, Potter?”
Harry bristled. “Malfoy-”
“Alright, I apologise again, alright?” Malfoy snapped.
Harry glowered. “What do you need from me?”
Malfoy met his eyes irritably. “Do you want me or not Potter? I have better
things I could be doing than this.”
“What?”
Malfoy glared then darted forward to push Harry against the wall. He pressed
angry kisses down the side of the dark haired boy’s jaw and along his neck,
avoiding his eyes. “Tell me you want me Potter.”
“I-” Harry gasped as the other boy flicked his tongue over his shoulder. “You
*know* I do.”
“Good.” Malfoy stepped back.
Harry brought his hand up to his damp neck and shoulder. “Is this how you get
your kicks?”
Malfoy sneered at his irritated tone. “I assure you, the pleasure is all
yours.”
“What game are you playing Malfoy?”
“Game? Harry, this is war.”
“Don’t call me Harry.”
Malfoy sighed. “Fine. Don’t call me Draco then.”
“Have I ever?”
Malfoy crossed his arms. “So it’s settled; you want me?”
“I already admitted that!”
“Well I wanted clarification.”
“What do you need clarification for, wasn’t hearing it once enough? I, Harry
Potter, am a poof and I fancy Draco-poncing-Malfoy!”
“That’s what I wanted to hear,” Draco smirked.
“Why?” Harry demanded.
“Because I’m not having my boyfriend crying to the press how he was raped by
that awful, nasty, Malfoy boy.”
Harry ran his hand through his hair. “What?”
“Just be quiet and undo your belt, will you?”
Harry almost obeyed before meeting the other boy’s eyes. “Why?”
Draco glared. “I’ll get on my knees for you but I’ll be damned before I undress
you Potter! I’m a Malfoy, not your fucking slave!”
Harry wondered briefly what was going on but began to unbuckle his belt. He
paused as he unfastened his trousers. “Are you definitely alright Malfoy?”
The blonde menacingly crossed the small distance between them. “Of course I am
Potter,” he snapped.
Harry let his trousers drop as Malfoy knelt before him. “Considering you’re
about to blow me off I think you can call me Harry.”
Draco glared up then wrenched down the Gryffindor’s fitted boxers irately. “You
didn’t want me to, remember?” He began kissing a line up Harry’s inner thighs.
“Stop,” Harry said. He rested his hand softly on the kneeling boy’s shoulder.
“Are you sure you want to do this…Draco?”
The blonde flinched at the use of his name. He batted the hand away in irk and
took Harry’s member in his hand, pushing back the foreskin and swirling his
tongue against the head.
Harry’s breathing quickly changed.
Draco swallowed the entire length and drew his other hand up to fondle Harry’s
balls. The dark haired boy hissed at the heat of Draco’s mouth and wrapped his
fingers carefully in the platinum blonde length.
Draco pulled back sharply. “If you think you’re allowed to mess up my hair
you’ve got another thing coming Half-Blood.”
Harry did not let go. “Just shut up and suck me Draco.”
To his surprise, the pureblood obeyed, but briefly left his attention of
Harry’s testicles to slap away the hands tightening in his blonde hair.
Harry submitted himself to Draco’s considerable skills and soon came, hard. The
blonde surprised him further by swallowing and licking Harry clean before
standing.
“Pull your clothes up,” Draco said, turning away.
“Draco.” Harry caught the boy’s arm and he turned back. Harry moved forward and
latched his lips to the other boy’s mouth, tasting the bitterness of his own
seed.
Draco leaned into the kiss with what seemed to be vulnerability. Harry slung
his arm protectively around the blonde’s waist as he melted against him.
Eventually Harry broke the kiss and Draco knelt, pulling up Harry’s clothes
carefully, before stepping back and avoiding the Gryffindor’s eyes.
Harry reached for his belt and looped it through his trousers. “Thank you,” he
said.
“You don’t have to thank me Potter,” Draco said disgustedly.
“Harry,” the boy insisted firmly.
“Whatever,” Draco said, pulling out Harry’s wand and placing it on a desk
beside him. “Fine: Harry.
Don’t thank me.” He moved towards the door.
“Wait,” Harry protested, “Don’t go.”
Draco turned and quirked an eyebrow tiredly. “Why not?”
“Can’t we talk?”
“What is there to say Harry?”
“How I bout I tell you that was amazing?”
The blonde’s lips quirked a little. “Of course it was.”
“And what about, um,” Harry swallowed, watching Draco reach for the door
handle. “Us?”
“Are you telling me to finish with Pansy?”
Harry paused. “That’s- That’s, uh, up to you?”
“Anything else I can do for my boyfriend?”
“Don’t you want me to, you know? For you?”
“No Harry,” Draco replied, sliding through the now unlocked door as Harry
picked up his discarded robes, “no, I really don’t.”
***** Returning Favour *****

Author's notes: Wherein Draco falls a little deeper...
===============================================================================
I'm so psyched that so many people have been reading. ^_^ Rights go to JKR for
everything she owns and reviews? Well feel free to send those my way. =] Sorry
for the delay in posting, the chapter was being uncooperative for a few days.
The thing about Severus, Jessa mused, was that he was unnerved by her
proximity. The irony of it was that by ending her grounding to create some
escape from her he had given her the opportunity to reply to his letter.
Her reply had been deprecatingly witty, affectionate and had left no doubt as
to how she felt: yes, she did know what she was getting herself into and no,
she did not want to use her get out of jail free card. She challenged Severus
as to whether he felt the same.
Draco was sitting across from her on his bed in the dorm room. He had been
quiet for the past few days although he had related some details of his meeting
with Scarhead. Overall he was pale, withdrawn and seemed unhappy in a vague
sort of way. He’d also broken up with Pansy.
He wasn’t speaking, just playing with the edge of the sheet mutely. This
occurred so often that Jessa had stopped asking what was wrong, for now at
least.
Greg was sitting resting against one of the corner pillars of the four poster,
and Jessa leant into his solid chest comfortably. He acted completely
unaffected by this intimacy, rather like she was a younger sister and not the
sex object he, as a hormonal teenager, was expected to see her as.
He was a darling, Greggory Goyle.
Finally some of Draco’s listlessness receded and Draco raised his head to look
at the pair. “Tell him to meet me again tonight,” he said shortly, before
standing and going for a shower. Vincent –who had been cracking his knuckles
from his seat on the fake window ledge- got up to stand guard at the door.
Jessa got up and went to find the Golden Boy. Greg trotted after her calmly.
*
“Desist with your lumping her in with *my* Slytherins, will you?” Severus
requested peevishly. “The wretch would be a hufflepuff by now and out of my
hair already if Albus would have her sorted.”
Minerva smirked back. “Be that as it may Severus, I think there is something
going on involving Harry Potter and *your* charges that I request you look
into.”
“You mean you haven’t actually found out what yet?” Severus sneered. His older
colleague looked irritated, indicating his accuracy, and the edges of his lips
pulled up in pleasure at her discomfiture.
He declined to end with a cutting retort, instead smirking in a way he knew
would irritate the woman more than anything he could say. He left silently with
a dramatic billowing of his robes behind him.
*
“I thought you weren’t coming,” Harry said, stepping aside to let Draco inside.
“Don’t worry Potter –I’ll still pull your hair.”
Harry smirked. “Good,” he said, moving to sit casually on one of the close
desks.
Draco swallowed his rising discomfort and stared at the other boy coolly.
“You dumped Pansy,” Harry said conversationally.
Draco shrugged. “I’m your boyfriend now, aren’t I?”
“In a cloak and dagger sort of way,” Harry said deliberately.
The blonde looked sick. “You want this to be public?”
“Of course not,” Harry replied, sensing the other boy’s reluctance. “Why are
you doing this Draco?”
“I told you the first time: you can’t do the job decently by yourself,” came
the stiff reply.
“I can use my hand just fine,” Harry said bluntly in an attempt to lighten the
mood. Draco’s expression remained neutral and Harry sighed. “I was joking,” he
said. “Look, come here.”
Draco obeyed reluctantly and Harry softly placed his hand on the standing boy’s
hip. “You want to be safe, Draco?”
Draco inclined his head briefly.
“You don’t have to be my fuck toy to join our side; you know that, don’t you?”
“I don’t want to join your fucking side!”
“Then what?”
“Malfoys serve no one,” Draco said coldly.
“Have I become the bottom then?” Harry teased softly.
Draco looked at him and read the invitation in the other’s eyes. “Too right
you’re the bottom, Potter,” he said, reaching out to grasp the boy’s hair.
Harry gasped a little at the pain, but made no attempt to move.
“I will own your ass Potter,” Draco hissed. “You are mine.”
“I better protect you then, hadn’t I?” Harry replied.
“You fucking certainly will,” Draco
growled. “You’ll do your job or I’ll curse your head off.”
“I wouldn’t want you to *punish* me,” Harry breathed.
Draco smirked at the other’s clumsy attempt at seduction. “Of course, if you’re
a good boy I *might* reward you.”
“Thank you Draco,” Harry murmured, nuzzling the arm attached to the hand
resting gently in his hair.
“But don’t think I’ll get *fond* of you Potter,” said Draco, tightening his
grip again and pulling Harry to his feet by tugging his hair.
Harry breathed deeply allowing Draco to pull off his outer robes and loosen his
tie. “I’m not stupid,” Harry replied.
Draco eyed him critically. His lip curled a little but he made no comment. The
red and gold tie was thrown to the floor.
Harry met his eyes and stepped back to sit on the desk. Draco followed, feeling
the other boy’s knees press against either side of him. He curled the teen’s
hair tightly in his fist and reached down to kiss him forcefully.
Harry smiled into the kiss and retaliated, his tongue finding Draco’s. The boy
rested his unoccupied hand on his hip and Harry pulled him closer.
Draco felt his shirt being unbuttoned and forced himself not to look down.
Harry was unknotting his tie now, and it dropped to the floor. Draco pulled
back from the kiss, yet allowed himself to continue to be held by the pressure
of the other boy’s thighs, and the dark haired boy began to remove his own
shirt.
He kicked off his shoes and jumped down from the desk, catching Draco casually
as he did so. Harry stepped back to take off his trousers and stepped out of
them, towards the blonde. He kicked the discarded garment under the desk and
reached for Draco's buckle. Draco’s trousers swiftly pooled at his feet and the
boy shivered.
Harry’s hand snaked around to cup the other boy’s rear and he kissed a line
from Draco’s neck to his chest.
“Step out of your things,” Harry whispered.
Draco obeyed, toeing out of his moccasins as well as his trousers.
Harry tugged at the boy’s shorts. “What about these?”
Draco’s throat seemed dry. “Take them down,” he said hoarsely. He hoped his
tone could be excused for lust, and not fear.
The dark haired boy gave his collarbone a reassuring kiss and slipped down
Draco’s briefs.
“Sit down on the desk,” Harry ordered.
Draco obeyed, shivering in just his socks. Part of the table was warmed from
Harry’s recent presence but the rest of the lacquered wood was cold.
“What are you doing?” Draco asked quietly.
Harry noticed the absence of arrogance in the pureblood’s tone and pressed a
kiss gently into his blonde hair. “I just want to return the favour, baby,” he
soothed.
Words of endearment from Potter? Draco felt a little sick. ‘Baby’. He was Har-
*Potter’s* ‘baby’.
Harry had reached down and was caressing the flesh between Draco’s legs. The
blonde was disgusted to find himself hardening, and then Potter *kissed* him
again, and suddenly Draco was mewling, leaning into the orphan’s touch.
Harry knelt and began licking the fevered flesh before him.
Draco tugged the dark hair weakly. “Please…”
Harry looked up, and Draco hated the warmth in those green eyes. “My boyfriend
never needs to beg, Draco.”
Draco turned away with a pained look and wrapped his fingers more harshly in
Potter’s hair as the boy engulfed him in the glorious heat of his mouth.
Draco cried out softly as he felt the other boy’s tongue come into use.
Harry laughed softly as he pushed down gently to still the blonde’s bucking
hips. The vibration against Draco’s skin made him whimper and he let out a
gasp. “P-Potterrrr!”
Harry ignored him and continued to suck. Draco eventually came with a quiet
scream and Harry straightened up, grinning as he licked his lips.
Draco was momentarily transfixed with this sight, but then the wretched half-
blood started lavishing kisses on Draco’s body with his dirtied mouth.
Harry pulled Draco from the desk and held him close. “You like that, baby?”
Draco didn’t answer, melting into Harry’s embrace even as he attempted to pry
himself away.
Harry patted Draco’s naked bottom softly. “I asked you a question,” he growled
playfully, ducking his head to nuzzle Draco’s ear.
Draco flinched even as he leant into the Golden Boy’s touch. Everything about
the boy exuded safety; yet Draco had never felt so vulnerable.
Harry’s lips fell on Draco’s cheekbone and he looked up in surprise. Those
green eyes stared back at him evenly, and Draco found himself tilting his head
for a kiss.
***** The Salazar Society *****

Author's notes: Wherein Draco assures Pansy.
===============================================================================
JKR owns everything but my own warped thoughts. Hello everybody! Sorry it's
short, but the next chap will be up by tomorrow I hope.
Severus sighed, the warm body of the young woman tangled with his own. Her
fingers were twined around his soft hair and her soft curves pressed against
his sharp angles. Her breath tickled his arm and he sighed again, feeling
almost content. His morning arousal fitted in the space between them.
She moved and stretched, still held in his arms. “Morning, Severus.”
He smiled at her familiar voice and opened his eyes as he turned. His blood ran
cold as he registered the platinum hair. He pulled away, sickened with himself,
as Jessa gazed at him with confusion.
“I hope I don’t have morning breath that bad,” she said dryly.
The man met her eyes reluctantly. “I’m going for my shower,” he said.
Jessa rolled onto her back. “It’s only five,” she protested. “Come back to
bed.”
He denied her and she sat up with a pout. The quilt fell away from her body and
the low-cut green silk of her vest glistened in the half-light. “But I’m
tired,” she protested. “Please stay. Keep the nightmares at bay?”
His tongue almost formed the words ‘I am the nightmare’ but instead Severus
focused on the bruises beneath the teen’s eyes. He remembered now how the night
had been spend with Lucius’ daughter crying herself raw as she clung to his
chest having woken from dreams that obviously disturbed her.
The girl saw his hesitation and climbed across to him, her indecently short
sleep-shorts flashing far too much milky thigh. Jessa grasped his hand softly
and tugged. “Sleep with me,” she pleaded.
Severus relented, hating himself as the girl settled her head on his chest to
sleep.
*
Ron regarded his friend suspiciously as Harry bantered cheerfully with Seamus
and Dean over breakfast. The boy was rarely this cheerful, but especially not
before two study periods under the miserable potions master, and potions itself
before lunch. Thursday mornings were always a struggle and the redhead really
could not understand why, as they moved from the great hall to the dungeons,
Harry’s eyes were sparkling.
Malfoy pushed past the trio on the stairs. As Ron cursed, he realised his
friend hadn’t even noticed. Ron exchanged a confused look with Hermione.
*
“Miss Malfoy, tell me you are not eating in my class?”
Jessa glanced up and took the short stick out of her mouth. “I’m not eating in
class.”
The man gave her a murderous look. “What is that?”
“Blood pop,” the girl replied casually.
“‘Blood pop’?” Severus repeated weakly. “Where did you get a blood pop?”
“Kreecher.”
Severus put down his quill. “And why did Kreecher give you a blood pop?”
“I asked for one.”
“Why?”
The girl gave him a bemused look. “Because I like them.”
Severus sighed. “Get rid of it and get back to studying,” he snapped.
Jessa hesitated.
“I have plenty of corners at my disposal, Miss Malfoy.”
With a scowl the girl banished the sweet and turned the page of her textbook.
Draco waited until his godfather’s attention was otherwise occupied before
muttering, “Will you stop winding him up?”
The Golden Boy glanced back for a moment and gave Jessa a puzzled smile. “Why
is it only you’re allowed to have fun?” she muttered back.
Draco scowled at the back of Harry’s head. “Only you would want to.”
Jessa grinned and distributed a small bag of sherbet lemons amongst the
Slytherins discreetly. “There’s someone else I prefer to have my fun with,” she
replied lightly.
Draco gave her a dark look. “If Blaise is touching you…” he paused, and scowled
at the yellow sweets. “If it’s Dumbledore I’m telling Father.”
“Don’t be sick, little brother,” Jessa scowled, bouncing a sweet off of Draco
for his slight.
Draco glanced again at the back of Harry’s head. “Too late for that.” He put
the projectile in his mouth and ground it between his teeth.
Pansy popped a lemon drop into her mouth and licked her fingers. “Have you told
Jessa yet?”
Draco turned in his seat. “Told her what?” he murmured, one eye moving to his
godfather.
“About the Salazar Society,” Pansy replied impatiently, warily bending over her
notes as Severus looked up.
“Oh, that,” Draco answered after a pause. “I hadn’t really thought; I’ve been
preoccupied. She’ll be there though.”
Jessa ran her finger over the paragraph of Vince’s book that answered the
revision question he’d been staring at for the last few minutes. “The Salazar
Society?” she murmured questioningly.
***** Alliances In Salazar's Name *****

Author's notes: Wherein Jessa is sworn into the Society.
===============================================================================
Hello everybody. Up today as promised, and longer than yesterday's chapter.
Question: is Draco actually short for 'Draconis'? I've read it in a few fics
but I don't know if it's just coincidental. Rights go to JKR and Bloomsbury and
all of them, although I suppose I still own my ideas. =].
The Salazar Society met at least once a month, and usually more, in the same
place that had existed –to extent of every Slytherin’s knowledge- for perhaps
as long as Hogwarts itself. It was a large sort of room and equipped with magic
similar to that of the room of requirement, meaning that its internal
appearance varied from year to year. The one unchanging factor was that the
room was lit by an imitation sun which circled the ceiling. Its placement in
the ‘sky’ indicated the hour: it was currently sailing slowly towards the
fireplace.
The ceiling slanted, rising up to accommodate dormitories, and swooped lower
where the room was on only one level. Currently the staircase was ornate and
spiralled, but this changed almost as often as the dimensions and contents of
the dormitories.
The entrance was close to the personal rooms of the Slytherin Head of House.
Supposedly this was a boast of Slytherin cunning, but as a rule any Head had
used the entrance themselves during their own youth, and turned a blind eye to
anything Society related.
Or, in the case of one Severus Snape, the Head of Slytherin House provided the
occasional illicit item or two in return for a quiet Saturday. Every Slytherin
knew without a doubt in their heart that if their abuse of this deal led to
their misbehaviour in front of another staff member, their beloved Head would
use the entirety of their body for potion ingredients –without killing them
first.
As it was, entering the room on that particular Friday night was as uneventful
as it was most nights, and Jessa found herself stepping onto the sun-warmed
wooden floor and staring around herself in awe.
Pansy permitted her a few moments to gape then pushed her further inside to
allow the others entry. “I hope you know you’re the first non-Slytherin who’s
been invited in a good few years,” Pansy commented.
“The only reason she’s not a Slytherin is that she’s not been sorted,” Draco
replied a little sharply from the back of the group.
“We all understand she’s an honorary Slytherin,” Vincent soothed, entering the
room and shoving Pansy slightly.
Pansy cuffed him calmly. “I just want her to appreciate this.”
“Leave her alone boys,” Jessa murmured, staring up at the massive twisted
fireplace. Draco crossed the room and took a pinch of floo powder from a dish
on the mantle.
“Fine; fine,” he relented. He tossed the powder into the flames and stepped
through, disappearing from sight. Seconds later he returned holding two bottles
of firewhisky.
“Where’s that from?” Jessa demanded curiously, reaching for a bottle.
Draco held it away from her grasp. “We’ll let you work it out,” he smirked.
Pansy settled on the floor. “Will you get on with it?”
Draco raised an eyebrow at her and put the bottles away as the other Slytherins
entered the room.
“Where did you put them?” Jessa protested.
Draco smirked. “Don’t worry Pureblood: you’ll get a taste later. I’ve sent them
out of the way until the wee ones leave though.”
Jessa pouted. “Why?”
“Because we don’t share our firewhisky with eleven year olds,” Pansy answered.
“Come sit down.”
Jessa took in the sight of the entire Slytherin House seated in a ring
regarding her. It was an intimidating experience.
Draco sat down beside Greg and pulled his sister down beside him.
“Seventh years?”
Less than a dozen Slytherins stood and formed a line as they walked towards
Jessa at her brother’s demand. The teen at the front knelt before her and to
her alarm brought his lips down lightly on her shoulder. “We welcome you to the
company of the Salazar Society. We grant you peace and passage amongst us. You
will suffer no harm by our wands.”
Before the startled girl could reply, the next seventh year in the line bent
forward and kissed Jessa’s right shoulder as the first boy returned to his
space. Each of the seventh years kissed her shoulder and moved away to seat
themselves once more.
Draco and the Slytherins in his year stood in a remarkably fluid movement. The
blonde reached out and clasped her hand oddly.
“We welcome you, fellow snake,” Draco intoned. He gave her a slight nudge and
she was haltingly led before each of her year mates, who grinned reassuringly
and hissed.
“Firsties,” Draco summoned.
The others sat and the first years stood in a notably less synchronised
movement. The forefront young Slytherin was both remarkably tiny and remarkably
confident in appearance.
Draco leaned towards Jessa’s ear and whispered, “Repeat what I tell you then
kiss her right shoulder. She’ll join the ring again and you kiss each of them
until they’ve all returned to their places.”
Jessa nodded and glanced at him nervously.
“I, child of Malfoy and Black,” Draco whispered.
“‘I, child of Malfoy and Black’,” Jessa repeated.
“And the protected of Draconis Malfoy.”
“‘And the protected of Draconis Malfoy’.”
“Hereby will endeavour to protect and aid you.”
“‘Hereby will endeavour to protect and aid you’.”
“When your need calls me.”
“‘When your need calls me’.”
“As you are my own.”
“‘As you are my own’.”
“As I have now sworn to you by the oath of
Salazar.”
“‘As I have now sworn to you by the oath of Salazar’.”
The first year girl stepped forward and Jessa kissed her shoulder. Apparantly
she did it right as the doll like girl moved back to her space in the circle
and sat back down. The next child stepped forward and Jessa repeated the action
until each of the first years had sat down.
Pansy stepped forward and Draco touched Jessa’s arm softly to indicate she
should remain in the circle’s centre.
“Child of Malfoy and Black I offer you my protection and allegiance and name
you an honorary Slytherin in the name of Salazar,” Pansy uttered.
Draco blinked and murmured to Jessa, “Take her arm and kiss the inside of her
wrist just beneath the palm.”
Jessa obeyed and with Draco’s prompting accepted Pansy’s offer.
Daphne and Millicent stepped forward from behind Pansy. “As the ally of our
protector we welcome your allegiance,” Millicent spoke.
At her brother’s instruction Jessa kissed the offered knuckles of both girls
and declared, “I, child of Malfoy and Black, accept the allegiance of my peers
Millicent Bullstrode and Daphne Greengrass.”
The three girls stepped back into the circle and Draco watched his two
bodyguards step forwards to offer alliances and protection that he helped Jessa
accept. The blonde then scowled as Blaise stepped forward.
“Malfoy-Black child I offer you my friendship and allegiance,” the boy drawled,
grinning as his lover voiced the same offer.
Draco irritably helped Jessa accept then murmured, “Remain in the centre.
Starting with me, meet the eyes of everyone working your way around from your
right then return to my side.”
The three boys moved to their seats.
Jessa met Draco’s eyes and turned, locking her gaze with each Slytherin in
turn, then crossed the floor and settled beside Draco. The Slytherins hissed
for a moment, which was a bit unnerving, and then they stopped. The group
dispersed in to smaller groups and they paid Jessa no more attention.
“What just happened?” Jessa murmured.
“You just joined,” Draco answered.
She punched his arm. “Why the hell did none of
you warn me?”
“We’re not supposed to warn you,” Vince said.
“How did you all expect me to know what to do?” the girl grumbled.
“It’s usually done to all the first years in the first few weeks of term,”
shrugged Pansy. “You’re just a bit unusual. It went fine.”
“I didn’t have any idea what was going on,” Jessa protested.
“You didn’t?” Pansy blinked. “Well the seventh years welcomed you to the
Society and promised that no Slytherin would harm you; and that if you were
ever attacked by another house Slytherins would help you- what the seventh
years promise the firsties. Then you were welcomed by your peers –us- which is
what all the first years who’ve already been welcomed do to each first year
welcomed after them. Then your protector, Draco-”
“Protector?” Jessa interrupted.
“A relative who’s already part of the society,” Draco explained. “Anyone
without one is placed under the protection of an older Slytherin.”
“The protector’s job is to make sure no Slytherin harms their charge and if
someone does then the protector defends your rights and deals with the
Slytherin breaking Society code,” Pansy continued. “So Draco had you explain
your lineage and you swore to look out for the first years, which any transfer
does, and all the second years do in autumn too.”
“What about all the wrist/knuckle stuff?” Jessa asked.
Pansy put her wrist out. “This signifies that a person is willing to give part
of their self for the welfare of the other and take that person under their
wing. It can be accepted with a kiss as you did, which signifies a bond of
affection; or you can cover the wrist with you palm, meaning that you’re
accepting the offer as a business deal.” Pansy put her knuckled together. “This
is a symbol of equality. This person won’t run into any random fight to protect
you, but will have your back if you’re fighting for the same cause.”
Draco nodded in agreement. “Essentially this means Panse, Vincent, Greg and I
will look after you regardless of the circumstances. Daphne and Millie accept
your presence in their group because of Pansy, but you’re not one of them yet
as far as they’re concerned.”
“If something concerns them they’ll get involved but otherwise they’ll keep
some distance,” Pansy expanded.
“What about Theo and Blaise?”
Draco rolled his eyes irritably. “Blaise was going against protocol as usual.
‘Friendship’ isn’t a real offer. He hasn’t offered to protect you but he’ll
consider your side in any conflict.”
“He’s being safe,” Pansy explained to Jessa. “Blaise can’t offer to protect you
in case it ever clashes with Theo –because there’s history with you and him. By
giving you the same offer, Theo is saying that there’s no bad blood between you
so long as you’re not hooking up with his boyfriend. He can’t give you a
stronger offer without a reassurance that he can trust you because if he did
and you broke his trust he’d be unable to do anything about it. It’s all pretty
positive.”
Jessa laughed weakly. “I think I need that drink now, it’s a lot to take in.”
“Don’t worry Pureblood, that’s everything covered,” Draco smirked. “The games
will start when the younger ones get sent to bed. That won’t be long; some of
the first and second years have already left.”
Pansy lay on her back. “Thank fuck. Curfew was ages ago. I want the night
started before I fall asleep.”
Vince and Greg moved in closer to form a tighter circle. With the formalities
finished the room had started to provide pillows and cushions which the boys
brought over. Jessa hugged lay down on her stomach, hugging a cushion beneath
her to prevent the hard floor hurting her ribs. Noticing that they had become
an island as they kissed, Blaise and Theo grinned shamefacedly and crawled over
to the group.
“Are you two ever *not* nipping the face off each other?” Pansy teased.
“Only if his lips are otherwise occupied,” Blaise answered, grinning as he
rested his weight over Theo and recaptured the boy’s mouth.”
“Which never takes long,” Theo broke away to add, causing Blaise to yelp and
reprimand his lover with a nearby pillow.
“Leave it for the home made videos, boys,” Draco sighed.
“You’re just jealous,” Blaise began.
“Because you’re not getting any,” Theo finished blissfully.
“I don’t need it *every day*,” Draco snorted.
“*Once* a day?” Blaise scoffed. “Panse, how could you bear that little?”
Pansy grinned. “We must just do it better if you need to do it all day long to
keep yourselves satisfied.”
“Or Dray could just be crap,” Blaise deadpanned.
“Put a cock in it, will you Zambini,” Draco snapped.
Theo smirked. “Gladly.”
“Stop!” Pansy demanded. “Stop right there because you two don’t need the
encouragement. I don’t want to watch you both shagging in front of me.”
“Then don’t watch,” Blaise smirked, groping Theo casually.
“Your problem is that Draco isn’t shagging you,”
Theo declared, shifting his legs slightly.
Pansy rolled her eyes. “There are plenty of Ravenclaws to choose from.”
“What’s wrong with an older Slytherin? Or any Slytherin?” Draco asked.
“They’re not you,” the girl replied bluntly. “You’re the best Slytherin had to
offer and I don’t go for second best.”
“Ravenclaw *is* second best,” Draco pointed out.
“Only if you’re Slytherin,” said Pansy.
“*Particularly if you’re Slytherin,” Draco corrected. “Which, Panse, you are.”
“That’s beside the point,” Blaise said. “Since when way Draco ‘the best
Slytherin had to offer’?”
Pansy snorted. “Since always Blaise. Although I admit you are definiately
second best.”
Theo made a face. “Keep your little albino. He looks like a girl.”
Draco glowered. “Bit of a tweeny yourself, aren’t you?”
“That’s enough,” Blaise said. “Draco, relax. Theo, that’s enough.”
Theo pouted but was soon cheered when he noticed the dwindling numbers of the
room.
“Alright, I’m sorry Draco,” the boy grinned. “But let the games begin.”
Author note: In case you're wondering, shoulder-kissing was just something I
witnessed with my friends one time in central station. We went around imitating
the beardy bloke for a while thinking we were quite cool (which obviously we
are lol) until we found something more stupid to do. No, you don't want to
know.
***** Let The Games Begin *****

Author's notes: Wherein the Slytherins become mildly drunk and mainly
talkative. Oh, and does anyone know if I'm using the right spelling for
veritaserum?
===============================================================================
0.0 OMG so many reads. =D Thanks everyone. She owns etc etc.
To the surprise of the group Draco summoned the bottles and sent one over to
the older students.
“We’re not playing together?” Theo asked dubiously.
Jessa watched in interest as the seventh year who had first kissed her shoulder
opened the bottle.
Draco flipped her back around and narrowed his eyes at the other group who
Millie and Daphne were sitting with. “Jessa will not be playing with them,” he
said shortly.
The girl gave him a questioning look. “Why?”
“Because you’re a tramp,” Draco answered shortly.
Jessa made an annoyed noise as she sat up. “Excuse me?” she said incredulously.
“At least I’m not whoring myself Little Brother!”
“Draco, that’s harsh,” Blaise admonished.
Pansy looked interested. “‘Whoring’?”
Draco glowered at Blaise. “It’s your fault: you only hook up with little
sluts!”
Greg reached over and knocked Draco from his seating position to the floor.
“Shut up Draco.”
“And explain ‘whoring’,” Pansy demanded archly.
“And what you mean by ‘little sluts’,” Theo added
sharply.
Blaise kissed his indignant lover. “You *are* a little slut,” he whispered,
which mollified the boy considerably.
“I retract my question,” Theo mumbled, wriggling encouragingly beneath Blaise.
Pansy cleared her throat. “She means nothing Parkinson,” Draco said darkly.
“Nothing, is he?” Jessa murmured, quiet enough that only Draco could hear.
“Shut up, you fake blonde,” Draco sighed.
“Get me drunk,” Jessa retorted.
“That’s a great idea,” Blaise pulled away long enough to say. Theo glared. “All
of us drunk,” Blaise explained.
Jessa looked at the remaining bottle
dubiously. “You think that’s gonna get seven of us drunk?”
“It’s spiked,” Pansy explained.
“With what?”
“Veritaserum,” smirked Pansy.
“We’re playing truth?” Jessa deduced.
“Truth or Dare -or I Never,” said Draco.
“So what’s the problem with playing with the others?”
Draco sighed. “Well you’re single…”
“And?”
“Oh yeah,” said Pansy suddenly. “No, Jess, Drake’s right on this?”
“What? What’s going on?” Vince asked.
Greg surprised the others by offering, “Because of that girl last year.”
“Who?” Blaise asked.
“You know, she graduated. Short hair. Green eyes.”
Draco squirmed at this reference, but it was misinterpreted by the others.
“Oh, I remember,” Theo said.
“Will someone explain then please?” Jessa snapped.
“She got dared to let her crush lick her out,” Pansy said bluntly.
“She do it?” Jessa asked.
“It had to be in front of everyone,” Theo said disgustedly.
Blaise looked at the smaller teen disapprovingly. “And who are you to judge
her, Mister Take Me Now I Don’t Care?”
“That’s different,” Theo grinned.
“And how?”
“My guy’s hotter.”
“Okay, let’s drink now,” Pansy announced.
Jessa gave Draco a cold look. “I’ve got more class than to receive oral in
front of *all of Slytherin*.”
“Not by much though,” Blaise quipped.
“You leave my sister alone!” Draco snarled.
“You thought it,” the other boy teased.
“Okay, I’ve never!” Greg interrupted. “Who’s got one?”
Jessa put out her hand for the bottle. Pansy handed it to her and the girl
poured a shot into the cap. “I’ve never called my half-sister a slut,” she said
vindictively.
Draco sighed and took the shot.
Blaise put out his hand for the ‘glass’ and poured himself a shot. “Well, she
is,” he justified, draining the cap.
He grinned cruelly at Draco. “I’ve never fancied a member of my family,” he
said sweetly.
Greg shrugged. “I would, if you like that kind of thing. Lubricus is hot.”
“I do *not* fancy my father!” Draco squealed.
Blaise grinned. “Oh, alright. I fancy my step-dad.” He took another shot. “I’ve
never made Pansy cum.”
“Why is everybody picking on me?” Draco demanded, reaching for his shot. To
mostly everyone’s surprise, Theo reached for the cap after him. Draco shrugged
and eyed the pair curiously.
“I was experimenting,” Theo explained.
“I was horny,” Pansy explained.
“How was he?” Blaise asked.
“Alright,” Pansy grinned. “By the end of the fortnight at least.”
Draco yelped. “Fortnight?”
“I’ve never slept with a professor,” Theo said.
Jessa smirked and took two shots. At Draco’s questioning look she smiled
sheepishly. “Thirsty.”
“Of course.”
“So, I’ve never thought about Pansy naked.”
Each boy swallowed a shot. “I’ve never shagged a professor,” Blaise said.
“Liar, you’ve had Hooch,” Vince snorted, pouring
his friend a shot.
Jessa scowled and took a shot after Blaise.
“Who?” Draco demanded shortly.
“I will not be disclosing that information. I’ve never thought about Dumbledore
tying me up.”
Everyone stared in shock as Draco knocked the shot back. “I’ve never screwed
Mad Eye.”
Jessa smirked as the drink remained untouched.
“I’ve never had Uncle Sever-”
“You are not going through the professors. I am not telling you. Stop.”
“Technically, whoever he is isn’t breaking the law. Jessa’s not a student,”
Pansy said.
“I didn’t specify the professor was a ‘he’,” Jessa pointed out. “Choose another
question Drakey.”
“I’ve never gotten detention for threatening Filch.”
Greg drank. “I’ve never let Pansy spank me.”
Pansy flushed as Draco and Vincent reluctantly
took a shot. “I’ve never kissed a Gryffindor.”
Greg punched the boy’s arm. He drank. “I’ve
never felt up Loony, *Vinny*.”
“Actually…” Blaise said, reaching for the drink, “Before you go on to that I
have to drink for Vince’s.” Theo and Pansy then took a shot also, as did Draco.
When all eyes turned in question Draco said, “I’ve never felt up Lovegood.”
Vincent took a shot.
“I kissed the redhead you know,” Greg offered.
Draco looked over. “The Weaselette? I’m still not sharing my Gryffindor: let me
take that knowledge to the grave.”
“I’ve never had Daphne *and* Mills,” Vincent said.
Greg punched the other boy again. Blaise then took a shot. “I’ve never had
Draco and Jess together.”
The half-siblings glared.
“*That* would be hot,” Greg said thoughtfully. “Like twincest.”
Blaise quickly poured a shot before Draco replied and downed it even more
quickly. “I’ve never streaked through the common room.”
“I wasn’t *streaking*,” Draco said.
“No, but I was,” Pansy smirked.
Draco grinned. “How did I forget about that?”
Pansy drank. “I’ve never been transfigured into a ferret.”
“Harsh, Panse,” Draco said, pouring a shot. “I’ve never been caught shagging in
the dorm. He drank then passed the cap. Pansy, Theo, Blaise, Greg and Vince
drank.
“I’ve never received a Weasly jumper for Christmas.”
Greg blushed before he remembered himself and smacked his ‘friend’ upside the
head. “That was private. I’ve never got detention from McGonnogal for-”
“I’M SORRY PICK SOMETHING ELSE.”
“Not doing homework.”
Vincent looked relieved and took a shot.
Pansy shifted her cushions around. “Has everyone had enough veritaserum yet?”
“Well I have,” said Blaise. “Truth or dare
Parkinson?”
“Truth.”
Blaise smirked. “Who was better, Theodore or Draco?”
“Theo’s a mere mortal,” Pansy said apologetically. “Draco’s a god.”
Draco raised his eyebrow in Blaise’s direction.
“Truth or dare Draco,” Pansy asked.
Draco looked disturbed. “Dare?”
“Strip please.”
Jessa paled. “Not all the way.”
“No, that’s not fair to you,” Pansy conceded. “Down to your boxers Malfoy.”
Draco rolled his eyes and obeyed. “Truth or dare Panse?”
Pansy snorted. “Truth of course.”
“Are you mad at me? For us?”
Pansy’s face softened. “No, Draco. You’re special, but I’ve never been in love
with you or anything.”
“Ouch,” said Blaise.
Draco looked oddly relieved. “You can be the one to tell our parents that,” he
teased.
Pansy looked horrified. “Not a chance- my dad will kill me; never mind what
*yours* would do.”
“Looks like we’re still getting married then.”
“It had sodding better be an open marriage,” Pansy grumbled.
Draco grinned. “Only once our heir’s conceived. You’d better get pregnant
already if you want group sex on the honeymoon.”
Pansy laughed. “Alright. Hey Jessa, truth or dare?”
“I’m not talking about that thing I’m not talking about,” Jessa grumbled.
“Agreed. Truth or dare?”
“Truth,” Jessa said grudgingly.
“Do you fancy joining us for the honeymoon?”
Jessa spluttered. “No!” When she recovered, she gasped, “Theo, truth or dare?”
“Dare?”
“Shut Pansy up. With your tongue.”
Theo glanced at Blaise. The boy shrugged.
Theo moved over and kissed Pansy briefly before moving back to his calm
boyfriend.
“You realise you could have used your ‘native tongue’?” Jessa asked sweetly.
“English… I could just have told her to shut up?” Theo groaned.
“Thank you for sounding so pleased, Theodore,” Pansy said mock-sourly.
“Truth or dare Blaise?”
“Dare.”
“Will you please remove the taste of female from my mouth now?”
“Certainly.”
“Theo!” some of the collected teens groaned ruefully.
Blaise finished lazily. “Truth or dare Drake?”
“Dare.”
“Kiss the girl here you’re most attracted to.”
Draco glowered, picked Pansy up, and kissed her at length. Pansy remained
seated in his lap.
“Truth or dare Panse,” Draco asked.
“Dare.”
“Repeat once more for me who the best Slytherin has to offer is.”
Pansy sneered. “You, you conceited prat. Truth or dare.”
Draco sighed. “Dare,” he said bravely.
“I dare you to kiss the boy in this group you are most attracted to.”
The blonde gave his ex-girlfriend a betrayed look. “Got a mirror?” he muttered,
before crossing the room and placing a chaste kiss on Blaise’s lips.
“Truth or dare Blaise,” Draco muttered, crossing back to his space.
“Dare.”
“Good. Remove this traitor to your side of the circle.”
Blaise laughed and grabbed Pansy’s arm, leading her over to sit near him. “Theo
I dare you to remove this taste from my mouth.”
“It’s meant to be truth,” Pansy muttered as the boy complied.
“Truth or dare Blaise?”
“Dare.”
“Drag Draco over here and kiss him with tongue.”
Blaise turned sharply to meet his lover’s eyes, which sparkled with lust.
Blaise obeyed dubiously. “You liked that?” he asked when Draco pulled away.
Theo grinned, his eyes now dark and glazed. “You’re hot; he’s hot. *And* he’s
practically naked.”
Blaise flushed. “Hey Vinny, truth or dare?”
“Dare.”
“I dare you to impress upon my boyfriend that I do not appreciate his sense of
humour.”
Vincent gave a dutiful glare.
“It’s not Theo’s funny bone Vin would have to break,” Pansy murmured.
“Shut it. Bet you’re wet,” Theo retorted cheerfully.
“Truth or dare Draco?” Vincent asked.
“Truth,” Draco answered sullenly.
“Did you enjoy that?”
The blonde shuddered. “Most definitely not. I’ll
probably have to be checked out for diseases now.” He paused. “Truth or dare
Greg?”
“Dare,” Greg said slowly.
Draco’s long-suffering expression transformed into a smirk. “I dare you to let
me clothe myself before anyone else gets anymore ideas about Blaise and I.”
“That’s cheating!” Theo protested. Blaise gave a mock scowl, to which Theo
retorted, “It’s not like you weren’t looking too.”
Greg smirked back. “I shouldn’t allow that, but Panse didn’t specify the dare
was till the end of the game.” Draco reached for his shirt. Greg’s smirk
widened and he shook his head. “Oh no,” he grinned. “Only your jeans, cheater.”
Draco made a face but obeyed, causing Blaise to chuckle. “Could you wiggle that
butt any more, Dray? Or are you putting on a show for us?”
“Go fuck yourself Zambini,” Draco answered calmly.
Blaise smirked. “Why, when I’ve got a boy for that?”
“Thank you ladies,” Pansy interrupted. “Greg, it’s your turn.”
“Truth or dare Jessa?”
Jessa considered. “Dare.”
“I dare you to sit the next three turns as Granger.”
The group was quietly and delightedly appalled. Jessa obeyed, her features
shaping into those of the Gryffindor’s.
“Ugh, can you imagine, Draco?” Pansy said. “If Granger had been your sister…”
Jessa rolled her eyes. “Truth or dare Draco?”
“Truth.”
“Where did the drink come from?”
“Uncle Severus,” the boy admitted.
Jessa looked surprised. “He gave us hard liquor spiked with ministry-controlled
potion?”
“He’s not bad for a bat,” Pansy said fondly.
Blaise rolled onto his back and sniggered. “No wonder the ministry wants to
close the place down. If it’s not Dumbledore’s madness it’s Snape getting us
wasted or some professor shagging our Jess.”
“Or Hooch taking your cherry,” Pansy sniggered.
Blaise regarded her. “That wasn’t Hooch, you know,” he said.
“Then who?” Theo asked. “I always thought it was Hooch.”
Blaise shook his head. “It was one of my mother’s friends,” he confessed.
“Nothing like us.”
Theo sat up. “I never said I was a virgin: I said I was *practically* a
virgin.”
“I just thought you meant you’d never been with a guy,” Blaise smiled softly,
brushing Theo’s hair. “Who was it then?”
“Finnegan,” Theo admitted. “I didn’t want to come to you all …inexperienced.”
“I wouldn’t have minded,” Blaise said softly.
Theo kissed him gently. “I know,” he said. He threw off the tender expression
wryly. “So who broke you in Panse?”
“Draco, who else?” the girl shrugged.
Blaise looked across at Draco with interest. “And you?”
“As far as I’m concerned Pansy was my first everything,” Draco said stoutly.
Pansy smiled, while Jessa regarded the blonde thoughtfully.
“That’s sweet,” Greg said.
“Yeah, being each other’s firsts and all,” Vince agreed.
“What about you, Jessa?” Pansy smirked. “Was your first your professor?”
Jessa shook her head. “Not by a long shot. How bout you boys?”
The two enforcers grinned conspiratorially.
“Well, Vince probably got Daph or Millie first,” Blaise said thoughtfully.
“Daphne,” Pansy supplied.
“But he was also Greggory’s first,” Blaise continued.
“He got a girl eventually though,” Vince added.
“More than one,” Greg said.
“But you’re sniffing about ‘her’ again, aren’t you?”
Greg looked surprised. “How did you know?”
“Because if it was one of Pansy’s friends they would just screw you in the dorm
and you wouldn’t come in late,” Draco supplied.
Greg grinned shyly, resting his arm softly on Jessa as she placed her head on
his lap. Jessa sighed. “This drink’s shit. I’m not drunk at all.”
“I can smell it on you,” Vince teased. “But you’ve only had… three shots I
think.”
“And then some,” Greg laughed. “While we’ve been playing dares she’s been
playing catch up.”
“You’re not drunk either,” the girl said accusingly.
“We’re not as skinny as you,” Greg said gently. “We’ve got a high tolerance.
And I’m feeling pleasantly tipsy, thank you.”
“Do you always need to talk like your mother once we get you talking?” Blaise
commented.
Greg smiled serenely, taking another swallow from the neck of the bottle. “I
can talk how I like. I’m bigger than you.”
“Not to mention he could knock your teeth down your throat, Zambini,” Draco
sniggered. “*You* wouldn’t be able to talk at all then.”
“You’re such a dick, Draco,” Pansy commented. She’d found her way back to his
side again. She nestled against his bare chest and murmured, “I liked being
your girlfriend, you know. Instead of just your bloody *betrothed*.”
Draco kissed her head fondly. “I liked you being mine too,” he said.
Pansy sighed. “Why did you dump me Draco? Is she pretty?”
“You’re prettier,” Draco soothed.
“Then *why*?” The girl didn’t seem upset, merely curious.
“Seduce for Peace,” Jessa muttered.
“Seduce for peace?” Pansy repeated.
Jessa nodded. “Draco’s going to save us.”
“From what?” Blaise snorted. “The Dark Lord?”
“Draco *would* save me if he could,” Pansy said stubbornly.
Draco looked down seriously. “You don’t want..?”
“It’s not like we’ve a choice, is it?” Pansy sighed, reaching up to play with
the teen’s light-coloured hair.
“That’s the point though,” Jessa said quietly.
“That’s why I’m doing this,” Draco said. “To ensure we’ve got a choice…”
***** Tactile *****

Author's notes: Wherein Jessa gets too close to comfort for Severus.
===============================================================================
You know she owns. Cookie anyone?
Jessa had woken at an unreasonable hour in a tangle of Greg and Vince’s limbs.
She clutched her head and peered unhappily at the blonde prodding her.
“What?” she whimpered.
Her sibling thrust some vial in her face. “Drink this.”
The girl sniffed reluctantly at the open container before her features
brightened and she swallowed the potion instantly. Moments later she sat up,
prompting sleepy protests from her companions. Jessa blinked at Draco as she
waited for the last of the nausea to subside.
“Thanks,” she murmured. “What time is it?”
Draco bent over each of his bodyguards to administer hangover relief potions.
“Breakfast hasn’t finished yet.” He poured the contents of a vial carefully
between Vincent’s lips.
“Yeuk, breakfast,” Jessa groaned, falling unceremoniously back onto the bed as
the two bulky males sat up and unbalanced her. Greg took her wrist and pulled
her back up.
“Breakfast,” he enthused, untangling himself from the others and getting up.
Vincent followed, turning back to look at the still contrite-looking teen.
“Breakfast,” he repeated.
Jessa fell back and groaned again, stifling the noise with the pillow she
pulled over her face.
“Yes, yes, dramatics…” Draco soothed, not really making much sense at all but
still managing to coax the girl towards the door. Jessa made a face and
followed the others downstairs.
Pansy was sitting on a couch that sure as hell hadn’t been there last night.
“What took you?”
Draco made a face. “Jessa was reluctant to drink until she woke, and even more
reluctant to wake,” he answered mock-sourly. Jessa crossed the room and
collapsed weakly beside Pansy.
After a few moments she regarded the room and its occupants brightly.
“Morning.”
“Oh, you’re alive at last,” Draco teased. “Will you come for breakfast?”
“Sure,” the girl mumbled, reaching up to smooth her hair. Pansy wordlessly
charmed her appearance into an acceptable standard.
Jessa grinned and got up, linking arms with the girl as they made their way to
the great hall. She split from the group as they settled at the Slytherin table
and continued on to the staff table.
She hugged Severus and Moody affectionately and squeezed a seat between the
two, waving at Hargrid over Alastor’s shoulder.
“You’re in a good mood whelp,” the old auror commented.
The girl grinned and began piling chunks of papaya fruit onto her plate. She
smiled across at the potions master, who was ignoring her in favour of
glowering into his black coffee instead. She teased it out his fingers and
cuddled him again.
The man batted her away in mild annoyance. “Control your brat, Alastor,” he
complained.
“I’m your brat too,” the teen said cheerfully, laughing at the poorly hidden
amusement on Moody’s face.
Severus narrowed his eyes. “Don’t tempt me to discipline you then. You won’t
enjoy the experience.” He reached for his coffee.
Jessa covered his hand with her own but was blessedly quiet. Severus attempted
to move her hand only to have her fingers curl themselves between his own. He
scowled into the steaming, black depths of his scalding beverage and sipped it
irritably.
“I don’t suppose you missed me then,” Jessa teased lightly, playing with her
food.
Severus put down his coffee and reached over with his free hand to swat her
own. “Don’t toy with your breakfast,” he scolded gruffly.
Jessa speared a chunk of fruit with her fork. “Of course you didn’t,” she
continued before popping the papaya into her mouth.
Severus rolled his eyes and used a napkin to attack her fingers, sticky from
the juice which had run down the fork onto her hand.
“I missed you,” Jessa said brightly.
Severus put down the napkin in disgust and took a gulp of his coffee, his head
tilting in surprised discomfort as the liquid burned a path from his tongue to
his stomach.
Jessa rubbed her thumb absently over the scarred hand clasped in her own as she
answered something Alastor had said. Severus took a more cautious sip of his
beverage and glanced discreetly at the teenager seated at his side. She seemed
amused at whatever had been said, and her entirety glowed with her mirth. She
turned to share the joke with Severus, her smile open and her eyes dancing.
Severus glared at her.
She grinned cheekily and darted up for a moment to kiss his cheekbone. She
swiftly dived back into the conversation she was holding, turning her head from
the man’s violent expression.
Severus glared into his coffee. Long moments later the girl glanced over warily
and noticed his mostly untouched food. She raised an eyebrow and met his scowl
with a look that clearly said: ‘If you don’t want me to hand feed you then you
had better start making a dent in that breakfast mister.’
He glowered back and stabbed his meal viciously, wondering when on earth their
roles had reversed. She squeezed his captured hand and he deepened his frown
critically. She smiled as though placated by his threat.
Severus got up swiftly at the close of the meal, annoyed to find himself unable
to shake his hand discreetly out of Jessa’s hold. It was even more goading that
the brat finished up her conversation and glued herself to Severus’ side as he
stalked out of the great hall. The only advantage of her proximity was that it
shielded their hands from view.
“Must you?” he growled.
“What?” the wretched creature smirked ‘innocently’.
“Hold my hand,” he spat.
“You never need to ask, Severus,” she said sweetly.
The potions master restrained his almost overwhelming urge to spin the girl
around right there in the corridor and connect his hand repeatedly against her
pertinent rear, both for her cheek and her use of his first name.
She flashed him a smile and squeezed his bony hand yet again. He glared and
dragged her back to his rooms. If he managed to yank her arm out of its socket
then all the better.
The brat snuggled against his chest as he barked out the password and dragged
her inside.
She grinned up at him as he deposited her roughly on the couch, having let go
of his hand at last.
“Wipe that look off your face,” he said sternly. She did no such thing.
Severus snarled to himself and went to retrieve Potions Quarterly from his
room. He would have preferred to read it there, but that would only encourage
her to join him. It seemed indecent enough to him that he woke up beside her
most mornings.
Despite wedging himself into the edge of the couch furthest from her the brat
proceeded to scoot over and curl herself around him.
Severus resigned himself to this and flicked through the potion journal as he
did his best to ignore Jessa.
Unfortunately he eventually finished reading and had to discard the magazine.
He admitted begrudgingly to himself that the girl had been relatively well
behaved by lying quietly against him as he read.
“Finished?” Jessa asked.
He nodded reluctantly, narrowing his eyes at her coldly.
Her smile was affectionate as she knelt up and kissed the wrinkle of his brow.
Severus pushed her down swiftly and cracked his palm down on her rear.
Jessa rolled onto her back when no other blow fell and stared at him with
surprise and question.
Severus hated himself. She’d never speak to him
again. “Just stop that,” he said curtly.
The girl sat up and regarded him curiously. Her hand brushed her bottom
discreetly. Oh come off it, Severus thought sourly, it was more noise than
anything else.
“You mad at me?”
Severus regarded the wide-eyed girl with mild exasperation. “Grammar, Jessa,”
he snapped.
“Are you mad at me?” the girl corrected smoothly.
The man regarded her for a moment and scowled. “Marginally.”
“Did I do something wrong?”
He stared at her emotionlessly. “Would I smack you otherwise?”
The blonde squirmed in embarrassment, then half raised her head –not quite
meeting his eyes- as a guilty smile appeared on her blushing face. Severus
stared at her in horror. He knew that look.
“Compose yourself,” he said stiffly.
Jessa met his eyes, her far too telling expression gone, but her cheeks still
pleasantly pink. “I didn’t mean to offend you, you know,” she said. “With
whatever I did.”
Severus scowled at her. “I shouldn’t have hit you,” he said.
“You didn’t ‘hit’ me,” Jessa said. “You,” the flush deepened again rather
becomingly, “just smacked me. Not that I understand why,” she added.
“You need to stop kissing me and climbing all over me,” Severus said.
Jessa crossed her arms unconsciously. “Why?”
“Because if you don’t I’ll take pleasure in tanning your disobedient hide,”
Severus scowled.
The wretched creature gave a nervous little smile that Severus did not like.
“I will make you cry,” Severus said sternly, to quash any inappropriate
thoughts.
Jessa sighed, as though she knew exactly what he was doing. “I don’t doubt
that.” She leaned against his chest. “So why don’t you want me to kiss you?”
“It’s unadvisable for me to allow such foolishness,” Severus answered. “You’re
not a child anymore.”
“I was never a child,” Jessa said shortly.
“Don’t be obtuse,” Severus scolded mildly.
Jessa folded her hand over his. “No, Severus,” she agreed.
“Will you stop that?” Severus complained.
“What?”
“Being so…tactile.”
“But I *am* tactile,” Jessa protested.
“That’s what I’m scolding you for.”
Jessa sighed. “Will you relax Severus?”
Severus stiffened. “*Uncle* Severus,” he corrected.
“You just said I’m not a child,” Jessa sighed.
“You’re too familiar,” Severus admonished.
Jessa was stroking his hand with her thumb again. “Is that such a problem?” she
asked.
“Of course it is.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re a child.”
“I’m not a child.”
“No,” Severus agreed, “a child’s eyes wouldn’t light up at the prospect of a
hiding.”
Jessa blushed again and elbowed him. “Do I find fault with your kinks?” she
demanded.
“My ‘kinks’ are not up for discussion with you,” Severus retorted.
“No? I bet you like it too.”
“Like what, wretch?”
“Getting spanked,” the girl answered without colouring.
“And just who,” Severus demanded, “do you think would dare ‘spank’ me?”
“Lovers,” the girl answered.
“And I suppose they’re lining up are they?” Severus said sarcastically.
“Well why not?” Jessa challenged.
Severus glowered at her. “Behave yourself.”
“Oh will you quit that?” Jessa exclaimed. “Can’t you see how beautiful you are?
Your amazing eyes; your great body; have you even *heard* your own damn voice?”
“Now stop that,” Severus growled. He gestured to his prominent nose. “You can’t
be deluded enough to believe this face is beautiful.”
Jessa leant forward and pressed her lips softly to Severus’ nose. He stared at
her and she leapt from his lap swiftly.
“I know, I know,” she sighed, making her way over to stand in the corner.
The man continued to stare at her. “Out,” he said eventually.
Jessa turned around. “‘Out’?”
“Go out for a while,” Severus said.
Jessa met his eyes searchingly. “You’re not angry?”
“Do as you’re told,” the man answered softly.
Jessa crossed the room and hugged Severus tightly, then disappeared before he
could chide her for it.
***** The Weaselette *****

Author's notes: Wherein Jessa encounters a gryffindor out of her territory.
===============================================================================
Hallo. I don't own and all that. Reckon I should rewrite the first chapter?
There was a huddle of four boys further ahead in the corridor. As Jessa
approached she became suspicious of their conversation. They were Slytherins
from the year below and didn’t even notice when she drew level.
It was only then she noticed one of the teens was holding two wands and that
the thugs were restraining a girl from their own year.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” Jessa asked coolly.
The boys were actually so engrossed in their torment of the girl they hadn’t
noticed Jessa approach.
The jerk holding the girl’s wand looked relieved to recognise Jessa, although
he remained wary from her tone of voice.
“We found *her* here in the dungeons,” he answered.
Jessa took in the young Gryffindor’s crumpled attire and swollen lip.
“So you thought you’d teach her a lesson, right?” Jessa said.
The four Slytherins looked reassured and nodded. Jessa reached out and slapped
the forefront boy. “And you didn’t think how it will sound that it took *four*
Slytherin guys to beat up one *wandless* female Gryffindor?”
He looked worried. “We-”
“Oh shut up,” Jessa said. “Give me her wand and get out of my sight. *I’ll* fix
your mess.”
The Slytherin handed over the object reluctantly and moved back. Jessa used her
own wand to restrain the younger girl and motioned for the two boys gripping
her to piss off.
They obeyed and Jessa watched them go patiently. She turned back to the
Gryffindor and pocketed both of their wands.
“Just how fucking stupid *are* you anyway?” Jessa demanded, placing her hand
softly on the girl’s mouth to heal the cut. The girl flinched then mouthed
something far too quickly.
“Oh, of course. They weren’t completely inept then.” Jessa paused. “I think
I’ll wait until you’re healed up if you don’t mind.” She observed the
Gryffindor’s face closely and healed a faint bruise.
“Anywhere else?” Jessa asked. “Are your arms bruised?”
The Gryffindor nodded reluctantly, scowling. Jessa took her wrists and pulled
up the girl’s sleeves to expose redness and mild scratches. She healed them
quickly and repaired a tear on the girl’s robes.
“That all?”
The girl nodded.
Jessa cancelled the silencing spell left on her. “What were you thinking?
Stupid, arrogant Gryffindors. Did you think you were untouchable or something?
What were you doing here? It’s not safe for you!” Jessa bent down and picked up
a discarded red and gold scarf, knotting it loosely around the Gryffindor’s
neck.
Expressions of confusion and anger battled on the Gryffindor’s face.
Jessa pulled the girl’s wand from her pocket as she cancelled the binding
spell. Pausing, she observed the pretty girl, registering the liberally applied
freckles and sleek red hair. “You’re the Weaselette, right?”
“I’m Ginny Weasley,” the girl answered stiffly.
Jessa tossed the wand into the girl’s open hands.
“You think I won’t hex you?” Ginny said.
“You might,” Jessa shrugged and turned her back. “If you came here looking for
someone,” Jessa said, “I’ll send him to the astronomy tower. But don’t come
back here.”
The redhead watched as Jessa walked into the common room then clutched her wand
and made her way back up the treacherous stone stairs.
Jessa soon left the room with Greg, splitting from him at the stairs. She
continued on outside to Hagrid’s hut.
The man greeted her cheerfully, as did his dog. “Tea?” offered the half-giant.
“And a rock cake please,” the teen grinned.
*
“Hagrid? Can I talk to you?”
Jessa sat up from her position against Fang in front of the fire as Hagrid
opened the door to the lone Gryffindor.
Ginny’s eyes went from the two black dogs at the fire to the bundle of clothes
on the chair. “You again?” she said slowly.
Jessa nodded. She watched Hagrid motion the Gryffindor inside and push her onto
a seat. “Do you need privacy to talk?”
Ginny shook her head slowly, her hair shaking and catching the light. “It’s you
I came to ask about.”
Jessa regarded her curiously. “Me? What would you want to know from Hagrid
about *me*?”
“How your mind works.”
Jessa glanced at Hagrid. “You think you know the answer?”
Hagrid chuckled, reaching over to pat Jessa’s skull heavily in reassurance. “Ah
’spect Ginny’s confused ’bout you.”
Jessa eyed the girl steadily. “Yeah?”
“Whose side are you on?” Ginny retorted evenly.
“My own,” Jessa answered calmly.
“Why did you rescue me today?” Ginny demanded. “After what you did to
Hermione?”
Jessa watched Hagrid open his mouth. “Don’t ask,” she said. She turned back to
the redhead. “For the exact reasons I gave those little pricks. And I simply
don’t like Granger or you Gryffindors in general.”
“I don’t believe you,” Ginny said.
“Well Bully for you,” Jessa replied, standing and picking up her clothes in her
teeth.
“Where are yeh goin’?”
Jessa put her clothing down momentarily. “Haven’t decided yet,” she answered,
picking up her bundle again and leaving abruptly.
When she had gone Hagrid turned to the youngest Weasley. “So wha’ happened
earlier?”
Ginny explained and Hagrid listened thoughtfully, expressing anger at the
actions of her Slytherin yearmates. “Na listen to what she says,” he confided.
“Jessa’s a good girl despite wha’ she’d have yeh believe.”
“But she attacked Hermione,” Ginny protested.
Hagrid shook his shaggy head soberly. “Aye, but she’ll nah tell ye the real
reason fer it.”
***** Potions and Stained Glass *****

Author's notes: Where things between Severus and Jessa are tense, and a
conversation with Harry reveals things are far from perfect in his relationship
too.
===============================================================================
Not mine, but I play with them for the gratification of others =]
Severus was surprised to find Jessa in his laboratory, studiously bent over
what he could see was a half-brewed dreamless sleep potion. He crossed the room
with a scowl as he snapped, “What do you think you’re doing?”
The girl raised her eyes to him although her head was still bowed over her
labour. “What it looks like,” she said dismissively.
“I suppose you’ve forgotten you’re intolerant to the fumes,” the man replied
chidingly, waiting for a pause between ingredients to take over from the girl.
“You’re almost out,” the girl retorted.
“Which is why I’m down here to start brewing,” the potion master answered,
stirring the liquid meticulously.
Jessa shrugged and moved across to a further workbench, where another potion
was simmering quietly.
“That?” Severus grunted.
“Burn salve,” Jessa offered, watching patiently as the potion neared its next
stage.
“There’s no amethyst,” Severus said, glancing over momentarily. “The suppliers
are late; I was informed they couldn’t deliver until tomorrow.”
“It’s from my supplies,” Jessa answered, carefully pouring in the powdered
crystal as she stirred clockwise.
Severus regarded her for a moment then reached down to adjust the heat beneath
his cauldron.
Jessa finished the preparation of the burn salve, stored it in containers and
cleaned up her workstation and equipment. She wordlessly placed the mortar and
pestle, which Severus would soon need, nearby and then left with a murmured,
“Bye.”
Severus returned his attention to his potion.
*
“What are you doing here?”
“Hmm?” Jessa looked up from her position on a wide stone ledge in a disused
corridor. The stained glass beside her cast a rainbow of colour over her skin.
Harry came within a few feet of her and paused. “Are you alright?”
Jessa let go of her knees and slung them over the side of the ledge. “Yeah.
Just one of those days,” she said. “What’s brought you to this part of the
castle?”
“Same,” Harry admitted.
“Sit,” Jessa offered. “Unburden your woes, Scar Head.”
“Will you please call me Harry?” the teen sighed, sitting down beside her.
“No, I kind of like Scar Head,” the girl teased.
“You would, Snake,” Harry returned with a half-smile.
“Oh, the kitty got claws!” Jessa mocked good-naturedly. “I thought you were a
bit fond of a Snake yourself.”
“I am,” Harry answered thoughtfully. He glanced at Jessa. “I told Hermione I
asked you to leave her alone.”
Jessa snorted. “I won’t go out of my way to be near her,” she retorted.
Harry was quiet for a few moments. “I don’t get your brother, Jessa,” he said
at last.
Jessa glanced at him. “That’s not unusual. What’s up?”
“He… well he said we’re boyfriends but we’ve never been on a date or hold hands
or… but he dumped Pansy. We meet and we fight and we get each other off. That’s
not normal, is it?”
“Since when did either of you expect to be normal?” Jessa replied.
“I think he’s scared,” confessed Harry.
“Aren’t you?”
“He doesn’t need to date me to join the light,” Harry said. “I’ve told him
but…”
“Have you considered there’s more to it than that?”
“I’d like there to be,” Harry admitted.
“Then let there be,” Jessa said. “Draco will get used to things. He wants to;
it’s just new and stuff.”
“I don’t know which of us is in control,” Harry sighed.
Jessa observed him. “Does it matter?”
“I think it matters to him. He’s always in charge isn’t he?”
“Then why are you confused?”
“Because sometimes he acts like the bottom.” Harry worried his lip as he
glanced at Jessa. “Do you have that? Changeable roles?”
“Some relationships I top; some I bottom,” Jessa said. “But there’s always been
one person as the clear dominant- like, even when they bottom, they’re still in
charge.”
“Who’s in charge with you? You or your muggle?”
“He’s not a muggle,” Jessa said. “He’s a half-blood like you. And I take
charge.”
Harry was quiet for a while. “Has Draco said anything to you about this?”
Jessa shook her head. “He’s not telling me anything,” she admitted softly.
“I don’t want him to feel like I’m using him,” Harry said. “I care, you know?”
***** Reassurances *****

Author's notes: Wherein reassurances are made.
===============================================================================
Sorry it's been so long and it's so short. My muse is kind of focused on Evo
lately and won't think about anyone else (not even Christopher Carrion). I have
the outline of the next chapter in my head but it might be a few days til it's
posted since I'm going out tomorrow and my birthday's on Monday. I'll try to
get it out soon as though. Anyway the disclaimer's at the start of the first
(rubbish) chapter. On with the story! =]
“Shh, it’s alright, I’m here.”
Jessa woke with strong arms around her. Her face was wet and she was between
Severus’ legs, her back resting against his chest.
“It’s alright,” he repeated.
Jessa swallowed and rubbed her face. Severus didn’t let go.
“Thanks,” the girl muttered eventually. “I didn’t think…”
“Of course I’d still come!” Severus snapped.
Jessa’s eyes travelled over her room. It was the first time she’d spent the
night there, having been banished to it for that kiss on his nose earlier.
“You still mad at me?”
Severus sighed. “Grammar,” he chided.
“Are you?”
Severus slid down onto his back. “Show me that you can control yourself
tomorrow and we’ll see about you sleeping in my room again.”
Jessa glanced at the back of the man’s head as Severus wasn’t facing her. “It
is tomorrow,” she said.
“Go. To. Sleep,” Severus said.
*
Draco was surprised to find Harry already waiting for him in their unused
classroom. The green-eyed boy was sitting casually on the teacher’s empty desk
and swinging his legs. He smirked at Draco and tilted his head. “C’mere.”
The blonde swallowed, warding and closing the door behind him as he obeyed.
Harry pulled him close gently and kissed his scalp. “You alright baby?”
Draco nodded. Harry kissed his forehead. “Good,” he said. His hand slid
comfortably down to the other boy’s hip. “Can I taste you, beautiful?”
What was it that disturbed him about the Gryffindor calling him ‘beautiful’?
Draco ignored the rising hairs on the back of his neck and consented to having
his trousers and undergarments removed.
Harry slipped his warm hands under the blonde’s shirt and pulled him close,
sliding off the desk to drop kisses down the Malfoy’s body. Draco closed his
eyes as Harry took him in his burning, sinful mouth.
Fellatio did seem to relax the blonde somewhat. When Harry had finished he took
advantage of Draco’s soothed state to pull himself onto the desk and half-naked
Draco onto his lap. Draco permitted the affectionate stroking of his thighs and
lower stomach.
Harry kissed into Draco’s neck. “Are you going to tell me the truth now baby?”
Draco stiffened. “What?”
Harry tightened his hold on the other boy in reassurance. “Shh, it’s alright. I
just want to know what’s wrong. I want to help.”
“What’s it to you, Potter?” Draco retorted.
Harry stared the other boy down. “Who’s in charge here Draco?”
“You are,” the teen replied sulkily.
“Stop.” Harry took hold of Draco’s jaw and very gently turned the other boy’s
face towards his own. “Look at me,” he ordered softly. Draco did reluctantly.
Harry asked, “Would you feel better being the one in control?”
Draco forced out a denial that Harry did not believe remotely.
“Draco…” he murmured. “It’s alright if it’s what you want.”
Draco stared at Harry in length, scrutinizing the machinations in the open
green eyes. “Off course it’s alright,” he snarled, reaching up to twine his
fingers in the other teen’s hair as he pulled Harry’s skull forward for a
scorching kiss.
*
“Where you been Harry?” Ron rolled over to watch his friend cross the dormitory
towards him.
Harry took off his outer clothes and collapsed into his bed. “Nowhere, Ron. I
just went for a walk since I couldn’t sleep, that’s all.”
The redhead glanced at the red mark adorning Harry’s throat and the boy’s lazy,
blissful smile.
“Alright mate,” Ron said and listened to the curtains around the bed close.
***** Languages and Letters *****

Author's notes: Wherein Jessa studies parseltongue and Severus sends a letter.
===============================================================================
I don't own anything but my own stuff ^_^
What Severus wanted to say was, ‘What do you mean, you want to meet North?’ But
Severus was neither a foolish, masochistic nor a suicidal man. So of course he
agreed with the usual debasing fawning and was now sitting at his desk, jabbing
his fingers irritably with a new quill, and trying to phrase this problem to
North herself. It didn’t help that other than a very few letters they had had
no contact since that night either. He scowled to himself and dipped his quill
into the ink.
*
Severus stood, shaking the letter to cool the sealing wax, and left his bedroom
to go up to the owlery. Jessa was bent over a thick tome hissing jerkily to
herself. Severus paused and regarded her. “What are you doing?”
The girl looked up at him warmly. “Practising.”
Severus took the book from her to read the spine then flipped through a few
pages. “Parseltongue?” he sighed. “Where did you get this?”
“It’s not dark,” Jessa replied defensively. “I got it from Tom.”
The man gave her a pained look and held the dubious item out of Jessa’s reach.
“What do you hope to achieve with this trash?”
“A bit of competency with the parseltongue language obviously,” Jessa retorted
crossly. “And it’s not trash: it’s two hundred years old. They couldn’t afford
to produce ‘trash’ then.”
“Your ability to educate me always leaves me in awe,” Severus drawled. He
sighed and sat down as he skimmed the pages in distrust.
Jessa watched him with a long suffering expression. “It’s fine,” she insisted.
“I’ll be the judge of that thank you,” Severus replied. He handed his letter to
Jessa. “Take this to the owlery while I check this over.”
Jessa rolled her eyes as she took the sealed parchment from him. “There’s
nothing about sex magick in it; I checked,” she drawled with a smile. She
smirked at Severus’ glare. “So who do I tell the owl to find?”
“North Swallow.”
Jessa blinked. “Your death eater chick?”
“She’s not a death eater,” Severus sighed. “Though when you insist on reading
this filth I’m not sure I can make the same vouch for you.”
“Ye of little faith,” Jessa grinned, pocketing the letter and leaving, not for
the owlery, but for the room of requirement.
She paused momentarily to change her appearance before opening the letter. A
blank sheet of thick parchment fell out in accompaniment to the letter itself.
Reading the letter revealed the blank parchment was charmed to send her replies
in real-time to another parchment held by Severus, rather like instant
messaging, although that comparison would be lost on him.
Jessa fought down her urge to start writing straight away. Instead she left the
letter in the room of requirement and altered her appearance before returning
to the dungeons.
“Have you decided if I can continue reading that then?”
Severus scowled at her but returned the book. “I don’t approve,” he said.
“But you’re giving it back?” Jessa said in surprise.
Severus glowered. “It’s better than you picking up more hexes to terrorise the
school with.”
“But you know I only terrorise Gryffindors,” Jessa said sweetly.
“Like hell you do,” Severus replied darkly.
Jessa cracked open the tome and snuggled up against Severus, finishing the
current and following chapter.
She closed the book and stretched. “I’m gonna wander about for a bit,” she
announced. “I’ll maybe see Hagrid or Mad Eye.”
“No nonsense,” Severus warned.
Jessa hugged the man and got up from the couch. “I won’t,” she promised.
She returned to the room of requirement, where her letter was waiting. She took
on the physical traits of ‘North’ once more and sat down behind the writing
desk the room had provided.
‘Are you there Sev?”
It took at least seven excruciating minutes before the word ‘Yes’ appeared on
the page.
‘I’ve missed you.’
Severus stared down at the reply and smiled sadly. ‘I’ve missed you too,’ he
admitted.
‘You better have.’
Severus found his lips quirking into a more comfortable smile. ‘How could I
not?’
‘Good logic,’ Jessa wrote. ‘So how are you, my beautiful?”
‘Life does seem to conspire against me,’ Severus replied ruefully.
‘How so? Has someone been daring to tease my Severus?’
‘Rather I think the fates are laughing at me. When I’m not being driven to
frustration by my ward the dark lord is making his presence felt. He’s
insisting he meet you.’
‘So when is that pleasure?’
‘You’re willing?’
‘Who am I to deny your lord? Now when is this meeting?’
‘When are you available?’
‘Stop being so chivalrous I can be available
whenever- if need be I’ll come right now.’
‘Is tonight alright?’
‘Yes beautiful.’
‘Thank you.’
‘Don’t be silly, precious. Now are you going to tell me about this ward of
yours?’
‘Her name’s Jessa. She’s Lucius’ child.’
‘Malfoy’s? How did that happen?’
‘Fate is not without a sense of humour. The girl’s tolerable but the concept of
personal space evades her. You have a lot in common actually.’
‘Who needs personal space? You’re mine to be touched beautiful.’
‘I happen to be fond of personal space.’
‘I don’t believe you in the slightest Severus Tobias. You’re an absolute
pussycat.’
‘North!’
‘I do love it when you call my name, beautiful.’
***** Eaten By My Inner Snake *****

Author's notes: Wherein North is introduced to the dark lord.
===============================================================================
Not mine just playing. She owns.
Jessa laughed as she wrapped her arms around Severus’ neck. “Alright, alright,”
she said, “I was only asking to stay the night with Draco; you didn’t need to
sound so eager.”
Severus batted her away. “I thought you were going to *stop* with this touching
nonsense.”
Jessa adjusted her attire, giving Severus the distinct impression she found
making her turtleneck sit properly far more important than his disgruntled
comment. “Now Severus really,” she twinkled in a disturbing imitation of Albus.
Severus curled his lip at her and despaired as the girl started fidgeting with
her over the knee socks and the little bows on the back of them which matched
her plaid skirt. “You’re staying with your *brother*,” the man pointed out.
Jessa looked up and smirked. “I’ve still got a student-populated corridor to
walk through though.”
Severus pinched the bridge of his nose and waved his hand dismissively.
“Disappear from my sight, wretch.”
Jessa got up and bounded over to the doorway. She paused, looking over her
shoulder with another grin. “You love me really.”
She disappeared before Severus could silence her with an acerbic retort.
Severus sighed, thinking ‘ridiculous child’ and other less complementary labels
for the teen as he crossed the floor to his bedroom and examined the inside of
his closet. He would have to take his deatheater robes and mask but couldn’t
exactly stroll into the club in such attire.
He flicked through the hangers dubiously, eventually settling on a charcoal
shirt and dark trousers which he tucked into an elegant yet durable pair of
boots. After a moment’s pause he reached for his serpentine cuff links.
It was ridiculous to be taking so long over his appearance. Severus reached for
his cloak, dropping his shrunken deatheater gear into his pocket, and flooed
out of the school.
He stepped gracefully onto the hearth, took the time to dust off overfriendly
pieces of soot, and dropped his cloak off in the cloakroom. Normally he
wouldn’t bother, but it was an excuse to loiter a while before having to
deliver North.
He glared at the young bouncer stupid enough to move to search him and went
upstairs, making directly for the bar. It would be one of those nights.
“Sev!”
Severus glanced across and saw North. She pushed her way through the crowd (she
hadn’t gotten a drink yet it seemed) and leaned up a little nervously to kiss
his cheek.
“What sort of a kiss do you call that?” Severus growled before moving to kiss
her lips possessively.
North smiled comfortably and rested against Severus’ chest. “Missed you,” she
said.
Severus curled one arm around her protectively. “Silly thing,” he said.
North pouted but reached up to brush her fingers through the man’s silky hair.
“Beautiful Severus,” she retorted as she placed another kiss on his face.
Severus wrinkled his nose at her in an endearingly childish gesture. North
laughed fondly and took his hand. “So what’s the plan?”
“I’m going to get you a drink,” Severus answered, “then we will pick up my
cloak before I apparate us to the dark lord.”
North rubbed herself against Severus’ chest like a feline pet. “Alright.”
Severus rolled his eyes and wrapped his pale hands around her waist. “It’s good
to see you,” he admitted reluctantly.
“It’s great to see you,” North murmured back. Sev smiled lightly and led her
towards the bar. Jessa ordered something that acted very much like a pepper up
potion and smirked when her companion did the same.
Warm silence hung between them, as each felt now wasn’t quite the time to
discuss the problems of before. They drained their glasses and make their way
towards the cloakroom with linked hands.
Severus obtained his cloak and then held North close to him as he apparated
them to a corridor in the manor. He unshrank his mask and robes and pulled on
his robes. He turned his head away from North to put on his mask.
The woman slid her hands under his robes to rest them gently on his hips. “Look
at me,” she said, standing firmly before Severus.
He tried to step past and couldn’t. “Move, North,” he growled softly.
“Severus.”
The man dragged his eyes towards her reluctantly.
North reached up and lifted the mask to kiss his lips. He returned the kiss a
little stiffly at first then anchored her waist with his hand.
North met his eyes warmly as they broke away from each other and slid his mask
down. “Better?” she asked.
Severus jerked his head once and draped his arm around her side as they walked,
his lover seeming to lead even though she didn’t know where they were going.
The dark lord was sat in a candlelit room with a few of his followers.
Bellatrix stood nearby to attend him, fawning noticeably.
Voldemort moved around her to see the pair enter. “This is her, Severus?”
Bellatrix eyed them both curiously whilst the others pretended not to.
Severus knelt and kissed the hem of his master’s robes. “It is, My Lord.”
Voldemort twisted his fingers idly in the man’s hair before he patted Severus’
head to indicate he may stand. Severus stepped back with his head bowed.
Voldemort put out his hand to entice Severus’ lover closer. “Come here, child.”
North’s expression faltered at his address but she promptly obeyed.
The dark lord cupped her face in his palm. “You are not wearing a glamour,” he
breathed.
“No, My Lord,” North answered softly.
“Then why don’t I recognise you?” he whispered.
North met his eyes and felt the dark lord’s presence push into her mind. He
wandered about for a few minutes before declaring, ‘I’ve been here before.’
There was no reply but the man sensed her agreement. ‘Lower your shields and
show me who you are,’ he ordered.
‘Must I?’
The voice was damning. ‘Little Kindred?’
North lowered some of her shield.
‘Does Severus know?’ the dark lord drawled.
‘No,’ came the blunt reply.
‘I had wondered why you didn’t seem threatened by Severus’ new lover,’
Voldemort mused. ‘Now I know.’
‘When will you tell him?’
‘Why would I tell him? But you do intend to?’
‘Eventually,’ Jessa answered. ‘But not until he’s grown comfortable enough with
me that he might not chuck me when I do tell him.’
‘What happened to your inner Gryffindor?’ the man teased.
‘My inner snake must have eaten it,’ she replied dryly.
***** Need of a Room? *****

Author's notes: Wherin Severus is generally uncomfortable.
===============================================================================
Moving into my flat and got freshers' week etc. to eat into my time (and my net
access) so not sure if I'll be writing at all next week -although I'll try to
get something up each weekend afterwards when possible. And more whenever
possible.
Severus observed mutely as his lover immersed herself with such ease into the
dynamics between the death eaters, even more perturbed by the way Voldemort
smiled indulgently at North as though they shared some great secret.
North twisted around to face Severus. “Sehhhv,” she whined, “come sit with me,
won’t you?”
Severus curled his lip and obeyed, stalking towards her sofa and dropping
himself down upon it. North pulled her arms around his waist and leaned up to
nuzzle his cheek.
“Don’t be cross,” she said.
Severus levelled his gaze upon her. “Do I seem ‘cross’?” he sneered.
“That’s his usual face, kid,” Silíace commented.
“Shut up,” retorted North. “And *refrain* from ever calling me *kid*.” She
crossed her arms and met Severus’ gaze evenly. “You *do* look unhappy actually.
“How can you tell?” Bellatrix sneered.
North turned around quickly but Voldemort held up a waxy hand. “Don’t bother
cursing her Miss Swallow,” he warned. “Bella,” he said dangerously, “it would
be very unwise to provoke the young woman.”
Bellatrix bowed her head with intentions to sulk for days.
“And how *can* you tell, North?” Severus inquired.
North kissed the side of his mouth. “Must be magic,” she smirked.
Severus suffered through her kissing her way from his ear down his neck. “Stop
that,” he murmured.
“Only if you do it back,” North grinned, capturing his lips soundly. The man
stiffened but responded, hating the catcalls of his peers.
The dark lord raised one thin brow. “Do you have need of a room?”
North turned to shine her winning smile on him. “May we, my lord?”
He gave her a look then glared at his potions master. “You take care of her,”
he said.
North choked back a snort at that and got up to plant a light kiss on
Voldemort’s cheek. “Thank you,” she trilled.
She turned to Severus and attempted to yank him to his feet. He batted away her
hands, staring pointedly when she pouted.
“Sevvy,” she whined. “I want you to fuck me.”
The young woman glared at the death eaters who dared to snigger.
“Sevvy,” she repeated.
He regarded her serenely. “I thought I told you that wasn’t my name.”
North crossed her arms. “I am not above begging Severus Tobias Snape.”
The man crossed his ankles. “I’ve never doubted it.”
North huffed. “Don’t be such a tease Sevvy. All I’m asking is for you to take
me to a room and fuck me ‘til I-”
Voldemort looked up. “Don’t make me repeat this conversation to your father.”
North widened her eyes.
Severus smirked at her discomfort. “What *would* your father say?”
“Um, he’s say ‘please make my little girl happy’?”
The dark lord let out a small yelp of laughter. “Come now Severus, you must
reward her for that,” he said.
Severus reached out and caught the front of North’s clothing, pulling her
towards him as he stood. “And yet I was having so much fun,” he sneered against
her throat.
North chuckled against his own. “I love you beautiful, even if you are a
complete git.”
“Isn’t it more fun that way?” Severus inquired innocently, before allowing his
lover to pull him from the room.
“What was that all about?” he demanded as soon as they had left the range of
hearing.
North flinched for a moment then summoned his robes.
Severus glared at her. “We are in the presence of-
”
“Sweetheart,” North interrupted, tugging the man’s shirt over his head, “I
really don’t care.”
Severus stared at her for a moment, very conscious of his half-naked state and
his pounding heart.
When he did nothing else North sighed. “Whatever,” she snapped. She stalked
back to the door and peered her head around it.
The dark lord met her gaze questioningly.
‘Tom, will you give us a minute?’
Voldemort stood and crossed the room alone towards her. ‘What is it?’
‘I need something from you.’
Voldemort gazed at the image that appeared amongst her thoughts and mutely
followed.
“Severus come here.”
The potions master whirled around at the strength in her voice. “You’re not my
master,” he bit out.
“Maybe not,” North said, placing her palm on Severus’ warm chest. “But you
belong to me.”
Severus glanced swiftly at his master, noting how he merely crossed his arms
and watched Severus as though it were expected that he do as he was told.
North kissed Severus tentatively and the spy found himself not completely
unresponsive. North traced a damp path down to his throat, where she began to
suck and bite him possessively. The man mewled, then gasped as he felt North’s
intent.
He pulled away and met Voldemort’s red eyes with masked panic.
The man seemed amused. “Next time, Severus,” said the dark lord, “just do as
you’re told for once.”
North kissed the dark haired man’s naval as Voldemort returned to his other
followers. “Now there’s an idea, beautiful,” she said.
Severus ignored his throbbing throat and mewled again, leaning into North’s
touch as she took insult from the rest of his clothing.
***** Brooding *****

Author's notes: Narcissa considers recent events
===============================================================================
Sorry for the delay everyone. Uni's been a bit mad and on top of that, my flat
doesn't have the net yet. Which is a bit horrendous. If I can get another
chapter written by the weekend I'll post it, otherwise it with be Tuesday or
Wednesday.
Narcissa brooded. It did irritate her when the unexpected happened. She did not
scowl –of course she did not- but her mind worried at events like a rabid and
starved terrier hunting rats.
Narcissa was not vicious. What need did she have to be vicious? Lucius and
Bella were vicious enough that she had no need to be. That did not, however,
mean she had no natural inclination towards such behaviour: only that she had
no need to act on her base instinct. She was a civilised woman, after all.
She would find out what new sordidness was occurring in her circle. It was not
an option. She would find out what was going on: it was her right. She was
Narcissa Malfoy, neé Black. Control was her birthright.
She would not let her curiosity damage whatever this secret was however; no.
Narcissa understood the importance of secrets. She was raised on secrets. And
she was the wife of Lucius Malfoy, no less. She held no abhorrence of secrets.
But they would all be damned in hell before she let them keep something from
her that she should obviously be aware of.
Bella had come for breakfast this morning, and in a foul mood of course. They
had breakfast together in Narcissa’s parlour as Lucius had left at a very
disagreeable hour in the name of business. Wretched business.
Bella was most upset. Of course, she was always upset- largely because the dark
lord was upset with her- but this was a specific wound she was nursing.
He had a new favourite, if Bella was to be
believed. Bella was a bit oversensitive on this subject, but it did seem she
was not exaggerating at this current moment. This rival was the elusive lover
of Severus that there had recently been so much gossip about.
Should she mention this to Lucius, Narcissa wondered. Her husband had been in a
relatively foul mood himself since the frequent mentions of this surprising
young woman. Narcissa had, luckily, bore the brunt of these flashes of temper
as Draco was at school.
Wretched bloody Lucius was too hard on their son. If anything, this was why
Narcissa held no grudge that Severus was Draco’s godfather. Her boy needed to
grow up with the knowledge that a man did not have to be as warped as her
husband. Not that Severus was undamaged; not in the slightest; but certainly he
was a better role model than Lucius. He was just as arrogant and cold, but the
violent streak in the half-blood that had supposedly been so apparent in his
adolescence had never been directed at Draco or indeed even Narcissa. Which was
certainly preferable to Lucius’ fondness for his bloody pimp cane.
Lucius was currently in a rage of jealous only very rarely quelled by the sight
of Narcissa adorning herself with some new expensive trinket. He did so love to
see her dripping in stones. Narcissa knew Lucius liked her for being as cold
and beautiful an adornment as those he fastened around her white neck.
Narcissa wondered how her husband would react to the news that the dark lord
was fond of Severus’ new lover. Perhaps she should book into a spa in Paris?
Lucius was in a vile mood now, but Narcissa very almost grimaced at the thought
of his reaction when… well, when he found out how beautiful this young female
was. A pureblood, no less, and pretty enough to be a Black although her
features were all wrong to be so.
Then there was the fact that Severus had fucked the girl right in the hallway
outside the room the dark lord sat in.
This news was not going to go down well with Lucius at all.
Who the bloody hell was this little bitch who was screwing up Narcissa’s
perfectly ordered life?
Narcissa would be having words with her. Not threaten her precisely; no. Only
take the bitch under her wing and see that she causes no more disasters. Lucius
would have to just deal with it. The girl couldn’t be taken care of as the dark
lord was fond of her.
Of course that would never have mattered if Lucius had never been so infernally
stupid as to sign himself up as the plaything of the dark lord. Malfoys were
never bred for servitude.
Not that her bastard of a husband seemed to care one iota for this as he
continued to groom Draco to be a good little pet for the dark lord.
Draco himself was also a worry. Something was no right Narcissa knew; she was
his mother, she always knew. He was keeping a secret, and something Lucius
would be angered by. Narcissa dismissed the thought that her child had gotten
the Parkinson girl pregnant; he would have confessed that to her. His grades
could not be the problem either as Severus always warned her when Draco’s marks
slipped so she could deal with the matter before Lucius found out and swung one
of his sticks about.
Surely Draco was not stupid enough to fall for that little mudblood he was
always lowering himself to bicker with? She was intelligent- the most
intelligent witch in his year. Surely he had not begun to respect her?
Or perhaps it was the little Weasley slut? She was a blood traitor and she was
poor, but at least she was a pureblood.
No, surely not. If Draco wanted an outlet for his teenage urges Pansy could
certainly accommodate. He would not be drawn to that little redheaded whore.
All those freckles!
Wasn’t there a pretty blonde in his year? Narcissa was sure she’d seen her.
Draco had been derisive and named her as a Hufflepuff. Hannah Something?
Yes that must be it. The silly boy had a crush on a Hufflepuff.
Narcissa nodded to herself and summoned an elf to bring her the number for the
most out-of-the-way health spa this side of the equator.
***** It's After Curfew *****

Author's notes: Wherein Harry takes Draco somewhere new
===============================================================================
His voice rang out smoothly in the darkened corridor. “Draco, it’s after
curfew.”
The blonde turned, startled, and stared up at his godfather. The man stared
down at him with disapproval then disappeared back into the shadows. Draco
breathed out in relief and hurried to the prearranged classroom, taking the
long route to make his destination less blatant.
Harry’s hands were on him the minute he entered and the boy’s lips fastened on
his neck.
“Not in the doorway you idiot,” Draco whispered, pushing his lover away. “Snape
caught me; he might still be around.”
Harry pulled back casually. “Snape?” he repeated. “You’re his little prince: he
won’t do anything.”
“Shows what you know,” the blonde retorted, pushing Harry inside and closing
the door.
Harry covered with his own the hand in which Draco tightly clasped his wand.
“Don’t need to lock it,” he said.
“Have you had your skull hit by any bludgers lately?” Draco snapped. “You think
my father’s going to be happy if he finds out about this?”
Harry pressed his hand softly against the bulge in his lover’s trousers. When
Draco met his eyes he grinned. “You didn’t hear me say we were staying here,
did you?”
Draco regarded him. “We always do it here.”
Harry took the opportunity to kiss the other boy’s lips. “Not tonight we
aren’t.”
Draco remained against Harry’s chest. “I am *not* going up to your tower with
Snape lurking about.”
Harry grinned. “Did I say anything about the tower? Besides, Snape’s not going
to see you.”
“And how are you going to manage that, Potter? Let me guess, you stole some
invisibility potion from my godfather?”
The boy pushed Draco back into the wall behind him. “It’s Harry, remember,” he
said firmly. “And no, not quite.”
“Then how-” Draco trailed off as he stared at what the other boy had produced.
“That’s not..?”
“You hadn’t figured it out?”
Draco’s brow furrowed. “At the shrieking shack…”
Harry grinned quietly and curled his arm around
Draco as he threw the cloak over them both. “Just stay close and don’t make a
sound.”
“Whilst your hard-on’s rubbing up against my arse?”
Harry paused for a moment. “Yes,” he decided. Draco rolled his eyes and leaned
into the boy a little more.
Harry hissed. “Don’t,” he said. “You keep doing that and I’ll have to take you
right in the corridor and we’ll never get to where I’m taking you.”
‘Take’? Draco felt a little shiver run down his spine. Was Potter going to
*take* him tonight? Draco wasn’t prepared for that. They’d never- Harry moaned
frustratedly. “Stop doing that,” he scolded, holding Draco a little further
away.
So Potter liked to feel him trembling against his cock, did he? Well that was
just fantastic, Draco thought darkly.
Harry reached for the door and led Draco out into the corridor. The blonde hung
to him mutely, hoping like hell his head of house wasn’t going to appear.
Harry shepherded his boyfriend into the room of requirement and locked the
door. He pulled off the cape and folded it up casually.
Draco regarded the room. “Pot-Harry,” he said.
Harry looked at him far too calmly. “Yes, Draco?”
“I’m not a girl, Potter.”
Harry’s smile faded a little. “You don’t like it?”
Draco made an irritated noise. “It’s an improvement on bare stone floors but I
do not require all this.” It looks far too romantic and beautiful. This isn’t
that sort of relationship.
“I can change it if you want,” Harry said.
“Leave it,” Draco found himself saying.
Harry looked at him, smiling nervously.
“Oh don’t bother start acting coy Harry,” Draco snapped, not sounding as
annoyed as he meant to. “That bed’s bid enough to accommodate orgies.”
“‘Orgies’?” Harry repeated weakly.
Draco narrowed his eyes at him and began to strip.
***** Talking's Not My Main Concern *****

Author's notes: Well, you've been waiting a while haven't you?
===============================================================================
Hey, sorry this isn't out when I finished it on Wednesday. *If the last chapter
you read featured Narcissa, you've missed one.* I've posted two chapters
tonight, so go back and read the other new chapter if you didn't. Love you
guys!
Harry settled on the bed to unbutton his shirt, watching in some amusement as
Draco knelt forwards on the sheets and spread his legs. Harry stood to allow
his trousers and shorts to fall to the floor then clambered across to the
blonde. He settled his hand on Draco’s taunt flesh.
“I think you’ve got the wrong idea baby,” Harry murmured warmly.
Draco steeled his reactions. Just fucking great. Potter wanted to see his face
while he buggered him. This was going to hurt like fuck.
Harry bowled Draco over and nipped gently at the boy’s naked chest. “I want
*you* to fuck *me*.”
Draco sat up and watched Harry pull back, wriggling his delectable little
Quidditch-toned arse. This could work.
Harry reached out and picked up a heavy jar of lubricant from beside the bed.
He opened it and scooped out a generous amount which he warmed in his hands
before coating Draco’s already-hard length.
Harry paused and looked down at himself a little uncomfortably. “Er, I don’t…”
Draco forced himself not to look disgusted and grabbed the other boy’s hips,
pulling him closer. “Spread out more,” the blonde commanded, liberally coating
his fingers before clinically dealing with Harry’s entrance. He did not bother
to warm the substance first.
Harry squeaked as the first finger pushed into him.
“Relax,” Draco said impatiently, quickly inserting a second finger and
scissoring them both with difficulty.
Harry was flushed and nodded pitifully.
Draco looked up. “Harry, what is wrong with you?”
“Nothing,” the Gryffindor lied. “It just feels strange…”
“Of course it feels-” Draco paused and stared hard at the other boy. Harry
looked back uncomfortably.
“Please tell me you were going to inform me you’re a virgin,” Draco said
sharply.
“Er,” said Harry.
Draco pulled his fingers out with annoyance and moved the jar away. He
continued to stare Harry down before snapping, “You stupid bloody Gryffindor!”
Harry flinched. “Draco…”
Draco pulled the other boy towards his chest and made him stare into his steel-
grey eyes. “Look at me Harry,” Draco barked when the green eyes tried to look
away. Draco’s voice was stern. “Do you even realise how much I could have hurt
you just because I wasn’t gentle enough?”
“But you *would* have been gentle, right?”
Draco glared at Harry. “I bloody shouldn’t be, just to teach you.” At Harry’s
wide-eyed look the blonde sighed and cuddled him. “You are unbelievably
stupid,” Draco sighed, pressing his lips to Harry’s ear.
Harry snuggled against Draco. “I’ve heard that before,” he said.
Draco laughed depreciatively and kissed the boy’s nose.
“Hey baby?” Harry murmured. “You’re still going to screw me, right?”
Draco glared scoldingly but his fingers gently slid down to Harry’s entrance,
as his other hand reached back for the lube. He coated his fingers thickly and
prepared Harry more considerately this time.
Harry glanced down a little impatiently after a while. “Surely three fingers is
enough.”
“Like hell it is,” Draco retorted. A wicked idea planted itself in his mind and
he paid Harry’s prostate some attention.
Harry gasped and arched on Draco’s fingers. “What did you do?”
“Found your prostate,” Draco answered nonchalantly. He finally slid in four
fingers.
Harry squirmed. “Hey, that thing? Can you do it again?”
“I *could*,” Draco agreed, doing nothing of the sort.
Harry bucked a little. “*Please*,” he begged.
Draco heaved a sigh and then obeyed, fucking the boy on his fingers until, much
to his amusement, Harry spilled his release all over his own stomach.
Harry scooped up some of the mess and licked it off his hand thoughtfully.
Draco recovered his hand and pinned his lover down on the bed. “That’s mine,”
the blonde growled, taking Harry’s sticky hand in his mouth and sucking off the
boy’s seed.
“Fuck, you’re getting me hard again,” Harry protested.
“I’ve still to fuck you,” Draco pointed out comfortably.
Harry grinned satedly and spread his thighs.
Draco laughed fondly. “You wanton little slut.”
“*Whose* ‘wanton little slut’?” Harry enquired.
“Mine,” the pureblood drawled cheerfully.
“Oh good,” said Harry. He regarded his lover from between his raised knees. “So
are you gonna put it in me already or am I going to have to draw you a map?”
“When did you become such a whore?” Draco demanded playfully, re-coating
himself with lubricant.
“You did that already,” Harry protested.
Draco did not look up. “You *want* me to tear you open?” he sneered, stretching
Harry as wide as possible.
Harry moaned a little before groaning a lot as Draco slowly pushed himself
inside.
“Fuck,” Harry whispered.
“I believe that was the general idea,” Malfoy drawled.
“Shut up. Just –ow- do that again.”
Draco looked up. “But you said ‘ow’.”
“It was a good ‘ow’. Do it again.”
Draco ignored Harry, waiting until the muscles around him relaxed.
“What are you waiting for?” Harry wailed.
Draco focused his eyes on his lover. “I think I’ll gag you in future.”
Harry bucked his hips pointedly. “Talking’s not my main concern right now.”
Draco slowly began to move inside him, listening with satisfaction to Harry’s
loud exclamation of bliss. “I’ve spoiled you,” he said disparagingly.
Harry raised an eyebrow at this then gave a quiet howl as Draco hit that new
place inside him.
Author note: Yes, could have been more graphic, but let's face it, there are
many more such scenes to come. The boys are pacing themselves ;D
***** Soap and Squirming *****

Author's notes: Wherein Harry and KJ both find reason to blush.
===============================================================================
Jo n Co own the Potterverse I'm just usin em 2 b perverse. Seriously, what is
it you guys like about Breath and Owls?
Severus scowled and shifted the dead weight from his long legs. “Find somewhere
else to languor.”
Jessa smirked sleepily and squirmed. “Like hell I will. I’m comfortable.”
Severus rolled his eyes. “Salazar forbid I would not sacrifice the feeling in
my legs for your comfort.”
“See, there’s the right attitude,” Jessa grinned. At the man’s glower she
reached up and kissed his cheek. He swatted her away lazily.
“I’m growing on you,” the girl said.
“Like ivy,” Severus retorted. “Or a rash.”
“You probably would give me a rash,” Jessa said flippantly. “Dirty old man.”
Severus looked at her incredulously. Jessa laughed and snuggled into in side,
removing her weight from his limbs.
Severus sighed and let his arm drop around her. “Ridiculous child,” he said.
“I love you too Sev.”
Severus sighed and let his hand connect with her rump sharply, making her yelp.
“My name, wretch, is ‘Severus’.”
Jessa turned her head to ruefully meet his gaze. “I know, Sev.”
‘Sev’ summoned a bar of soap from the bathroom. It sat ominously on the coffee
table at their feet.
Jessa looked at it.
“I don’t want to hear that a third time,” Severus warned sternly. Jessa sighed
and burrowed slightly deeper into his warm robes.
“You’re so mean,” she muttered.
The man smirked at her childish tone, not noticing as both his arms wrapped
around her. “Ex death eater,” he said.
The girl rolled her eyes and awarded the soap bar another suspicious glare.
Severus almost laughed, but quickly checked himself as Alastor entered the
room.
The ex auror eyed the fresh soap. “Haven’t you used that yet?”
Jessa gave him an affronted look whilst Severus curled his lips.
“She *cries* so much when I punish her,” he sighed by way of explanation. “It
takes so long to shut her up.”
“Haven’t you tried a good silenco on our whelp?”
Severus regarded Jessa mockingly. “I would; but there’s still all her theatrics
and her red eyes.”
Alastor laughed, even though Jessa was not amused, and crossed her arms
muttering about mean men.
Severus smirked at her scowls. “Do you not agree, wretch?”
“I never cry when you make me stand in the corner,” Jessa said.
“There’s your mistake, Severus,” Alastor said wisely, “You haven’t spanked her
hard enough beforehand.”
“You’re quite right Alastor,” Severus said, his black eyes twinkling from their
teasing. Jessa glared at them both.
Severus smirked at her. “Why Jessa, don’t you like it when we spank your
bottom?”
Jessa predictably flushed, but as she pulled herself off his lap she smirked
and said, “Oh no Sir; I *love* it when you punish me.”
‘One point to me,’ Jessa thought glibly as she slipped out of the room.
*
“Since when do you leave the dungeons?”
Jessa turned around at the jibe and grinned. “Shut up Scarhead- I don’t talk to
filthy half-bloods like you.”
The boy laughed. “Do you tell Snape that?”
“Only when he’s kneeling over me.”
“Ohhh, don’t make me jealous.”
Jessa giggled and fell into step with the Gryffindor. “Nah, I wish,” she sighed
cheerfully.
“Ah, we all wish,” Harry answered. “So *why* are you in this end of the
castle?”
“There’s only so long I can listen to your boyfriend’s lectures on good hair
care.”
“Well at least *your brother* deigns to speak to you.”
“Oh aren’t I lucky?” Jessa replied. “Although I did notice you having trouble
sitting down yesterday.”
Harry’s face turned a betraying crimson. “OK, so I did get lucky,” he said
defensively.
Jessa laughed. “You might want to brush up on your cushioning spells,” she
teased. “I’m sure Finnegan will notice if you have to stand during dinner.”
“Shut up,” Harry laughed.
Jessa placed her hand over her heart with a grin. “So sue me I notice these
things.”
Whatever Harry intended to say died on his lips as the youngest Weasley came
into view, staring openly at them both. Before the redhead could speak Jessa
had raised her eyebrows at Harry apologetically and had disappeared down a
stairway that quickly moved.
Ginny met Harry’s eyes calmly. “So why were you talking to that Snake?”
***** Does the portrait still talk? *****

Author's notes: Wherein Jessa's a bit out of sorts and Harry gets a shock.
===============================================================================
Yeah, yeah, She owns the Potterverse and my memory stick with all previous
chapters and my plan is missing so yeah things suck.
Pansy sat up, Jessa sliding off her chest before the Slytherin’s arm twined
around her.
“Whuh?” Jessa murmured.
Pansy fumbled around, cuffed Draco awake, and took the vial he blearily pushed
in her general direction.
“Um,” said Jessa, waiting for the world to righten.
Draco sat up reluctantly and shoved Blaise. The dark-skinned boy snickered and
woke cheerfully.
“How can you be so happy at this hour?” Jessa grumbled.
Theo sat up and grinned. “Maybe ‘cause he got some.”
Draco hissed and held his head, snapping his fingers at Pansy until she handed
back the large vial. “I am so glad I do not remember that,” he muttered.
“I’m not,” Pansy said. She paused and looked over Jessa with sympathy. “Why do
you look so rough?”
“Oh thanks,” Jessa muttered.
“Malfoys do not look ‘rough’,” Draco said.
“Yeah, I just feel it,” Jessa sighed.
Theo held up the bottle of firewhiskey which had been discarded beside them
unfinished. “You hardly drank anything.”
“I forgot to change my liver.”
“What?” Blaise said.
Jessa changed her hair colour to remind the boy of her talents. “I forgot to
make my liver bigger so I could sober up before I woke up.”
Draco tossed her the vial. “Try the method of mere mortals.”
There was a deep chuckle and Jessa looked behind her brother into the amused,
transparent face of the Bloody Baron.
“Yeah Bar, you did just hear Draco refer to himself as a mere mortal,” Jessa
grinned, immediately brightening as the hangover relief potion sped through her
body.
Pansy lifted her arm as Jessa lifted herself from her lap. “Where are you
going?”
“I need to go for a run,” Jessa answered. She glanced up at the ghost. “Feel
like coming down to the Forest? Scare a few first years?”
“With the little grim? Why not?”
The Slytherins looked at each other a little warily as their ghost wandered out
the room discussing how acceptable it was to have another Black in Slytherin
after Sirius’ disgrace. Regulus had been a lovely boy of course.
“See what you’ve started?” Daphne said. “She isn’t even sorted.”
Pansy pretended to ignore her friend.
“You’ve created a monster, Panse,” Blaise grinned.
“Oh shut up, you tapped that,” the girl retorted.
“Jealous, baby?”
Theo elbowed his lover pointedly.
“Aw Thee, come, she meant nothing, huh?”
Draco gave the boy a decidedly ugly look. “I told you before that’s my *sister*
Zabini.”
The boy sighed.
Pansy stood and charmed the creases from her clothes. She kicked the bottle at
her feet idly and
stepped over the pair of boys who were suddenly grinding against each other in
a mixture of possessiveness and passion.
“Meet again next week,” she said.
Draco stood but then hesitated, watching her walk out the door. He went and
woke his bodyguards then left for a shower. Harry had left a love bite between
his ribs. The blonde stared at it for a long time, his hair hanging in ropes
over his eyes, not wanting to blink the water from his lashes, before he
reached for the soap and lathered himself furiously.
*
Moody leaned back in his chair to see his colleague better. “The whelp’s
where?”
“She passed by mine a good while back weh the Baron,” Hagrid answered.
Severus pinched the bridge of his nose and glanced towards his house table.
Draco looked distinctly unhappy about something.
Alastor followed Severus’ gaze. As they watched there was a hissed exchange
between the young blonde and Parkison. The girl got up and stormed off.
Draco continued playing with his food before leaving without his two henchmen.
Hagrid watched the potions master reach for his coffee. “En’t yeh goin’ after
him?”
Severus lip curled and shook his head. He passed Alastor the plate of food his
magical eye had been watching pass hands. “Where would be the reason for that?”
Severus said.
*
“Hey Scarhead?”
Harry pulled back from his friends discreetly and turned around. Jessa was
standing in the shade of the open door that poured forth crowds of students
from the great hall. He navigated his way through them.
She was clutching her arms across her chest.
“Are you alright?” Harry asked.
The girl nodded and rested her weight on the
wall behind her.
“You weren’t at dinner,” Harry commented.
“Didn’t feel like it,” Jessa replied quietly.
“Has something happened?”
Jessa shook her head. “Not recently.” She pulled an errant length of hair from
her face. “Har?” she said softly.
Shielded from ordinary view by the door, Harry stretched his arm around her and
was surprised when Jessa immediately fell stiffly into his embrace. She clung
to him for a few minutes before she recovered her voice.
“Do you miss him?” she asked. “Siri?”
Harry’s grip tightened a little. “Yeah,” he said gruffly.
“I don’t want to miss him,” Jessa said. “Sometimes I get so pissed off… He
didn’t even say ‘bye’, Scarhead. One fucking word. And now he’s… he’s never
there anymore. I just wanna talk to him, you know?”
“Yeah, I know,” Harry answered gently. He smoothed down the strands of her hair
that she had been twisting in her fingers. Jessa was quiet. “So where have you
been?” Harry asked faintly.
“Forest,” the girl answered. “I needed to outrun my head for a bit.”
Harry was about to reply but Jessa abruptly pulled herself out of his arms. She
pushed her hair up from her forehead before she opened her eyes on him. “Does
the portrait still talk?”
“What portrait?”
“Of Siri and Prongs. Siri said your grandparents had a portrait made of the two
of them that your dad inherited.”
Harry tried to hold down the sick feeling of rising hope. “Didn’t it get
destroyed when my parents were killed?”
“It wasn’t in the house it was in a vault somewhere. According to Sirius at
least.”
“I’ll write to Gringotts,” Harry said.
***** Chopped Roots And Burnt Bacon *****

Author's notes: Wherein an owl comes to lunch
===============================================================================
“Idiot! Be careful with that –no!” Severus glided angrily towards the
Gryffindor side of the room and pulled the Longbottom boy bodily from his
botched potion before it began to belch toxic-smelling smoke.
“Incompetent,” Severus muttered, stabbing his wand at the potion to revert it
back to a less dangerous state. Out of the corner of his eye he saw his student
step back –his cuff trailing into another potion. The man pinched the bridge of
his nose and cast a numbing spell on the now whimpering boy.
“Weasley, escort Longbottom to the infirmary and keep him away from further
harm if possible. Granger, take over for Mister Longbottom to finish this
potion.”
Cue relief on the face of Longbottom’s partner. Severus turned to look at the
teen with her head bowed over questionable reading material. He repressed a
sigh. “Miss Malfoy please come assist Potter with his potion.”
Without looking up the girl closed over the book and crossed the room. She
brushed against Severus as they squeezed past each other between the benches
and immediately shook her head at Harry. “Not like that. That’s too thick and
haphazard.”
The boy regarded her. “How then?”
Jessa leaned closer and covered his hand with her own. “For this potion you
need to cut the root thinly and evenly like this,” she explained.
“Oh,” said Harry.
Jessa pulled back and watched his hand movements. “That’s perfect.” She reached
for the next ingredient and paused. “How can you be friends with Granger and
not know that you’re supposed to use red fish eggs not black?”
*
“She’s a bitch,” Ginny said, glaring at the topic of their conversation from
over her pumpkin juice.
Hermione made a mild noise of assent, noting how Harry’s gaze inevitably kept
returning to the Slytherin table. “Yes,” she said absently.
“I mean, I’m better than that *snake* aren’t I?” Ginny continued sadly.
“Oh Ginny of course you are,” Hermione said.
*
“You’re to meet him in the usual place,” Jessa said, settling comfortably
beside her brother.
“And you’re to eat properly,” Draco retorted as though he hadn’t heard her. He
had of course. He persuaded her to fill her roll with delicious bacon.
Jessa stifled a moan as she bit into her meal and grinned instead. Fuck, it was
grilled to perfection.
Draco watched as an owl swooped down to the Gryffindor table. Mail was rare
during lunch.
Harry opened the letter as the owl departed. His demeanour changed after
reading it.
“Harry?” Hermione said.
The teen shook his head.
Draco turned his attention away and smirked as his sister grinned guiltily, her
mouth full of more crisp, juicy bacon. She finished savouring the taste and
cuffed Draco, laughing, as he stole a piece from her plate.
“That’s *mine*,” she said.
“Aw, have I found your weakness?” The boy smirked again and bit down on the
almost cremated piece of shrivelled, tough meat. Dear Merlin. Draco washed away
the taste of charcoal left in his mouth and afforded another glance at his
lover.
***** The Portrait in the Potter Vaults *****

Author's notes: Wherein... well, I'm sure you can guess.
===============================================================================
Hello everyone. Yes the previous chapter's a new one too. I found my memory
stick under my brother's bed. Go figure because that confused me. Unfortunately
since then I'm pretty sure I left the damn thing in a campus library (let's
blame it on the stress of assessment submission). Considering some of the stuff
on that little stick I don't want to ask if it was handed in. I don't think the
librarian likes me to begin with and there's two videos on that stick of me at
about 15 where everyone's acting rather drunkenly. And a diary-type thing about
er, teenage promiscuity and suchlike.
So I've had to rewrite new chapters and plot-map since they've gone. But if you
happen to come across a grey memory stick with a black shoelace tied to it (the
shoelace has little white skull n crossbones on it) in the library of a certain
Edinburgh campus I would really appreciate having it back. I'll even give you a
cookie.
Draco’s fist did not grip Harry’s hair as tightly as usual. “You were upset at
lunch.”
Harry met his grey eyes with surprise, the motion for once unhindered by the
blonde’s harsh grip. “You noticed?” he commented softly.
“Of course I noticed Potter. I’m not one of your oblivious little Gryffindors.
What was in that letter?”
Harry sighed and felt himself held gently against Draco’s chest. This was nice.
“I just got a letter from Gringotts that’s all.”
Draco gave a comforting chuckle. “Don’t tell me you’ve finally realised you can
afford better friends than Weasley?”
Harry snorted inelegantly. “Jerk,” he accused affectionately. “No Gringotts
were not telling me to do better than Ron.”
“What then?” the blonde mock-drawled. “You haven’t become bankrupt have you?”
“You wish baby.” Harry shook his head. “No. Just… I was talking to Jessa and…”
Draco almost frowned as his lover trailer off. “You were talking to Jessa and
what?”
Harry pushed his glasses up as he looked inward. “She said there was a portrait
of my dad and Sirius and… they’ve found it. In my vaults.”
Draco carded his fingers through the dark hair and Harry sighed. “I don’t want
to thing about this just now,” he said.
Draco arched one brow. “Shall I distract you then?”
Harry grinned and the grip on his hair became close to painful.
“Firstly bitch,” Draco began, “I want you on your knees and sucking me. Then
you’re going to come with me to the room of requirement and I’m going to hit
your sweet spot so much you’re going to forget your own name.”
Harry grinned and reached for his lover’s fly.
*
By the next day it had occurred to Harry that there was no way in hell he
wanted to face the portrait on his own. He missed Sirius like hell, yes, but
he’d also been responsible for his death. He doubted it was going to be a
pleasant conversation. Bringing Jessa along might appease both however. Or at
least distract his godfather from Harry’s guilt.
Which was why he and Jessa were now slipping out to Diagon Alley. He would have
to figure out how he could explain to Sirius why he was yet to inform Ron and
Hermione of the portrait’s existence, but he’d do that thinking later.
“Why so stressed?” Jessa was wearing another of her long-sleeved tunic things
with a tall pair of suede boots and a high-collared cloak. She tilted her head
as she spoke and caught the hem of her cloak in her white hand to stop it
whipping around her legs.
“I’m not stressed,” Harry lied.
The girl snorted and took his arm. “Sure, Scarhead.” She let go of her cloak
hem and meandered up to the bank with him.
Gringotts was not overly crowded and they were swiftly led to the vault. Harry
noted how the ride exhilarated Jessa and left her gliding contentedly at his
side as they entered.
Their goblin escort led them directly to the covered portrait then exited
discreetly. Jessa only had eyes for the portrait but tilted her head towards
Harry, her lowered eyes not quite moving from their prize. “Aren’t you going to
uncover it?” she said.
Harry gazed uncomfortably at all the Potter wealth that surrounded her. She
didn’t seem to regard it at all. He didn’t want to uncover it. Couldn’t she do
it?
“Please Scarhead.” When he still did not answer she met his eyes with concern.
“Har?”
The teen blinked and grinned ruefully as he stepped forward and reached for the
sheet. He hesitated and glanced casually at Jessa. “Give me a hand with it?”
She seemed to understand. “Sure thing Scarhead,” she answered, taking the final
step towards the portrait. They pulled the sheet away together and stepped
back.
Sirius was a lot younger-looking. That was the first thing both noticed, the
Azkaban-haunted gauntness wiped from his features. James looked the same as in
any of the photographs Harry had ever seen.
Sirius was the first to recognise him. “Alright Harry!”
James leaned forwards in further interest. “My Harry?”
“Of course your Harry,” Sirius scoffed.
James cuffed his friend calmly as he studied his son. “It’s been over ten years
you know,” he muttered.
“Nearly twenty,” Sirius pointed out sweetly.
“And handsome with it,” James reported.
“Well, his eyes at least,” Sirius said dryly.
Harry laughed and James forgot to retort. “How are you son?”
“I’m…okay,” Harry answered warily. He glanced at Sirius. “And you?”
Sirius leaned forwards in concern. “I’m fine Harry -don’t worry about it.”
James turned in confusion to his friend.
“Poor kid saw me fall through the veil,” Sirius explained. “Bella always was a
nasty bitch.”
“She was not,” James retorted. “It was only when she started hanging about with
Malfoy and fawning over *Riddle* that she went a bit…”
“Psychotic,” Sirius supplied. He ran a scrupulous eye over Harry. “You’ve been
doing that guilt thing again, haven’t you?”
“It was my fault-”
Sirius interrupted. “Bollocks, Harry. Bella was always jealous of me.”
“She was not,” said James.
“Jamie too,” Sirius continued, calmly avoiding the elbow directed at his side.
James noticed the girl hanging back a few steps beside Harry. “And who’s this?
Your girlfriend Harry?”
Sirius snorted. “’Fraid not Prongs. Did I forget to tell you our Harry’s as
straight as Madame Hooch?”
Harry choked and reddened.
James shrugged. “It’s not like any of us were so straight. Got a boyfriend then
son?”
Harry was having slight difficultly talking.
“He’s a pureblood,” Jessa supplied quietly.
Sirius paled a little at the sound of Jessa’s voice. “Come in closer,” he said.
The teen obeyed and he stared at her for long minutes. “What have you done to
your hair?” he asked eventually.
Jessa touched her locks. “Oh,” she said absently. She shrugged, not meeting his
eyes. After a moment she straightened her head and said flatly, “Harry’s
Mudblood decided to spread about my parentage and the beloved headmaster saw
fit to move me in with my dearest daddy.”
“Harry’s mudblood?” James repeated, torn between annoyance at the term and
parental curiosity.
“Hermione?” suggested Sirius. He looked at his half-sister seriously. “Is he…
are you alright? With Malfoy? He’s not treating you badly?”
“It’s not so bad. I’m at Hogwarts,” the girl replied.
“I’m sorry Pup.” Jessa understood the change in conversation.
“I understood Siri,” she said. She inclined her head towards Harry. “We both
miss you,” she said.
Sirius gave a half-smile then paused, tilting his head to a patient-looking
James. “You never met my little half-sister,” he introduced.
Jessa darkened her hair momentarily. “Hi,” she said.
James smiled graciously. “Pleased to meet you little one. What were you telling
me about my son’s boyfriend?”
Jessa returned her hair to its previous paleness. “He’s quite a guy,” she said.
***** Ridiculous Brat *****

Author's notes: Wherein Jessa has some more nightmares
===============================================================================
“You were screaming again,” Severus said unnecessarily. Jessa looked up at him
from her current position beneath him. She must have been thrashing again too.
The man pulled back but stayed close, raising his brows sternly. “You’re going
to explain now.”
Jessa sat up. “Explain what?” she muttered with obtuse brightness.
Severus pressed his fingers into her shoulder. “The last few nights have been
spectacular even by your standards.”
Jessa pulled away. “I can sleep in the other room then.”
“Like hell you will,” Severus retorted calmly. “You’re going to confess
whatever it is that’s been affecting you and we will deal with it so we will
both be able to attain a decent night’s sleep in the future.”
Jessa made a face. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
Severus pulled her back towards him. “Your wants don’t come into it.”
Jessa fell back against his chest with little resistance but refused to face
the man. He flipped her around ungently and glared ineffectually at her.
“Talk,” he said.
“Leave it will you,” Jessa replied, “It’s not important.”
“My sleep is,” Severus retorted. “Do as you’re told or you’re going to have a
problem.”
“Oh great, threaten me then,” Jessa groused.
“Have you forgotten that my threats are not as idle as you are Jessa?” Severus
growled.
The teen opened her mouth to retort but Severus lowered his voice and spoke
again. “Tell me what’s going on with you.”
Jessa bit her lip. “It’s not important though…”
“Remind me when someone granted you an opinion,” Severus teased.
“It’s Sirius ok?” the girl snapped.
“Sirius?” Severus repeated. “What-”
“It’s just not seeing him then seeing him it brought a lot of stuff back okay?”
“What do you mean ‘seeing him’?” Severus asked sharply.
“Portrait…” Jessa looked up reluctantly. “There’s a portrait of him and Mr
Potter in Scarhead’s vaults.”
Severus gave the girl a very dangerous look. “Do not tell me that’s what you
were doing when you left the wards?”
Jessa shrank bank. Yes Severus had been rather annoyed when she arrived back.
She didn’t want him more angry… “Maybe?” she said meekly.
Fury blazed in the older man’s eyes. “You were in Gringotts?! You went to
bloody Diagon Alley?!”
Jessa squirmed and Severus continued to glare. “You are grounded,” he ground
out.
Jessa worried her lip and looked up at him with wide eyes.
Severus’ nostrils were flaring. “Outside, alone, with no escort, right in
wizarding London –with the trouble magnet that is Potter! Have you any idea how
*dangerous*…” Severus paused. “Tell me you didn’t go looking like a Malfoy.”
“I didn’t go looking like a Malfoy,” Jessa said.
Severus narrowed his eyes at her. That was almost definitely a lie but he did
not want to have to deal with that. “I should take my belt to you, you reckless
*brat*,” he spat, collapsing back against the headboard. “Did you have no
thought for the danger you could be in, or the trouble you could still be in if
anyone has seen you?”
Jessa flinched. “You’re not really going to use your belt are you?”
Severus laughed half-humourlessly at her. “You can’t even take a hand spanking
most of the time,” he said.
Jessa met his eyes reluctantly, unsure of what to say. Severus laughed again.
“Ridiculous *brat*,” he said. He sighed. “Come here.”
Jessa hesitated.
“Miss Malfoy…”
Jessa met his eyes warily and crawled over to him. Severus wrapped his arms
around her. “You can go without the spanking if you tell me why you were having
nightmares about –your brother.”
To the man’s surprise Jessa considered.
“That wasn’t really an option,” Severus said.
“Oh,” Jessa said. She was quiet for a moment and burrowed her shoulder further
between Severus’ arm and chest. “It just… I…”
“Holding company with Potter is doing wonder for your elocution,” Severus said
drolly, rolling his eyes at the girl.
Jessa gave a small smile as her head rested on his shoulder. Then sadness
overcame her expression and she said, “Missing him was eating me up inside even
though it wasn’t that great… and…” She gave Severus a pleading look. “I don’t
want to talk about this… Please, Severus?”
Severus regarded her. “What are your nightmares usually about?”
Jessa greyed. “Not usually Siri,” she said before pulling away a little.
Severus slid down onto his back and pulled Jessa onto his chest. “I’m right
here: nothing’s going to hurt you,” he said.
The intimate position seemed to reassure Jessa, but she was still quiet.
“Wretch?”
“I don’t want to talk about it Sev. Please, can we just sleep?”
Severus conceded reluctantly and pulled the quilt around her.
He didn’t correct her use of his name.
***** I'm Not Prone to Begging, Potter *****

Author's notes: Wherein we have some Drarry goodness
===============================================================================
Draco hissed, feeling Harry kiss down his naval, the boy’s warm breath managing
to chill the already moist skin. “Fuck,” Draco whispered.
Harry glanced up and smirked, pleased his ministrations were having such
affect. “Slow down,” he said teasingly.
Draco tried not to shudder. Oh fuck! He was going to… he was going to…
A rough hand squeezed the base of Draco’s cock. “What did I tell you?”
Draco breathed out heavily in relief, the desperation receding slightly. “Not
to… not to cum until you say to.”
“Exactly,” Harry said. He arched his eyebrow in a disturbingly Malfoyesque
manner before flipping his lover onto his stomach. “I guess I should slow down
until you can control yourself…”
Draco almost howled then. He bucked against the sheet beneath him only half-
intentionally. “Harry *please*!”
Harry lowered his mouth to Draco’s white thighs and began to lick a slow path
upwards.
Draco’s breathing quickly returned to its erratic state. “Please…*PLEASE*…”
Harry’s chuckle released a puff of warm breath to the blonde’s tender and
hypersensitive skin. “Begging suits you Dray.”
Draco bit his lip. Being able to retort that Malfoys did not beg was a whole
forty or so minutes ago, and being able to say it convincingly was even further
in the past. He quivered and Harry began to nip and suck… “Harry I’m going to
come!”
Harry reached beneath his lover and fondled the tightening balls as he kissed
Draco’s trembling side. “You’ve not got permission for that.”
“’M’sorry…Harry…’m’gonna…” Sweat was misting Draco’s skin. He couldn’t control-
Harry finally took pity and flipped Draco back onto his back. His thumb found
the head of his lover’s cock and he met Draco’s eyes as he played with it.
Whatever Draco said was unintelligible by this point.
Harry’s head dived down to envelope him in wild heat.
Draco was ready to cry. He couldn’t hold back and not… not this hot… when it
felt… oh fuck…
“You may cum,” Harry said. The vibrations swiftly threw Draco over the edge and
he came with an undignified scream.
Harry laughed and swallowed the resultant mess before sitting up with a grin.
Draco lay quietly for a moment. “Who the fuck taught you *that*?” he said at
last.
“Natural intuition,” Harry snickered. “I’ve never seen you so let go baby.”
The afterglow was making it impossible to think of a suitable retort. Draco
remained silent and smiling. A thought occurred to him.
“Harry?”
The dark-haired boy settled down against him. “Yeah baby?”
“You’re gonna do that again, right? Like every day?”
Harry laughed cheerfully. “We’ll see if you can be a good boy.”
Draco looked put out. “I can be good,” he protested. “I *am* good! …Not that
I’m arguing.”
Harry kissed the boy’s nose. “Relax Dray.”
Draco snuggled into his lover, smiling as Harry wrapped his arms around him.
“That was… notable.”
Harry chuckled softly, caressing the messy sweat-spiked hair that was warm
under his fingers. “Glad you enjoyed it.” He gave Draco a bemused look. “Has no
one done that for you before, honestly?”
“Not even Blaise,” the blonde drawled. “I’m not prone to begging, Potter.”
“Oh it’s Potter again now is it?” Harry said wryly. “Begging’s going to become
very familiar to you Dray, even just to keep you using my first name.”
“That sounds like a reasonable deal,” murmured Draco, tilting his head
comfortably to allow Harry to plunder his mouth.
***** Uncharitable Discussions *****

Author's notes: I'm sure it can be surmised from the title
===============================================================================
Hey everyone there's three chapters been posted (although the first one's a bit
angsty so you're welcome to skip it. The middle chapter, however, I do
recommend.) XP
“So are you going to tell me what the deal is with your ‘sister’?”
“My whore of a mother got knocked up by Malfoy,” Sirius answered.
James regarded his friend calmly, the light catching off his glasses and making
Sirius uncomfortable. “The other thing.”
“There is no ‘other thing’,” Sirius retorted disgruntled, moving back in the
portrait.
“Since when did you stop telling me things Pads?”
“Since you got killed and I got sent to Azkaban is my estimation Prongs.”
James blinked. “Fuck you. What’s your problem Padfoot?”
“Life,” Sirius said darkly, stalking out of the portrait to another frame.
*
“What do you think you’re doing with that filth?” Severus demanded in a
dangerously even tone.
Jessa did not look up. “Reading,” she replied shortly. She wet her finger and
turned the page.
“*Don’t* do that with that poisonous thing,” Severus droned.
“It’s just a book Sev,” Jessa replied. “What’s so special about a ring finger?”
“What? It’s blessed so it can’t be used in… What the hell are you reading?”
Jessa held the book closer. “Blood Magick and Related Rituals,” she said
defensively.
That was a lie. “Give that filth here,” Severus ordered.
Jessa did so reluctantly and he plucked it swiftly from her using only his
thumb and forefinger. His expression darkened as he charmed the spine to reveal
its original title. “Where,” he demanded, “the *hell* did you get this?”
Jessa was not going to let it be known that Kreecher could visit Grimmauld
Place for her at will.
“I got it from Tom. He thought I’d like it.”
The page that the book was currently split open at detailed the practise of
removing the outer film of a living victim’s eyeball. Severus slammed the book
shut and felt the urge to throw the cursed thing into the fire.
“This is foul,” he said. “What the fuck are you reading this for?”
“It’s interesting.”
Severus banished the object and directed his gaze at the girl. “What could you
possibly find *interesting* about that nasty tome?”
“You know how under a certain temperature the liquid in your eyes freezes?
There’s a curse that targets just the eyes so they freeze and fall out. It’s so
cool; it’s illustrated!”
Severus’ stormy expression made his disapproval clear.
“I learned the counter-curse,” Jessa added meekly.
*
Narcissa regarded Severus with veiled interest. “Do you believe it so
worrisome?”
“She was reading The Usage of Mudbloods In Offensive Magic.”
Narcissa tittered. “For you of all people to be concerned by a silly teenager
reading a dark book Severus!” She paused. “She’s not likely to *use* the
knowledge Severus.”
“Perhaps, but supposing Lucius had discovered her with the thi-book?”
“He is not going to Mark my daughter,” Narcissa said sharply.
“And if she makes it heard that she wants it? She claimed the dark lord gave
her the book in the first place… it might not be very long until he genuinely
does give her something of the sort.”
“They are not having my daughter,” the woman repeated with feeling.
***** Things Said And Unsaid *****

Author's notes: Wherein things are said and not only verbally
===============================================================================
You Know Who owns Potter and everything here that's not really mine.
Severus stalked through his rooms towards his bed, his robes bloodstained and
torn. His head pounded and he pushed open the ajar bedroom door. He dropped his
dirty robes to the floor and removed his boots.
The teenager in his bed was sitting up watching him quietly. She always seemed
to be wide awake and waiting for him when there was a meeting. He was too
exhausted to carry his night things to the bathroom to change then come back
and instead pulled his shirt over his head. His trousers were dirty so he
pulled them off too before collapsing into bed.
“Another raid?” Jessa said at last.
The man nodded and Jessa wrapped her arms around him before he fell asleep. She
played with his hair for a while then pulled the quilt around him more fully
and settled to sleep herself.
*
James raised his eyes to his returning friend but did not lift his head. “You
alright?” he asked.
Sirius nodded. “Sorry Prongs,” he said gruffly.
James stood up and pulled his friend into an embrace. “What happened Pads?”
Sirius gave a grief-stricken noise and clung tightly to his friend as
everything tumbled out.
*
Hermione kept still in Ron’s bed. Ron would sleep through anything but she had
woken when Harry had got up fully clothed and disappeared under his
invisibility cloak.
The door had just opened again and Harry pulled off his cloak at the side of
his bed, his shirt hardly buttoned and his hair worse than usual.
Before Hermione could look away he had slid off his shirt and trousers to
reveal livid marks on his chest and thighs.
He fell into bed grinning and Hermione laid back beside Ron. Similar bruises
adorned her own boyfriend’s chest.
*
Another meeting. The raid last night had been bad enough –in fact Severus had
surprised himself by throwing up over its recollection this morning.
He glanced across at the girl as he reached for his mask, the burning in his
arm an ignored fury that was relocated to the back of his mind. Jessa seemed to
have been fluttering between withdrawn and volatile all day. She was dressed
unusually too –coarse combats, steel-toed boots and a thin black top with long
sleeves and a long neck. She wasn’t showing any skin. Only her finger tips and
face were exposed and her eyes seemed to be as veiled as her body.
Severus collected her cloak from the stand near the door and fastened it around
her. She was as rigid as a doll and frowned a little to herself.
Severus took her cold hand. “Are you ready to go?”
Jessa blinked, startled, and seemed surprised to see him there. “We’re going?
Sure.”
Severus regarded her for a moment then led her out of his rooms; out of the
castle and past the wards. She had the wherewithal to press herself close to
him, and they apparated to the dark lord.
Jessa let go of him at once, which may never have happened before, and stood a
little apart. She followed him mutely into the other room.
The dark lord lifted himself from his chair and after glancing at the teen gave
Severus a mild quizzical look. “Kindred?”
Jessa looked up obediently, and Severus hoped her smile was fake. Why was she
required tonight anyway?
Voldemort held out his arm and Jessa went to him, the arm curling around her in
a way that made the potion master’s skin crawl.
Jessa was still quiet but the dark lord brushed her face with his musician’s
fingers. At the feel of the long digits on her skin the girl met his eyes.
Severus watched them speaking, minute movements of the muscles around their
eyes his only indication of the path of the conversation.
He moved down the room towards the table and took his seat near Lucius. The
blonde gave him a look that indicated his displeasure about something and
clicked his fingers for a house elf to bring Severus some wine. Severus looked
away from Lucius’ familiar fingers to prevent him from remembering their feel
and instead initiated a mild argument with Bellatrix.
Bellatrix was not in the mood for the argument and after a few minutes of
verbal sparring left the table and went to her lord’s side. He had stopped his
conversation with the little brat at least.
“Bella,” Voldemort said, his arm still around Jessa. He brushed his hand
through the teen’s colourless hair and she lowered her eyes.
Voldemort pulled Bellatrix forward with the hand that had toyed with Jessa’s
hair moments before and gave her a half-stern, half-mocking look. The woman
bowed her head, deciding it was best to act chastised, and the dark lord
stroked her dark head. Her wild hair was thick and warm under his hand. Bella
closed her eyes.
“Do you have something to say, Bella?”
“No, my lord,” the woman answered meekly.
“What have I told you about lying to me Bella?” the man asked sternly. “Answer
me properly.”
“You-” Bellatrix wet her lips, her eyes wide, “You care for this child?”
Voldemort kissed Jessa’s head and pushed her softly towards his chair. “Go sit
down Kindred. She’s our future, Bella,” he said with a smile. “You were
jealous?”
Bellatrix bowed her head. The dark lord lowered his own to her throat and bit
her sharply, drawing a pained gasp from the woman. “Don’t be,” he said, pulling
back to regard the livid, wet mark on her painfully white skin.
He turned abruptly, his brow narrowing. “You’re almost late, Lestrange.”
Bellatrix’s husband bowed his head. “Forgive me my lord.”
“Take Bella and sit down,” Voldemort retorted. “Kindred.”
The girl looked up. “My lord?”
“Go down to the library and continue your studies. You know where it is.”
“Yes my lord.”
Voldemort returned to his seat and began to speak.
***** Watch Me Save You *****

Author's notes: Wherein there's a bit of angst amongst other things.
===============================================================================
“What’s wrong with her?” Pansy said.
Draco glanced at his half-sister, who was standing by the fire with Greg. She
was spending a lot of time with him lately, not speaking. “Sirius, I think.”
“She’s spending a lot of time with Potter,” she said.
Pansy didn’t understand the expression that streaked across her ex-lover’s
face. “It’s not him,” he said.
“She said that?”
“I asked him,” Draco said. Let her think I roughed him up that way.
“Jessa!”
The girl turned and looked in their direction. That was something.
“Panse?” she said.
“Come on,” said Pansy, getting up and taking the other girl’s arm. “We’re going
to get drunk.” Jessa let the girl lead her but didn’t say anything.
The Slytherins were soon gathered in a circle. Draco came through the fireplace
with a bottle of firewhiskey and tossed it to Pansy.
She opened it, poured a shot for Jessa, and then poured one for herself. “So
what are we playing?”
Jessa shrugged and lay against Greg’s chest.
“Spin the bottle?” Blaise suggested.
“The bottle’s full you fuckwit,” Draco retorted.
“Play nice,” Jessa said.
Blaise smirked and transfigured the bottle’s cap.
*
She was reading again. Severus pulled her up by the back of her sweater and
glared at the book lying open on the couch. “What filth are you despoiling
yourself with now?”
“I was despoiled a long time ago Severus; I thought you knew that.”
Severus gave the teen a venomous look that did not seem to faze her. He
snatched the tome and this time he actually did throw it into the fire.
“What are you doing?” howled Jessa, “That’s not mines!”
Severus’ voice came as a cold growl. “Who the fuck gave you that?”
Jessa met his gaze icily. “Tom did. What the fuck did you do that for?” Without
waiting for an answer she summoned the book from the fire and attempted to
repair it.
Severus snatched back the smouldering item and held her away from it.
“Just give me the book back,” Jessa said coolly. “And let go.”
“Do not even *try* taking that tone with me,” Severus said warningly. “What are
you doing even touching this?”
“What do you think?” Jessa retorted, some of the venom draining from her voice.
“I’m learning it.”
“Why would you want to do that?!”
“Since when did you ask stupid questions?” Jessa replied, sounding tired.
“I won’t have you learning this,” Severus said.
“And how will your master feel about that?” Jessa snapped.
“Dumbledore is my master now,” Severus said.
“He’s never going to be mines!” Jessa spat.
“So you’re reading this?” Severus brandished the book. “You want to belong to
Riddle instead?”
“Yes,” the girl said.
Severus looked at her. “What?”
“I changed my mind Sev. I told him…” Jessa swallowed. “I told Tom yes. That I’m
going to.”
“You’re going to what?” Severus demanded, his voice dangerously low.
“Take the mark obviously,” Jessa said.
“Like hell you are,” Severus breathed.
Jessa met his eyes. “Sev…”
“Why would you even want to do it J-Miss Mal…Jessa…why?”
Jessa shrugged. Severus’ black eyes flashed. “You sure as hell better have a
reason superior to that. You know you’d actually have to *do* the things in
this book?”
Jessa nodded. Severus swallowed. “There’s things in here worse than the
unforgivables.”
Jessa looked up. “I know that.”
Severus threw the book to the floor. For a moment Jessa was certain he was
going to hit her, but then he threw her away from him as well. She landed down
on the couch and he bent to pick up the book. He held it for a moment before
taking out his wand and banishing the tome.
“What the hell’s wrong with you?” Severus demanded.
Jessa shrugged.
“At least you know something’s wrong with you,” Severus growled. “And stop
shrugging at me.”
“Yes sir.”
Severus looked at her. “You *told* me you didn’t want to kill Miss Granger.”
“I’ll learn indifference,” Jessa said.
“You fucking well won’t,” the man snarled.
“And why shouldn’t I?”
“It’s wrong,” Severus answered blackly.
“That’s not going to stop me.”
Severus looked at her. “And what about when you wake up one morning and can’t
bear what you’ve done?”
She met his eyes evenly. “That’s too bad for me.”
“What if you were responsible for the death of someone you cared about?”
“Cared about?” Jessa laughed, the bitter laugh of a Slytherin. “I only care
about you. Draco. Mad Eye. Maybe Hagrid.”
“Not Potter?”
Jessa shrugged. “I expect him to die young.”
“Hagrid’s a half-blood,” Severus said.
“As if I couldn’t see that,” Jessa sneered.
“Alastor’s an auror.”
“I expect him to die that way.”
“What about how you’d feel?”
“I know how to not to,” the girl answered.
“You?” Severus sneered.
“You don’t know everything about me Sev,” Jessa answered.
“What if it was me? Or Draco?”
“If they had Draco…I’d kill him myself. I wouldn’t let them break him. You
though? No. If they found out about you I’d deal with it.”
Severus laughed bitterly. “How?”
“If I could possibly kill them then I would. If there was no other way to help
you then I’d kill you.”
Severus was chilled by her words. “You’re a child.”
“A child?” Jessa smiled darkly. “I’m not a virgin. I’ve killed before. I’ve-
I’ve tortured before. Your preconceived notions of innocence…they mean very
little.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“Why do you think I was alone in that house? What do you think happened to the
adults who were ‘looking after’ me?”
Severus looked at her warily.
“You want to know what I have nightmares about Severus? I have nightmares about
them. About what they did. About what I did. About not being able to do what I
did to make them stop...”
“Jessa.”
She looked at him. “Taking the mark’s not going to taint me. It won’t be
anything new.” She stood up.
Severus snatched her wrist. “I’m telling you that you’re not taking the mark.”
“Tell me how you can stop me?” Jessa said quietly.
“Watch me,” Severus growled.
Which is how Jessa found herself back in Grimmauld Place.
***** The Scent of Stains *****

Author's notes: At Grimmauld Place again Mild warnings of darkness and angst?
===============================================================================
JKR yadda yadda yadda...review?
Jessa transformed into her usual black dog guise the moment Severus pushed her
into the dark hallway and bolted away on powerful limbs. Severus scowled to
himself, watching her swiftly disappear fluidly into the shadows. He gripped
her shirt in his fist and bent to snatch up the rest of her clothes.
A crack behind him signalled the appearance of Moody and Severus stepped back
quickly. Alastor threw open the door and limped purposefully inside. His
natural eye met the bundle of clothes that his colleague was clutching to his
chest.
“You lost the whelp already?” Alastor growled in irritation.
“In case you splinched your already addled wits Alastor,” Severus snapped back,
“your brat is hardly in good spirits with me currently.”
Severus did not like the way Moody grinned at that. “She’s your brat now
Snape.”
“She’s not my brat: if she were she’d have fetched herself a hiding by now.”
“You haven’t given her a few pats already?” the ex-auror sounded surprised.
“If I had the front of my robes would be wet,” Severus commented.
“What did you do then?”
“I didn’t do anything,” Severus said suspiciously.
“You punished her surely?” Alastor growled incredulously.
“Don’t you think I’ve alienated her sufficiently as things stand?” Severus
began striding through to the kitchen. Alastor followed.
“Since when did you care for popularity contests?”
Severus turned around quickly. “Since any conflict began to magnify her
nightmares.” He turned back around and strode into the kitchen.
“They’re worse?”
Severus began fiddling with the water and the cups and the cutlery drawer.
“Significantly.”
“Since when?”
“Since she started covering her arms and her neck in addition to her naval and
legs.”
Alastor had noticed that but had attributed the change to Severus’ influence.
Severus stopped clattering with the tea things and carried two mugs to the
table. Alastor took one, “Thank you.”
Severus pressed his lips together. “She hasn’t told you what the nightmares are
about, has she?”
Alastor met Severus with both eyes. “She told you?”
Severus suddenly grabbed the table for support, his eyes closed in pain. Tea
sobbed a ring onto the already-marked surface of the table.
“Severus?”
Severus breathed out consciously. He opened his eyes. “Something’s made him
angry.”
Moody retrieved an icepack from the freezer which Severus accepted mutely.
“Looks more like enraged to me.”
Severus remained very still. “It’s relative,” he forced out. He was quiet for a
long time before managing to gingerly pull out his chair and sit down.
“I believe we were discussing the brat,” he said softly. He was surprised when
Alastor drank the drink he had prepared.
“Her nightmares,” Alastor said.
Severus met the man’s natural eye. “What happened before she came to Hogwarts?”
“There was some trouble. Before we brought her back. But…Albus hasn’t said much
about what happened. Other than that Azkaban left Black in a bad state and he
might have reacted to Jessa as a…ghost or figment of his imagination.” Alastor
paused. “It’s her upbringing that I think was worse. The ‘Noble’ House of
Black, after all. Hell, you helped take down the elf heads Snape…but I went
over the lab. There was some nasty stuff in there. Dark stuff.”
“Human ingredients?” The quiet way the man spoke chilled Moody. Of course,
Snape had been one of *them*, hadn’t he.
“It wasn’t just…you know, muggle though,” Alastor answered, his own gruff voice
equally soft.
“Muggleborn?”
Alastor drank again. “Some of them. But…some of those stains…the magic was
old.” For a moment Alastor looked uncomfortable, aware of the other man’s
parentage. “Some half-blood lost a lot of blood in there.”
“That was a long time ago,” Jessa said softly. She was standing in the doorway
wearing more clothes. “What have you done to my wards? They won’t let me out.”
“You’re not *supposed* to go out,” Severus answered bluntly.
“I don’t like to be here when I feel like this,” Jessa said.
“Would you rather stay at Prince Manor?” Severus said.
“Does it smell like blood?” the girl asked quietly.
“You can smell blood?”
Jessa gave both men a disparaging look. “Ever been a dog?”
“No,” both said bluntly.
The girl sighed. “Dogs…they can smell things. And sense things. Bad things.
And…I’m too hypersensitive right now to remember how to change my senses back.
I need to go to a park to outrun my head.”
“Go get your leash,” Severus said briefly. “But Jessa, if you try to disappear,
I’m dragging you back and blistering your tail for you.”
She nodded and Moody took another drink.
***** This Isn't A Game *****

Author's notes: Wherein I got a bit carried away with what was supposed to be a
very minor scene...
===============================================================================
“It’s getting dark,” Severus said. Jessa looked up at the purple sky. The last
thing she wanted was to go back. Seeing Sirius had brought back memories that
had dulled after his death and the house was full of them.
“Come here, Jessa,” Severus prompted again. Jessa growled and he raised an
eyebrow at her. “Now.”
Jessa whined softly and sat back on her haunches. The man glared at her and
walked towards her. He pulled the leash from his pocket as he did so.
Jessa stood and remained where she was. When Severus came within a few feet of
her she bolted.
“This is not a game,” the man snapped, “Come here!”
Jessa circled him warily and shook her head at his demand. Severus growled, not
daring to draw his wand with so many muggles present.
Jessa hesitated and looked Severus directly in the eyes. She broke the
connection and ran. The moment she reached the cover of some trees she closed
her eyes and apparated.
Severus heard the crack of displaced air and his scowl grew significantly
deeper.
*
Harry lay comfortably on the bed with Draco, the blonde’s head resting on his
chest. Harry carded Draco’s soft hair through his fingers and smiled down at
his lover.
Draco sensed Harry’s attention and turned contentedly. “Yes?”
Harry kissed each of the boy’s eyelids. “I love you.”
Draco’s mouth shook and he almost said it back. “I-I know.” Harry watched as he
closed his eyes for a moment and rolled over. “Harry?” Draco said.
“Yeah Dray?” the teen answered softly.
Draco reared back to rest on his ankles and opened his legs slightly. His
tongue flicked over his lips nervously. “Do you want to… would you like to..?”
He closed his eyes and turned his head away, his hand drifting down towards his
opening. “Here? With me?”
Harry sat up and pulled Draco into his lap, nuzzling him lovingly. “Do you want
that? You want me to make love to you Baby?”
Draco flushed at his lover’s wording. “I…Yes.”
Harry laid him down reverently and lavished kisses on Draco’s skin. After
twenty minutes Draco began to squirm impatiently, still smiling. “Get on with
it.”
Harry chuckled warmly but allowed Draco to reach for the jar of lubricant at
the side of the bed, its lid still lying on the floor from their earlier haste.
Draco watched Harry warm the substance in his hands.
“Take that pillow and roll over Baby.”
Draco gave his lover a fierce look. “I want to face you.”
Harry looked concerned. “But it’s the first time you’ve let me-”
“Don’t treat me like a virgin,” Draco said sourly, reaching for the lubricant
to prepare himself.
Harry held it away from his reach. “What’s wrong with being a virgin?” he said
stiffly, gently beginning his ministrations.
“It’s not like you’re still a virgin…” Draco said awkwardly, unsure how to
apologise. He held still, watching Harry’s fingers touch him intimately.
“No.” Harry leaned down and kissed him softly. Draco leaned into the contact.
After a few moments Harry pulled back and eased deeper into him. Draco smiled
and wriggled a little. “That’s enough. Get in me…”
Harry continued to stretch. “There’s only three fingers.”
Draco bucked. “That’s enough.”
“That’s what I always say and *you* always tell me it’s not.” Harry kissed
Draco’s thigh and eased in a third digit.
“I’ve been known to be wrong Harry,” Draco complained.
Harry smirked and began to fuck Draco gently on his fingers.
Draco mewled at the sensation but fixed Harry with a pout. “Stick your cock in
me already.”
Harry rolled his eyes and smiled, using his other hand to liberally coat his
member. “You’ve got such a filthy mouth,” he whispered, crawling forward and
sliding his fingers out.
Draco’s smile dimmed at their lost until he felt his lover’s slick head at his
entrance.
Harry met his eyes. “Are you ready?”
“Yes,” Draco moaned.
Harry entered and gasped at the tight heat. Draco hissed and he froze in alarm
before pulling back.
Draco grabbed his hip. “Don’t you dare pull out,” he said thickly.
“Are you alright?”
“*You* won’t be if you don’t start thrusting,” the blonde answered darkly.
“Are you being honest with me?” Harry asked seriously.
Draco’s gaze flickered and he smiled briefly. “Yes. Please.”
Harry lowered himself to kiss Draco and as he did he began to thrust gently.
Draco gasped again and raised his hips.
“I love you,” Harry said again.
***** Where Else Would I Go *****

Author's notes: warning spanking and general tastelessness; and snape is given
a bath
===============================================================================
Disclaimer is way back at the start. Ok this is long overdue so I'm just
admitting defeat and posting so you know i'm not dead. Been fighting with this
chapter for weeks but it's still making me feel a bit squicky. The next chapter
will make you feel better =]
“I’m surprised you came to me.”
“Where else would I go?” the girl replied deprecatingly.
He leaned back on the couch, his head turned to face her. “Not to your father?”
Jessa’s lip curled. “No.” She looked down at the sudden weight in her lap and
stroked Nagini. “It is alright that I came Tom, isn’t it?”
“Of course it is,” he answered.
Jessa had not, surprisingly, gone to Voldemort straight away. No. She had spent
four nights as a freckly young woman in four different bed and breakfast places
making her mind up about her next move. It just so happened that Tom seemed to
be the best option.
“There’s nothing to worry about,” Voldemort said gently, sensing Jessa’s
distant mood. “Listen, come here and I’ll send an elf for a warm drink for you,
yes?”
Jessa smiled wryly at the fearsome dark lord’s offer and scooted closer. Within
minutes a scrawny little elf appeared with the beverage.
The dark lord served what looked, smelt and tasted very suspiciously like
Ribena.
“My Lord?”
Voldemort looked away from Jessa to where Bellatrix now hesitated at the door.
“You know Miss Swallow,” he said, “Come right in Bella.”
Bellatrix regarded Jessa with open curiosity. “She does not usually spend time
here?”
Voldemort raised an eyebrow in warning at her daring. “There have been some
disputes about her education that called for her to stay here.”
Bellatrix’s eyes glittered. “Does Severus know?”
“Not yet,” Jessa said. She took a sip from her mug.
“How sweet,” Bellatrix replied. “I’ll let him know at once.”
“Thank you Lestrange,” Jessa said reluctantly.
*
“A word, Malfoy.”
Draco inclined his head towards Harry as they pushed past each other to enter
the classroom, mindful of the surrounding students. “I expect that’s the limit
of your vocabulary Potter?”
“Where’s your sister?”
Draco tensed and he answered rotely, “None of your business you miserable half-
blood.”
He used his shoulder to nudge Harry out of the way and went to his seat. Harry
turned and headed to the Gryffindor side of the room.
A note appeared on Harry’s desk shortly later.
‘I don’t know where she is. Uncle Severus says she’s gone missing, that’s why
he hasn’t been teaching classes. He’s trying to find her. He said she-’
The last part was scored out. Harry turned in his seat to meet Draco’s eye.
‘Talk later,’ the blonde mouthed before he turned away quickly.
*
That wretched sister of Narcissa’s was there to greet him the moment Severus
answered the burn in his arm. Her eyebrows flew up in surprise at his
appearance. Silly bitch. He was aware he looked like hell.
She recovered herself quickly. “Your female companion’s here too,” she sneered.
Severus paid her real attention, whilst masking his new interest. “North?” He
followed Bellatrix.
“Severus?” Jessa stood in surprise as her lover entered. There was a small
dusting of stubble on his face and his hair, well, it looked like it had been
neglected for a week.
“North,” Severus answered. “What are you doing here?”
North shook her head. “Not important. Look at you; what the hell?”
“I…Jessa…”
“That’s why you’re here,” Voldemort interrupted smoothly. “She wanted you to
know she was safe and well.”
Severus looked over. “My Lord. She’s here?”
“No but she sent word to me. She did not want to contact you directly for fear
that fool Dumbledore would trace her.”
“She’s alright?”
“Yes,” Jessa clarified as she reached up to tug a lock of his greasy hair.
“You, however, are obviously not. Care to explain yourself?”
“I was worried,” Severus admitted gruffly.
Jessa raised her eyebrow. “You consider that an *excuse*, Severus Tobias
Snape?”
Severus felt a thrill of apprehension and quickly gauged the reactions of the
others present.
Jessa lowered her voice. “Get upstairs. Now.”
Severus glanced warily at Voldemort.
“Don’t look to me,” the dark lord said sternly, “do as you’re told. It’s my
will.”
“My Lord,” the potion master agreed. Further apprehension filled him as North
grabbed part of his robe and led him forcibly from the room.
The woman did not speak until they were standing on the landing upstairs. “Was
I not clear about the consequences of not taking due care of yourself?”
Severus lowered his eyes and licked his lower lip nervously. She was going to
punish him? Here?
“Severus,” North prompted sharply.
The man looked up despite his strong desire to do the contrary. “No, you…you
were perfectly clear.”
“I see. So I can only presume you accept those consequences if I consider your
actions. Or do you have another explanation?”
The dark haired man shook his head. “No,” he said softly.
North gave him a stern look. “Remind me what you’re due if you neglect yourself
Severus.”
Severus met her eyes. “A good, hard, bare-assed spanking,” he answered
passively.
“With what?”
Severus swallowed in answered. “With your silver-backed brush. Or I’d get…I’d
get slippered.”
“Well done,” North said. “So I hope you won’t be surprised when I tell you
shortly to drop your shorts?”
Severus shook his head. “No…” His pride wouldn’t let him beg ‘Not here…’
“Give me your hand,” North ordered.
Severus obeyed nervously but North only twined her fingers with him and led him
to a bedroom.
To his surprise she crossed through the bedroom into the adjoining bathroom.
“North?” he questioned timidly.
She let go of his fingers to rub his hip reassuringly and used her other hand
to run the bath.
“You’re going to be punished for not looking after yourself aren’t you?”
Severus flushed endearingly before daring to lift his eyes towards North with a
questioning look.
“If you won’t take care of yourself you can be sure I will,” Jessa said firmly.
“And you’re hair’s filthy Sev. It’s really greasy.”
Severus gave her a wary look. “You’re going to..?”
“I’m going to give you a bath and wash your hair and then I’m going to take you
into the bedroom; and when you’re dry I’m going to deliver a spanking to your
naughty arse.”
Severus flushed a little and shifted his weight from foot to foot. “You won’t
actually wash my hair though…”
“Like hell I won’t, Severus Tobias. You’ve shown me you can’t be trusted to
take care of your appearance so I will.”
“I can wash my hair!”
Jessa tested the temperature of the water and, catching Severus’ mildly
rebellious glare, spun him around abruptly and laid a hard smack on his cloth-
covered bottom.
Severus hissed, not prepared for the chastisement, and resolutely kept his
hands away from the wet handprint on his bottom.
“You will do as you’re told for now,” North told him. “Now let me see your
face.”
Severus placed his face in her hands and she quickly spelled away his stubble.
“There’s my good boy,” she said softly, pulling away. “Now let me know if this
water’s okay and then you can strip. Or I’ll strip you myself.”
Severus flushed and quickly tested the water.
“Would you prefer it a little warmer?”
Severus nodded humbly.
“Okay baby. Strip down then.”
Severus lowered his eyes again and obeyed. North picked up a cloth and gestured
for him to climb into the water. Severus sat down stiffly and North met his
eyes.
“Don’t feel so worried, beautiful,” North soothed. She leaned forwards and
kissed his cheek.
Severus remained quiet but his posture relaxed.
North wet the cloth and began to wash his face gently. Severus leaned into the
contact and North continued to wash the rest of his body.
“She is okay, you know,” North said.
Severus met her eyes for a moment and gave a small smile before lowering his
face once more to watch her soaping up his chest and naval. He smiled a bit
more as she rubbed the cloth over his sides and she leant in to kiss him again.
“Look after yourself,” North said at last.
“I-” North levelled her gaze on him and he withdrew his protest, “I’m sorry,”
he said.
“Me too,” North said. “Spin round so I can wash your back.”
Severus gave her an odd look and obeyed.
“You’re so beautiful Severus,” North said.
Severus turned around, colouring slightly as her fingertips brushed the deep
grooves of scars. He pressed his lips together and looked at her from open
eyes.
“Stand up,” North ordered softly.
Severus grinned, a little embarrassed, and stood up. The water raced down his
form.
North began to lather his manhood, her fingers brushing his skin
affectionately. She brought the cloth down between the inside of his thighs and
back up along the front of them. “Turn around beautiful.”
Severus obeyed, feeling overly aware and sensitive as his lover washed his ass
and the back of his scarred thighs. The cloth travelled down behind his knees.
“You can sit down again.”
Severus turned and sat down. North took his leg and he barely held back the
giggle as she washed his calf, ankle, insole and toes. North finished washing
his foot and placed it back in the water, repeating her actions with the other
leg. She finished and reached for her wand. “Turn to the side, tilt your head
back and close your eyes.”
Severus stiffened. “Really, I can wash my hair myself.”
“Severus I’m not going to drown you. What’s wrong?”
“I…just don’t like it when it goes in my eyes.”
“I promise it won’t okay?”
Severus pressed his lips together as though that didn’t solve the real problem
but moved to obey North before she could ask him more. “Fine.”
North brushed his hair back from his forehead with her palm and began to wet it
with a stream of water from her wand. She rinsed all his hair without getting
his face wet at all and stepped back to reach for the shampoo.
Severus stood up abruptly and knocked the bottle from her hands with a cry.
North picked up the bottle and placed it on the edge of the bath. She slowly
dried her clothes with her wand.
“What was that about?”
“Nothing, I’m sorry.”
“Either you explain yourself now or you can sit back down Severus.”
“I certainly won’t.”
“Then you’re going to get your bottom smacked. What’s it to be?”
Severus smiled a little warily then met North’s eyes seriously. “I really don’t
want to talk about it.”
She nodded, her eyes understanding. Severus moved to sit down.
North caught his arm. “No you don’t. You’ve earned yourself some smacks for
your tantrum.” Her hand drifted to his half-hard member and she kissed his
throat gently.
Severus bucked into her hand and North moved to hold him steadily. Her palm
cracked loudly against his wet rear and Severus hissed. North landed another
two firm slaps and kissed her lover’s neck.
Severus took the hand still cupping his smacked rear and moved it to press
against his sex. “I’m sorry.”
North fondled him roughly. “You better be,” she breathed towards his ear. Her
other hand gave him another smack, that pushed his manhood further into her
other palm.
“Now sit down on your sorry bottom and do as you are told.”
North pulled away and Severus gave a breathy laugh. He said down, wriggling as
the warm water annoyed his slapped bottom, and allowed North to shampoo his
hair.
“Severus your arse isn’t sore. Sit still or it will be.”
“Please do.”
A laugh escaped North’s lips and she leant down to take a fierce kiss. “My
unrepentant little slut aren’t you?”
“Let me cum? I’ve been hard since-”
“I know,” North answered against his throat. “And no you may not, you naughty
boy. You’re being punished.”
Severus squirmed. “That’s hardly fair. Let’s change that rule.”
“We will not,” North answered. “Sit back down and let me finish rinsing your
hair properly so I can take you back to the bedroom.”
Severus sighed and submitted himself. North finished and reached for a large
warmed towel.
Severus stepped out onto the mat and cuddled into the towel and North’s arms.
They began to kiss and Severus began to grind.
North pulled away for a moment to drain the bathwater. Severus slowed to watch
the graceful movement of her limb. He paused. “You are still…going to give me a
proper…*punishment* aren’t you?”
North looked at him. “A serious spanking you mean? Yes indeed.”
Severus gave her a sorrowful look. “But I don’t want a sore ass.”
North laughed wryly. “Are you saying your ass doesn’t usually hurt when I spank
you?”
Severus smirked. “Not much.”
North swatted him. “We’ll see about that then won’t we?”
Severus pouted. “What do I need spanked hard for?”
“Because I gave you my word you’d fetch it if you asked loudly for it.”
“I wasn’t-”
“Your hair hadn’t seen shampoo in about a week and you hadn’t even *shaved*…”
Severus sighed and followed North through to the bedroom. “Fine.”
North sat down on the bed and pulled Severus towards her, tugging the towel to
the floor.
Severus looked at her. “You’re not going to sp…punish me *naked* are you?”
“The room isn’t cold.”
Severus shot North a mournful look and let her help him across her lap.
“North?”
“Yes Sevvy?”
“You…” Severus inhaled deeply. “You were serious about using your brush or a
slipper, weren’t you?”
“I was,” North said. “But I think I can make you contrite enough this one time
using just my hand. But if you dare let there be a next time you’ll get the
brush yes.”
“H-hard?” Severus asked, closing his eyes against the sensation of all his
blood rushing to his groin.
North’s palm came down hard. Severus cried out from the surprise and the
unexpected sting. “Very,” North answered, immediately continuing to pepper his
upturned rear with heavy smacks.
Severus’ bottom was swiftly turning an ever-darkening shade of pink. As it
reddened he began to clench and flinch away from the expected smacks.
“Why are you getting your bare bottom spanked, Severus?”
Severus skipped ‘I was naughty’ and went straight to, “Because I stopped taking
care of myself!”
“You did indeed.” North’s hand hadn’t paused for a moment but was focusing
solely on his undercurve now. “Why is that wrong?”
“Because if I don’t take care of myself I’ll get sick.”
“What happens after *you* stop taking care of your appearance?”
“Ow! I’m sorry-Ow! I stop taking care of-of my health.”
“What happens when you stop taking care of your health?”
“I weaken my immune -*ow!*- my immune system and sometimes,” ordinarily this
piece of information would be embarrassing, but Severus’ ass currently felt
like it was on fire, “sometimes I go so long with not eating that I faint…”
“Why is that wrong Severus?”
“It’s not h-healthy. I’ll make myself very sick!” Severus gasped.
“What else is wrong about that Severus?”
Fuck. Fuck, no. Severus didn’t know right now. He was going to get spanked
until he answered right! “I’m *ow!* I’m really sorry I don’t know!”
“Shall I tell you Severus Tobias?”
Severus forced back the tears. “Please, yes! Ow!”
“Do you know what’s wrong with neglecting yourself and getting sick, Severus?
What’s wrong with it is there are people that care about you very much Severus.
They don’t want you to hurt. Do you understand what I’m telling you Severus?”
Severus whimpered and cried out, “Yes! I understand; I’m sorry; yes!”
North continued to spank. “*Do* you understand Severus?”
“Yes, I’m sorry! I’m sorry.”
“Do you understand what will happen if I have to spank you for this ever
again?”
“You’ll use the brush!” Severus gasped out.
“Correct. Can you be a good boy Severus?”
“Ow, ow, yes!” Severus wailed.
“Alright, that’s enough then Sevvy.” North landed one last hard smack that
prompted Severus to burst into tears.
North rubbed his bottom soothingly. Severus clung to her when she pulled him up
against his chest. She kissed his hair.
“I’m sorry for crying,” Severus gasped.
“Shh it’s alright,” North soothed.
“I’m sorry.”
“Shh, Sevvy, it’s just fine don’t worry.”
“I-I-”
Severus it’s okay beautiful.” North pulled back a little to look him in the
eye. “Listen, it’s okay Sev. Come climb under the covers and I’ll hold you for
a while okay?”
Severus nodded, not trusting his voice not to break. “I…apologise for acting
so- so childishly.”
North regarded him seriously. “I was very strict with you Severus. If I was in
your position I’d have been snivelling before you even started to ask me what I
was getting smacked for.”
Severus rested his face on her shoulder and she stroked his ribs soothingly.
“Come on you,” she said. “Let me cheer you up.”
The dark-haired man gave a watery smile and followed her to the head of the bed
before she folded beneath him and he started kissing her throat. The tiny
swallow twittered and fluttered in rings upon her skin.
***** Guess Who's Back *****

Author's notes: No it isn't Jessa really =P
===============================================================================
Ok so two chapters up but the other one is mainly a spanking scene =/ And this
is really short but I like it ^_^ Er, happy reading. And happy new year too =D
Severus was far from pleased when he returned to Grimmauld Place to find the
portrait of Potter and Black had replaced that of Black’s mother. He was even
less pleased when Black called him over.
“Wasn’t dying a good enough reason for you not to return to here?” Severus
sneered, his fingers curling around the banister as he stood away from the
portrait.
“If I had the option right now I’d hex you Snivelly. But I don’t. and as much
as I want an explanation for why Harry’s here with Malfoy I think you should
explain about my sister.”
Severus stared at his nemesis. “Malfoy?” he repeated. “And Potter? What?”
Said boys came running out of the kitchen at this point. “Uncle Severus did you
find her?”
Severus glared incredulously at his godson. “What are you doing here?”
As the blonde swallowed Harry placed his hand possessively on his shoulder. “I
brought him,” he said curtly. “What’s happening with Jessa?”
Severus’ eyes flashed dangerously. “She’s shacked up with the dark lord.”
“You saw her then?” Draco demanded.
Severus shook his head briefly. “She sent a message,” he replied stiffly. “I
was summoned to hear it. She did not want to deliver it by her own lazy tongue
incase she was dragged out kicking and screaming.”
“Uncle Severus?” Draco bit his lip. “Does she really want to get marked?”
“She’s not being given that option Draco. She’ll be brought back.”
Draco nodded.
“She,” Harry swallowed from the effort of speaking respectfully, “she is ok
though?”
“A friend assured me of it,” Severus said.
“It wasn’t Voldemort was it Snivelly? Because, you know, he might not have been
truthful,” James interrupted.
“Hey *Snape* it wasn’t Snakeface who left those on your neck was it?” Sirius
added.
“Unlike your Chosen One, Black, I’m not a pouf. Close your mouth Draco.”
The two boys exchanged looks of confusion whilst the two dead Marauders began
to protest at the slight against Harry.
Severus pinched the bridge of his nose and headed for the kitchen.
“Hey Snivellus, we’re talking to you!” Black called. “You think we didn’t know
about you and Remus?”
Without turning back around Severus aimed a silencing charm at the portrait and
entered the kitchen. “Moody, pour me a drink.”
“Uncle Severus! What about you and the werewolf? Uncle Severus *who left those
marks on your throat*?”
Harry watched Draco storm into the kitchen and undid the silencing charm. “You
weren’t serious about Remus were you?”
“Moony never really had much taste, son,” James said.
“Lils liked him,” Sirius muttered as an aside.
“Shut up Padfoot,” James growled.
“Evans never had much taste either,” Sirius continued.
***** Talk of Snakes and Wolves *****

Author's notes: blah! =]
===============================================================================
The Potterverse is not mine but any perversion... well... *g* The silver thing
later on though I'm not sure if it's actually in the book or if it's something
I've read so if it's yours let me know and I can acredit you. I thought it was
a great little scene anyway. ^_^
“Haven’t you told him yet?”
“What? No.”
Tom gave her a Look and Jessa brought her hand to her face in exasperation.
“It’s been *two days*. I can’t tell him!”
“I don’t like it; he’s worried and that’s not good for my plans. He only ever
answered a call unshaven over that incident with his mudblood. He’s more use to
me in one piece.”
“Well aren’t you so loving and giving,” Jessa retorted. She shifted in her
seat. “How can I possibly tell him? It’s a mess!”
“Your mess,” Tom pointed out helpfully.
“Thank you so much,” she snapped. With a sigh she met his eyes. Her fingers had
trailed down to her throat where her tattoo was hopping agitatedly on the
bruises her lover’s mouth had left there. “You don’t *get* it, Tom.”
His gaze travelled over Jessa’s blurred features- the longer nose and the
sharper cheekbones. “What don’t I get?”
He was giving her that look again; the one where he made silent comment on
‘North’. It wasn’t like she didn’t actually look this way- she’d changed her
bone structure so much since she was born she didn’t have any idea how she
‘truly’ looked. She just wanted to look older so Severus would want to fuck
her. And smudged her face a bit so it wasn’t screamingly obvious that he knew
her. She squirmed again knowing that Tom expected her to say more. “I…spanked
him,” she said reluctantly.
Tom tugged on a piece of his brown hair and stared at her quietly. “Context?”
“For not taking care of himself. I know that was my fault! I made him worried!
How… How am I supposed to explain that?”
“He’s going to sulk,” Tom conceded, “but he’ll get over himself. You’re the
only time he relaxes any.”
“And when he finds out I’m deceiving him he’s not going to trust or relax at
all.”
“I’m sure he’ll find a way to ensure you are contrite,” Tom said calmly.
Jessa slumped in resigned apprehension.
“And I wouldn’t worry overly about the spanking thing. Severus has always
needed a strong hand.”
“I doubt his beloved Lily ever hurt him like that though did she?” Jessa
muttered.
“I wouldn’t know but his mudblood certainly had a temper. Myself and your
father were always strict with him.”
“Yeah, but you don’t *love* him, do you?”
He gave her an odd look. “You’ll find that Lucius cares very strongly for
Severus and I myself …am somewhat fond of him.”
“He hardly needs another master though, does he?” Jessa sighed.
Tom regarded her. “You made him shave and wash his hair didn’t you?”
Jessa nodded.
“He knows that you care then. Severus is unaccustomed to being looked after. I
expect it would sway his judgement.”
“I don’t do that to manipulate him!”
“I am aware of that. And I expect it will sway his judgement when he
acknowledges it.”
Tom’s repetition helped the words sink in and Jessa laid back. “You really
think he’ll forgive me?”
“I do. Of course,” Tom’s lips twisted into a smirk, “it may take a few years
for him to come around.”
Jessa groaned quietly and leaned into his shoulder. “Why is my life so
complicated?”
“You chose to fall for a complicated man,” said Tom unhelpfully. “Now that’s
enough moping; sit up and show me how you’re getting on learning parceltongue.”
Jessa gave a small grin and obeyed, finding the distraction of the following
hours helped calm her nerves and guilt. Bellatrix came in at some point but
didn’t interrupt their hissed conversation. She simply sat at Tom’s feet with a
disturbing expression and didn’t say anything at all.
*
“Desist with your idiotic questions, I have told you that I have never had a
thing with the wolf!”
Someone had put up an empty frame in the kitchen and in the main living room.
Both Sirius and James were currently squeezed into the one in the living room
and were baiting Severus into an uncomfortable conversation. Which Moody was
finding fucking amusing. And Draco was perched on Potter’s lap like a bloody
girl.
Severus turned to glare in the blonde boy’s direction. “Draco get off of there
at once!”
Draco reluctantly moved to comply but Harry held him back. “This is my house
Snape and Draco is perfectly allowed to sit here.”
“It’s undignified and poorly befitting a Malfoy.”
“Because you’d know all about sitting in a *Malfoy’s* lap, wouldn’t you
Snivelly? Or, oops, did I mean at his feet?”
“Don’t be ridiculous Pads. You know he only got on his knees for You-Know-Who.”
“And Moony.”
“And Moony,” Sirius conceded.
Severus stood up but a hand on his arm made him paused. “Sit back down,”
Alastor said. “You two don’t start.”
Severus scowled but obeyed.
“Lupin will be here within the hour he can be asked then.”
Severus shot his traitorous colleague a murderous glare.
Remus proved to be punctual.
“What’s going?” he asked mildly, immediately seeing the two teenage boys curled
up together.
“Didn’t you know Lupin? The Golden Boy likes boys,” Severus drawled.
“Slytherins and Gryffindors do make a habit of getting together don’t they?
It’s surprising, with all the rivalry. Although I suppose passion and teenage
hormones are not so incompatible.”
“It’s true then?” Harry asked. “You had a thing with *Snape*?”
Remus cast a bemused glance at the potions master. “I would think that I wasn’t
his type.”
“Thank you Lupin,” Severus growled.
“You’re entirely welcome Severus. Where on earth did this idea come from?”
“It came from us,” stated Sirius from the wall. “And you’re a complete liar
Remus Lupin.”
Remus blinked and stepped towards the portrait. “Sirius? *Prongs*? Where the
hell have you been?”
“Stuck in a vault in Gringotts old friend,” James answered. “Now stop being a
dog and answer the question properly. You did the nasty with Snivelly didn’t
you?”
“James, has Sirius ran away with his imagination again?” Remus asked good-
naturedly but tiredly.
“No it has not Moony!” Sirius howled. “And we *both* saw you, thank you.”
“Padfoot you may want to sort yourself out southwards if you and James are
resorting to imaging Severus and I.”
“Lupin stop lying to your friends. Sirius looks like he’s about to collapse,”
Alastor said.
“He’s already dead what else can happen?” Severus snapped.
“He can remind you that his godson is topping your godson,” Sirius retorted.
“Not all the time,” Harry said fairly.
“I thought we were discussing Remus and Snape?” James said.
“Keep up Potter,” Severus sneered.
Sirius blinked suddenly. “If you’re not Snivelly’s *type* Moony, you wouldn’t
mean that you’re too …*submissive* for him, would it?”
Remus blanched. “Just because in school-”
James also looked uncomfortable. “Let’s *not* remind me of those memories
Moony. You were such a slut when you got firewhiskey in you.”
“I was no such thing…we dormed with *Sirius* James!”
“Yeah but that was just Sirius. It was when you brought someone back to your
bed it was something. Although I was really remembering the pair of you…”
“Am I the only straight man in this room?” Alastor muttered.
“*I’m straight*,” Severus hissed.
“No you’re not Uncle Severus.”
“Drac-!”
“I did have a point about Snape’s tastes…” Sirius said.
“Which was what?”
“Well Moony never was exactly *meek* near the moon, was he? *Isn’t* that right
Snape?”
“I was under the impression Lupin got *sick* before the moon,” Severus said
smoothly.
Remus looked uncomfortable.
“See!” Sirius crowed. “You’re useless at lying Moony!”
“I didn’t say anything!” Remus protested.
“It’s your face that says it,” James said wisely. “But bearing in mind you were
stupid enough to bring Snivelly to the Shrieking Shack one Hogsmeade weekend.”
“What was stupid about that?”
“I finally got Lily to come with me and we got an eyeful.”
Severus stilled. “That’s why she wouldn’t listen to me?”
“Hey! Don’t I get to tell my story? I caught them rutting in my mother’s room.
A werewolf and a half-blood. Ohh I wish she’d been alive to know.” Sirius’
attempt at a distraction (he wasn’t a complete bastard after all) caused Remus
to wince.
“You could have warned me she’d use silver cutlery.”
“I’m a pureblood! I didn’t even think about it.”
“He still has the scars on his hands. I don’t know which of you is most
moronic- you, for not realising; or Lupin for continuing eating with his skin
being burnt off.”
“You noticed his hands then Snape?” James smirked.
“I hand him his stupid potion every month of course I noticed the scarring.”
“So you asked about it?” James said incredulously.
“Well he answered.”
“Moony doesn’t tell people about it,” Sirius said.
“I already knew of his affliction which meant there was no issue.”
“He still doesn’t tell people.”
“He does now. I’ve still been around whilst *you’ve* been dead, both of you.
Apparently Lupin has changed since you knew them.”
“Do you call all of your lovers by their last name, Snivelly?”
“We’re adults; can you please call him by his name,” Remus sighed.
He sighed again as his dead friends exchanged looks. “For both of your
information I’m now with Sirius’ cousin Tonks.”
“My godfather’s dating a woman too,” Draco said, because no one else was
sticking up for the man, and although it was entertaining to hear these
scandals, there must be some degree of loyalty within families.
“Thank you Draco,” Severus said, sounding half-amused.
A perturbed expression crossed the boy’s face for a moment and he slid off
Harry’s lap. “Uncle Sev can I talk to you for a minute?”
“It’s a bit late if you prepared a coming out speech,” the man answered drolly,
following his godson outside.
“Uncle Sev, -”
Severus scowled. “*Severus*.”
“Did I do this wrong?”
Severus looked at the teen.
“By… being less discreet than you and Father. Or… you and Mother. Am I supposed
to deny being with Harry like you just did?”
“Harry and I?” Severus drawled.
Draco giggled and shook his head. “Being a… You called Harry a *pouf*!”
Severus quirked an eyebrow. “I think I’m allowed. Besides he can get used to my
tongue. He’s topping my godson after all.” He paled. “He’s practically an in-
law.”
Draco laughed.
***** Ideas Good and Bad *****

Author's notes: Bit of manipulation by Tom and a nice Drarry scene.
===============================================================================
The girl had been kneeling before the mirror changing her appearance for hours.
Tom watched quietly from the doorway as she turned her hair blonde and pouted
sadly at the mirror. For a moment she took on Lucius’ features, then winced and
turned away. When she turned back her own features had returned.
As Tom watched, she stared deeply at her own reflection. To his surprise her
hair became wild and red. As she stared at herself the slant of her eyes
altered and freckles appeared on her face. She played with the amount for a
while, increasing and decreasing the new markings on her skin. She met her own
eyes then jerked away in frustration.
As she moved she caught sight of Tom in the mirror. She bolted up in surprise,
the freckles disappearing immediately and her hair abruptly becoming a short
and wavy brown. She consciously changed it back to black before remembering she
currently wore it blonde.
Tom regarded her, saying nothing. He lifted his hand and gestured. Jessa
immediately followed him out of the room.
“Don’t let me find you doing that any more,” Tom said finally.
“No, Master,” Jessa agreed quietly.
Tom’s pace slowed and for a moment he glanced back at her.
*
Draco settled in the bed as he watched Harry undress and pull on a pair of
sleep pants.
“You don’t really need them, you know,” the blonde grinned.
“I thought you were tired,” Harry smirked back, climbing over his lover and
flopping down on his side of the bed.
“Do you really want to hold that against me?”
Harry leaned over and pressed a kiss down upon Draco’s parted lips. Lying back
down again he murmured, “I might have something else I’d prefer to hold against
you.”
Draco smiled and tried to look innocent. “Really? What’s that?”
Harry’s fingers crept over Draco’s warm skin. Draco sighed cheerfully and
arched into the contact.
“I love your hands,” Draco moaned softly.
“Just my hands?” Harry teased softly.
Draco smirked and sat up, pulling Harry towards him. “Not just your hands,”
Draco admitted, his lips tracing a path down the side of Harry’s neck.
*
“My Lord?”
“Severus, there you are. You’re going to babysit the brat for me today. She’s
getting on my nerves.”
“My Lord,” Severus murmured, keeping his head bowed as Jessa entered the room,
dragging her feet reluctantly.
“Kindred, come here *instantly*,” Voldemort warned.
Jessa looked up and blinked wide eyes before hurrying to the man’s side. She
resolutely avoided looking at Severus.
Voldemort grabbed Jessa’s collar and thrust her towards the dark-haired man.
“Just keep her quiet,” he said. “Well, you may make her cry, but no screaming.
I have work to do.”
Jessa flushed and dared glance up at the potions master. Severus glared down at
her. This was a bad, bad idea of Tom’s.
She felt Severus’ hand on her shoulder and he marched her from the room. When
they were in a suitably private room Jessa whirled around to speak before
Severus did. “I-”
Severus gave her a fierce look and Jessa reluctantly closed her mouth.
“I don’t want to hear your explanation,” he said darkly.
***** Leaving Unsaid *****

Author's notes: In which there are a few scenes where characters fail to get
things off their chest
===============================================================================
Jessa sat in the library with Nagini and sulked. Severus had been pretty sharp
with her, and what did Tom have to make it happen for anyway? Stupid. She
sighed and got up to wander towards a window. Nagini was curled on her
shoulders and looked out at the view curiously.
*
Dumbledore glanced across at Alastor over the top of his glasses. “Harry took
Draco? To number twelve?”
Alastor declined the spiked tea and nodded.
“Who knew the girl would unite enemies in this way. Simply marvellous. I knew
it was a good idea to bring her to Hogwarts,” Albus’ eyes twinkled and he
looked at Severus. “Perhaps she’ll even help you make peace with Sirius and
James.”
Severus bit his lip to refrain from retorting that Albus could go fuck himself,
the old coot hadn’t even been aware that Draco wasn’t at Hogwarts, and instead
met Alastor’s eye. The ex-auror rolled it as his other eye fastened on one of
the portraits in the headmaster’s office.
Phineas Nigellus strode into his frame and levelled Dumbledore with a look. “Is
it true little Kindred Jessamine has went off to take the mark?”
“She’s too young yet,” Alastor said.
“But she’s with Tom Riddle is she? Typical. I knew her mother’s blood would
out. Stupid whore,” he muttered, leaving the portrait without a goodbye. “And
you let her!” grumbled his disembodied voice.
“Lemon drop?” Dumbledore offered.
*
Of course Severus was back at Riddle’s mansion the next day. Voldemort had
conveniently ordered a potion that required Severus’ presence in the building’s
laboratory daily.
He afforded North a questioning raise of his brow. “Still here?”
“Evidently Severus,” Voldemort answered, entering the room behind him. “She’s
here to be educated. Her last tutor wasn’t up to the task.”
Severus nodded and noticed Nagini coiled behind North’s legs under the sofa. It
had become unusual to see the snake without Jessa nearby.
Voldemort seemed to understand the line of Severus’ gaze. “The silly girl’s up
in her room for getting caught duelling with Bella. Bella herself is in the
gardens sulking about her punishment. She initiated the whole thing but Kindred
should have had more restraint than to instantly retaliate. I would have dealt
with Bella.”
Bella was actually skulking in the gardens after being cursed for aiming a hex
at Jessa when she was unaware Tom was watching, so this story was remotely
true.
North got up to leave the room, uncomfortable by the scowl on Severus’ face
that said Jessa would be in trouble if he saw her.
The dark lord seemed amused. “You’re not leaving the room are you Swallows?”
Severus gave her an interested look.
“I thought you might have things to discuss,” Jessa said humbly.
“Nothing that can’t be said before you,” Tom smiled. “I’m sure Severus would
enjoy your company.”
Jessa nodded and reluctantly met Severus’ eyes; smiled and walked over to
cuddle him.
Severus smirked at her in amused bemusement and patted her bottom as he kissed
her cheek. “You look nervous,” he said. “What have you done?”
“You wouldn’t want to know,” North answered, her hand curling stiffly around
his waist.
Severus pressed a kiss into the side of Jessa’s neck. “You look like Jessa when
she knows she’d about to get a spanking,” he murmured playfully.
The laugh North forced out managed not too sound too strained. “So, about that
potion…”
*
Draco was giving Harry an odd look from where he sat on Jessa’s bed. Harry felt
bittersweet as he announced, “Whatever you need to say, say it.”
The blonde hesitated and said, “Do you believe them? That they’ll bring Jessa
back?”
Harry nodded after a moment’s uncertain pause.
“I don’t understand why she went,” Draco admitted quietly. “She said she
couldn’t –said she couldn’t be a Death Eater.”
“Something can’t be right,” Harry said. He looked up into Draco’s face. “The
Jessa I thought I knew …she wouldn’t do this. There’s got to be something else,
right?”
Draco glanced at his lover and swallowed. “You know what my Father expects of
us both, don’t you?”
“You won’t though,” Harry said unhesitatingly.
Draco gave him a masked earnest look. “What makes you believe that?”
Harry’s lips crooked a little. “You’re a prat, Dray, but you’re not a murderer
or a McNair.”
The expression on Draco’s face was troubled and he got up from the bed to sit
next to Harry. The Gryffindor rested his hand on Draco’s hip and pressed his
nose into Draco’s next. “You won’t get marked Draco. I won’t let it happen.”
Draco rested his head on Harry’s shoulder and inhaled deeply. “I don’t want
Jessa marked either,” he said tightly.
“Neither do I,” Harry said.
Draco was quiet for some time before steeling himself to voice the question
that was making him most uncomfortable. “Do you think Jessa was warning Granger
off because she was the one smart enough to realise Jessa’s a Malfoy; or do you
think she was telling the truth when she said she’d tear Granger’s throat out?”
There, he said that without his voice quavering.
Harry gave a weak smile. “You just called Hermione smart.”
Draco gave a small smile back and pressed his forehead into Harry’s neck. “She
wouldn’t have killed Granger,” he said hoarsely.
Harry kissed Draco’s scalp and held him close. “Jessa wouldn’t kill anybody,”
he assured, stamping down the doubt in his chest.
***** Sleeping Properly *****

Author's notes: Wherein Tom's continuing to play games. inc. mild het sex.
===============================================================================
JKR ownage where it's due. The messed-up stuff's more likely to be mine =]
North was sleeping on the couch in a room lit only by the fire. “She sleeps
like that a lot,” the dark lord stated easily.
“Here, my Lord?” Severus murmured. “Doesn’t she sleep properly?”
“I don’t believe she does,” Voldemort answered. “But of course, that is where
you always sit, is it not?”
Severus looked at the dark corner, from where one could see the doorway; near
the bookcase which could be used for cover; close enough to the window if an
escape route was needed. It was indeed where he habitually sat in the room.
“How is Miss Malfoy sleeping?” Severus murmured, his head still tilted towards
North.
“Why do you ask that?” the dark lord asked, his eyes glittering. After a moment
he revealed, “I believe she’s using a silencing charm at night. It’s strong
enough that the wards dislike it. Would you know anything about this Severus?”
“Perhaps she’s homesick,” Severus drawled. “She’s reached the age she wouldn’t
want to be heard crying.”
“Perhaps,” Voldemort said, ending the conversation whilst leaving Severus sure
he did not believe the excuse.
A whimper came from the corner, muffled slightly by the crackle of the flames.
“Swallows has such extraordinary night terrors,” Voldemort said.
*
North looked up from the number of books open in front of her and smiled as
Severus entered the library.
“More research for that potion Sev?”
Severus nodded and smiled back, amused at the sight of his lover hunched over
the end table on which were several large tomes that threatened to break the
table or spill to the floor. “I’m still trying to find a way to counter the
snake blood in the dark lord’s. It botches up the potion’s effects.”
“That’s easy,” North said in surprise. “You just have to balance it out
properly. A bit of lion blood will fix it.”
“Not mongoose?”
North shook her head. “That would work in just the potion but let that enter
his bloodstream and it’ll just attack the snake blood. You need to balance his
blood with lion blood and once he’s neutral then you can give him the original
potion.”
Severus looked her over in thoughtful approval. “Who taught you potions?”
“Slughorn,” North improvised. Severus looked ready to ask another question so
she quirked her eyebrow and grinned. “Seeing as I just saved you a lot of
research time, why don’t we take a break?”
Severus smirked and regarded her. “A break?”
North’s eyes sparkled as she arched carefully away from the volatile table and
met his gaze. “A *break*.”
Severus turned and headed for the door. “Come along then.”
North grinned, affection and arousal warming her body as she obeyed.
Severus spun around and lifted her into his arms, causing her to squeal. “Isn’t
this a bit out of character for you?”
“No,” Severus said drolly, “I want a fuck.”
“What way is that to ask a girl for one?”
Severus twisted his head to look at her. “What gave you the moronic idea that I
was asking?”
They quickly found North’s room and Severus dumped her casually on the bed.
North began to pull her shirt over her head.
“Not so quickly,” Severus admonished, taking the garment from her and placing
his hand on her shoulder. “I don’t want you to tire out just getting out of
your clothes.”
“As if that’s likely,” North grinned, snorting, and reached for her waistband.
Severus took hold of both of her smaller hands and stilled them. “Did you
forget what I just said?”
Jessa looked up at him with a confused expression.
“No exertion,” Severus scolded. His lips quirked. “Well.” He yanked down her
skirt in one strong movement.
North sat back and watched him remove his shirt and shoes, his hands deftly
unfastening the buckle of his belt. “You’re so beautiful Sev.”
Severus unfastened his fly and pushed his trousers down. He stepped out of them
and gave her a strange look for a moment. “You know you are too.”
North blushed a little and watched Severus walk around to the top of the bed.
She crawled up to him and he put his hand softly on her shoulder before getting
onto the bed. “Lie down,” he ordered quietly.
North gave him a questioning look and lowered herself onto her back. Severus
nuzzled her and allowed his hand to trace between her legs. “I’m in charge
today all right?”
“Yes sir,” North agreed teasingly.
Severus’ lips brushed her’s and his hands trailed over her body, sending sparks
straight to her belly. They progressed from there to removing North’s wet
panties and Severus slowly entering her; so slowly North quickly lost control
and began begging. Severus made love to her at a lazy pace, every touch of his
fingertips and lips feeling sensual on North’s charged skin. His teasing
brought her to a strong climax.
Severus hissed, the tightening of her internal walls bringing on his own
release. North fell into content unconsciousness as the last surges of orgasm
left her body.
Severus smiled and curled around her as she slept.
North woke in Severus’ arms. “What happened?” she murmured.
“You short-circuited out,” Severus answered.
“We only did it once,” North protested sleepily. She paused for a moment and
looked at her lover, her teeth grazing over her lower lip.
“You haven’t been sleeping well,” Severus drawled.
“Yeah, you’re right,” North admitted. She froze and looked at Severus. “You
could tell?”
“It’s not hard when you’re falling asleep everywhere I chose to sit,” Severus
replied. “Nightmares?”
“Most nights,” North admitted.
“You don’t take anything for it?”
“I don’t like to rely on things,” she answered.
“Things?”
“Things that can’t look me in the eye,” North clarified.
Severus allowed her to wriggle closer until she was resting on his chest.
“Understandable.”
There was quiet for a few moments before he spoke again. “You’ve never had
nightmares when you’ve slept with me.”
“No,” North agreed. “Being with you puts me at ease.”
“Then let me know whenever you really need to sleep,” Severus said.
North looked at him.
“This looking after yourself thing works both ways,” Severus said.
North smiled and rested her head on his shoulder. “No hairbrush though,” she
said.
“What do I do if you are very naughty?” Severus teased.
“I’d rather face the belt,” North answered wryly.
Severus looked at her and raised his brows. “Certainly.”
North flushed and hid her face in his chest, grinning in embarrassment.
“North?”
“Hmm?”
“The silver shirt I understand. The dragonhide skirt I understand. But why
together?”
Jessa glanced at her outfit. “It is a bit school uniformish isn't it? I’d been
going to wear the shirt with my jeans but my boots don’t like their cut much.”
She smirked. “Haven’t you ever wanted to bend a student over your desk?”
“Not since I was a student,” Severus drawled.
***** Of Potions, Elves and Winding Down *****

Author's notes: Wherin... well, blah. I'm tired tbh.
===============================================================================
Severus stepped back from the steaming potion before him and began to clear his
workstation. The small frown on his face indicated he was deep in thought. The
potion would not need his further attentions until tomorrow. He began to wash
his dragonhide gloves and then his hands, his thoughts pulling between Jessa,
North and the dark lord.
Something was not right. His mind worked over the last few days in minute
detail. Jessa’s jumpiness and apparent guilt could be marked down to her
discomfort at being in his company when she knew she had seriously disobeyed
him; but there was something glaringly wrong with North that even the dark lord
seemed to note. The dark lord himself was in a bizarre mood, making odd
comments that made both females uncomfortable for no reason Severus could
ascertain, and made even odder comments in an incomprehensibly leading tone
when he and Severus were unobserved.
Severus dried his hands and placed an unobtrusive ward around the potion before
leaving the room. He walked past Jessa’s room where his senses were assaulted
by her jerky attempts at parseltongue. The innate sensuality of the language
was jarred by her stammering and pauses. He looked in through her open bedroom
door and saw her sitting at her vanity table in her bra and skirt, talking to
the small metal snakes on her underwear. Her shirt hung from the back of her
chair.
Severus sighed and walked on past.
*
Draco observed Harry quietly as the Gryffindor spoke fondly to the besotted ex-
Malfoy house elf. It made him uncomfortable to see how kindly Harry treated the
elf. Dobby turned to look at him and Draco diverted his gaze quickly.
“Draco?” Harry questioned.
The Slytherin looked back over reluctantly. “Yes, Harry?” he answered coolly.
Harry gave Draco a blunt look of appraisal. “Come over here.”
“Harry, I’m busy with –”
“No you’re not. Come here.”
Draco got up reluctantly and stalked over to the pair, pushing his body into
the warm space under Harry’s arm. Harry’s fingers moved up to play soothingly
with the soft lengths of blonde hair covering the back of Draco’s neck.
“Master Harry is saying the young Master is a nice boy,” Dobby said
suspiciously.
Draco squirmed and gazed coldly at his surroundings. He grunted, wishing to
reach for Harry’s warm hand.
Harry gently nuzzled Draco’s shoulder. Draco flushed and turned into Harry’s
chest stiffly. Harry held him tightly and rubbed his back reassuringly.
Dobby stared at Draco evaluatingly and at the confused look of concern on
Harry’s face. The elf reached forwards and tugged on the blonde teen’s
trousers. “Master Draco?”
Harry thought he may have felt Draco flinch. The Slytherin looked down at Dobby
nervously.
“Dobby is not thinking Draco is a bad boy, sir,” said the elf.
Draco was quiet, but met Dobby’s gaze submissively. He felt Harry’s gaze on him
and looked around to find Harry’s green orbs looking thoughtful. “You’re not
like your father, Dray,” Harry said calmly.
Draco considered his earlier mistreatment of his recent lover and his plot to
use Harry for his own means. “What make you so sure?”
“You’ve got a conscience,” the Gryffindor answered easily.
*
Pansy made a point not to look at the two empty spaces on the bench opposite
her although her body leaned towards it of its own accord. She put down her
pumpkin juice. “Does anyone believe what they told us about where Draco and
Jessa are?”
Blaise paused eating from Theo’s plate for a moment and looked over. “Nope.”
*
North looked up with a smile as Severus entered the room. Tom had just finished
her last lesson for the day and waved her away with an air of dignified
indulgence. Her smile stretching into a grin, the young woman bounded up and
clasped her arms around Severus’ neck. Still embarrassed to show affection
publicly, despite the dark lord’s repeatedly voiced approval, Severus squirmed
and nuzzled her stiffly.
“You’re back to your usual self,” Voldemort commented.
North blushed and leaned against Severus’ chest. “I hadn’t been sleeping well
until last night.”
Severus watched the pair exchange a look, then the dark lord curled his lip and
said in a faux-casual voice, “I wonder what could have been troubling you at
nights.”
North squirmed, as she had done a lot regularly, and shot him a mildly sulky
look that Severus was not meant to catch. Amused, Tom merely smiled at her and
took a seat, looking very much like a spectator at an interesting event. He
looked up at Severus abruptly. “Have you finished with the potion for today
Severus?”
Severus inclined his head. “Yes my lord.”
“Very well,” Voldemort said almost amicably. He looked North over with the
oddly knowing smile that had become customary. “I suppose you might go off with
Miss Swallows now and let her help you wind down for the day.”
“My lord,” Severus acknowledged, watching a more playful grin spread across
North’s face. After giving him a smouldering look, she turned and gifted the
dark lord with a grateful, pleased expression before glancing back up at
Severus and leading him to her room.
***** It's A Date *****

Author's notes: Wherein North takes Severus to her room and they make tenative
attempts to discuss where their relationship is going.
===============================================================================
She pushed him down onto the bed and went for his fly, tugging his trousers and
boxers down together swiftly. Severus smirked at her, leaning back on his palms
as she knelt down between his white legs. “Aren’t you eager,” he drawled.
She glanced down pointedly at his already happy-looking member before giving
him a warning look that was still disconcerting even though she scowled up at
him from on her knees. He laughed, and apologised dryly at her glare. When she
raised her eyebrow at him he stretched back luxuriantly and reached for his
member, fondling himself firmly. He met her eyes with another smirk. “Do you
think it bothers me if you choose not to play?”
North was still for a moment as she watched his hand move over his hardness.
With an incoherent possessive noise, she leant up and grabbed his wrist almost
tightly. She raised both her shaped eyebrows sternly. “That doesn’t belong to
you.”
Severus stared at the heated lust in her eyes. “Really,” he said drolly.
“Really,” North answered, slapping away his hand in mock annoyance.
Severus chuckled and leaned back, crossing his arms behind his head. He watched
the fierce look fade from her eyes as she bent to place a kiss on the sensitive
skin of his lower stomach.
He gave a tiny noise of contentment and felt her breath huff out on his skin in
a quiet snort of affection. She looked up at him without raising her head. He
smiled and lifted his hand onto her scalp where it rested gently. She pressed
her lips to the inside of his hip and breathed softly on the damp print left
there. Severus mewled as she continued to nuzzle the vulnerable area.
Her mouth drifted down to his cock and kissed it playfully, slowly moving
towards the head. Her lips teased the tip before her tongue reached out to
swirl around the flesh. Severus moaned softly, prompting North to press her
tongue to his head more firmly. She began to take his length in her mouth
teasingly, sliding her mouth off repeatedly to torment the tip.
Eventually the noises that left Severus’ throat turned guttural and North
turned to her task seriously, swallowing him deeply as his hips started to buck
sharply. She giggled against his cock at his obvious enjoyment and he howled at
the sensation.
She pulled back tauntingly and smirked at him as the cold air hit his wet skin.
“Still want to do it yourself?”
He growled at her and the hand on her skull pushed her carefully back towards
him. With another snicker North enveloped him in the heat of her mouth, her
ministrations tearing loud, incoherent noises of passion from the man.
Eventually his body stiffened and he muttered, “Fuck, North…” quietly. His hips
quivered and he began to give a last few brutal thrusts into North’s mouth as
he came.
As the last of the warm liquid flooded her mouth Severus pulled her away from
his member and crashed his lips down on her own.
Eventually they parted and North knelt back on the floor, pressing lazy kisses
into the sensitive skin of his inner thighs. His legs trembled a little in
response and North smiled, brushing her tongue mischievously along the white
skin. “I love you,” she murmured into his thigh.
Severus heard her and pulled her up towards him, planting a kiss stiffly on her
forehead. “I love you too,” he said. He sneered good-naturedly at her blissful
expression and pressed a fierce kiss into her cheek.
Severus was quiet for a few moments, his eyes distant in thought. North
observed him patiently, wondering if he would tell her what was now on his
mind.
“The dark lord has no need of you for the rest of the day, does he?” Severus
asked. North shook her head and he regarded her meditatively. “Do you want to
go to the club tonight?”
North glanced up at him in surprise. “Why do you want to go to the club?”
“I thought you might enjoy going out since you’ve been stuck here for a while,”
Severus answered stiffly.
“I didn’t say it was a bad idea,” North said softly, “I was just surprised you
suggested it. We really only went to meet and move onto this,” she gestured to
the bed and his exposed lower body.
“I see,” Severus said calmly, reaching to unzip her dress. North batted his
hand away.
“I wasn’t changing the subject,” she said.
Severus regarded her expressionlessly. “Oh?”
“It’s just it kinda sounded like a date,” North explained. “And I didn’t think
that was what you could have meant since it’s usually just sex.”
“Usually?” Severus repeated.
“I don’t know what I’m saying,” North sighed. “Are we just sex?”
“Do *you* consider us to purely be about sex?”
“I don’t know,” said North.
“Is it how you want things to be?”
“*I* don’t know. Do you want things that way?”
Severus gave her a strange look that made her squirm. “North, do you simply
enjoy a good fuck or do you enjoy more of our company than that?” he asked
calmly.
“More than that,” North said quietly.
“Was that so difficult to say?” Severus grumbled, sounding annoyed.
“Is this more than sex to *you*?” North countered softly.
“Perhaps,” Severus ground out warily. North was quiet, but she stared at him
and then snuggled closer. “So we’re going out tonight,” Severus said.
“It’s a date,” North said.
“Of course,” Severus said. North thought it was reasonable to elbow him for his
smugness.
Severus smirked at her and pinned her beneath him, kissing her slowly. North
lowered her eyes. “I do love you.”
Severus reached for her jaw and tilted her face up to force her to meet his
eyes. A half-hearted barrier surrounded the statement but it was easy enough to
push through and ascertain the comment’s truth.
“For some reason I am somewhat fond of you also,” Severus growled, breaking eye
contact.
“Sev?”
Severus glanced back at the change in North’s voice. “What?”
“Get my clothes off right now I’m going to fuck you.”
Severus laughed at North’s ability to discharge the situation and obediently
removed her dress.
He paused, staring for a moment at the material under his hands, then staring
at his lover. North’s brow crinkled slightly in confusion.
“What, beautiful?”
***** I Wasn't Malicious *****

Author's notes: Wherein Sev's fairly pissed off tbh
===============================================================================
It's been a while but there's three new chapters up. JKR owns the rights to the
Potterverse etc etc.
Severus thought for a moment about all the bizarre comments the dark lord had
made. “Who are you really, North?”
“What?” North grew alarmed by the mounting cold fury in the man’s eyes.
“Call Jessa for me, North.”
North got the unpleasant sensation that she had inadvertently choked on ice.
Punching down her dread, she calmly called for the absent teen.
They waited a few moments in silence.
“Call again, North.”
There was no response to that call either. Severus gave the young woman beneath
him a stern look. “I wonder why she hasn’t replied,” he said evenly.
“Perhaps she’s on the grounds,” North suggested.
Severus slapped her leg fiercely, causing North to cry out loudly in shock and
pain.
“Are you going to be truthful now?” he asked.
North didn’t dare reach down to rub the side of her thigh. At her silence
Severus reached down and grabbed her face, jerking it to meet his own. North
closed her eyes.
“Open them,” he growled.
North shook her head. “It’s true, alright?”
“What’s true?” Severus asked coldly.
“You know,” North said.
“I do,” Severus agreed, “and you’re going to say it.”
“So I changed my appearance a bit,” North muttered.
“You are deceitful.”
North glanced up for a moment before swiftly reclosing her eyes. “You wouldn’t
have wanted me otherwise.”
“Because you’re a child!” Severus roared.
“I’m legal!” North retorted.
“Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t go down the hall and take Bellatrix’s
hairbrush for you?”
“Because I wasn’t malicious. I do care about you,” North muttered.
“What you’ve done is *wrong*!”
“Why?” North murmured.
She felt his weight leave the bed and heard his tread cross the room to the
mirror. He was possibly resting his head against its coolness to calm down.
After a few minutes he said, “Get up.”
North did so reluctantly, opening her eyes but keeping them downcast. She saw
Severus remove his belt and place it on the dresser. He’d fixed his clothing.
“Come here,” Severus snarled. To her surprise, he handed North a knut and
pushed her over towards the wall. “Hold that coin against the wall and keep it
there with your nose. You’ll keep your arms behind you. If you move I will go
fetch that silver-backed brush.”
North moved quickly to obey. She heard Severus moving around the bedroom for
some time. His voice pierced the tense silence. “When I have reclaimed my
temper I’m going to blister your skin and then I am dragging you back to
headquarters.”
North held back her shiver, anxious not to make the coin drop. Her nose was
actually sweating. She felt vulnerable dressed only in her underwear and she
still didn’t know how Severus knew.
“You can get me my belt and come over here,” Severus ordered.
North attempted to quell her horror as she promptly obeyed. She nervously
offered him his coin.
“What do I want with that?” he snapped, and snatched his belt from her hand.
“Severus?”
The man flinched at the sound of his name and glared at her. “What?”
“How did you know?”
Severus hesitated and North assumed he was not going to answer. He reached to
pull her over his lap and said shortly, “Jessa was wearing that bra this
morning.”
“Oh,” North said.
“Quiet,” Severus snapped. He adjusted how she lay, finding it was more awkward
to position the form of a woman in her twenties rather than Jessa’s smaller
teenage body. To her relief he began to spank her with only his hand, but it
was not much of a reprieve as the thrashing was the harshest he had ever given
her. When she was crying miserably he switched to his belt and landed a long
series of very painful swats. Once finished, he sat her on her bottom on the
bed and picked out a softer dress, putting away the tough canvas one she had
worn previously.
He threw the dress to her but she was still snivelling too hard to put it on.
He put her into it with only a little difficulty despite the constant trembling
of her frame being racked by sobs.
He got up and found her canvas shoes and her wand, placing the wand with his
own and pushing her feet into her shoes. He picked up his belt and put it on
before yanking her back to her feet and marching her out of the mansion.
The dark lord looked up from where he was seated calmly in the garden with
Nagini. He took in North’s tearstained face. “Taking Miss Swallows out,
Severus?”
“Yes, my lord.”
“I’ll see you in a few days then.”
Severus nodded and walked with North to the nearest town, from which he side-
alonged her away.
***** Most of the World *****

Author's notes: Wherein Jessa is banished to her room and Draco and Harry
follow.
===============================================================================
Potterverse belongs to JKR etc.
He apparated them to a discreet side street not far from Grimmauld Place. “Put
your own face on before we go in. And get rid of that bloody tattoo and…that
mess.”
North’s eyes instantly changed from hazel to black before her other features
slowly changed: her nose shortened, her lips thickened and her cheekbones
moved. She lowered her height as her tattoo faded from sight, and at last she
reluctantly wiped her love bites out of existence.
Severus spun on his heel, snatching her wrist as he turned away, and dragged
her towards the Black family home.
Moody and Lupin were in the hallway almost as soon as Severus had closed the
door behind Jessa and himself. Draco and Harry emerged from the living room a
moment later, prompted by Moody and Lupin’s swift departure from their company.
“What the hell were you thinking?” Alastor demanded angrily of Jessa.
The teen was silent, too worn out from her earlier tears to even flinch from
the fury in the man’s voice. She felt the absence of Severus’ hand from where
he would usually touch her in reassurance. She was overly aware of him at her
back, with the irate Alastor, wretched Lupin, Scarhead and Draco crowding in
front of her. She ignored that and crossed her arms over herself, focusing on
breathing more slowly.
Moody glanced up at Severus. “How did you get her back?”
Severus reminded Jessa painfully of Dumbledore’s gargoyle as he curled his lips
and produced some answer that made no reference to her duplicity.
Alastor listened then turned back to her. “Your room, this instant,” he
snarled. “Don’t do anything else to make things unpleasant for yourself.”
Jessa nodded briefly, breathing through her mouth, and squeezed past the others
to run upstairs.
“Wait,” Lupin murmured. There was an odd expression on his face and he turned
away to mutter urgently to the other Order members, pushing Draco and Harry to
the other side of the corridor. Jessa swiftly ascended the stairs.
Draco glanced, frowning, at the conversing men for a moment before turning his
head and bolting quietly upstairs after his sister. Harry followed, struggling
to run as quietly; not that the three men noticed. Walpurga Black was silent
beneath the cloth thrown over her portrait. She was straining to listen to the
hissed conversation between the filthy half-breed, the filthy half-blood and
the filthy auror.
“Did you take the mark?” Draco asked without preamble the moment he had closed
the door behind his lover.
Jessa glanced around and shook her head. “No.”
Draco sent a silencing spell around the confines of the bedroom. “Truly?”
“Yes,” Jessa muttered, coolly baring her clean arm. She extended it towards
Draco and let him skim his fingers over the unmarked flesh that he could
ascertain there was no tingle of dark magic to be felt there.
“Uncle Sev says that you went to the dark lord.”
Jessa nodded.
“And… The mark?”
“I don’t see me getting a chance for it any time soon, do you?” Jessa said
wryly.
Draco hesitated, unsure what to ask.
“So you two are out then?” Jessa inquired, her tone implying nothing at all had
happened during the space they had been apart.
Draco nodded, his gaze flickering uncertainly between Jessa and the space where
Harry stood.
“That’s cute,” Jessa said encouragingly.
“Are you really going to take the mark?” Draco asked.
“How can I?” Jessa replied carefully.
“If you could?”
“I’m not going to harm Scarhead at any rate,” Jessa stated.
Harry sat at the foot of her bed and looked up at her. “You’re going to take
the mark.”
“I’d rather not see you hurt,” Jessa said. Her features glazed for a moment
with thought. “I don’t know,” she said slowly. She glanced back towards Harry.
“Not the hurting you thing; the mark…” She was silent for a few beats more as
she considered something.
“What?” Draco demanded impatiently.
Jessa shook her head. “You’ll see if I do it. Had a new idea.”
Draco glanced at Harry as the Gryffindor considered Jessa. Pain stabbed across
the blonde’s expression for a moment and he stiffly turned away.
“I’d start training up some soldiers Scarhead,” Jessa commented, “if you want
to win this.”
“What do you mean by that?” Draco snapped, sitting down beside his lover.
“I mean if the light side wants to win they’ll need to overcome a lot of very
powerful people.”
“You’re warning me?” Harry said.
Jessa shook her head. “Only telling you what you know. But the people you want
to protect…need someone to protect them.”
Harry held her eyes and nodded. “He’s not going to win.”
The girl didn’t say anything but the tension in her eyes appeared to recede
slightly.
A few moments passed before Draco said, “Will you sit down? You’re making me
uncomfortable.”
“Can’t,” Jessa muttered.
“What?”
Jessa blushed. “Can’t,” she repeated.
“Why not?” Draco asked, his earlier feelings fading to bemusement.
“Cuz I can’t sit down,” Jessa mumbled.
“Snape seemed quite mad at you,” Harry commented.
Draco glanced at his lover in confusion but Jessa paled. “Yep,” she agreed.
“What are you talking about?” Draco asked.
“Snape spanked her,” Harry murmured calmly.
“How did you know?” Draco questioned, glancing between his companions
suspiciously.
“Because she’d been crying when she came in and she’s not sulking on the bed
like she usually does when Mad Eye shouts at her.” Harry glanced up at Jessa
apologetically.
Jessa shook her head at his apology. “I do normally sit and sulk.”
“Had you really been crying when you came in?” Draco asked softly.
Jessa bit her lip and nodded. “It was nothing.”
“Are you okay?”
“It was just the pain that made me tear up,” Jessa answered.
“How bad was it?”
“I’d say pretty bad,” the teen answered with mock-brightness. Draco looked as
though he felt he should say more but his lover nudged him and narrowed his
eyes.
“Um, so how did coming out work for you both?” Jessa chattered after a short
uncomfortable pause.
Harry snorted. “Not that bad. Everyone was too upset over you to say much about
us.”
“Not that Father knows,” Draco smirked ruefully. He raised his eyebrows. “Or
most of Hogwarts really.”
“That’ll be fun,” Harry muttered.
Draco looked at him in alarm.
Harry regarded him comfortably. “Relax,” he said. “I’m not going to ask you to
sit with us at meals.”
“It would make more sense for you to sit with the Slytherins,” Jessa commented.
“They’d tear him to pieces,” Draco said.
“No they won’t. No one would dare mess with Malfoy property.”
Harry gave a bemused smile and smirked at Draco. “*I’m* *Malfoy* property?”
Draco scowled at both Harry and his sister. “I am *not* flaunting myself as
property of Potter. Not even if it was safe to do so.”
“Why deny what’s true?” Harry remarked lightly.
Draco gave him a black look.
Harry laughed and kissed the top of Draco’s head. “As if I’d dare tamper with
your imagined status as owner of all he surveys.”
“It’s not imagined,” Draco grumbled, leaning into Harry’s chest. “Most of the
world believes it.”
Jessa giggled derisively and met her brother’s eyes. “*Most* of the world are
idiots.”
“Precisely,” Draco acknowledged. “My idiots.”
***** As If I Didn't Know That *****

Author's notes: yep. more angst. and shortness.
===============================================================================
Alastor sighed and glanced up in the direction of Jessa’s room. “What are they
doing up there?” he muttered. He moved away from the front door and began to
scale the stairs, intent on removing Draco and Harry from Jessa’s company.
“They’re just talking,” Remus murmured, his voice still low from his
discomfort.
Despite his lack of abnormal senses, Severus was at no disadvantage in reading
the man’s disquiet. Severus himself was hardly any better than the werewolf, he
mused bitterly. Still, inwardly his lips curled in sardonic pleasure at the
clear uneasiness the scent of semen on the brat’s breath had caused Lupin.
Although he should probably be relieved the hellhound had attributed Severus’
scent on the girl to being from their earlier proximity. He should be relieved
that the mongrel had never thought Severus capable of wrapping his fist in
Jessa’s hair and fucking her mouth.
Severus Snape did not believe in relief. It was fate’s way to trick you into
falling further when she turned back into her usual malevolent self.
“Out of my way, wolf,” Severus muttered. He needed a thorough shower.
Remus obeyed politely and bit his lip. Tea. He would go make tea. He turned and
headed for the kitchen.
*
“Out,” Alastor growled.
Draco and Harry looked up. Draco irritably cancelled the silencing charm.
“This is my room,” Harry said stubbornly.
“It’s your *house*,” Draco added in a sing-song voice.
Alastor grabbed the shirts of both males and lifted them to their feet. “Out,”
he repeated firmly.
Draco met the older man’s eyes with an expression like steel. “Don’t harm my
sister.”
Moody sneered. “Course not, ferret,” he replied, pushing the boys out the door
which he slammed and locked.
Now that they were alone together Jessa would not meet his eyes. This irritated
Alastor further and he turned both eyes on her before clearing his throat.
Jessa looked up reluctantly at the noise. The ex-auror glared at her and his
voice was gruff when he spoke; but the words he used surprised her.
“Are you alright?”
Jessa looked down. Her rear ached with the worst hiding she’d had in a *very*
long time and everything was currently so catastrophically wrong that she
wanted to cry. Sev didn’t want her anymore because he knew the truth. Sev
*hated* her.
But that wasn’t what Mad Eye meant, was it? He probably meant ‘were you
tortured and raped by Death Eaters?’ or something like that. She wouldn’t mind
that as much.
“I’m fine,” she said numbly.
“You look hellish,” Alastor muttered.
Jessa tried to laugh but the sound came out sounding watery. “I’m alright,” she
insisted.
Alastor sighed. “You always bloody lie.”
Jessa looked up and tried to hold his gaze. “Don’t take it personally,” she
replied.
Saying nothing, Alastor regarded her for a while. He eventually said, “Albus
will be coming over to discuss what to do with you. I don’t want you to leave
here or interact at all with Potter or Malfoy until then. I don’t trust you.”
The teen flinched.
Alastor moved towards the door. He paused before opening it and stared at her.
“You *really* fucked up,” he growled, unlocking and leaving through the door.
Jessa listened to him throwing up a complex containment charm and shook her
head at herself. She wrapped her arms around her frame. ‘As if I didn’t know
that,’ she thought.
***** Unofficial Intentions *****

Author's notes: wherein... a meeting gets held to determine jessa's allegiances
and stuff
===============================================================================
‘Well this is awkward’ seemed to be the dominant thought going round in Jessa’s
brain. A table had been set up in the lounge before the portrait of Sirius and
Potter Sr. to allow them to join the others invited to her whatever-this-was.
It was bad enough to be in the company of Dumbledore, but he had seen fit to
include not just Moody and Sev, but Lupin, and Siri, and Scarhead and Draco,
and Scarhead’s dad too. Why? What did he have to do with any of it? Why did
Scarhead and Draco have to be here even? Or bloody Lupin? And surely Severus
could have found an excuse to beg off if he had wanted to?
Dumbles was prattling on about something. It was probably about her so it might
even be important. Not that the possibility that whatever he was spouting could
be important was enough to focus her attention. How could they possibly expect
her to listen when she was sat at this table with so many witnesses to her
scolding and she couldn’t even really sit, was having to squat uncomfortably
over the chair because Severus had certainly left some marks, how could they
expect her to listen when suffering this?
If Severus noticed her discomfort at all he didn’t show it. His expression was
even more blankly cold than usual and he was not looking at her in the
slightest. He didn’t even seem angry now. He wasn’t ignoring her either.
Sometimes his face turned towards her; but whenever he did that his eyes simply
looked through her as though he found her to be of no significance.
What was it Tom had said? That Severus would forgive her in a few years? Try a
few lifetimes.
“Jessa!”
Jessa looked up quickly. Alastor looked pretty pissed. Shit. She should have
been listening! She risked a sidelong glance at her brother but his expression
conveyed nothing of whatever Moody had said. She didn’t even know when he’d
taken over talking from Dumbledore or how long he’d been talking. Jessa
plastered a contrite look on her face and hoped it was enough.
“Pay attention,” the ex-auror snapped.
Jessa flinched. Not enough then. The sorry expression stayed. She didn’t like
displeasing Alastor.
“We know that you had expressed your intention to get mark and that after
spending time in the company of the dark lord you remain without one. You have
damaged our trust in you but we would still like to hear your comment on this.”
“Then you all made a mistake in asking her in this situation,” Draco drawled.
Jessa turned to her brother in surprise. Every other head at the table quickly
did likewise.
“If you know Jessa at all you would know that the opinion she might give in
private will not be the one she would give in mixed company.”
“I can speak for myself Draco,” Jessa said tentatively.
“But you wouldn’t declare the truth, would you?” he dismissed.
“You don’t *know* the truth though.”
“And neither do you,” Draco retorted. “But I do know that you’re likely to
pronounce the darkest scenario with the headmaster present.”
“That is how Miss Malfoy played the Miss Granger scenario,” Severus broke in
neutrally.
“I’m not on trial for that!” Jessa protested.
Severus quirked one of his eyebrows mordantly. “Aren’t you?”
“Back up,” Sirius complained. “What happened with Granger?”
“Well that depends,” Draco said. “Officially, Jessa threatened Granger’s life…”
“…Unofficially she had no intentions of causing permanent damage,” Harry
continued. “Jessa was trying to scare Hermione away because Hermione was the
only one Jessa thought was smart enough to work out Jessa’s bloodline.”
“Which backfired spectacularly,” Moody muttered. Jessa understood she was in no
position to glare.
“About the mark…” Remus said timidly.
“Oh yes, we were talking about that, weren’t we?” Albus said.
“Snape dragged me back from the dark lord’s quarters and you people are
doubting my intentions?”
Severus didn’t even react to being called Snape.
“But you *haven’t* been mark,” Harry said.
“Only because of my age,” Jessa protested.
“There are other teenagers in the ranks who’ve been marked,” Severus said.
“They’re all disposable though, aren’t they?” Jessa said shortly.
“And you think Voldemort doesn’t consider *you* to be disposable too?” Draco
muttered.
“But to a lesser extent than the wand fodder.”
“I don’t believe this!” Sirius shouted.
Jessa flinched and almost sat down. “What?” she murmured.
“This is ridiculous,” Sirius snarled. “I can’t believe you’ve all been talking
about expelling the kid from Hogwarts and binding her fucking magic over
*this*!”
“What?” Draco said.
“Albus surely you don’t think my little sister’s a threat?” Sirius said.
“Do continue Sirius,” Albus said blandly.
Sirius sighed and rested his gaze on Jessa. “As for you. You’re an idiot.”
“Don’t talk to my sister like that,” Draco growled.
“Shut up,” said Sirius. He glared at everyone gathered around the table.
“Surely you all know the pup would only go death eater on us to do a Reg.”
Draco and Harry exchanged confused looks whilst Severus glared at the tabletop.
Jessa chose instead to glare at Sirius. “Regie has got nothing to do with
this.”
“Don’t be a martyr Pup,” said Sirius.
“Oh, like you, you mean? How did Bells get the chance to kill you again? Oh
yeah, you ran off to die by a curtain. That’s how to do it.”
Severus didn’t snicker. However, Lupin looked solemn. “Jessa,” he said
delicately, “you don’t have to… put yourself in the sort of situations that…
put you at risk.”
“He means he smells cum on your breath,” Severus said.
“Oh don’t worry; I wouldn’t let a death eater take advantage of me,” Jessa said
bitingly. “Any bastards I fucked there had my consent.”
“Oh Merlin you fucked the snake,” Draco whimpered.
“What?!” Jessa exploded.
“He meant snakeface,” Harry said. “Not the actual snake.”
“I hate you all,” Jessa muttered.
Harry sighed. “Jessa, are you a threat to me?”
“No,” she groused. “Not unless you accused me of going at it with Nagini.”
Harry paused and shook his head. “No. Right. So, whether you get marked or not
–which isn’t likely since you’re probably grounded until after the war- is
irrelevant, because you’re not a danger to me. As you’re not a danger, there is
no need to take you out of school or bind your magic. Yeah?”
Jessa groaned to herself and reached past Draco to clasp Harry’s palm. “Fine.”
“We’re not finished,” Sirius warned. “*What* have you been doing?”
Jessa held up her hand angrily. “Oh no way. I’m not listening to this when if
you weren’t such a whore *that*,” she indicated Remus, “wouldn’t have been so
interested in my animagus form, would it?”
Sirius glanced at Remus. “I think he could tell us apart.”
“Well the *wolf* didn’t care. I still bloody smelt like you and looked like you
and it’s all your fucking fault.”
“I thought *you’re* meant to be the one in trouble,” Draco said.
Jessa glanced at him then hit him sweetly. “Really?”
Alastor sighed. “Whelp, I thought we’d dealt with that Remus couldn’t help
himself when he’s transformed…”
“He still tried to force himself on me despite his wolfsbane; and then has the
cheek to comment on my sex life? I don’t think so,” she said provocatively.
“You shouldn’t *have* a sex life,” Alastor and Sirius growled together. Jessa
avoided Severus’ eyes and pointed at Draco and Harry.
“You don’t mind that *they* have a sex life!”
“They’re male.”
“Neither of them is my little sister.”
“Not to mention neither of them are marked.”
“Draco’s a Slytherin which is practically the same thing,” Jessa countered.
“Anyway,” she smirked sweetly at a scowling blonde, “Tom isn’t marked.”
Draco looked nauseated. “Don’t even joke about that.”
“Enough,” Alastor intoned. He did not like the way the headmaster’s eyes
twinkled throughout the whole of this exchange.
Jessa sighed and crossed her arms, leaning back in her chair. Ow. She returned
to her original position pretending she had not just let out a gasp of pain.
Draco glanced at her shrewdly then pretended he had not done so.
“Are we done here?” Harry asked.
Alastor glanced at the man next to him. “Albus?”
“Oh I would say we were close. I’ll leave Miss Malfoy with you if you would
like a few words with her. She and the boys shouldn’t leave it too long until
they return to the school of course.” He popped a yellow sweet into his mouth
and smiled. “If you will all be so good as to excuse me, I have some other
things to attend to.”
The man had stepped across to the fireplace before he turned to smile at Remus.
“Coming?”
“Oh. Of course Headmaster.”
Seeing that the meeting seemed to have ended, Harry and Draco exchanged sly
smiles and quickly slid out of the room.
Severus made himself scarce and Alastor fixed his gaze on Jessa as he pulled
himself off his chair.
Ah. Jessa knew that look. She was still in trouble then. She stood and wondered
if she could escape before he led her off for a further scolding.
“So,” James spoke for the first time.
Sirius chose to watch Alastor and Jessa exit the room rather than face his
friend.
“Padfoot…” James called sweetly.
Sirius sighed and turned to face his bespectacled friend. “Yes Jamie?”
“You and Moony, huh?”
***** The Godson And The Golden Boy *****

Author's notes: Wherin there's minor slashy smut of the Drarry variety.
===============================================================================
Draco gasped and grinned as Harry pushed him fiercely against the wall and into
an equally fierce kiss.
Draco reached for the door handle and they stumbled inside the room, their
hands entwined in each other’s clothing.
Harry grabbed Draco’s wrists and shoved him back into the wall, pressing lazy,
possessive kisses over the pulsing curve of Draco’s neck. Draco made a guttural
noise and charmed the door closed and warded.
Harry raised his eyebrows and took the wand from Draco’s hand, tossing it down
onto Jessa’s bed. Without a word he began swiftly unbuttoning the blonde’s
shirt with his free hand. Draco watched him mutely, excitement burning in his
eyes.
Harry’s hand went to Draco’s hips; yanking his belt undone and tearing down his
fly. Draco smirked and allowed his hips one light thrust which sent his
trousers down to his knees. He glanced down at himself and back up to Harry
just as the Gryffindor surged forwards and attached his mouth to Draco’s own.
Draco moaned and pushed towards Harry’s attack.
Harry’s hand went to the waistband of Draco’s designer boxers.
Draco moaned louder because he didn’t want to pull away from Harry’s hot tongue
for long enough to say ‘please’.
Harry smiled into the kiss and pulled back, his thumb hooking under the elastic
but not undressing Draco.
Draco looked down and back at Harry. His lips were bright and his eyes were
smouldering. “Well?” he attempted to say haughtily.
Harry beamed contrarily at him and traced an indolent path down Draco’s bare
chest with his lips.
“Harry…” Draco pouted down at the mop of glossy, black hair and huffed as Harry
meandered over his skin.
Draco quivered; Harry had at last reached the ticklish hollow beneath his ribs.
Harry spent a few moments licking the skin then stepped back and straightened
up.
“Harry!” Draco growled. A small dot of precum stained his boxers.
“Yes?”
Draco glared. Harry laughed and knelt down, yanking Draco’s underwear to the
floor in one swift movement. He looked up at Draco and met his smoky eyes. He
smiled and leaned forwards to kiss and suck the flesh before him.
*
Kreecher watched Dobby bang his head repeatedly off the exposed pipes in the
attic. “The traitor-elf should not be so worried,” Kreecher muttered.
Dobby frowned and continued pounding his skull against the metal cylinders.
“Dobby is right to punish himself. Dobby should tell Master Harry...but Master
Harry does not want Dobby to tell him…”
Kreecher lifted his head. “The Malfoy heir is going to do something
unforgettable.”
“The Malfoys are bad!” Dobby squealed as he crashed his forehead against a
copper water pipe, burning his skin.
“The little Mistress and the Malfoy heir do not intend to hurt the filthy half-
blood,” Kreecher retorted softly.
“They have been trained to do evil things!”
Kreecher snorted to himself and turned away. “As has the traitor-elf, also on
the orders of the senior Malfoy. The traitor-elf thinks that can only corrupt!”
*
Draco groaned and poured his load into Harry’s mouth. “Now you,” he panted
after a moment. He grinned. “Clothes off.”
Harry smiled in return and took back Draco’s wrists, tugging him towards the
bed. He allowed Draco to undress him as he took the opportunity to kiss the
blonde. Draco leaned into the contact and yanked down Harry’s jeans and boxers
in one efficient action. They fell onto Harry’s bed together, Harry’s mouth
moving down to capture Draco’s throat and jaw.
“Top or bottom?” Draco asked warmly.
Harry smirked, the expression retaining an innocent earnestness that made it
different from Draco’s own. Draco secretly preferred Harry’s smirk to his own
because of this feature but that thought lasted only a moment before he grew
distracted by Harry’s warm, wandering hands. “Both obviously,” Harry declared
in a cheerful parody of Draco’s attitude.
“Which *first* though?” Draco persisted, amused instead of annoyed.
Harry captured Draco in his arms and pressed kisses all over the other boy’s
torso. “Well would you rather ride my cock first or impale me on yours?”
Draco had stopped considering words like ‘impale’ to be insinuative, but chose
the other option instead. “Wanna *ride* you.”
Harry smiled as his lover’s formal elocution softened and reached for his wand
from the pile of his clothes. “Lubricus,” he smirked.
Draco gasped at the cool sensation and knocked Harry onto his back, kissing him
fiercely. He reached beneath himself and his hand connected with Harry’s. They
navigated Harry to Draco’s entrance together. Draco lowered himself, breathing
more deeply than usual because although yes, he’d had sex with Harry that
morning, and yes, they’d used the preparation spell, but they spell wasn’t
quite as effective as someone’s hands and Merlin this was a tight fit.
Harry seemed to be of the same opinion, by the distracted and almost distressed
look on his face. Draco recognised the look as Harry’s ‘trying to hold back’
face, and would have been amused at the thought of Harry desperately mentally
reciting the properties of potion ingredients in reaction to Draco’s tightness
and heat; if the blonde had not been so distracted himself by the sensation of
being filled so entirely.
Carefully, Draco moved and Harry groaned. He moved his hips slowly until Draco
smirked down at him and reached for his hair.
“Ow, baby…” Harry murmured.
“Harder,” Draco ordered slowly. “Faster.”
Harry obeyed, his gaze smouldering enough to send jolts to Draco’s core. The
sensation was intense: Harry pounding Draco’s insides with such intensity that
Draco couldn’t keep his body still enough for him to think; only feel.
“Fuck, Harry,” Draco murmured.
Harry managed to quirk his brow ironically as he thrust heavily into him. “I
am.”
Draco jerked his lover’s hair in response and groaned deeply.
Harry’s breathing was ragged. The sight of the beautiful boy riding himself to
completion on Harry’s own member made it hard not to cum right away. Draco’s
face was gorgeously flushed and the way his body rocked when Harry thrust
exceptionally deeply was phenomenal.
*
“A silencing charm would be simple enough to use,” Alastor growled.
Severus glowered at his colleague. “You’re blaming me?”
Draco’s scream pierced the air. Alastor looked at Severus pointedly.
Harry’s own completion followed loudly and at length. The look Severus gave
Alastor clearly said ‘that’s *your* Golden Boy.’
***** What's On Your Mind (Only If You Lose) *****

Author's notes: Wherein Harry and Draco talk blood lines and nightmares.
===============================================================================
That which is not mine, is not mine. That which is, is. But they're better
together.
“She’s sleeping,” Harry murmured. “It’s fine.”
“You’re sure?” Draco moved over silently to check. “Alright.” He threw up a
silencing charm and hoped the tingle of magic in the air wouldn’t disturb
Jessa. It did not appear to.
“Okay,” said Harry. “So what’s on your mind?”
“Nothing,” Draco muttered.
Harry raised his eyebrows. “I guess I’ll disregard that comment since *I don’t
believe it*. Wanna try again?”
Draco narrowed his eyes but did not look too annoyed. “Since when did you get a
spine?”
Harry burst out laughing. “Oh sure. I have no backbone. Answer the question
Baby.”
Draco sighed. “Fine. Do you know what Black meant by a ‘Reg’?”
“Not really,” Harry admitted. “Why? Do you?”
“Not entirely,” Draco replied. “But I remember there being a Regulus Black on
the family tree who died in mysterious circumstances. I think he was probably a
Death Eater …but all I can remember about him is my parents getting in an
argument over him when I was younger.”
“Do you remember what about?”
Draco shook his head. “It had something to do with Aunt Bella though. My
Mother…” Draco trailed off, looking uncomfortable, but then raised his eyes to
Harry and said, “My Mother was shouting at my Father and blaming him and Aunt
Bella somehow. I think that was around the time Regulus Black went missing. I
suppose I understood at the time that she was saying if he hadn’t been involved
with Voldemort he would still have been around, but I don’t remember learning
anything more than that about it. Just that Mother was angry because her
younger cousin had been wiped off the face of the earth.”
“So you think aurors got him?” Harry asked.
“I always just assumed that, or that he’d displeased the dark lord somehow.”
Draco looked hesitant. “But you don’t suppose…when Black called him a
martyr…that maybe he was light?”
“Could be.” Harry looked over at the other bed. “Do you think we should wake
Jessa and ask?”
“With the most basic questions asked, do you really want to hold any more
conversations with her just now?” Draco asked.
Harry blinked. “What do you mean?”
“Well we know she’s not marked, and she says she won’t hurt you if she can help
it, but other than that, she’s been hiding out with the dark lord and sucking
Death Eater cock. Do you really want to talk to her right now if you can help
it?”
Harry looked at his lover. “Are you worried?”
“I don’t know,” Draco admitted. “Not so much for me but…” He looked down and
scowled. “For…you. And her.”
Harry pulled Draco towards him and kissed the side of his neck. “Don’t worry
about me, Baby.”
“Don’t tell *anyone* I’m worried for you,” Draco muttered, submitting himself
to the cuddle stiffly.
Harry kissed Draco’s scalp, brushing the mussed strands back into place. “Just
fucking me, yeah?”
Draco looked at the floor. No.
“If you think people are gonna see us together and think you don’t care, you’re
wrong,” Harry said softly. “You wouldn’t do this if you didn’t.”
“Do what? Go against my father? Fuck a hot body? A guy? Get myself in with the
other side when my sister goes missing?”
“Don’t worry Dray,” Harry said lovingly.
Draco looked up and his lip twitched. He pressed a hesitant kiss on Harry’s
jaw.
Harry butted his forehead against Draco’s affectionately. “Okay?”
Draco pressed his body close to Harry’s. The blonde’s hands trailed over his
lover’s body for a while. He stopped and closed his eyes.
Harry wrapped his arms around Draco strongly.
Draco snuggled into Harry’s solid embrace and glanced across as his sleeping
sibling. Harry caught his glance and looked over at Jessa. He thought for a
moment. “Dray Baby?”
Draco wriggled and turned to look at Harry. “What?”
“Jessa said she was dating a half-blood.”
“What?” Draco said.
“The only half-bloods on that side are Voldemort and Snape. Do you know of any
others?”
“The dark lord’s not exactly fond of impure blood,” Draco drawled. “I can’t
think of any others, but I wouldn’t rule out a few half-bloods from the older
families who resent being a taint; that are angry with their parents for daring
to go against tradition.”
“There are people like that?”
Draco sighed. “Yes Potter. Pure blood has a lot of sway you know. If a half-
blood is taken in by their wizarding grandparents or another pure wizarding
family they can reclaim some status. They will still be second class citizens
of course, but certainly better than …those raised like…”
“Muggleborns?”
Draco nodded. “The hierarchy of it all is more intricate than you are probably
aware. It gets quite complicated with squibs and muggle aristocracy and their
half-blooded progeny, but essentially most half-bloods are no one and those who
renounce their parents and enter the guardianship of a real wizarding family
are only marginally better off.”
“So what does that make me and Voldy then?”
Draco snorted. “Freaks obviously. Having half-bloods in power…” he made a face.
His expression fell into thought and he turned towards Jessa. “You-” he
stopped, changing his mind. “You think she’s dating one of them?”
“Better than the alternative isn’t it?” Harry murmured.
Draco made an odd noise. “That something untoward happened, or that she’s
having some ridiculous affair with the light?”
Harry looked at the Slytherin closely. “Could be worse,” he said lightly. “She
could be with a muggleborn, right?”
“There is that,” Draco conceded with a small smile.
“Is the light side so bad?” Harry asked quietly.
“Only if you lose I suppose,” Draco said with false daring. Before his eyes his
sister’s form began to moan softly and flinch. “What’s happening?”
Harry pushed himself off his bed and retrieved a potion from his trunk, quickly
moving over to shake Jessa awake. “Just a nightmare.”
“Oh.” Draco continued to stare at Jessa.
“What?” Harry asked, looking to Draco over his shoulder. “You’re acting like
you’ve never seen someone have a bad dream before.”
“You were the first,” Draco said.
Harry turned around properly, his hands still stroking Jessa comfortingly.
“What?”
“I had never seen anyone have a nightmare before you.”
“Really?”
“It’s not very Slytherin.”
“Surely even Slytherins have nightmares.”
Draco’s expression shifted. “We do…but we never let others see. It’s not
Slytherin to show weakness.”
“Not even in sleep?”
“Never,” Draco said.
“Baby, that’s tragic,” Harry said.
Draco shrugged.
***** Potions and Puzzlement *****

Author's notes: Wherein Draco wonders about Malfoys being wrong and if Jessa
thinks his relationship with Harry is based only on saving the world rather
than affection.
===============================================================================
JKR + Potterverse = Ownageness. Okaii? 'Cept what's not her's.
Jessa woke reluctantly and looked up at Harry, who was allowing her shoulders
and head to rest on his side. She stretched with a sigh and pushed herself up
into a kneeling position with her palms. “Thanks Scarhead,” she muttered,
taking the potion he held between his finger and thumb.
“You want a pain potion too so you can sleep on your back?” he asked.
She looked up, her fingers stilling on the vial’s stopper. “No, it’s fine.
Thanks.”
“Do the Slytherin thing and just take a pain potion,” Draco commented from his
place on Harry’s bed.
Jessa glanced over. “Don’t get me wrong Blondie, I would ordinarily.”
“Then why aren’t you?”
She grimaced. “Because I earned it,” she said, beginning to open the dreamless
sleep vial.
“Malfoys are never in the wrong,” Draco said.
Jessa looked at him seriously. “Yeah,” she said ironically, her tone slightly
bitter.
His eyes reflected the same bitter irony. He conceded her point with a nod and
shifted one of his legs.
Harry watched their interaction in quiet confusion. Jessa noticed and shook her
head at him. “Don’t worry about it,” she said of her exchange with Draco. She
watched Draco look Harry over with a vaguely anxious look on his face before
she tilted the potion down her throat.
“When do we go back to school?” Draco said after a moment.
“I’m not going back ‘til Monday,” Jessa said decisively.
Harry glanced at her with a smirk. “You think you’re going to get a choice in
that?”
“Shut up Scarhead,” Jessa replied sourly.
“Do you think we’ll get to stay here for the rest of the weekend?” Draco asked
thoughtfully.
Harry shrugged. “Who knows. Why?”
“There’ll be a family tree here somewhere –I want to see what I can learn about
Mother’s cousin.”
“Who?” Jessa asked.
“Regulus,” Harry explained, shaking his head at Draco’s evasiveness.
Jessa stilled. “Regulus?” she repeated. “My Regulus?”
“Yeah,” Harry said. “We didn’t understand what Sirius meant.”
Jessa blinked slowly. “Just ask Sirius…”
“I told you there was no point asking her,” Draco said.
“He was a great guy,” Jessa said stiffly. “Harry, would you mind moving over a
bit? The potion’s making me drowsy.”
“Sure.” Harry moved back to his own bed and Jessa lay down on her stomach, her
face turned towards the wall. “’Night,” she said.
“Night,” Harry replied, his voice coloured with confusion. Draco continued to
sit staring at his sibling’s back for a while before lying down beside his
lover.
Harry gave him a look. “What?” Draco mouthed.
“Did you need to be like that?” Harry whispered.
Draco raised his eyebrows and sighed. “She’s family; she understands.” When
Harry’s expression didn’t change, Draco expanded, “She knows that I ultimately
trust her, but that I don’t like not knowing her plans.”
“You can’t just trust her?”
“I do,” Draco answered. “As much as I would trust anyone. But she knows her
decisions will affect mine, so I would appreciate knowing what was going on.”
“Maybe it’s painful for her.”
Draco raised an eyebrow. “Or maybe *she* doesn’t trust *me*,” he whispered
back. “She neglected to tell me she was dating some half-blood.”
Harry narrowed his eyes for a moment. “Finished? Good. Maybe she had a good
reason.”
“Firstly, I am not dating just any half-blood. Secondly, I do not doubt that
she had a good reason to not tell me; but I would have liked ‘being her
brother’ to have been a good enough reason *to* tell me. She knows about you.”
“Maybe it’s different,” Harry whispered. To his confusion, that only made the
blonde look momentarily dejected.
“I do love you, you know,” Draco said.
Harry looked at him. “I know,” he said, pulling him closer.
***** Family Trees And Unfeasabilities *****

Author's notes: Wherein familial ties and secrets begin to come under some
scrutiny.
===============================================================================
Y'all know where the disclaimer is. Sorry this took so long, I kept rewriting
this part. I've had the ending since before I lost that memory stick but I've
been playing with two different branches of one of the subplots...and I'm still
trying to work out which feels best. Hence going through a lot of drafts. On
with the chapter!
By the time the boys were woken that morning, Jessa had already left. “Where is
she?” Alastor growled, jerking his head towards Jessa’s empty bed. Draco and
Harry stirred, Harry making an effort to disentangle himself from his lover
whilst Draco merely scowled at having his peace interrupted. A glance towards
the open bathroom door showed it to be empty.
“Dunno,” said Harry.
Draco rolled his eyes. “Haven’t you put some sort of tracking device on her? I
would have,” he drawled, nonchalantly untangling himself from an overly fond
bedsheet. He seemed unaware of the two different glares directed his way.
Alastor spun out the door, grumbling. His magical eye bounced around alarmingly
as he yelled, “Snape! Have you seen the whelp?”
Severus slid out from the ajar kitchen door and peered up the staircase,
scowling. “What’s the monster done now?”
“Disappeared again, hasn’t she,” Alastor snarled.
“The wards haven’t changed,” Severus replied, making one of his eyebrows arch
stiffly. “She’s here somewhere.”
With a pop, Dobby appeared in the kitchen. He looked at the two clearly
irritated males with his head cocked to one side in curiosity. “The great Harry
Potter sir is asking Dobby to tell Misters Moody and Snape that Dobby is
knowing where Mistress Malfoy is,” he said conversationally.
“Where is she?” Alastor asked.
“With Kreecher,” Dobby admitted warily. “Kreecher is saying to tell you all
that he has locked up the attic until he has attended to his Mistress.”
“What?” Severus snarled.
“Mistress Malfoy is needing quiet and her Kreecher, Kreecher is telling Dobby
most strongly. Mistress Malfoy is not to be bothered by…” Dobby trailed off.
“Dobby is not thinking he should say such things of esteemed Professors of
Hogwarts. Kreecher is a bad elf sirs!” Dobby looked conflicted. “Sirs should be
giving Kreecher and Miss Malfoy some space. Miss Malfoy be coming down later.”
“What are they doing up there?” Alastor asked, his magical eye skywards.
“Kreecher is doing his job,” Dobby admitted. “His Mistress is needing care.”
“What’s wrong with her?” Alastor asked.
Severus made an unnoticed face.
“Dobby is not knowing but thinking she is lonely,” Dobby said slowly. “She is
seeming sad.”
“Lonely,” Severus muttered.
Alastor was thoughtful for a moment before his magical eye noticed Harry and
Draco were doing something strange in one of the lesser-used rooms.
“What?” Severus drawled.
“The boys,” Alastor answered, turning to scale the stairs again.
“I’m sure you can handle it,” Severus replied smoothly, disappearing into the
kitchen.
Alastor rolled both his eyes and went to find Harry and Draco, who were poring
interestedly over the Black family tree.
“You haven’t even had breakfast yet,” Alastor commented.
Harry looked over his shoulder. “What? Oh.”
“We’ll eat shortly,” Draco answered, his finger sliding down a twinkling piece
of golden thread before he grinned and circled Regulus Black 1961-1979.
Harry moved away from Regulus Black 1906-1959. “Oh great Baby.”
“What are you doing?”
“Trying to find Regulus Black,” Harry answered.
Draco gave his lover a disparaging look as Alastor loped over.
“What are you interested in him for?”
Harry shrugged, whilst Draco frowned at the tapestry. “Look,” he murmured. “My
Mother would only have been twenty-four when he died. I wasn’t even born until
the year after.”
“Then how..?” Harry peered at the tapestry. After a moment he glanced up at
Alastor. “When Sirius mentioned a Reg earlier he did mean his brother, right?”
Alastor nodded as Draco shot Harry another frustrated look.
“Can you help us with this then?” Harry asked.
“What with, boys?” Alastor replied, half suspiciously and half curiously.
Draco gave in silently and indicated the family tree, efficiently explaining
the problem.
Alastor nodded and examined the tree. He cast various spells to no avail.
“How come Jessa isn’t on the tree?” Harry blurted.
Draco sighed, glancing at a spot on the tapestry. “What?”
Harry opened his mouth but Draco waved his hand. “I heard you,” the blonde
snapped.
Harry gave him a look that indicated he was waiting for an explanation.
“She’s there,” Draco said, touching the spot he had been glancing at.
“Why can’t I see her?” Harry asked, sounding bemused.
“Secrets like that get kept in the family. There must not be enough Black blood
in you,” Alastor said.
“Black blood?” Harry repeated. “I’ve not got any.”
“Charlus *Potter*,” Draco stressed the work with a smirk, “and Dorea Black had
a son who would be your grandfather.”
Harry blinked and leaned forward to peer at the names. “You mean we’re… Ew.”
Draco looked affronted but sighed and forced the expression from his face,
deliberately replacing it with amusement. “You didn’t know?”
“No,” Harry said bluntly.
“All purebloods are related somehow,” Alastor said, still looking at the
tapestry suspiciously.
Draco almost laughed. “The Potters are also related to the Moodys somewhere
along the lines,” he sneered.
“Why isn’t that or my grandfather on the tree then?” Harry asked.
“Your family grew too light,” Draco muttered. “It wouldn’t have been
respectable for the Blacks to continue flouting the allegiance. As for the
Moodys,” he smirked, “they were always too light.”
“That we were,” Alastor agreed. “Now, what is it that’s wrong with this
tapestry?”
“Nothing…except that the dates don’t make sense for Regulus’ death,” Harry
answered.
Draco was quiet.
“I hate these bloody dark artefacts,” Alastor growled. He looked at the boys.
“You pair had better have breakfast. I don’t want you coming near this tapestry
again until I know what’s wrong with it. It doesn’t feel right.”
Draco and Harry nodded and allowed Alastor to usher them out of the room. The
adult kept his magical eye fixed on the family tree until they were all
downstairs. “And remember,” he said gruffly. “Constant vigilance.”
Harry laughed and nodded before following Draco into the kitchen. The blonde
sat himself at the table and glowered.
“You’re not eating with us?” Harry asked from the doorway.
“No. I’m going to have a word with Sirius about that tree and then I’m going up
to the attic.”
“The attic? What’s in there?”
“Jessa is,” the man answered gruffly. Harry nodded and took a seat beside
Draco.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, noticed Draco’s scowl.
Draco looked up. “Can you keep a secret?” He frowned at Harry’s affronted look.
“Can I tell you without you repeating this to Mad Eye?”
“I’ll give you my Oath if you would like,” Harry said warningly.
Draco’s face softened. “I didn’t-”
“Hey, relax Baby,” Harry said reassuringly. “I’m sorry, what’s wrong?”
Draco looked at him for a pause. “Jessa was on the tree,” he said slowly, “but
I couldn’t read the dates. They kept disappearing when I tried to read them.”
***** Blasted Elves and Filthy Aurors *****

Author's notes: Wherein Kreecher tells Moody off.
===============================================================================
This is pretty angsty and saccarine in different parts but you'll later find
there's a point to this. Don't worry, I don't expect there to be much sweet or
overly angsty about the next chapter. That said, I'm still tweaking it lol. JKR
and the Potterverse hand in hand and all that jazz.
To Alastor’s surprise, it only took an alohomora to open the first door to the
attic. He kept his wand out as he quietly and carefully made his way up the
stairs. He did not bother attempting to be silent as he had felt a tingle of
magic that indicated he had stepped through wards, but there was no need for
him to clomp about drawing attention to himself.
There was a crackling sound as he reached the top of the stairs and the final
door swung slightly ajar. Moody did not like this. He used his wand to urge the
door open and carefully stepped through.
The blasted Black elf was stood in the middle of the room, facing him in
appraisal. Jessa was behind the creature, curled up on a spacious window seat
and occupied with something that she held in her hands. She looked up in
surprise at the sound of Alastor’s wooden leg on the varnished floor.
She stood up hurriedly, looking nervous as she smoothed her clothing with one
hand and continued to worry the object in her other hand with her fingers. “I-”
The elf waved his hand at her to command her silence. Alastor watched the
girl’s mouth slip shut and felt a mixture of surprise and apprehension. He knew
it was true that Jessa was inordinately fond of the bitter house elf but it was
unheard of for anyone of wizarding blood, and especially never a pureblood, to
take orders from a mere house elf…and it was equally unheard of for a house elf
to make such an order. None of this served to alleviate Moody’s rising
disquiet.
Kreecher stepped forwards, pulling his withered torso up to the fullest of his
diminutive height. His eyes were narrowed at Alastor. “I is doing my job in
caring for my Mistress but she is trusting you. You should be being honoured to
be trusted by the great Mistress of the House of Black but you isn’t doing your
job!” Jessa made a noise that was impatiently waved away by the old elf. “She
is needing proper care,” Kreecher insisted darkly.
Jessa bit her lip. Somehow sensing her inner conflict the elf turned to look at
her. “You is best going over there and amusing yourself with puzzle, Miss. I is
needing to talk to your filthy auror.”
Jessa opened her mouth again to protest Moody’s title but seemed to think
better of it, casting an apologetic look at the man before retreating to the
other end of the attic, where she curled on her side against a bundle of worn
silks and tried to occupy herself with the contraption in her hands. She shot
regular anxious looks up at the pair.
Alastor stared at the teenage girl with a great deal of disquiet. Her subdued
behaviour reminded him more of a timid little nine year old that he had babysat
in the very distant past rather than the bouncy, exuberant brat he was fond of.
“What’s wrong with her?” he asked quietly.
“Mistress is hurting,” Kreecher said simply.
“She’s like…a child,” Alastor said.
The house elf gave him an abnormally frank look. “You got training to deal with
victims of *trauma* and *regression*, didn’t you?”
Alastor turned away from the creature’s fierce eyes and observed Jessa, who was
quietly fiddling with the complex puzzle with a look of absorbed concentration.
“What the hell happened to her?”
“You knew she was damaged,” Kreecher said.
“What?”
“She was damaged when you met her,” the elf continued.
“But she’s worse,” Alastor protested. “Look at her!” There was something awful
about the placid girl sitting amongst old trunks and broken treasures.
“You’s held her in your lap before hasn’t you?” Kreecher said.
“She needed…” Alastor trailed off. “What’s *happened*?”
“It’s not being that bad,” Kreecher announced. “Mistress is being much worse
before.”
Alastor’s frustration was growing. “How?” he demanded.
Kreecher was not going to answer that. “She is just being stressed now,” he
said, “and…” The elf trailed off and gazed at the teen. “She’s miserable,” he
said, “and she won’t tell me why.”
Alastor stared at the odd house elf for a long moment before crossing over to
where the girl was kneeling on a tattered curtain.
“Jessa.”
The girl quickly put the puzzle down and looked up, although her fingers
remained on the charmed object.
“Are you alright?” Moody asked softly.
Jessa looked surprised. “I’m fine,” she said, sounding tired and unhappy, but
rueful enough that Alastor felt relief rush through his entire body. She was
still…real. His Jessa. Not some odd adolescent-child that he couldn’t
recognise.
“You don’t seem alright,” he said.
Her eyes stayed sad but her lips twitched. “I’m just feeling a bit bleak just
now,” she said. “I’ll survive. I always manage.”
“What are you doing up here?” Alastor asked.
Jessa shrugged, lifting her hand away from the puzzle. “It’s quiet up here,”
she said. “No one comes up here.”
“You were hiding?”
“Just trying not to think,” Jessa said quietly. “I didn’t want to be around
anyone.”
“Why?” Alastor asked gently.
“I’m just feeling low,” Jessa muttered. “It’ll pass.”
“Whelp?”
“Yeah?”
“What happened…when you were with *them*? Were you hurt?”
“No, I just…I hurt someone else,” she muttered.
“You were on a raid?”
“No! I…Tom warned me not to do it, you know. He is fairly dangerous, but I’m
not very scared of him.”
“Voldemort warned you not to do something?” Alastor said, managing to keep his
voice low enough that it was not an exclamation.
“I couldn’t *not* do it though,” Jessa said, sounding resigned. “I just want
him so much…I only feel right when I’m with *him*.”
“Voldemort?” Alastor queried weakly.
“What? No!” Jessa looked thoughtful. “There’s something magnetic about *him*
though, sure, but not like…how it is -*was*- with… You know?” The brightness
slid off her face again.
No, he didn’t know. Alastor reached down to smooth the teen’s hair. At his
touch Jessa’s expression wobbled even more and her shoulders jumped in one
heavy, involuntary tremble. Alastor dropped to his knees and Jessa launched
herself at him. She pressed her face into the side of his neck; her eyes closed
tightly, and deeply inhaled his reassuring, masculine scent. “I fucked up,” she
gasped.
“Me too,” he said, rubbing her back soothingly.
She opened her eyes in confusion and pulled back a little, but not enough to
see his face. “What?”
“I was too preoccupied with trying to take the fight out of you… I forgot to
take care of you, whelp.”
Jessa snorted, but there was a smile on her face. “I didn’t expect you to take
care of me. That you care at all is more than I had ever expected.”
“And that’s what I’d forgotten,” Alastor answered, with a different gruffness
to his voice than usual. “I had focused on your strong will and your magic and
I lost sight of… Of the kid who was shocked that we took care not to stand on
you when we couldn’t see you… the kid who steals my shirts and snuggled up to
me at night to keep the nightmares at bay.”
Jessa snorted again.
Alastor pulled her away from him to look at her, and managed a wry grin.
“What?”
Jessa hesitantly leaned forward and kissed the part of Moody’s nose where he’d
once explained a Rosier had hexed. “I’m just so grateful that I’ve got you Mad
Eye, but I don’t think I ever realised it before. I really care about you, ya
know.”
“Course you do,” the ex-auror said, “we’re in this together. We’ll work
something out.” He began to stand up and offered her his hand.
Jessa giggled and took it, standing up and letting the puzzle tumble to the
floor. “You kick ass, Mad Eye.”
“You know it,” Moody agreed, only sounding slightly bemused by her phrasing.
“Come on, it’s no use moping in here.”
Jessa looked at him and smiled, letting him lead her by the hand down the
stairs, when they were startled by a crack of misplaced air.
***** Clocks and Questions *****

Author's notes: Wherein Lucius appears unexpectedly at Grimmauld Place.
===============================================================================
Well. Of all the things Alastor anticipated on hearing the crack of apparition
with Number 12 –Dumbledore, Lupin, a Weasley, Lord Voldemort…- it certainly had
not been a gobsmacked Lucius Malfoy. Malfoy by himself was one thing, but
Malfoy with his mouth open was another.
Said Malfoy’s mouth snapped closed within a fraction of a second and he
regarded Mad Eye and his daughter holding hands with a deliberately unruffled
demeanour.
“Jessamine?” he said calmly.
“Father?” Jessa said warily.
The man glanced pointedly at the linked hands and raised one perfect brow in
question.
Alastor dropped the small hand and pointed his wand at the Malfoy sire. “What
d’you think you’re doing here and how the bloody hell did you get past the
wards?”
Lucius blinked slowly to indicate his surprise. “I should think,” he said,
“that *I* should be the one requesting such information from yourself. *I* am
keyed into the wards of course.” He looked to his daughter. “You are neither at
school not in the company of your kind. I do so hope you will explain
yourself.”
“I am in my mother’s house,” Jessa answered slowly. “Who keyed you to the
wards?”
“Your mother of course,” Lucius answered, narrowing his eyes at Alastor. “But
you have not explained your *friend’s* presence.”
“Dumbledore would not let me visit my home unescorted,” Jessa replied.
“Then wherever is Severus? I was under the distinct impression you were in His
company.”
“Oh I was,” Jessa answered, “but it was necessary to bring me here. Severus and
his colleague are present until I return with them to the school.”
“Whysoever would you require two escorts?”
“Father surely you recognise a sign of respect? Malfoy is a particularly noble
linage.”
Lucius nodded, his demeanour affecting graciousness although his eyes remained
cold. “I would so like to see Severus.”
Jessa tilted her head. “I expect he’s… in the kitchen,” she said slowly.
“Splendid,” Lucius answered, turning and leading them further downstairs to the
room. Jessa followed, taking slight comfort from Alastor’s presence and
wondering how she could possibly warn Draco and his lover to stay out of sight.
Surprisingly, Severus was indeed in the kitchen and looked up upon the opening
of the door. “Lucius,” he said. “Whatever are you doing here?”
“I came to ascertain the wellbeing of my daughter,” Lucius replied as he took a
seat at the table.
Severus glanced at the teenager who had halted awkwardly in the doorframe.
“What made you believe her wellbeing was in question?”
Lucius looked momentarily uncomfortable as he glanced to and quickly away from
Moody. “The family clock,” he admitted brusquely.
Severus’ lip curled. “*You* have a family clock?”
Lucius gave him a cold look. “I do. And as the godfather of my son *you* have
been on it since the day of the ceremony.”
Severus’ face betrayed none of his shock but he crossed the room and sat down
at the table.
“So you understand my dilemma?” Lucius inquired.
“Where did you get enough of my blood to add me to your family clock?”
“I used the blood we used to identify you during Draco’s ceremony,” Lucius
answered, clicking his fingers casually to summon Kreacher.
Severus scowled at the Malfoy’s nonchalance. “Why would you add me to that
thing anyway?”
Lucius looked up. “Because you’re part of my family, Severus,” he answered as
though he found Severus’ question mildly perplexing. “Firewhiskey,” he said
abruptly to the house elf.
Alastor cleared his throat. “Should I take Jessa out of the way Snape?”
“Certainly,” Severus agreed dismissively.
When Lucius felt sure Alastor was out of the way he performed a silencing spell
and said, “I’ve had a clock on you since your first year.”
“Whatever for?” Severus demanded, not bothering to hide his appal.
“You were always getting into scrapes with those blood-traitors Black and
Potter,” Lucius sniffed. “I had to be sure you were safe. Besides, you were
always in an absolutely foul mood after your altercations with those mongrels.
You were never open to my advances on those days.”
“I was never *open* to your advances Lucius,” Severus snapped, “and those
‘altercations’ occurred daily.”
“Yes,” said Lucius, completely ignoring Severus’ first statement, “but I only
really considered them to be a problem when they hurt you. You tended to be
close to gleeful when *you* hurt *them*.” Lucius smiled. “On *those* days you
were fairly perceptible to my charms.”
Severus glowered and chose to ignore Lucius’ comment. “Family clocks hardly
seem fitting of a man of your status Lucius.”
Lucius’ leer deflated. “No,” he agreed. “You can’t imagine my displeasure at
having to admit to one in front of that *man*. I can’t believe Dumbledore
presumed so far as to send him here. The affront of it, Severus!”
“Dumbledore presumes a great many things,” Severus said calmly. “Do stop being
tiresome Lucius.”
Lucius scowled and crossed one leg over the other. “*Fine*,” he huffed. “Fine,
Severus, but I really don’t think I should have to explain myself. Keeping an
eye on my family is what any Head of Family should do.”
“And I thought only blood-traitors used them,” Severus said almost cheerfully,
taking a sip from the glass Kreecher had placed before him.
“But for quite different reasons!” Lucius declared. “It’s disgusting, having
more than three children in this day and age, just look what it’s done to the
figure of that Prewett Weasley married. I have a clock as a precaution; *those*
sorts have them as a necessity to keep track of their litter.”
“So what made you think Jessamine needed you?”
Lucius rolled his eyes in irritation and took an object from his pocket, which
he unshrunk and placed on the table. It was a beautiful contraption with two
faces, a smaller one on top of the larger, and with eight hands that were
pointing at various dials. Four of the hands were silver filigree and short,
declaring that Narcissa was ‘at the spa’ and that Severus was ‘with Lucius’,
whilst the silver hands for Jessa and Draco were slowly moving. The other four
hands were ornate gold and branched out from behind the smaller clock face.
Jessa’s gold hand was hovering between ‘confused’ and ‘unhappy’.
Lucius tapped the glass that covered the faces. “It’s been stuck at ‘needs her
father’ all morning.”
Severus glanced at his own gold hand. It was sitting at ‘low’. Lucius had this
sort of information at his hands whenever he wanted to look?
“Severus.”
The man looked up from the charmed object and was surprised to find himself
looking into Lucius’ widened eyes. It was a rare expression, but one he
recognised regardless. This was Lucius’ genuine look; not the deliberately
‘genuine’ look, but the one Lucius never directly admitted to adopting.
“I don’t carry it about with me,” Lucius murmured, trying to sound casual but a
sliver of earnestness finding its way to Severus’ ears. Severus was silent but
held the blonde’s eyes.
“I did when we were…younger,” Lucius admitted carefully. “I had one just for
you… I got your blood from after breaking up one of your fights with Black when
I was perfecting. I used it, of course I did. But I know you better now…and
you’re a private person, Severus. I knew you wouldn’t approve so I cut down my
use of the thing to only when I was worried about you-”
Severus made a noise. Lucius raised his eyebrows. “Of course I worried about
you. You never tell me what’s going on. If something’s affected you I have to
find out by your mannerisms –and you’re a fucking difficult man to read.”
Severus’ lips quirked as Lucius cursed. Lucius gave a small smile, different
from his usual extravagantly charming model.
“I don’t spy on you,” Lucius said quietly. “But I did get you put on my family
clock because,” Lucius almost hesitated, and Severus recognised the almost-
slip, “you are important to me.”
“What made you look at the clock now?”
“I just had an odd feeling,” Lucius admitted sourly, unpleased about admitting
such a thing. “Something’s going on with Dumbledore and the Dark Lord in
regards to Jessamine and I’ve been keeping my ears open on the matter… However
this morning I was strongly taken with the need to check the clock. When I got
to the vault the hand was pointing at ‘needs someone’…” Lucius trailed off and
his eyes narrowed when he saw Severus was still listening. “So I went to our
mutual friend to discover she was not there…Nor was she at Hogwarts… Then the
hand moved to needs me and I came here. I couldn’t think of anywhere else she
might be. In truth I hadn’t expected the wards to let me in after Walburga’s
death: I was sure her husband would have done something about it… Of course
when I got here, the clock was no longer reading needs father…”
Severus ignored the increasingly flamboyant fluctuations in Lucius’ voice as a
sign Lucius was more comfortable with the conversation’s direction and instead
considered the man’s words.
“Severus?” Lucius asked, a brightness blossoming in his tone that indicated his
masks were back in place.
“Yes Lucius?”
“Something’s happening with my daughter, isn’t there?”
“What do you mean?”
Lucius sighed theatrically. “Well He seems to find the issue to be some form of
entertainment and I need hardly mention that the Old Fool is meddling with his
failing to mention my daughter’s presence here, and his passive-aggressive
refusal to let me speak with my own child.”
Severus’ lips curled again. Lucius nodded, not quite pouting.
“Do you know what’s upsetting her?” Lucius asked, surprising his companion.
Severus replied with a negative.
“Find out for me,” Lucius declared. Severus’ gaze fell on the little golden
hand which hovered over ‘comforted’ but continued to flicker towards
‘miserable’. He inclined his head mutely.
“I should go,” Lucius decided, offhandedly rising to leave.
“Lucius,” Severus said. The blonde stilled. “When did you put Jessamine on the
clock?”
“The first week that she stayed at the manor,” Lucius answered nonchalantly. He
stepped towards the door but paused at the frame. “What about you?” he
commented, facing the door.
Severus made a non-committal noise to dismiss Lucius’ comment.
“You’re troubled,” Lucius sighed. “Are you going to tell me why?”
Severus pinched the bridge of his nose. “My sordid life just became more so
Lucius. That is all.”
Lucius glanced around curiously. “You know how I adore to gossip Severus,” he
said, which was as close as he knew Severus would tolerate to ‘do you want to
talk about it?’
“I just forgot myself,” Severus drawled.
Lucius’ features twitched. “Does this have something to do with…that woman?”
“Lucius,” Severus said heavily. “Not now.”
“You’re coming to eat with us in a few days’ time,” Lucius said shrewdly.
Severus growled.
Lucius opened the door and the silencing wards fell at his direction. “Take
care Severus.”
Severus curled his lips, baring his teeth sardonically, and inclined his head.
Unfortunately, Draco and Harry had not been warned away from the kitchen as
they had disappeared off for a cuddle and some light-hearted conversation (and
a bit of groping too). So with the spectacular luck that Harry was accustomed
to, he clattered happily down the stairs with Draco only to stop dead at the
sight of his lover’s father.
Who stared. “Severus?” he said lightly. “Did you know about this?”
Severus sighed and picked up his wand.
***** When To Not Know Or Think *****

Author's notes: Wherein Draco's world is rocked by a surprisingly mundane
interaction.
===============================================================================
Draco swallowed. His hand was entwined with Harry’s but he didn’t dare drop it
in case that drew attention to it. He could tell that Harry was torn between
flat out refusing to let go and actually letting go for Draco’s sake by the way
Harry’s fingers kept tensing and loosening.
“Draco,” Lucius said slowly. “Don’t tell me Dumbledore has you performing some
inter-house bonding.”
Draco swallowed again and inclined his head calmly.
“Actually,” Harry began strongly. Lucius dragged his eyes along to the young
man slowly.
Lucius held up his hand as Harry opened his mouth to continue. The blonde made
a dismissive gesture and eyed the pair critically. “Severus?” he said easily.
“Yes Lucius?”
“This is precisely what it looks like, isn’t it?”
Severus said nothing, considering the likely reactions of his godson if he
simply obliviated Lucius.
“Yes,” Lucius decided. “It is.” He sighed. “Draco, are you certain this is your
safest decision?”
“I’ll look after him,” Harry interrupted fiercely.
Lucius looked him over coolly. “You’re a boy.”
“Boy-who-lived,” Harry retorted, deliberately magnifying the sneer he’d seen so
often on Draco's lips.
Lucius allowed his lips to momentarily quirk in amusement. His expression
swiftly grew serious. “If you endanger my heir Potter, let me warn you that I
know spells much worse than the cruciatus that will take much longer to drive
you insane.”
Harry stuck out his hand and grinned tauntingly. “Deal.”
Lucius gazed at the half-blood’s hand with clear disgust. He gave a sneer and
waved his hand dismissively.
His eyes met his son’s. “You will still produce a legitimate heir before you
dare bond with this creature,” he said finally.
Draco nodded, managing to hide his shock only because of the depth of his
Malfoy training.
Lucius nodded. He turned to look at Severus. “Sev? Do what you do best, won’t
you?”
“Poison?” Harry muttered to Draco. Draco shook his head with a half-smile.
Severus stood beside Lucius and met his eyes questioningly.
“This is not a memory that’s conductive to anyone’s well-being,” Lucius
drawled. “I want it dealt with.” He smirked and leaned in towards Severus’ ear.
“When you modify my memory…make it a good one.”
Severus glanced at the two boys. “Get out of sight, and keep out of sight,
until Lucius is gone.”
Without argument, Draco dragged Harry further downstairs, giving Severus a
lingering glance before he left. Severus sneered and waved them away with his
hand.
Draco threw Harry into the pantry and spelled the door closed, his blood
pounding in his ears.
“Did that really happen?” Harry murmured.
Draco didn’t reply. He forced himself up against his lover and crashed their
mouths together. His heart rate was frantic, but slowing to that of lust. He’d
never expected his pulse to *slow* to the rapid pounding of blood that was
produced every time he inhaled Harry’s scent and tasted his skin.
Draco didn’t want to think. He was scared. He was confused. Harry’s hands were
on his ass, pulling him into Harry’s prominent hard-on.
This was exquisite. Harry was sliding down the wall to kneel, pressed up
against the brickwork, and uncovered Draco’s own member to lavish it with
attention. Fuck.
This was ecstasy. The usual touch of Draco’s Harry was bliss, but this risk and
this fear and this –fuck, just, yeah, *fuck*- was insanity. Exquisitely
tortured not-bliss. This was mortal. This was hedonistic and dangerous and
lethal and Harry understood. Harry was sucking him off better than Draco had
ever been sucked off in Draco’s entire life, because Harry understood that
Draco mustn’t think…
***** Entering Regulus' Room *****

Author's notes: Wherein...well I'm sure you can figure this one out.
===============================================================================
Harry had noticed that Draco remained nervous long after Lucius Malfoy had
left. They’d spent hours in the pantry, trying to alleviate Draco’s worry -and,
if Harry was being honest, Harry’s own worry too. The odd interaction with the
senior Malfoy had made it real for the first time that there were actual lives
in the balance over this ridiculous Voldemort thing, and that had penetrated
Harry deeply. The thought of losing Draco –to the sadism of death eaters no
less- made Harry feel very uncomfortable, and if he really thought about it,
sort of sick in his gut.
So he wasn’t dwelling on it. Instead he was trying to take care of the blonde
boy who had turned his world upside down, introduced him to sex, became his
reason to smile in the morning, and who he was really still discovering as a
person.
Taking care of Draco and relieving him of his worries however, was not quite so
simple as it would probably be for anyone not born with Harry Potter’s luck.
There are really only so many consecutive bouts of sex anyone can partake in
(even teenage boys) before something more is needed. Draco had sexually been
sated –and Harry was fucking shattered and his ass hurt actually- but it was
clear from Draco’s quietness and strained expression now that his stomach was
churning with dread.
“Hey Dray Baby?”
Draco looked up with what was for him a rather listless expression. He’d been
perched uncomfortably on the edge of the bed the entire time they’d spent in
their room. He made an answering noise that was almost a grunt (although of
course, even then it would have been a Pureblooded sort of diluted grunt.
“Want to go ask Sirius about Regulus?”
Interest flickered in Draco’s eyes.
“C’mon,” Harry said, getting up and taking Draco’s hand. Draco glanced at the
hand as he took it. Harry was always taking his hand and it felt different from
the way Pansy did. That was, when she took his hand at all, as she usually hung
onto his arm or dragged him around by the wrist. As much as Pansy was a friend,
she used him like an expensive handbag for his aesthetics and prestige. When
Harry held his hand…it was nothing like that at all. Draco hadn’t anything to
compare it to.
He smiled and allowed the Gryffindor to lead him down to the lounge, where
Sirius and James were making the most of having the prominent frame in the room
by taunting the Black ancestors whose portraits had refused to be removed when
the room had been cleared of dark artefacts.
The two men smiled widely at Harry in greeting before bestowing mild but
welcoming smiles to the pureblood that Harry had following him obediently.
“We wanted to ask you something Sirius,” Harry said.
“What’s that then Harry me boy?” Sirius replied, oblivious to James
transfiguring his hair into short pastel pink curls.
Harry stifled a smile and said, “We wanted to know what you meant by Jessa
doing a Reg?”
Sirius faded a little. “You remember I told you I had a little brother
Regulus?”
Harry nodded slowly.
Sirius sighed. “It turned out he wasn’t the death eating bitch I thought. I
paid his portrait a visit and…I’d misjudged him. Although there’s not much
sense in him now.”
“What happened?” Harry asked.
Sirius shrugged his shoulders. “He was pretty far gone by the time I’d
returned, and he just got worse.”
“He hasn’t spoke the entire time we’ve been here,” James added.
“Well,” Sirius said reluctantly, “not to us at least. He might still be talking
to Jessa. He used to when I was alive.”
“What about?” Draco asked.
Sirius shrugged. “Anything and everything probably…” He glanced at them
seriously. “You both know about Jessa..?”
Harry shrugged back. “We know that she lived here alone with Kreecher for a
while.”
“Right,” sighed Sirius. “So…for a long time, Reg was the only human contact I
expect she had.”
“The portrait of him?” Draco asked.
Sirius gave the Malfoy an odd look. “Of course. So anyway, with them being
alone together, I expect her head’s full of whatever was going on in his.”
“Which was?” Harry asked.
Sirius hesitated, and James supplied, “We’re not totally sure –like Padfoot
says, Regulus is fairly gone by now… But we know that he had been in with
Voldemort, and then he did something that screwed the dark lord over.”
“Not that we understand entirely what,” Sirius grumbled. “But Dumbledore seems
to have the jist of it.”
“You didn’t ask?” Harry said.
Sirius shook his head slowly. “I…don’t really want to know what happened. Not
after everything, you know…”
“Could we talk to him?” Draco asked.
Harry glanced quickly at his lover but Sirius held up a hand. “Sure,” he said.
“You can try. He’s in his room, the one beside mine.”
“The curses have been taken off the door but it’s still warded,” James said
helpfully.
“A lot of it’s Jessa’s magic,” Sirius said, “but I don’t think she’ll let you
in. you’ll need to just break through.”
“Why wouldn’t she let us in?” Draco asked.
“She’s grieving?” James suggested.
“I think that’s only the brink of it,” Sirius said darkly.
Harry sighed. “It won’t kill us to take a look, right?” he said, beginning to
leave.
“I certainly hope not,” Draco muttered, reluctantly following. His head spun
round as the portraits occupants were silent. “It won’t, right?”
“No,” James said.
“But be careful of Jessa,” Sirius said. “She’d never kill you but…she got a bit
hysterical whenever she saw me near him. Worse than she got when anyone went
against Kreecher.”
“What are you talking about?” Draco asked.
“Jessamine was still quite young when everyone died,” Sirius said slowly. “She
grew up raised by Kreecher and my …mother… and brother’s portraits. She has
slightly more…respect…for Kreecher than most purebloods would. Although Reg was
always quite fond of Kreecher for some reason.”
Draco bit his lip and left, urging Harry up the stairs quickly. It took a
while, but they managed to get the wards to allow them into Regulus’ room.
The room had been incredibly beautiful. Easily as beautiful as Draco’s was now.
There was a disused feel to the room however, and it seemed cooler than the
rest of the house, despite being so many floors up. There was a beautiful bed
with ornately carved wood, but the velvet curtains were folded over the
footboard instead of hanging around the bed. The wooden hoops once used to hold
the curtains up were stacked in towers at the foot of the bed.
Harry walked further inside. There was a Black family crest painted over the
bed, except that someone had painted the hounds black, and put a red and gold
striped tie around one.
Draco reluctantly stepped into the room and glanced over the newspaper
clippings covering so much of the walls.
The bedding was crumpled on one side. Harry noticed something sticking out from
beneath one of the discarded embroidered pillowcases. He moved the material
aside, absently noticing the tear, and picked up what turned out to be a pile
of newspaper clippings about his parents’ death, the Lestranges’ convictions,
and Sirius’ own conviction.
“Draco?” Harry murmured. The teen looked over quickly at the distressed tone.
Harry mutely handed over the clippings.
As Draco perused them, Jessa walked slowly through the doorway. “What are you
doing?” she whispered.
Harry spun around as Draco attempted not to look awkward.
“We…came to see Regulus,” Harry said.
“Why?” Jessa asked shortly.
“We…wanted to understand what was going on.”
“Understand? You could have asked me.”
“Would you have told us?” Harry retorted.
“No! With good reason.” Jessa was trembling. The air was thickening with her
magic.
“Reign that in, will you?!” Draco exclaimed after a while.
Harry glanced at his lover. “Self-preservation instinct?”
Draco gave him a rarely used expression and slowly stepped towards Jessa. “Pull
that in, *now*.”
“Can’t,” Jessa gasped. She waved her hand frantically towards a curtain on the
wall.
Harry nervously went over and moved the material aside. He revealed Regulus’
portrait.
Regulus stared at the now very pale Jessa. He made an odd slashing signal with
his hands then opened them in a questioning gesture but Jessa shook her head
frantically, before stumbling and falling to her knees as her legs buckled
beneath her. She panted and stared into Regulus’ eyes as Draco and Harry felt
the magic recede.
“Fuck,” Jessa whispered at last. As Draco and Harry eyed her nervously she
glanced up at them with controlled rage. “What the fuck are yous doing in
here?” She sighed and made no move to stand up. “If you were *anyone else* I’d
have *slaughtered you*!”
***** Lineage and Low Blows *****

Author's notes: Wherein Draco surprises Jessa with a skill taught by his aunt.
===============================================================================
Draco eyed Jessa’s discomposure disparagingly and went to sit as collectedly as
he could on Regulus Black’s bed. “What the fuck is wrong with you?” he snapped.
“You know you do not *ever* let your magic embarrass you!”
“And it wouldn’t have if you had kept well away from where you weren’t
welcome,” Jessa retorted, her dark tone lessened by the overlying fatigue in
her voice.
Draco swept his arms around to encompass the room. “This!” he scoffed. “What is
so important about *this* that makes it so difficult for you to contain your
magic that you can’t even keep your footing?”
Jessa’s eyes tightened half-heartedly to indicate her annoyance. “You’re not
supposed to be here,” she said jadedly. “You’re not welcome.”
Harry hovered between Regulus’ portrait and Jessa, his gaze flickering back and
forth between Draco, Jessa and Regulus. Regulus had stopped gesturing violently
but was shooting vicious looks at the intruders in between the mildly concerned
looks he was giving Jessa.
“Why not?” Harry asked.
Jessa swallowed. “No one’s allowed in here,” she said. Her voice trailed off
for a moment until she added, “And I don’t want yous here either.”
“Why not?” Draco demanded irritably.
Harry intercepted before Jessa could reply. “Are you alright?” he asked her
softly.
Jessa closed her mouth and nodded.
“Why aren’t we allowed in here yet you seem to be?” Draco asked curtly.
“I’m family,” Jessa said softly.
“As am I,” Draco said sharply. “My Mother is your brother’s cousin and Harry is
your mother’s cousin twice removed.” At Harry’s perplexed look Draco explained,
“My Mother is Regulus’ cousin which makes me his cousin removed by one
generation. Likewise, as your grandfather was the cousin of Jessa’s mother,
your father was my Great Aunt Walburga’s cousin once removed; making you her
cousin twice removed; and Jessa’s second cousin once removed. Don’t they teach
you half-bloods anything about your lineage?”
“Why empower them?” Jessa said insightfully as she pulled herself to her feet,
her legs still somewhat wobbly.
“What?” Harry said.
“Most half-bloods are left naïve of their genetic inheritance by purebloods to
prevent half-bloods using the prestige of their linage to any effect that could
be disadvantageous to the pure,” Jessa explained. As Harry absorbed this she
waved to gain Regulus’ attention and said, “This is the son of my father.” She
waved her hand to indicate Harry. “And the lover of my father’s son.”
Regulus looked much less dangerous. Then he met Jessa’s eyes and slipped into
her mind.
‘Are you alright?’ was the first thing he said.
‘Yes,’ she answered.
‘You’re very tired though.’
She smiled wryly. ‘Yes.’
‘You care for these boys then?’
‘Yes,’ was her uncomfortable reply.
‘You do not want to talk about this now?’
‘I’m not sure if I’m even allowed to be here just now.’
‘You are always welcome here.’
‘But I don’t know whether the auror currently permits it. I am in disgrace.’
‘Whatever for? More dark magic?’
‘Not exactly.’
‘What are you hiding from me?’
The sharp, perceptive sound of her Regulus in her thoughts made her ill at
ease. ‘It doesn’t matter.’
‘Oh really?’ came Regulus’ highly disbelieving reply.
Jessa did not reply.
‘Are you going to tell me why it took longer than usual to pull back your magic
when it reacted to your intruders?’
‘You know that my whole core was screaming at me to protect this place.’
‘You know I expected your struggle,’ Regulus answered. ‘That does not explain
the lengthy duration of it.’
Jessa sighed. ‘I haven’t exactly been using my magic,’ she admitted
reluctantly. ‘Only for a day or so! But because I hadn’t used any I got taken
by surprise when it all poured out.’
‘What’s going on?’
‘I’ll tell you some other time okay?’
Reg sighed. ‘Take the little frame from my side table with you.’
‘Sure. Thanks,’ Jessa said slowly.
‘Love you little sister.’
Regulus had left her mind and Jessa smiled at little at the portrait. She blew
him a fond kiss and, taking the frame, left the room, sharply indicating that
Draco and Harry do the same. The boys left behind her, the cuttings from the
bed stuffed in Draco’s pocket.
The moment they had all stepped outside the wards crashed back into place
behind them. The door swung closed loudly.
“What were you saying to him?” Draco demanded.
“Nothing,” Jessa said.
Draco’s eyes narrowed and he stared her down. To her shock he pushed through
her defences and she had to quickly push him back. With some difficulty she
pushed Draco out of her head and stared in horror at him, not quite meeting his
eyes. “That was *sore*!” she snapped in rebuke, rubbing her head and demanding,
“Where the hell did you learn *that*?”
“Aunt Bella taught me,” Draco answered.
“You let Great Cousin *Bella* into your head?”
Draco sneered. “What’s the matter? Jealous that she was first into the dark
lord’s bed?”
“Get fucked, Malfoy,” Jessa snarled, pushing past the boy and storming down the
stairs.
“What are you doing?” Harry said. “That was low and she’s your sister –go after
her!”
“Since when did you care?” Draco demanded.
“Since when did I let you just badmouth my friends? If you don’t go after her
you are *not* getting any tonight.”
“Since when were you two *friends*?” Draco grumbled, stopping down the stairs
with as much decorum as possible.
***** Simmering And Sadism *****

Author's notes: it's short. i know. jkr's rights etc. mumble mumble. listening
to skillet :D
===============================================================================
It was not the Sunday night that Draco had envisioned earlier that weekend. So
he had offended Jessa. She was family. He was allowed to do that.
Her eyes had glittered dangerously when he went after her, but she’d accepted
his apology, albeit stiffly. She seemed surprised that he had apologised, and
that he had gone after her at all, but she hid the surprise well enough that
most would not have seen it. She had said in a low, measured tone –that sounded
a little stilted, emotion making her voice a little tight- that he shouldn’t
worry about what he said to her. That they were family and that she was not
going to take any slight to heart.
Harry, on the other hand, had hardly been overjoyed with the incident and was
yet to forgive it. He was taking it all much more seriously than Jessa was. Far
too seriously.
He was permitting touching, and kissing, but he was not initiating any of the
kissing. His indifference had dissuaded Draco from pursuing anything more
intimate.
Well. Draco had attempted to apologise with a blowjob, but Harry had sighed,
kissed him and said that wasn’t the point. Whatever that was supposed to mean.
Draco did not understand why Harry was insisting on making this an issue. It
must be his ‘saving people’ thing.
Which might not necessarily be a bad thing. If Harry was making such a big deal
out of this, then there was a fairly good chance that he’d be willing to put
himself between the Slytherins and the Dark Lord.
It was frustrating how that thought grew less pleasant every day. Harry was not
necessarily going to *die* after all. And if he did, he would be sacrificing
himself for the good of a lot of people.
Draco was not thinking about the option where Harry Potter dies and the Dark
Lord reigns supreme.
But Harry not grinding into Draco, and hadn’t all morning. Or last night. And
this was truly bothering Draco.
It was just about the sex. It was.
And since when were Harry and Jessa best friends anyway? Harry had been
laughing and joking with Jessa all day, and most of last evening too.
“Lighten up, little brother,” Jessa said, flopping down beside him and wincing
a little.
Draco scowled. Well at least someone here had a sore arse.
“I’m not your little brother,” he snapped. “I’m your *big* brother.”
“If you say so,” Jessa sang cheerfully. “Now, why the scowl?”
“Because I haven’t put out this morning,” Harry said.
“That’s not very fair,” Jessa commented.
“He’s learning to play nice,” Harry said.
“Aww,” Jessa said. “But you’ll give him some by tonight, right?”
“Sure. I’m not a sadist,” Harry agreed.
Draco was torn between being disturbed by his lover discussing their sex life
with Jessa, *his sister*, and the slowly rising glee at the revelation that he
would be getting some before the day was through. Draco settled for a
disbelieving noise in reply to Harry’s ‘not a sadist’ comment.
***** Crowding *****

Author's notes: Wherein Neville's not as unobservant as assumed.
===============================================================================
Harry sighed to himself. It’s not as if his life was ever easy now, was it? Ron
and Hermione were crowding him, intent on finding out where he had been, and
what was going on. Neville and the others were intent on learning just that
also, but were being much less intrusive about it. Neville was being much less
intrusive because that was his nature, whilst Seamus and Dean were distracting
themselves with some obscure debate about an equally obscure quidditch player.
Harry got the feeling that Ron would quite like to add something to Dean and
Seamus’ conversation but was too resolved to get answers first. Unfortunately,
if Harry actually told them the truth then chances were Ron wouldn’t slope off
and launch into the quidditch debate –the volume of which was increasing by the
minute- as he wanted but would instead start a debate over Harry’s sanity.
Harry could always lie of course. The problem with that was that he was really
getting sick of being evasive and sticking to stories. The morality of it all
–or rather, the lack of it- was not quite so troublesome as Hermione may have
expected of him. Harry reasoned that he wouldn’t have to lie to them if they
would all just back off.
Draco said there was a chance that at some point he might confess to Crabbe and
Goyle but that he did not intend to say anything today or in the immediate
future. Maybe Harry could just wait too…
That wasn’t an option. Crabbe and Goyle weren’t exactly the type to pester for
information, but Hermione was, and Ron was liable to sulk if he wasn’t told
soon what was going on.
Merlin, Hermione’s voice was shrill. Harry stopped floundering for a moment to
look up at her, and another moment to glance at Ron.
“Harry,” Hermione continued on, exasperated, in her penetrating voice.
“Er, sorry Hermione, what?” Harry sighed.
Hermione’s lips pursed. “Harry you’re not listening to us at all, are you? We
wanted-”
“Yeah,” Harry interrupted, “yeah, yeah I know. Snape’s been missing and Jessa’s
been missing and I’ve been missing and…and Malfoy’s been missing, and you want
an explanation.”
“Malfoy’s been missing?” Ron said.
Great. Why was he so terrible at this? “Ummm. Yeah,” Harry admitted.
“So, did Snape run off with the git and his sister to get marked?”
Harry blinked. “Er, no.” He sighed. “You know, they’re not as bad as…”
“What do you mean?” Hermione interrupted.
Harry swallowed. “Well, Snape’s a git but, well, he’s not as bad as we used to
think.”
“What do you mean?” Hermione repeated, her tone more strident than before.
Harry sighed. He did not have the brain capacity, the patience or the
inclination to think up a suitable lie. “Something happened with Jessa and
Snape went to look after her, and D-Malfoy was worried so he went to check on
her, and Lucius showed up…and that could have been really bad…only Snape fixed
it.”
Hermione gave him that look, the one she’d been giving him a lot lately. “So
why did you have to be there?”
Er… “Order stuff. I can’t tell you now.”
Hermione gave him another look then exchanged one with Ron. This one was wasted
as he was now looking towards Seamus and Dean’s…argument. Hermione sighed.
“Harry?” she began.
“Yes ’Mione?”
“You and Jessa…have been getting quite close, haven’t you?”
“Um. Yeah. She’s alright you know…other than the whole attacking you
thing…and…stuff. But you know, she wasn’t trying to kill you, she was trying to
scare you off…er…”
“Harry,” Hermione said.
Harry trailed off and looked at his friend.
“Ron and I have beeen talking and we think that, if you want to spend some time
with Jessa, then that’s your choice, and we’re behind you on it.”
“You’re not mad?”
“Of course not Harry. You’re our friend. Isn’t that right Ron? Ron?”
Ron had edged away from Hermione and Harry and edged much closer to Seamus and
Dean. And was getting rather involved in the quidditch debate/argument/pre-
brawl. “What? Uh, right Hermione. Sure.”
“Oh. Great,” said Harry slowly.
Hermione beamed. “We’re friends, Harry. Just tell us next time, okay?”
Harry nodded. “Okay.” That was unexpectedly easy. Maybe it might not be so
terrible when he confessed to being infatuated with Jessa’s half-brother.
Hermione glanced across at where the quidditch debate had finally developed
into an all-out brawl. She sighed. “I’m going to go to the library,” she said.
“Okay.” As Harry watched her leave Neville came and sat beside him. “You do
realise Hermione thinks you’ve just told her you’re dating Jessa, right?”
“What?” Damn. Damn Merlin’s hairy balls. “But that wasn’t what I meant!”
“I didn’t think it was,” Neville said.
***** Silence And Scruitiny *****

Author's notes: Wherein Draco and Harry discuss Severus and Jessa during a
potions class.
===============================================================================
Today's third update I think. Just short chapters. I'm in that kind of a
mood... JKR owns Harry Potter etc.
Really, must they have this conversation? Now? Draco sighed and met Harry’s
eyes, his rhythm not faltering even slightly as he continued to slice the
potion ingredient before him. “You’re still annoyed,” Draco noted.
Harry heard the exasperation in his lover’s voice. “I just don’t like it when
families fight, that’s all. And you were out of line.”
“Jessa’s fine with it.”
“She’s just saying that.”
Draco pressed his lips together. “Did she say that to you?”
“No…”
“Then what makes you think…”
“Didn’t you *see* the hurt on her face?”
Draco frowned to himself. Of course he did. That wasn’t the point. Jessa said
it was fine. Draco gave a non-committal noise.
Harry opened his mouth to say something, but swore instead as he accidentally
cut his hand open instead of dicing the slippery rat’s corneas. Who could
*dice* a rat’s cornea anyway?
“Don’t contaminate that!” Draco protested, healing Harry’s hand before anymore
blood could seep out. “Give that here.”
Draco could expertly dice rat’s corneas. Figures.
Harry scowled at his new pink scar on his hand and began measuring the amount
of piranha tooth needed. “Don’t you think you’ve been kind of cold with her for
the past few days?”
“Anyone would think she was *your* sister, Potter.”
“She’s my *friend*,” Harry justified.
Again with that? How did that happen anyway? “Fine,” Draco snapped quietly,
tossing the python scales into the cauldron and adjusting the heat beneath with
a little more force than usual. “Do you really want to know what my problem
is?”
“Of course,” Harry said gently.
“There,” Draco declared, indicating the potions master stiffly. “Do you see the
state of him?”
“I don’t follow,” Harry murmured, wary of glancing at Snape for more than a few
seconds at a time since the man had not stalked over the instant Harry’s knife
had lodged itself in Harry’s flesh.
“There is clearly something wrong with him,” Draco stated. “Didn’t you notice
that he didn’t comment on your injury?”
Well *yes* -he wasn’t stupid. Harry grit his teeth. “Yes.”
“There’s something seriously wrong with him. Look at the way he’s making that
potion with Jessa. He’s hardly touching her. He used to revel in the chance to
play at potions with her because she was so talented.”
“I thought you were good at potions,” Harry said.
“I am,” Draco muttered, sounding disgruntled, “she’s just especially good at
potions.”
Harry smiled. “Another girl besting you Dray?”
Draco made a disgusted noise and started scraping salamander scales into a
bowl.
“She’s hardly been around him recently too,” Harry said abruptly. “Remember how
she used to hug him and sit with him at the head table and stuff? For the past
few days they’ve hardly been in the same room as one another.”
“That’s not all,” Draco said. “You know how it’s been decided that Jessa’s got
to be supervised more, so they’ve gave her new classes? I heard that Dumbledore
had suggested that Jessa could apprentice under Uncle Severus, but he said
she’d be better off with McGonagall. Before, he would probably have bit the
headmaster’s hand off to have the chance to apprentice Jessa.”
“What do you think happened?” Harry asked.
Draco shrugged sadly. “I don’t know. But I don’t like it.”
“She’s still Jessa,” Harry said.
“I suppose,” Draco said. “But something’s different.” He dumped another
ingredient into the cauldron and stirred. He hesitated, and turned to Harry.
“What?” the Gryffindor said.
“It’s not just that that’s off,” Draco said reluctantly. “You’ve noticed that
she’s quieter, haven’t you? And I’ve not seen her perform a single charm since
Uncle Severus brought her back. She used to show off with all those obscure
little charms the moment she got bored.”
“Maybe she’s not bored,” Harry suggested.
Draco raised his eyebrows.
“Alright,” said Harry, “so maybe she isn’t any less bored than usual amongst us
mere mortals.” He glanced at Jessa. “You think she’s sick or something?”
“I don’t know,” Draco said. “But I don’t like how Uncle Severus has been
acting…and I’m more concerned about that.”
Severus chose that moment to come swooping down between the desks. “*Even*
slices, Mister Potter,” he drawled sharply, “and *no* talking. Show him how to
do that properly, Mister Malfoy…”
“Told you something’s wrong,” Draco murmured. “He didn’t dock you any points.”
“And that’s a bad thing?”
“*Silence*, Potter!”
***** Just Sometimes *****

Author's notes: Wherein the morning goes smoothly of course.
===============================================================================
That almost killed him. If anything of such a ridiculous nature could kill him.
That was the most time he’d spent with her since…
Well.
Yes.
No.
…Stupid bloody *girl*…
*
Jessa was not impressed. They had arrived at Hogwarts in time for the first
class, which had to be potions, and which rather left the whole not eating at
the head table that morning thing obsolete. It was unpleasant spending so much
time in close proximity to Severus. What was worse though was that now she had
to spend far too much time with the esteemed Prof. McGonagall as it was decided
that, to keep her out of trouble, Jessa should apprentice under Gryffindor’s
Head of House. Jessa had never needed to spend much time with the professor
before, and had been quite happy with that arrangement.
McGonagall thought it prudent to first determine Jessa’s proficiency in the
various subjects to establish where Jessa’s strengths lay. That was hardly fun
as Jessa had decided she was of little inclination towards performing any magic
for McGonagall –or at all, but there was no need to say that. With an
expression that made clear how little she wanted to be here, Jessa stated, “My
strengths are potions, transfiguration and duelling. I have a fair talent for
charms and healing, and I’m dismal at divination and arithmancy. I’m marginally
better with runes, but not by much.”
And then she had made it clear that she was not going to prove any of it, by
remaining at the desk McGonagall had placed her at and crossing her arms.
McGonagall’s attempt to force Jessa into using magic by banishing Jessa’s chair
whilst she sat in it only resulted in Jessa jumping to her feet with unnatural
grace.
“That might have been more effective if you hadn’t spoken the incantation
aloud,” Jessa commented dully.
McGonagall raised her eyebrows at getting any sort of reasonable response and
crossed her arms. “Just what *are* you willing to cooperate with?”
“I’ll do theory,” Jessa said. “Or I can do menial tasks for you if you’d like.
But I’ve no intention of using magic at the moment.”
“And why is that?”
“You have got no need to know,” the teen growled.
McGonagall narrowed her eyes, her frustration so evident it seemed to be
expelled from all her pores. “That may be how you talk to other people, but
that is *not* how you speak to me.”
“You’re very welcome to throw me out,” Jessa said.
McGonagall bared her teeth. “I agreed to teach you and that’s what I am going
to do.” Albus wanted the girl taught, the girl would be taught. Minerva had
dealt with troublesome teenagers before.
Jessa opened her arms casually. “I’m listening,” she said.
McGonagall pursed her lips. That didn’t sound like a challenge. Of course, any
child who adored Severus and Alastor would have to be a complex individual.
Could no task Albus set her be simple? Teach the girl, he says. McGonagall
growled inwardly and stalked back to the bookshelf along part of the wall
behind her desk. She picked up a thick book kept around for the interest of her
particularly pleasant seventh years and directed it down heavily onto Jessa’s
desk. “Start with that,” Minerva said archly.
*
Draco was quiet, watching Harry from across the great hall.
“Something up, Dray?” Pansy asked with friendly concern.
Draco pressed his lips together and shook his head. “I’m fine Pansy.” He
smirked at Greg. “The Weaselette’s not around Greg. She must be off with one of
her own kind again.”
Greg continued eating calmly. “Tactics like those may work with Blaise, but we
all now you’re the one who’s been acting oddly all morning,” he murmured.
Draco sighed and passed his plate over to his friend. “Here, I’m not going to
eat this. Some friend you’ve become, not allowing a diversion.”
Greg grinned and took a forkful of Draco’s meal but then pushed it back.
“You’re going to eat today too. We’re not going to let you lose your looks now,
are we?”
Draco glared half-heartedly at his plate. “It’s only going to give me
indigestion,” he said, and didn’t look at the Gryffindor table again.
“Cheer up, Draco,” Pansy added.
“We all know what the problem is,” Blaise said. “Not getting any sex.”
Draco didn’t bother to frown, but raised his eyebrows half-heartedly. “Just
sometimes,” he said, “it’s not all about the sex.”
“Just sometimes though,” Theo said.
“Just sometimes though,” Pansy agreed. By Draco’s sides, Greg and Vincent
exchanged a quiet look over Draco’s lack of reply, unnoticed by the others who
were now exchanging ‘witty’ banter about their sex lives.
***** Sleeping Beside You *****

Author's notes: Just a short little piece between Draco and Harry.
===============================================================================
Draco shivered at the feel of Harry’s fingertips brushing down his spine. He
heard Harry’s soft laugh and rolled onto his back. Sitting up, he fixed Harry
with a comfortable stare, following the way Harry’s hands moved to Draco’s
abdomen and traced the skin there instead. Draco closed his eyes and opened
them again on Harry’s face. The brunette’s hair was damp with sweat and stuck
to his features in places. His lips were still dark and swollen from crashing
against Draco’s own.
“What are you thinking?” Harry murmured, half-reluctant to break into his
lover’s thoughts.
“This,” Draco’s voice was almost a whisper, “how good it feels.” He swallowed
casually, tasting Harry in his mouth. “What you look like…” He smiled, almost
to himself. “The way you smell…”
Harry raised his eyebrows, a sheen of sweat glistening on his skin. “I smell?”
he said wryly.
“Good,” Draco corrected, “You smell good.” His ears caught up with his lips and
he absently shook his head at himself.
Harry settled down beside him, his fingers still dancing lightly on Draco’s
stomach. He leaned over and swiped his tongue over Draco’s naked chest. “I
think you *taste* good…” Harry said lightly.
Draco found himself chuckling softly at the feigned innocence in Harry’s voice.
“I do, do I?”
“Mmm,” Harry agreed, proceeding to kiss a path down Draco’s upper body. Draco
stopped him and pulled him up for a further kiss, revelling in the feeling of
Harry’s lips and the taste of his mouth as Harry’s tongue pressed against his,
playfully demanding dominance, then pulling away to entice Draco to lead
whenever he had begun to submit.
Draco pushed Harry onto his back and continued to kiss him, feeling the
Gryffindor’s hands slide down his body, one coming down to rest on his rear,
squeezing the flesh possessively. Draco mewled in his throat and pushed back
against the touch, almost being overwhelmed by the combined pleasures of this
and Harry consuming his mouth.
They broke the kiss slowly and Draco flipped onto his back, resting against
Harry’s chest. “It’s late,” he said.
Harry didn’t quite sigh, expecting the part where Draco would blow cold again.
“It is,” he agreed vaguely.
“I don’t want to go back,” Draco confessed softly.
Harry blinked, and turned to look at his lover. “No?”
Draco sighed and his teeth brushed his own lip. “Do you think we could stay
here tonight?” He looked away, scowling into space. “I’ve gotten used to
sleeping beside you.”
Harry said nothing about the room of requirement or the dormitories but instead
caught Draco by the mouth and pulled them back down into the bed.
***** Overreacting *****

Author's notes: Wherein Jessa's stupid but she's not alone.
===============================================================================
“You’re reading that?”
Jessa flinched at the sound of Alastor’s voice and her head flew up to look at
him, wide-eyed. She swallowed and feigned ignorance to his meaning whilst still
trying to hide the object as he limped towards her, swiftly plucking the book
from her grasp.
“Mad Eye…” she moaned.
He let out a sigh, half-smirking as he read the title and confirmed the
contents. “Now why would you be reading this?”
Jessa scowled without malice and looked at the floor. She muttered something
incoherent.
Alastor laughed again, holding the book out of her reach. “Why would you be
reading this when Minerva gave me *quite* the earful about what a brat you
are?”
Jessa looked up. “She called me a brat?”
Alastor raised his eyebrows. “Are you daring to say you *weren’t* acting like a
brat, now?”
Jessa pouted but did not protest the statement. She grunted.
“So, *tell* me why you’re studying this when you’ve been playing up for your
professor?”
“You’re speaking to me like I’m a child,” Jessa said.
Alastor’s lip curled. “*Weren’t* you playing up?”
“You make it sound so childish,” Jessa objected. He continued to look at her.
“Okay, so I was a bit!”
“So how come you’re studying without me having to bully you into it?”
“You bully me for everything,” Jessa muttered.
“I *heard* you…” Moody said mildly ominously.
Jessa sighed and reached for the book.
He held it out of her grasp. “I’m *still* waiting,” he said.
Jessa finally stood up. “Why do you have to make a big deal out of everything?”
“Why do you?” Alastor countered.
“I don’t,” she said softly.
“Oh don’t you?” Moody said, suddenly not amused anymore by finding Jessa bent
over the transfiguration text.
Jessa bit her lip, hurt by the way Alastor was looking at her. She stepped past
him swiftly, making to leave the room.
“Whelp,” Alastor said warningly.
Jessa stilled, only because she held Moody in such esteem. She didn’t say
anything.
“Here,” he commanded.
Jessa turned and looked at him warily. He raised his eyebrows. She made her way
back to him very reluctantly.
“Don’t walk away from me when I speak to you,” he chided. Jessa didn’t look at
him but tilted her head to show she was listening.
“Come here,” he said gruffly. To her surprise he reached out an arm and pulled
her against his chest. “Just because I’m telling you something you don’t like
does not mean you walk out on me,” he said, his stern words softened by the
gentle way he was holding her. “You act so young sometimes.” Jessa tried to
pull away. “That doesn’t mean I don’t care. And I *just told you* not to walk
away when I’m speaking to you.”
“…” Jessa swallowed and pressed her forehead just barely against his shoulder.
Alastor twisted a thick strand of her white-blonde hair loosely around his
fingers. “Duel?” he suggested, having heard the catch in her throat and
scrambling for what was most likely to cheer her up in such situations.
Jessa stiffened and began to pull away. “Uhh, no…thanks…”
Alastor let her slip out of his hold with confusion clear on his face. “No?”
“I’m just…trying this whole ‘not fighting thing’,” the teen said, trying to
sound pleasant and hearing her failure as her voice came out mostly flat with
random jarringly high notes.
If Moody noticed, he didn’t say. He just gave her that look, like he wanted to
turn both eyes on her but knew his magical eye couldn’t show him what she was
hiding. “I could take you for a walk?” he suggested slowly. “You and Fang could
run around together.”
Jessa pressed her fists together, feeling her heart thud unnecessarily fast and
feeling ridiculous for it –yet still unable to slow it. She didn’t want to do
anything Moody suggested; she just wanted to take cover somewhere by herself.
She wanted to be alone. And not reading that bloody transfiguration book
either.
“Can…” Jessa swallowed and Alastor met her eyes with concern. “Can… I just go
have some time by myself please? I’d like to clear my head.”
Alastor conceded, unsure what else he could do.
Jessa paused at the door. “You’re right you know,” she said.
The man looked at her.
Her expression was almost rueful despite her lowered mood. “I do make a big
deal out of everything.”
Not long after Jessa left the room she found herself running desperately
through the emptiest corridors. Running was often what she did when her head
threatened to tie her up in knots. If you ran fast enough you didn’t need to
think.
This corridor was so deserted that dust was thick on everything. Jessa slowed,
a little disturbed by this discovery. She walked towards one of the windows,
feeling a little less out in the open once she was beside it. She reached out
to wipe away some of the dirt that had built up on the glass. Glancing out,
there was a spectacular view of the lake.
She grew unnerved again. Why was this area so deserted when this view was so
pretty?
She swallowed a whimper as she heard the noise. She’d been expecting it simply
because of how spooked she felt.
She’d left footprints in the dust.
Jessa began determining the most effective hiding places and escape routes.
Then she saw him.
“You!” she exclaimed.
The boy jumped. He had been idly following the footsteps but hadn’t seen the
figure melting into the recess of a window.
“Did you have to shout?” he protested. “You scared me!”
“You kinda scared me too,” Jessa admitted.
The teen ducked his head, smiling at her. “Sorry,” he said, “you must have
heard my footsteps and been creeped out because no one tends to come here.
Other than me,” he added thoughtfully after a moment.
“I didn’t see any other footsteps,” Jessa said. She blinked and looked at the
floor.
“I charm my shoes not to leave any when I come here,” he said. “So no one
follows me.”
“Ah,” Jessa said. “So what are you here for?”
“Just needed to be alone for a bit. You?”
“Same.”
They were standing quite close together now, staring out at the lake together.
“Do you want me to go find another place?” he asked.
“No, this is your spot,” Jessa said.
“You know, we both like some time to be alone, but I don’t mind being alone
with you,” he said.
She smiled. “Solitary together,” she said.
He smiled. “Sure.”
“Are you okay?” She asked after a while.
“Kinda,” he said. “I’m better now. I was…angry before.”
“How come?”
“I just loose my temper sometimes,” he said.
“Ah. So we’re not talking about it?”
He chuckled darkly. “I overreacted,” he admitted.
“Me too,” she grinned.
Harry grinned and looked at her. “Aren’t we so cool?”
She rolled her eyes. “So long as it wasn’t my brother you were yelling at
before you came here.”
“Oh no,” he said. “Just an annoying little guy called Colin.”
***** Arguments and Expensive Things *****

Author's notes: Wherein Draco and Jessa say some harsh things to each other,
Pansy declares her loyalty, and Draco buys Pansy and Jessa some jewellery.
===============================================================================
Harry Potter belongs to JKRowling and everyone else involved.
Where have you both been?” Pansy murmured, forcing her voice to stay low enough
to sound casual.
Jessa lifted her head and looked at Draco questioningly. Draco gave her a hard
look and shrugged. “Jessa disappeared and I wanted to be in a position where
I’d know what was happening with her.”
“Your father doesn’t know,” Pansy said shrewdly.
“Not at the moment, no,” Draco said truthfully. Severus had helped with that.
“So where were you?” Pansy asked Jessa.
“What have you heard?” Jessa returned.
“Nothing worth repeating, although it’s interesting what the Weaslette’s been
saying about you.”
“Which is what?”
“Nothing, which is the point. She usually has strong things to say against you…
She’s been asking a lot of questions though.”
“Like what?”
“Like where your loyalties lie.”
Jessa heard the challenge there. “And what do you think about that?”
“It’s a good question,” Draco said. Jessa gave him a withering look as Pansy
looked on with interest. “Well?” Draco prompted.
Jessa gave him a look somewhere between disgust and resentment and jerked her
head to indicate Pansy. “Can I speak freely in front of her?”
“I trust her more than you right now,” Draco said.
Pansy’s head darted up. “But she’s blood!”
“And she’s fickle. She keeps swinging between the light and the lord. Ran off
to get marked but she’s sleeping with a filthy little half-blood, aren’t you
Jessa?”
Jessa stood up furiously, grabbing her half-brother’s lapels before he even
knew she was reaching for them. “How-dare-you-call-him-that?! What about
*you*?”
Draco’s lip curled. “At least I’m not fucking someone who’s got a muggle
*parent* -that’s disgusting!”
Jessa glared and pushed him back, letting go of him. “*You* disgust me,” she
said slowly.
Draco stared at her, his heart racing. “At least I’m not a *mistake*. You’re
nothing but an indiscretion that no one wanted. You were *alone* in that
house.”
“Draco…” Pansy breathed softly.
Jessa snorted, her face blank. With a sneer she spun away. “Least I’m not a
fag.”
Pansy saw by Draco’s face there was some truth in the word, vulgar as it was.
“Fuck you,” Draco said.
“Incest’s not my thing, thanks. I’m a bit more of a muggle-fucking death-eater
scumbag, remember? Or at least I was up until I got chucked and your godfather
decided to drag me back before I got my pretty little tattoo.”
“What is wrong with you?!”
“Me? I’m not the one putting my family at risk over some stupid plan and a bit
of cock!”
“That’s enough, both of you!” Pansy roared, shocking them both into silence by
not being interested in whatever they had to say. “You’re family, have a bit of
loyalty.”
Jessa sighed in disgust and glared at Draco in a way that was cold but not
angry. “I apologise,” she said roughly.
“Not your usual pureblooded finesse but it’s a start,” Pansy murmured.
Jessa glanced at her in surprise. She couldn’t manage a smile but the tense
muscles around her eyes relaxed.
Despite himself, Draco was feeling a bit of guilt because of Jessa bringing up
the incident with Lucius and because she had at least been fairly discrete by
not mentioning Harry’s name. She’d still outed him though, the bitch. Yet…he’d
have ran off at the mouth about everything if their positions were reversed. “I
apologise also,” he said coolly.
“He’s not just a bit of cock,” Jessa said in reply. “Your guy’s pretty decent
as they go.”
Draco blinked. “Thank you.”
Pansy looked between them. “That’s it?”
The siblings looked at her in confusion. “What?”
“I thought Filch was going to have to wash blood off the walls,” Pansy
muttered.
“As if we’d fight,” Draco smirked, causing Jessa to snicker weakly. “Besides,”
Draco continued, “wouldn’t you have stunned us Panse?”
“And have you both turn your wands on me?” Pansy scoffed. “Do I look like a
Gryffindor to you?”
“Well…” Draco said playfully, “you *do* sort of look…”
“Do not finish that sentence if you want to live, Ferret-boy,” Pansy snapped.
“…Exceptionally beautiful,” Draco backpeddled.
“Coward,” Jessa said lightly.
Draco rolled his eyes. “Says you. What sort of bisexual calls anyone a fag?”
Jessa giggled. “It’s a cute term. Anyway, you like girls too so it’s not like
it was accurate.”
“It was viscous of you though,” Draco chided.
Jessa widened her eyes. “*I* was the viscous one?”
“Yes,” Draco said.
“Draco!” Pansy admonished.
Draco sighed and scowled half-heartedly at his friend. “Fine,” he sulked, “I
was somewhat out of line too.”
“You were *especially* out of line,” Pansy said firmly. The blonde sighed.
“Truce?” Jessa suggested.
“No,” Pansy said. Jessa and Draco looked at her in question. “Draco’s been
pushing you all day.”
Jessa glanced at the floor whilst Draco protested, “You’re supposed to be *my*
friend!”
“Of course I am,” Pansy said, “but there’s no need to turn your sister into a
new Harry Potter.”
The pair looked up and alarm. Pansy continued, “It’s tiresome how you’ve been
at war since we were eleven. You manage to get on tolerably now that Snape’s
partnered you in potions though don’t you? Don’t go making new enemies for
yourself, or us. The Golden Trio are nothing special but Jessa’s a pureblood
Dray. Try not to forget that.”
Jessa snickered. “You’ve got the pureblood wife act perfect Panse.”
Draco sighed. “We’re not married *yet*,” he grumbled.
“Who says I still want you?” Panse said flippantly. “You’ve been in a horrible
mood for far too long.”
“I’ve been gone for days!”
Pansy rolled her eyes. “You’ve been up and down for months.”
Jessa nodded quietly.
Draco sighed in disgust.
A light burned suddenly in Pansy’s eyes. “Unless it’s been about this half-
blood boy of yours?”
Draco grunted.
Pansy took that as an affirmation. “In that case,” she said, “you can stop your
angsting and your grunting and your snarling. If he’s enough for you to risk
yourself then he must be exceptional and if you’re worried about your future,
you always promised me an open marriage.”
“And what if he wants a marriage to me?” Draco retorted. “And besides, there’s
more to it all than that.”
“Like what?”
“Like there’s no way in hell I’m giving up my birthright for him.”
“Your mother would never stop you inheriting from her though. You’d still have
the Black money.”
“Aunt Bella’s got most of that. Besides…it’s not really that.”
“Draco was using him and fell for him,” Jessa supplied.
Draco looked at her in horror.
Jessa shrugged. “You say you trust her. And you have fallen for him.”
“Dray?” Panse said. “If it helps I’ll take an Oath not to speak about any of
this.”
“Why would you do that?” Draco snapped.
“Because you’re my best friend you idiot. You didn’t really think I’d turn you
in to the dark lord for falling for a half-blood, did you? Draco!” she yelled
in horror when he did not immediately reply. “Draco, you’re a bloody idiot. My
loyalty is to you before my family and if you can’t trust me don’t bother ever
speaking to me again. You bloody idiot! …Jessa, get your wand out so I can give
your idiotic brother my Oath and get out of here.”
Jessa smiled and complied, feeling slightly out of place as she watched Draco’s
gaze tremble as the Oath bound his and Pansy’s hands. When they were done he
pressed his eyes closed and stood up quickly.
“And if you *ever* tell anyone that you’re my best friend, or *dare* attempt to
take advantage of being my main priority I *will* feed you to Mrs Norris.”
Draco didn’t laugh. He knew she was serious. “Would some diamonds help?”
Pansy considered, still walking away down the hall. “A bracelet,” she decided.
“With emeralds?” Draco called after her.
“Surprise me,” was Pansy’s reply.
Jessa turned to smirk at Draco but felt his arm rest on her instead. “Come on,”
he said, “I might as well buy you a trinket too when I firecall our
jeweller’s.”
Jessa pressed her lips together as Draco walked her down to the common room and
through to his dorm. For all her breeding she couldn’t keep up with the
volatile and changeable tempers of the pureblood heirs.
She hid this unease as the jeweller’s head appeared in the fire, looking
dignified and delighted all at once. After a few moment he reappeared with
several boxes of exquisitely extravagantly priced pieces that dripped with
mouth-dryingly expensive stones.
“I need a diamond bracelet for Miss Parkinson,” Draco declared, “Possibly with
emeralds…or brown diamonds, to match her eyes.”
“Brown diamonds…for Miss Parkinson. Would that be champagne, buttery chocolate
or cognac diamonds that you would require?” the jeweller asked, promptly
summoning a multitude of pieces that screamed overwhelmingly expensive.
“A combination would be best,” Draco mused, “Miss Parkinson’s eyes are most
unusual. I expect the stones to be enormous, Adi, and the white stones must be
absolutely stellar. I don’t want her to think I’m slighting her with mere brown
diamonds, understood?”
“Of course, Sir,” the man agreed, displaying several adequate items efficiently
until Draco raised his hands and announced, “This one.”
“Will that be all for you Sir?”
“Not quite Adi, I’m interested in a trinket for my sister. Something very
attractive and not too clichéd. Some mystic topaz or alexandrite perhaps. Not
opals. Something positive.”
The jeweller first produced a very intricate wrought bracelet with a variety of
topaz stones of various colours. The pink stones were largest and arranged to
resemble flowers whilst the violet stones resembled grapes. The bracelet itself
was golden whilst bright yellow stones hung off it to resemble leaves.
“Exquisite of course, the pink stones especially, but I’m particular about the
topaz being mystic,” Draco said. “A most unusual choice, I know, but my sister
is such a girl.”
Adi nodded and produced seven boxes, murmuring, “Moonglow orange mystic topaz,”
and, “chantilly blue mystic topaz,” then simply, “rainbow mystic topaz,” as he
worked through the boxes.
Jessa glanced at the stones curiously. They didn’t feel remotely as pretentious
as the other pieces and she smiled as Draco examined the most psychedelic of
the stones. He’d already vetoed three of the boxes. “Novel,” she said.
“None of these look expensive enough,” Draco sighed. “Sorry Adi. The
alexandrite if you may?”
“Of course,” the jeweller said easily. This time he reappeared with almost two
dozen boxes of the rarer items. Adi’s sort of clientele had little use for a
mere manufactured stone.
“Jessa?” Draco murmured. “This one?”
Jessa stared at the bracelet that Draco had deftly fastened around her wrist.
The stones were a deep purplish red and Jessa half absorbed Adi’s running
commentary of them. Between the ‘beautifuls’ and the stunnings’ and the ‘very
suitings’ were phrases such as ‘step cut cushion’ and ‘twentyseven carats’.
“You know that alexandrite stones change colour?” Draco murmured.
“I had a ring once, that Reg gave me…Sirius’ filthy little friend Fletcher got
his nasty paws on it though… It used to change from blue outside to red when I
went inside.”
“This one will show as a fine emerald green in the daylight,” Adi said.
“It’s really beautiful,” Jessa murmured.
Draco shrugged. “You’re my sister. It’s about time you had a ridiculously
suitable ornament.”
Jessa glanced down at the bracelet again, watching the light play on its
faceted surfaces. When she looked up again Draco was speaking to the jeweller.
“That, and Miss Parkinson’s bracelet.” He considered for a moment. “And the
mystic topaz pendant.” He turned to look at Jessa. “But so hep me, if you have
it on show, I’m disowning you.”
“Are you sure Sir?”
“Positive, Adi.” Draco waved the man off to wrap Pansy’s gift.
“Why buy me something you don’t want to see?” Jessa questioned.
“Because they’re something like you,” Draco said. “The stone’s just a pure
piece of clear topaz that’s given a rainbow lacquer to make it change colour.”
Jessa considered that and said nothing as Adi returned with the pendant and
Pansy’s bracelet. Draco took both boxes and opened the one that was not
wrapped, taking out the necklace and gently securing it around her neck. The
stone flashed different colours cheerfully. “It’s beautiful,” Jessa murmured.
Draco grunted and motioned for her to place it beneath her shirt.
Jessa did, and looked instead at the pleasantly heavy bracelet on her wrist.
Draco gave her an odd smile even when Jessa returned her attention to the way
the light caught her ornamentation.
Draco presented Pansy with her new piece of jewellery at mealtime. She regally
decided thereafter that he was allowed in her presence and spent the rest of
the evening (and following days) flaunting it as subtly as she was able. Her
quick eyes also noticed Jessa’s tasteful yet royally expensive bracelet. Pansy
gave Draco a mild nod.
 
AN: Pink topaz are rare as are 3crts alexandrite. The kind Draco buys is the
best, rarest and most expensive you're likely to buy, as well as being huge.
'Adi' is a unisex Jewish/Hebrew name which means 'jewel' or 'ornament'.
***** Losers And Other Things *****

Author's notes: Wherein Harry, Draco and Jessa spend some time together in
Alastor's rooms and have some depressing interactions.
===============================================================================
Nope, I don't own. JKR does. That's why she rules the world and I'm a poor
student. (Merlin, September's getting far too close...)
“So what’s the deal with the bracelets?” Harry asked, sounding somewhat amused.
“Are you married to Pansy now or what?”
Jessa snickered before glancing over to Draco, who she sensed wasn’t quite as
relaxed as his posture suggested. “It’s a pureblood thing,” Jessa said
casually. “Gifts like these are a big symbol of a family’s wealth and
allegiances. Plus…with me, this is the first bit of jewellery that I’ve been
given since I’ve been brought into the Malfoy family so…that’s quite big.”
Draco blinked and glanced at Jessa. “It is?”
Jessa nodded soberly. “I didn’t know,” Draco said. “I just expected you didn’t
want to wear whatever Father or Mother had given you. I never expected that
they hadn’t…”
Jessa pulled a smile onto her face. “Don’t worry about it,” she said. “The
bracelet’s lovely enough.”
“I’m still missing something,” Harry said.
“Sorry,” Draco said. “It’s just like Jessa says, this kind of jewellery is
important to the pure. It’s a way of showing off to the other families and
declaring your importance and your wealth. For Pansy, it’s a kick getting
something that declares to every other pureblood that a family as prestigious
as the Malfoys would spoil her with such an expensive gift. It says to everyone
else that she’s a very important and powerful person-”
“And that she’s happy to be bought by a more influential family,” Jessa added,
“up to a point.”
“If you want to continue down that crude line of thinking it follows that
you’re willing to let yourself be bought too,” Draco said.
Jessa shrugged. “I don’t mind being allied with you though. You’re family.”
“As is Father.”
Jessa smirked, but the smile did not quite reach her eyes. “When it suits him.
You, on the other hand, respect that bond however much you snap at me. I trust
that *you* care whether I live or die.”
Draco blinked. “I really am sorry about what I said earlier,” he said softly.
Jessa glanced at him warmly. “I knew that.” She turned her attention to Harry,
whose expression fell between bemused and vaguely uncomfortable. “So, you
understand Pansy now. On the other hand, family jewellery is less about
flaunting allegiances and is more about attracting more. Pureblooded families
like to drench their daughters in diamonds and such to flaunt their wealth and
indicate to other suitably wealthy families that their daughter would be an
excellent match for their heir.”
“You make it sound so dirty,” Draco muttered.
“So…why did you buy Jessa jewellery then?” Harry asked.
“To prove that I’m worth something to him,” Jessa said, raising her wrist into
the air and twisting it so the stones flashed almost obnoxiously in the light.
Harry didn’t know much about jewels but he got the feeling that if the bracelet
couldn’t quite wipe out world poverty it could at the very least take a more
than considerable chunk out of the debt’s interest.
Draco stretched out in Alastor’s usual chair and watched the emotions play over
Harry’s face. Normally Harry’s face was fairly easy to read, but it wasn’t at
the moment. He might simply have been too overwhelmed to digest what had
transpired.
“This is all basic to you both, isn’t it?” Harry said.
Draco inclined his head. After a moment Jessa made a face and nodded as well.
“I’ve not had as many opportunities to practise but I’ve still probably got all
the theory on the pureblood stuff.”
“Not that you bother to use it too often,” Draco remarked. He glanced at her.
“Although you might have had more opportunity to analyse our practises. I’ve
been conditioned to this since before I could walk and talk so it rarely occurs
to me to question it. If you haven’t put it into practise I expect you would
have thought about it more.”
Jessa shrugged. “I spent a lot of time alone so I’ve read most of the books in
the library too whilst you were probably out begging daddy for a nimbus or
having playdates with Pansy for the sake of the family. I picked up a lot. Why
you asking anyway Scarhead?”
“I’m thinking about what you said before, about purebloods not wanting to
empower the halfbloods. Do you think you could help me learn all this stuff
that I don’t know?”
“Sure,” Jessa said.
“There’s no way we can teach him everything,” Draco challenged her, “it’s just
not possible. We’ve been taught our whole lives…from birth! That can’t be just
taught like it’s a piece of vocabulary and a particular posture…it’s enormous.”
“But it’s not impossible to teach him the basics,” Jessa replied. “And besides,
he’s a Potter. He will have been trained from birth too, he’s simply been on a
rather long break.”
Draco laughed dryly. “Be my guest. Harry, the first thing you should learn is
tact. It’s all over your face that you want to ask why my parents haven’t given
Jessa the customary gifts. We don’t know, or at least I don’t. I’m not aware of
anything that would provoke a slur.”
“Second point: close your mouth and if you possibly can do not react to
anything at all. Emotion is considered crude and avoided whenever possible,”
Jessa added. “I realise you were about to defend me again but that is simply
not done without a poker face.”
Harry laughed. “And I always thought you were all cold-blooded.”
Draco and Jessa smiled in sync, which was somewhat disturbing. “That’s what
you’re supposed to think,” Draco said.
Harry rolled his eyes in amusement before his expression turned thoughtful. “I
wouldn’t have to actually *act* like a pureblood though, would I? I just want
to understand so things don’t keep going over my head.”
“If you acted like a pureblood society would be more likely to treat you as
such rather than a naïve little half-blood. It might also deter some of your
‘friends’ in the newsrags from abusing you because they don’t like putting
themselves in a position to get stung. Powerful people are dangerous and vermin
like reporters are usually unwilling to put themselves out of a job by
disrespecting power.”
“I thought they were just bought off by the powerful,” Harry said.
Draco smirked. “We do that too, but noble Gryffindors don’t buy people off, do
they? They brave everything out of stubbornness and stupidity.”
Harry smirked at the implied insult. “Anyone would think you wanted to provoke
me Dray. I would have thought from the cushioning charm you’re using that you
wouldn’t want to aggravate me.”
“Gross,” Jessa muttered. She looked at Harry accusingly, “What did *I* do to
deserve images in my head of my brother bottoming?”
Harry chuckled. “Sorry, Snakeling.”
Draco smoothed his hair in annoyance and pretended to ignore them both. When he
felt it was safe to talk without risking more sexual innuendo he said, “It
makes sense for you to learn about pureblood behaviour but it seems ill-advised
to expect you to mimic the behaviour satisfactorily.”
Harry smiled. “Fine.”
Draco nodded.
Jessa’s attention had trailed back to her bracelet. The light bouncing off it
caught Harry’s eyes and he glanced at her. Her face was blank as she stared at
the expensive stones.
“So how come Jessa swings between ice and fire all the time?” Harry asked,
breaking the momentary peaceful silence.
“What do you mean?” Draco asked before Jessa could reply.
“Sometimes she’s even blanker than you, and other times…”
“I totally lose it?” Jessa suggested.
“You’re human,” Harry said.
Jessa snickered dryly. “I’ve lived a life of extremes and it affected my powers
of self-control. Sometimes, my behaviour would be on show, and on those
instances it would be important to behave appropriately. Other times…no one
would be around for a very long time. So it didn’t really matter what I did.
Then…there would be times when extreme things would happen and sometimes I’d do
nothing, and sometimes I’d do anything, because it didn’t really matter whether
I complied with the standards or not.”
A depressed air settled over the group.
“It wasn’t great was it?” Harry said. “The way you grew up.”
Jessa smiled although she wasn’t amused. “No, it wasn’t really. Mother dearest
wasn’t fond of me in general and her husband wasn’t too fond of me on
principle.”
“And then Regulus…” Draco said.
“Well. Yes,” Jessa sighed.
“My family don’t think much of me either,” Harry said softly.
Draco glanced at Harry quickly whilst Jessa said, “I know,” softly.
“How?”
“I heard you in your sleep before I managed to shake you awake,” Jessa said
slowly. “You thought I was your uncle Vernon.”
“Oh,” Harry said tellingly. Draco crossed the room and sat on Harry’s thigh
silently. He stroked Harry’s messy hair, which Harry couldn’t remember Draco
ever doing before. It was soothing and distracting at the same time. Harry
concentrated on Jessa with difficulty. “Did I say anything else like that?”
Jessa closed her eyes for a moment. “Is that something I can reply to in front
of Dray?”
“Yeah,” Harry said after glancing contemplatively at his lover for a moment.
Jessa opened her eyes. Normally she’d scrutinise the face to determine
someone’s true feelings but it was enough to hear Harry’s voice. He was so
expressive and these particular feelings could come to close to overwhelming if
Jessa watched his face.
“I know that you grew up in a cupboard,” she said. “And you said something
about ‘Harry hunting’. Who’s Piers?”
Draco stiffened and waited for the reply. “One of my cousin’s friends. He might
actually have enjoyed Harry hunting more than Dudley did,” Harry answered.
“Aren’t your family muggles?” Draco said.
“Magic-hating muggles,” Harry said, “and I’m not allowed to do magic during the
summer. I didn’t know about magic until I got my Hogwarts letter anyway.”
“How did that happen to the Boy-Who-Lived?” Draco asked.
“It would make him stronger, wouldn’t it?” Jessa said.
The boys looked at her in surprise. “You think it was deliberate?”
Jessa shrugged. “I’m cynical. But Dumbles never listens to you unless it suits
him, does he?”
Harry pushed his glasses up silently. “I don’t know,” he said, “but it’s a bit
ridiculous considering what I’m expected to do…”
“You’ve survived so far,” Jessa said, “maybe someone likes you up there.”
Harry cracked a smile at that, and Draco relaxed a little beside him.
Harry’s mood dipped again abruptly. “I can’t believe you both know what a loser
I am now.”
Jessa glanced at him quickly but stared into space once she began to speak. “I
don’t think we’re so different. I went through a stage of being the house elf
and the whipping boy too. These things don’t make you a loser.”
Draco nodded once and pressed his finger into Harry’s chest. “I don’t fuck
losers,” he agreed shortly.
“You seem to be the most adjusted one here,” Harry chuckled. “How does it feel
to be normal for once?”
Draco smirked and didn’t say a thing about having a father who was an Inner
Circle Death Eater, a wife-beater and still somewhat infatuated with Draco’s
own godfather. Normal.
“I’ve got an idea,” Jessa said. “How bout we do something fun now?”
“Any suggestions?” Harry asked.
“That’s where you guys come in. I’ve given us an idea, now one of you have to
give one,” Jessa beamed.
“We could booby trap this room for when Moody gets back,” Draco suggested.
“No,” Harry said shortly. “I want to live.”
“Exploding snap?” Draco said.
“I’ll get the cards,” Jessa said.
***** Dinner at the Malfoys' *****

Author's notes: Wherin Severus is pestered by Narcissa and Lucius
===============================================================================
Yeah, I'm not JKR BTW...
Shortly after Severus dismissed his final class for the day, a house elf that
he recognised as belonging to the Mafoy’s appeared in his classroom with a
crack.
“Mistress ’Cissa is sending Lolloby to remind Master Severus Snape that he is
expected for dinner and that Mistress wants to speak to him beforehand,” the
elf said carefully. Whilst the professor had never actually struck any of the
Malfoy elves to Lolloby’s recollection, the man was still not someone the elf
trusted.
Severus gazed at the elf. Hadn’t Lucius forgotten about the dinner arrangement?
“Is Master Severus Snape amenable?” the elf asked nervously.
“Yes, of course,” Severus muttered, taking a piece of parchment and dipping his
quill into some ink to write a note for the headmaster. He sent it off with a
flick of his wand and crossed quickly into his office before taking a pinch of
floo powder from the ornate little box on the mantle. He tossed the powder into
the flames and watched as they changed colour. The house elf eyed Severus
nervously as he stood a little behind the man.
“Malfoy Manor, Narcissa’s lounge,” Severus said.
Narcissa’s head appeared in the fire a moment later. “Severus? I thought I sent
an elf…” She trailed off as she caught sight of Lolloby. “Severus whatever is
the matter?”
Severus opened his mouth but Narcissa waved him away. “No. No, I do not want to
hear your excuses Severus. Lucius told me you would be like this. I don’t care
that you want to sulk and lick your wounds. You *are* family and you *will* be
eating with us tonight because I will not have you retreating into yourself any
more than usual, is that clear?”
That wasn’t really a question. Severus inclined his head. “As you wish it
Narcissa. I must just-”
“Don’t you dare take me for a fool Severus Tobias Snape. I know you well enough
that you’ll go off to play with your potions and simply not turn up. That will
not be happening tonight. You have ten minutes to change into something
suitable for dinner and step through the parlour fire. If you haven’t done so
by then I’ll step through to get you and you do *not* want that,” the woman
declared, disappearing from the flames without another word.
Severus sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose before remembering Lolloby’s
presence. He directed a snarl at the unfortunate creature and the elf popped
out of sight. Severus nodded to himself in grim satisfaction and took another
pinch of floo powder to transport himself to his private rooms. He dressed
quickly then stood glaring at the fireplace until there was only a minute of
his designated time left. He knew better than to allow Narcissa to make good on
her threat.
Narcissa was sat sipping coffee with one leg crossed over the other on her
usual spot on the chaise lounge when Severus stepped into the parlour. She
glanced at him from beneath slightly raised eyebrows to indicate she had
expected him then waved her hand quickly to indicate he should sit. Another of
her personal house elves, Barnaby, appeared with a coffee mug and saucer and
hovered until Severus took it. When he did, the elf snapped his knarled
fingers, causing a selection of sweet foods to appear on the table near
Severus.
Severus sighed and placed something with a hard caramel coating in his mouth.
He appreciated the loud noise it made when he bit into it viciously.
Narcissa placed down her mug delicately and looked at Severus. “Well?” she
said.
Severus narrowed his eyes at her. “What?”
Narcissa smirked at him from her seat opposite him. “This is the part where you
tell me what’s wrong and I fix it.”
Severus laughed.
“Seriously though,” Narcissa continued, “Lucius is acting oddly, but not
guiltily, so whatever is bothering you can’t be something he’s done for once.
But he is rather worried about you, and I can see for myself that you’re in a
spectacularly bad mood, so it really is in your best interest to tell me what’s
bothering you.”
“How is it in my best interest Narcissa?”
Narcissa gave her devilish smirk, the one that reminded Severus why she was
such a good match for Lucius. She took her coffee and hugged it to her chest,
gazing into it serenely. When she looked up at Severus again she said, “Well
Severus, you can tell me now, and get it out of the way without Lucius’
involvement…or you can wait until Lucius returns and then spend the entire meal
–and afterwards if necessary- being pestered by us both until you relent.”
Severus took a sip of his own drink. “You know I don’t respond well to
blackmail Narcissa.”
“I do,” Narcissa agreed, gazing at him frankly for a moment, “but I also know
that Lucius whining at you for an evening, ‘Why won’t you tell me?! If you
loved me you’d *tell me*!’ in his typically subtle fashion is more than you
choose to bear.”
Severus glowered. “How did I end up part of this ridiculous family?”
“I believe your place was cemented when you slept with my husband,” Narcissa
smiled, “although I expect he would have pursued you relentlessly until it
happened.”
“He already did,” Severus muttered.
“So you know Malfoys always get what they want,” Narcissa declared as though he
had proved her point.
“And what *is* it that you want Cissy?”
“You know perfectly well Severus. You will confess your woes or I will allow
Lucius to badger you with questions all evening.”
“You are such an evil sort of woman,” Severus growled.
“And rather fabulous as such.” Narcissa smiled over the brim of her cup. “Stop
procrastinating dear.”
Severus gave her a murderous look and put his coffee down. “You’ve heard
about…”
Narcissa’s eyes widened a little as she realised the direction of his thoughts.
“The woman you were seeing?”
Severus nodded once, allowing his greasy hair to fall over his face.
“What happened?” Narcissa asked.
“She wasn’t who I thought,” Severus snarled.
“Who did you think she was?” Narcissa asked.
“Don’t ask me that,” Severus whispered.
“Then what did she do wrong?” Narcissa asked.
Severus made a snarling noise. After a moment he said, “I didn’t get to know
her well enough. I didn’t look at her properly. I was wrong.”
“And once you looked at her properly?”
“She wasn’t someone I should ever be with,” Severus said.
“And she got no say I that, am I right?” Narcissa said.
Severus looked up quickly, glaring at her. “What are you saying?”
“Simply that you seemed exceptionally happy until you ‘looked at her’. You’ve
never been the sort of man who makes himself believe he’s in love because he
wants it so much. That leaves me to wonder what she did so wrong.”
“Don’t make such presumptions Narcissa.”
“And don’t lie to us both Severus,” Narcissa said.
“It was not going to work,” Severus said with finality.
“Just so long as I don’t need to remind you that everyone has flaws Severus.
Not that I ever expected I’d need to tell you that.”
“Stop what you’re doing Narcissa.”
“Very well Severus,” Narcissa said. She put down her coffee and crossed over to
sit beside him. She took his clenched hand out of his lap and held it.
Severus glanced at their hands and closed his eyes, acknowledging her action
with a nod of his head. He didn’t thank her. She didn’t expect him to.
Narcissa stood and let go of Severus’ hand when she knew Lucius would be
arriving shortly. “Please excuse me while I change for dinner,” she said.
Severus nodded courteously and groaned inwardly at the thought that Lucius
would be home presently.
The blonde arrived far too soon for Severus’ liking and meandered into the
parlour, taking a seat on the opposite side of the couch that Narcissa had been
seated on.
“Good evening Severus; how are you?”
Severus grit his teeth before saying, “I’m splendid Lucius. Yourself?”
“I would be tremendous if that was truly the case Severus, but we both know
otherwise. It *wounds* me that you won’t tell me your troubles.”
“Lucius…” Severus began warningly.
“I thought we were friends!” Lucius declared.
“Of course you both are Lucius,” Narcissa said, appearing in the doorway. Her
dress was exquisite, Severus noted idly even as he felt gratitude rise in his
chest at her timely entrance.
Lucius pouted. “But Cissy darling…”
“Severus has unburdened his troubles to me,” Narcissa said.
“Oh. *Oh.* Has he indeed?” Lucius looked back and forth between them.
Narcissa nodded. “He has Lucius, so don’t pester the man so. He’s heartsick,
and hardly needs to be reminded of it. We’re going to cheer him up,
understood?”
“Heartsick?” Lucius sounded appalled. “Why, who’d hurt you Severus? We’ll
destroy her.”
“You’ll do no such thing,” Narcissa said firmly.
Severus looked up in surprise whilst Lucius waved his wife’s protests away.
“Don’t listen to her Severus. Of course we’ll crush the harlot…”
“You’ll do no such thing,” Severus said.
Lucius looked at his friend in shock. “Whyever not? She hurt you.”
Severus growled at the insinuation that anyone could possibly hurt him and
said, “She doesn’t need you trying to ruin her life Lucius.”
“But she hurt my family,” Lucius said darkly.
“*No* Lucius,” Severus said shortly. “Now go change for dinner. Cissa and I are
famished.”
Lucius took defeat prettily as he sprung of the couch and agreed chivalrously.
Everyone present knew he was only obeying so easily because he had no intention
whatsoever of letting the subject drop.
Severus gritted his teeth and Narcissa smiled at him. “Never mind, let’s go
down to the dining hall for some peace.”
Severus nodded and allowed her to lead him whilst she made small talk. Severus
sat down at the table and smiled as the idle chatter numbed his brain –so much
that he didn’t mind terribly when Lucius glided into the room and settled into
his place.
Lucius clicked his fingers and food appeared on the table. Severus began to
eat, hoping to make Lucius think that he was too hungry for real conversation.
Narcissa kept a mellow dialogue flowing over the table, soothing Severus and
interrupting Lucius any time the man looked about to speak.
This could not of course last forever. Eventually Lucius grew disgruntled at
Narcissa’s crafty monopolisation of the conversation and interrupted with a
firm voice, “Severus, it feels like we’ve hardly spoken all evening. What are
you thinking?”
“Simply that the food is superb as always Lucius,” Severus said breezily.
“Now really, you don’t need to say that,” Lucius said. “What are you really
thinking?”
Severus raised his eyebrows. “Truly,” the man said. “I was thinking about the
food.”
Lucius gazed at Severus intently. “No thoughts about this woman then?”
“Lucius,” Narcissa warned.
“None at all,” Severus replied.
“And you don’t suppose that your reason for not allowing me to dismember the
harlot is that you still harbour feelings for her?”
“Really Lucius, I am *not* comfortable with the direction of this
conversation,” Severus said. “And please refrain from calling her a harlot.”
“Especially at the table darling,” Narcissa said.
“What need is there for ceremony when it’s simply us three?” Lucius protested.
“Surely your sensibilities are not so impaired by the mention of harlots that
you cannot bear it?”
“We put up with you, Lucius, so you know that is hardly the case. You’re
certainly the most promiscuous amongst us.”
“Severus, I’m stung,” Lucius objected.
“You are no such thing,” Severus disputed. “You are thrilled by the very idea.”
Narcissa pushed shredded leaves around her plate in quiet amusement, privately
entertained by watching from beneath her lashes the men’s interactions. Lucius’
nature always grew more flamboyant and exuberant in Severus’ company as he
tried to entice the darker man into similar behaviour, but Severus always
remained dry and reserved. It frustrated Lucius to no end and this was always
enjoyable to watch so long as one avoided the temper this brought out
eventually. Lucius loathed not getting his own way.
“I am certainly not promiscuous,” Lucius pouted.
“Please,” Severus said, swirling the remaining red wine in his goblet.
“Narcissa’s affairs are largely infrequent and largely discreet; my own pale in
comparison to yours; and yours, Lucius, are truly awful. You have oiled your
way into the bed of the wife of every man on the board and you’ve slept with
almost every influential woman in wizarding Britain.”
“A man has appetites Severus.” Lucius flashed the man a rakish smile. “Of
course, you already know that.”
Severus sighed and rolled his eyes. “With a wife as beautiful and talented as
your own the only reason you have for your bedhopping is simply vanity.”
“And would you be faithful and devoted if you were Narcissa’s husband Severus?”
Lucius’ voice was amused.
“Lucius I have no desire for blondes. Of course, you already know that.”
Lucius’ smirk faded to a scowl. “And what *do* you desire Severus? Other than
an exceptional potions store and a labotory, what makes you happy?”
“Putting you down Lucius. Did you not know that?”
Lucius sneered in acknowledgement before turning serious. “Genuinely though
Severus, what was it about her that made you happy?”
“I don’t know,” Severus said shortly. “Something in her nature called to me.”
Lucius looked somewhat unsettled by that admission. “Like what?” he asked
sincerely.
“I don’t know,” Severus snapped. “I don’t want to think about it, or her. Drop
it and leave it alone.”
“Was she better than me?” Lucius asked, now sounding a mixture of curious and
teasing.
Severus sighed and placed down his desert fork. “She was talented. And she had
an unusual way of making me relax just by being in the proximity. She always
seemed much more sincere than you, Lucius, but as it turns out, she wasn’t as
she seemed, and I’m no longer with her. Are you satisfied with my report now?”
The jibe sailed over Lucius and he focused instead on, “Sincere?” he said.
“What do you mean, she seemed more ‘sincere’ than I? I’m exceptionally sincere.
When have I ever lied to you?”
Severus closed his eyes and inwardly started cataloguing the contents of his
potions store in latin. “We are simply not having this discussion Luc.”
“Yes we are!” Lucius protested. “*What* do you mean by calling me insincere?”
“Lucius you know as well as I that you range from falsely charming to oily and
almost completely bypass being genuine.”
“Severus!” Lucius remonstrated. Narcissa excused herself entirely unnoticeably
from years of practise.
“Don’t take it to heart Lucius,” Severus soothed.
Lucius sulked and looked about to speak when he hissed and clutched his arm.
“Damn thing,” he muttered through the pain. He glanced at Severus in interest.
“He isn’t calling you?”
Severus glanced at his arm and shook his head. “It seems I’ve earned a
reprieve.”
Lucius rolled his eyes. “Sly man. You’ll excuse me won’t you?”
Severus nodded with a smile and took a sip of wine. Narcissa entered the room
not long after Lucius apparated away. “More wine?” she questioned.
***** Behind The Tapestry *****

Author's notes: Wherein there is Drarry and not a whole lot else.
===============================================================================
JKR owns the Potterverse and I'm not making money out of this. I had intended
to progress the plot with this chapter but it just turned into ...this. I'm
sure you're all very disappointed ;P
“You’re not with Jessa?” Draco said.
“No, why would I be?” Harry asked, sounding confused.
“She’s not with Moody and she’s not been hanging about with the Slytherins much
so I expected her with you.”
“Maybe she’s with Snape,” Harry suggested.
Draco made a scoffing noise. “I doubt it,” he said.
Harry shrugged. “Well, since you and I are alone, in this empty corridor…”
Draco gave his lover an amused look. “Oh, do you have a suggestion?”
Harry pouted as manfully as he could. It was an odd look, but he pulled it off
somehow. “You’re making fun of me now? Fine, I suppose we don’t have to have
some long, hot, sex be-”
Draco placed his hands onto Harry’s chest and pushed his lover backwards and
closer to the wall. He lifted the floorlength tapestry mounted there and
beckoned Harry inside. With Harry concealed, Draco quickly followed then let
the tapestry drop back into place, their forms being cast into shadow by an odd
nearby statue.
“It’s dusty in here,” Harry muttered.
Draco cast a spell to rectify that problem and raised his eyebrows at Harry.
“This was your idea,” he said.
“Was it?” Harry said, sounding pleasantly bemused.
Draco’s reply was not a verbal one, having decided instead to push Harry
further against the stone wall and bite down with moderate force on Harry’s
neck. Harry arched into the contact, the sensation distracting him from the way
the rough stone felt on his palms.
Draco bit down harder, drawing a moan from Harry, who absently noticed how
close one side of his face was to the stone wall, but felt too content to
complain.
Draco’s growing erection pressed into Harry’s rear and he slid one hand around
to begin unbuttoning Harry’s clothing. Harry made another pleased noise and
pressed his buttocks back into the blonde.
Draco hissed as Harry began to wriggle his behind most insistently against
Draco’s member. Draco doubled his speed of unbuttoning Harry’s shirt and fly.
Harry felt his shirt fall open and he tugged at his tie as much as he could in
his restricted position. He felt Draco succeed in undoing his fly and tugging
the trousers off of Harry’s hips. Harry wriggled his thighs to slide his
clothing down further.
Harry heard Draco’s leering snicker and felt the boy’s fingers breach the
elastic of Harry’s boxers. The blonde snapped the waistband teasingly and Harry
growled softly in protest.
“What?” The smirk in Draco’s voice was evident. “Do you want something Harry?”
Harry growled louder, rubbing his butt against Draco’s member firmly.
“What’s that? I’m not quite sure what you want…” Draco’s tone was playful, but
his inflection was imprecise as he struggled to maintain his composure whilst
Harry writhed.
“I want a fuck,” Harry grumbled.
“Really?” Draco said, feigning incredulity.
“Draco,” Harry warned, breathing heavily at the sensation of Draco’s fingers
ghosting teasingly over his shaft, “if you don’t fuck me right now…”
The blonde chortled, although he sounded deeply aroused himself. “Or you’ll
what?” he leaned in to Harry’s ear to whisper.
“I’ll flip us over and fuck you so hard people will come running into this
corridor for hearing your screams.”
“Screams?” Draco’s teasing voice sounded intrigued. “What kind of screams?”
“Needy ones,” Harry promised darkly, “really *desperate* ones… I’ll make you
*beg*…”
“You *are* a horrible Gryffindor, aren’t you?” Draco replied, pressing himself
even more forcefully into Harry’s rear and rocking his hips gently. “I guess
*I* better fuck *you* then…”
Harry made an agreeable noise and wriggled further in the hopes of removing his
boxers somehow.
“Of course…” Draco began, causing a chill to settle in Harry’s stomach just
before the hand that had been working his cock with increasing vigour stilled,
“I don’t have to fuck you right *now*…”
“You do,” Harry said stoutly.
Draco rubbed himself hard against Harry, forcing him to shift even closer to
the wall. “Do I?” he whispered.
“*Yes*,” Harry hissed.
“Why?” Draco asked, sliding his hand down to fondle Harry’s balls.
“Because,” Harry muttered sharply.
“Because..?” Draco repeated, sounding sadistically gleeful to Harry’s ears.
“You know ‘because’,” Harry snarled, “now fuck me Dray. I mean it…”
Draco was finally peeling Harry’s boxers off and brushing against Harry’s naked
flesh.
“Get your trousers down,” Harry panted.
Draco chuckled almost silently and took his hand back to perform Harry’s
request. Harry moaned aloud at the loss of the talented hand but could not
complain.
He jolted as he felt a finger delicately trace his crease. It disappeared
momentarily then Draco whispered, “Scourgify,” followed swiftly by, “lubricus.”
The time for teasing was over. Draco slipped one finger inside Harry, easing in
a second as soon as he reasonably could.
Harry was torn between the pleasurable sensation and missing the hand jerking
him off so deliciously. He wished Draco would put the hand that was pinning
Harry to the wall to better use.
 Draco edged in a third finger then manoeuvred in a fourth shortly after. “That
feel okay?” he asked.
“That feels fantastic,” Harry snapped. “Get on with it.”
Draco nipped his lover’s neck sharply in rebuke and obeyed, sliding out his
fingers and carefully replacing them with his cock. He ran his tongue over the
bitten flesh and trailed his hand back around to Harry’s front.
Harry panted softly and rocked his hips gently until he was fully accustomed to
the long, warm length inside of him. “Fuck,” he muttered happily.
Draco ground into him lustfully. “I am,” he answered.
“You really want something in that smart mouth of yours, don’t you?” Harry
muttered to his lover before yelping as Draco bumped up against his prostate
forcefully.
Draco smirked in reply and settled to a regular pace. Harry moaned delightedly
and relaxed against the stone, closing his eyes at the sensations Draco’s hands
were dragging from his member.
“Quiet,” Draco murmured, giving Harry’s cock a tighter squeeze but not changing
pace in the slightest. “People could hear you, remember?”
“Let them hear,” Harry muttered, rocking his hips enthusiastically, “this feels
amazing.”
“Of course it does,” Draco replied absently, swallowing as Harry clenched his
internal muscles playfully. “Oh, you want to play *now*?”
Harry chuckled and did it again, enjoying the sound of Draco’s ragged
breathing. “Don’t you *like* that Baby?”
“Course I fucking like it,” Draco muttered, “but if you keep doing that I am
going to *come*.”
Harry snickered. “Isn’t that the point?”
Draco thrust hard in reply, causing Harry to squeak and clench his hands around
the rough stone before him.
Draco snickered back and continued thrusting, a little harder now than before.
Harry groaned pleasurably.
“If you don’t keep it down I’m going to hex your mouth shut,” Draco warned.
Harry laughed and savoured the feeling of being fucked so thoroughly. “Stop
making me feel so good then.”
“That’s not…possible,” Draco murmured, burying his face in Harry’s neck and
continuing to thrust.
Harry leaned back against his lover. “Is too,” he panted. “You
could…just…stop…”
Draco shook his head against Harry’s shoulder. “I couldn’t. You just…feel…so
good…all…of the time…”
“Even when…we’re…not doing…this?” Harry gasped, pushing back against Draco’s
cock energetically.
“Yeah…” Draco admitted. “You’re just…*so*…good…”
Harry chuckled a little, too preoccupied to laugh louder. “Good,” he answered,
“because I’m going…to…”
“Hold off a minute,” Draco interrupted, clamping down on the base of Harry’s
cock swiftly. “Let me…join you…”
Harry nodded breathlessly and a moment later he felt the fingers of Draco’s
left hand dig into his shoulderblade. Harry gasped and they trembled together,
Draco’s seed pouring hotly into Harry even as Harry’s own seed spilled over
Draco’s hand.
Draco slumped against Harry and glanced down, chuckling softly as he caught
sight of the small splatters of white liquid on the stone. Harry followed his
gaze but didn’t have the energy to blush. Draco brought his sticky hand up and
licked it clean casually.
“Think anyone heard us?” Harry asked.
“The noise you just made? They better not have or we will not be on speaking
terms,” Draco replied.
“You were hardly quiet when you came either!” Harry protested.
“Hardly the point,” Draco said, reluctantly sliding out of Harry and sorting
both their clothing.
Harry stiffened in discomfort as he felt semen seep out of his crevice onto his
underwear. “Couldn’t you have let me clean up first?”
“I’d rather you kept it there,” Draco smirked, “to remind you who put it
there.”
“Wow, thanks, Dray,” Harry muttered. “I bet I stink of sex.”
“A bit,” Draco lied cheerfully and cast a cleaning charm on them both. Harry
shifted and tugged at the seat of his trousers. “Still uncomfortable now,” he
groused.
“Serves you right for making so much noise,” Draco replied. “Now out you go and
check no one’s around.”
Harry sighed but did as Draco said. “Corridor’s still empty,” he said. “The
portraits are all having a good look though.”
Draco emerged from behind the tapestry. “Let them stare,” he said. “Their
opinions don’t bother me.”
“In that case…” With a thorough glance around Harry grabbed Draco’s tie and
pulled them into a passionate kiss.
They pulled apart reluctantly and Draco haughtily stared down the catcalling
portraits.
“Do you want us to look for Jessa now?”
Draco stared at Harry. “You’re thinking of her *now*?”
“I’m thinking about my sore ass -*and* my scraped hands- but yeah, I’m thinking
about your sister too. You were looking for her, remember?”
“Of course I remember,” Draco snapped. “Merlin, if you’re not *with* her then
you’re thinking about her.”
“Jealous much?”
“Yes!” Draco snapped.
Harry smirked at him. “Need another round to remind you who my favourite is?”
“No, let’s go find her,” Draco sighed, not managing to hold in his laughter at
Harry’s leer.
***** The Poltergeist *****

Author's notes: Wherein Jessa talks to Peeves.
===============================================================================
I know, I know, JKR owns Harry Potter and his friends. *sighs*
“Jessa, Jessa, Jessa,
“I heard she shagged a professor,
“And after he kissed her,
“He no longer missed her…”
Jessa directed a cold look at the little man spinning through the air towards
her. He froze at her strangely animalistic, blank features and hovered, his
expression somewhere between nervous and curious.
“You’re not throwing things at me,” he said, “and you’re not laughing either.”
“There is very little point in getting mad at someone like you, Peeves,” Jessa
said, breaking the eye contact and stretching out nonchalantly on the window
ledge.
Peeves flew a little closer. “But you usually find me funny.”
“You are funny,” Jessa muttered.
“But you’re not laughing,” Peeves said.
“No,” Jessa sighed, “no, I’m not.”
“And you called me a person,” Peeves grumbled. “You know I’m not. You said I
wasn’t.”
“You aren’t and I did. You’re a manifestation of emotion.”
“Adolescent emotion,” Peeves said conversationally. “Which is why you’re so
odd.”
Jessa gave him the most interested look she’d given him all conversation. “What
do you mean?”
“You know how I,” Peeves cartwheeled in the air suddenly, “*love* being around
you, Kinny Jessa.” He looked delighted. “You’re so *angsty* and *angry* and
*miserable* all the time,” he declared and hugged himself. His eyes had rolled
back and he forced them onto Jessa again. “You have so much emotion for me to
work on. But,” he gave her a dark look, “it doesn’t feel like ordinary teenage
emotion. It doesn’t have that…special spark.” He stared right into Jessa’s
eyes. “Your emotion and your magic are stale. You odd metamorphmagi. You change
so much you lose your cores…”
Jessa felt intense relief as the poltergeist flipped in the air again because
in doing so he broke their eye contact.
Peeves paused and cackled, staring at her in amusement. He groaned and hugged
himself again. “But you feel things so *strongly*,” he giggled. “You make up
for having such a weak…” He broke off and grinned. “Like an adult, you are.
Like you’re dying, dead, dead, dead inside! Ha ha!”
“Far from dead inside,” Jessa muttered.
“Feels like you’re dying though, hmm? Or that that would be preferable. You’re
drowing, slipping in and out of feeling real. I expect that’s what a tumour
feels like, when it’s pressing up on your brain and making your vision all
blurry sometimes,” Peeves declared enthusiastically.
“Lovely, Peeves,” Jessa sighed.
Peeves stilled and bit his lip. “You’re no fun today,” he said.
“I’m just not angry today Peeves. Sorry,” Jessa said.
“No!” Peeves blurted, then looked annoyed at himself. “You’re meant to be fun,”
he muttered. “You cause trouble. You’re trouble.”
Jessa turned away and Peeves bit his lip again, lowering himself to the floor
nervously. “Don’t get sad like this…melancholy. It’s no fun. If you have to be
sad be miserable. Be heartbroken!”
Jessa glanced up. “My emotions not strong enough for you?”
Peeves made a dismissive gesture. “I have the whole castle. But I like using
just you when you’re around. Absorb you. So much more fun when you’re not
jarbled with everyone else, all mushed together. Miss the strength of what’s
felt. Ruins the purity of it. Need you nice and nasty, makes me much more fun
that way.”
“Am I nasty?” Jessa asked.
Peeves hovered lower, his toes brushing the floor. “Stop feeling like that!
It’s not fun!”
Jessa’s eyes flashed and before Peeves could react she had lunged at him,
grabbing his throat and knocking him onto his back. He choked and tried to get
up.
“Is this what you want?” Jessa whispered. “You want me to bring my darkness out
to play?”
Peeves felt himself growing stronger as her emotions grew but he couldn’t knock
her off him. He stared at her face.
Jessa forced a chuckle from between her tight lips. “Do you know what sucks
about being a poltergeist? You’re not a ghost. You’re not already dead.”
Peeves swallowed and felt the hand move away from his Adam’s apple. He thought
he was angry but couldn’t bring himself to move the human girl’s weight off his
body.
She placed her hand roughly on his cheek. “You want to feel something Peeves?”
Peeves stared at Jessa and felt her emotions dancing around them both in waves.
It was a heady experience but he was frozen. She was lowering her head to
nearer to his own. Her breath was beginning to brush his face.
“Do you get high on my feelings Peeves, or do you just feed off of them? You
only exist because people feel.”
Peeves trembled, and knew that the body on top of him felt it.
“Do you feel?” Jessa asked in a hushed voice. “If I cut you, would you feel
your own adrenaline, or would you feel mine?”
“Both,” Peeves whispered.
“*Have* you ever been cut by someone Peeves?”
Peeves nodded, staring at the girl intently.
“Have you ever been bruised? Ever been punched?”
Peeves opened his mouth to talk but Jessa reached down and tugged lightly on
his hair.
“Can you feel this?” she asked him almost sweetly. “Can you feel pain?”
“Sort of,” Peeves whispered.
“If I slapped you, would it hurt?”
“In the instant,” Peeves answered. “Sometimes a few moments after.”
“If bad things happen to students Peeves, do you absorb that? Does that pain
and confusion become yours?” Jessa asked softly.
“I don’t let it,” Peeves whispered. “I throw things instead. You’ve seen me.”
“Does it feel like it’s happened to you?”
“It could if I wanted it to. But I don’t…”
“So you know what it feels like to be beaten? To be raped? To have your magic
bound? Do you know that impure blood smells just the same as the pure sort?”
Peeves swallowed and felt hyperaware of the female body on top of him. The girl
shifted her weight and it almost felt like she was grinding against him.
Lust. That was another teenage emotion he was made of.
Jessa took one of his wrists and placed the hand above his head. “Since you
want to feel so much, how about I help you experience those? Are those emotions
strong enough for you?”
“Wouldn’t be rape,” Peeves whispered.
“I could break your bones though,” Jessa whispered. “Wouldn’t that be fun?”
“I get strength from your emotion,” Peeves said, “you can’t overpower me.”
“What am I doing now?” Jessa pointed out. “Do you *really* want to feel?”
Peeves inhaled heavily as though absorbing Jessa’s strong emotions was
intoxicating. “You’re getting me drunk,” he said.
Jessa dug her nails lightly into his chest. “What’s it like?”
“I…”
Jessa chortled softly and stood up. Peeves remained on his back, looking up at
her in confusion.
“You shouldn’t be willing to feel anything just to feel something,” Jessa said,
beginning to walk away. “It’s not healthy.”
Peeves floated to his feet and stared hard at her. “Where are you going?”
“Away from temptation.”
“Why?” Peeves asked.
“Because you’d honestly let me hurt you. And if I let myself lash out at you,
there’s be nothing left of you.”
“There’s plenty more teenagers once you use up your feelings.”
“No,” Jessa said. “I’d destroy you before I’d have used everything up. And once
I let go that far I’d struggle to reign the rest back in.”
“You’ve stopping feeling strongly again,” Peeves said.
Jessa hesitated and picked up the bell ended hat that had fell to the floor
when she knocked the poltergeist down. “I’m shutting down again.”
Peeves tried to smirk. “You’ll explode eventually. You can’t kill yourself
inside like that. It’s a survival instinct. You’re too strong to just swallow
all those emotions and let them fester until they kill you.”
Jessa tilted her head up. “Better make sure you’re not there then. Don’t want
you to overdose.”
“How do you know it won’t feel like an orgasm instead?”
Jessa laughed aloud, the first genuine one in a while. She looked down at the
hat and smiled a little to herself. “Maybe it will,” she said.
Peeves’ dark eyes glinted and he cartwheeled in the air. “Your mental
breakdown…I expect it will be glorious.”
“Isn’t glorious quite a big word for you?”
Peeves stilled, pouted, and unfastened his orange bow-tie, which he promptly
threw at Jessa.
She ducked and spun around swiftly to pluck it out of the air. “Throwing
clothes at me now are you? Couldn’t you find something harder?”
Peeves’ normally wide smile narrowed and he complied by throwing one of his
shoes at her. Jessa giggled.
Peeves paused and cocked his head to the side. “You know when I like you best?”
Jessa sobered at his expression and shook her head.
“When you start getting all that blood lust and I know you want to kill someone
absolutely horribly. You could probably kill this whole school if I could get
you angry enough.”
“But you can’t get me angry enough.”
“I know,” said Peeves, “but one day they’re going to hurt you so much you’ll
devastate them all.”
“Is that what you’re ultimately made up of? Dark desires?”
“The things people try not to do are always the strongest. Nasty desires
consume people.”
“But normal people can contain them. Love’s stronger.”
Peeves stilled and crossed his legs in the air. “’Spect no one expects you to
think *that*.”
Jessa didn’t seem offended.
“He doesn’t love you, you know,” Peeves said abruptly. “Whoever your heart’s
been grieving for since you came back. He wouldn’t let you hurt alone like this
if he did.”
“I’m not hurting,” Jessa said.
“Because you’ve presently locked your feelings away. But you know you still
are, even though you’re not letting yourself feel it. And eventually you’re
going to feel it again. And you’ll lash out. Deep down inside you want to hurt
everyone as much as you’ve been.”
Jessa looked away and knelt to pick up Peeves’ shoe. “What if I said I just
wanted someone to heal me? If there could be genuine mutual trust…”
“You don’t *really* think you’ll find that though, do you?” Peeves interrupted.
“I’ve heard things around the castle. No one’s *ever* kept your trust, have
they? You get *hurt*, that’s what happens. That’s what’s supposed to happen to
you and you know it. The only way to ease that pain is to hurt people worse
than you’re already hurting.”
Jessa stared at Peeves and tossed him his shoe warily. “You sound exactly like
the dark little voice in my chest. What’s the opposite of a conscience?
Temptation?”
Peeves chuckled. “Hearing voices, do you? I say you listen to them. Always
fun.”
“I try to listen to the other voice,” Jessa said.
Peeves’ grin shrank back by a few molars. “What’s that one tell you?”
“That it’s not too late,” Jessa sighed. “That if I can just find someone to
trust…if they can love me…then I can undo what’s been done. I can make it
okay.”
“That’s your conscience,” Peeves protested. “Don’t listen to that. People who
are good all the time are never happy.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever been good,” Jessa said slowly.
“That’s the way to be,” Peeves agreed, then paused. “That’s not true you know.
You’ve got a streak of good through you, like marble cake.”
Jessa sighed. “Even if I wanted to, I wouldn’t know how to use it. Come here.”
Peeves tilted his head at the command and flew towards her, pausing in the air
a couple of feet out of her reach. “What is it? Lusty?”
“You wish,” Jessa said comfortably. “Let me put this back on you.” She held up
his bow tie.
Peeves blinked in surprise and drifted into her personal space, ducking down to
allow her hands access to his neck. Jessa fixed his bow tie carefully, her eyes
directed towards her task.
She didn’t seem to see the rising hairs on Peeves’ skin. It was strange to have
someone so far into his personal space; and the gentle way Jessa handled him
made the moment seem even more intimate than if she’d simply been brisk and
efficient.
“There you go.” Jessa finished and moved to step back. Peeves reached out and
caught her wrist.
“Wait,” he said.
Jessa looked at him attentively, her expression soft. She looked like she’d
forgotten the path their conversation had taken only minutes ago. Had she
dismissed him so easily?
Jessa frowned. “Is something wrong?” she asked in concern.
Peeves stared at her, his heart hammering away unnoticed. People didn’t look at
him like that. He was bad, and fun, and that was *not* the way people looked at
him! Peeves dropped his eyes to his hand around her wrist.
“Peeves?”
The poltergeist took a deep breath and blew a raspberry in Jessa’s face.
The girl stepped back and ran a hand over her features. “Gross, Peeves.”
Peeves opened his mouth to retort before his ear twitched and he glanced down
the corridor inquisitively.
“Do you hear someone?” Jessa asked.
“Two someones,” Peeves said, just as Harry and Draco turned into the corridor.
Jessa glanced at the boys curiously.
“We have been looking everywhere for you!” Draco snapped.
“*Me*?” Peeves replied. “Why would I want to be…” At this point Peeves trailed
off, remembering that it was not a clever idea to bother the snakelings as the
Bloody Baron tended not to encourage it.
“Is it okay for you two to be seen together?” Jessa said.
“We can say we were fighting,” Draco shrugged. Harry sniggered abruptly as
though that thought was very funny. Draco glanced at Harry and then rolled his
eyes in disdain.
“Why were you looking for me?” Jessa asked. “I’ve not annoyed Mad Eye again
somehow have I?”
“Not that I know of,” Draco said, “but you do have a habit of rubbing everyone
the wrong way.”
“Like her brother then,” Harry muttered, causing Draco to spin around looking
affronted.
“So what were you doing?” Draco asked Jessa.
“This,” Peeves declared, and yanked Jessa towards him. As she fell into his
solid chest he pressed his lips down heavily on hers and parted them. Shock
coursed through him as she did not immediately pull away.
Jessa traced her tongue around the inside of the poltergeist’s mouth. He tasted
of popcorn and cotton candy. For a moment she allowed him to invade her mouth,
thinking about what Peeves had said and comparing his taste to Severus’.
Jessa pulled back and punched Peeves’ arm. “You ass, we were *not* doing that!”
Peeves massaged his arm and rubbed his lips together slowly. His tongue flicked
out to wet them and he said sulkily, “We were getting around to it.”
“We were doing no such thing,” Jessa retorted.
Peeves crossed his ankles and drifted slowly into the air. “You don’t really
think that do you?”
“Think what you want,” Jessa shrugged. She turned her back on him and pushed
past the two human boys.
“You’d leave me here with Potty Potter and…a… Slytherin?”
Jessa glanced back at Peeves and rolled her eyes, not sparing much attention
for Draco or Harry. “They won’t *bite* you.”
Peeves tilted his head. “Would you?”
Jessa laughed and began walking away down the corridor. “Just go annoy some
firsties Peeves. Or McGonagall.”
Peeves said nothing and cartwheeled backwards away from them all. He paused and
grinned. “You’ve got my hat!” he called.
Jessa glanced down at her hands and smiled. She raised the belled hat to her
head and adjusted it smoothly. “S’mines now,” she called back calmly.
Peeves’ eyes glittered and he cartwheeled down the corridor and out of sight.
Jessa continued to walk down the opposite end of the corridor.
Harry turned to Draco as Jessa turned to the left at the end of the corridor
and disappeared out of sight. “What just happened?”
Draco brushed his hair back exasperatedly. “Jessa happened,” he said, which
sort of answered the question.
“She kissed a ghost,” Harry said. “Ew.”
“Poltergeist,” Draco corrected, not looking any happier about the difference.
***** Plans And Ponderings *****

Author's notes: Wherein Lord Voldemort makes plans and wonders about things.
===============================================================================
JKR owns the Potterverse. I don't, and this doesn't make me any money.
“Rabastan, where is Bellatrix? Find your brother and bring them both here at
once. Don’t they feel my Mark? Rosier, what have you been doing? Why are you
covered in blood?”
The irritated voice of the Lord Voldemort met his ears and Lucius crossed from
the hall into the great chambers just as Voldemort drew his wand and cast the
cruciatus curse on the unfortunate Rosier. Lucius had not heard Rosier’s reply
but it was clear from the man’s screaming that Lord Voldemort was displeased by
it.
“And ’Dolphus was perfectly right to punch you!” Voldemort snarled, although
Lucius doubted Rosier Sr. could focus enough to listen to their Master at that
moment.
There were footsteps on the stairs outside the room and then the three
Lestranges crowded into the room behind Lucius. He stepped aside to let them
past and Voldemort looked up. He growled and released the curse on his school
friend. “Bella, come here,” he snapped, slapping her hard on the rump when she
obeyed. “More bloody trouble that you’re worth, by Merlin.”
He turned his glare on Rodolphus. “Is your hand alright?”
“Yes, My Lord,” the man murmured respectfully. “I’ve healed it.”
“Good,” Voldemort snapped. “And the next time you or Bella decide to ignore my
Call because of a domestic you’ll both be on the floor beside Rosier.
Understood?”
“My Lord,” Rodolphus murmured quickly.
Voldemort turned to Lucius. “Good, you’re here. Go stand with Young Avery, and
take Roddy with you.”
Lucius nodded respectfully and nudged Rodolphus over to where Avery Jr. was
standing silently.
“Rabastan,” Lord Voldemort said. “Jugson, Selwynn, and Travers are in the
kitchen pestering the elves. Go get them and when Yaxley finally shows up I’ll
send him down to you. You’re going to attack a little Welsh villiage tonight.
Rowle’s got the details because he got the dragon. Rowle will be your Second
tonight. Where is he?”
Before Voldemort could shout, the big, blonde Death Eater hurried to his side.
“There you are, good. Go with Rabastan and wait with the others. You might as
well have something to eat until bloody Yaxley makes an appearance. Rabastan is
in charge and he won’t be afraid to hex you if you can’t control yourself
tonight Thorfinn. That being said, I’m expecting you all to cause absolute
chaos tonight, so I expect you’ll have plenty of fun.”
The brutal-looking man’s eyes moved quickly, the only indication that he was
taking in his master’s words. He nodded courteously and followed Rabastan down
to the kitchens.
“Avery, Mulciber, Nott, Lestrange, Rosier, start working out the plans for
infiltrating Hogwarts. I’ll be with you shortly. Rosier, straighten your back
and act like a man. It’s not the first time I’ve crucio’d you by any means.”
Lord Voldemort stalked around the room, gazing hotly at its occupants. Bella
moved quickly to keep by his side.
“Macnair, you’re in charge of Crabbe and Goyle for the moment; I want you to
practise your duelling skills and make damn sure each of you can cast a
patronus like your lives depend on it. Lucius, Rodolphus, come here. Lucius, I
want you in charge of this mission but I don’t want you in the action in case
you’re seen. Rodolphus and Rookwood are going to give you all the details that
they can about Azkaban and you will start making plans. I’ll give you Bella
later and she can cast an eye over them, can see if there’s anything her
husband and Gus have missed. I trust that I can leave planning this largely up
to you… You have use of Macnair, Goyle and Crabbe for when it comes down to the
actual mission. I’ll leave it to your discretion whether you think the
Lestranges, Antonin and Gus will be useful present or not. I want Barty broken
out of Azkaban before the end of the month.”
Well that wasn’t a tall order at all. Lucius nodded subserviently and began
pumping Rodolphus and Augustus for details of the prison whilst he sent Antonin
Dolohov to fetch plans of the building. Once he had the basics understood
Lucius could use his influence at the ministry to ascertain where exactly
Crouch Jr. was being held within Azkaban.
“Yaxley! Where the fucking hell have you been?!”
Ouch. Lucius bowed his head and concentrated on his task as Lord Voldemort held
his unfortunate follower under the cruciatus curse long enough for permanent
damage to have been done. Afterwards their Master gave Yaxley around fifteen
minutes to lie on the floor then dragged him to his feet and threw him down the
hall in the general direction of the kitchens.
Lord Voldemort strode over to the table where his eldest followers were working
and sat with them for a while, cracking out a professional plan. Bella stood at
the Lord’s shoulder during that time and looked particularly cheerful when
Voldemort stood and escorted her from the room. Lucius didn’t quite dare allow
himself a moment to consider the hypocrisy of his Lord in hexing Rosier for
bedding Rodolphus’ wife when Voldemort spent so much energy on the same
pastime.
When the pair returned Lord Voldemort seemed more relaxed, although Lucius
understood it would not take much prompting for Voldemort to return to a more
volatile state. Bellatrix was grinning, but she moved as though she was in
pain. Lucius never knew quite how to feel about that, which was why he
pretended that he didn’t notice when his fiery sister-in-law looked as she did.
It probably hadn’t helped her discomfort that she’d slept with Rosier earlier
in the first place, but Lord Voldemort had likely felt the need to claim her
roughly in reaction to it. Even more roughly than he would tend to ordinarily,
which was saying something.
And once one took into account the possibility that Bella had had relations
with her husband or even Rabastan (although that was less likely, Rabastan
recently seemed tired of being constantly overlooked) then it really was no
wonder that Bellatrix looked subdued.
“Bella, start talking over the plans with Rodolphus and Augustus whilst I speak
with Lucius.”
“Of course my Lord,” Bella agreed, her voice softer than usual, and moved to
sit with the men.
“How is your daughter, Lucius?” Voldemort asked when they were sufficiently far
from the others.
Lucius quickly pushed down his shock and deliberately avoided the other’s eyes.
“Have you a concern, my Lord?”
“Merely an interest Lucius, she is a very talented and interesting young lady.
You should be putting thought into what you are going to do with her.”
“My Lord?” Lucius murmured.
“Bastard or no, plenty of families would bite your hand off to have her married
off to one of their sons. You should be making sure she’s seen in society and
flaunting her availability. She’s of an age where it’s important to start
making decisions about her future. She needs to be married.”
Lucius was not entirely happy with his Lord showing concern for Jessamine’s
marital status so soon after fornicating with Bellatrix. Lucius bowed his head
to imply thought and subservience, but largely to hide his somewhat mutinous
thoughts. The girl was barely more than a child and whilst he would of course
have to marry her off, the possibility of handing her over to the Dark Lord was
a disquieting one. Lucius gave himself a mental shake, because with the Lord’s
talk of society he could not have been thinking about Jessamine in such a
manner. But all the same…
Lucius cast the unhelpful thought aside with iron will. “Of course, my Lord,”
he said.
Voldemort inclined his head and stepped backwards, indicating their talk was
coming to a close. “Oh, and Lucius? I’ll need you here tomorrow to continue
working on breaking Barty out. I’d appreciate it if you were to bring Severus.
I wish to speak with him.”
Lucius nodded, and kept the questioning look off his face.
“Lucius?”
The blonde looked up, having expected to be dismissed instead of hearing
Voldemort’s questioning tone. “My Lord?”
“Your daughter’s wand…it has a thestral hair core, does it not?”
“I believe so,” Lucius said thoughtfully, wondering why that mattered to Lord
Voldemort. Did he want the girl to kill for him?
“I heard once somewhere that thestrals had a talent for finding what their
riders look for,” Voldemort said.
“My Lord?”
“I wonder if the owners of wands with thestral cores reap the same benefits as
those riders,” Voldemort continued. He knew the girl neglected to ever use her
wand, but what if she did?
***** Neutralisation *****

Author's notes: Wherein Severus throws Jessa out of class and Voldemort has too
many ideas for severus' liking.
===============================================================================
I don't own what I don't own.
“Don’t put that in! No!”
Jessa dived over, throwing something neutralizing into the cauldron just in
time to prevent a small disaster. “The *petals* you put in, not the entire
bud!” she sighed once she caught her breath.
“You fool!” Severus exploded, storming over to Neville’s workstation. “Do you
have any idea what you could have done!”
Jessa listened to the professor berate the Gryffindor for a moment and saw the
effect the man’s attention had on the teen. Her eyes flashed angrily.
“Will you shut up Sev!” she retorted. “Everyone knows how gifted Longbottom is
at herbology so obviously he must have known the plant’s properties! Has it
occurred to you that breathing down his neck all the time might be contributing
to the amount of mistakes he makes with potions?”
Severus stared at the girl. “Detention,” he spat, “with Professor McGonagall!”
Jessa gazed at the man for a moment before shaking her head. “Fuck you, Sev.”
She pushed past Neville gently despite her rising annoyance and stormed towards
the door.
“See that Longbottom doesn’t make any other blunders for the moment Miss
Granger. Everyone, continue with what you’re doing!”
Everyone obeyed quickly, not daring to risk the livid potions master’s ire as
he stormed out the classroom after Jessa. The brave few risked a few glances up
at the doorway, but mainly kept their attention on their potions.
“How *dare* you?” Severus snarled.
“Oh what you gonna do?” Jessa replied, sounding bored. “You gonna take your
belt to me again? I really don’t care.”
“Clearly I should have struck you harder then,” Severus said hatefully.
Jessa spread out her arms. “If you want to hit me just go for it,” she said. “I
hope it makes you feel better.”
Severus grabbed her by the shoulders and threw her heavily into the damp stone
wall. The breath rushed out from Jessa’s lips but she didn’t voice her pain.
For a moment Severus could see the harm shining in her eyes and then it
disappeared.
“Let me be clear,” Severus hissed. “You will keep…the hell…away from me!”
“Whatever you want,” Jessa said wearily.
“You’re vicious,” Severus growled. “Don’t let yourself think you’re anything
other than poison.”
Jessa shrugged out of his grasp and stepped away. “Whatever. Just have a nice
life.”
“Miss Malfoy!”
“What Sev?”
“*Look* at me when I’m talking to you!”
Jessa turned around and he met her eyes. “You disgust me,” he said.
Jessa swallowed and kept her face blank as she nodded.
 
“You’re in an absolutely foul mood,” Lucius commented later. Severus growled
and crushed in his hand the dessert Narcissa had left out for him. He then
glared at the mess in his hand in further disgust.
Lucius sighed and pointed his wand at the former-pastry. He stood up. “Come
on,” he said, “there’s no point in waiting for you to cheer up any. Do try not
to start a fight with the Dark Lord if you are at all able.”
Severus growled and got to his feet. “Are you saying I’m an idiot Lucius?”
Lucius didn’t bother to retort. “Take my arm Severus. When you’re like this
you’re liable to splinch yourself.”
Severus bared his teeth in reply but reached for his friend.
Apparating did little to improve his mood. It always left him feeling mildly
nauseous and any discomfort at this moment was enough to make him want to hex
at least one person into oblivion.
Lord Voldemort looked at Severus’ black expression in surprise. “Whatever
happened to you?”
“Stupid Jessamine,” Severus muttered. “And Longbottom. She’s sticking up for
Neville Longbottom now! The little whore!”
Lucius blinked. “That’s my daughter Severus,” he said mildly. “What do you
mean, Neville Longbottom? Whyever would my daughter be cavorting with a
Longbottom?”
“Because she’s a little slut!” Severus snapped.
Voldemort looked far too pleased for reasons Lucius could not determine.
“That’s a new idea,” the Dark Lord said.
“What is?” Lucius asked.
“Longbottom,” Voldemort said, as though that explained everything. “If Kindred
married the Longbottom boy those on the Light side will think she’s become
light. We’ll have her in the perfect position to spy!”
“So should we still throw Jessamine a coming out ball?” Lucius asked. “I told
Narcissa to start making arrangements after we spoke yesterday.”
“Oh don’t cancel the ball,” Lord Voldemort said. “No. It will still be
important to introduce her to society to prove her desirability. I’ve heard the
Longbottom matriarch is a very proper sort of old blood.”
“That is my opinion of her,” Lucius admitted.
“Good. You’ll need to start making a fanfare of welcoming Kindred into your
family then. Or back into your family, rather. Unless you have any problem with
this Severus?”
Severus tried to squash down his scowl. “What makes you think I would have a
problem with that my Lord?”
“Well I did suggest *you* married her,” Lord Voldemort said.
Severus stood straighter. “No,” he said.
Lucius looked at his friend sharply. “What’s so distasteful about marrying my
daughter?”
“Severus just has a problem with the possibility of letting anyone get close to
him,” Voldemort said dismissively.
Severus pressed his lips together tightly.
Lord Voldemort glanced at him penetratingly. “You could have been happy with
North if you let yourself.”
Severus looked deeply at his Master whilst Lucius looked at them both intently.
Severus closed his eyes. “My Lord, you *knew*… Why would you think..?”
“Of course I knew,” Lord Voldemort said. “I let you know, didn’t you? But she
loves you. You dismiss that too easily.”
Severus growled inwardly because he had enough sense not to argue with the Dark
Lord. “What would you have done?” he murmured.
The Dark Lord laughed. “Dumbledore is convinced that Potter is so strong
because he can love. It’s ridiculous to think that could make him stronger than
I, but that doesn’t mean I put no value on love. I expect she would do anything
for you.”
“I don’t want her,” Severus said.
“You say that,” Voldemort murmured. “But what will that get you?”
“Lucius said it and got Narcissa didn’t he?” Severus said.
“He did, but she has never been his heart’s desire.”
“She’s a reasonable second.”
“Third,” Lucius murmured, although no one seemed to take any notice.
Lord Voldemort shook his head. “When I want something, you know I take it. I
expect my most valued followers to do the same.”
“You believe I don’t know what I want?” Severus murmured.
“I believe you’d allow yourself to be alone,” Voldemort said.
“I’m not so afraid of that prospect that I’d run into her arms,” Severus said
slowly.
“She tempts even I,” the Dark Lord said. “I expect she’d be an asset to you.”
“My Lord, please,” Severus murmured.
“I’m merely saying,” Lord Voldemort said. “Make plans for your daughter’s entry
into society won’t you Lucius.”
Lucius nodded, a little unsettled by the abrupt changes in conversation. “My
Lord.”
Lord Voldemort nodded. “You’re free to go back to the Azkaban plans now Lucius.
Severus come with me. I’ve got a job for you to do.”
“My Lord,” Severus said. What else was there to say?
***** Thankyous And Thoughts *****

Author's notes: Wherein Theo helps Draco look for something important and
Neville seeks out Jessa.
===============================================================================
Disclaimer's at the start. What are people thinking about this fic? I know how
it's going to end (not for a while yet) but if I knew who and what you like
best (or don't) then I'll bear it in mind when I'm tying up the subplots.
Everybody wins then ;D
Draco groaned inwardly to himself and continued searching his room. Where had
he put Pansy’s ring?
Theo entered the room which had been empty apart from Draco. He frowned and
watched the blonde turning out his trunk and beside cabinet. After a moment he
asked.“What’s wrong?”
Draco sighed and looked up. “Have you seen Pansy’s ring?”
“The one you wear on a chain?” Theo queried.
“Yes!”
Theo shook his head and chuckled. “If you’ve lost it you’re screwed.”
“You think I don’t know that?” Draco exclaimed, standing up and tearing the
cabinet away from the wall to see if the ring had fallen down the back. It
hadn’t.
“Why aren’t you wearing it anyway?”
“Because I can’t *find* it,” Draco sighed.
“No, why did you take it *off*? She’s your betrothed.”
“Yes, but I’m dating someone else amn’t I,” Draco grumbled, giving in and
kneeling on the floor to check under his bed. Theo continued to watch him,
feeling somewhat amused at the sight of Draco on his stomach on the floor.
“Does Pansy know you’ve not been wearing it?”
Draco attempted to look around and banged his head off of his bed in the
process. “*Ow*,” he muttered. “I don’t know,” he said. “She knows I’m seeing
someone else but… I’m hoping it’s just not crossed her mind at all.”
“She’ll kill you when she knows you’ve lost it. It’s her *crest* ring.”
“She’ll kill me if she even suspects,” Draco corrected.
“She’s gonna be furious,” Theo continued. “And hurt.”
“You think I don’t know that?” Draco muttered, squeezing himself under his bed
and shining his wand tip around in the gloom.
“Are you going to ask me to help you or what?” Theo said.
Draco stilled for a moment. “Please,” came his voice from under the bed.
“You only had to ask,” Theo said, kneeling and going through the mess Draco had
left across the floor in case he’d somehow missed the ring in his haste.
After a while of fruitless searching Theo asked, “What do you need it for
anyway?”
“I’d like to know where it is anyway,” Draco said, “but I’m going to need it
soon. Father’s decided it’s about time he welcomed Jessa into the family
properly, and Mother’s got it into her head to throw a coming out ball.”
Theo snickered. “What’s your sister going to do with her crested ring? I guess
Blaise would be happy to have it.”
Draco would have enjoyed punching Theo’s smug face in, but he really needed the
boy’s help to find Pansy’s ring. “That’s not funny. I can’t believe *you* said
it either.”
“Relax, relax,” Theo laughed. “But you know everyone’s going to find it funny…”
“Shut up!” Draco snapped. “My sister’s not a whore!”
“She’s not a virgin either though,” Theo sang playfully. “Oh. Dray, I’ve found
it!”
Draco pulled himself out from under the bed and took the jewellery that Theo
held up. “You finding this is the only reason I’m not gonna hex you,” Draco
said.
“You know you love me,” Theo said calmly, and glanced around at the floor.
“Have fun tidying this lot up,” he said cheerfully, and headed for the door.
Draco surveyed the devastation that he’d caused in his panic. He sighed
inwardly and starting clearing up.
*
Jessa looked up in surprise as Neville walked up to her with an air of
determination. She met his eyes questioningly and the boy reacted nervously.
Swallowing, he straightened his back and cleared his throat. “Malfoy?” he
growled, relief flooding him when his voice didn’t come out a squeak.
“Yeah?”
“Thank you,” Neville said. The girl immediately looked a little embarrassed and
that chased away his earlier fear. “I appreciate your sticking up for me.”
Jessa shrugged. “Don’t worry about it. I was just annoyed at how he’s always
got it in for you.”
“Yeah, but you yelled at him, and I thought you actually liked him. I…was
pretty impressed. I think he’s quite intimidating.”
“I think most people find him intimidating, Longbottom,” Jessa said wryly.
“Except you,” Neville said. “I was so shocked when you called him Sev like
that. I thought he was going to have an aneurism or something. And… you can
call me Neville.”
Jessa smiled gently. “Thanks,” she said genuinely.
Neville grinned at the real smile on her face. “So have you really been thrown
out of Snape’s class for good?”
Jessa snorted even though she didn’t really find it funny. “Looks like it
Neville,” she said.
“How are the other Slytherins taking it?” he asked.
“I haven’t found out yet,” Jessa admitted. “Draco won’t be furious with me
exactly, but he might not talk to me.” She sighed. “I’ll see how it goes.”
“If they give you a hard time you could hang with Harry and me, if you wanted,”
Neville suggested.
Jessa gave that smile again. “Thanks. I think it’ll blow over. Was it Harry who
told you where to find me?”
Neville nodded and then was quiet for a moment. “You can tell me to get lost if
you want, but… do you spend a lot of time by yourself?”
Jessa straightened in surprise. “I guess,” she said. “I’m not used to being
amongst so many people all the time…or people at all,” she admitted. “I need
space sometimes. And I guess I spend a lot of time analysing what other people
do or say to me.”
“I do that,” Neville offered.
Jessa regarded him. “Why do you let everyone think you can’t do anything?”
“I wonder that a lot myself,” Neville said. Jessa put a reassuring hand on his
arm and the boy looked at it, then at her. “Are you really dangerous, or is it
just an act?”
Jessa looked at her hand and after a moment took it back. “You just
congratulated me for yelling at the person you fear more than anything else, so
what do you think?”
“I heard what you did for Ginny,” Neville said. “And Harry likes you.”
“Smarter than you let people think, aren’t you?” Jessa said. “But you know that
I’m faking something. How do you know I wasn’t faking then?”
“If that was the case I think you’d have said how did I know *whether* you
weren’t faking, not that you weren’t faking.”
Jessa stared at him carefully. “I just underestimated you, didn’t I?”
“Everyone does,” Neville said.
A wry grin spread across Jessa’s face. “I think you’ve got permission to call
me Jessa.”
***** Who Really Cares *****

Author's notes: Wherein Alastor asks a simple question and it turns into Jessa
having a tantrum.
===============================================================================
Harry Potter isn't mine. Aww, I really love Mad Eye sometimes.
Jessa looked to the floor when Alastor entered the room. “Hey Mad Eye,” she
murmured.
Moody closed the doors and crossed his arms. “Well?”
Jessa made a nervous noise and smiled at him blandly.
“I saw you,” he said. “Want to explain why you got to the doors of the great
hall then turned and left?”
Jessa looked up in surprise. “You saw me?” she said in mortification. “I
thought you were just mad ‘cause I didn’t show up.”
“Oh, you are in trouble for that Whelp,” Alastor said, “but I want to know why
you came to the doors and turned away.”
“I did eat though!” Jessa said. “I went to the kitchens; you can ask the
elves!”
Moody nodded, not uncrossing his arms. “I’m glad you did if that’s the case,
and I will be checking. But you’ve not answered my question.”
“Mad Eye…” Jessa whined.
The ex-auror gave the teen a stern look. “Kindred Jessamine…”
Jessa huffed despondently. “Fine,” she moaned. He raised his eyebrows at her
pointedly and she continued, “I just didn’t want to go in there okay?”
“No, not okay,” Alastor said. “And you should know better by now than to lie to
me, girl. Why didn’t you go in?”
“Does it really matter?”
“Yes it does. And you’ve got to the count of ten to tell me, or you’re going to
be in big trouble.”
“Will you just get off my back!” Jessa finally exclaimed. “It’s nothing to do
with you and it’s not important!”
Alastor crossed the floor and yanked Jessa off of the couch. “Let me be clear
Whelp: it *is* important; it *is* my business; I’m *not* going to drop the
subject; and if you shout at me like that once more or avoid the question any
longer then you will not like the consequences.”
“Fuck off Mad Eye,” Jessa muttered, “you’re not my dad. Don’t touch me.”
“I’ll do a lot worse than touch you if you don’t check your tone Jessa,”
Alastor warned. “Come on.”
“The corner?” Jessa shouted as he yanked her to the wall and held her there.
“In case you’ve forgotten, I’m not a child!”
Alastor closed his eyes patiently. “We’re going to stand here until you come
back to your meagre senses and behave.”
“Thought you were going to count to ten anyway,” Jessa said condescendingly.
“Girl, if you don’t want treated like a child you’d better stop asking for a
spanking.”
“Fuck *off*!” Jessa snarled.
“What have I told you about your language?”
“Fuck. Off,” Jessa muttered.
Moody sighed. “Do you want to duel?”
Jessa lifted her head. “What?”
“If I wear you out maybe you’ll stop angling for a fight like this.”
“No,” Jessa said.
“No to what?”
Jessa rested one of her forearms flat against the wall and leaned her head
against it. “I don’t wanna duel Mad Eye.”
“That’s not like you,” Alastor murmured.
Jessa shrugged and stared at the wall. “You do know I don’t mean it when I
argue with you like this, don’t you?”
“I know,” Moody agreed, “but you were dangerously close to a hiding Jessa.”
“I know,” Jessa said.
“What the bloody hell am I going to do with you Whelp?” Alastor said at last.
Jessa shrugged and kept her eyes directed to the wall. “Just what you’re doing
I guess. You do a good job Mad Eye.”
“And how do I do a better one?” Moody demanded.
Jessa shrugged and looked at him reluctantly. “I think that’s on me,” she said.
“You can only do as good as I let you.”
“Then how bout you let me?” the man growled.
“I am trying,” Jessa murmured tightly. “I really am.”
“You’re going to have to learn to trust someone Whelp. When something’s wrong
you need to be able to explain without picking a fight first.”
“I do trust you,” Jessa said apologetically.
“You trust me more than other people, girl. But you don’t really trust me.”
“But I’m trying,” Jessa said with difficulty. “I’m *really* trying.”
Alastor dropped his hand softly on her head and mussed her hair. “So why didn’t
you eat with the rest of us today?”
Jessa bit her lip and leaned pleadingly against the older wizard’s frame. “It’s
stupid.”
Alastor held her protectively and pushed his cheek against the side of her
head. “Just tell me Whelp,” he growled softly.
“I didn’t know where to sit,” Jessa said and took a deep breath expectantly.
“What do you mean?”
“I really didn’t want to sit at the head table today,” Jessa said. “And I
didn’t want to sit with the Slytherins. And…I didn’t want to sit with the
Gryffindors.”
“Something’s happened that I don’t know about?”
Jessa nodded. “I…kinda thought you were going to be really mad when you came
in.”
“Why’s that?” Moody asked seriously.
“I…got a detention,” Jessa said.
Alastor raised his eyebrows. “And how did you earn that?”
“Shouted at Sev’rus,” Jessa mumbled. “In class.”
“Well now, why did you do something foolish like that?”
Jessa shrugged. “He’s given me a detention for it, can we just leave it at
that?”
Alastor regarded the pained expression on his teen’s face. “Okay,” he relented.
“But you’ll tell me if you feel like talking about it?”
Jessa tried to smile and nodded before resting her face on his chest.
“You and Severus have got a connection that he rarely has with anyone you know
girl,” Alastor said. “For all your banter, there’s very few people he’d allow
to cuddle and hug him like you do. Whatever’s happened today, don’t let it make
you avoid Severus for too long. He’s not the friendliest man in the world, but
Severus really does care about you.”
Jessa just kept her face against Alastor’s chest and nodded, closing her eyes
tightly to keep the tears at bay.
***** Invitations *****

Author's notes: Wherein Jessa braves the Slytherin common room.
===============================================================================
Jessa stared at the letter. “A coming out ball? Seriously?” Fuck. There was no
other option; she had to talk to Draco. Now. Why on earth would their Father
and Narcissa be considering a coming out ball? She was illegitimate. Surely
they weren’t going to marry her off? Fuck!
Thankfully it wasn’t too hard to find Draco, and the Slytherin common room was
fairly empty. His eyes met the letter in his hands and he understood at once.
“You’ve just found out about the ball they’re going to throw for you?”
“You knew?” Jessa brandished the letter in the air. “What are they doing this
for? Why do I need to meet society?!”
“I think you know why,” Draco said lightly, his lips turned up a little at the
corners. The few other Slytherins looked at them curiously but they were all
younger years and departed smoothly when Draco turned his gaze on them.
“They can’t do that!” Jessa wailed. “Why would they do that? It’s not like I’m
even your mother’s daughter!”
“What else would they do with you? You’re still a Malfoy, so you need to be
connected and provided for. There’s plenty of families who’ll overlook your
being a bastard if it means marrying into the Malfoy name.”
“That’s not right! Ethically! Did you *know* about this?”
“Father let me know the other day,” Draco said. “Relax, it might not be that
bad.”
“Why did he tell *you* first?”
“I suspect because he knew I’d react with the required decorum. There’s little
you can do, so just accept it and go through with the ball at least. They’ve
not arranged a specific match for you yet. It’s not too terrible.”
“I’m not going to let them just marry me off!”
“So if you behave properly at the ball you can scout out the best of a bad
bunch and persuade Mother to consider your favourites.”
“You’re entirely too calm about this,” Jessa whined.
“Don’t worry about it Pureblood,” Draco soothed, finally getting up from his
armchair and walking over to his sibling. “It won’t be too bad. I don’t think
Father’s inviting any of his bachelor colleagues. I think everyone will be
close to our age. Besides, you won’t have to dance with them all night, you’ll
be able to hang out with Pansy as well, and me. It’ll be fine.”
“It’ll be awful,” Jessa protested quietly.
“Not if you make sure you end up with the guy there that you think you can get
on best with, and who’s got enough sway that Mother and Father will accept the
match.”
“I don’t want married to any of them,” Jessa said quietly.
Draco regarded her. “You still like that half-blood?”
Jessa looked at him sharply. “Course not.”
Draco held her gaze. “You only need to carry an heir to term and then you’re
free to see whoever you want. Just don’t marry anyone too possessive.”
“He doesn’t want me now. He’s going to want me even less when I’m married and a
mother.”
Draco looked about to say something but at that moment Pansy burst into the
common room, talking loudly. Their other year mates followed, animatedly
discussing the ball. Jessa sighed to herself.
“Jessa!” Pansy cried. “Where were you at breakfast? You weren’t there when we
all got our invitations!”
Draco put his hand on Jessa’s side and she leaned into the contact gratefully.
“I didn’t feel like breakfast.”
“That’s bad for your metabolism you know,” Pansy scolded, “you’ll get fat.” She
waggled her eyebrows. “Didn’t have anything to do with you not wanting to see
Snape did it?”
Jessa cringed inwardly. She’d managed to avoid this conversation so far. “You
know me too well Panse.”
“He was *livid*,” Pansy said gleefully. “None of us could believe it! ‘Shut up
Sev!’ We thought he’d slaughter you.”
“Yeah. Well,” Jessa mumbled.
“Yes, that wasn’t smart of you sis,” Draco said with feigned mildness.
Great. She hadn’t been wanting to discuss this with Draco especially. “I know,”
she said.
“We’re surprised you’re still alive,” Greg said, dropping down into a chair.
“Can you sit down?” Blaise snickered crudely.
“Zabini,” Draco said roughly.
“He didn’t touch me,” Jessa said.
“We saw him throw you into the wall by the door,” Vincent said.
“But you didn’t see him hit me though,” Jessa said.
“He threw you out of sight of the doorway,” Pansy said. “We couldn’t see
anything after that.”
“You didn’t hear him hit me,” Jessa said.
“Even firsties can cast a silencio.”
“You could hear him shouting though couldn’t you,” Jessa pointed out.
“Bits of it,” Pansy agreed. “So are you going to tell us why you did it? It
can’t possibly really be over Longbottom can it?”
Draco met Jessa’s eyes in question but said to Pansy, “Have you started
thinking about what you’re going to wear to the ball yet? You’re Jessa’s best
girlfriend and my betrothed, you’re going to be in most of the pictures.”
“Pictures?” Jessa repeated.
“In the gazette,” Daphne said. “The society pages.”
“There’s going to be photographers and reporters there,” Jessa murmured
wretchedly. Draco squeezed her side consolingly.
Pansy knew the conversation was being diverted but allowed it, as Draco had
made an important point.
Draco watched the girls clatter through to the dormitories to firecall their
seamstresses and tailors. “Longbottom?” he asked Jessa. She inhaled deeply at
the authority in his voice.
***** Motives, Scars and Bloody Bloodlines *****

Author's notes: Wherein the Gryffindors are interested by Neville getting an
invitation and some rather dark things are discussed.
===============================================================================
Hello dears. There's some dark content in part of this, so hopefully it's not
triggering or anything. It's only mentioned in conversation anyway. But quite a
few important things happen, so hopefully that'll help you not feel totally
depressed after this chapter. Please review with a wee smile so I know you're
not miserable when you're through ;)
Hermione looked over the invitation curiously. Plenty had dropped over the
Slytherin and Ravenclaw tables, and a few had been dropped in front of
Hufflepuffs, but Neville had been the only Gryffindor in their year who seemed
to have received an invitation.
“You’re invited to that girl’s coming out ball?” she said speculatively.
Neville swallowed and attempted to shrug. “I’m a pureblood,” he said. He
sighed. “My Gran’s definitely going to make me go to this.”
“But she knows the Malfoys are evil!” Ron dropped in.
Hermione bit her lip and nodded in confusion. “Ron’s a pureblood,” she said.
Ron snorted. “But families like the Malfoys consider my lot to be blood
traitors. Neville’s family have got a bit more standing.”
Neville nodded slowly at Ron’s words and glanced at Hermione. “Just because
they’re a dark family doesn’t mean Gran would let me decline. It would be a
really big insult if I didn’t go, and that rudeness would be bad for our
family’s reputation. My Gran would rather die than allow that.”
“Is it safe? The place will be creeping with Slytherins,” Hermione said.
“Since when did you think *all* Slytherins were evil Hermione?” Harry said.
“You’re the one who tells Ron that they aren’t.”
“That’s on our own territory though,” Ron said, glancing at Hermione and
receiving a nod in return.
“I don’t like the idea of Neville being there alone,” Hermione said.
“You should know they won’t touch me there Ron,” Neville said. “Families like
them would never let a pureblood be hurt on their land during an event like a
coming out ball.”
“Don’t know why they’re even bothering anyway,” Ron muttered. “She’s a
bastard.”
“She’s still a Malfoy,” Neville said. “Plenty of the lesser families will jump
to join their family with them even if she’s not got proper standing. They
probably wouldn’t get the chance at marrying into the Malfoy family otherwise.”
Ron didn’t say anything at that. Hermione muttered, “This is all so medieval.”
“Wonder if they’ve already decided who she’s marrying,” Ginny said, taking the
invitation from Hermione and looking at it interestedly.
“We’d have heard about it through the Ravenclaws,” Ron said. He suddenly gave
Neville a sharp look. “This isn’t what that stuff in Potions was about was it?
You haven’t been messing about with her? If Snape’s told Malfoy then you know
he’ll make you marry her!”
Hermione turned to look at Harry shrewdly whilst Neville insisted, “It wasn’t
about that. And I’d appreciate it if you didn’t say that again because if that
rumour gets out Lucius *will* make me marry her.”
“Do you know what this is about Harry?” Hermione asked, indicating the
invitation.
“No, why would I?” Harry replied.
“You spend more time with her than we do.”
“I’m sure you could always ask her to hang with you,” Harry said, a bit sharper
than he’d intended.
Hermione stared fiercely. “I think not Harry,” she said.
Harry’s jaw set as his annoyance at her shifted onto himself. “I didn’t mean to
snap,” he said.
Hermione nodded primly. “Apology accepted.”
“What are you going to wear to the ball Nev?” Ginny said timefully.
“Dunno, Gran’ll make me get something new.”
Hermione moved closer to Harry. “Are you alright about this?” she asked
discretely.
“About what?”
“This. This…coming out ball for Black. And what it means.”
“What does it mean?” Harry asked.
“Well, connections get made at a coming out ball. They’re usually thrown when a
pureblood girl’s come of age. A match will probably be made for her during the
ball, and the parents will start arranging the engagement.”
Harry shrugged. “Seems a bit weird. Do all purebloods do that?”
“Just ones like the Malfoys,” Hermione said, not quite understanding his reply.
“You’re not bothered by the thought of Black marrying someone?”
“If it’s what she wants,” Harry said. “She can always say no can’t she?”
“I don’t know,” Hermione said, giving him a very strange look.
“Hey mate, what do you think about the She-Malfoy sticking up for Nev? Why’d
you think she did it?” Ron asked.
Ginny chewed her lip then spoke before Harry had found any words. “She
protected me from a bunch of Slytherins once,” she said. “She healed me up and
fixed my clothes. I thought she was just being patronising. But then she did
something else nice so I went to ask Hagrid about her, and she was there. She
said she’d only protected me because it would sound bad that four Slytherins
had taken my wand and tried to beat me up, but when she’d left Hagrid told me
she wasn’t bad. That she just wanted me to believe she was.”
Hermione opened her mouth but Ginny held up her hand to stop her speaking. “I
brought up what she did to you,” Ginny said. “Hagrid said she had a reason for
it that wasn’t just you being in the house with your blood status.”
“She wanted to scare you off,” Harry said. “I told you that. She didn’t want
anyone to know she was a Malfoy.”
“Surely there was more to it than that,” Hermione said.
“Did you not notice you’ve no scar?” Neville piped up. “You said in the library
that you’d found the spell she’d used and that it was used by double agents in
the last war. Victims would bleed to death slowly enough that the light side
could get to them in time and heal them, and there would be no scar if the
caster hadn’t truly meant them harm. The spell went out of fashion with the
dark because people who were meant to be killed were getting rescued, until it
started getting used as a means to test loyalty.”
“I know, I know, they’d make a suspected spy cast the spell on a victim and
close the wound up when the victim had bled to death. Desperation wouldn’t be
enough intent to leave a scar, so the spies would be found out, tortured and
killed,” Hermione said. “Do you really think that’s the case with Bastard
Black?”
“When did you find this out?” Harry exclaimed.
“Only a few days ago,” Neville said. “I’d mentioned in a letter to Gran what
had happened to Hermione and Gran said it sounded like a spell she knew so we
looked it up.”
“Neither of you thought to mention that you’d put Jessa in the clear?”
“She’s not in the clear,” Hermione said. “She still used a Death Eater spell,
and it’s still exceptionally dark magic. You don’t learn that sort of spell by
accident. Just because aurors and Order members started using it in desperate
double agent situations doesn’t mean that it doesn’t require a dark sort of
character. Ruthless.”
“But you said yourself that the scar…”
“I’m not convinced,” Hermione said softly. “It was really horrible Harry. I
thought I was going to bleed to death. If she was one of us how could she
possibly do that to me?”
“Maybe she really is just ruthless,” Ron said. “My dad told me that Mad Eye
made so many enemies because he was so ruthless, even though he’s Light. He
didn’t care about the consequences so long as he got the right result. It’s
possible the two of them have that in common.” He looked at Hermione
apologetically. “And she’s a Black. They were raised not to think of
muggleborns as even human. They did…*sick* stuff to muggleborns. There’s a
reason we were only allowed to clean certain rooms.”
“What do you mean?” Hermione said.
“Hermione…” Ron said. “Have you looked up the offences the Black family have
been accused of since the reform laws?”
Hermione shook her head.
“Don’t look it up,” Ron said.
Hermione opened her mouth to protest but Ginny and Neville didn’t look like
they thought Ron was being unreasonable.
“Please Hermione!” Ron said.
“Why not?” Hermione challenged.
“Because it’s recorded in graphic detail in parts. Fred and George used to show
us bits to scare us when we were younger.”
“What’s it show?”
“If I tell you, will you promise not to look it up?”
“I promise,” Hermione said slowly. “Tell me.”
Ron made a reluctant face. “You’ve read about blood magic,” he said softly.
“You know the references that get made to the darker stuff. The Black
family…they harvested muggleborns like apples off a tree. They thought…that
they were a great mix. Disposable because they were born from muggles, but not
quite as dirty. And enough magic in their blood to work well in potions. You
remember that Binns essay about how before Merlin there were warlord wizards
who’d kill someone for their magical prowess or something? That got outlawed a
long time ago, but it was hundreds of years later before doing it to
muggleborns became illegal.”
Hermione looked grey. “Really?”
“It’s true,” Ginny said quietly.
Harry felt sick. “Sirius always said his family were terrible but that’s…” He
couldn’t finish the sentence.
“It was outlawed a long time ago, but old families like the Blacks didn’t want
to give up such a potent ingredient that they’d had readily for so long,”
Neville said. “A lot of Dark families flouted the laws deliberately to show
their disregard for the new government. Because they were so prestigious no one
really dared to stop them, and it was easy enough for them to pay departments
off, so even if someone tried to do something their superior would be bribed
and they’d have to drop the issue. It was a long time before the old purebloods
were made to stop what they were doing, and there were a couple of families who
still refused to adhere to the laws. I heard when Regulus Black disappeared his
parents started talk about going back to ‘the old ways’. They were freaking out
because Sirius Black was in prison, his brother was missing and presumed dead,
Bell-Bellatrix Lestrange was in prison, and Andromeda Black had married a
muggle.”
“They were crazy trying to save the family name,” Ron added. “It’s easy enough
to see the Black blood in Malfoy. Before his sister showed up he was meant for
the Black heir by blood.”
“Malfoy’s not that twisted,” Harry said.
“No, but it’s in his blood.”
“We’ve both got Black in us,” Neville said.
“Yeah, but old Cedrella got disowned for marrying a Weasley so she’s not as
bad. And besides, how far back was Callidora Black? Your great grandmother or
something? I’m sure that blood’s been diluted,” Ron muttered.
“Your mother’s a Prewett though,” Neville pointed out. “You’re related to
Lucretia Black too.”
“How can you both remember this stuff?” Harry asked.
“It’s important to some families,” Ginny said. “The twins used to scare us with
stories about the Blacks though, so we would look at our family tree and
shiver. Nev probably got made to memorise his though.”
Neville nodded.
“You’re forgetting Borgins and Burke’s,” Ron said. “They used to sell…people
bits. And the Burkes are related to the Blacks by marriage.”
Harry sighed. “So to put it bluntly, the Blacks are evil.”
“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you!”
“But what about that…Cedrella woman. And Lucretia and Callidora, and Sirius?
They can’t all have been bad.”
“So there’s a few exceptions. But a decent Black is like a Weasley with no
freckles and black hair. It doesn’t happen often.”
“But it does happen,” Harry said. “And Hermione’s not got a scar.”
“Even if Bastard Black’s decent she’s still going to have Black thoughts
affecting everything she does,” Ginny said. “Even if she wants to be good it
probably won’t be enough. And now she’s being made a Malfoy being good’s going
to be even harder.”
Hermione looked at Ginny. “Then I effectively ruined her.”
“Not if she marries into the right sort of family,” Neville said.
***** Loyalties *****

Author's notes: Wherin Nev relays a message and it prompts a serious discussion
within the Snakes.
===============================================================================
Hi everyone, sorry it's short but I've just finished the epilogue yesterday so
I'm still in a strange mood. We've still got a bit to go before what I'm
writing now matches up with the end that I've got waiting but it's making me
all nostalgic or something already. Anyway, it's the story that you're
interested in so without further adeu I present it to you.
“Hey Jessa.”
The girl slid out from her seat at the Slytherin table, sandwiched between
Draco’s two bodyguards. Longbottom was standing with a straight back and
looking at her casually.
“Nev,” she said lightly.
“A moment of your time?”
“Of course,” Jessa said calmly, brushing Vincent’s shoulder firmly when he
began to stand to indicate that she wanted him to remain where he was. Jessa
walked with Neville into the middle of the room where no one could hear them
speak.
“We want to meet with you,” Neville said.
“What?”
“Harry and I, and Ginny and Ron and Hermione, want to meet with you. To talk.
We…want to know what side you’re on. If we can call a truce with you I think.
We thought it would be best if I asked you, since I’m not a Weasley or one of
the Golden Trio. Tonight in the room of requirement.”
Jessa considered. “Can I take Greg with me?”
Neville nodded. “We’re okay with that.”
“Okay kid,” Jessa said.
She made her way back to the table in time to hear Blaise say, “She’s replaced
me with *him*? That fat-”
“He’s not fat,” Pansy said shortly. She looked up at Jessa. “What was that
about?”
Jessa slipped back in between Greg and Vinny. “He was just the messenger,” she
said.
“You always have a plan,” Pansy said suspiciously.
“How do you know that? And far more than one actually.”
Pansy cast a bubble around herself, Jessa, Draco, Vincent, Greg, Theo and
Blaise. “We’re all friends here, yes?”
Even Blaise grew serious and all the boys nodded. “Of course.”
“Bearing in mind that I swore I’d protect you,” Pansy said to Jessa, “should I
know what’s going on? You and Draco said you had a plan.”
Nott looked at the two females interestedly. “To save us. Do you think that’s
possible?”
“Is this a conversation we can have here?” Jessa muttered.
Draco nodded. “Pansy’s got a talent for this kind of magic, and it’s tied to
the magic that was used when we swore ourselves to each other over the years,
so it’s virtually impenetrable.”
“Is ‘virtually’ a risk you’re willing to take?” Jessa retorted.
“Dumbledore and Uncle Severus are the only adults who can sense magic at this
table, and my godfather can be trusted. Everyone here has been bonded by blood
as well by magic to others in this circle, apart from you and you’re family so
my bonds cover you. The Headmaster can’t interfere with blood magic.”
“Which is as good a reason as any to use it,” Theo muttered.
“We have noticed the way Potter is with you, and how he seeks you out,” Blaise
said softly.
Jessa sighed and looked at Draco seriously. “You’re my main priority. Do you
trust everyone here?”
“I do, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t cover our backs. Care to continue
this later Pansy, once we’ve sworn each other specifically?”
“I wouldn’t do it any other way,” Pansy said.
Everyone sat back again as Pansy removed the bubble around them. After a minute
of sensing Jessa’s eyes on herself and Millicent, Daphne looked up and said,
“We don’t want to know what you’ve been talking about. The others already know
that.”
Jessa considered that and nodded. After the meal the group (minus Daphne and
Mills) went up to the boys’ dorm. They warded it meticulously and wove
wizarding oaths and fealty bonds between themselves.
“So,” Pansy said when it was done. “Your plan?”
Jessa looked to Draco and he spoke. “To protect us,” he said simply.
Blaise looked at them both intently. “You’ll protect Theodore?”
“We know your family will take him in anyway,” Draco murmured. “But yes, our
intent is to use the Gryffindors to our own means.”
“You think you can stop us getting marked.”
Everyone flinched at Pansy’s voicing of the words they had been skirting
around.
“And if not then we sacrifice the Gryffs,” Draco said heavily.
“Are…we going to be expected to swear loyalty to them?” Pansy asked.
“We’ll see how it works out,” Draco said.
“You’re being quiet Jessa,” Blaise said.
“I will do anything for my brothers,” Jessa said. “I’ll do whatever it takes
for Draco. I’ve started to like Potter, and if I can easily protect him I will,
but never at the expense of my brother. That goes the same for all of you here.
I like you and I’m inclined towards your safety, but Draco will always come
first.”
The others nodded in acceptance.
“Do you think there’s any chance of them winning? The Gryffindors?” Greg asked.
“If there is I’ll go for it, but only if it’s got a seriously good chance of
working.”
“How many of us can actually allow Potter to be killed for us?” Theo murmured.
“Or be responsible for it?”
“We’ll all do what we have to,” Blaise said.
“Our strongest alliances come first,” Pansy said gently.
“But if we can save him?” Vincent questioned.
“If I could get away with it then I would,” Pansy said.
“I would too, if it wasn’t at the expense of any of mine,” Blaise said,
nuzzling Theo as though the very thought of losing the boy made him truly
anxious.
“I wouldn’t let him die if I could protect him without it causing harm to any
of ours,” Greg said.
“I don’t want him to die either,” Theo said. Everyone shifted uncomfortably as
he said it so cleanly.
“I don’t think any of us want to just let him die if we can help it,” Vincent
said. “Draco?”
Draco exhaled and sat straight-backed. “We know the war’s coming,” he said.
“And we all know that Greg, Vinny, Pansy, Jessa and myself are going to be
involved in it, and probably the fighting. But I think it’s fair to say that
none of us want to kill anyone we’ve went to school with.”
“So it’s agreed then,” Pansy said. “We don’t curse to kill any of the Gryffs
unless they risk our lives first.”
“Do we tell them?” Greg asked.
“You mean Ginny?” Pansy said shrewdly. “Can we trust her?”
“I’d trust her with my life,” Greg said softly.
“Then you can suggest it,” Pansy said. “But don’t declare it. Not until we
really know…”
“I know,” Greg said.
“Is there anything else yous need me present to discuss?” Jessa asked. The
earlier preparations had taken a lot of time.
“No,” Draco said. “You’re going to meet with them?”
“In the room of requirement,” Jessa said, standing. “Will you come with me
Greg? I asked if I could take you.”
“Sure,” the muscular boy answered, quickly standing with ease.
Draco threw the wards back up when the pair had left. “What do you think?” he
asked Pansy.
***** The Genuine Need *****

Author's notes: Wherein Jessa and the Gryffindors talk (in the presence of
Greg).
===============================================================================
Neville was waiting near the entrance to the room of requirement the third time
Jessa and Greg walked past.
“You made it,” he said.
“You doubted me?” Jessa sneered.
“No…but this just seems too easy.”
“We haven’t started talking yet,” Jessa murmured wryly and followed him inside.
Ron was on his feet staring at Ginny with an aggravated expression. The girl
had her back to the door but turned as the others entered. Ron glanced at Goyle
and his scowl deepened.
Ginny smiled and brushed herself down sedately. “Don’t mind him, I was just
explaining your tactics for bringing Greg.”
“Did you *have* to tell him?” Jessa muttered, circling the room’s occupants and
settling beside Harry.
“Why should we trust you?” Hermione said.
“You shouldn’t,” Jessa said firmly.
“What good is this doing?” Ron snapped.
“Ron,” Harry murmured chidingly. “They want to know what side you’re on,” he
told Jessa.
“My own,” Jessa said.
Ginny shook her head. “You’re not bad,” she said. “You don’t know how to do it
right.”
Jessa straightened slowly. “You want to try me?”
“Jessa!” Harry snapped.
The girl loosened her stance and rolled her eyes at him without looking around.
“Fine, so we play it your way,” she conceded. “No fighting.”
“Thank you,” said Harry. “First thing’s first: is Ginny right about you picking
Goyle specifically, for reasons other than brawn?”
“Scarhead…” Jessa protested.
“That’s a yes?”
Jessa crossed her arms. “I’m not answering that.”
“It’s a yes,” Harry announced calmly.
Jessa sighed in disgust but stayed at his side. She rolled her eyes again. So
she’d picked the guy who already had ties with Gryffindor.
Harry smiled at her. “Is it so hard to be the good guy?”
“In public? *Yeah*,” Jessa murmured back.
“How ’bout you play along with us? Think your pride can stand it?”
“Who says it’s my pride that’s my main concern?” Jessa muttered back. “I just
don’t want anyone trusting me when I’ll turn my back on if I need to.”
“Merlin, you’re just like Snape.”
Jessa froze. “What?”
“You act like such a vicious bitch and you won’t let anyone in but I *know*
you’re alright!”
“You just wanna think that,” Jessa said, ignoring the rest of the room’s
inhabitants.
Harry shook his head to signal his disbelief.
To his surprise Jessa spun around and grabbed his face carefully in her hands.
“Really,” she said seriously, staring intensely into his eyes, “I mean it. I
have too much at stake. You’re my friend but I will *let you die* if you lose.”
Harry only smiled at her, as though somehow she had amused him. “Say the last
bit again.”
Jessa looked at him in complete confusion and dropped her hands, although she
held his gaze. “I’ll let you die,” she said. “In fact, if you lose and I need
to cover our backs *I’ll* kill you myself.”
Harry still looked like she’d missed something. “The other bit,” he said.
“I said I had too much at stake,” Jessa said. “You know I won’t risk Draco if I
can help it.”
“You know that’s not the bit that I mean,” Harry said.
Jessa broke eye contact for a minute. Frowning, she met his eyes again and
quietly growled, “You’re my friend.”
Harry smirked, and he eerily resembled his lover. “Wanna say that louder?” he
grinned.
“No.”
“Jessa, say it,” he said.
“No.”
“Just say it!”
“You’re my friend!” Jessa snapped.
“Why?”
“What?”
“Why?!”
“I don’t know!” Jessa protested.
“Yes you do,” Harry insisted. “Tell me why we’re friends.”
Jessa shrugged and looked away. “Because I get you, that’s all. I…guess I like
you. You’re pretty nice. Naïve. You think there’s good in people and I like
that. And you get nightmares. You get being locked up and families that don’t
work and being angry and all that…*stuff*. But you…you’re never… You’re this
*really* nice person. Ha. And…I think that’s kind of special. Okay?”
“Do you want to know what I like about you?” Harry said.
Jessa tilted her head up slightly to indicate she was listening. She could see
the others exchanging glances and told herself that was not immediately
important.
“I liked that after the first time you fixed my clothes you got me one of your
belts and started looping it through my jeans without even thinking about it.”
“You then had nine inches of my wand jabbed in your throat, remember?”
“Because you were loyal to your elf. That same day the Order meeting was pretty
rough, but you changed into a dog and climbed all over Snape to try and cheer
him up.”
“You know about that?”
“I was going to come into the room but when I heard what he was saying I
decided not to.”
“Oh. But it was still different. I was only nice to *you* because you were nice
to me first.”
“I woke you up from one nightmare. You stayed up with me the whole night. You
held me and then you talked to me. And you haven’t told anyone what I told
you.”
Jessa glanced at him. “I told our mutual friend when you came up in
conversation.”
Harry simply smiled. “I’m not complaining.”
Jessa sighed. “But Scarhead…” She couldn’t find words so she just shook her
head sadly, staring in his eyes just to try and make him know that it wasn’t
*right*.
“You once said that being able to rely on someone you trust was enough reason
for you to love them. If you could trust me, would you?”
“I can’t risk some things just because I want to trust you. He’s really strong.
I can’t just rely on you to win.”
“Who do you want to win Snakeling? It’s a simple question.”
“If you were anyone else I’d have hexed you by now,” Jessa said dangerously
softly.
“If you love him,” Hermione said, “I think you can find a way to make it work.
You don’t have to get marked. We can think of something.”
Jessa looked at the girl quickly then back at Harry. “I…what?”
Harry laughed and slowly dropped his arm onto Jessa’s shoulders. He met her
eyes with a careful grin. “Should we disillusion her?”
Jessa pulled away from him reluctantly. “Do what you want Potter. Greg I’m
leaving, you can stay with Red if you want.”
Greg shared a glance with Ginny then walked after Jessa. “But…”
Jessa paused and glanced back at the others. Ron and Hermione were standing
beside each other looking as though they had no intention to move, but Neville
and Harry looked torn.
“Jessa…”
In a low voice Jessa told the Gryffindors, “The Snake Pit’s full of people that
would join you if they could keep their friends and family safe. Keep them in
mind. I’m done here.” She reached for the door handle.
It was locked. She sensed the room wouldn’t allow her to charm it open so she
turned back. “The door,” she said.
“You can trust us,” Harry said.
“But that’s not enough,” Jessa said.
“And whose fault is that?” Neville spoke up at last. “You could be a good
person. You could help us instead of telling us you can’t trust us to do it for
you!”
Jessa let out a noise somewhere between a snicker and a sigh. “You think I’m
going to do nothing?” She jerked her head at Harry. “He’s got to be the one to
finish Him off but I will be doing everything in my power to stop the
suffering. But. It. Is. Not. Enough. If the dark lord wins I will do everything
in my power to salvage the lives that I can.” Jessa swallowed with difficultly.
“But if it comes down to it I *will* sacrifice you in exchange for my closest.
That’s why you *must not trust me*.”
“You’re too late,” Harry said.
“I never meant for us to be friends Scarhead. Believe me, I didn’t. If I had
any spine I’d break this but you’re just too nice and I don’t know how!”
“I care about Draco just as much as you do!” Harry said.
Jessa swallowed and looked around the shocked faces of the others. “Obliviate?”
“Don’t be stupid,” Ron said, his eyes glinting fiercely. “The room wouldn’t let
the door open because it knows we need to genuinely talk to each other. Try it
again; it’s not going to open.”
Jessa did and the redhead’s prediction proved true. “How did you know that?”
“I deal in tactics. Do you think you’re the only one who understands war?
Clearly we need to know who our allies are.”
***** Dangerous To Know *****

Author's notes: Wherein Ron, Harry, Hermione, Ginny, Neville, Greg and Jessa
cover some subjects whilst locked in the room of requirement.
===============================================================================
Chairs had appeared in the room and Harry took the initiative. “Jessa come back
from the door and sit down.”
“This is mad!” Jessa protested, obeying the teen’s instructions. “Even if you
trust *them* do you really think we should be having *this* conversation in
front of Greg?”
“If Draco hasn’t told me then I don’t need to know,” Greg said.
Harry sighed. “He was going to tell you eventually anyway.”
The others had been standing around uncertainly but Ginny stepped forwards and
dropped herself into a seat. She raised her eyebrows momentarily at Greg. He
gazed at her mutely for a moment then strode over and took the chair at her
side.
Neville shrugged to himself and took a seat beside Harry. Ron reluctantly took
a seat beside his sister and Hermione followed.
“Since when did you care about Malfoy, Harry? And since when did he become
‘Draco’?” Ron asked with deliberate calm.
Harry took a deep breath and Jessa surprised him by reaching out and squeezing
his arm. He looked across at her quickly but her face was unreadable. “For a
while,” Harry said slowly.
“And you didn’t say anything? What could he have done that would make you care
about him? This isn’t your saving people thing again is it?”
Harry’s expression darkened. “No, this is not-”
“Harry?” Hermione interrupted hesitantly. “You’re not seeing…Jessa, are you?”
“No,” Harry said shortly.
Hermione glanced at Ginny questioningly. Ginny’s eyes widened at the other
girl’s speculation. “Harry, that time Draco was acting really strangely on his
way back from the tower…”
“When he was walking like Seamus,” Hermione added.
“When he looked like he’s been doped with love potion?” Ron interrupted. “Urgh,
that’s gross. Harry, you didn’t-”
“Harry was with us remember?” Hermione said.
“Oh. Yeah. So… What are you asking?” Ron queried.
“Ron. I…like Draco,” Harry said carefully.
“Yeah, you said mate,” Ron said. “But I don’t get how it happened.”
Harry blushed. “No, I… Well I don’t know how it happened either but that’s not
what I mean. I… I think I’m sort of…” He floundered for a bit. “Did you know
about Seamus and Dean?”
Ron blinked as the Gryffindor girls exchanged triumphant looks. “Ohhh,” Ron
said, widening his eyes a little anxiously. “Why didn’t you say anything? I had
no idea you and blokes…well…you know.”
“You knew about Seamus and Dean?” Harry said.
“Kinda hard not to mate. They’re not exactly discrete with each other, are
they?”
“I’d never noticed until Jessa mentioned it,” Harry said.
“To be fair Harry, you’re a little clueless,” Ginny said.
Harry looked somewhat crestfallen. “You think?”
“Just a little,” Ginny said.
“So…You and Draco?” Hermione said softly. “How did that happen?”
Harry turned to look at her quietly. He had no intention of explaining. “It
just did.” He caught sight of Goyle out of the corner of his eyes and
remembered the first time Draco had attacked him in a classroom. “You didn’t
know?” he asked the bigger boy.
Greg shook his head as Ginny scrutinised him. “He’s been acting off but I
didn’t know it was because of you. He didn’t say.”
Harry nodded, willing the flush threatening to encroach upon his features to
stay out of sight. He’d almost forgotten the degradation of those first
encounters. He’d entirely forgotten the involvement of the other Slytherins.
“Are you alright?” Greg asked him in a quiet rumble, surprising the Gryffindor
with both his question and by his attempt at reducing his deep voice to a more
gentle tone.
Harry blinked owlishly and nodded stiffly.
“I think he feels bad about it,” Greg said slowly. “Treating you badly.”
Harry nodded again, equally slowly. “He doesn’t anymore,” the bespectacled teen
said. “We…get on well now I think.”
“Dray’s gotten absurdly fond of you,” Jessa said. Her tone suggested she was
trying to reassure Harry, but her face was twisted in slight distaste.
Greg looked at her in interest and she nodded to show that she meant the words.
“What now then?” he asked.
Jessa bit her lip and looked at Harry for the answer. “Why is that my
decision?” he asked when everyone turned to him expectantly.
Jessa ran her hands down her arms, watching the movements with an odd
expression. “Because you’re the Chosen One of course.” She snorted when the
teen looked at Hermione pleadingly. “But you’re welcome to confer with your
lieutenants.”
“Well?” Harry asked his best friends.
Hermione regarded the room and its occupants clinically before raising her
eyebrows questioningly at Ron. They communicated silently for a moment. She
turned back to Harry with an air of efficiency. “We suggest a quiet truce –we
don’t make it obvious, but we stop aggravating each other. We don’t let the
other houses know and we quietly get to know each other better.”
“Why can’t we have an open truce?” Ginny demanded, trying not to glare simply
because she was asking Hermione.
“For the same reason we’re not out in the open,” Greg told his lover before
Hermione could speak. Hermione looked at him in interest whilst Ginny simmered
and sat back in her chair. Greg was aware of the muggleborn’s attention but
said nothing.
“Fine,” Ginny said, although clearly she felt it wasn’t. Her voice became
louder. “*Fine*, Greggory.”
“I didn’t…” Sighing, Greg said, “Don’t call me that.”
Ginny huffed to herself but glanced into his eyes. “I just want…”
“I know what you want.”
“I know that it’s too risky,” Ginny said apologetically. She glared into space.
“But it’s not fair!”
Greg glanced at her. “I know it isn’t Princess.”
Ron took deep breaths as Ginny gave the large teen a loving smile. He was
struggling to deal with Ginny giving a smile like that to anyone, but
particularly to a teen in his own year who was a Slytherin and whose father was
a Death Eater. Ron didn’t like hearing Goyle use pet names for Ginny either.
“Breathe,” Hermione suggested.
Ron felt himself turning red and nodded. He focused on breathing normally and
on not clenching his fists.
“So, an unofficial truce,” Harry said.
“What about me?” Neville asked.
“What do you mean?” Ron asked, glad to have something else to focus on.
“I’m invited to the ball aren’t I,” Neville said. “How am I supposed to act?”
“Just like a pureblood,” Jessa muttered.
“Does your father have plans for you?” Neville asked. Ginny looked at them with
interest.
“I hope not,” Jessa said slowly.
“He will,” Ron said abruptly. “You know he will. A father like that…”
“I do know, thanks,” Jessa said quickly, although her tone was devoid of
confrontation. “But I don’t know what he’s planning, and Draco doesn’t either
so… All I can do is wait it out and see.”
“Do you know who’s been invited?” Neville asked gently.
Jessa shook her head. “No. Dray says they’re all young though.”
Neville was quiet for a while. “That’s something,” he said after a moment of
deliberation.
“Truly,” Jessa said darkly.
“Will…she get a choice?” Hermione asked Ron softly.
“Doubt it,” Ron replied equally softly. “She might have options though, if
she’s clever about it.”
“She’s clever isn’t she?” Hermione whispered.
“So’s Malfoy,” Ron said. Hermione was quiet.
“You don’t have to do anything you really don’t want to you know,” Harry said.
Jessa looked around at him quickly. She’d been staring into space. “Sure,” she
said crisply.
Harry bit his lip. She didn’t believe him. “Jessa-”
She leaned over and looked at him, smiling encouragingly. “Harry. Just
concentrate on saving everyone else, okay?”
“Don’t let-”
“Harry, just don’t okay,” Jessa said. The sincerity in her eyes was too sincere
to be genuine.
Harry’s gaze wavered. “You don’t have to-”
“Scarhead, shut up, okay?”
“Will you just let me talk?!”
“But I don’t want to listen. Just drop it, please.”
“You’re just like your brother. Let me help you!” Harry said.
“We’re counting on it, but we’re not holding our breath,” Jessa said bluntly.
“What do you mean by that?”
Jessa sighed. “Nothing. But just…I don’t expect things to be perfect Scarhead.
I just don’t have that Gryffindor way of looking at things. If there’s just one
thing you can help me with, help me keep my brother safe. The others too, I’d
appreciate that. But mainly my brother. Don’t get tied up in my father’s plans
for my future. Just fix the big stuff. I can live with the little stuff.”
“Why settle Jessa?”
“Because I don’t want the sky to fall in. A little bit of prosperity is all I’m
asking. If my situation gets tough I’ll find something to do about it. You
should be concentrating on destroying the Dark Lord okay? Just do that.”
“If I let you marry a Death Eater you’ll end up Marked.”
“I can get a divorce after the war,” Jessa said. “Besides, Dray said the
invitations were all sent to young people. They won’t be Marked yet.”
“If you vanquish the Dark Lord, the Marks will just be tattoos, right?” Greg
asked abruptly.
He’d heard her? Had he seen her hand? She’d encouraged the destruction of the
Dark Lord. Could he keep that sort of information? What if-
“I expect so,” Harry said. The others had been talking amongst themselves but
they weren’t now.
“You’ll be put in prison,” Ginny said.
“What choice do we have?” Greg asked, his tone harsher than it had been all
day.
Ginny’s face set. “You always have a choice.”
“What about our hides? Wait, that’s never important to you Gryffs is it?”
The redhead slapped him harshly and Greg bit his lip. He lifted his eyes to her
softly. “I’m sorry but it’s still true.”
“You’d become one of them just-”
“Because none of us live in a family like yours Ginny! The only option we’re
going to be handed is Join, or Be Disowned Then Slaughtered, And Oh, Don’t
Forget The Torture Before You’re Snuffed. If your Chosen One doesn’t
miraculously off the Dark Lord first then me and everyone like me are for it.”
The door unlocked audibly.
“You could join us,” Ginny said.
Jessa stood in sync with Greg. Greg said, “Not as things stand,” and bent to
kiss Ginny before walking out the door. Jessa survey the room’s occupants for a
moment but stepped out of the door at the same time as the boy.
“Does he love him?” Greg asked.
“It’s best not to question this stuff,” Jessa said. Greg took note of the way
her mouth was set.
“Can you do me a favour?” Greg asked.
“What?”
“Can you wipe some of this? I’m not as good at occluding as you or Draco.”
“I was gonna anyway,” Jessa said.
Greg just nodded.
***** An Extra Malfoy In The Great Hall *****

Author's notes: Wherein Lucius appears in the Great Hall and Peeves lets Jessa
wear his hat.
===============================================================================
Reviews make me more inclined to write or post. It's in your best interest
really. And since I've not really started my reading list, and I'm back at uni
on Thursday, I'll need all the destressing I can get. Cheering me up definately
counts as your good deed for the day...
“Father.” The teen’s features hadn’t betrayed his shock or confusion. Draco met
the approaching blonde at Severus’ side courteously and wondered what was
happening now. What reason did his Father have to be in the Great Hall?
Dumbledore hadn’t arrived at the staff table yet. He must know Lucius Malfoy
was sauntering through the Great Hall. Right?
“Draco,” Lucius purred.
Severus looked sick to his stomach, but he’d looked like that for days. That
couldn’t be important, could it?
“I’ve just been visiting with the Headmaster,” Lucius said. “The board had a
few matters to discuss. I thought I’d say hello to my son before I left.”
He was plotting something, wasn’t he? Draco nodded and the correct response
slipped off his tongue without any forethought.
Lucius smiled but then glanced to the entrance. Jessa was stepping through,
listening to something that Longbottom was saying to her. He seemed to be
speaking quietly but his expression was earnest. What did he want?
Jessa had that stupid hat on. She knew perfectly well how to behave properly.
Why couldn’t she just be as expected of her?
She wasn’t taking what Longbottom said seriously. She touched his arm
familiarly and shook his head, her lips turned up at the corners. He said
something insistent and she touched him with both hands. She stepped away and
he watched her step lightly towards her own table. He ran his hands through his
hair.
She caught sight of Severus and Lucius standing by the Slytherin table and
Draco watched her feigned cheerfulness ebb into something refined. Her face and
her stance took on that cold sort of warmth that he and their father exuded.
The false kind.
They were still to far from each other to vocally greet each other at a
respectable level of noise. “What is that that she is wearing?” Lucius asked
coolly.
“The poltergeist’s hat,” Draco answered.
“The one that Dumbledore cannot control?”
“That very one,” Draco said. Why was Severus looking at him like that?
“Whatever is she doing with the poltergeist’s hat?” Lucius demanded.
“It is of my understanding that she took it from him and he has not dared to
retrieve it,” Draco lied.
Lucius processed this. “She has the poltergeist under thumb? Exquisite.”
“Something’s exquisite?” Jessa drawled, reaching the others.
“The hat dear. However did you manage it?”
Jessa blinked before smiling. It was more feral than usual. “Peeves is welcome
to try to take it back,” she smirked.
“He’s watching from over there,” Nott murmured to Jessa.
Lucius heard the seated boy and followed his gaze. Jessa noticed and gestured
at the poltergeist to get his attention. She beckoned him with a finger and he
floated over reluctantly.
The Bloody Baron gave him a warning look and Peeves swallowed nervously.
“What?” he demanded of Jessa petulantly.
The others watched as Jessa tisked and looked down at the dark-eyed spectre.
“Is that any way to talk to me?” she asked softly.
The poltergeist swallowed again. He knew better than to mess with the
Slytherins, especially not here, and not in front of the Baron, but something
about the girl at that moment cowed him all on its own.
“I…suppose not,” he replied equally quietly. He licked his lips almost
nervously as he looked at her. They were dry. Perhaps he was a little nervous.
Was that such a crime?
Jessa leaned forward and took his jaw in her hand. She didn’t hurt him, but she
held him with enough pressure for him to understand her dominance. On of her
fingers brushed his throat, pushing softly against his adam’s apple. He
swallowed.
“Are you going to be a good boy for me?”
What? Fuck, yes. No. No, no, no. He wasn’t supposed to- “Yes.”
“Good,” Jessa purred and it was erotic and hypnotic but not nearly as obscene
as it should have been. Everyone was watching and listening but that didn’t
sound at all depraved to them, did it? She was deliberately being seductive and
they couldn’t even see… “Why were you staring?”
“What? Oh…” And she’d made him look stupid again. What was she doing? Why had
he been staring? Yes, the hat. She kept wearing it. “You were taunting me.” She
looked so good in it.
Absently it suddenly occurred to Peeves that Jessamine was a mere teenager.
“Taunting you?” She smiled. It was despicable.
“My hat,” he said.
She squeezed it in her fingers affectionately, the bells jingling softly. “You
want me to give it back?”
“No,” Peeves blurted hoarsely before he could even think of something sensible
to say.
Jessa’s smirk widened. It send a chill of pure, electric fear racing down
Peeves’ spine even as he felt a little warmer in his chest for making her
pleased like that. “You think I should wear it?” she purred.
The poltergeist nodded hesitantly.
“Good,” Jessa let him go abruptly and the smile had gotten a little harder. She
tapped his cheek. He understood that it would look mocking to the other Malfoys
and the Head of Slytherin, but the gesture didn’t quite feel like that to his
skin. That gesture was deliberately made to look disparaging when in reality
her fingertips had just caressed his face. What was she doing?
“I’m sure there’s a squib with a cat that you could be torturing for me,” Jessa
said.
Peeves looked at her as searchingly as he could. They all expected him to
leave. “Okay,” he said slowly. He stepped back to leave.
“Good boy,” Jessa murmured. Her voice was barely above a whisper and Peeves
understood that comment was for him, even if her sire could hear it. Could she
have been any more patronising? His purpose was to create chaos. A soft look
crossed her eyes for a moment. Rueful, apologetic, amused? It occurred to him
that the most disconcerting thing he could do was to obey. He could shatter
everyone’s nerves by complying like this. Was that her intention?
He tried to ask her with a glance, but the conspiratorial look had already
faded from her eyes. He had to go. They’d wonder why he was lingering.
She quirked her eyebrow and met his gaze intensely for an instant or two. She’d
talk to him later. How did that thought get in his head? Peeves dived out of
the Great Hall feeling perplexed.
“Impressive,” Lucius drawled.
Jessa turned to face her father. “Of course.”
“Narcissa will want you for your dress fittings later,” Lucius said. “You’ll be
contacted.”
“Yes sir,” Jessa said.
“Splendid. I’ll speak with you both soon,” Lucius said. He turned. “Come along
Severus.”
“A moment Lucius. I’ll be with you shortly.”
Lucius inclined his head, giving Severus a look that was deflected, and began
to walk on ahead. Those pupils who dared glanced at him curiously. Lavendar
gave him an adoring look as he passed. He smirked at her, mildly amused by the
way it affected her.
“Jessamine.”
Jessa’s countenance shifted as Severus spoke her name. It was the first time he
had spoken to her since he’d thrown her up against the wall after walking out
of his class. Draco watched as her confidence slid right off her frame to be
replaced with something that was all angles and fragile seams. Her face was
blank but he was certain she was close to tears.
She whispered, “What?” then looked annoyed for not speaking louder.
“Lucius knows that you aren’t staying in my quarters. He’s demanded it
rectified,” Severus said swiftly.
“What did you say?”
Severus’ black eyes flashed angrily. He looked like he hadn’t anticipated any
reply beyond a nod. “You’ll do as he wishes,” he said.
“You didn’t argue?” Jessa murmured.
“Of course I did, you stupid girl,” Severus spat. “Unfortunately your father’s
unaccustomed to not getting his own way.”
“You don’t usually give in easily,” Draco said surprisingly.
Severus and Jessa both looked at the boy. The other Slytherins did too, but
none of the three noticed. Severus looked livid whilst Jessa had a strange look
on her face. Her demeanour was softer. For the first time she actually looked
younger than Draco did and she clutched her hands tightly. She had the sort of
look of a child who had always been bullied by their older sibling, suddenly
having that big brother protect her against another foe. She seemed shocked,
confused, grateful and wary all at once. Draco hated that look.
“Why are you getting involved Draco?” Severus growled. “It isn’t like you.”
“She’s our family,” Draco said.
The look that crossed Severus’ face was an unpleasant one. After a beat he
snarled quietly, “She’s no better than her mother.”
“And you’re acting like my Father,” Draco said softly.
Severus gave Jessa the very blackest of black looks and stormed away. He
remembered as he departed from the great hall that Lucius would be waiting for
him and schooled his features carefully, even though the prospect made him even
more unhappy.
Jessa was quiet for a moment. She glanced at Draco. “Scarhead wants to talk to
you.”
Draco nodded and expected her to sit down. Instead, the fragile look had been
replaced with a ferocity that burned behind her eyes and made her movements
stiff. She stalked up to the staff table and dumped herself down beside Moody.
Draco continued watching her for a moment longer and she began tearing into
barely cooked rabbit. There was blood on the plate and it was streaking between
her fingers. She rarely ate meat and usually only when her body craved it. She
ate bloody game when her mind craved it. It meant she was raring to transform
and hunt.
Draco lifted his gaze away and glanced across at the Gryffindor table. Harry
wasn’t there. He’d go look for him then. He’d lost his appetite.
***** Books and Barricades *****

Author's notes: Wherein Jessa examines the remains of her bedroom in Snapes
quarters then meets Harry after curfew. And Tom.
===============================================================================
First day as a second year. Celebrating with a cliffy for y'all. =P
Jessa crept into the rooms slowly. Severus was sitting in the main room, which
she hadn’t expected. She sort of thought he would have been hiding out in his
rooms to avoid needing to look at her or acknowledge her presence even to
himself. She knew he didn’t want to hear her voice so she didn’t speak, but she
was wary to disregard him.
She surveyed his profile silently, unsure what to do.
He didn’t say a word.
Eventually Jessa stepped further into the room and headed for her bedroom. He
still hadn’t said anything when she opened that door. The room was the same as
it had always been but it felt different; probably because she felt the
hostility coming off of the man in waves. Clearly this wasn’t going to be a fun
situation.
Not that she’d expected it to be. And she knew he wasn’t going to be civil. At
least he hadn’t shouted at her yet. Or thrown her out. Judging by the way he
was glaring lividly at the empty wall there was little doubt in Jessa’s mind
that he’d rebel against their cohabitation.
Jessa wandered slowly over to one of the faux windows and stared out at the
drizzly skies. She wondered if the weather was Severus’ influence, or if he’d
have made the weather stormier if he had chosen the weather. Maybe not. Thunder
and lightening would suggest he actually cared. The teen ran her hands through
her hair and stepped away from the window.
She examined the room more closely. It didn’t seem as bright as before but that
was probably because the windows weren’t letting in anything but a view of grey
clouds and rain. It didn’t lack that wonderful feeling of bright, fresh, open
space just because she felt unwelcomed by Severus.
She was being stupid.
She glanced at the door. She’d left it open. Severus hadn’t moved from where he
sat. There was a book in his hands but he wasn’t even pretending to be
interested it. She had sort of expected him to resent the open door and to tell
her to close it so that he could pretend she wasn’t there.
He hadn’t though. Jessa got nervous from staring at him and moved away.
Her reflection on the closet doors followed her path to the bed. She sat down
stiffly and ran her hands over the frills. Her hand caught in one. She glanced
down at the tear. On deeper inspection there were several tears in the fabric,
most of which had been repaired. Had Severus taken out his upset on her
bedsheets?
She supposed it wasn’t surprising. It must have been difficult to come back
here and be reminded that he’d been tricked into sleeping with a teenager. He
hadn’t attacked the mirrors though.
Jessa moved off the bed and slowly paced a bit more. As she skimmed her hand
over the desk she felt a tingle of magic under her fingertips. He must have
damaged the glass too. She spared an idle glance for the empty picture frame on
the desk. Jessa ran her fingers down where the crack must have been then
remembered the bookcase. Surely he wouldn’t have damaged the books?
No…there didn’t look to be any obvious damage. At least to the spines. The
titles weren’t all the same though. Had he irrevocably damaged..?
Was that..?
Jessa pulled some of the alien books out of place. They were well-loved and
felt familiar in her hands. These were, weren’t they? How could he
possibly…Where would he have found them?
Jessa flipped open the books and examined the front pages. She was tempted to
kneel and spread them out on the floor to examine them more easily.
She restrained herself and gazed back at the books that remained on the
shelves. They were normal books from before, legal tomes dedicated to obscure
magics and ingredients and etiquette.
She glanced back down at the books in her arms. They were definitely her’s. He
couldn’t possibly have come by this exact eclectic collection by random.
Children’s books. The Wolves of Willoughby Chase. White Fang. The Castle of
Inside Out. Martin’s Mice. Fire and Hemlock. The Invisible Man. A Gathering of
Shadows. Something Really Wild. The Hobbit. Alice In Wonderland. Charm School.
Three Children And It.
How did he get her books? She hadn’t seen these in years.
Jessa glanced back at the bookcase and noticed a sparse few muggle titles
amongst the original books. There was a Robert Ferrigno book with an
attractively coloured spine and a battered Tom Sharpe. She’d read those when
she was young too. And that Jodi Piccoult. That was recent. She’d actually
bought that herself, that wasn’t one of the books Reg had smuggled in for the
thrill of reading muggle trash. She’d had *that* one hidden in her room. It
definitely hadn’t been with her children’s books.
Did… Was Severus trying to say she was still a child? The Tom Sharpe she’d read
on the brink of puberty too, but the other adult’s muggle books were trashy.
Was he saying he thought that she was stupid? That she didn’t think?
Why had he put the Tom Sharpe book here then? Was it one of the racist ones?
Was he saying she was a typical pureblood who didn’t give a damn about the
humanity of anyone not of her blood status?
She pulled it out and looked at the children’s books. She started putting them
back on the shelves. She hesitated to put back the Jack London book. It was one
of the wizarding versions that had belonged to Regulus once, and Sirius before
him. The beautiful cover was all but torn off but she’d fixed that as best she
could with spellotape. She’d loved this book so much. She still did. How dare
he use it to insult her? It was one of the few pure tokens of her childhood!
She got up, suddenly annoyed, and marched through to the main room armed with
the two books. He’d finally decided to leave the room and had to be hiding out
in his bedroom. Jessa didn’t let it stop her. He hadn’t expected to need to
ward his door and she pushed through without any hesitation.
“Where did you get these?”
Severus gazed at her in shock. He looked furious. Coolly, he said, “Do not
interrupt me when I am ignoring you.”
“I’m not playing! Where did you get all my old books? What are you trying to
say?”
“Do not shout at me,” Severus said dangerously, slowly rising to his feet.
“Then answer my questions!”
“You will speak to me in a courteous manner or I will curse you into a million
pieces,” Severus said almost silkily.
“Please, where did you get my books?” Jessa insisted.
Severus held out his hand. “Let me see them.”
Jessa handed the pair over reluctantly. “I’m talking about all of them.”
Severus glanced at the cover of White Fang and curled his lip in distaste at
the depiction of the mauled wolf dying at the feet of the others. As he glanced
at the other he said, “They are from number twelve.”
“But how did you find them? What were you trying to say?”
“I wasn’t trying to say anything don’t be ridiculous. What would I be trying to
say?”
“They’re children’s books.” Jessa stared at the man defiantly.
Severus brandished the Tom Sharp. “*This* is not a child’s book. I’m aware you
had a questionable childhood but this is not generally regarded as children’s
literature.”
“No, because you were trying to say that I’m a blood supremist and-”
“A what? Don’t be ridiculous.”
“Then what were you trying to say with it? I know with the children’s books you
were calling me a child.”
Severus regarded her with more patience than he had in some time but his
expression was tight. “You are a child. I wasn’t trying to say anything with
the books. I had moved some of the ones previously on your shelves and to
replace them I brought some of your old things from number twelve. I did not
examine them with any great detail.” He handed her back the Tom Sharpe as she
digested his words and he glanced at the back of the other book. “How does this
end?”
Jessa accepted it back from him. “White Fang goes to live somewhere with the
owner that actually looked after him and he had puppies with their pet dog. She
was a vicious thing that kept attacking him and knocking him over even though
he’d been a famous fighting dog and during his career had only lost that one
fight. The one where the other dog was chewing up his throat and White Fang’s
new master barged in and saved him.”
“He would have died if that man hadn’t stopped the fight, wouldn’t he?” Severus
asked, his brow crinkling a little with thought.
Jessa nodded. “Yeah. He was a decent guy.” Severus was quiet for a moment so
she moved towards the door, intent on putting the books away.
“Of all the children’s books what made you bring me this one?” Severus asked
from the doorway.
“It was my favourite,” Jessa said.
“Stupid child,” Severus said. He turned back to his room and closed the door.
Jessa’s jaw set and she put the books back. She then marched out of the rooms
altogether, even though it was after curfew. If he wanted to be a jerk he could
just leave her alone. She could understand him being angry, but it made no
sense to toy with her like that!
She wasn’t watching where she was going, so when a disembodied voice called out
her name softly her heart began to hammer at a dizzying speed. It was dark and
she could only see a few feet ahead of her in any direction. She willed her
heart to stop racing and shifted on the balls of her feet. The portraits all
looked asleep but the voice was familiar. She couldn’t sense if there was a
wizard present because there was so much magic already in the air.
“Relax, it’s me,” came an amused voice.
She still couldn’t see anyone. Her magic was pushing at her self-restraint in
answer to the threat. “Who?” she demanded testily.
“Your favourite Gryffindor. Well, unless the rumours are true. In which case
I’m only your second favourite.” Harry pulled down the hood of his cloak.
Jessa stared at the disconcerting sight. She pushed out her left hand and met
his warm chest.
“Invisibility cloak,” he explained, a sliver of amusement still evident in his
voice.
“Prove it’s you,” Jessa said suspiciously.
“You’ve got a freckle beside your bellybutton. And I know that because you
sleep in your underwear.”
Jessa chortled softly. “Okay. That was original. So what were you talking
about; my favourite Gryffindor? What rumours are you talking about?”
“Those rumours about you and Neville.”
Jessa blinked and grinned wryly. “Ah. Those rumours. Nah, you’re still my
favourite lion Scarhead.”
Harry’s lips quirked in reply. “So where were you going with that face on you?”
Jessa’s fingertips traced a line down her features. “What face?”
“Blank. You make that face when you’re angry or hurt,” Harry whispered. “Or
just confused.”
“I don’t get confused.”
Harry laughed outright at that, but quickly stifled the sound. One or two of
the portraits blinked at them sleepily for a moment but none seemed to wake
completely.
Jessa glared at the boy, the expression ineffective due to the smile dancing
around her twitching lips.
“Are you going to answer my question?” Harry teased.
Jessa gave in and grinned. “Why would I do that?”
“Because *I* asked you?”
“Get over yourself Scarhead. I’d just had enough of Snape’s riveting company.
What are *you* doing out this late? Don’t tell me you’ve been screwing my
brother some more.”
A lusty grin painted Harry’s features. “Mmm, that would have been nice.” He
caught Jessa’s long-suffering expression and quickly said, “No, I was just
going for a walk. Couldn’t sleep.”
“Nightmares again?”
Harry shrugged in agreement, and nodded when he realised Jessa couldn’t see
lower than his neck.
“Can I help?”
“Care to keep me up all night?”
“Sure. Let’s keep walking though. I don’t wanna be seen if Snape’s doing his
rounds.”
Harry smirked at her and opened the cloak. “This takes two fairly easily.”
Jessa laughed softly and moved into his arm, blinking when he threw the cloak
back over them both.
“C’mon,” he said brightly, “let’s go avoid Snape.”
“Sounds good,” Jessa agreed.
The pair wandered around for a few hours before finding themselves climbing the
astronomy tower. Once at the top they spent a further few hours there simply
watching the sky. Harry had settled down against a wall and he dozed on and off
for a while. Jessa pulled off her sweatshirt and covered him with it. To an
extent he was pleasantly muscular but he was still undernourished enough in
appearance that Jessa worried he’d catch cold. The brisk night air felt nice
against her bare arms so she didn’t bother manipulating her body to feel
warmer.
“You look tired,” Harry commented, rousing from sleep once more. “Want me to
walk you back down to the dungeons?”
Jessa made a face and shook her head. “Nah, I’m okay here. You want to head
back to the tower?”
Harry shook his head. Ruefully he said, “Too tired.”
Jessa smiled back. “You cold?”
“Just a little.” Harry noticed her bare arms. “Aren’t you freezing? What
happened to your…oh.”
“I cast a warming charm on me,” Jessa said. She walked over to him and sat at
his side. “Better?”
Jessa wasn’t cold enough for Harry to feel it through his layers but he could
feel the heat radiating from her chest. “Yeah. Thanks.”
“Don’t worry about it. Catch some more sleep if you want, I’m not gonna go
anywhere.”
Harry smiled a little and gingerly leaned his head on her shoulder. “You tired
too?”
“I don’t mind you leaning on me,” Jessa said dryly. “I’m vaguely tired. I might
crash in a bit.”
Harry nodded fractionally. He was almost already asleep.
Jessa rolled her eyes at that and leaned her head back against the cool wall.
The sky was changing colour and she stared at it until her eyelids got too
heavy.
Harry woke her up with screams. Startled, she tried to quiet him and pull his
hands away from his head, which he was grasping as though badly injured. It
took a lot of effort but she managed to pry his arms away from the protective
position in front of him. Merlin, he was strong.
“Harry!” she pleaded. “Scarhead! Harry! Wake up! You need to wake up! What’s
wrong? What hurts?”
Finally he opened his eyes at her but he was hardly lucid and he wouldn’t stop
screaming. He sounded like his skin was being seared off. Or he was watching
Draco’s skin being seared off. His forehead was even redder than the rest of
his face and a trickle of blood ran along his scar.
Had he scratched it? How had that happened?
“Harry please! Let me help! What’s wrong? Scarhead, please stop screaming.
What’s..?”
Harry gave the most bloodcurdling scream yet and met her eyes. Jessa struggled
to keep his flailing arms away from his face. With a moment of hesitation Jessa
pushed gently into his mind.
‘You.’
Ohhhh, Merlin. Fuck. ‘You’re in his head? Why are you in his head?’
‘Why are *you* in Potter’s head?’
‘He’s screaming. I need to shut him up.’
‘Don’t you like the sound? He’s suffering, little Kindred.’
‘But I’m not causing it.’
‘You’re prolonging my stay here. You’re helping me hurt him.’
‘He can’t protect himself. Where’s the sport in that?’
‘I take my pleasure where I can.’
‘Please, he’s just a boy.’
‘And you’re still just a girl.’
‘Fight him like a man Tommy. There’s no honour in this…’
Anger flashed through their connection and pain flooded even Jessa’s skull.
Harry’s screams heightened to a further desperate pitch. Jessa held her screams
in. ‘Tommy, please!”
‘He hurts when I’m angry.’
‘Please don’t be angry. I’m sorry.’
‘You’re pleading for Harry Potter.’
‘I’m not, I’m just pleading for a boy. He’s not grown yet Tom. He can’t even
shield himself from you.’
‘It’s…not that simple little Courage.’
‘What?’
‘He gets in my head too sometimes. Just not as much…I don’t fully understand.’
“What if I built a wall? Even just until he’s a man? It must be annoying having
him in your head.’
‘Why would you do that?’
The screams were getting unbearable. Harry’s voice was rasping with overuse. It
sounded raw.
‘To stop this suffering,’ Jessa answered softly. ‘And it benefits you too.
There’s just no sport in this. Please Tom. Let me please you. I’ll give you
peace in your mind and keep him quiet.’
‘I don’t know that you can.’
‘I can. I can do anything,’ Jessa insisted. She pulled back slightly mentally
and began pushing up a solid barrier. She could feel Tom watching her and
couldn’t fully ignore Harry’s screams. She had to keep Tom out. He was quiet as
he watched her. He seemed intrigued by her efforts.
Harry stopped screaming. Jessa was so exhausted the change barely penetrated
her notice. She’d fixed his brain. For a while she’d felt a fuzziness, could
sense Tom was pushing out trying to reach them, but she’d built the barricades
brutally strong. He wouldn’t get passed them. She’d put almost all her energy
into constructing this protection. She could only make it this strong because
she was in Harry’s head. His magic was helping her. It seemed to know that
Voldemort was the enemy and that it was him that was putting so much strain on
Harry.
Jessa could barely stay conscious. She had to pull herself out of Harry’s head.
And he’d been screaming so much without so much as a silencing charm. They’d
have heard right? Even way up here in the tower? She had to pull out…before she
passed out…and that was soon.
***** For The Sake Of The Innocent *****

Author's notes: Wherein Jessa wakes up in the hospital wing.
===============================================================================
“Are you alright?”
Jessa frowned at the bright lights and squinted in the direction of the voice.
“What happened?”
“I had a vision,” Harry said. “A bad one. Then you went inside my head and
shielded my mind.”
“Yeah, I remember that,” Jessa answered, getting up slowly and shielding her
eyes. “There was blood on your face, is that why you’re here? Why am I here?”
Harry shook his head. “Someone heard me…screaming. When they got up to the
tower you’d passed out.”
“You told them I was just tired, right?”
Harry shook his head. “I was worried about you. You wouldn’t wake up.
Dumbledore and Snape had a look around my head and they said what you’d did was
dangerous.”
Jessa frowned. “You were in agony. I had to do something. You kept screaming.
Besides, that’s not the first time, is it? He said you hurt when he’s angry.
Dumbles and S…nape should have done something. Taught you occlumency.”
“I’d tried,” Harry said. “But they didn’t just say it was dangerous for me…”
“You weren’t in any more danger than you already were,” Jessa said. “I knew
what I was doing. If I hadn’t put that wall up he’d have torn your mind apart
eventually.”
“But you were.”
“What?”
Harry wasn’t sure if she was being deliberately obtuse. “You were in danger
when you did what you did.”
Jessa scowled. “Course I was, if He finds out that you’re my friend I’ll be in
a whole world of pain.” She looked at him seriously. “If you take that wall
down without learning to occlude I’m screwed. And so’s Dray. And Greg. And all
their friends who might be accused of having similar leanings.”
“I don’t know how to take it down anyway. And Dumbledore says it could damage
my mind a lot if they tried to get rid.”
“I know how to take it down without doing your head any harm but if I took it
down the Dark Lord would get in,” Jessa said softly.
Harry nodded to show he understood. He looked at her frankly. “You’re dancing
around what I was trying to say.”
Jessa sighed and considered turning away to lean up against the wall.
“You weren’t just in danger from the dark lord when you were in my head,” Harry
pressed.
Jessa looked away from his eyes to discourage this direction of the
conversation. “Don’t go here Scarhead.”
“You could have lost your mind in mine if you’d passed out still in me,” Harry
said.
Jessa let out a breath and ran her hand through her hair. “If I’d passed out
before I got out of your head it would have been bad. But once I’d woken up I’d
have been able to drag myself out of you. It would just have taken a lot of
effort.”
“They said that was a rare ability.”
“I’ve got a lot of control in dire situations. And I’ve spent more time in my
head than the average person.”
Harry was sitting up regarding her. “They said you could have burnt out.”
Jessa chuckled falsely. “I did, remember? I passed out.”
“Not like that.”
Jessa met his eyes reluctantly. “I wasn’t in danger of that,” she said frankly.
“I was pushing and pulling your magic into the barriers. My magic would
probably have done more harm than good. Your defences were down and I don’t
know if your magic would have thought I was a threat or if my magic would react
badly to yours or anything. At the very least it would be foreign magic in your
system whilst your defences were nil and which you would probably have an
adverse reaction to. That’s not even taking into account how much Dark tinges
my magic. I don’t know how tolerant you are… Whether it would poison you.”
Harry attempted to process all of that. Jessa glanced at him almost shyly for a
moment. “You are alright, aren’t you?”
Harry nodded. “I’m fine. I’m still here simply on a just in case basis. And
because I wanted to see you wake up.”
“That’s creepy,” Jessa said ironically. “So you’re just in under observation,
that kind of thing?”
Harry quirked a grin. “You’ll find Pomphrey’s a dragon of a nurse. You’re lucky
you were asleep before.”
Jessa stretched. “Oh joy. Someone else intent on interfering with me. Where is
she?”
“She should be back soon,” Harry said apologetically.
“Does Poppy know she’s awake?”
The teens jumped at Alastor’s voice. They hadn’t heard his tread in the
corridor.
“She’s in her office with the Headmaster,” Harry said. “I think Snape’s still
in there too. He knows more about head stuff than Madame Pomphrey does. She’s
not an occlumens or anything so he’s helping her.”
Jessa touched her skull with trepidation. “Has he been inside my head? Or the
headmaster?”
“They didn’t want to do it until you were awake,” Harry said. “They agreed that
if you didn’t wake in three more days then they’d do it.”
“How long have I been out?” Jessa asked.
“Just a day and a half,” Harry said.
“Just!” Alastor snorted. He directed his gaze at Jessa. “Don’t you ever just
relax and not do anything that could be catastrophic?”
“I don’t do it deliberately,” Jessa said softly.
“That worries me,” Alastor retorted. He sighed. “I’m going to tell them you’re
awake.”
“Mad Eye, no!”
“What?”
“Oh please don’t set them on me. I’ve barely had a chance to wake up.”
“You like Severus, remember?” Alastor pointed out, moving towards the office.
Jessa sat back in the hospital bed reluctantly. “Yeah. Sure.”
The other three came bustling out a moment later. Or at least, the woman did.
Severus kind of stalked out, and the headmaster walked over briskly.
The nurse began fussing over Jessa and the teen endured it mutely, annoyance
clear on her face. “Gentlemen, would you care to examine her mind for me?”
Albus looked at Severus but the younger man shook his head quickly. “There’s no
sense in my doing it, you’re more talented.”
“He’s not getting into my head,” Jessa said sharply. She glanced at Severus.
“And you aren’t either.”
Severus’ lip curled. “What would be the point? You’re a masterful deceiver and
a stronger legilimens than I.”
“Jessa, that’s enough. You’re going to have the possible damage checked out,”
Moody declared. He looked at Severus. “Is that true?”
Severus nodded stiffly.
“Who’s doing it then?”
“No one’s doing it. It’s my head!”
Pomphrey faffed about. “Don’t be silly dear. You need to-”
Jessa spun around. “Do not tell me what to do. I’m of age. There is nothing any
of you can legally do to make me undergo what you’re suggesting. I am not
allowing either of them inside my mind.”
“Jessa!”
The teen flashed Alastor a cold look at his tone. She inhaled quickly when the
man reached out and tilted up her chin to look into her eyes seriously. “I
don’t care what age you are. I’ll still give a damn about your well-being when
you’re twenty six. If they’re concerned-”
Jessa pulled back. “Leave it okay? I love you too, but just trust my judgement
on this. I refuse to have them in my head.”
“What harm would it do?” Harry asked, sliding off his bed and onto Jessa’s.
She gave him a guarded look and pointed a finger at the headmaster. “This one I
don’t trust any more than I do my own father. He doesn’t care about people,
only outcomes. He’s a manipulative old coot and I will not have such a
poisonous influence in my head.”
“Jessa!” Alastor warned, whilst Albus looked unaffected.
“You hardly need any help with finding poison in that mind of yours,” Severus
said.
Alastor looked at the man oddly whilst Jessa lowered her head. “She’s got her
good points too,” Alastor said.
“What about Snape?” Harry suggested slowly in an attempt to ease the tension.
Dumbledore looked at him. “Professor Snape,” the teen amended.
Severus bristled and turned his stormy gaze on Harry.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Jessa said.
Severus nodded stiffly in agreement.
“What were you both doing up in the astronomy tower after curfew anyway, that’s
what I want to know,” Madame Pomphrey sniffed.
Jessa and Harry exchanged a look, whilst Harry tried to indicate with a roll of
his eyes and a twitch of his lips that the woman –who normally defended him-
had been pestering him with that question repeatedly since his and Jessa’s
admittance to the hospital wing.
Severus and Alastor exchanged a glance before looking at Harry and Jessa.
“Jessamine and I quarrelled that night,” Severus answered smoothly. “I went in
search of her when I believed we had both calmed sufficiently. It’s not unknown
that Potter likes to wander the school at night. To my understanding they are
close friends, so I expect when they bumped into each other he made it his
mission to calm her.”
Jessa glanced at Severus under her lashes even as she leaned into Harry. At
first she didn’t understand why Severus was defending her character. Then she
realised it wasn’t for her benefit at all. Severus knew Harry and Draco were
dating. It was much safer for people to believe Harry might be interested in
her.
Poppy tutted to herself and glanced shrewdly at the teens. “Miss Malfoy put
herself in a lot of danger to protect Mister Potter’s mind.”
“I didn’t do it for him,” Jessa said quickly.
She was startled by a masculine snort. She glared at the men around her, unsure
who was responsible for the noise.
“They’ve looked at my memories,” Harry said.
Jessa met his eyes, sighed, and seemed to deflate for a moment. The lost look
quickly disappeared from her eyes to be replaced by a casual, vaguely blank
expression.
“It might be advantageous for you to culture this friendship with Harry,
Jessamine,” the headmaster said half-absently. He got up and moved towards the
door, nodding at Madame Pomphrey. Alastor and Severus looked at him as though
somewhat alarmed by his intention to depart, whilst Jessa looked disgusted. Her
eyebrows were furrowed slightly as she turned towards Harry’s chest and pressed
her temple against him.
He lifted his arm and rested it on her, carding his rough fingers through the
hair at the back of her neck.
Jessa glanced at him but quickly wiped the questioning look from her eyes.
“You’ve already risked a lot for Harry,” Albus said from the doorway. “If you
let yourself grow close to him I do think you’d benefit from the friendship.”
Harry continued to play with Jessa’s hair. “Are you okay?” he murmured when
Dumbledore had disappeared from sight.
Jessa looked down, aware of Severus’ and Alastor’s eyes on her. The mediwitch
was clearly watching her too, despite running diagnostic spells.
“I’m fine,” Jessa said.
Harry slowly took here head and tilted it towards him, gazing directly into her
eyes. ‘Seriously?’ He wasn’t skilled by any means but the new ability to keep
people out of his head when he wanted to made it easier to tumble into Jessa’s
mind.
She replied, ‘Yeah…I’m kinda okay…he just makes me uncomfortable.’
“Out of her. Now.”
Harry felt a painful grip on his free shoulder and quickly obeyed.
Severus gave him a black glare that put a knot in Harry’s stomach, bypassing
the usual incitement to rage.
“She’s in here for using too much mind magic!” Severus snarled.
Harry quickly flashed Jessa a contrite face. “I’m sorry, I forgot! I was just
trying to let you speak freely-”
Jessa shook her head. “Relax, I knew that. My head’s fine, I’m just a little
tired.”
Severus noticed his fingers were still digging into Potter’s flesh and removed
them swiftly.
“How’re the results?” Alastor asked Poppy.
Poppy made a distasteful face. “Provided she keeps mind magic to a minimum, she
should be fine in a few weeks.”
“I just used mind magic and I’m absolutely fine,” Jessa said roughly.
Alastor reached out and tweaked Jessa’s ear lightly. She looked up at him in
surprise.
“Stop it,” he said a little sharply. “You’ve been disrespectful from the moment
you woke up and it has been quite enough girl.”
Jessa pulled herself out of his grasp and opened her mouth to snap. Alastor
gave her a warning look and she closed her mouth slowly.
“You didn’t use mind magic anyway,” Severus said brusquely. “He was. You were
just replying. But you are the more talented of you both so it would be natural
for you to take control of your conversation and that *would* have been using
mind magic.”
Alastor observed the way Jessa’s expression faltered when Severus spoke to her
then glanced back at Poppy. “When can she get out?”
“If someone can ensure she behaves herself she can sleep in her own bed
tonight,” Pomphry answered. “She’ll need extra sleep tonight also. Shouldn’t
you still check her mind?”
“I have no problem with giving the brat an early bedtime,” Severus said. “No,
not tonight at least. She needs sleep most.”
Jessa looked at him warily. “You’re going to let me stay tonight?”
“Do at least try to not to act dense,” Severus snapped. “Of course you will be
staying in your room. We merely had a silly argument.”
Jessa understood that was for Pomphrey. He was definitely still livid with her.
“What if I bug you? It’s a habit of mine.”
Severus looked down his nose at her. “I am well aware of that. I’m also
perfectly capable of telling you to behave yourself, and if you are simply
unable to resist being the bane of my existence let me assure you I will gladly
take the compensation from your hide.”
Jessa bit back a retort but Severus’ eyes flashed at her for daring to allow
one to dance to the tip of her tongue at all. “I can only hope a hard spanking
would do you every good.”
Jessa shrugged. “One can hope,” she agreed. She pressed her eyes together for a
moment.
“Are you alright?” Alastor asked.
“Fine,” Jessa answered. “Just really tired.”
“You used a lot of yourself,” Poppy said. “Your body needs to recharge.”
Alastor held Jessa’s face again, looking at the dark circles that still
remained beneath her eyes. “You should sleep some more.”
Jessa glanced up for a moment then meet his eyes again and shook her head.
“I’ve been asleep for a day and a half. What I need is to stretch my legs a
bit. Am I finished being examined?”
“I’m finished with you for today,” Pomphrey said, “but I will want to check you
over again tomorrow.”
“Fine,” Jessa said. She slid off of Harry and swung her legs off of the bed.
She stumbled a little as she took her first steps. Harry’s hands darted out to
steady her.
“Take it easy,” Alastor scolded. “Not so fast.”
“I just need a walk,” Jessa said.
“I will escort you down to the dungeons then,” Severus said. “The exertion
should be enough for you, and hopefully wear you down for sleep again.”
“I don’t want-”
“You seem to be labouring under the misapprehension that I care what you want,”
Severus announced. “You will walk down to my quarters under my escort and then
you will go to bed.”
Jessa bit her lip warily but didn’t dare question the man. “Just let me use the
restroom first,” she mumbled. That would give her a bit of time to think.
Besides, her bladder really was protesting.
Severus nodded briefly.
“I’d better get back to my common room,” Harry said. “I’ll see you in the
morning Snakeling.”
Jessa smiled softly. “Sure thing Scarhead. Try to take care of yourself eh?”
Harry laughed. “You too.” He slipped out the hospital wing’s doors.
Jessa took refuge in the toilet for several minutes. Her steps were still
somewhat shaky when she emerged.
Severus got up and wordlessly glided towards the doorway. Jessa waved at
Alastor and attempted to follow Severus. Her legs felt ridiculously heavy.
She stumbled again and Severus grabbed her roughly to keep her upright. Neither
spoke but once Jessa had regained some semblance of her balance again Severus
snatched her arm and walked on quickly, his swift momentum dragging the
unsteady girl along.
He let them into the rooms and deposited her at the door of her bedroom. “Get
some sleep,” he snarled.
“S-”
Severus’ eyes sparked violently. He brought his face close to the teen’s. “Just
once do what you are fucking well told,” he barked.
Jessa stumbled back and moved to obey. Severus stalked towards his own room.
He paused. “Do you have any idea of the consequences of what you’ve done with
Potter?” he asked.
“Tom already knows there’s a weak streak in me,” Jessa said hollowly. “He’s
hoping I’ll learn to stomach the slaughter of the innocent.”
Severus snorted bitterly. “I was as astonished as anyone that Potter’s
*suffering* affected you. What happened to the sadism in your core?”
“Harry’s not like us,” Jessa said quietly.
“Of course not,” Severus sniffed.
“Not like that. He suffered growing up just like we did. But he’s better than
us. It didn’t damage him. He’s not warped like us.”
“Just go to bed N-Jessa!”
Jessa flinched as he slammed his bedroom door behind him. “Goodnight,” she said
softly, even though it wasn’t even nighttime yet. She stepped into her room
slowly and gazed at the bookcase.
She didn’t have the energy to read. Truth be told, she couldn’t even be
bothered with brushing her teeth. She stumbled over to the bed and collapsed
onto it. Her fingers found the torn fabric beneath her and looped around it,
clutching it tightly.
***** Supposed Delusions and Self-Preservation Deficiencies (It's Not *Potter*
In Bed) *****

Author's notes: Wherein Draco demands a blowjob (and accuses Neville of having
a harem, but that's not the reason you're reading, is it?)
===============================================================================
“You’re definitely fine?”
“Yes…” Harry hissed distractedly, as Draco kissed a frantic path over his
stomach. He moaned and took hold of Draco’s head to keep the blonde still for a
pause. “Yes, I’m fine.”
Draco halted reluctantly for a moment. “Definitely okay?”
“*Yes*,” Harry insisted.
Draco leapt up abruptly and pressed a kiss harshly into the side of his lover’s
neck.
Harry’s hand flew up to steady them both. “Relax…” he breathed. He tugged
Draco’s hair gently. “Are *you* okay?”
Draco growled softly and neither of them was sure if it was because of the
question or Harry’s audacity at touching Draco’s hair. He reached up and
wrapped both his fists in Harry’s own hair, staring fiercely into his eyes.
“I’m perfectly fine,” Draco said, and Harry wondered how the blonde could sound
so regal through such debauched lips. “Don’t worry me like that ever again.”
The shock showed in Harry’s eyes and Draco regarded him slowly. “What? You know
I was worried about you.”
Harry rolled them both over onto Draco’s back and held Draco’s gaze. “Yes, But
I didn’t expect you to admit it.”
Draco sighed casually. “What’s the point in lying about it?” After a beat he
said, “Have you seen Jessa recently?”
Harry’s lips curled wryly at his lover’s attempts at distraction. “No. she’s in
one of the greenhouses with Neville. Something to do with some potion
ingredient.”
Draco’s expression faltered and he sat up on his elbows. “What? But she can’t
make potions; Snape’s mad at her.”
Harry watched with mild amusement as Draco’s expression turned dark. “I *knew*
that no good Gryffindor was screwing my sister!”
Harry quirked a smile. “Relax Baby. Nev’s not-”
Draco’s eyes flashed again. “Do you know? Has he been touching my slut of a
sister? I’ll hex him into-”
Harry tried to laugh casually. “Dray, I’m sure they’re both fine. I mean come
on, it’s Neville we’re talking about. He’s not exactly a player, you know?”
“What do you know about players, Potter?” Draco muttered. “It’s probably all an
act of his. I’ve seen those muscles he’s got from getting dirty. And he’s
always with either the little Weasley, Granger or that Lovegood girl. Great
Merlin, I bet he’s starting a harem.”
Harry laughed outright. “Aw, come on Dray. Listen to yourself. Neville and a
harem? Relax.”
“Are you *laughing* at me?”
Harry bit his lip, trying to will his shoulders to stop shaking. He shook his
head fiercely and when that didn’t help he leant forwards to kiss the frown off
of Draco’s face.
Draco acquiesced with a pleased twitch of his eyebrows. “I was ranting,” he
complained haughtily when Harry tenderly pulled away.
Harry laughed goodnaturedly. “I had noticed,” Harry teased.
“Insufferable Gryffindor,” Draco muttered.
Harry snorted. “Insufferable *Slytherin*.”
“I, however,” Draco said with a cute scowl, “manage to be insufferable with
style.”
Harry giggled in a way that wasn’t quite passable as masculine. “Always with
style Baby.”
Draco gaze his lover a hard look. “You’re mocking me, aren’t you? You filthy
Gryffindor.”
“Ye- no. No, course I’m not.”
Draco harrumphed and moved his face away from the mouth that was seeking out
his own for appeasement.
“Aw come on Dray,” Harry pleaded cheerfully, wiggling his hips from his stance
on elbows and knees above the blonde. “Just a little kiss for me?”
“No,” Draco huffed. “You’re intolerable.”
Harry pouted playfully before his face was transformed with a wicked grin. “I
think you quite like me.”
“I’m a fool,” Draco retorted. “And besides, you’re clearly deluded.”
“Oh,” Harry grinned. “*Oh*,” he repeated, bringing his face down to Draco’s
neck and allowing his breath to warm the skin there. “*Deluded*, am I, Baby?”
“Very,” Draco replied in hushed tones to Harry’s alluring whisper.
“I don’t think I’m deluded,” Harry said sweetly.
“Oh no?” Draco tried to smirk, amused by Harry’s game, but increasingly
distracted by the way Harry was so damned close and smelt so inviting.
Harry watched the emotions play out in Draco’s eyes and raised his eyebrows in
encouragement. “Well?”
“You’re a whore,” Draco muttered sulkily.
Harry chuckled. “Is that so?”
“Yes,” Draco huffed. A moment later he had sat up and wrapped his arm around
Harry to stop the teen overbalancing as he plundered his mouth. Harry snickered
into the kiss. “You don’t seem to mind.”
Draco rolled his eyes. “I think my Slytherin gene’s faulty. There’s definitely
a deficiency in my self-preservation instinct.”
“I’m never going to let anything happen to you,” Harry said simply. “I’m going
to wake up beside you when we’re eighty and mess up your hair.”
Draco processed that slowly even as he pressed his forehead up against Harry’s.
“Is that so? I hate to inform you that if you dare do so I’m going to have to
cause you extraordinary pain and suffering Harry Potter.”
“Until I go down on you, in which case you’ll forgive me.”
Draco raised one eyebrow. “I will most certainly not.”
“Let’s try out that theory, shall we?”
“That was a very polished way to offer me a fellatio Potter. Are you learning
subtlety?”
Harry growled in reply and yanked his rude lover up by the front of his jeans.
“It’s not *Potter* in bed. It’s *never* Potter in bed!”
Draco chuckled and glanced down at the sheets. Harry was holding his hips off
them by a good few inches. “I’m no longer technically *on* the bed, *Potter*.”
Harry raised his eyebrows as he unsnapped Draco’s flies. “I might just decide
you don’t deserve my fantastically skilled mouth you know *Malfoy*.”
Draco winced. “Alright, alright.”
Harry laughed. “And is that wince because I called you by your surname or just
because I’m threatening not to give you any oral pleasure?”
Draco looked at him, a funny look on his face. It took Harry a moment to
realise the look was unguarded amusement. “You *want* me to say it’s because
I’ve realised the error of my ways and that I’ll never call you Potter again,
but you’re so gullible it seems almost too cruel to lie to you. You know fine
well I just want my cock sucked Harry.”
“Say that.”
“Say what?”
“Say, ‘Suck my cock Harry’,” Harry grinned.
Draco’s eyes sparkled. “No please?”
“As if I could ever make you beg me,” Harry smirked.
“Not as stupid as you look, are you?” Draco teased. They sat smiling at each
other for a pause, basking in each other’s presence and absorbing every detail
of each other. Draco snorted.
“What?” Harry asked, the huge smile on his face not faltering for an instant.
Draco still had that human expression on his face that Harry had never seen
before.
Draco raised his eyebrows playfully. “Well I have to say it, don’t I?”
“Say…oh. Yes, you do.”
Draco leaned forwards and kissed a path from Harry’s ear lobe all the way down
his jaw. “I’d really like it if you sucked my cock Potter. Oh. I said it wrong,
didn’t I?” Draco’s hand trailed down Harry’s chest, making the Gryffindor’s
heart hammer.
Draco met Harry’s eyes and licked his lips mischievously. “I want you to suck
my cock Potter. Damn, said it wrong again, didn’t I?”
Harry leaned forwards and nuzzled his lover’s neck. “Maybe I should just make
you suck *my* dick,” he grumbled.
“Oh we can’t have that,” Draco laughed. He leant up and kissed Harry
comfortably.
Harry blinked and gave a dazed smile as Draco eventually pulled away. After a
minute the Gryffindor grinned and twined his fingers through the blonde hair.
Draco barked out a laugh and twisted out of the way, grabbing Harry’s hand.
“Suck my cock Harry,” he said quietly.
In one smooth movement the Gryffindor yanked Draco’s designer jeans down to his
knees. He moved forwards and peeled down the pair of expensive, tight boxers.
Draco inhaled jerkily and bit his lip delectably.
“Okay,” Harry said simply.
***** Problematic Sort of Present *****

Author's notes: Wherein the problem of Jessa's crested ring is addressed.
===============================================================================
A few days later a regal owl arrived at the Slytherin table during breakfast
and delivered a white box into Draco’s hands. The blonde surveyed it casually
and tapped it with his wand, causing a small roll of parchment to appear. He
took a piece of his breakfast and fed it to the owl as he broke the seal and
skimmed the letter from his father.
“Present for you, Pureblood,” Draco drawled, tossing the box to Jessa lightly.
Jessa’s eyes flickered towards the little white box that she’d caught without
thinking. She raised her eyes to her brother questioningly and he twitched his
little finger discretely.
Oh. Jessa stood up quickly, hiding the box in her hand even as she ran her hand
through her hair.
“You’re messing up your hair,” Draco drawled, getting up too and tugging the
strands back into place.
“What is it Dray?” Pansy asked, looking at them both curiously.
“Nothing important,” Draco answered, digging his fingers into Jessa’s arm.
“Nothing important,” Jessa agreed a little weakly.
“Sit down and finish your breakfast,” Draco said, dropping smoothly back onto
the bench.
“Not this morning,” Jessa replied, stepping further away from the table.
“Jessa! Moody’ll know you haven’t-”
“I feel sick,” Jessa apologised, quickly making her way out of the great hall.
Draco felt Pansy’s questioning eyes on him. “I hate girls,” he told his plate.
Alastor watched Jessa’s departure with interest. “What did that owl bring?” he
growled. “I’m going to go after her.”
“No,” Albus lifted his hand and placed it on the ex-auror’s arm. “I think
Severus would be more suited to this situation.”
“Me, Albus? I’m sure Alastor-”
“*You*, Severus,” Albus said firmly.
“You know what’s going on?” Alastor asked softly.
Albus didn’t answer him. “Severus,” he said sharply.
“What about my class?”
“I’ll teach it.”
The potions master pinched the bridge of his nose irritably and took a harried
gulp of scalding coffee before bursting out of the great hall after the
teenager.
She knew Severus had class straight after breakfast so Jessa had dared to go to
their rooms for refuge. She dropped down on the couch and lifted the lid off of
the box.
The gold signet ring shone up at her. She stared at the Malfoy crest on it and
bravely pulled the ring out of the box. She cradled it in her hands, stress and
sadness written on her face.
She sighed in self-disgust and dropped it down on the coffee table before her.
She ran her hands through her hair again and drew her legs up onto the couch.
What was she going to do?
She jumped as the door swung open and Severus stormed in. “I had thought you
had class,” she said.
“I did,” Severus said. “Now I don’t.” He noticed the gold ring glint on the
table. “Lucius sent you a crested ring?”
Jessa nodded, her legs still brought up to her chest.
“That’s going to be a problem I expect,” Severus commented.
Jessa nodded again, chewing her lip.
“Stop doing that,” Severus snapped. “You’ll burst your lip.” He plucked the
small ring off of the table. “Dare I ask for your lengthy sexual history? Can
you even remember who had the dubious honour of your virginity?”
Jessa’s head flew up. “Yes I can remember who took my virginity thanks! And th-
he’s dead. The only wizards alive that I’ve been with are you and Blaise, and I
can hardly give my ring to Blaise because he needs to marry Theo so that Theo
won’t get marked! He can’t have any links to anyone else otherwise the Notts
could complain…”
“Lucius wouldn’t let you near Zabini anyway,” Severus said. “His mother’s… Well
the boy’s father was from old money but the mother’s conduct will be a complete
foil. Lucius would rather feed you to Nagini than have you involved with that
family.”
Severus twirled the ring around his fingers, a grim expression on his face.
“You didn’t get as experienced as you are overnight.”
“Muggles,” Jessa muttered.
“What?”
“I learnt about good sex from muggles,” Jessa admitted.
“Lucius will murder you himself,” Severus croaked.
“You think I don’t know that?” Jessa snapped quietly.
“Don’t you *dare* snap at me you imbecilic little tart! You’ve been fucking
*muggles*! There’s no saving you!”
“The ring won’t recognise muggles,” Jessa said softly. “And it won’t
acknowledge the dead. You and Blaise are the only-”
“Then you’re going to have to hurry up and sleep with Longbottom!”
“I’m not going to sleep with Longbottom!”
“You’ll do as you’re told!”
Jessa put one foot on the floor. “You do not get to decide-”
Severus surged towards the fireplace. “I’m calling your father.”
“Sev, don’t!”
Severus did not turn around. He took a pinch of floo powder and threw it into
the flames. “Do *not* call me Sev.”
Severus knelt before the fire and thrust his face into the flames. “Lucius
Malfoy’s study.”
Jessa tried not to look at the attractive swell of Severus’ ass, not entirely
obscured by his robes.
“Lucius, are you busy? You need to come through.”
Jessa couldn’t quite make out her father’s reply although she heard him
speaking. He must have agreed however, as a moment later Severus stood and
moved out of the way, soon followed by Lucius.
The Malfoy patriarch brushed himself down swiftly. “What’s this about Severus?
I was composing a letter to the minister. Aren’t you habitually in class now?”
Severus ignored him and held up the ring. “We have a problem.”
Lucius frowned slowly. “And why is there a problem Severus?”
“Your daughter is unable to wear her ring to the ball and there is also the
matter of who should be wearing it around his neck.”
Lucius regarded the pair with a dangerous glint in his steely eyes. “Do
continue.”
“Her first lover’s dead and the rest are of unsuitable bloodlines,” Severus
said quietly.
Lucius took a deep breath. “You fucked my daughter Severus?”
“A muggle,” Jessa said. “I took a muggle lover.”
Lucius paled in disgust and reached for his wand. Severus grabbed his wrist
quickly. “If she’d been brought up properly it would never have happened,”
Severus said.
“The little harlot still knew better!” Lucius snarled. “Don’t defend her
Severus, you know I can’t stand for this.”
“She’s just a child!” Severus insisted. “It was inevitable that she’d mix with
muggles when she was isolated from her own kind!”
“I am not a child!”
Severus spun around, his grip still tight around his friend’s wrist. “If you
don’t *shut up* I’ll spank you so hard you won’t be able to stop crying for
days, little girl!”
Jessa’s eyes flashed angrily even as she bit her lip. “You’re all intolerable!
How can I be expected to be normal when you all treat me like this?!”
“You would be wise to be silent Jessamine,” Lucius snarled. “Severus is trying
to protect you from my ire, not that you deserve it. What were you thinking?”
“It’s not like I ever expected you to find out about me! My options had
appeared to be stay alone in that *house* forever or go out into human
company!”
Lucius took a deep breath. “Don’t call them human. They’re an entirely
different breed from us.”
“I know that! But I was going mad in that house with no one but my elf and the
portraits and the memories!”
Lucius sighed. “What am I going to do with you, you little whore? This cannot
come to light. Who else have you given yourself to unwisely?”
Jessa glanced to Severus questioningly. He nodded and Jessa admitted, “Blaise
Zambini.”
Lucius blinked and thrust his wand into Severus’ hand in order to pace around
the room unfettered. “He’s beautiful, I’ll give you that, and suitably rich.
But I cannot have you making such alliances! His mother’s a charlatan and a
gold digger! And an actress, and a divorcee and a black widow! They are not an
acceptable family to align with ours. No. I won’t have it young lady. Do tell
me you’ve taken a remotely suitable lover. That Gryffindor will do. Narcissa
sent him an invitation. Don’t be afraid to tell me that you’ve dallied with
him. I’m much more amenable to that truth than your other confessions.”
“I…haven’t,” Jessa said softly.
“Oh come now…”
“Honestly Father. I have not shared a bed with Neville Longbottom.”
“Then you will have to amend that. The ball is *soon* Jessamine. I don’t doubt
that with all these lovers that you’ve managed to amass that you will have any
problem taking the boy to bed.”
Severus watched the fire in the teen’s eyes diminish somewhat. “Lucius.”
The blonde looked at Severus sternly. “What Severus? Do you have a more
pleasing idea?”
“It’s clear she doesn’t want to sleep with Longbottom.”
“She will do it though. She’s been stupid enough to lose her virginity and
unless that ring is on a chain around the neck of a suitable young man she will
not be married.”
“What if I do it? What if I wear the stupid ring?”
“You know the charms on it. That will only work if you take the stupid girl to
bed.”
Jessa toed the ground nervously.
“Which do you want?” Severus asked her.
“What?” Jessa asked meekly.
“Who would you rather wear your ring, myself or Longbottom?”
“You,” Jessa said.
Lucius’ eyebrows twitched but Severus nodded stiffly. “You expected this?”
Lucius demanded.
“I was not certain,” Severus muttered.
Lucius shook his head and snapped his fingers impatiently as his other hand
massaged his temples. Severus passed him his wand. Lucius took it briskly and
rubbed his face some more. He took his hand away and blinked.
“I’ll leave you both to it,” he said too swiftly. He started to walk towards
the fireplace then paused. “Severus.” Lucius’ eyes flickered towards Jessa
briefly, his expression intense. “Severus…Be…tender, with her.”
“Of course,” Severus said. “I’m not a monster Lucius.”
“I know that Severus. When did you realise it however?” Lucius stepped through
the flames before Severus could articulate a reply.
Jessa stood frozen, bewildered by the turn of events. Nervously she softly
said, “Severus…”
“Silence,” Severus snapped. He pinched the bridge of his nose tightly. “The
charms will already recognise me, but your father will be waiting for the wards
to inform him that…we’ve had relations.”
“Are you okay?”
“No,” Severus growled. “But you didn’t look like you wanted to fuck Longbottom
on command.”
“Thanks,” Jessa said softly.
Severus paced his side of the room. “I can’t think of a way out of this,” he
snarled.
Jessa flinched and remained where she stood.
Severus sighed. “You look terrified,” he muttered. “Do you want a drink? I do.”
He crossed the room to the cabinet and extracted a bottle of firewhiskey and
two glasses. He poured himself an ample measure and held out a smaller amount
for Jessa.
She hesitated for a moment then walked over and accepted the glass. She brought
it to her mouth but couldn’t bring herself to swallow. Severus had drained his
glass and poured another, this time the same amount as he had poured for Jessa
a moment ago. He drank this smaller measure more slowly.
Jessa put down her glass and studied Severus discretely. Severus noticed.
“What?”
“You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to.”
Severus raised his eyebrows bitterly. “Just go through to the bedroom.”
“Now?” Jessa squeaked.
“Yes, now,” Severus growled, “before I lose my nerve. You aren’t afraid to
sleep with me now, are you?”
Jessa took a deep breath on hearing his sarcastic tone. “Whose room?” she asked
dully.
“Yours, I don’t want to smell you on my sheets afterwards.”
“I don’t smell,” Jessa protested softly.
“Yes you do. You smell like apples today and you smelt like coconuts the day
before. Cherries the day before that. The day before that you smelt of jasmine.
The day before *that* you smelt of almonds and the day before that you smelt of
vanilla.” Severus arched his brows to indicate his point.
Jessa looked at him uncertainly. It hadn’t occurred to her that she changed her
scent so often; much less that he would have noticed. Severus took her glass
and drank from it. Wordlessly he stepped past her and headed for her bedroom.
“Should I follow?”
“Of course you shouldn’t, you stupid girl. I’m going to fuck you.” Severus
paused at the door. “Come on,” he said. “And bring the bottle with you.”
Jessa glanced at him but he had already stepped through into her room. She
closed her eyes for a moment then lifted the heavy bottle and carried it
through.
Severus was standing beside her bed. He took the bottle from her as if intent
on drinking from it but then frowned minutely and put it down.
“Are you certain you’d rather I did this than Longbottom?”
“Always,” Jessa whispered.
Severus didn’t look delighted by the prospect. “Strip,” he said roughly. He
pulled off his outer robes and took off his belt and shoes.
Jessa slid her teeshirt over her head and tugged down her jeans. She glanced
across at him. “Take your clothes off too.”
“It’s unnecessary.”
“It isn’t,” Jessa insisted quietly, surprised when the man conceded.
“Get on the bed.”
Jessa obeyed slowly, glancing at her once-lover uncertainly. If it wasn’t for
his unhappy body language he’d be beautiful.
“On all fours please,” Severus growled.
Jessa understood immediately. “You want to pretend it’s not me?”
“Yes.”
Jessa nodded mutely and quickly turned away, moving into position with
practised ease.
Severus reluctantly crawled into position behind her, running his hand up the
expanse of her back. Without kissing her he moved his hand down between her
legs and touched her until she became sufficiently wet. With a quiet anti-
conception spell Severus moved up and positioned himself inside her.
“Relax,” he said.
Jessa nodded quickly.
Severus slid his arm under her stomach and began to thrust carefully, pulling
her close onto him with each. Jessa was silent.
“Get off and roll over,” Severus growled softly.
Jessa began to turn around and then stopped so that he wouldn’t have to see her
face. “What?”
“Get on your back,” Severus said shortly.
“I thought-”
“You’re fucking shaking, just get on your back and we’ll do it your way.”
“I’m not shaking.”
“You’re so stiff I feel like I’ll snap you. Do as you’re told.”
Jessa muttered, “Yes sir.”
Severus wrapped his fist loosely in her blonde hair. “Don’t fucking start, you
hear me?”
“Sorry,” Jessa said meekly.
Severus glared and her and pushed her down onto the bed. He spread her legs
rapidly and entered without looking at her.
A tremor went through Jessa’s body as she fought to suppress the pained
whimper.
“What the fuck was that?”
“What?” Jessa asked hoarsely.
“You shivered,” Severus said accusingly.
Jessa sighed with exasperation and annoyance. “It hurt,” she snapped.
Severus pulled back quickly. “It hurt?”
“It’s fine, don’t pull out,” Jessa protested, touching Severus’ side. He
flinched at the touch as though revolted. Jessa stared at her hand on his skin
and then pulled it away.
“Why did it hurt?”
Jessa sighed. “Because you’re big right now,” she answered through gritted
teeth.
“What?” The confusion on Severus’ face was almost funny.
“I’m…shorter than the last time,” Jessa muttered. She raised her eyes. “I’m
kinda…smaller when I’m like this. North was umm… *bigger*. There.”
Severus stared at her. “You’re smaller here right now.”
“Yes.”
Severus was leaning on all fours above her. He bowed his head and laughed
bitterly. Of course she’d be the size of a fucking teenage girl, and of course
it would hurt her. “Can’t you change size?”
“You don’t mind?”
The unreadable gaze Severus threw at her made Jessa pull back involuntarily.
“You think me a sadist.”
“I think you deserve to have me suffer some for breaking your trust,” Jessa
said.
At that Severus clenched his fists in the sheets. “Just change your size. I am
not attracted to little teenage girls.”
“Can’t,” Jessa whispered.
“What?”
“My body’s not doing what I tell it to,” Jessa said.
“An emotional block? You have an emotional block on your magic now?” Severus
pulled away.
“Not all my magic, I can still reach most of that. It’s just…changing my
appearance…doesn’t work. I can’t make it happen. It’s…like dead wood.”
Severus shook his head. “You should go do this with Longbottom!”
“I don’t want to do this with Longbottom! I want to do this with you!”
“You want me to hurt you!”
“There’s spells for virgins, right? To ease the way? You must know-”
“I’m not using something like that on you!”
“Then hurt me then,” Jessa snapped. “What do I care?”
“This is ridiculous,” Severus barked. He strode towards the door unmindful of
his nakedness.
“Please!” Jessa cried, the sound so much rawer than she intended. Severus
turned around and raised one eyebrow, his expression close to a sneer. Jessa
took a deep breath and forced her voice closer to normal. “I need you,” she
stressed.
Severus’ lip curled. “No. You *want* me. It is an entirely different thing.
Perhaps the Gryffindor will be good for you somehow.”
“I don’t want any- I don’t want to do this with anyone but you.”
“I have no inclination to spoil you,” Severus said, departing from the room.
Jessa didn’t move from the perimeter of the bed. “Please.” And she put so much
power into that one submissive word that Severus actually turned around.
“Don’t make me be with anyone but you,” Jessa whispered roughly.
“This isn’t healthy. You’ll get hurt.”
“I’ll be hurt either way. It’s just a little mercy I’m begging for.”
“With your words you mean,” Severus replied, feeling how every cell in her body
was screaming out for his touch or acceptance or whatever he deigned to give.
“Please,” Jessa repeated.
“I’m still fool enough to be here aren’t I?” Severus growled.
“I don’t want to make that of you,” Jessa said.
Severus sighed to himself angrily. “Lie down on the bed.”
Jessa obeyed and watched Severus closely as he walked towards her and
wordlessly climbed onto the bed. She almost reached out to reassure him but she
saw how he noticed her hand move, and how he grimaced minutely at the
implication of it. She didn’t raise her hand any further than those first
millimetres from the sheets.
Severus pressed his palm down firmly on Jessa’s pubic bone and performed a
spell that made Jessa inclined to squirm at the peculiar sensation.
“That will take the edge off of the discomfort,” Severus said sharply.
“I can take a little pain.”
“Do you want me to feel like a paedophile? I can’t enjoy your tightness now
that I realise it’s due to the smaller frame of your teenage body. Besides,
it’s still likely to hurt somewhat.”
“I did just fine earlier.”
“Silent suffering is not highly attractive in the bedroom,” Severus drawled
disapprovingly. Jessa raised her eyes questioningly but he had already turned
his eyes away.
He tapped the inside of her thigh briskly. “Spread.”
Jessa quickly did, and it seemed to her that Severus blanched a little. “It’s
just sex,” she murmured. “It’s nothing new or so very terrible.”
“You aren’t the one faced with the prospect of plunging themselves within a
child,” Severus retorted archly, taking hold of her hips and lifting her
towards him.
“When are you going to realise I’m not a child?” Jessa complained, getting a
disproportionate amount of pleasure from Severus’ warm hands on her skin.
“When you’re older,” Severus replied, running his fingers upon her opening in a
manner that felt both erotic and clinical.
“I’m getting older every moment that passes,” Jessa said.
Severus glanced up at her eyes as he positioned himself. “That is hardly the
point.” He eased in slowly, manipulating her clitoris to alleviate the girl’s
notice of the discomfort.
A silly grin spread across Jessa’s face although her eyes remained searching.
Severus sighed inaudibly and regarded her mutely as he caused her to writhe
pleasurably. “You shouldn’t hold conversations during sex,” he said.
“I was just thinking that you shouldn’t have to feel bad. This is hardly the
first time-”
“No talking, I believe I said.”
“I don’t have to listen to you.”
“And I don’t have to do this either.”
“Yeah you’re right, you don’t have to act like such-”
Severus slid his hand to Jessa’s other thigh and pinched the skin.
“Ow,” Jessa muttered, but took the hint and allowed Severus to fuck her without
conversation.
“Feels good,” she murmured.
“Hush, remember? I’m sure I told you not to talk.”
Jessa made a face to herself and arched back to enjoy the physical sensations
Severus was provoking inside her. A ghost of an odd smile flitted across
Severus’ face at her delight. He swallowed the guttural and inappropriate moans
bubbling up inside him from the beautiful feeling of her internal walls
constricting around him so damn tightly.
He caught her eyes unintentionally and froze for a moment. He looked away with
a scowl but began to thrust again.
“What?” Jessa breathed.
“Your eyes…I know they’re a different colour, but they’re the same shape,”
Severus replied, his movements now rougher than a moment before. “If I squint
it’s your other face.”
“North’s face was always just a tweaked version of my own. I hoped she’d look
enough like me that you’d like my features or something,” Jessa panted.
Severus slowed his brutal pace consciously but didn’t say a word. Jessa made a
keening noise from somewhere in her throat that he thought sounded pleasurable.
He moved his hand back to her clit and the noise quickly became superbly
debauched. He remembered again the reality of the situation and his hand almost
stilled. He argued with himself that he wanted the girl to suffer as little as
possible in this respect and so continued to pull the delicious noises from her
chest.
Jessa climaxed suddenly and screamed softly as Severus rode through it with
her. He rocked his hips slowly into the dazed girl until she found her way back
to her senses. Severus slid his large hand under her back and pulled her
somewhat limp body up against his chest.
“What-?”
“Hush,” Severus interrupted, dropping carefully onto his back and balancing
Jessa above him. Jessa looked down at him in mild confusion as he placed one
hand around her hip, the other around her side, and rolled his hips pleasantly.
“Doesn’t this feel too much like-”
“Silence,” Severus said, more calmly than before. He laid his head back and
fucked her thoroughly. Jessa needed to clutch something but didn’t dare touch
Severus more than necessary. She crossed her wrists above her head and arched
up desperately as Severus drew them both close to completion.
Severus watched her through lowered eyelids as his hips raced to bring him
physical release. The lovely teen astride him was breathing heavily and moaning
low in her throat. She was close again. Severus quickened his pace further, and
tore another desperate orgasm from her in time with his own.
When her eyes focused again she gave him a silent look of question. She was
still kneeling atop him. Severus answered by pulling his hands away gracefully
and quietly ordering, “Off.”
She did as she was told without complaint and sat down again with her knees
pulled up before her. Severus studied her for a moment then closed his eyes.
“Are you in pain?” he asked after a pause.
Jessa lifted her eyes quickly although she didn’t raise her head. “Not really,”
she said. She was flushed and beautiful after their coupling, but Severus saw
from her pose, her guarded eyes and the set of her lips that she wasn’t happy.
She didn’t notice his gaze, her own fixed on something intangible.
Severus sat up and lifted both his wand and Jessa’s ring. He tapped one with
the other and drew a golden chain into existence, from which the ring now
dangled. He fastened the chain around his neck and stood, collecting the pile
of his folded clothing.
Jessa watched him go calmly. He glanced at the mirrors and for a moment Jessa
thought one had shattered, spread through with a cobweb pattern. The next
moment it was gone, then so was Severus, and Jessa wondered if she had imagined
it.
She flopped down on the bed with a mildly defeated air. Severus hadn’t even
bothered with a cleaning charm and whilst she didn’t mind the mist of sweat on
her skin, between her legs was wet and uncomfortable. She should really go to
the bathroom but couldn’t bring herself to do so. She stretched out languidly
on her somewhat damp sheets and her hands found that tear again. She pressed
her eyes together tightly although no tears threatened, and tugged the material
with a considered motion. It ripped loudly for a moment and she twisted the
enlargened loop around her hand.
***** The Dog's Admiration *****

Author's notes: Wherein there is the coming out ball.
===============================================================================
“Draco?” Jessa pushed his bedroom door open hesitantly.
“I’ve been dressed for more than an hour,” Draco replied dryly. “You can come
in.”
Jessa walked in submissively, her head bowed and her steps considered.
“What’s wrong with you?” Draco asked. “You look a vision.”
Jessa brushed her hands down the glorious dress. She lifted her head to look at
him, biting her lip nervously. She wrapped her arms around her torso abruptly.
Draco sighed. “Come here,” he said.
Jessa shook her head. “I’ll crease your clothes. You look amazing Dray.”
“Of course I do Pureblood,” Draco drawled. After a moment he said, “I know
plenty of charms if you wrinkle my clothes though, so come here.” He held out
one arm and glared at his sibling until she walked into his embrace.
“Feel better?” Draco asked gruffly.
Jessa nodded, her eyes closed against the sight of Pansy’s golden ring hanging
down from his white neck. “Just nervous I guess,” she said. “Wish Mad Eye was
here.”
Draco’s lips quirked. “That would be memorable,” he smirked softly. “If it
helps, I would much rather be getting sucked off by a certain person right
now.”
“Way to lower the tone,” Jessa smiled. “I’d have thought you’d have been in
your element tonight.”
“I’m in my element everywhere,” Draco retorted haughtily. He stroked the back
of her head. “Whyever do you look so nervous?”
“Why do you think?” Jessa retorted half-playfully, a tightness in her low, dry
voice preventing her tone from being as light as she intended.
“I really have no idea,” Draco drawled wryly.
Jessa curved her head away to gaze at the floor. “Just all these people make me
nervous,” she said in a low voice.
“Whatever for?” Draco asked, sounding confused and just a little amused.
“Because I’m not used to being the centre of attention before so many people.”
Jessa sighed shortly and muttered, “I don’t have that conditioning that you
have. I’ve still got it ingrained a bit that I should be keeping well out of
sight, never mind flaunting myself like I’m expected to do soon.”
“Draco! Are you decent?”
Jessa pulled away from her brother and smoothed herself down. He had never been
on for physical shows of affection but he shot her a look that suggested he
would continue holding her if she preferred. Jessa shook her head, trying to
will herself into a more respectable mindset, and Draco called out, “Come on in
Pansy. What would it matter to you if I were decent anyway?”
The dark-haired girl clicked her tongue in mild annoyance and trotted into the
room. Jessa inhaled. “You look …wow.”
Pansy smirked. “Of course I do.” She stalked around Jessa in a circular manner.
“As do you,” she conceded. She glanced at Draco and tossed her head. “Aren’t
you going to compliment me Draco?”
Draco bared his teeth in amusement. “What a waste of my breath that would be.
You know how you look, don’t you?”
Pansy sighed and rolled her eyes at him. “And he, who wears my ring,” she said
reproachfully.
Draco just smiled at her. “How is it looking down there?” He tossed his head
gracefully to indicate the lower floor where the earliest guests would be
congregating.
The girl’s lips pursed. “For the most part it’s familiar faces so far, but
there are a few Durmstrang boys that I’m not familiar with personally. I think
they’re new money, so it’s hardly worth learning their names.”
Draco made a noise of distaste. “Politics,” he said with a sneer. “I resent
having those people in my house even if the slur of not inviting them would go
down badly…” His face brightened. “Any of our own here yet?”
“None from our year as yet,” Pansy replied, “although I told Greg and Vince to
be here any minute now. The girls will be a while, I expect. I did notice a few
snakes from higher years though.”
“What about Theo and Blaise?” Jessa murmured.
“They won’t arrive so early,” Draco said. “Blaise won’t want to endure this for
longer than necessary and Theo’s staying with him tonight to keep out of his
parents’ paths. Have you heard about that, by the way? Seems Theo’s mother’s
quite taken with the idea of you together. His father knows he could do better,
but they like the idea of joining our families.”
Pansy examined her nails as Jessa’s eyes widened. “Blaise had better arrange a
honeymoon somewhere very far away when Theo’s parents find out. That’s not
going to be pretty,” Pansy commented calmly.
Draco accepted that calmly and cast a smirk at Jessa. “You can relax, you know.
Mother doesn’t like the idea of you marrying into a Death Eater family and
Father doesn’t want a son-in-law who doesn’t carry himself with a manner
befitting his blood. Theo would much rather step back and have his decisions
made for him. Father thinks that translates to his having no spirit.”
Pansy grinned wickedly. “You could do much worse than Theo,” she told Jessa.
Her eyes were sparkling, which rarely boded good for anyone. “Have you seen
who’ve been invited?”
“Parkinson,” Draco snapped. Pansy looked around in surprise. “Does my sister
look relaxed about events to you?”
Pansy regarded Jessa thoughtfully for a moment. “I suppose not,” she admitted.
She shrugged at Jessa. “Hardly anyone downstairs knows you well enough to tell,
and you won’t have to mix with the others long enough for them to notice.”
“Thanks,” Jessa muttered.
Pansy giggled cheerfully. “This will be *fun*,” she said. “There is a
*delicious* man down there in leather robes who was talking to your father when
I was headed upstairs. He looks familiar although I’m not sure who he is. But
he looks divine. You would have beautiful children together.”
Jessa made a face although she knew this was a point she should consider.
“Describe him,” Draco said shrewdly.
“One of the oldest suitors,” Pansy answered. “At first I thought he was in his
late twenties, but he might be early to mid thirties. He looks young, but
there’s something in his face that makes me think he’s older. Quite pale.
Attractive. Brown hair, but there’s some grown-out highlights right at the
tips. Not the salon kind, the sun-bleached sort. Very slim. And he seems to
know Lucius quite well.”
“D’you think Father would have invited someone in his mid thirties?” Draco
questioned. “Surely there’s enough suitors closer to seventeen?”
“It’s not that old!” Jessa said, surprising the others with her sharpness.
“Besides, I never said I was sev-”
There was a loud pop and a house elf appeared in Draco’s room, effectively
killing off Jessa’s words. The elf said, “Please be forgiving Barnaby, young
Master and Mistresses, but the Mistress is sending for you. The Manor is being
quite full of guests now.”
Draco nodded stiffly and the elf popped back out of sight. “Are you both
ready?” Draco drawled.
The girls nodded and Pansy took Draco’s arm. Draco stared at Jessa and offered
her his arm. Despite her nod there was something to the contrary in her eyes.
Not something that others would notice, for she’d switched on her false persona
quite beautifully, but Draco saw the quiet in the depths of her eyes.
Jessa smiled brightly and took his arm, allowing him to escort them both
downstairs.
The following hours were spent in introductions and dancing. There was an
impossible amount of dancing with a number of older teens that Jessa did not
know, and more still that she recognised from school. To dance with members of
the Salazar Society was reassuring, but dancing with the Ravenclaws or those
few sparse Hufflepuffs was just as uncomfortable as dancing with the strangers.
It was possibly worse, because she could tell herself that the strangers did
not matter. These others actually knew her face and even her voice. To be held
up to their scrutiny and to be considered a possible match for them was hardly
tolerable.
She hadn’t seen Neville yet, but there was a ballroom full of people. She was
moving along it slowly as the dance dictated her changing of partners. Draco
took her from her latest partner and smirked at her warmly. “Having fun?”
“Merlin forbid,” she muttered dryly in response.
Draco chuckled and spun her around elegantly. “Found anyone entertaining yet?”
Jessa curled her lips ferally to indicate a resounding no. Her eyes flashed
wildly. “I’m bored out of my mind,” she sang.
Draco chuckled. “Never mind. I’ve noticed that man Pansy mentioned earlier not
far down the line. And poor Severus has been bullied into dancing too. I expect
he’ll be knashing his teeth by the time you get to him. By the way, what
happened with your ring? I forgot about it in the excitement.”
Draco did not forget anything. Jessa little doubted that he’d waited until now
to ask her, when she’d be too distracted by remembering the right steps to
think of a suitable lie or blurred truth. “It’s being worn by someone here but
I’ll leave it to you to determine who,” Jessa replied.
Draco opened his mouth to protest sharply, but noticed his time dancing with
Jessa was coming to an end. He narrowed his eyes minutely at her then twitched
his eyebrows equally discretely to indicate his annoyance and that he would be
picking up on the same line of questioning again later. With a further rough
(but not so rough as to be coarse) squeeze of her hand for further emphasis,
Draco gracefully spun her into the next young man’s grasp.
It was some Ravenclaw from the year above. Jessa went through the steps with a
frozen, placid-yet-intelligent smile. She could see him weighing her up in his
mind. Despite being a Ravenclaw he still possessed the strong sense of blood
cleanliness so prevalent in Slytherin. She was a Malfoy, and a Black. He was
trying to decide if her name, and those implications; her pretty face and body;
and her talents; would make it worthwhile to marry a bastard. Plenty of the
underlings here (the ones who actually had a chance of marrying her, not just
those for whom simply being invited was the greatest imaginable honour, as they
wouldn’t dare), would bite off with eagerness the hand that offered Jessa’s.
However, this Ravenclaw was of a high enough rank that he could marry into a
reasonably high station (not quite so high as that of a Malfoy, but not many
rungs below) without marrying a pureblood of less than impeccable birth.
The way his lips were twisting indicated that he wasn’t entirely against the
idea, even if the lightness of his touch indicated his disdain for touching a
bastard.
The next in the dance was a Durmstrang boy. He was certainly attractive, but
there was still calculation in his narrowed eyes, ones too sharp to be pretty;
too intelligent and cutting. All of this was veiled, but Jessa saw it
automatically. His touch was gentle though, the pads of his fingers resting
lightly on her skin in a different manner from Jessa’s previous partner.
Jessa couldn’t deny the relief she felt to find Greg was next in line as he
took her and carried her through the dance steps with quiet grace. His presence
alone was largely reassuring, but the unassuming dignity he possessed was also
highly enjoyable. There was something intangible but that felt safe about him.
“I’d be careful about how friendly you behave with Ne-Longbottom,” he murmured,
recovering smoothly from the odd slip. “Draco’s already considering you both to
be having a ‘sordid little affair’.” He grimaced sympathetically at the words.
“Will do,” Jessa sighed dryly, “thanks.”
Greg inclined his head ever so slightly in acknowledgement and steered her
around the dance floor.
The dance soon dictated that Jessa pass from Greggory’s hands into those of a
pureblood hufflepuff. The young man’s face continually broke into a friendly
smile that he struggled to suppress for any length of time. He kept his back
straight as he ought but kept his head bowed to Jessa in deference to her
bloodline. Every few moments the boy would burst into affable chatter that
would trail off when it occurred to him that he was babbling to someone far
above his station. Jessa smiled at him kindly when he passed her to the next
person. At least he was friendly.
Jessa danced with one or two more teens before reaching the man in the leather
robes. He plucked her commandingly from his predecessor’s grasp and carried her
through the steps smoothly. “So you’re the one that’s got our Master so
interested,” he purred without preamble.
Jessa inclined her head prettily. “Pardon me?”
“Barty Jr.,” he chuckled back by way of an introduction. “Barty Crouch Jr.
We’re related by the marriage of Caspar Crouch to Charis Black.”
“Oh, I’ve heard of *you*,” Jessa murmured back. “You captured and impersonated
Mad Eye Moody. That was quite impressive of you.”
The man laughed lightly, his eyebrows raised. “Thank you. I’m glad my
reputation precedes me also.”
“Also?” Jessa queried.
“I heard you were going to take the Mark,” Barty replied in a reverent tone.
Jessa’s lips curled slowly. “One ought never believe all they hear, you know.”
“Mmm,” he agreed, pulling her towards him with a little more gusto than the
dance required. “Although I *did* hear this particular titbit from the Dark
Lord. Females who take the mark are such an interesting rarity.”
“As are escaped convicts at coming out balls,” Jessa pointed out archly.
Barty laughed. “Quite. Tell me though…are you quite like your aunt? Bellatrix
is certainly the livewire.”
Jessa met his eyes with a difficult to decipher expression. “Do you want the
truth?”
The handsome convict gave her his undivided attention. “I’m amenable to that.”
Jessa leaned in closer, her eyes shining darkly in a way that hypnotised Crouch
Jr. She whispered, “I’m worse.”
Barty’s eyes widened and he leaned closer still. “Tell me-”
Jessa pulled back delicately. “*Propriety*,” she chastised.
Barty spun them around with a sigh. His eyes glittered with intrigue. “Of
course…” He glanced back at the other couples, estimating the remaining time he
had with Jessa. “May I request another dance later this evening? You have quite
caught my notice.”
Jessa agreed, not having any other option. Barty gave her a positively naughty
grin and threw her through the remaining steps of their current dance with
flourish.
Jessa tottered into the next man’s grasp not entirely sure who he was at first.
Crouch had put her through the steps too swiftly, and his pleasant scent was
caught in her nostrils. Her newest partner held her respectfully and
comfortably, as though he was not concerned about allying his family with hers’
at all. Jessa looked up into his face and recognised Fiyer.
“How’s it going small fry?”
Jessa let out a single peal of genuine laughter. “It’s alright.”
“That’s good, I was worried you might be dying of boredom whilst all these
highbred louts trotted you about.”
“Something like that,” Jessa agreed. Fiyer spun her around elegantly and Jessa
watched the light hit her skirts. There was something beautiful about the way
he handled her. It felt so untainted.
“Have fun,” Fiyer told her playfully before guiding her into the arms of
another Ravenclaw. Jessa threw a smile back at him then allowed the Ravenclaw
to occupy her attention.
The music changed and Jessa found herself being passed into Severus’ arms. She
stiffened and looked up into his face as his fingers curled around her. “Miss
Malfoy,” he said.
“Don’t call me-”
“You’re right, you allow far more intimacy with your dance partners, don’t
you?” he said cuttingly, spinning her overefficiently so that she didn’t have
the opportunity to look into his face.
“What have I done wrong now?” Jessa asked quietly, hating the pleading tone
that she heard.
Severus gave her an unimpressed look, but that was the only answer he gave her.
He pushed her into the clutches of the next male, his fingers lingering on her
tightly for just long enough for Jessa to remember their placement exactly even
as this schoolboy raised their hands and twirled her beneath them.
Somewhere along the neverending line Jessa met Neville. He gave her a small
smile and held her softly as he carefully navigated the dance steps. He looked
particularly good and danced well also. Jessa mentioned this and he simply
shrugged his shoulders with a grin.
“You look very pretty too,” he said casually.
Jessa’s mouth fell open slightly. “Just pretty?”
Neville’s eyes widened at his mistake. “No! I meant, you look gorgeous.
Amazing! And I didn’t say just pretty, I said very…” Neville trailed off,
catching the mischievous cast to Jessa’s expression. “You’re playing with me?”
“A little,” Jessa agreed. “But you walked right into it.”
“I should know better than to be nice to the Slytherin girls, shouldn’t I?”
Neville grumbled mildly.
“Oh, so I’m a *Slytherin* now?” Jessa teased.
“You’re far too complicated to be anything else,” Neville declared. He gave her
a disturbingly intelligent look and glanced quickly over her shoulder to
indicate his predecessors. “So which house is winning out? Or are you going for
one of the foreign lot?”
Jessa shrugged. “I don’t really…”
“There’s a lot of names down already for the last dance where partners are
swapped.”
Jessa looked up at Neville curiously. “How do you know?”
The teen’s ears coloured a bit. “I’ve already put my name down of course.”
Jessa rested her head on his shoulder for a moment. “You didn’t have to do
that.”
Neville made her look him in the eye. “Gives you another option though, yeah?”
Jessa squeezed his hand. “Yeah. …Thanks Nev. I mean, you don’t have-”
“I haven’t done it for show,” Neville said with surprising strength. “I’d much
rather that you were with me than some of the creeps here.”
Jessa didn’t need to look around to see who the Gryffindor meant. “You’re
ridiculously noble,” she said. Neville’s face set in a way that indicated an
imminent protest. Jessa pressed her forehead against the side of his warm neck.
She batted away the notion that he smelt *really* good and said, “Thank you,”
very seriously.
Neville inclined his head in reply and carried her gracefully through the last
steps of the dance, gliding her into the hands of some aristocrat in his late
twenties.
It was ridiculous to expect her to dance with so many suitors. The monotony was
eventually broken up somewhat by some dance that allowed for each gender to
group together with each other before returning to their partners, but it was
still tiring. Having met with Pansy and some of the girl’s cousins during the
latest dance Jessa took the opportunity to take leave of the dancefloor with
them. This being her first chance to rest, Pansy reset the charms on Jessa’s
shoes to ease her discomfort and sent her two youngest cousins to fetch them
drinks.
“Exhausting, isn’t it?” Pansy commented blithely.
Jessa nodded, circling her ankles critically. “Thanks for that charm,” she
said. “I swear, any longer and I’d have been limping.”
“The advantage of experience,” Pansy smirked. “What’s your impression so far?”
Jessa sighed. “I might as well just put their names in a hat.”
Pansy looked across the room. “You do know that wizard in the leather robes has
been looking at you for most of the night?”
Jessa blinked. “He has?”
Pansy nodded. “Have you found out who he is?”
“Barty Crouch,” Jessa replied quietly.
Pansy’s tiny eyebrows rose. “I didn’t expect him to be here.”
“You knew he was out then?”
“I heard my father talking to yours about it when it was in the papers. He
looks fairly well for someone fresh from Azkaban, doesn’t he?” Pansy commented.
“Glamours, I suppose. What do you think he’s here for?”
“You didn’t know that he’s one of the Dark Lord’s favourites?” Pansy murmured.
“I didn’t,” Jessa admitted.
Pansy was pensive for a moment. “What do you think of him? Barty.”
“He’s not the worst,” Jessa said disdainfully, “but he’s not a favourite.”
Pansy’s cousins returned with the refreshments and the conversation lapsed into
quiet. “I notice you didn’t give Blaise your ring,” Pansy purred softly.
“No, I didn’t,” Jessa smiled, ignoring the implied question.
Pansy’s shoulders sagged in annoyance for a moment. She was looking for a way
to word the question differently when Barty Jr walked up to them.
He smiled charmingly. “Ladies.” He gave Jessa a small bow. “Forgive me, but I
can hardly keep myself away from you. May I have a moment of your time?”
“I should really be returning to the dancefloor,” Jessa said with a guilty
glance at the drink in her hand. “I had just slipped away for a swift respite.”
“Of course, I would not want to keep the charming hostess from her suitors,”
Barty replied with a falsely earnest grin, “but I will only steal you away for
but a moment.”
“How can I refuse?” Jessa smiled politely and eased smoothly out of her seat.
The wizard inclined his head to the other young ladies respectfully and herded
Jessa away. “Are you enjoying your ball?” he asked.
“It’s wonderful, thank you,” Jessa answered. Barty was leading her out into the
hall, where there was more space to move and more freedom to speak.
Barty smirked at her. “That’s not really what you think is it?”
“Why wouldn’t I?” Jessa asked.
Barty’s eyes sparkled as he regarded her then shook his head as though she’d
said something wayward. “Then you like having all those boys’ attention on you,
hmm?”
“I didn’t say that,” she answered calmly.
“No. And you don’t, do you? You prefer it to be…much…more…intimate…”
“You presume to know me, do you?” Jessa replied.
Barty laughed and fidgeted with his intricately embroidered cuff. He smiled at
the rings on his fingers. He raised his wide eyes to her abruptly. “I’d like to
know you.”
Jessa smiled without agreement.
Barty moved behind her and brought his head nearer her own. “Truthfully,” he
said. “You seem like an interesting sort.”
Jessa curled her lips again, but Barty recognised the movement was far more
like baring her teeth. “Come now,” he said with a winning smile. “Don’t
disregard me like that.”
“My apologies,” Jessa said.
Barty laughed attractively. “You aren’t sorry at all.”
Jessa found herself gifting him with a small smile and did not deny his
accusation.
“What have I done to offend you, hmm?” Barty asked pleasantly.
“Nothing at all,” Jessa admitted.
“Then why so unfriendly, hmm?” Barty asked playfully. When she didn’t
immediately answer he trailed a finger down her neck. “I notice you’ve no ring
on your little finger. And yet here we all are. Daddy not like your first
choice, eh?”
“Can you not go so far into my personal space please?” Jessa suggested mildly.
“No? Should I not touch what isn’t mine? You do know that I want you.”
“I’m not quite so dense as to not notice,” Jessa answered.
Barty chuckled lightly but didn’t step away. He trailed one finger down Jessa’s
bare arm. “Tell me what the Dark Lord likes about you.”
Jessa watched him stroke the bare skin where the Dark Mark would be placed.
“The same thing he likes in everyone. Darkness.”
“Amongst intelligence, loyalty, creativeness and general sadism,” Barty
replied. “What makes you his new favourite?”
“I’ve made no claim to that rank,” the girl replied.
“No?” Barty grinned. “You’ve made quite an impression on him.”
“I’m a little unusual,” Jessa said.
“I’ll say,” the man agreed.
“What draws *you* to him?” Jessa murmured.
Barty raised his eyes to her. “Honour? Power? Anger at everyone?” He shrugged.
“There is something captivating about him. I am…simply drawn.”
Jessa regarded him with veiled interest.
Barty looked back at her and murmured, “He thinks you’re going to be valuable
to him, you know.” Jessa looked away slightly and Barty said, “You’ve been
reputed to have a well of pure, unadulterated viciousness within you.”
“That’s true,” Jessa whispered.
“How true?” Barty murmured, still stroking her arm.
“Do you know there’s a spell to turn all someone’s eyelashes into barbs and
send them flying through their skull? It doesn’t let them die right away. First
their eyes are torn to glutinous ribbons and then as they’re blinded they hear
their bones shatter; and then they die,” Jessa murmured.
Barty moved closer. “Why that sounds perfectly vile.”
Jessa traced her hand down the supple leather of his robes. “And there’s
another which draws all the marrow from a person’s bones. It’s very painful,
and it has nowhere to go, so the skin ruptures all over.”
Barty pulled Jessa sharply against him. “I gather you don’t conform to the
usual lacklustre conventions then,” he drawled. He ran his hand up the inside
of her arm and down her stomach.
“Lacklustre’s simply that,” Jessa replied, understanding exactly what he wasn’t
saying. She sighed even as Barty stroked her stomach. “I detest monotony.”
“Variety,” Barty purred, “is always pleasurable.”
“Yes?” Jessa muttered.
“So you can’t marry the boy who’s wearing your ring tonight,” Jessa stiffened
as Barty spoke, “but after all, variety is so very, very lovely.”
“You’re wasting your time,” Jessa protested.
“I’m not,” he replied. “The Dark Lord looks favourably on our match. Why not
try before we buy hmm?”
“You’re unbelievably crass, are you aware of that?” Jessa retorted.
Barty shrugged. “I think we should fuck.”
“Don’t say that.”
Barty regarded her tranquilly. “I really don’t know why you protest. Whoever
you want you are unable to have. I’d make you a good match.”
Jessa glared at him for a moment, breathing a little heavily, then surprised
the young man by throwing up her hands and spinning around to face him. “Not
here,” she growled. “Take my arm and escort me upstairs. And don’t grope me
whilst we could still be seen.”
Barty gave her a self-satisfied grin and did as she instructed. “As you wish,
my lady.”
“Don’t be a prick,” Jessa retorted.
Barty missed a step in surprise and laughed aloud. Jessa shot him a black look,
but he did not say anything. They ascended the stairs and entered Jessa’s
bedchambers.
Barty ran his hands down the younger girl’s stiff limbs and pressed a fierce
kiss into her neck. “Passionate, aren’t you?” he commented. “So much anger…”
Jessa gave him an unimpressed glare but stood her ground. Barty lifted his
mouth to her own but she turned away. His hand stilled its descent down her
thigh. “Have I upset you?”
“No,” Jessa muttered.
Barty smiled and continued a tentative exploration of her clothed form. “Good.
Because I think we can be really good tog-”
Jessa grabbed his hair in both fists. “Stop talking,” she ordered, and crashed
their lips together.
*
“You’re in a wretched mood,” Lucius commented.
His friend lifted his head to scowl darkly. “This is unusual?”
Lucius’ lips curled minutely in amusement. “Not at all. But the looks you’ve
been giving my daughter’s dance partners has them fearing for their lives.”
“Good,” Severus answered crossly.
Lucius chuckled lightly. “Really, this is unlike you Severus.” The blonde man’s
smile dimmed. “Has this got something to do with her ring?”
Severus raised his eyes. “Not in the way you’re insinuating. But she’s such a
child Lucius. I admit that I’m not entirely happy watching that lot paw her.
You’re auctioning her hand in marriage! That’s-”
“Perfectly normal in pureblooded society,” Lucius answered with his eyebrows
raised.
Severus sighed in mild disgust. “I know that.”
“It’s not like I’m auctioning her virginity,” Lucius said quietly.
“No, but it wouldn’t have bothered you in the slightest if you were,” Severus
replied tetchily.
“Anyone would think you cared Severus,” Lucius responded.
“Don’t attempt to make jokes Lucius,” Severus retorted.
Lucius raised his brows again. “I wasn’t,” he said.
Severus glanced at his friend then sighed in a disgruntled manner. Changing the
subject slightly, he snapped, “So have you made the decision yet? The convict,
the Gryffindor, the son of that obstinate bureaucrat you want to have influence
over, the son of the secretary of state, one of those wretched Durmstrang
louts, one of our master’s pet thugs..?”
“Don’t be tiresome,” Lucius sighed. He indicated teens in the crowd before
them. “He’s already expressed his interest to me, and him, and that Ravenclaw
over there, and that Durmsrang boy, who *isn’t* a lout Severus –in fact, he’s
the youngest son of the German Minister of Magic, which you should know
perfectly well. He’s particularly well brought up. And Jessamine seems to had
taken a shine to him.”
Severus snorted. “I think she’s taken more of a shine to Crouch Junior.”
“What makes you say that?” Lucius asked curiously.
“Never mind,” Severus muttered blackly.
They were quiet for a moment, then Lucius caught sight of Fiyer dancing with
his daughter. “Can you believe that vile brat had the audacity to make my
daughter an offer?” Lucius snarled.
Severus’ eyebrows twitched before he smiled in amusement. “At least he won’t
abuse her,” he teased.
Lucius’ eyes flashed darkly. “As if that little jester has even a *sniff* of a
chance at having any child of mine.”
“But they look so happy together,” Severus pressed, his eyes glinting with
playful sadism.
Lucius’ lips formed a tight line. “Over his dead body,” Lucius huffed.
*
“Tom!” Jessa curtseyed to the fearsome man in surprise.
He inclined his head to her and bared his teeth in a semblance of a smile.
“Enjoying yourself little Kindred?”
“Certainly.”
Tom laughed. “You little liar.”
Jessa smiled and allowed him to pat her face in mild chastisement. A slight
shiver ran up her back at the fact that he was present in such a public
gathering, but she couldn’t deny part of her was pleased to see Voldemort,
especially in his guise as the attractive Tom Riddle.
“Have you danced with anyone interesting this evening?” Tom asked.
“I’m afraid you haven’t deigned to dance with me,” Jessa replied.
Tom smirked and rolled his eyes. “Charming tonight, aren’t you?”
“Amn’t I always?”
Tom gave her a look then murmured, “May I have this dance?”
“Anything for you, my lord,” Jessa replied softly.
*
“Don’t accept the dog’s admiration as conclusive evidence that you are
wonderful.”
Barty Crouch looked around and raised his eyebrows at Severus Snape’s unusual
comment. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. And I’m sure it’s nothing
to do with you, Half-Blood.”
“Ouch,” Severus said boredly. “From a convict, that really hurts.”
The younger man’s eyes glittered warningly. “At least I’m loya-”
There was a clearing of a throat behind them, and Voldemort appeared, holding
Jessa to him casually. “What’s going on here?”
“Nothing, My Lor-”
“Were we not in public that lie would have cost you Bartholomew,” Tom warned.
“Now explain why two of my most intimate circle look ready to draw wands at
each other?”
When an answer wasn’t immediately forthcoming Tom’s eyes narrowed and he jabbed
his hand at Barty. “You. Come here.”
Barty obeyed nervously and Jessa had to hold back her laugh. Severus and
Barty’s manner very much resembled brothers about to be chastised for a quarrel
by an irate parent.
Tom gave the youngest man a hard stare and determined the earlier events. He
withdrew and gave Barty a hard look. “Is that how you show your respect for one
of my most faithful followers Bartholomew? You will apologise to Severus at
once.”
Barty nodded and turned submissively to Severus, apologising at length.
“As for you Severus, do you really think that comment was necessary? I feel
like I’m dealing with children!”
Severus lowered his head, his eyes still cold. “My apologies, My Lord.”
Voldemort disentangled himself from Jessa and stepped towards Severus. “Come.
Perhaps we need to talk.”
Severus followed his master reluctantly. Jessa turned to Barty. “What did
Severus say?”
“Something like, ‘Don’t accept the dog’s…admiration? As evidence that I’m
wonderful’, or something like that,” Barty replied with a baffled expression.
Jessa looked at him.
“What? That makes sense to you?”
“Do you suppose we were seen?” Jessa asked.
Barty raised his eyebrows. “Does it matter?”
“I don’t know. I’m a… My animagus form’s a dog,” Jessa murmured. She began to
walk away with a pensive expression, shrugging off the hand that Barty
attempted to place on her shoulder.
*
“Shouldn’t you be downstairs?”
Jessa looked up at Severus in surprise. “What made you come to my room? Are
they looking for me?”
Severus shook his head. “Not yet.” He closed the door and walked further into
the room.
Jessa made no move to get off of her bed. “Sev?”
“What?”
“Purebloods conform for the sake of their family, don’t they? They look, act
and do what they’re supposed to.”
“Outwardly, yes,” Severus murmured.
“What did Narcissa change?”
Severus frowned in surprise. “What?”
“Narcissa. What did she change? She was already blonde and stunning and
refined…”
“Narcissa didn’t change anything,” Severus answered. “You do know why your
father married her, don’t you? She was only the youngest daughter. Lucius would
have been expected to have Bellatrix.”
“He loved her?” Jessa said with disbelief.
“Don’t be preposterous,” Severus said. “Lucius didn’t want either of them.”
“Then why did he go for Narcissa? Was Bellatrix already engaged?”
“Not then. He told me their aunt offered him Bellatrix first, but he denied her
because of her colouring and asked for Narcissa.”
“Why?” Jessa murmured.
“Bellatrix and Andromeda were both dark,” Severus said. “They resembled
Walburga, particularly Bellatrix. Which was why the woman offered the union in
the first place.”
Jessa looked at Severus. “I don’t get it.”
“No? Your mother was the first woman Lucius was ever attached to. It was
inevitable that he marry and Walburga offered him Bellatrix to appease him. He
felt that any imitation could only be a poor imitation and so chose Narcissa
because she was so different. Narcissa leapt at the chance to marry so well,
particularly because as the youngest she was not expected to make a
particularly special match. She was quite pleased to be the trophy wife.”
“He didn’t actually love my mother, did he?” Jessa asked.
Severus shook his head. “It was only an infatuation, but he is stubborn, as you
know. I believe he still has it in his head that your mother was the finest
specimen of womanhood ever created, however.”
“But how can she have been the best if he didn’t love her?”
Severus sat down on the edge of the bed. “To my knowledge he has only ever
been…romantically inclined…to one boy, in his youth. As a rule Lucius considers
that sort of love to be folly. He loves Narcissa for being the mother of his
child, and Draco and yourself for being his children, and that’s the only sort
of love he…requires.”
“Lucius loves me?” Jessa questioned.
Severus looked around at her with an exasperated air. “Of course he loves you.
You’re his blood. And you were borne by his first lover, who was the queen of
all women in his eyes. Admittedly he loves you in the manner of Lucius, which
leaves a lot to be desired, but he still loves you.”
Jessa was quiet.
“Are you alright?” Severus asked.
Jessa looked up in surprise. “Sure. Just…feeling kind of lost. Trying to figure
out what to do.”
Severus sighed and got up. “Good luck with that.”
Jessa watched him head for the door. “Hey?”
“Yes?”
“Thanks,” Jessa said.
“No problem,” Severus replied. The words sounded strange from his mouth.
Draco met him at the door. He looked at his godfather and Jessa shrewdly, but
didn’t seem to understand why they were together.
“Father noticed you weren’t dancing,” Draco said.
“Sure, I’ll be right with you,” Jessa said softly, running one hand through her
hair as she slid off of her bed.
“Have fun, children,” Severus said.
“Woof,” Jessa muttered.
***** Late Night Arguments *****

Author's notes: Wherein Draco tells Harry to go, and Severus tells Jessa that
she has to obey curfew from now on.
===============================================================================
“Dray?” Harry gave his lover a concerned look as the blonde stormed past and
quickly followed him.
Draco pointed his arm at Harry stiffly. “Don’t. Just don’t alright!”
“Dray? Baby?” Harry’s face showed his confusion and concern. Draco irritably
slapped away the hands that reached out to comfort him.
“I said don’t,” Draco snapped, and pulled away to stride further down the hall.
He paused and turned, his anger diminishing but not abating entirely. “Just
what are you doing here anyway? Do you follow me about?”
“No…” Harry mumbled. “Never mind. What’s happened Baby?”
Draco sighed in annoyance and tugged his hair. “Nothing’s the matter. Just back
off can’t you?”
“Not a chance. What’s happened?”
“You! And her! My life was complicated enough before you both came into my life
Potter!”
“What are you talking about?”
“Have you any idea how much you complicate things? No, of course you don’t, why
am I even asking that? You never have any idea about anything! You just-”
“Baby!” Harry yelled forcefully.
Draco trailed off and took a deep breath. “You’re all doing my head in!” he
snapped. “I’ve had quite enough. Do you have any idea how trying last night
was? And now they’re all getting drunk. Again! And I’ve had to deal with Pansy
warbling on about our betrothal and how am I supposed to tell her that I’m in
love with *you* dammit? It’s bad enough that I love a half-blood above her, but
*you*! …And Jessa, it’s like trying to draw blood from a stone. She’s in an
appalling mood since…and she won’t talk about it! She’s just glaring and
growling at everyone, and it’s all your fault because if you hadn’t produced
that fiasco at the ministry Jessa would still be hiding out at Grimmauld Place
with your crazy godfather and she wouldn’t be dealing with all this pureblood
stuff that she doesn’t have the conditioning for! She’s a mediocre dancer and
she doesn’t want a marriage of convenience and she’s drunk and it’s Pansy’s
fault and you know what they’re doing Potter? They’re hunting for Lovegood
because Pansy’s got it into her head that she wants a threesome with Loony and
my drunken sister and I’ve had to watch my betrothed make out with Jessa
tonight and-and-and it’s all your fault!”
Harry stared at his lover, blinking his green eyes slowly. “And how is that my
fault?”
“I don’t know!” Draco shouted, trembling. “But it’s all your fault! You just
make everything complicated! And oh my…Merlin, Pansy’s fucking my sister. And
Luna! Why would they do that Potter? Why is my little sister screwing my ex-
girlfriend and that little freak from Ravenclaw? It’s not right…”
“Dray, have you been drinking?”
“No!” Draco said pitifully. “And I flaming should have. How can they do that to
me? And why do you have to be so damned…whatever you are?! Do you know that I
can’t think about anything else…that I’m infatuated…that I adore…I hate you
Potter! Why do you have to make me love you? I don’t want to love you! I just
want a life that’s simple. I just want…”
“Dray, come here; calm down. Whatever’s going on we can fix it okay.
Everything’s going to be fine.”
“It is not,” Draco said churlishly, even as he allowed Harry to wraps his arms
around him and comfort him.
“Shh,” Harry said, kissing the blonde’s nose. “Don’t argue with me Baby.”
“Hmph,” Draco said, but cuddled into his boyfriend. After a moment he pulled
away, took a deep breath and reverted back to his ranting. “This is
impossible!” he said. “It’s too risky and complicated and insane and…I fucking
love you Potter. I mean it Harry. I hate you. You’re too…just…too…I don’t even
know!”
Harry watched in quiet puzzlement as Draco paced, beginning to grow more
concerned when the blonde ran his fists through his perfect hair. “Dray?”
“I have been drinking,” Draco admitted quietly. “It’s just been so intense. I’m
doubting myself Harry. I never do that. And…all the stuff with Jessa and Pansy
recently…has been bothering me. But seeing them together like that…without any
warning and… I didn’t like it alright? Jessa’s not right at the moment and I
don’t like seeing anyone…but especially not Panse! Taking advantage of my
sister like that! And Pansy…I mean…I don’t know what to say to her. I’m
supposed to *marry* her, Harry!”
Draco massaged his temples in frustration then scowled. “This is entirely your
fault! If my sister marries that fool of a Gryffindor I will blame you. He’s an
idiot. She needs an intelligent husband when she leaves school! Do you have any
idea of the damage you’re all doing by suggesting that she could make a match
out of compatibility –no, *friendliness*- rather than gain? She doesn’t need a
nice partner, she needs someone powerful and cunning, and with important traits
like that!”
“What are you talking about?”
Draco’s eyes flashed dangerously and his voice became a low hiss, although he
did not look directly at Harry. “Even a half-blood like you can tell that my
sister’s not…polished enough. She’s gone mad since the ball –she’s fucking
Pansy! She clearly can’t cope with what’s expected of her and the last thing
she needs is anyone persuading her to reach for a happily ever after! That is
*not* how we do things.”
“What makes you think I had anything to do with that? And what’s wrong with a
hap-”
“She’s a pureblood! We do not do happily ever fucking after Potter!” Draco’s
hair was in tousled disarray and he spun around to gaze intently at the mostly
static paintings lining the walls: still lifes pandering to an interest in the
non-magic style of painting, with only slight breezes tickling leaves or light
moving slowly around the picture indicating these pieces were not indeed
muggle. After a pause in which Draco regarded the brushstrokes and subject
matter with an educated eye, the blonde slowly spoke, “You’re like a disease
Harry. You make me feel things I’m not supposed to feel… or at least, you make
me act on them somehow. Slytherins and proper purebloods are not supposed to
display emotion or let events affect their behaviour erroneously. The problem
with my illegitimate sister is that she has not been brought up in society –she
has not the correct conditioning. She cannot control her emotions consistently
–she’s had no need to. You make me act like that. You take all my barriers and
make them unstable somehow…”
Draco finally turned around and looked at his lover. “I know that I shouldn’t
tell you this… but you make me feel like you should be told.” Draco gave a
bitter laugh but shook his head when Harry opened his mouth. “Just… let me
speak. I… think I owe you somehow. Ridiculous really, the way you crumble my
self-preservation instincts. Is this how you make all your friends run into
danger for you? Doesn’t matter. Look, I’ll… find some other way to protect…
everyone. Although… Jessa… I need you all to keep those Gryffindor ideals out
of her head. They’ll hurt her. And you will do that, even after I tell you…what
I’m going to say. Because you’re a Gryff and you’ll do the moral thing.”
Harry reached out cautiously. “You’re worrying me Dray. Did… something… happen
at the ball? I haven’t been able to speak with you or Jessa or even Goyle in
days. At the ball, was..?”
Draco laughed sadly and pulled up his shirtsleeve to reveal his white arm.
“*He* was there, but we’ve not been Marked. Something for you I suppose. That
I’m not… well not at the moment… Now just… *Listen* to me okay? Whilst…my
defences are low enough to tell you this.”
Harry nodded and looked at Draco in concern.
“You know I’m only fucking you to keep on your good side, right?” Draco
blurted.
Harry sighed. “I know that’s not true.”
“No, you want to believe it’s not true. Because you want to believe I’m a nice
person like you, somewhere deep down. I’m not. My intentions were to get close
to you and find a way to make you able to defeat the dark lord, and if you
couldn’t, to hand you over to ensure the safety of myself and my own. Don’t
shake your head; this is the truth. But either way I can’t do it. I can’t…use
you like this. I don’t want to see… whatever’s going to happen to you, I don’t
want to be there. So I’m telling you this, so that you’ll keep away. Because
I’ll find some other way of keeping everyone safe.”
“Draco, you’re drunk. C-”
“Quiet Potter. I’m letting you go, you moronic half-blood. I know exactly what
I’m doing, and I know that it is insane, but you will do as you’re told for
once.”
Harry’s face hardened a little. “Since when do I answer to you?”
Draco’s eyes narrowed, although the venom in his gaze did not seem to be
directed at Harry. “Of course you never do; I’m the fucktoy in this
relationship. However, you’re moral. You’ll do as I ask you Harry. And I am
asking you… to leave me alone.”
Finally annoyed, Harry snapped, “What the fuck is wrong with you tonight Baby?
Just go to bed, you’re in no state to talk to anyone tonight.”
Draco nodded and stepped past Harry quickly. He paused, wanting to ask Harry
why he was wandering about the cold dungeons at four in the morning in the
first place. The blonde felt Harry turn his eyes on him and sensed the concern
in the gaze. Draco swiftly strode away.
Harry leant against the damp stone wall and slid down to his haunches. What the
fuck had just happened? He stayed in that pose for a long time, until the chill
of the freezing flagstones had seeped into his bones and he staggered stiffly
to his feet.
He heard footsteps nearing him and he stepped clumsily into the shadows. As
they neared he realised they were too light to be Snape’s, and as they grew
nearer still he knew they weren’t Draco’s.
Swallowing his disappointment, Harry was somewhat appeased when Jessa stepped
into sight. Instead of using her wand tip to light the way she was dancing two
white crystals over her knuckles, which sent a streetlamp orange glow into the
darkness for a few moments every time the stones sparked off of each other.
The girl was wearing a warm cloak that Harry recognised as Pansy’s from the fur
collar, but Jessa did not have it fastened up against the cold. Instead it
trailed out behind her, not dancing in the manner of her usual robes due to its
weight. She wasn’t wearing much else, just a shirt that was only buttoned at
the bust, and a clingy pair of cotton boxers. From the jumping light Harry
could see that her feet were bare, but in the orange glow he could not confirm
the suspicion that they must have turned a mottled purple on the clammy stone
floor.
Jessa suddenly let out a curse as she tripped and dropped the crystals. She
landed heavily on her palms yet managed to reach out and snatch the stones out
of the air before they hit the floor: causing instant darkness as her hands
wrapped around them and blocked their sickly orange glow. Harry listened to her
breathing shallowly in the dark and as she made a disgruntled, pained noise.
After a while Jessa started tossing the crystals again and her crouched body
was thrown into orange relief. She straightened her body slowly but impatiently
and made to continue down the corridor.
She paused and turned her head towards where Harry was hidden in the gloom.
“It’s just me,” Harry said.
“Jeez, Scarhead, why didn’t you say?” Jessa sighed, continuing to play with the
crystals with one hand even as she raised her foot and massaged the injured
sole with her other hand.
Harry stepped out towards her. “Doesn’t matter. You alright?”
Jessa sighed. “Yeah.” She looked up, “Thanks.”
“Where are your shoes?”
The girl sighed again. “The room of requirement I think. I’m not sure; I just
wanted to go to bed.”
“Aren’t you freezing?”
“A bit I suppose,” Jessa admitted, “but I’ve had a lot to drink.”
“What were you doing?”
Jessa looked guilty. “Nothing much.” She ran her fingers along a chord that was
hanging around her neck that ended in a butterbeer cork. “Why are you lurking
about here?”
“No reason that’s important,” Harry murmured.
Jessa looked at him seriously. “Are you still having nightmares?”
“Sort of,” Harry admitted. “These are genuine nightmares though.”
Concern flickered over Jessa’s face. “Are you alright? Anything I can do to
help?”
Harry shrugged and ran his hand through his hair. Shaking his head he sighed,
“Nah, seems I’ve got bigger problems now.”
“Like what?”
Harry shook his head again. “Nothing.”
Jessa stopped walking, the deft actions of one hand the only movement she
continued to make. Amber light flashed up and down her features, making Harry
unconsciously concentrate on her still countenance. “It’s not nothing,” Jessa
said roughly. Harry’s eyes wavered but when he didn’t speak Jessa insisted,
“’Fess up Scarhead. What’s wrong?”
Harry’s lips quirked. “Other than having the Voldemort issue hanging over my
head?”
“Course,” Jessa answered a touch playfully. “You have no reason to be worried
about that.”
Harry managed a laugh despite himself but then noticed that Jessa was not
shifting her feet on the icy floor. “Warming charms aren’t good for stuff like
that,” he said. “They just let you feel heated up whilst the cold still affects
you.”
Jessa nodded noncommittally, quite unprepared for Harry to step forward and
fasten the cloak, then pull her down the corridor to where there was a rug.
“Better?” Harry murmured.
Jessa nodded slowly, shifting her feet a bit. “So what’s the problem Scarhead?”
she asked brazenly.
Harry shrugged. “Draco seemed…in quite a bad way tonight.”
“I think he argued with Pansy tonight,” Jessa said softly.
“He argued with her?”
“He’s in a weird mood,” Jessa muttered. “I don’t… I think it was mostly because
she was being touchy with everyone and because she went and got Lovegood,
that’s all.”
“He wasn’t arguing with her about me?” At Jessa’s uncomfortable look Harry
said, “Honestly?”
Jessa pressed her lips together. “Not in so many words…”
“D’you think it’s serious?”
“He’s just in a weird mood,” Jessa repeated, shaking her head. “And Pansy’s in
a weird mood too, as well as being off her face. They were just rubbing up
against each other the wrong way, and they’re both a bit sore about him falling
for…you, basically. It’ll blow over in a bit, probably when they both sober up.
Don’t worry about it.”
“Okay,” Harry said. He yawned and then smiled softly at Jessa. “I’m gonna go
back to the tower. You want me to walk you to Snape’s rooms or are you gonna
wander about for a bit? If you are you should probably transfigure that stuff.
It’s too cold for it.”
Jessa nodded. “I’m gonna go to bed too.” They began walking in the direction of
Snape’s rooms. Harry gave her a casual hug when they got to the entrance.
“Remember to take a sobering potion before you go to sleep.”
“Alright,” Jessa said. “Night Scarhead.”
“Night.”
Jessa slipped inside and swallowed, stilling her hand and holding the stones
tightly. Lights burned in the main room and she walked in slowly, the entrance
closing firmly behind her.
Severus was on his feet, his eyes glittering blackly as he surveyed her. He
didn’t move. “It’s almost morning.”
“What time is it?” Jessa murmured.
“Almost six,” Severus said crisply.
“Oh,” Jessa said. “Morning.”
The man glared at her. “What are you wearing?”
Jessa felt grateful to Harry for fastening up Pansy’s heavy cloak. She didn’t
speak and Severus persisted, “Your feet are bare.”
Jessa nodded mutely.
“Why do I even bother with you?” Severus snapped. “You have no sense at all.
Your feet are *purple*.”
Jessa look down in surprise and found what he said to be true.
Severus jabbed his wand at her feet, making her wince as they warmed up because
the sudden transition was painful.
“What do you expect, you little imbecile?” Severus snapped. “You’re lucky you
haven’t done any damage.”
“Sorry,” Jessa murmured.
“You’re always sorry; just stop being a menace to yourself and others. Now go
to bed you little delinquent because you have got classes in three hours’
time.”
Jessa nodded and headed towards her bedroom.
“Miss Malfoy.”
“What Sev-er…us?”
“I am not having you wandering about in this freezing castle after hours. It’s
against the rules. I don’t care if exhaustion’s the only way you can sleep; I
will not tolerate you flouting curfew any longer.”
“Then what-”
“Shut your mouth Miss Malfoy,” Severus barked. “I was not finished talking, and
even if I was I would not want to hear your voice. As I was saying before your
rude interruption, I will not have you defying the curfew. You will sleep in my
room during the night and remove yourself by six o’clock. You will not provoke
me or you will find yourself in most unenviable circumstances.”
Jessa gave a small nod and turned towards Severus’ door.
“Stop,” Severus boomed.
Jessa looked around questioningly.
“You’ve been up all night –I’m sure you’ll be able to sleep by yourself.”
Jessa turned back to her own bedroom door and stepped inside, unfastening the
cloak covering her as soon as she had closed the door behind her. She took the
potion like Harry had suggested and then dropped down onto her bed to sleep.
***** Constant Confrontations *****

Author's notes: Wherein Luna goes a bit Seer on our asses, Severus and Sirius
have a tense conversation, Jessa argues with Sirius, and James attempts to
induce some peace.
===============================================================================
“Bella?”
Bellatrix turned at the sound of her sister’s voice and smiled as much as she
was able without looking mad. “Cissy,” she said softly, her voice rough but
warm like the sandpaper texture of a pet’s tongue.
Narcissa crossed the room smoothly and lowered herself onto the bed beside her
sister. “Bells?” she murmured, which served as the question itself.
“You needn’t worry about me Cissy,” Bellatrix said. For anyone else she would
have laughed to prove it, but she understood that the pained noise chilled the
blonde.
“Look after yourself for once,” Narcissa demanded, so softly even she couldn’t
hear the words.
Bellatrix heard. She always did. She raised her eyebrows and quirked her lips.
“I always do.”
Narcissa’s eyes flickered with derision. “I mean it,” she said, standing up.
Bellatrix was quiet but Narcissa did not leave the room. She wandered over to
the fireplace and stared at the trinkets there. Bellatrix hadn’t collected much
since she had escaped from Azkaban, but what she had was on the mantle.
“Righteous anger won’t hurt for long,” Bellatrix whispered.
“This is what it’s been about? It’s been fifteen years Bella.”
“Our family is horrendously messed up, did you notice Cissy?” Bellatrix said.
“You could help me pick Jessamine’s dress,” Narcissa said.
“You think I didn’t choose out a dress hundreds of times in my head?” Bellatrix
said, sounding almost normal. It sent shivers down Narcissa’s spine. “I’m not
going to her ball Narcissa. It’s far too close to the bone.”
“Instead you would rather incite the Dark Lord into cursing you, and you’ve
been fucking Roddy and Bastian silly.”
“What concern is that of yours?”
Narcissa’s eyes flashed. “They’re family, you shouldn’t be doing this to them.
You shouldn’t be doing this to *yourself*.”
“No, and Uncle Alfard should have been allowed to help, instead of Aunt
Walburga insisting that he was no longer part of the family for allowing Sirius
the means to survive without his birthright. But he didn’t, so why should I
give a damn about anything?”
“She was the head of the family-”
“And I’m the head of the family now! But she’s still-”
Luna put down Jessa’s hair ribbon and considered it thoughtfully.
*
“Get up.”
Jessa moaned and pulled herself up. “What is it?” she asked pitifully.
“It’s ten past eight, that’s what it is. Get up, you need to eat breakfast.”
“M’sleepy, forget breakfast,” Jessa mumbled.
“You needn’t think I care whether you eat or not. Now get up, you’ve got class
after breakfast!”
“Fine,” Jessa sighed. Severus stormed out with his robes billowing behind him
and Jessa reluctantly pulled herself out of bed.
By the time Jessa had showered and pulled on some clothes she was feeling awake
enough to notice the rings under Severus’ eyes. Hadn’t he slept last night? She
wasn’t stupid enough to ask if that was the case. As she wondered, Severus
grabbed her shoulder and dragged her up to the great hall.
Severus deposited her into the chair between his and Alastor’s and quickly
reached for his habitual scalding black coffee.
“You’re late to breakfast today,” Alastor commented.
“She was up late,” Severus answered, not looking up from the steaming depths of
his mug.
“You alright Whelp?” Alastor asked.
Jessa nodded. “Just tired.”
“You’ll be going to bed at a reasonable hour tonight,” Severus promised darkly.
“You make it sound like a threat.”
Severus turned to look at Jessa incredulously.
Jessa shrank back. “My brain’s not woke up yet. My lips were moving before it
occurred to me that I shouldn’t tease you.”
Before Severus could say anything an owl dropped society pages down before
Jessa. An exceptional amount of mail was being delivered today. Jessa opened
the folded magazine and winced when she saw the front page.
Of course they’d put the coming out ball of the Malfoy love child on the front
page.
Severus glanced over and sneered as Jessa opened the magazine to discover there
were multiple double-page spreads dedicated to her coming out ball. Alastor
peered over the photographs with interest.
“You look very beautiful,” Moody commented gruffly.
Jessa’s lips twitched weakly and she continued to look over the article. She
turned a page and Moody remarked, “Look here, there’s a picture of you dancing
with the whelp, Severus.”
Severus stiffened and gazed at the page sharply. Yes, there he was. “Of course
they’d print me dancing with the wretch,” he muttered.
“You’re quite the graceful dancer Severus,” Alastor added. “Didn’t expect that
of you.”
Severus bared his teeth sulkily and returned his attention to his coffee.
Jessa looked at the picture quietly for a bit longer then pushed her chair back
abruptly.
Without looking up Alastor grabbed the fabric of her shirt and pulled her back
onto her seat. Casually he growled, “Breakfast.”
Jessa sighed and picked up a piece of fruit. “Now can I go?”
Alastor gave her an unimpressed look but despite that she got up and hopped
down from the precipice on which the head table was situated.
Alastor watched her skip down the great hall, shying away from Draco and
Parkinson and avoiding Longbottom. For some reason Jessa danced around the
Ravenclaw table as if considering something, but chose to head down to the
doorway instead.
“Miss Malfoy,” Severus roared.
Jessa turned and wandered a few steps back towards them.
Severus finished his coffee and swept down the great hall. “There’s no reason
for you to go anywhere,” he said silkily. “It’s almost nine and you’ll be
spending the morning under Professor McGonagall’s tutelage.”
“Like hell,” Jessa muttered, sidestepping the man and heading for the door.
She felt him grip her painfully and yank her back. “There will be no ditching
class for you. Now get back up to the head table and wait by Minerva.”
He glared until Jessa conceded. He let go and strode out the doorway whilst
Jessa stomped towards Minerva in disgust.
*
“Spend a lot of time in little girls’ rooms do you Snape?”
“I’m changing her bedlinen,” Severus retorted archly, not looking up from his
chore.
“I know your nose is big enough but I didn’t take you for a house elf.”
“Will you leave if I throw a stick?” Severus retorted casually.
Sirius opened his mouth to retort but slowly closed it with a great deal of
effort. He didn’t speak for a moment and Severus looked up. After a beat he
asked, “Did I use too many words for you?”
“Shu-” Sirius snapped his mouth closed again, glared, and said, “no,” shortly.
He took a deep breath before quickly saying, “The pup’s acting strangely.”
Severus curled his lips indifferently. “That surprises you?”
Sirius continued to glare. “Even more than usual.”
“Perhaps she’s bored,” Severus said unsympathetically, returning his attention
to the bedsheets.
“It’s not that! Something’s happened. I know you must have noticed, Snape. She
likes you. She’s not…said anything to you?”
“Why would she tell me anything?” Severus countered. He lifted his head again
but his eyes were narrowed slightly. “She’s probably just overwhelmed by her
betrothal.”
“Malfoy’s picked a suitor? No one told me!”
“No,” Severus said. “No, not yet. But it’s only a matter of time isn’t it? I
imagine the pace of events is quite a lot for a young girl to take in.”
“There’s more to it than that,” Sirius said.
“What makes you say that?” Severus replied with deliberate patience.
Sirius’ expression darkened. Quietly he answered, “I don’t think an arranged
marriage would bother her so much. She was a mercenary little brat when I was
alive.”
Severus gave the sheets a black look that his curtain of dark hair obstructed
from the dead man’s line of sight. “Perhaps you don’t know her as well as you
thought,” Severus said in a voice less venomous than usual. “Or perhaps she’s
changed.”
“The kid I knew wouldn’t be sleeping with someone like Barty Junior!”
“How did you hear about that?” Severus asked before he could stop himself.
Sirius ran his hand over his face in irritation. “Phineas heard that Parkinson
bitch gossiping about it with her cronies. The Jessa I knew wouldn’t marry
someone like him!”
“No?” Severus said. “He’ll devote himself to any sadistic power and obey them
unquestioningly. He’s powerful himself but she’ll be able to wrap him around
her little finger. She won’t suffer much in a marriage like that. Besides, he’s
handsome isn’t he?”
Sirius looked up. He looked like he was torn between making a snide comment
about Severus’ less attractive looks and saying something -several somethings-
derogatory about Crouch Jr. Snape was a bastard and Crouch was just a stupid
little boy with a lot of anger and abandonment issues. But Snape wasn’t as much
of a bastard as usual where Jessa was concerned. Sirius just gave a frustrated
sigh and then shook his head. “He’s not her style.”
“He’s the youngest in the Inner Circle,” Severus said slowly. “She’s walking
into a position of power without having to constantly pander to the desires of
men like her father. It’s a relatively cushy option.”
Sirius shook his head. “She’s not that lazy, or that logical. She’d go in for
the kill and try to make herself Old Snakeface’s favourite if she wanted…
What?”
Severus had begun to look at Sirius strangely. Quickly he pushed the expression
off his face and quietly said, “He’s quite taken with her.”
“What? In what way?” Sirius demanded worriedly.
Severus shook his head. “She’s managing well enough to dance around him. He
likes her for the same reasons he likes Bella I suppose.”
“He hasn’t..?”
“No. No, not as far as I’m aware. He seems to find her youthfulness charming.
He’s intrigued but he hasn’t chosen to interfere with her yet.”
“I knew she was asking for trouble mixing with that scumbag!”
Severus’ lips quirked, although it was unclear even to himself whether he was
really amused. “You couldn’t think of a stronger term?”
“Not for your delicate ears,” Sirius replied dryly. “Why didn’t you say to us
that-”
“I’m sure the headmaster is aware and the likes of Miss Tonks and the Weaslies
hardly need to know do they?”
“But *I* didn’t-”
“You knew she’d been with one of his followers though didn’t you? Wasn’t that
enough to tell you it was no place for a child?”
Sirius ignored the barb there, feeling sick at the thought of his little sister
in such a situation. “She’d do much better just staying here and keeping out of
the way of the lot of them.”
“This is no place for a child either,” Severus said. “How could you forget I’m
one of them?”
Sirius looked as though he’d tasted something particularly noxious. For the
sake of the argument he needed to say that although Snape was a total bastard,
the greasy git wasn’t quite as evil as Sirius tended to infer. But could Sirius
really say that?
It didn’t matter, because the door swung open then and Jessa stumbled into her
room. She froze stupidly at the doorway, glancing between Severus, who she did
not expect to find in her room, to Sirius, who seemed to have been in
conversation with Severus. “What-?”
“*You* should be in class!” Severus snarled. “Why aren’t you?”
“I am seldom places where I am supposed to be,” Jessa muttered. “They rarely
prove to be very much fun.”
“Aren’t you supposed to be in transfiguration?” Sirius barked.
Jessa looked down. “Um, yeah I was. But-”
“Jessa!” Sirius yelled.
“Oh shut up Siri you hypocrite. Did you bother with classes you hated? No. So
leave me alone.”
Severus had straightened up and crossed his arms. “Where’s Minerva?”
Jessa flushed and shrugged. “Her classroom maybe, or she might have left.”
“And what are you doing here?”
Jessa scowled at the floor. She gave it a kick with her toes and admitted, “She
kicked me out.”
“What the bloody hell did you do to make her do that?” Sirius shouted.
Severus held his arms tightly. “Precisely,” he hissed.
Jessa narrowed her eyes and spun back towards the door.
“Don’t you dare turn your back on me!” both men yelled simultaneously.
Jessa turned, snorting half-bitterly, half-amused. “Of course not. That’s your
own prerogatives.”
The look Severus directed towards her was chilling, but Sirius found words
first. “You stupid little brat!” he exclaimed. “You’re such a Black!”
“And what would you know about that?” Jessa retorted icily. “*You* ran away!”
“And do you think your precious little Regulus was any different? That house
was poisonous and you’re just the sort of psychotic little bitch that should
have come out of it. You make me sick sometimes!”
Jessa’s eyes flashed and both men were surprised not to feel the air thicken
with her magic. “You don’t think the feeling’s mutual?” Jessa asked thickly.
“Will you just get over yourself you ridiculous pureblooded little bigot!
They’re. All. Dead! All this stupid posturing is good for no one because
there’s no one left to impress. No one cares what you do anymore kid. Why can’t
you just make your life easier for yourself, and us too? I’m sick of worrying
about you.”
“No one asked you to *Siri*,” Jessa replied harshly.
“You’re my kid *sister*.”
“Nice of you to remember that. Pity you couldn’t have done that all those times
you gave me hell when you were alive.”
“I said I was sorry-”
“You fucking died on me Siri. I needed you and you died on me, so I don’t need
to forgive you anything,” Jessa snapped.
“No, but Regie was so perfect wasn’t he? The Little King, because being a Black
makes you practically royal. But he died on you too, didn’t he?”
“He was a better brother than you,” Jessa sneered. “At least he was around
until he died, unlike you. And he always treated me well.”
“And what good has he done you? His portrait’s went mad just like Mother’s; and
you’re not far behind.”
“It really does run in the family,” Jessa snickered coldly. “You were
completely compus mentus when you came out of Akzaban, weren’t you?”
Sirius growled loudly and Jessa rolled her eyes. “Whatever. I didn’t come here
for this.”
“What *did* you come here for?”
“To lick my wounds,” Jessa replied in a brittle voice. “McGonagall already gave
me hell this morning; I didn’t need you joining in.”
“You probably deserved it!”
“Thanks Siri.”
“Enough! Enough the pair of you; you’re giving me a headache,” Serverus
snarled.
“Where are you going?” Sirius demanded.
“To check on Minerva, and then to get Alastor to deal with the brat,” Severus
replied shortly. “Stay here Wretch.”
Jessa bared her teeth but waited where she was for about fifteen minutes, until
she was sure the potions master was gone. Then she turned and headed for the
door again.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Sirius roared.
“Don’t strain yourself,” Jessa muttered. “I don’t know. Maybe I’ll go fuck
Neville.”
“Jessa! …Jessa! Pup!”
It was obvious Jessa was not going to return. Sirius sighed and rubbed his
face, frustrated with his ineffectuality. And that he’d said everything that he
hadn’t wanted to.
“That went well,” James said.
Sirius looked back into the portrait. “How long have you been there Prongs?”
James pushed his glasses up his nose and shrugged. “Long enough Pads. Come on.
Prongsie knows where there’s a big painting of a stripjoint with a nice big
bar.”
“Outdone by a married man,” Sirius sighed. “How did you find that without me?”
James smiled a little guiltily. “It’s in Slytherin territory. Figured I should
get to know the sort of person my boy’s dating.”
“You’re going to find out about the Malfoy heir by hanging out in a
stripjoint,” Sirius smirked.
“It’s a very nice stripjoint,” James replied. “Bet you didn’t know the boy
could paint.”
“What?”
“Oh yeah,” James said. “The little blonde painted it.”
“Yeah?”
James smiled, recognising that Sirius had been distracted from the ugly
argument. Now all James had to do was find a way to distract himself from the
sketches he’d found of Harry in various states of undress.
***** The Bad Thing *****

Author's notes: Wherein Draco intends to cheat.
===============================================================================
Potterverse: well that’s JKR’s. Yes I did cannibalise W.A.M.S. by FOB. As far
as I know it actually goes ‘Hurry /Hurry /You put my head in such a flurry /
Flurry /Freckle freckle what makes you so special? /I’m gonna leave you /I’m
gonna teach you /How we’re all alone /All alone.’ I apologise for the bad thing
that happens in this chapter, but it’s been agreed from the start. For those of
you who actually want there to be het sex in this chapter… I apologise, but I
couldn’t write the deed. It’s too wrong! The boy’s in love; he shouldn’t be
doing things like this. But enough of my irrelevant ranting and on with the
story…
Harry had tried to bump into Draco under the cover of the mass of students
crowding into the great hall. The blonde pulled away quickly and rushed to his
table with barely a backwards glance. Harry stood still for a moment,
registering that that had hurt, and then turned towards his on table. Ron had
stopped eating long enough to stare gooeyly into Hermione’s face. The girl had
stilled and was staring back entranced. After being snubbed by Draco, Harry had
to stifle a noise of frustration and mild disgust. He wasn’t going to sit there
then.
He looked around. Where was Jessa?
He finally noticed her sitting at the Ravenclaw table with Luna. Harry
hesitated. He didn’t want to interrupt another couple, but Jessa was resting
her own temples in her hands and didn’t look very lovey at all. Although she
couldn’t see him, Luna seemed to sense Harry and spun around to smile at him.
She waved him over welcomingly.
He gave a lopsided smile and crossed the room towards them. Luna pulled him
down onto the bench beside them and blinked sagely. “You need company,” she
said.
Jessa looked up with a meagre sliver of interest, one of her hands slipping
down to the butterbeer cork around her neck and tugging indifferently on the
cord.
“What’s wrong?” Harry asked her as he began filling his plate. “Hangover?”
Jessa shook her head but wasn’t any more forthcoming. Harry glanced at Luna for
any sort of explanation. Instead the blonde was lifting chunks of undercooked
meat off of the table and shoving them into her bag. At Harry’s stare she said,
“For the thestrals.”
“Oh. Of course,” Harry replied.
Luna smiled and dropped the last piece of animal flesh onto Jessa’s empty
plate. The brooding girl looked down at it for a few beats then picked it up
slowly and put it to her mouth. Harry shivered as she quietly sucked the blood
out as though she was dealing with a red ice lolly and then apathetically
pulled off a piece of the meat with her teeth. Those Ravenclaws other than Luna
and one of the older pureblooded boys deliberately kept their eyes away from
Jessa’s mealing. The boy from the ball simply watched Jessa with detached
interest.
“Jessa,” Luna said.
Jessa had lethargically let the meat slip from her fingers back down onto her
plate. The blood that she had not sucked out began to ooze into a puddle around
the chunk of almost-raw food. With obvious effort Jessa forced herself to turn
and look at Luna.
Like Jessa’s, Luna's fingers were streaked with animal blood. Luna held her
hand out sedately towards Jessa’s face. Slowly, Jessa moved forwards and licked
the girl’s hand clean. Harry watched in horrified fascination.
Jessa pulled away and returned her attention to her plate. She prodded the meat
crossly.
Luna fell into dreamy conversation with Harry, using her clean hand to smooth
Jessa’s hair. Harry let Luna’s words wash over him and soothe his Draco-related
tension. Whatever had rattled Jessa’s cage stayed in her head and she stared
quietly into space.
Neville appeared and slipped into the space beside them. Luna leaned over to
kiss his cheek and Jessa stood, walking out of the hall without a word.
“What was that about?” Harry asked.
“Don’t ask,” Neville said. “She’s annoyed with me.”
“And herself,” Luna said. “Do you want to help me feed the thestrals later?”
The boys exchanged looks then shrugged. “Er, yeah, why not?”
Draco got up from his house table flanked by his henchmen and headed for the
door. To his shock, Harry was punched in the back of the head by Greg when the
trio walked past. When Harry spun around questioningly Greg narrowed his eyes
at him warningly then stomped off.
“What was *that*?” Neville asked.
Harry rubbed the back of his head. “I have got no idea,” he replied.
*
After three weeks Draco was still avoiding Harry. Everyone had noticed the ugly
atmosphere that had appeared and house tensions seemed to become even tenser
than before.
“Jessa?”
Jessa had heard her brother’s voice, but the pillow that Severus threw at her
hit her face a moment later. “You deal with him,” Severus growled.
“I was getting up,” Jessa huffed, dragging herself reluctantly out of the
campbed against his bedroom wall. Severus bared his teeth casually and pulled
the covers over his head.
Jessa crossed the floor in her bare feet and opened the door to see Draco
walking out of her room looking puzzled. He watched her pause in the doorway to
Severus’ bedchambers, wearing a man’s shirt (Alastor’s), and her hair prettily
mussed. After a moment he nodded and said, “The nightmare thing, right?”
Jessa nodded mutely and quickly walked towards the fireplace, coming to a
standstill on top of the rug. She shivered a little and the flames responded by
growing higher. “What do you want?”
Draco sat down on the chair he considered to be his and crossed his legs
comfortably. “I want a cheap fuck,” he said.
Jessa blinked. “And you’re telling me that?”
“Yes,” Draco agreed. “There was a club you frequented wasn’t there? Where
purebloods could pick up nobodies without anyone noticing.”
Jessa squared her shoulders ever so slightly. “Yes.”
“I want you to take me there.”
“No,” Jessa said.
Draco’s eyes glinted dangerously. “You will.”
“Dray-”
“Would you rather I make public indiscretions?” Draco asked. When Jessa shook
her head mutely he nodded and said, “Good. So you’ll take me.”
“Dray…”
“Don’t start,” Draco said.
“He loves you Dray,” Jessa said.
“You think I don’t know that?” Draco snarled.
“You love him,” Jessa said. “Don’t-”
“Shut up Black,” Draco growled.
Jessa sighed. “Draco-”
“I said, ‘*Shut up!*’”
The door to Severus’ bedroom swung open violently and Severus towered in the
doorway, a black silk dressing-gown wrapped haphazardly around his form.
“Silence!” he roared.
Draco stared at his godfather. “Uncle Severus, it’s almost eight in the
morning.”
“You think I don’t know that? Your no good sister has kept me up the entire
night with her screaming!”
Draco blinked lazily and shot a glance at Jessa. “The nightmare thing?”
“Yes,” she answered tightly.
“Just keep quiet,” Severus snarled, turning back to his bedroom.
“Uncle Severus.”
“What is it Draco?” Severus snapped.
“Jessa and I are going out, all right?”
“Do what you want,” Severus grumbled. He paused and looked back again
reluctantly. “I’ll be out tonight. You can stay with Draco or Alastor if you
wish, but if you stay here you will not sleep in my bed. If you must you may
have one of my pillows, but ensure you have the elves wash it before you put it
back on my bed.”
“Don’t sleep on your bed; wash the pillow before I put it back. Got it,” Jessa
muttered. Severus slammed the door.
“What?” Draco muttered, gazing suspiciously at his sister.
“I sleep better when I can smell him,” Jessa muttered, turning towards her
room.
“You’re an animal,” Draco sighed.
Jessa stepped into her room, leaving the door wide open. “I can think of plenty
of responses to that. Want to pick one?”
Draco followed her into the bedroom and she began to put together an outfit for
the day. He sighed again. “Why do you sleep better when you can smell him?”
“Doesn’t have to be him, just someone who makes me feel safe,” Jessa said,
heading for the shower.
Draco followed her to the door and waited there. “Uncle *Severus* makes you
feel safe?”
There was no answer for a moment. Then Draco heard Jessa say, “He’s a good
man.” She switched on the shower.
“He hasn’t forgiven you for the Longbottom fiasco.”
“Why should he?” Jessa said.
“You used to be his favourite.”
“Draco?”
“Yes?”
“Shut up.”
“Guilty conscience?”
“You’re the one breaking Scarhead’s heart; you tell me,” came Jessa’s reply.
“Shut up.”
“Exactly.”
Draco heard the shower switch off and Jessa opened the door a few moments
later. Her blonde hair was dripping wet but she had pulled on a rucked jersey
dress that was slowly darkening as her hair dripped onto it.
“What are you wearing tonight?” she said softly.
“What?”
“Tonight. To pull. You can’t wear robes.”
Draco sighed. “Bloody muggle clothes.”
“You could always not go.”
“Fat chance Jessa.”
Jessa rolled her eyes and began to towel her hair.
“You’ll get split ends.”
Jessa snorted and glanced at her brother. “Sure thing Blondie. I don’t mind.”
Draco sighed. “Well I do. People associate you with me and I don’t want to be
associated with split ends, thank you. Come here.”
Jessa obeyed and Draco pulled out his wand to deal with her hair. They stood
close together and Draco’s other arm slipped around her. Jessa put her hands
over his arm and savoured the closeness for a moment. “Dray?”
“Yes Pureblood?”
“Don’t do this.”
Draco’s hand slowed but he continued to charm her hair. “It’s nothing to do
with you.”
“Isn’t it? You’re my brother. He’s my friend.”
“He is not your friend,” Draco said coldly. “We are Malfoys and we do not
befriend blood-traitors or half bloods.”
“What about Sev?”
“That’s different.”
“How is that different?”
“Father loves him. Besides, he’s powerful.”
“What?” Jessa turned around.
“You know perfectly well what I mean. It’s a Slytherin relationship… Now turn
back around, I’m not finished.”
“That wasn’t…” Jessa closed her eyes.
Draco finished her hair and stepped back, pulling his sister along with him.
“Come on, you can help me pick something to wear.”
“You have impeccable dress sense,” Jessa said softly.
“Yes, but I don’t know the dress code.”
Jessa conceded mutely and followed, casting a glance at Severus’ firmly closed
door as she passed.
*
“Wretched clothing.”
“You never complained when Harry got you to wear jeans did you?”
“That was different.”
“Of course it was. And hating them doesn’t stop you wiggling.”
“I do not wiggle.”
“Strut then. Accompanied by a swaying of the hips.”
Draco turned around and gave his sibling a withering look, but did not tone
down the sensuality of his walk. “You don’t want to have to queue, do you?”
“We’re on the guest list,” Jessa sighed.
Draco looked around in surprise. “We’re on the guest list?”
Jessa nodded mutely.
“Oh. That was easy.”
“There’s no point making you queue; I know it won’t change your mind.”
Draco nodded and they crossed the street to reach the club. “They look so
different from each other.”
“There’s a lot of different floors for different things,” Jessa muttered. Then
she looked up and said, “The cliques are more tolerant of each other here
because they have the same dirty little secret in common.”
“What secret?”
“That they like sleeping with the enemy.”
“I’m here for no such thing,” Draco sniffed.
Jessa raised her eyebrows. “Are you or are you not here to debase yourself by
rutting with a blood-traitor, half-blood, mudblood or worse?”
Draco’s scowl answered her.
“Precisely, so you’re here to do the enemy. This is the club where the worlds
meet.”
“How is that legal?” Draco muttered.
“Discretion,” Jessa said lightly. “It’s a place for mudbloods to take their
siblings; for squibs to go where they won’t feel isolated; for purebloods to go
incognito to bone dirty blood.”
“Such a charming way of putting it,” Draco muttered.
“Would you rather I sugar-coated it so that you decided I was being ridiculous
by making you smudge down your features so that you weren’t recognised by
pureblooded hypocrites?”
Draco made a face but didn’t seem to care.
“You could be a little more concerned about this.”
“Death Eaters have never done you any harm here, have they? And I’m more
socially intimidating than you.”
“At no point did I ever say I’d never come to any harm here,” Jessa said
through gritted teeth, walking towards the entrance and nodding at the bouncer.
“Evening, Jess,” the man said, allowing the half-siblings through.
“What did you mean by that?” Draco hissed once they were out of hearing
distance.
“I mean: *don’t get stupid*,” Jessa retorted, looking calmer than her voice
indicated.
“Have you ever-”
“When I was little I wasn’t exactly street-wise,” Jessa admitted with a sigh.
“But you’ll be fine so long as you don’t make it obvious that you’re an M-word
here to screw beneath his station. I’m only really worried about Lucius finding
out.”
“Father,” Draco corrected. “And don’t worry, I’ll be careful. So long as you
never refer to us as M-words ever again. …What do you mean, you weren’t
streetwise?”
“I… I mean that I wasn’t careful about punching at my own weight,” Jessa
muttered, leading him through a cheerfully lit alcove.
“What’s up those stairs?” Draco asked.
“You don’t go up there,” Jessa said firmly. “They don’t have what you’re
looking for.”
“What-”
“The higher the floor, the more depraved and dangerous it gets. Pretty little
boys like you should keep the fuck away from the higher floors, understood?
You’ll get in trouble.”
“I can handle myself.”
“Do you want to meet Death Eaters tonight? Keep to the soft floors.”
“What are the soft floors?”
Jessa led Draco further into the room and it became apparent that it was split
into various intermingled levels like a more modern and sedate version of the
school’s stairways. “You can go to any level that you can see here but don’t go
down those stairs,” she indicated, “and don’t go up any of the stairs that take
you somewhere that you can’t see. They go to the levels that you don’t want to
go to.”
“What’s downstairs?” Draco asked. “I thought the depraved stuff was always in
the basement. Does it work the opposite way here?”
“Downstairs…downstairs are the playrooms,” Jessa answered, blushing a little.
“The what –have you been in the playrooms?” asked a scandalised Draco.
“Let me buy you a drink,” Jessa said brightly, walking quickly to the central
bar.
“Jessa! Jessa, have you-”
Jessa caught a bartender’s attention and quickly ordered two drinks. She placed
one in Draco’s hands and gestured for him to drink before murmuring, “Of course
I have.”
Draco looked at the glass suspiciously. “What is this?”
“A Candy Banger, just drink it, you’ll find you like it.”
“It smells really sweet. This is a girl’s drink,” Draco said dubiously.
“Taste a little and then knock it back,” Jessa muttered, taking a large gulp of
her own.
Draco obeyed and then looked at her. “What the hell is this?”
“It’ll put you in a good mood and make you go after what you really want,”
Jessa said. “I recommend you drink it.”
“I’m not drinking that!” Draco exclaimed.
“Fine,” Jessa sighed, downing the remainder of her drink and requesting a
firewhiskey from the bartender. She handed it over to Draco shaking her head at
his incredulous scowl. He handed back the Candy Banger and glared at the
firewhiskey mistrustfully.
“If it’s so lovely you drink it,” Draco snapped.
Jessa shrugged. “That really is just firewhiskey you know.” She obediently
downed the remainder of his first drink. At first it smelt overwhelmingly and
mouth-wateringly sweet, but once it got past the throat it was warm and
cloying, with a dark, aniseed sort of taste.
“They sell fucking potion-spiked alcohol and call it a cocktail,” Draco huffed,
but began to taste his firewhiskey cautiously.
“Now you know a good reason to stay away from the higher floors,” Jessa said
sweetly.
“You just tried to drug me, Jessa,” Draco said sourly.
“It would never have done you any harm,” Jessa said. “I’ve just had two,
haven’t I?”
Draco narrowed his eyes at her and drank his firewhiskey.
“Since I’m not allowed to drug you, shall I take you onto the dancefloor?”
Jessa asked flippantly.
Draco gave his sister a dirty look but put his empty glass on the bar and
followed her.
He seemed to relax as they danced together. Girls Jessa knew came up to dance
with them and made a fuss of her attractive half-brother. One girl in
particular caught Draco’s eye and he watched in captivation as she danced.
Kay just had to be dancing tonight, didn’t she?
“Who’s that?” Draco asked.
“You’re staring. That’s Kay.”
“Kay. Wow. Okay, I’m going to have her.”
Kay had noticed them and had decided to dance even more seductively than usual.
Kay was a friend and everything, but Jessa was seriously tempted to immobilise
them both. Shit. Shit, shit, shit. Kay had always had a thing for blondes.
Shit!
“Draco, how about a drink?”
The boy smirked. “I’ve got something else in mind. Come introduce me.”
“Draco! Draco get back here! I am not introducing you to-”
No one ever listened. Draco had swaggered over and was now flirting
outrageously with her curvaceous friend. Merlin’s balls!
And they wouldn’t stop talking!
At least, not until the dancing started. The most obscene sort. Jessa had to
look away because the sight was so close to Draco *fucking* this girl that it
was making her feel ill.
Kay pulled away momentarily to call to Jessa and wave. Jessa glanced over to
quickly wave back and felt her heart plummet. Draco couldn’t do this. He
couldn’t! Harry did not deserve this…and where the hell was the Slytherin in
Draco? He was throwing away something priceless!
Jessa looked away again, feeling even sicker, as Draco and Kay danced. It was
clear he was going home with the girl tonight, and whilst Jessa was fond of
Kay, she wished Draco wouldn’t fuck up his relationship with Harry just because
Kay danced sexily.
The couple had made it off of the dancefloor and were slobbering all over each
other. “Pureblood,” he called across. “I’m going home with…Kay..? Tonight.
Alright?”
Jessa waved them off, knowing she couldn’t just side-along Draco back to the
castle. It was physically safe enough to leave the pair together. She just
wished Draco would go ‘home’ to his boyfriend instead of letting his hands roam
Kay’s ample curves.
Jessa looked around the dancefloor somewhat dejectedly. She might be the
illegitimate one, but sometimes Draco was the bastard. She should just have
poured a dozen ’Bangers down his throat, or as many as it took for him to go
running back to Harry. They were good together. Why couldn’t he just accept
that?
The thing was, Jessa could understand completely why Draco was doing this. But
he belonged with Harry. It was obvious to anyone with eyes.
“Cheer up Jess, you love this song!”
Jessa glanced up and gave a smile to the dancers that were falling all over her
in their drunken revelry. “Sure,” she said, but didn’t stay with them. She
walked on towards the staircase, listening to the song as she climbed.
“Hurry, hurry, you put my head in sanctuary.”
She smiled softly, not quite mouthing the words. “But, but what makes you so
special? Oh what makes you so special?”
She headed further up the stairs, the music from the floor below growing
fainter as she did. “I’m gonna leave you, oh, I’m gonna teach you, after all,
we’re all alone -oh oh, oh oh.”
She froze. A group of men were coming down the stairs talking idly to each
other; they were still just sober enough not to slosh their hard drinks onto
the floor. The song from below was still audible but the song being played
above wasn’t quite loud enough to make out yet. Severus was amongst the men.
“But what makes you so special, oh what makes you so special?”
***** Help Me Save Him *****

Author's notes: Wherein we see what happens immediately after the events of the
previous chapter.
===============================================================================
He blinked his dark eyes slowly and then narrowed them as he stared at her.
“*You* shouldn’t be here, little girl.”
Jessa grit her teeth. “What’s it to you? And don’t call me a little girl –that
would make you an old man.”
“Precisely,” Severus snarled.
Jessa sighed. “Fucking get over yourself Sev.”
She felt his fingers tighten around her throat a moment later and wasn’t sure
how he’d managed to descend so swiftly the stairs that had separated them.
“Don’t be any more foolish than usual,” Severus growled, letting go and pushing
her back. He snatched her with his other hand as she fell but her ankles still
connected painfully with the steps as he pulled her back onto her stumbling
feet.
“I didn’t come here for your rough treatment,” Jessa growled, completely
ignoring the men who stood around watching the exchange in amused confusion.
If Severus was surprised by her tone he did not show it. He curled his lips and
tossed his head to indicate the direction of the stairs. “What else would you
be *here* for except rough treatment?”
“I’m not your bitch Sev,” Jessa said dangerously softly.
Severus’ eyes flashed unpromisingly. The men murmured amongst themselves. “Go
home Wretch.”
“I refuse to answer to you: I’ve had enough of tolerating your fucking
tantrums. Just where do you expect me to go anyway?”
Jessa choked as Severus thrust her against the banister, knocking the air from
her lungs. “Away from me!” Severus said harshly. The men stared in heightened
interest.
“Put me down Severus,” Jessa whispered firmly.
“I could put you down all right,” Severus snapped.
“Come on Snape, who’s this girl?” one of the men jeered.
Jessa pushed herself towards Severus unexpectedly. “That’s crude coming from
you; what happened to that sharp wit of yours?” she muttered, shoving out of
his hold. Severus wrapped his hand in her clothing and jerked her back around
to look at him. He didn’t say anything, but the magic coming off of him in
waves was enough to make the air smell charred.
Jessa sighed, and surprised herself by saying gently, “Can you help me?” The
moment the words were out of her mouth she swallowed and looked at him in
horror.
“What?”
“I came here with Dra…with Blondie,” Jessa said. There was no reason for
Severus’ companions to know the Malfoy heir was *here*.
Severus glanced up the staircase quickly, keeping the concern off of his face.
“You’ve lost him?”
Jessa shook her head. “I know where he is, I just…”
Severus leaned close to her to prevent his associates from hearing. He hissed,
“If you’ve let my godson go into-”
“He’s nowhere like that,” Jessa said quickly. “He’s just…he’s went home with a
friend of mine. He’s not in any danger. But…you know he shouldn’t do this,
right? He’s in love…”
Severus stared at Jessa for a moment and then pulled back. “What the fuck is on
your breath?”
“A ’Banger,” Jessa murmered. “Well, one and a half.”
“A Candy Banger?” Severus spat. “Have you any idea what’s in those things? The
end product might just pass for legal but the dark things that go into it
certainly aren’t!”
“Relax, it’s not going to do me any harm,” Jessa replied. “I’ve not even had a
full two.”
“Relax? The main component is blood from a unicorn-thestral hybrid! What the
fuck were you thinking drinking that?”
“I eat raw bunnies, what’s a bit of horse blood?” the girl replied dryly.
“Besides, it seemed like a good idea. My brother could have done with a few and
I didn’t see the harm in having one myself.”
“You gave your brother that poison?” Severus roared. The men exchanged
interested looks.
“It’s not poison. Have you seen how crazy he is? It would have done him some
good if he’d actually drank it.”
“And what about you? What do you want?”
Jessa looked at him. “I’ve had less than two. That’s not enough to have any
effect on me.”
Severus said archly, “And did your clever brother think to make you eat before
you took him out drinking?”
“Shut up Sevvy.”
Having made his point he sneered and stepped back, muttering to himself, “A bit
of horse blood…” His expression darkened when he realised that the girl had
called him ‘Sevvy’ and the Death Eaters with him had noticed. They were
exchanging amused glances and the bravest amongst them grinned at him.
He held down the instinct to whirl around and break her jaw. Her soft voice
broke into his thoughts. “Sev? Please can you stop him doing this? You know he
doesn’t belong with anyone but the half-blood.”
Severus sighed and glanced at the men. “Go on ahead, I’m going to be a while
with this one fetching her brother.”
“Who is she Snape?”
“Are you joining us at the Hog’s Head after?”
“I don’t know,” Severus said. He shoved Jessa. “Lead on then. Have you a
jacket?”
Jessa made her way downstairs quickly, shaking her head. “Didn’t bother with
one.”
“Of course you didn’t. It’s only frosty outside,” Severus drawled.
“Shut up Se-” Jessa cried out in alarm as he shoved her again, but once more he
caught her before she fell.
“Watch yourself,” Severus growled. Jessa turned and gave him a withering look
and quickened her pace.
“If I show you the place can you apparate us there? I don’t want to apparate
after drinking.”
Severus gave her a dirty look. “Didn’t have an effect, you said.”
Jessa did not retort. She did not want to say that she wasn’t confident in her
ability to use magic regardless of her alcohol consumption.
“Show me,” Severus said gruffly.
Jessa nodded and approached him warily. She showed him the house and the feel
of apparating there. He absorbed it quickly and pulled out of her swiftly.
Jessa felt his grip around her shoulders and then she felt the unpleasant
sensation of apparation.
They appeared outside the Butterfly House and Severus sneered. The derision
fell from his face as he noticed his arm around Jessa and he stepped away
quickly.
Jessa hesitated as she stared at the house. “Now what? …I didn’t think this
through.”
Severus raised his eyebrows. “Have you ever thought anything through?” he asked
drolly as he pulled out his wand and approached the house.
“Shut up.”
“*You* shut up.”
Jessa giggled but Severus turned around with an expression that wiped the mirth
from her expression immediately. “Sorry. Thought you were being funny,” she
said.
Severus turned back around with a scowl. “Imbecile,” he muttered.
“Thanks,” Jessa mumbled sarcastically, following Severus through the garden and
up to the front door. A bit louder she muttered, “The subtle approach I see.”
Severus didn’t turn around. “You want a spanking?” he asked calmly, opening the
door quietly with his wand.
“I’m not the one who deserves one,” Jessa grumbled to herself.
“What was that?”
“Nothing. Did you hear something?”
Severus turned around and glared at her before stepping cautiously inside the
house and listening.
“Her bedroom’s upstairs,” Jessa said. Severus nodded and moved towards the
stairs. A loud noise pierced the air.
Jessa shivered imperceptibly. “We didn’t make it in time.”
Severus was tempted to roll his eyes at the circumstances. On the contrary,
they’d arrived just in time for someone’s lengthy climax.
Jessa stepped nimbly back out of the entrance and stepped quickly down the
front steps. “Where are you going?” Severus asked quietly.
“I don’t want to have to hear Draco spilling his load,” Jessa whispered back
with a pained expression. Severus sighed and followed her outside, loping over
to the garden wall to seat himself.
“Aren’t we just going to leave?”
Severus looked at her. “You want to talk him out of dating this girl don’t
you?”
Jessa hugged herself against the cold. “Yeah, but he’s not going to come down
is he?”
Severus twitched his eyebrows. “Give him about forty minutes.”
Jessa waited quietly and to her surprise Draco appeared at the front door when
the specified time had elapsed.
“The boy has intimacy issues. He doesn’t stay the night with anyone he doesn’t
care about.”
Jessa turned around and gave Severus a look he did not like.
Draco walked down the garden path and observed the pair with vague interest and
mild annoyance. “What are you two doing here?”
“Was hoping to talk you out of it but didn’t get here in time.”
“I thought you two were friends,” Draco said.
“I thought you and Harry were more than that.”
“Oh it’s Harry now is it?”
“Draco,” Severus said. The children looked around at him. “You just had
relations with a muggle.”
Draco swallowed and shrugged uncomfortably.
Severus got up from the wall. “Come along.”
“Where are we going?”
“We are going to walk part way to the school to wear out both your errant
natures. And Draco? If you ever do this sort of thing again I will tell your
father.”
Draco whitened and followed his godfather meekly. “Yes Uncle Severus.”
“Neither of you even want to know what I’ll do to you if I find either of you
have returned to that club,” Severus continued, not turning around.
Draco grabbed Jessa’s arm when it looked like she wanted to retort. They
followed Severus quietly.
***** Soon *****

Author's notes: Wherein Luna does the seer-thing
===============================================================================
“Nev mate, what are you doing with *her*? Loony’s one thing, but the She-
Malfoy?”
Jessa curled her lips disgustedly and pulled away from Neville whilst Luna
blinked slowly. Neville reached out and drew Jessa back towards him with one
strong, tanned arm, not bothering to look at her. He adjusted his weight and
stood. “We’ve been over this Ron.”
“She’s one of *them*,” Ron protested.
“Ron, just listen to yourself for a moment. Get over your ‘us and them’ thing
will you?”
Ron narrowed his eyes and Jessa glared back. “You’ve seen what her brother’s
done to Harry. You know Harry right? Our friend?”
Neville sighed and pulled Jessa back against his hip to dissuade her from
fighting with the redhead. “I’m still Harry’s friend.”
“All you do is hang out with her and Loony these days.”
“Because Harry’s pining, you and ’Mione are too busy trying to wage war, Dean
and Seamus are too busy trying to have a foursome with Blaise and Theo, and
Ginny’s never around. Which may have something to do with her dating someone
even further on the other side than Jessa is.”
Ron clenched his fists and opened his mouth to retort. Neville shook his head.
“I’m not trying to fight. Relax, huh?”
Ron sighed. “She doesn’t even want to be with you.” He turned to Jessa and
scowled. “Do you?”
“Who else has she got?” Neville said. Jessa looked at him quickly. Neville
still did not look at her, but gently slid his arm further around her.
“And that’s good enough for you? Nev!” Ron objected.
Neville’s jaw set. “You know I made an offer on Jessa right? You might just
have to get used to me being around her.”
Jessa flinched at the statement whilst Ronald grew increasingly red.
“Boys,” Luna’s voice broke into the atmosphere. The others turned to look at
her. “There must be a lot of Nargles about. You don’t seem to notice that
you’re going to need each other soon.”
“What do you mean?” Jessa whispered.
Luna batted her eyelids dazedly. “It’s going to happen soon,” she said,
sounding mildly confused.
Jessa felt ice drop to the pit of her stomach whilst the boys only looked at
Luna in puzzlement.
“When?” Jessa forced herself to ask.
Luna rubbed her eyes and looked at Jessa. “When what?”
“*It*,” Jessa whispered desperately. “Focus…when’s it going to happen? How long
have we got?”
Luna smiled bemusedly. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Jessa inhaled painfully, understanding that Luna really didn’t know, or at
least she wasn’t aware that she did. Jessa said, “If it was going to happen now
you’d know wouldn’t you? He’s okay just now, right? Right?”
“Jessa…” Neville murmured. Before Jessa could turn around Luna focused her big
dreamy eyes on Jessa. Luna smiled. “If things were bad we’d know.”
“Would we?” Jessa said.
Luna nodded and smiled, but she looked like she didn’t remember what she was
agreeing to any more. Jessa worried her lip for a minute then shook her head.
“I’m going to check he’s alright.”
“Jessa?” Neville reached for her arm.
“I just need to check he’s alright,” Jessa, rushing away.
“Who?” Neville called after her. “Malfoy?”
“No. Harry!”
“Harry?” Neville repeated dumbly as Jessa disappeared down the corridor.
“Harry? What does she want with Harry? What’s wrong with Harry?” Ron asked,
beginning to go after Jessa and urging Neville along with him.
“Looks like the Nargles are gone,” Luna commented. A light flickered in her
eyes. “It’s not today!” she cried, running after the others.
*
“Jessa?”
Jessa came to a halt before Harry, breathing deeply and trying to appear as
though she had not been running. “Scarhead. You’re alright? You don’t…feel
something coming? Your shields are holding right?”
“Snakeling?” Harry asked, worried by Jessa’s appearance at the Gryffindor
table. She was well aware that she wasn’t overly welcome here. Hermione was
glaring at the blonde and already subtly pulling her wand out of her bag.
Harry blinked as Jessa continued to babble. In reply he said confusedly, “My
shields? My head’s fine. Why wouldn’t it be?”
Jessa let out a gasp of relief then tried to look nonplussed. “Luna says it’s
soon.”
“What’s soon?”
Jessa tilted her head and looked at Harry. “Don’t *any* of you know what
Lovegood *is*?”
“What is she?” Hermione asked sharply.
Jessa glanced at the brunette for a moment and actually looked like she might
answer. Then she shook her head at herself, turned back to Harry and said, “She
says it’ll happen soon. Just…be ready. Okay? You have to be ready…”
“Jessa?” Harry stood up and reached over the table to grasp at her wrist. “What
do you know?”
“Not enough,” Jessa said. “But you need to prepare.”
“What’s going on?” interrupted Hermione’s shrill tones.
Jessa looked at the pretty girl. “Prepare,” she said gruffly.
“For what?”
“For war!” Jessa cried.
“War?” Harry sat back.
Jessa nodded quickly. “War. I don’t know when…but soon.”
“How do you know about this?” Hermione demanded.
“Luna,” Jessa says. “She knows everything. That’s why I listen to her.”
The good-natured taunt that was on Harry’s lips about Jessa simply listening
out of lust disappeared to be replaced with a more serious thought. “Draco…
How’s Draco? Is he alright?” Harry asked.
“For now,” Jessa said quietly.
Harry sat up again and fixed the blonde girl with an intense look. “Jessa…”
“Yeah, I know,” Jessa said softly. “I’ll look after him if you…”
Harry nodded as Jessa looked away then surprised him by reaching for his hand
and squeezing gently.
“Just get your people ready okay?” Jessa murmured. “The Order and stuff. Get
them ready.”
“Switching sides?” Hermione said cattily. “Why can’t you-”
“What, go to the brains of the organisation? You?” Jessa sneered.
“You just can’t get over yourself can you? You’re such a racist-”
“Get over *yourself*,” Jessa retorted. “You’re not even a proper mudblood!”
Hermione stared at her opponent. “What?”
Harry looked between them both in confusion. “Yeah; *what*?”
Surprise flickered across Jessa’s features. It was an impression Hermione was
so unused to seeing that she may have laughed in different circumstances.
Jessa giggled maliciously. “Oh Merlin, you don’t even *know* do you? I thought
you were meant to know everything!”
“What are you talking about?” Hermione snapped.
“You don’t even know your heritage! You’re not a real mudblood, Granger,” Jessa
taunted in a sing-song voice. “How could you not know that? I thought you
always did your research.”
“I’m a muggleborn,” Hermione said stiffly.
“Grangerrrrr,” Jessa drawled. “Did you never consider who pays your school
fees?”
Hermione hesitated. “A scholarship I presume. Some sort of fund to educate the
muggleborns.”
“And who do you think put your name down on the register?” Jessa curled her
lips at the other girl’s expression. “Let me guess: you thought the school did
it by magic. Am I right?”
Hermione’s tight lips and glowing cheeks were answer enough.
“Do you know why proper purebloods hate you Granger?” Jessa asked with a smile.
“It’s not just your filthy blood. You are a *dishonour*. You are a sign of a
pureblooded failure.”
“I’m not a halfblood I-”
“No, you’re not a halfblood. There’s not enough in you for that. But you’re
from wizarding descent. Real mudbloods are rare, we don’t know where they come
from. And they usually slip through the system. No one’s looking for them. But
you? Your blood sings out to the magic. The school recognises it. Your blood’s
been here before.”
“How-”
“Do you know why my family don’t get along with your boyfriend’s family?”
Hermione arched her brow but shook her head stiffly.
“Dear old Cedrella got disowned for marrying into the Weaslies. See, we’re an
archaic sort of family, whilst the Weasels have notions of happy family values.
Sort of sickening really. But my point is, the Weasleys don’t believing
disowning family for the sake of the family’s honour. By doing so, they
dishonour us all. They permit imperfections and worse still, they object to our
methods of dealing with our own. Families like mine don’t have squibs.
Sometimes, someone will be weak and will pass the defective child into the care
of muggles. The baby won’t know and the magic will eventually breed out. But if
the descendants of squibs interbreed? Then sometimes that dormant gene will
produce a wizarding baby. You see, magic calls out to itself. You can sense it.
You’d be surprised how many squibs breed with each other because they can sense
the pull of each other’s magic, they just don’t realise that they do. People
like you probably have about eight squibs somewhere in your family. There’s
enough wizarding blood in you somewhere that you were recognised by Hogwarts.
And old-fashioned purebloods hate you for it. Because you are a product of our
flaws. If we had not produced defects, you would not exist. Your blood would
not be polluted and you would not go on to pollute further generations of
wizarding blood.”
“She’s not going to pollute the blood-” Harry began, but Jessa sneered.
“No, she’s going to breed with Weasley,” the illegitimate pureblood stated.
Harry sighed in disgust. “Just for once could you try not to snipe!”
Jessa batted her eyelids slowly. “What good would that do?” she asked, sounding
truly innocent of an answer.
“It would make it easier for everyone to get along,” Harry replied, although
Hermione curled her lips distastefully.
“It would not,” Jessa replied. “It would make things bloody harder if we were
all close friends.”
“We are close friends,” Harry growled.
“It’s not my fault you’re so damn nice,” Jessa retorted. “Besides, I only came
to tell you to start getting the Order ready. I’ll see you later.”
Ron and Neville finally arrived at the table. “What’s going on?” Ron asked,
red-faced.
“Nothing, I’m going,” Jessa said calmly.
“Oi, if you’ve-”
“Cut it, Ron,” Neville murmured. He looked at Jessa sincerely. “Is everything
alright?”
“It’s fine,” Jessa said, smiling a little.
“You always say you’re fine when you’re not,” Neville said, his expression
turning serious.
“Why does everyone want to be my daddy substitute?” Jessa muttered.
“Because you’re my darling, dirty, little girl,” Neville deadpanned, unable to
hold back his laughter at the resulting expressions on everyone’s faces.
Jessa shook her head, covering her face with her hands. When she uncovered her
face she held a wry expression and muttered an obscenity at Neville half-
fondly.
“You know I don’t mean it,” Neville smiled, pulling Jessa towards him carefully
and kissing her.
Jessa smiled and rested her head on his shoulder for a moment. She pulled away
half-reluctantly and smiled at him. “I’ll see you later; I’ve got stuff to do.”
“Like what?”
“Wash the smell of Nev and Luna off me,” Jessa said sarcastically.
“I always knew she was a whore,” Hermione muttered.
Jessa heard but acted as though she had not. Her eyes were on Draco, who was
heading out of the hall with Pansy. “Wrong blonde,” Jessa murmured, and
wondered how Draco was going to make things up to Harry. He was pawing Pansy in
a way he hadn’t in months.
“Is there something you want to tell me?” Pansy asked him.
Draco looked at his friend quickly. “What do you mean?” he asked in a low
voice.
“I *mean*,” Pansy retorted in a forceful yet equally low voice, “that you keep
flicking your gaze over at the lions’ table and you’ve been acting strangely
with me. Is this over Jessa?”
“No. …No,” Draco said, tearing his gaze from Harry’s table.
“What then?” Pansy muttered suspiciously, narrowing her eyes at her once-lover.
“You’ve been touching me more than you have in a while.”
“I don’t know,” Draco muttered.
“I don’t know if you’re after me or trying to make somebody jealous,” Pansy
continued quietly.
“Which do you prefer?” Draco shrugged.
“I’d *prefer* to know what’s going on in your twisted little mind Draco,” Pansy
replied. “If you were just insecure about being replaced by Jessa I’d expect
you to be more dramatic about your ploy to win me back. I think you’re faking.”
“Really,” the blonde boy drawled.
Pansy arched her brow challengingly. They had just left the great hall. She
pushed him into the wall and began kissing him furiously, grinding her lithe
body against his. Draco moaned into the contact and reciprocated.
Pansy pulled out of the embrace abruptly, causing Draco to stumble forwards
slightly. “You’re faking,” she stated nonchalantly.
“What makes you say that?” Draco protested.
Pansy stared at him, and this time her calm expression was replaced by anger
that flashed in her eyes and in her features. “Because I *know* you Draco,” she
spat. “I know you better than anybody else!”
Something flickered in Draco’s eyes. “Panse…”
“Why are you faking on me, you idiot? You know I’m fine with you …well, I’m
able to tolerate your loving that …other person. Tell me this isn’t just some
possessive thing. Luna and Jessa and I aren’t serious. I know you know that.
I’m just… horny; and Luna’s …strangely fascinating; and Jessa’s just angry. Or
upset. Or something. And not really being very… Well… She’s kind of cold
really.” Pansy was still glaring, but the anger had mostly drained from her
voice as her tone turned thoughtful.
Draco made a face. “I don’t think I want to know.”
Pansy narrowed her eyes. “No of course not. Your sister’s going off the rails
and you couldn’t care less. Just because she had a fight with your godfather.
Which clearly upset her, by the way. But you’d rather act just as stupid as
your sister and fuck me instead of admitting that something’s wrong and fixing
it.”
“Why’s that any of your business?” Draco snarled.
Pansy’s expression turned stormier. “You did not just say that to me, Malfoy.”
Draco looked at her with wide eyes and conceded that point.
Pansy nodded and spun on her heel. A moment later she said crisply, “*Follow*
me, ferret.”
“Ferret?!” Draco exclaimed, trotting after her with a thunderstruck expression.
“Would you prefer ‘inbred albino’?” Pansy drawled. “Come on, we need to talk.”
“About what?” Draco muttered sulkily.
“Don’t act stupid Dray. It’s never suited you.”
Draco sighed gracelessly and followed. Pansy led him into the room of
requirement and added further wards. Draco played quietly with the Parkinson
ring hanging down from his neck. He looked up when Pansy shattered the silence
by throwing down her diamond bracelet onto the floor.
“Panse,” Draco protested softly.
“No!” Pansy cried angrily. “How *dare* you Draco!”
“I thought you liked that bracelet,” Draco muttered.
“It’s supposed to mean that you value me Draco!” Pansy screamed. Draco flinched
and looked up at her. She stormed around the room forcefully. “How *dare* you.
I can’t wear that when you clearly don’t give a damn. We’re supposed to be
*friends*, damn it.”
“We are friends,” Draco muttered uncomfortably. “You know you’ve always been my
best friend Panse.”
“We are not friends,” Pansy retorted darkly. “We are not friends because if we
were you would have came to me with whatever’s wrong with you.”
“Pansy…”
“You come clean right now or you can take that chain from around your neck,”
Pansy said.
“This friendship means far from nothing to me,” Draco said in reply to his
friend’s ultimatum.
“Then you tell me what’s wrong. You tell me right now. And you let me help
you.”
“This isn’t something you can help me with,” Draco said, but made no move to
remove his necklace.
“That doesn’t matter,” Pansy answered, making no move to step closer or away.
Draco looked up. “That time…when we were about six.”
“Yes,” Pansy said. When they’d been about six they had been practising their
deportment unsupervised, and Draco had accidentally stumbled, catching his hip
on a tabletop and knocking over its centrepiece in the process. It had taken
only moments to right the flower arrangement and heal the blooming bruise on
his white hip, but the fact remained that he had failed, and in front of
another. Lucius would not have been forgiving if he had known. But Pansy never
told. ‘How do we know we’re really friends?’ the little six year old had
commented to Draco, ‘unless we can trust each other?’
For Draco, who already had numerous ‘friends’ positioned to become
‘connections’ in later life, this was the first instance he had experienced of
a ‘real’ friendship. He reached down for Pansy’s diamond bracelet and examined
it. Pansy fixed her eyes on him softly, and Draco spoke. When he finally
finished talking and Pansy had digested his confession they left the room of
requirement: only to swiftly run into Jessa, who blurted out Luna’s warning.
Meanwhile, the Gryffindors had taken the warning to heart and were making their
way to the room of requirement with various members of the DA. Harry gave the
trio a look and sidestepped them quietly on the way into the room. Following
Harry’s example the others said nothing, but turned glares on the two Malfoys
and the Malfoy intended.
Draco turned up his nose and sneered. “Losers,” he drawled.
“Slut,” Ginny retorted.
“This is neither the time nor the place,” Jessa warned her brother, holding
back the arm that had reached for his wand.
“Isn’t it? I know my side,” Draco replied.
Harry sneered and thrust the door open with more force than necessary. “Come
on,” he barked at the others, who followed mutely.
“Bunch of idiots,” Jessa muttered.
“Where are you going?” Pansy called.
“To talk to Mad Eye and punch Peeves. Whichever I meet first.”
Draco sighed. “Oh just leave her to it,” he said. To Jessa he stated, “It’s not
befitting of a Malfoy to cavort with poltergeists you know.”
Jessa smirked dangerously. “Least Peeves is magical.”
“Come on Panse,” Draco said quickly.
Jessa snickered and headed for Alastor’s rooms.
“Thanks for not punching him,” Harry muttered.
Ron looked at his friend for a moment then looked away. “Yeah, well, you still
love him don’t you. Even if he is a prat.”
Harry nodded. “Yeah.”
“Well, looks like we’ve got something to take your mind off of it anyway,” Ron
said. “Who knew there was a good point to war?”
Harry laughed weakly. “Thanks Ron.”
The redhead merely grinned. “I’m not completely useless. C’mon, Hermione’s
givin’ us that look. I think she wants you to say somethin’ to everyone.”
Harry groaned. “Great. And you’re far from useless mate.”
“Harry!” Hermione prompted. The boy sighed and stepped towards her.
“Mad Eye!” Jessa threw herself into his arm and began to hurriedly relate the
events of the day.
“Slow down gell. What?”
“The war is soon,” Jessa repeated.
Alastor stared at the teen for a moment. Jessa continued. “I’ve told the
others. Luna knew, you see.”
Alastor examined her words in his head. “Does Albus know?”
Jessa curled her lip. “I don’t know.”
“Jessa,” Mad Eye scowled.
She sighed. “Harry’s probably told him by now.”
“Probably is not good enough when we’re talking war,” Alastor growled, grabbing
Jessa’s wrist and tugging her all the way to the headmaster’s office.
By the time Jessa exited the office she was in no mood to play nicely with
anyone. Whether Peeves found her by knack or coincidence, Jessa was infinitely
grateful for his presence. Not that she related that fact to him.
Peeves regarded her mistrustfully because of the glint in her eyes. “Kinny
Jess-ah! Fuck!”
He glared at her and rubbed his injury. “You bitch,” he sulked. He cartwheeled
out of the way of her next blow and froze when the next contact he made with
her skin made his own tingle. He bent in to kiss her and she bit his lip
softly.
“What’s wrong?” he eventually asked.
Jessa blinked slowly and regarded the poltergeist she was straddling. “People
will die,” she said.
“Things could surprise you,” Peeves commented from his position on the floor.
Jessa tugged the collar of the male beneath her. His hands on her were oddly
reassuring and he stared up at her with a look she couldn’t comprehend.
“When has there ever been a good surprise?” she murmured.
“Perhaps you’re due one,” Peeves said.
“Peeves.”
“Yes?” he answered sweetly.
“Give me back my wand.”
Peeves swore and dropped his head back onto the floor as he conceded. Jessa
swatted his chest and took her wand back. “Bloody thief,” she said.
***** Where Shall We Go From Here? *****

Author's notes: Wherein we move towards the climax
===============================================================================
If Luna's prophecy is unfamiliar to you head to the previous chapter, I know
some of you havent yet :]
“Harry, lad,” Alastor called, limping quickly to catch up with the boy whilst
the others simply exited at a sluggish pace, their brains numbed by the
directions the meeting’s conversation had taken.
The teen turned and waited, his face a mask.
“Are you alright?” the man asked.
Harry nodded curtly, but both Alastor’s eyes remained on him. In reaction to
this Harry sighed and ran his hand through his hair. “I’ll be fine,” he said.
“About… you know, about… Well I’ll get Remus to talk to you, I ’spect he’ll
want to talk to you about it anyway. But well… Just trust your gut boy. It’s
all that you can do. But you be careful.”
Harry ingested that and looked up at the old auror questioningly, but Moody
shook his head and shuffled away. “Just remember now,” the man said over his
shoulder, “constant vigilance!”
Well that was a lot of help. Harry walked down the corridor to where his
friends were waiting for him, and related what Mad Eye had said. Ron had
snorted at the much overused ‘constant vigilance’ but Hermione had looked
thoughtful and not entirely pleased.
“What?” Harry asked her.
“Don’t think it matters,” she replied, her expression indicating that the cogs
in her head were still turning something over and that she wasn’t entirely
comfortable with the outcome she was reaching.
Harry sighed and pushed his glasses up his nose. “I still think he should have
been there,” he said.
Hermione glanced at him and pursed her lips. Ron wasn’t paying attention. “What
did you think of what Tonks said?” the redhead asked.
“What?” Harry and Hermione asked.
“About Malfoy. Draco,” Ron said.
“Oh who cares,” Harry murmured, shrugging and beginning to walk a little faster
than the others.
“Well, you do,” Hermione murmured even more quietly and, taking Ronald’s arm,
quickened their pace to keep up with their friend.
“Harry!”
The Gryffindor sighed and paused, his friends falling into line at either side
of him. He turned to face Lupin.
“Harry,” Remus smiled nervously and licked his lips. “About… well… about what
Sirius said. And Prongs. And Phineas.”
“Yes,” Harry said stoutly.
Remus let out a huff of air. “Well, we thought we’d best have a little chat
about it. With your friends, if you’d rather,” he said, indicating Ron and
Hermione.
“Because my life’s not difficult enough,” Harry said with little grace, but
nodded and indicated that they would go with Remus. Lupin twitched his head and
led them into an empty room.
“Please, sit,” he said mildly.
Harry inclined his head once and sat down with an air surprisingly like Lucius
Malfoy’s without the vanity. He didn’t seem to notice and after exchanging a
look Ron and Hermione quickly seated himself either side of him.
“You have something to say?” Harry prompted.
Remus nodded, his amber eyes fixing on the boy with an indiscernible expression
for a moment until he started speaking. “As you know, the Headmaster is
choosing to react as though we were at threat.”
“Yes,” Harry said shortly.
Remus nodded. “And Draco…”
“Has got nothing to do with it,” Harry said sharply.
Gently, Remus said, “Pretending for a moment that he did…”
His delicate manner did not seem to settle Harry at all. “I’d say the time for
games like Let’s Pretend was over, wouldn’t you say Moony?”
A muscle in Lupin’s cheek twitched for a moment. “You sounded exactly like your
father there.” Remus shook his head when Harry seemed about to talk, and
instead said, “It’s of no consequence, I’m sorry. But let’s just humour me for
a moment and hypothesise, hmm?”
Harry sat back in his chair and crossed his arms. He gestured with his eyebrows
for Remus to continue. Hermione prodded him in the ribs to point out his
rudeness, but the glare he directed at her made her pull her fingers away
swiftly.
“So, in this hypothetical situation Draco actually matters here okay? Now,
depending on which side-”
“He’s on the wrong side,” Harry said roughly.
“Well-”
“He’s on the wrong side!” Harry repeated.
“Harry, just because you and the pointy-faced git have had a tiff doesn’t have
to mean-”
“A tiff, Ron?” Harry snarled, “I think this is a little bit more than a tiff!
If he’s not one of us-”
“Do you think-” Hermione shut her mouth quickly at Harry’s expression.
“Has it occurred to you that the prat’s too cowardly to dirty his hands with
the dark side?” Ron asked Harry, which was as far as he was willing to stick up
for the blonde.
“He’s not one of us,” Harry insisted blackly.
“Oh for Merlin’s sake Harry!” Lupin shouted. The teenager looked up at him in
surprise. “That boy will never be talented enough to fake the way he was with
you and it is obvious that he’s pining for you. Stop your sulking for one
minute so that we can rationally discuss what to do about his situation. He’s
probably in more danger than you are if your secret comes out because all his
father has to do is take him out of school. What we need to know right now is
if we hold him when the war takes place, will he be stupid enough to fight
against us? And regardless of which side he chooses, will you be able to act
with a level head in battle?”
Quietened, Harry said, “Yes.”
“Okay,” Remus said. “Then let’s discuss tactics, shall we?”
*
Jessa hung back as Severus strode into his room and started tearing apart his
stores, presumably searching for something. “What are you standing there
gormlessly for?” he demanded.
“Have you a better suggestion?” Jessa asked.
Severus looked up. “Don’t you snipe at me,” he said.
Jessa sighed but managed to withhold the ‘or what?’ lurking in her throat.
Severus heard her sigh and turned around, his hands still rooting through his
supplies. “Go sit down or practise combat moves in your bedroom or something.”
She looked a little lost but turned away. Whilst she was debating whether to go
fidget on the couch or slope off to her rooms Severus paused and found himself
saying, “Come in here.”
“What?”
“Come make yourself useful in here,” Severus stated. “You can help me sort what
we’ll need soon.”
Jessa stepped into his room but hesitated when she walked up to her once-lover.
Severus noticed her awkwardness and, irritated by it, barked, “Kneel down and
sort those bottles. Pick out the healing potions and anything else you think
will be useful. Check the dates. Anything that looks like it’s expired just
dispose of it.”
“Okay. Sev?”
“Severus,” he corrected.
“Sev’rus… I… Why..?”
“Oh, shut up unless you’ve got something competent to say,” Severus replied.
They were silent for a while, Jessa becoming absorbed in the task. Severus
inhaled deeply through his nose and said, “Stop fretting about what is yet to
happen. It’s a waste of adrenaline.”
Jessa looked up at him but his hair obscured his face.
He said, “We’re almost done here. You can help me brew some felix once we’re
finished.”
“Okay,” Jessa said.
*
“Have you heard?” Ginny asked.
Greg nodded.
“What are you going to do?” Ginny asked, struggling to keep her voice from
sounding desperate.
Greg groaned and turned his face away, his head still tilted towards her. “You
know what I’m going to do.”
“Greg!”
“Oh don’t Gin.”
“You could get hurt!” Ginny shouted. “You could get killed!”
“So could you,” Greg replied. “The Boy Wonder isn’t making you sit this one out
is he? Why should Dray ask me to back away from my duty?”
“It’s not your duty!”
“Then it’s not yours to back Potter. But you will. So don’t ask me not to do
what you’re doing. You’ve never been a hypocrite Princess.”
“A hypocrite?! I’m asking you not to fight on the wrong side!”
“The same side as my family? My friends, Ginny?”
“You don’t want to!”
“No I don’t,” Greg agreed, “but it’s not about what I want. It’s about what’s
right. And endangering my friends isn’t right.”
“How would-”
“You think they wouldn’t be punished if I turned light?” Greg exclaimed.
“Then persuade them to join you. Us.”
“As if that’s going to happen Gin,” Greg sighed.
“Then why are you with me?” the redhead cried.
Greg snorted. “You know why.”
Ginny drew her wand on him in frustration. He caught her wrist softly. Before
Ginny could question herself she threw herself closer and devoured the older
boy’s lips.
*
Tonks snickered deprecatingly and watched the boy Remus had indicated. Her
cousin was sitting in the library with a number of his classmates and was the
picture of pureblooded perfection. His studies were of a vague interest to him
whilst he held the attention of everyone at his table. He looked well but Tonks
had recognised the glamours he was using to keep up that charade. When he
thought no one was looking he stifled a yawn and slumped carefully against Miss
Parkinson. The girl glanced at him and wrapped her arm around him, shifting her
position to make a more comfortable pillow.
“What do you think?” Tonks asked.
Lupin made a face. “They’ve been making innuendo all the time we’ve been here,
but they haven’t had sex recently. I can’t smell anyone’s essence on Draco, but
I can smell a few people on Miss Parkinson. From what I’ve heard them say to
each other under their breath, they’re aware of each others bedroom movements.”
“So he’s pretending to knock around with her?” Tonks asked.
Remus looked at her, smiled wryly, and nodded. “Yes.”
“My cousin’s a little liar. Who knew?” the young woman said with irony.
“Who knew indeed,” Remus echoed, wrinkling his nose and directing his amber
eyes back to the table of snakes.
*
“Well that was a fun meeting,” Blaise said insincerely as they headed back to
the common room. The others made faces whilst Vince shrugged and said, “Was
something we needed to do wasn’t it?”
“Doesn’t mean I’m not depressed now,” Pansy said.
“It wasn’t that bad,” Greg said, remembering how many times Ginny had lost her
temper with him earlier. At least the Salazar Society were all in the same
position.
“What’s the point in discussing it with you Greg? You’d probably go after the
Weaselette’s twin brothers if she wasn’t capable of annihilating you,” Draco
grumbled.
“What’s that got to do with anything?” Greg protested. Everyone seemed to be
picking on him today.
“You’ve got no morals!”
“Oh *I’ve* got no morals,” Greg muttered. “You’re the one who chucked Panse for
no good reason.”
“It was sorta a good reason,” Pansy interrupted.
“Like what?”
“Unleasing Pansy’s inner whore,” Blaise quipped.
“Hey!” Draco and Pansy protested.
“You did ask Jessa to join you on yours and Draco’s honeymoon Panse,” Blaise
said. “And now you’re hooking up with her. And Lovegood.” He broke into a silly
grin. “Ah, the aptly named Miss Lovegood.” Theo punched him.
“Speaking of Loony,” Vincent murmured, tilting his head. Luna was standing near
the entrance running her hands over the walls curiously.
“Luna!” Pansy called.
The dreamy blonde turned to smile at her and skipped over. “Oh, hello Pansy.
Have you…” She trailed off and frowned a little. “Oh. That’s not good.” She
wandered off.
Blaise burst out laughing. “That’s who you’re doing Pansy? *She’s* Draco’s
worthy replacement?” He cackled delightedly.
Pansy watched Luna walk away, a little perturbed by the way the Ravenclaw no
longer seemed to see any of them. “She does that sometimes,” Pansy murmured.
“Jessa says Luna can see things most people can’t.”
“That’s because she’s away with the fairies,” Blaise retorted.
“*You* can see thestrals,” Greg pointed out. Pansy smirked at Blaise as he
glowered.
“Task at hand,” Draco growled.
“Yeah, course,” Vinny muttered. “C’mon guys.”
*
Most of the group collapsed onto chairs and summoned themselves water when
Harry finally called for a break.
“Why are we-” Gred began.
“-Even doing this?” Forge finished.
Ron gave them a disgruntled look and took a gulp of water. He hadn’t sat down
yet. “We’ve been over this. We’re doing this because Dumbledore spoke to
Lovegood and believes that the She-Malfoy could be right. Even if she’s wrong
it still makes sense to start training.”
“He’s right,” Ginny and Harry said. The twins sneered together, sighed, and
shrugged their shoulders.
“You don’t think-”
“-It could be misinformation?”
“You just want it to be because you’re getting your arse handed to you… Oh.
Sorry Hermione.”
Hermione slapped his arm for swearing but didn’t seem too annoyed. Neville
handed her a drink.
“Anyway,” Ron said, “you trust Dumbledore don’t you?”
*
“Draco has not been in touch,” Lucius commented. He smiled, and mused, “Why?
Well, that is a good question.” He swirled his drink around his glass and
looked up at Severus. “You wouldn’t know anything about that would you?”
“I profess to never have any knowledge of anything Lucius, you know that. Much
tidier that way.”
Lucius took a swig of his drink and looked at Severus over the rim of his
glass. “The Dark Lord’s been making plans.”
Severus regarded Lucius coolly from over his own drink. “Oh?”
Lucius inclined his head. “I don’t suppose Draco’s been given any orders? It is
so unlike him not to write back to his mother.”
“I cannot presume to say either way Lucius.”
“No, it appears not. Do you know what He’s doing now Severus?”
Severus lowered his glass. “Do continue.”
*
“Bloody hell Bells.”
“Don’t call me that Barty,” Bellatrix said dangerously.
Barty sighed.
“You’re wasting your breath,” the unmarried Lestrange said. “*She’s* going to
enjoy it.”
“*I’m* going to enjoy it,” Barty protested.
“Yes. But you’re scared. My esteemed sister-in-law does not feel that emotion.”
“Shut up,” Bella said.
“He’s really asking for something this time though, isn’t He?” Barty said,
sounding slightly weary.
“Don’t be a coward,” Bellatrix said. “It is going to be glorious.”
“Spread a little pain, won’t you Bells?” Lestrange got up to leave.
“A little?” Bellatrix mocked. “Oh, I am going to give much more than that.” She
laughed in delight. “Oh the blood we shall spill.”
*
Harry shook his head. “Can you cast a patronus? You’re gonna need to.”
***** What Happens When Draco Gets Bored *****

Author's notes: Wherein there is a 'final battle' of sorts
===============================================================================
Severus apparated to Grimmauld Place and held tightly to the wall to keep
himself upright. “Expecto patronus! Black, Potter, you must find Albus and
Minerva…anyone who can help. It’s urgent.” He turned wearily to his patronus
and blinked. He blinked again, in case stress was playing tricks on his mind.
The patronus remained alien to him. Whatever. “Get to Albus as fast as you can
and tell him that Draco’s in mortal danger. Tell him where.”
James had disappeared promptly along with the patronus but Sirius hovered for a
moment. “Your patronus has changed,” he murmured.
“*Please*, Black!” the injured man exclaimed.
Sirius looked at Severus’ dishevelled state and nodded to himself. “Right,
right, of course. I’m going!” He paused. “But I’m going to murder you later!”
He disappeared out of sight.
“What’s going on?”
The muted voice belonged to Remus Lupin, who was standing quietly in the
doorway.
“Draco’s…in trouble. The dark lord…knows.”
“But you’ve sent everyone to help him.”
Severus nodded weakly and Remus crossed the room towards him.
“Sit down,” Remus said.
“I can’t, you’ve got to-”
“Sit down,” Remus said much more firmly. “You’ve sent the others haven’t you?
Now let me heal you before you keel over on the floor. You think your godson’s
going to be happy to hear that you died whilst everyone went to rescue him? I
think not. Once you’ve let me heal you we will both make ourselves more
useful.”
Severus tiredly opened his mouth to protest further but the werewolf gave him a
look that chilled him deeply. For a moment the mild amber eyes had glinted
yellow.
“Severus,” Remus growled, half-lifting the other wizard onto the couch and
beginning to heal him. Severus let him.
“So. That little dog looked a lot like…”
“No she did not,” Severus snapped.
“She?” Remus smiled. He looked down at one of the injuries and hissed as he
pulled the fabric away from Severus’ burnt and still bleeding skin. Severus
didn’t react. “This looks nasty,” Remus commented softly.
“Just some of the exuberant young Death Eaters trying to be creative,” Severus
said in what he tried to make sound like bored tones. He seemed to cringe away
slightly from Lupin’s touch and Lupin looked up into his eyes.
“You’re still bothered by that?” Lupin questioned.
“Bothered by what?” Severus snapped.
“My healing you. You’re remembering last time,” Remus answered.
“Get off of me Lupin,” Severus retorted tiredly.
“Not yet,” the werewolf said, continuing to tend Severus’ wounds.
“Can you just look at the damage and not at me please?” Severus drawled.
Remus smiled mildly and shrugged. “Nearly finished.”
“I forgot; they’re one and the same aren’t they?” Severus griped, not taking
much notice of his nursemaid.
“Oh relax,” Remus said, finally taking his hands away and searching through his
scruffy pockets. “Chocolate?”
Severus grimaced but accepted a piece. Shoving it into his mouth, he jumped to
his feet out of Remus’ grasp and staggered heavily.
“Give your body a moment to right itself,” Remus said.
Severus sneered and stepped clumsily towards the fireplace.
“Severus!” Remus barked.
“What, wolf?”
“I told you to wait a moment. You can’t floo in that state.”
“I’ll recover sufficiently shortly.” Severus shrugged in a half-brittle manner,
taking a pinch of floo powder.
“I told you to wait,” Remus growled.
Severus glanced at his colleague warily.
“We should learn from our mistakes,” Lupin said.
Severus sneered but gripped the mantelpiece and waited for the sick feeling in
his chest to pass.
“I’ve said I’m sorry,” Remus said.
Severus straightened a little in irritation and pinched the bridge of his nose.
“It doesn’t matter anymore.”
“Doesn’t it?” Remus’ eyes flashed in the gloom.
“You made sure it didn’t scar didn’t you?” Severus muttered.
“On the outside maybe. You know he was just jealous don’t you?”
Severus lifted his head but did not look up. “No. I didn’t. Not that that
excuses the matter. Or you.”
“He was my friend,” Lupin said slowly. “At the time I thought I had to keep
quiet about his failings.”
“How did you feel when he was arrested for the Potters’ deaths?”
The look Severus had anticipated crossed over Lupin’s face and Severus said,
“You might not have felt that if you’d ever spoken up about his violence.”
“James was no angel either.”
“Didn’t back me up when he went after me either, did you?” Severus said. He
sighed. “Look, it needs laid to rest. Can I just go yet?”
“You’re still shaking,” Remus replied.
Severus waited for the trembling to die down then wiped the cold sweat from his
face and neck in one stiff movement. He raised his eyebrows at Remus.
“By all means,” the werewolf said, crossing over to the fireplace to follow
afterwards.
*
Draco had gotten bored with the current state of affairs. Or at least he told
himself he was simply bored of being pulled in so many conflicting directions
and waiting for judgement to fall. He knew things were extremely volatile.
When he got the letter with the portkey from his father, he used it. He
couldn’t bear another moment within the school walls. In close proximity to
Potter. Stressing about the Dark Lord.
At least a summons meant doing something. Having an immediate reason to be in
such a fraught emotional state.
What it meant was falling whim to some flare of the Dark Lord’s temper and not
being quite skilled enough to mask the concern that the punishment was the
precursor to that for his crime. And then the Dark Lord’s fury when he
discovered that he could not break Draco’s mental shields.
Oh, Bellatrix was being punished for that one. Very slowly. Lord Voldemort was
furious you see. He had not expected Bella to displease him so and he was
making that displeasure known. Making her scream was too efficient. He was
going to draw out her agony. She kept crying. He’d never taken his anger out on
her in quite this manner before.
As for Draco, who was clearly hiding something from his Lord. Oh he would pay.
The insubordinate whelp was learning what happened to little boys who crossed
Lord Voldemort. This boy was no Harry Potter.
Draco sighed and closed his eyes as he heard booted feet approach him. “How are
you?”
Draco looked up at his father with difficulty. The man was leaning heavily on
his cane and despite how much he tried to hide it, the pain he felt was evident
by his expression. He still managed to retain a superior air however. He was a
Malfoy after all.
“I’m alive,” Draco croaked.
“You’ll be lucky if you stay that way,” Lucius commented. “Of all the things to
do Draco…”
“I apologise Father.”
“What good is that to me boy? I hope your smart mouth can get you out of this.
Merlin knows it looks like you’re out of dumb luck.”
Draco laughed but found the action painful. “Good to know Father.”
“Going to go down laughing are you?” Lucius shifted his weight with difficulty.
“What a waste of good breeding Draco. All that blood that our family’s done so
much to keep pure and you might just throw it all away.”
“I really am sorry Father,” Draco replied, using a lot of his energy to make
the statement come out above a whisper.
“Well I hope it does you some good,” Lucius chided. He sighed and sat down on
the floor a couple of paces from his son. “I certainly got punished for your
behaviour,” he huffed to distract from his weakness of not being able to remain
on his feet.
“You know Dragon,” Lucius said, “I’ve got these memories in my head that I just
can’t reach. Worse than a word on the tip of your tongue. I expect I knew
something and the memory’s been taken from harm’s way.” Lucius paused for a
moment and thought. He began again, “I don’t know what went on inside your
head. But I hope that… I did what I could for you. You’ve always been
…important to me. You’re my heir of course.”
Draco tilted his head slightly to show he understood.
With a noise of disdain Lucius suddenly got up with a slightly stiff flourish
and dropped down again beside his son. “You’re covered in blood,” Lucius
grumbled, pulling the teen against him carefully and smoothing the youth’s
blood-matted hair.
Draco was quiet, his nerves snapping to attention when Lucius sighed. The Dark
Lord desired to break Draco’s mental walls. If what was behind them was
reasonably tolerable then Draco could still live. He’d be tortured of course,
but he would live to atone for his disgrace and overwrite it. There was no
question of what was to be done if Draco had an unforgivable secret. What a
waste of a magnificent heir. Shortly, Lucius said, “You’re going to be healed
up and tortured again tonight. Remain dignified.”
“Of course Father,” Draco replied.
“Don’t you fucking dare disgrace me by dying do you hear me?”
Draco’s lips twitched. “Understood Father.”
*
By the time Severus and Remus made it to the Headmaster’s office Albus had
received the message and was waiting for them with Minerva, Sirius and James.
Severus’ odd new patronus had disappeared from sight and for that he was
grateful.
“I’ve contacted the auror core,” Albus said. “How long do we have?”
“The Dark Lord is not likely to know of my escape or my attempt to free Draco
yet. The Death Eaters that remained conscious will be reluctant to inform their
Lord of their failure. I still suggest haste in recovering him however; it can
only be a matter of time.”
“What happened?”
“Apparently Draco received a portkey in the mail from his father as the Dark
Lord required him on some whim. Somehow Draco displeased the Lord and when
punishing him the Dark Lord discovered Draco’s mental shields. He’s decided
that Draco is a traitor and is reacting thus. The boy’s being tortured and when
the Dark Lord breaks into his head and discovers what Draco is hiding the boy
will die.
“Bellatrix Lestrange was responsible for teaching Draco occlumency and is being
tortured for it, which has the Dark Lord’s attention for the moment. He’s
enjoying it. He thought she was his most loyal. Lucius has also been punished,
for producing an unsatisfactory heir.
“I had attempted to take Draco but he was guarded by a substantial number of
Death Eaters as the Dark Lord apparently believes there is a chance that Draco
is a competent traitor.”
“As if that boy’s been a competent anything,” Sirius snorted. He looked to
Dumbledore. “We’ll get him out, right?”
“We can only hope…”
*
The gargoyle that usually stood sentry before the entrance to Headmaster
Dumbledore’s office had had quite enough of that line of talk. He pulled away
from the wall and headed for Gryffindor tower.
To put it simply, the students and the Fat Lady were shocked by the gargoyle’s
presence. The Gryffindors were even more shocked when the gargoyle stole a
quill and parchment from a revising third year, scratched out a note, and
carried it over to Harry.
Harry stared at the gargoyle and then lowered his eyes to the parchment whilst
Hermione and Ron read over his shoulder.
Harry lifted his head. “Are you for real?”
The gargoyle nodded slowly.
“You stand outside Dumbledore’s office don’t you?”
The gargoyle nodded again.
“Okay,” said Harry. He ran up to his dormitory to fetch his cloak.
“Harry where are you going?” Hermione cried.
“You read what I did! I’m going for Draco!”
His friends exchanged glances. Then Ron yelled, “Then we’re coming with you
mate!”
“What’s going on?” Ginny and Neville approached and Ginny quietly read the note
aloud.
“We’re coming too,” Neville said.
“The entire DA’s coming,” Ginny corrected.
Ron looked at his baby sister. “It’s going to be dangerous.”
Ginny’s face set. “Try and stop me.”
“We’ll ask Dumbledore,” Hermione said.
Ron looked at her. “We’re talking to Dumbledore first?”
“Yes Ron,” Hermione said snippily.
The gargoyle took the quill and wrote on the back of the parchment: Take
everyone who has trained with you who will go.
“Seamus, Dean, go get the Ravenclaws,” Ginny said. “Neville… Go get your other
girlfriend.”
“Jessa?”
“Yes,” Ginny said stiffly.
The three boys bounded down the stairs whilst Harry reappeared from the
dormitories.
“The gargoyle says we’re all going,” Lavender told him.
“What?” Harry said.
“You’ll need backup won’t you?” Parvati said. “Everyone who can help you must
come. The manpower could be an advantage.”
The gargoyle headed for the doorway and indicated that they all follow. He
paused and shook his head, herding the first years away from the door.
“Fair enough,” Ron said.
“First years, stay behind,” Hermione declared.
Dennis nodded at her solemnly and took charge of the first years.
“This is insane,” Hermione muttered as the growing mob made its way through the
school. Ron glanced and her and snorted good-naturedly.
“We realise we’re going to save Malfoy right? Prince of Slytherin? The boy
everybody hates?” Justin said as he fell into line with the crowd.
“I don’t think that matters,” Lavender said thoughtfully.
“*Some* of us don’t hate him,” Ginny said tersely, glancing towards Harry.
Hermione heard her and gazed at Harry too. He was at the forefront of everyone
striding beside the gargoyle. Colin was running along nearby, delighted with
the amazing photo opportunity.
Seamus and Dean came running up from the side to join the throng, the
Ravenclaws following. “We thought the first years should stay behind,” Dean
said.
“And we left the Prefects with them to like protect them, just in case,” Seamus
added.
Hermione and Ron nodded. Harry hadn’t even heard them. As Hermione observed
this, Neville came haring towards them. Jessa skidded to a halt before Harry a
split-instant later. He jerked his head softly and she fell into step beside
Ron.
They glanced at the squabbling group of Slytherins. “You should still stay
behind,” Blaise was heard insisting to Theo.
“You’re going aren’t you?” Theo retorted. “Here to help, Potter,” he said to
Harry.
Harry nodded. “Good to see you.”
The Slytherins stepped into line awkwardly. Vincent shook his head warningly at
the little Creevy boy who had bounded closer to take pictures. Colin
backpedalled swiftly, rushing to take pictures of Pansy who was carrying
herself like royalty marching to battle. Without a word or a glance Ginny slid
her hand down to Greg’s and squeezed it tightly. Ron managed a nod at the
intimidating Slytherin.
By the time the huge group had reached the Headmaster’s office Peeves had been
attracted from the opposite end of the castle by its emptiness and the
tantalising amount of crackling energy he could sense here.
“Planning a revolt are we?” he smirked. Cartwheeling, he cackled, “Dumbledore
could do with being put in his place!”
“Not today Peeves,” Jessa answered automatically. To Harry she said, “You go
up, with the rest of the trio. We won’t all fit in his office.”
Harry managed a smile as he glanced at the massive throng of people. The
gargoyle opened the entrance to Dumbledore’s office and ushered Harry,
Hermione, Ron, Greg and Ginny up the stairs. Jessa stepped back and declined to
join them. Pansy halted and turned away from the staircase to stand beside her.
Peeves smirked at the pair and made lecherous comments. Neville narrowed his
eyes at the poltergeist and stepped to the other side of Jessa. Peeves rolled
his eyes, pouted, and when none of this achieved anything, blew a raspberry.
“Peeves,” Jessa scolded.
Blaise laughed at Pansy’s expression and the other Slytherins gathered around
her. The laughter seemed to help the entire crowd and shortly their
conversation heightened in volume to its normal, raucous level.
Jessa moved over to the gargoyle and leaned against him. Pansy looked up from
amongst her friends. “Hey, where’s Luna?”
“She’s coming,” Neville said. Pansy smiled and nodded. After a moment they both
seemed to realise that they had spoken calmly to each other and moved away from
each other sharply.
*
It was the first time that any of the staff could remember seeing the
Headmaster bemused for a very long time. He hid his mystified feelings as best
he could and pretended that he had expected all along for the students to unite
in such a fashion.
“Harry, I’ve told you that the aurors are dealing with the situation,” the old
man said.
“That’s not enough!” Harry protested. “Why would the *gargoyle* have brought us
here if not because Draco was in danger?”
“Draco *is* in danger,” Severus drawled. He rolled his eyes at the eyes
directed his way. “But he is in capable hands.”
“You don’t believe that do you? He’s your godson!” Harry cried. “I know you
care about him!”
“Do not presume to tell me what I feel,” Severus growled.
“He’s fine,” Dumbledore said.
“He’s not,” Dobby announced, appearing with a pop. “Dobby is knowing that the
–the young M- Dra-”
“Draco,” Severus supplied.
Dobby looked up at the potions master with wide eyes, nodded, and breathlessly
continued, “is being tortured!”
“Well of course he is,” Severus said.
Harry gave them a horrified look, and it spread to the others when it became
clear to him that the rest of the adults were unsurprised by this revelation.
Before he could say anything Phineas clattered into his frame. “You’d better
get someone in soon!” he snarled.
“What’s happening?” Sirius asked him.
“The boy’s going to break if no one reaches him soon, that’s what!” Phineas
barked.
“You’re unusually interested in this boy’s wellbeing,” Minerva commented.
“He’s a good pureblood,” Phineas Nigellus said stoutly.
“And a sodomist,” Sirius retorted lightly.
“Tedious, self-absorbed brat,” Phineas retorted.
“Who knows where he is?” Harry demanded very seriously. Minerva smiled as
though that was a joke about Draco.
“I do... I know,” Severus said, sounding a little less harsh than usual.
“Then you’re coming with me,” Harry snarled, turning and heading for the door.
“Are you fit?” Remus asked.
Severus sneered but before he could move or vocalise an answer, James said,
“But my boy’s the Chosen One. You’re just going to let him walk into danger?”
“He’s going for Draco,” Sirius said.
“But-”
Harry noisily left the room. Everyone stared at his departure for a beat, then
Severus muttered, “Reckless child.” Severus and Remus quickly followed, and
after a further moment Minerva ran after them.
“You took your sweet time,” were the words Jessa greeted Harry with. “How are
we getting there?”
“There’s not enough thestrals,” Hermione said.
Harry smiled grimly and led them outdoors, heading for outside the anti-
apparition wards. “Don’t need them. D’you remember that thing we’ve been
working on?”
Hermione glanced at the considerable amount of people behind her and pursed her
lips warily. “There’s a lot more of us.”
“It’ll work,” Harry said.
“How do you know?”
Harry looked over at the blonde Ravenclaw who had appeared and who was
cheerfully giving him the thumbs up. He smiled. “It’ll work,” he repeated. He
turned to Severus. “Professor... I'm going to need you to connect our minds for
a moment so that you can show me where Draco is.”
Severus pressed his lips together. “Is it the same place Tom stays?” Jessa
asked quickly. At Prof. Snape’s terse nod, Jessa tumbled towards Harry and
locked eyes with him.
Harry absorbed the knowledge and reached out a hand for Hermione. She took it
and quickly ordered everyone to clasp hands tightly. Jessa smirked and
sightlessly took Severus’ hand. Bemused, Minerva smiled slightly and snatched
Severus’ other hand. Colin linked hands with her and everyone was suddenly
connected in a circle.
“Now,” Harry said. He held his eyes tightly closed and willed the image in his
mind to Hermione at the same time as he threw his magic into her and grabbed
Jessa’s. A white light appeared in the hand that joined the two Gryffindors and
raced around the chain of people, leaving a small white glow in every hand it
flew through.
Jessa had gasped when she felt Severus’ magic thrust into her and gasped again
when she finally felt her own magic return to her. In between these two
sensations the magic of every member of the circle had touched her for an
instant. Shakily she let her breath come back to her and waited for the feeling
to come back to her weak legs. She looked up to discover they were no longer
near Hogwarts, and then noticed that everyone was shaking themselves out of
their feeling of disorientation. Harry dropped her hand and she realised he had
broken the connection he had been holding with her mind, but she wasn’t sure
when.
Everyone let go of each other. “Now what?” Lavender and Pansy found the voice
to ask.
Harry turned to Ron and showed him what was in his mind, which he’d taken from
Jessa.
“You couldn’t learn occlumency and now you’ve taught others?” Snape sneered.
“I must just have been a better teacher than you Sev,” Jessa teased, yelping
softly when he slapped her. He bared his teeth in a sardonic smile and then
said seriously, “The wards will have alerted the guards to our presense.”
“No bother. You lot, you’re going to cover our backs. You lot, you’re going to
go this way,” Ron started drawing a glowing map in the air with his wand, “and
you lot are going to go this way,” he continued. He put purple indicators on
the map as everyone crowded around to watch. “These are the bad guys. Keep out
of their way.” He looked up. “Hermione.”
Hermione smiled and stepped forwards. With one word she tapped the map and it
appeared on the back of everyone’s second hand.
Ron’s voice brought everyone’s attention back from what tended to be their left
hand. “I want you guys at the front of your groups, you guys watching the back,
and you lot keep to the inside. Let the guys at the front do the fighting but
still watch each other’s backs.” Hermione silently began pairing up the
fighters with the most effective shields. Ron turned to the map and placed
white dots on it. With another tap these dots appeared on the chest of a large
number of those gathered. “These people can heal you if you’re hurt. If someone
is seriously injured get them to someone with a big white dot. One last thing.”
He tapped the map again and different colours appeared on everyone’s map to
represent the groups. “Alright, let’s head out.”
“Purple for the bad guys?” Blaise murmured.
“Are we green?” Pansy asked, checking her hand.
“Green are the less experienced, black are the ones who can be left to
themselves, and pink are the team players that you can call to if you need back
up,” Hermione said. “They’re the colours we usually use.”
“It’s a yellowy green,” Greg said, as if that made it any better.
Pansy squinted at her hand for a moment. “We’re pink!” she declared, sounding
appalled.
As the groups split up Minerva turned to Severus. “Did you know the kids were
this smart?”
Severus glanced at his Slytherins, knowing full well Minerva meant Weasley. The
whole lot of them were fools in his estimation. He snarled softly to himself
and followed cautiously.
*
Lord Voldemort towered over Draco whilst Lucius looked on silently. Bellatrix
was sniffling quietly over by the foot of Voldemort’s chair and Nagini was
curled around the top of it, watching the precedings with as bored an air as a
giant snake can possess. Fiyer and Silias Silíace were also in attendance but
only the Dark Lord had his wand trained on the blonde teen. He was enjoying
cursing the boy and saw no reason to share.
Voldemort paused as he felt magic ripple through the air. “Someone’s here. Do
you know anything about this, boy?”
Draco straightened his limbs reluctantly and shook his head. “No, my Lord,” he
creaked.
Lord Voldemort’s lips curled dangerously. “Well we’ll see about that, won’t we?
Crucio,” the lord said lazily. He glanced over at Silias and beckoned him
forwards. “Go see who’s visiting, won’t you? No one’s scheduled to arrive here
tonight.”
Silias nodded and quickly moved to follow out his Lord’s instructions. It was
probably just an idiot of the outer circle who’d gotten confused, but there was
also the possibility that someone had arrived with imminent bad news that could
hopefully be diverted. Either way, Silias really did not want to return to the
Dark Lord with any problem. It was probably Wormtail who had set off the wards,
the incompetent little sneak. If it was, he could sodding well go declare
himself to the Dark Lord without Silias minding him. The Lord was fairly
distracted by the game of torturing Malfoy’s offspring, but it wouldn’t take
much to accidentally bring the Master’s wrath down on oneself. Let Wormtail
take the risk of the Dark Lord’s temper: he was the one setting off the wards
after all.
“Shame,” Lord Voldemort said, regarding Draco mockingly. “You do know no one
can get through my wards without my blood, don’t you? It was cruel of me to let
your hopes rise I suppose.” Lord Voldemort slashed his wand through the air and
listened to the resulting scream. “But you needn’t expect any humanity from me
after betraying me, boy.”
Lord Voldemort looked up. “You should be *watching*, Lucius. This would not be
occurring if you had taught your son better.”
“Well that wasn’t so bad,” Luna said brightly, standing above the stupified and
bound Silias.
“I wouldn’t start celebrating yet,” Jessa muttered, stepping over the
temporarily-paralyzed body. “It’s only Silias.”
Harry glanced at at them both and continued down the corridor after glancing
quickly at the back of his hand. “As long as things continue like this we’ll be
fine.”
Jessa snorted. “You know they won’t. We’re not far from the throne chamber
now.”
“Most of the Death Eaters are cloistered away from here,” Luna commented.
“They’re eating,” Jessa said. “It gets boring here on a long shift so most of
them head down to the kitchens. That’s why Weasley took most of the troops
there.”
“Don’t call them troops,” Harry winced, although the thought of Ron in the
kitchens brought a faint smile to his mouth.
‘It’s not like I called them wand fodder,’ Jessa mouthed to the back of Harry’s
head. Luna looked around at her knowingly and Jessa swung her mouth shut.
“Do we really have a plan?” Harry asked at last.
“Yes,” Jessa said.
“Ah,” Harry said.
He glanced around after several long minutes. “Are you going to share?”
“Just trust me,” Jessa said.
Harry grinned at her. “I thought you told me not to.”
Jessa narrowed her eyes at him. “You’re not in a position to get smart here,
Scarhead.”
Harry rolled his eyes. “So what’s the plan? Are we just going to grab Draco and
disappear?”
“You brought us all here; chances are everyone’s gonna want you to take them
back too.”
“I didn’t think of that,” Harry whispered.
“Yeah, well, we all know you’re rash, don’t we?” Jessa said. “I’m not awfully
worried on that front.”
“What *are* you worried about?” Harry retorted.
Jessa’s jaw clenched and she swallowed before talking. “What do you think?” she
drawled, her sardonic grin not entirely cushioning what that meant.
“How are we going to get everybody out once we’ve got Draco?” Harry continued.
Jessa was quiet.
“Snake?” Harry prompted.
Jessa smiled quite emptily but didn’t say anything.
Harry stared at her. “You think I’m going to...”
“Oh don’t worry about it Scarhead,” Jessa said casually. “The adults are
coming. It’ll all be fine.”
“And what if it’s not?” Harry cried in as loud a voice as he dared.
“Then everybody on your side will die anyway so it won’t really matter,” Jessa
replied.
“Great. I thought you were sounding a bit too positive there,” Harry said
bitterly.
“Shh,” Jessa said, approaching the door before them cautiously. “Are you
ready?”
“As ever,” Harry retorted sourly, and pulled the hood of his invisibility cloak
over his head.
Luna smiled, took a jar out of her robes, and then pointed her wand and cast a
mild cutting hex on herself. As a thin spiderweb of red scratches appeared on
her skin she opened the jar and allowed its contents out. She vanished from
sight as the no-see-ums rushed to feast on her.
“Keep those midges away from me,” Jessa warned.
Harry grinned and cast a repelling charm on them both.
“Right.” Jessa took a deep breath and opened the door.
Lord Voldemort looked up as Jessa entered the room. “Why are you here?”
“Nice to see you too Tom,” Jessa replied. She indicated Draco. “I heard he’d
been skipping school.”
Voldemort curled his lips. “That’s one way of putting it. And you *should* be
at school, should you not?”
“It’s so dull Tom!” Jessa protested.
“You’re *supposed* to be making Severus forgive you. Is he even aware that
you’re here, my little lioness?” Voldemort drawled. Jessa sensed Harry’s
confusion but that was hardly important right now, except for keeping her
posture confident enough that he didn’t take ‘lioness’ as an accusation of
betrayal. And make sure she wasn’t sending out vibes that would suggest to
Harry that she’d betrayed Severus –and therefore the Order- somehow, either. Of
course, whilst doing that she also had to keep her posture submissive enough
that Lord Voldemort would not take offense.
“I sort of hinted I was coming here, yeah,” Jessa said. “He isn’t so fond of my
company these days so he’s happy so long as I'm out of his way. Besides, Draco
doesn’t look so good.”
“And therein lies the cruellest barb one can bestow upon the Malfoy heir,” Lord
Voldemort said with dry amusement. He turned his hard eyes on Jessa. “You
should be trying much harder to win back Severus’ favour. You’ll be marrying
Barty if you refuse to make the effort. I had been planning to gift him as a
new toy for Bella but,” Lord Voldemort smiled and gestured to Bellatrix, “as
you can see she’s currently fallen from grace.”
Jessa glanced obediently at Bellatrix and tried not to notice the woman’s sorry
state. “Whatever did she do?”
“You haven’t heard?” Lord Voldemort casually kicked Draco. Jessa ignored the
action. She blinked her eyelids slowly and pretended not to have heard the
pained noise that Draco could not quite stifle. Voldemort continued, “She was
teaching your half-brother here how to shield his mind.”
“Why... why is that a problem?” Jessa asked, licking her lips nervously.
“Why do you think?”
Jessa pretended to consider the question. She glanced around the room and
suggested, “I suppose she’d been playing with him?”
Voldemort stared at her. Perhaps... but no. He raised his eyebrows.
Jessa feigned being somewhat oblivious and said, “No? Lubricus then?”
Fiyer choked loudly. When eyes turned to him he quickly muttered, “Sorry, just
wasn’t expecting his kid to know... you know, about that name... and use it,
um, like that. So nonchalantly. Um.” He trailed off, mumbling to himself,
“...Okay, I’m the only one who found that funny then? Yeah. So. Um. Oh...
*Oh*.” He looked up again and cried, “Sorry, I’ve just realised she was talking
about incest. Sorry!”
At the resultant expressions on the men’s faces, Jessa tried heroically hard
not to laugh. Actually, her sides hurt from her supreme effort *not* to shake
with laughter, because the look on her father’s face was terrifying.
The Dark Lord seemed to be considering her suggestion though. Lucius could see
it and was not managing to overcome his trembling as admirably as his daughter:
he was shaking with rage. He was moments away from speech despite all of his
restraint; he was not currently in a position of favour where he could speak
unbidden.
Voldemort put up a restraining hand without having to glance in Lucius’
direction. “No,” the Dark Lord decided. “That’s not Lucius’ character. He’s
always kept well away from that.” He glanced at the man. “You know why I
considered that Lucius, and as you are in no position to take offense I suggest
you take that look out of your eyes.”
Lucius inclined his head. Yes, he supposed he understood just fine. “My
apologies, my Lord.”
“Don’t make a habit of it,” the Dark Lord said curtly. He gazed idly at Draco,
who sensibly remained quietly on the floor. Voldemort glanced up at Lucius
again and murmured, “I don’t suppose you finally got your desire?”
Lucius’ face opened with surprise. “Severus never showed any interest,” he
said.
“I did think he’d take to your daughter but she doesn’t seem willing to put any
effort into winning him,” Lord Voldemort commented.
“She’s lazy; she hasn’t been brought up properly,” Lucius replied. “She has not
shared his bed once since she gave him her chain.”
“That he’s gotten it at all is something at least,” Voldemort drawled. “It does
seem that neither of your children were brought up properly.”
Lucius grew very still but lowered his eyes submissively.
The Dark Lord spun back to Draco and used the tip of his wand to lift the boy’s
face.
“So tell me Draco. Are you a little traitor or has someone been playing with
the Malfoy heir?”
Draco lowered his head quickly, not entirely able to keep his blood rushing to
his face.
Lord Voldemort slashed the blonde’s cheek angrily with his wand. “Don’t look
away when answering your Lord! Or am I not your Lord anymore?”
“You’ll always be my Lord, Sire!” Draco choked, the blush vanishing along with
the majority of the blood in his face.
“Crucio,” Lord Voldemort muttered before stepping away in disgust. “I’m
surrounded by incompetents and inbred fools.”
Jessa stepped towards the Dark Lord hesitantly. “All of us, My Lord?”
Voldemort regarded her speculatively. “Don’t look so wounded. Have you
persuaded Severus back into your bed yet? No.” Despite his words he beckoned
her closer and Jessa obeyed submissively. Bellatrix gave her a hateful look.
Voldemort lazily sent a curse over his shoulder. Bellatrix cried out and
Voldemort chuckled slightly when Jessa stiffened as a result. “Oh relax my
little Courageous,” he said smoothly, his lips curling mockingly. He reached
out to pet her colourless tresses and glanced unconcernedly at Draco. The teen
was kneeling carefully with his head bowed and his arms drawn somewhat beneath
him to protect them. His head was lowered and most of his blonde hair shielded
his face: the exception being those pieces stuck to his scalp with congealed
blood. His robes were torn badly and fell about his form. Of everything, this
entertained Lord Voldemort most. The spoilt teen had likely never worn less
than perfect anything before and this was an enjoyable blow to the disloyal
brat’s self-esteem.
“This bothers you?” Voldemort drawled, regarding Jessa with interest. Jessa
followed his line of sight as he indicated Draco and Bellatrix with a sweep of
his arm.
“I don’t like suffering,” Jessa said mildly.
“What a lie,” Lord Voldemort retorted, the corner of his mouth turning up in a
dangerous smile. Most of his smiles were dangerous. He said, “Making people
suffer makes you happy child, and the sooner you accept it the better. I will
lose temper with you eventually you know.”
Jessa regarded him and nodded.
“Really, some of your shenanigans are outrageous. That farce with Potter’s mind
for instance. I am far from impressed by that.”
Jessa bowed her head and hoped like hell that Harry didn’t take that as a cue
to come to her rescue. It would also be nice if Tom refrained from casting a
hex on her that turned her skin inside-out or something. She murmured, “You
know my weaknesses, My Lord. I can hardly bear the suffering of the
defenceless.”
Tom met her eyes, his lips forming a stern line. His eyes flashed as he said in
a controlled voice, “We had better rectify that in the near future.” He turned
away sharply and sat down. Jessa was unsure if she was correct to follow him,
but when she was four steps away from the Dark Lord he hissed softly and
impatiently indicated that her presence was required.
Jessa hovered by his chair skittishly. She got the feeling he desired her to
seat herself on his lap but she did not want to be in grabbing distance of him.
“I am not going to strike you; I am not a muggle,” Tom growled. He bad-
temperedly indicated the floor nearby. If she was so cautious with him she
could sit on the ground. He was disinclined to insist she sat within reach.
Nagini uncurled from around the top of his chair and nudged him as she pushed
past. She slithered down his legs and sidled towards Jessa.
Jessa met those intelligent eyes uncomfortably. Nagini shook her head slowly
for a moment, hissed sharply in irritation, and then snootily sloped away to
pace the room for no reason that anyone could discern.
“She’s annoyed at you,” Tom commented.
“I don’t know why, I’m not Bells,” Jessa answered disgustedly.
Tom gave the girl a warning look before casting a displeased glance at the
woman. “I am not finished with you,” he promised harshly. He turned away before
Bellatrix could be stupid enough to reply.
Voldemort shifted on his seat into a more satisfying position. His errant lion
cub sat on the uncomfortable floor, picking at her boots and shooting wounded
glances at him with her black eyes. When she knew she had his attention she
cast a pointed look at her woeful-looking sibling.
“Oh, you want me to ease up my wrath on your brother?” Lord Voldemort sneered.
“Well it would be nice,” Jessa mumbled.
“Then come here.”
Jessa gave the Dark Lord a wary look but stood up.
“Here,” he repeated. His red eyes held a coldness that warned Jessa not to
disobey. She got up, glancing back at Draco and then letting her eyes sweep the
room before she stiffly crossed the short distance towards Lord Voldemort.
“You look like you’re walking towards your death,” he commented dryly.
Jessa’s expression indicated she did not find that funny.
Lord Voldemort sighed and curled his lips in a manner indicative of his
certainty that she should not make such faces at him. Jessa wiped the
expression off of her face quickly and looked down at their legs,
uncomfortable.
Voldemort lifted her chin with his finger. It felt cool and dry. “Now pet, if
you want to talk that little albino traitor out of an excruciating, lingering
death, you’re going to have to make it worth my while.”
Jessa swallowed and arched on his lap, reaching up to nuzzle-
Lord Voldemort smiled thinly and pushed her back against the arm of his chair.
“No. No, Lion, no.” He pressed a patronising trail of kisses down her
cheekbone.
Jessa watched him pull away, ignoring the urge to touch her cheek. “What then?”
Her hands went to her clothing and she started to unfasten it.
“Now I could get that any time I want it,” Voldemort drawled. “What else do I
like?”
Jessa barely blinked before baring her arms and proffering them to the Dark
Lord. “You want to hurt me?”
Lord Voldemort curled his lips, took hold of her wrists, tugged down her
sleeves, and pushed her face to view Draco. “Close.”
“You want me to hurt Draco?” Jessa said in a tiny voice.
“You ought to find it fun,” Lord Voldemort said mockingly.
Jessa turned back to Voldemort and brought her face close to his. “But Draco’s
a *loyal* servant my Lord,” she said alluringly.
Lord Voldemort gave her a cold look. “Use something creative.”
“But I’ve no wand.”
“My little wandless prodigy is bemoaning her lack of a wand?” Voldemort sneered
and pulled his own from the confines of his robes. “Knock yourself out, but
keep him awake. I want him to hurt.”
“Tommy he does not deserve...” Jessa trailed off. “You’re giving me your wand?”
“Do not call me Tommy again until you have Severus back in your bed and my Mark
on your arm. Yes, I am letting you use my wand. You would hardly turn it
against me.”
Jessa grinned a little and pointed it at his chest. “Abra cadabra. You’re
dead.”
He slapped her lightly. “You do not amuse me. Now entertain me.”
Jessa looked at her sibling, who was resolutely not looking at her. “He’s my
baby brother,” Jessa said.
“He’s a traitorous idiot. Now you will do as I say or I will do it and you will
not like the consequences.”
Jessa held the wand to her lips and wondered when the hell Scarhead and Luna
were going to intervene. She smirked slowly and glanced up at Tom, her eyes
sparkling. “Physical pain is so droll Tom. How about some emotional anguish? A
little humiliation?”
“I’ve already messed up his hair.” Lord Voldemort was smiling. “What else is
there?”
Jessa smiled at him before glancing quickly at the air around Draco. Nagini was
staring suspiciously at a specific space but Tom had not noticed. Jessa
sneered. “Did you know the Malfoy heir is a faggot?”
There was quiet in the room; even Bellatrix was hushed. Draco stayed very, very
still.
Voldemort stretched back in his seat and regarded Draco coolly. “Is that true,
little traitor? You’re on the wrong team but not the light side?”
“Forgive me my Lord. It is... disgraceful. Utterly,” Draco croaked.
Lord Voldemort cackled delightedly. “Oh that really does prove it; you’re all
going to have to stop inbreeding Lucius. Your heir’s so stupid he thought it
was better to have me believe him a traitor than a pouf. As if he needed to
seal his sexuality away, he only has to be a breeder until he produces a strong
male heir.” Voldemort smiled and gazed at the bloodied heir musingly. “Stupid
little noble bastard, there must be a taint in the Black bloodline. That’s a
fullblown Gryffindor and two cubs that have been produced from the family now.”
Lucius made a sickened face and Lord Voldemort laughed. “Just facts Lucius.
Cheer up.”
“Gryffindors,” Lucius said in a dismayed voice.
“Should blast the lot of you off your family trees,” Voldemort sneered in
amusement. Lucius paled at the thought. Voldemort continued cackling and
slapped Jessa’s thigh merrily. “I must keep you around little Courage, you’re a
highly entertaining wench. And you!” he called to Draco and made the boy sit
up, though still on the floor. “It appears to be true what the muggles say
about blondes. You are all beauty and no brains.”
There were audible, deliberate, footsteps in the corridor outside and then
there was a precise rap on the door. Clearly it was not Silias.
“Enter,” the Dark Lord said lazily. He opened his eyes to regard the figure.
“Still in your teaching robes Severus?”
The man raised his hand to indicate Jessa. “I should be at school but the brat
performed yet another vanishing act. She receives no discipline there that I
can discern. I thought it prudent to check her for here.”
Jessa watched the man with intense eyes. He had left the door ajar: it hid the
corridor from view but would not make a noise now when opened.
“You’ve walked into quite the conversation Severus. Did you know your godson
liked his own sex?”
“Of course,” Severus said. “He needed to look up instructions on brewing
suitable lubricants. I wrote his pass for the restricted area of the school
library.”
“You couldn’t have told him from your own knowledge Severus?” Voldemort
smirked.
Severus pursed his lips as he regarded the grins on everyone’s features. “That
would hardly be appropriate.”
“Oh of course, *propriety*,” Lord Voldemort agreed. “What’s that around your
neck?”
“A supreme folly,” Severus said sourly. Lord Voldemort laughed and patted
Jessa.
“How long have you been aware of your godson’s inclinations Severus?” Voldemort
asked lightly.
“The boy is unpractised in discretion. I first discovered his nature when he
chose to get intoxicated with the Zabini boy when he was fourteen.”
“You said nothing?” Lucius demanded.
“He was young and not in full control of his senses. It was nothing and it
seemed sufficient to blackmail the spoilt brat.”
“When did it get serious?”
Severus curled his lips. “You didn’t ask him?”
“Bella here did quite the job of locking up his memories,” Lord Voldemort
growled.
Severus nodded slightly in acknowledgement and bared his teeth briefly at
Bellatrix.
Lucius moved towards his friend. “Draco truly fucks men?” he said.
“He swings both ways,” Severus muttered. “You’re in no fear for an heir.”
“Hardly the only thing that runs in the family,” Voldemort said aloud drolly to
Lucius, glancing pointedly at Severus. “Although this almost seems to indicate
your son as defective since Severus waited instead for your bastard daughter.”
“I’ve known Draco since he was a child,” Severus said in a low voice. “He’s my
godson.”
“Abraxus knew Lucius from a child,” Voldemort said, sounding mildly amused.
Lucius ignored the smug bastard.
“Narcissa is likely the only member of your family who remains dignified and
hasn’t become a whore,” Lord Voldemort began thoughtfully. “This being said,
there was the fling with Severus, and she does allow Lucius’ nonsense, and come
to think of it she did marry purely for rank, so I suppose she’s no saint
either. You know it would make much more sense for my little lion to be the
indiscretion of Narcissa and Severus than you, Lucius, and Walburga. You’re
both so cold and calculating, to a level further than Narcissa and Severus.” He
smiled in his reptilian fashion. “Not that this is important.” He swatted Jessa
lightly. “Get off me. Go make conversation with Severus.”
Jessa pouted but flounced towards the potions master. Severus caught her arms
tightly and she winced. He pulled her towards his torso and bowed his head
towards her. Behind the curtain of his hair he whispered, “Are you alright?
Your heart was hammering and then you were in pain: I came.”
“How did you know I was in pain?” Jessa murmured. “And my pounding heart?”
Severus sneered at her. “You think I don’t have a hundred tracking spells on
you after the last fiasco?”
Jessa regarded him for a moment then said softly, “It was only a slap. He was
messing around.” Her face brightened wickedly. “Look though!” she mouthed, and
showed him the Dark Lord’s wand. She hid it quickly and Severus stared down at
her.
Lord Voldemort had continued on rambling. He paused and his red eyes skimmed
over the room suspiciously. “Something is definitely wrong. Fiyer, go chase up
your idiot friend. I hope he has a suitable reason for taking so long.”
Fiyer darted obediently towards the door. A loud noise made him pause.
“What was that?” Lord Voldemort snarled. And then all hell broke loose.
A number of people burst into the room: frantic and fighting and utterly
distracting. “Fuck,” Severus whispered, and Jessa acknowledged that the
tentative upper hand they had won was now lost. Severus grabbed her tightly and
dragged Draco to his feet. “What is going on?” he roared. The words were only
for the benefit of the Dark Lord and his followers. He manoeuvred them so that
fighting bodies were between themselves and Lord Voldemort and Harry appeared
beside Jessa for a moment. “Thank you,” he snatched the wand and without
ceremony he broke it harshly.
There was a pause as everyone registered the crack and the crackle of magic.
Then Voldemort let out a scream of fury and wandlessly sent wave after wave of
dark magic at Harry and everyone in his vicinity.
There were screams. People fought. It was hell.
Harry could not overcome the Dark Lord’s magic.
“What are you waiting for?” Draco huffed with difficulty. “You need to *kill
him* Potter.”
“I can’t: even without his wand he has too much power.”
Jessa’s ears pricked. “You need more power? Harry you can do that.”
“How?” he snapped.
“Lovers’ magic is interchangeable right? The way we got here... that magic
swip-swap was intimate. Call that magic.”
“I-”
“Now; like this,” Jessa insisted, and pushed into his mind. Harry absorbed her
instructions and then drew her magic to him; he pulled on the magic of everyone
who had travelled with him. ‘I’m powerful,’ he thought as the outrageous amount
of magic pulsed through him and thrummed in the air around him. It crackled.
Harry revelled in the intense, new sensation before focusing his hard gaze on
his parents’ murderer. The Chosen One threw his magic in raging masses towards
the Dark Lord.
Lord Voldemort drew up his own magic and pushed back against the heavy magic as
hard as he could. The strain showed in his face but he could not overcome
Potter’s new power.
It became clear that Harry could not surmount Lord Voldemort’s magic entirely.
The door behind him swung harshly on its hinges as more and more people fed
into the mass of fighters around him. The adults had arrived but it seemed to
make no difference. More and more Death Eater’s apparated in.
Still Harry could not prevail over the Dark Lord’s magic.
Someone cast a shield over them which prevented other spells hitting either
Harry or Voldemort. It felt like Dumbledore’s magic.
The fighting continued around them.
“No taunts this time?” Harry barked.
Lord Voldemort sneered. “What is there to say?”
“Not like you,” Harry muttered, straining to force all the borrowed magic to
overcome the dark magic that snarled in clouds against the shield.
Something hit the shield and it shuddered violently. Harry glanced at it
sidelong and noticed the Death Eaters had begun casting ropes of black,
convoluting magic at the shield. They continued the onslaught and the shield
shattered.
Harry kept shoving magic hard against Voldemort’s. Sweat was dripping down both
their chests.
None of the young light followers had their magic but were relying on
deflection and fancy moves. The young or inexpert Death Eaters were casting
spells that the schoolchildren were moving out of the way of, and other Death
Eaters were being hit. Voldemort noticed a blonde head ducking and diving
amongst the fracas.
The Dark Lord dragged Jessa towards him. He had to do something about his
inability to defeat Potter’s magic. “Thestral hair core,” Lord Voldemort
muttered to the girl. “Your wand has a thestral hair core. Your brother has a
unicorn hair core and it means he’s innately pure and will be sacrificed, but
you are going to live because you have a thestral hair core. Thestrals find
what their riders look for. You will ensure my success.”
Ronald Weasley went down with a Death Eater’s curse.
“Harry,” Jessa muttered, and drew back magic. Staring at Lord Voldemort, she
bit her lip and whimpered, “Tom.”
He had torn her sleeve and her left forearm was exposed. She concentrated on
her magic and her arm and her flesh and her skin and her magic and the Mark.
She placed the Dark Mark on her skin.
And it worked. The evil tattoo pulsed with magic. She could feel her connection
to Tom, the dark lord and all his followers. She closed her eyes.
Frowning and astonished, Tom placed his hand on her cheek. “Kindred.”
Jessa took his other hand blindly and turned her face away, holding him
tightly.
She opened her eyes. Harry stared back at her, and she *pushed*.
Harry absorbed. He understood and he complied. Screams began. Those marked fell
to their knees and *screamed* and Tom collapsed heavily against Jessa. He
leaned gripped his fists in her clothes to remain upright.
“I’m so sorta sorry,” Jessa whispered.
“You’re going to die,” Tom whispered.
Jessa was white and sweating; trembling horribly. “Yeah.”
Lord Voldemort raised his quivering hand in Draco’s direction and brought it
down with a slash. Draco crumpled to the floor, tearing at his arm.
‘No,’ Harry thought. “No,” Jessa choked.
Nagini appeared out of the fray and curled softly around Jessa and her Master.
Out of sickened, pain-fogged eyes, Jessa saw the snake.
“Harry wait. Stop.” Harry risked a momentary glance in her direction. Jessa
stared at Nagini. A Horcrux. Regie’s soul had torn; his noble suicide for the
cause had not been enough to save him or truly kill him. But Regulus is a term
for ‘basilisk’ and what was left of his soul found its way into the creature
dwelling within the Chamber of Secrets. And Harry had killed that. Then he’d
inadvertently killed Sirius too. “Don’t kill the last brother I have left.”
Harry could have been offended but instead he growled, “When this is over
you’ll have *two* brothers. I’ll be your inlaw.”
‘Not likely,’ Jessa’s eyes said.
Harry ignored that and turned his direction onto Nagini. ~Kill yourself~ he
hissed. ~Kill yourself. Kill yourself, snake!~
Jessa directed a curse into the fray of unmarked young Death Eaters getting in
the Chosen One’s way. To Nagini she hissed in her wretched accent ~Die Nagini.
You must die. You must die, die, die. Die snake. Kill yourself snake. Kill.~
~No! Never, Nagini!~ Lord Voldemort hissed; an act of supreme effort and will.
He was in agony. ~Refuse to die. You must not die snake! Escape. Go anywhere.
Do not die snake!~
~Die~ Jessa insisted. ~Kill. Kill yourself. Die. It will protect the world.~
Tears were running down the girl’s face as she hissed. She kept her eyes
trained intently on Nagini and away from Draco.
Harry held his gaze in an identical position. He slid his words in and out of
Jessa’s. ~Die, big snake. Die. You wish to die, die, die, die...~
Nagini shook her head.
~Kill, kill, kill yourself~ Jessa insisted.
Her accent was supremely painful to hear.
~Kill! Kill! Kill!~
~No! I’m telling you no! Go!~
~Die! Die! Die!~
~Kill! KILL!~
Nagini pounced and savaged Lord Voldemort’s throat. Jessa’s accent made her
crazy.
The hissing stopped.
Lord Voldemort’s breathing stopped.
His followers stirred slightly. Draco forced himself onto his knees.
Lord Voldemort’s heart stopped.
‘I can’t!’ Jessa threw herself forwards and forced air into Tom’s lungs.
***** An Ending, Of Sorts *****

Author's notes: Wherein most subplots are tied up.
===============================================================================
“What are you *doing*?” Harry screamed. Others were screaming the same thing,
but Harry’s voice was the only one Jessa truly noticed. She grimaced in reply
and attempted to perform CPR on the Dark Lord. She could not let Tom die.
Especially not by her own hand.
“Get off of him you psycho!” Harry roared. Jessa felt his strong arms around
her but she clung to the lifeless man, refusing to let him go. She struggled to
continue her task. Finally: a single, fleeting heartbeat. Other arms and bodies
surrounded them and attempted to help Harry pull her away.
“Don’t let him die!” Jessa cried: diving over the restraining arms but unable
to claw her way back to Lord Voldemort’s prone form.
“He’s *dead*,” came a dark voice from behind her. Draco’s.
“No,” Jessa said. He wasn’t. Someone in burnt robes kicked the body at their
feet.
“Good riddance,” someone said.
Another voice murmured, “He’s... gone.”
“He’s gone,” someone else agreed.
“He’s dead,” came yet another voice.
He wasn’t. Really. She’d brought him back. But it would mean nothing if she did
not continue to help him. He was on the brink. He would die. Again.
She would not kill her friend. He understood. No one else understood. And she
had to prove him wrong. He had to see that she did not enjoy what she had done!
“Jessa,” Harry said roughly. He sounded tired. He’d used so much energy. He’d
killed. He was angry. “Fucking stop it.”
He had to let her save Tom. No one else trusted her; no one else would help.
“Please Harry,” Jessa said.
“He’s not coming back,” Harry said with finality. Jessa stared at the certainty
in his eyes and followed his gaze to the bloody form of Nagini on the floor.
The Dark Lord must have killed her in his attempt to wrench her from his
throat. His blood was everywhere. Jessa realised she was saturated in it and
she hadn’t even noticed it coating her. It was still warm. It was still fucking
warm and it rolled slowly down her skin.
Jessa shivered. Where was her magic? She felt empty. The Dark Lord was going to
die and she could not find her magic to save him. She had restarted his heart
but he was bleeding profusely.
Someone stood on his lifeless hand.
“Jessa,” Harry said, more gently than before.
Jessa turned her trembling gaze towards him. Tears flowed from her eyes and
diluted the blood on her face into uneven streaks. She did not seem to know
that she was crying. Instead she stared into Harry’s eyes mutely. The greens
danced together and confused her mind. The magic. He still retained everyone’s
magic. But she had had magic.
Tom would die if she did not use magic.
“Jessa?” Harry said.
Jessa stared into his eyes and *pulled*. And then she screwed her eyes together
tightly and curled in on herself as she urged the magic to implode; fighting
all the while to keep Harry out of her mind. She must have this magic: it must
burst out of her and reach Tom. Tom must live. Tom had to live!
Tom, *live!*
And then strong arms gripped her and held her upright.
“What’s happened; has she fainted?”
Others gathered around as Harry bore Jessa’s weight. Someone asked, “Was she
hit by a curse?”
Harry said nothing, but glanced at the still body at their feet. He had felt
Jessa take magic from him but so long as Lord Voldemort was dead that did not
really matter. He rubbed Jessa’s back soothingly.
He glanced at the surrounding mob of spell-charred people. “Where’s Snape?” he
said.
Severus and Lucius were holding Draco upright between them, although simply
holding themselves upright was a strain in itself. They stood somewhat behind
Harry and Severus murmured, “Here.”
Harry absorbed this and glanced at the faces around him. “Remus, swap with
Snape. Snape, will you take Jessa please? Where’s Mad Eye?”
Remus stepped into place despite the awkward eyes of the Malfoys and Severus
reached for Jessa reluctantly. He seemed more concerned about Jessa than his
difficulty in standing however. Harry did not let go, but helped keep the pair
upright.
Severus sniffed disagreeably. “Why is it necessary for me to hold her if you
continue to?”
“Because you’re wearing her chain and she’s fragile right now. She’s just
helped me kill Voldemort.”
“Whom she was fond of,” Lucius added musingly.
Severus gritted his teeth at the first statement and sighed at the rest.
Harry ignored that. “Where are Ron and Hermione?” he asked those gathered
around him.
“Ron got hurt and Hermione’s with him,” Dean said from somewhere amongst the
throng. “He’s conscious, just pretty banged up.”
Harry nodded slowly, relieved. “Who’s..?” He licked his lips nervously, finding
difficulty in shaping the question. “Who’s not alright?”
“There’s been a lot of casualties on both sides but no deaths that I’m aware
of,” Padma said, glancing around as she spoke. She was cradling her arm to her
chest but seemed to disregard that. She was smiling a little.
“People are gathering and healing the wounded right now,” a second year
hufflepuff said. “Those that are capable.”
“We’d better go help,” Theo said. At his side, Pansy glanced concernedly at
Draco.
“What’s to be done with the Marked ones?” she asked.
Remus met Harry’s eyes and the teen acknowledged in relief that the Order
members would take care of everything else. He had done what was required.
However since the crowd were all still staring at him for direction he bluntly
said, “Draco and Jessa are staying near me, the rest can just be rounded up.
Bind them; stun them if necessary. The aurors can take custody.” Harry gave
Lucius and Severus a warning look. They still had sneers on their faces but
there was a little bit of awe and respect too. Killing the dark lord came with
its perks it seemed. “I hope you pair can stay with me without causing too much
trouble?” Whilst the two men grit their teeth sharply Harry turned to Theo.
“And if any of you have Marked parents you’re welcome to make sure no one is
overzealous with them.”
Theo nodded. “I’ll spread the word. Not coming Panse?” he said after a moment.
The pretty girl screwed up her face in resentment. She said distastefully, “I’m
staying with Draco. My parents got themselves into this mess.” She looked
calculatingly at Lucius Malfoy who seemed to have been given a pardon by the
Golden Boy. He must have done something worthwhile. Without a word she stepped
to the man’s side and helped bear some of his weight. She stood so that it
appeared he was helping her instead.
Theo nodded and disappeared into the mass.
“So. Mad Eye?” Harry prompted.
The man limped his way through the crowd.
“Good. And Dumbledore? Ginny? Neville?” Harry called, relieved to see people
make themselves known amongst the pack of bedraggled forms. He frowned suddenly
and scanned the faces seriously. “Hey, where’s Luna?”
To Harry’s relief the blonde with the scratched skin pushed dreamily through
the crowd towards him; but she then turned and knelt by the corpse of Lord
Voldemort.
“Luna?” Harry said.
“Things are going to be different now,” the girl said.
“Well yeah,” Harry said. Everyone around them smiled tiredly at each other,
happily agreeing about this amongst themselves.
Luna smiled as though they did not understand.
“Where have you been Luna?” Harry asked.
Luna seemed disinclined to answer. “He’s not going to hurt anyone anymore,” she
murmured.
Harry stared at her, wondering what she was thinking. “That’s right.”
Luna turned her intense gaze on the Boy Who Lived. “You should clear this room
Harry.”
Something in her voice made Harry shiver. He did so immediately, dropping down
orders that people quickly obeyed. That was new: the DA was one thing but
having adults obey him unquestioningly was another. There was confusion
everywhere but it was dealt with; several people needed to be carried or
levitated from the room, but eventually it was cleared. All who remained were
Luna; Harry; Draco; Mad Eye; Severus; Jessa; Lucius; Hermione; Ron; Pansy;
Remus; Dumbledore; Nagini’s body; Voldemort and an unconscious Bellatrix.
“Don’t remove her,” Luna said. “She’s important.”
The look in Harry’s eyes declared his desire to harm the woman who had cost him
his godfather. If Neville had not already left the room it was likely he would
have felt similarly. Harry ignored Luna and stepped towards the witch.
“Do not hurt her,” Luna said in what was for her a rather sharp voice. “She’s
pregnant.”
The emotion in the room shifted. “What?”
Remus murmured, “Whose child is...?”
Married or not, it was no secret where Bellatrix Lestrange’s heart lay. Mad Eye
stepped forward. “Is it-?”
“Yes, and you will not harm him,” Luna said firmly. “The sins of the father
will not be visited on the child. He is an innocent. He will harm no one. And
...neither will his father.”
“His father is dead,” Alastor said pointedly.
Lucius said, “It might... be wise to... abort... any child of ...the Dark
Lord.”
“It’s a child,” Harry retorted. Everyone looked ready to cast in their own
opinion.
“Harry...” Luna said. He looked to her quickly, alerted by her tone.
In the silence the man on the floor coughed.
“Don’t hurt him!” Luna demanded of the room’s occupants. “He cannot hurt anyone
now. He has no magic.”
“He’s evil!” chorused a collection of voices.
“He won’t be when he wakes up,” Luna said. “Well, he’ll be angry, but not for
long. Not once he knows. And he is going to be very weak. He barely survived.”
“I wish he hadn’t,” Pansy said coolly. “Let’s finish him whilst he’s weak.”
“He’ll kill us if we let him live,” Draco said in measured but consenting
tones. “My little cousin... is just a baby, but the Dark Lord will obliterate
us. There’s surely no question of letting *him* live.”
Harry sighed and pushed his hand through his hair. “Someone wake Jessa up. Get
her to explain what the fuck she’s done.”
“She’s knitted up Tom’s throat and restarted his heart,” Luna said from the
floor. “He was momentarily dead, but she brought him back in time. And... well,
and the snake too. That was not intentional I think, just magical overspill.
But he has no magic. It burnt Jessa out just trying to save him; she wouldn’t
have had the strength to bring back his magic even if she knew how.”
“Bloody stupid girl,” Severus muttered.
“She cares, doesn’t she? That’s more than you do,” Draco found himself
snapping.
Severus turned slowly to look at his godson and raised his eyebrows. Draco
blanched a little but stood his ground and muttered, “You’re the one that
dumped her. You sent my little sister off the rails.”
“She’s not your younger sister,” Luna said before a shocked and increasingly
volatile Severus could respond.
“How would you know?” Lucius inquired coolly. He had no idea when his daughter
had been born.
“She’s a Seer,” Harry said of Luna.
Luna regarded Hermione and sighed in a manner indicative of something
troublesome. “If Jessa was your friend things would be different. You’re the
only one who has any ability to work things out.”
Hermione looked mildly surprised; she pursed her lips and regarded the blondes
intelligently whilst Harry glanced between them. He was at least half
exasperated but also partly amused in a wry, dark sort of way. “Work what out?”
he said.
Luna was kneeling on the ground hovering over both Tom and Bella. She was
stroking Tom’s disfigured throat soothingly but she murmured, “Why do you think
Bellatrix Lestrange went crazy?”
“Bella always enjoyed causing pain, especially when her prey were powerless,”
Lucius said. “It simply grew worse.” Draco nodded ever so slightly in agreement
and the amber of Remus’ eyes flickered in acknowledgement.
“She worsened significantly after prison but Azkaban would do that to a
person,” Severus added in a brittle tone, “especially a sadist such as
Lestrange.”
Luna shook her head, her face solemn but her pale, wavy hair swinging about her
shoulders. “There was more to it than that.”
“What does this have to do with my bastard?” Lucius muttered to Severus. The
man arched one eyebrow minutely to indicate his own ignorance.
Everyone was quiet for a moment before Pansy stepped out from under Lucius’ arm
towards the young Seer, and knelt down before her. “Then explain to us.”
“Jessa doesn’t know,” Luna said. “She remembers something but she won’t examine
her recollections. She doesn’t want to know. Her elf has sealed her memories.”
“What does that have to do with anything?” Lucius asked again whilst Alastor
questioned which memories Kreecher had hidden.
Luna glanced up at the others momentarily. A minute frown graced her features
and she reached down to touch Bellatrix’s abdomen. Still frowning into space,
Luna said, “Lestrange was pregnant before.”
“When she was arrested?” Lucius asked smartly.
Luna barely seemed aware of the flutter of interest that created amongst those
present. “Yes,” she said simply.
Surprisingly, Lucius paled a shade or three. “She...”
“She lost the baby?” Alastor interrupted.
Luna glanced up at the ex-auror sternly. “Surprisingly not.”
Lucius threw a cold look at Moody. “Surprisingly indeed.”
Hermione looked between them quizzically. Pansy met her gaze and gave a small
sneer. “Light wizards weren’t always excessively gentle when taking fugitives
into custody.”
Understanding settled on Hermione’s features and Moody’s jaw set, but he didn’t
say anything. Lucius’ cool eyes flashed as he regarded the other man, in a way
that clearly said, ‘If you were responsible for the loss of a Black child, you
will pay.’
“Stop it,” Luna said calmly. As the men turned their eyes on her she
nonchalantly dropped her head towards Bellatrix. Luna ran her wand over the
unconscious woman’s form, a healing white light pulsating from the tip.
“Luna, you were speaking,” Hermione prompted, only a slight look of impatience
on her face.
Luna raised her head a little, not actually looking up, but with a wide-eyed
expression. “Yes,” she said. She didn’t say anything more for a moment; but
then sat up and put her wand behind her ear. “The baby didn’t die,” she said.
“The first one?” Draco questioned. Something protective had passed over his
face: there hadn’t been a child younger than himself in the bloodline before:
not if one disregarded Jessa. He had a growing feeling of protectiveness
towards the child currently in Bellatrix’s womb.
“Yes,” Luna said. “...Not then.”
“What happened?” Moody prodded
reluctantly. “To... you know, that first one.”
“Walburga,” Luna replied.
Pansy curled her lip once more at Hermione’s confused expression. “The then-
Head of the Black Family. Bellatrix’s aunt,” the Slytherin explained somewhat
snottily.
“What did she do?” Lucius asked impatiently. “And...”
“And what does this have to do with Jessa?” Draco continued. He looked
thoughtful. “Her birthdate isn’t on the tree.”
Harry glanced at him. “Yeah, that’s true.”
Alastor gazed at the girl that Severus was holding mutely. “What are you
suggesting?”
Luna looked up at them and smiled. “Don’t be silly: the copulation of Walburga
Black and Mister Malfoy created Jessa. I’m talking about Leona.”
There was quiet for a moment as everyone wondered who ‘Leona’ was. For a moment
they had forgotten Loony Lovegood only ever believed in that which had no proof
of existence.
“So who’s Leona?” Hermione asked archly before anyone else could.
“Bellatrix’s firstborn,” Luna said sedately.
“So what does she have to do with Jessa?” Alastor asked.
“Oh, quite a bit to begin with,” Luna said.
“As interesting as these scandals are, don’t any of you feel that we are
neglecting the matter at hand? The dark lord?” Pansy interrupted.
“He’s not going anywhere, my dear,” Dumbledore said.
Harry was quiet as he surveyed the unconscious girl Snape was sneering down at
wordlessly. Lord Voldemort had called Jessa his little lion, hadn’t he?
Draco caught the direction of Harry’s gaze and then looked at Harry
quizzically. Harry’s eyes flashed: and they were the colour of death.
Harry looked away and made a noise that wasn’t exactly a sigh. “Right mess
we’re in now,” Alastor said to him.
Harry considered that and glanced exasperatedly at those around him. Hermione
gazed back with bright, shrewd eyes whilst Ron slumped on her shoulder, barely
awake despite the casting of numerous healing spells. Draco gazed back at Harry
in a collected, supportive manner whilst leaning heavily on his father and
Pansy, whose expressions were both clouded in calculation. Snape was glaring
narrow-eyed at the limp female in his arms: he seemed to have no regard for the
incidents around him. Luna sat at Harry’s feet with the other unconscious
bodies whilst Alastor looked torn between which unconscious form should occupy
his attention.
Dumbledore just twinkled his eyes damnably as though events... well who even
cared what went on in that mind of his.
“Are you alright Harry?” Remus said softly.
Harry distastefully pushed his hand out into space to indicate his disgust with
everything. “I did what I was supposed to do: I killed the dark lord. Now that
he could come back it’s nothing to do with me. You lot can deal with it.” Harry
turned and gave Draco a look. “Are you coming with me?”
Draco’s eyes barely flickered. He nodded, once, and detracted himself from his
family with as much poise as his broken form could achieve. Leaning heavily on
Harry, he followed with a quick trot.
“Now what?” said Pansy.
Remus looked at her and shrugged in what he tried to make a reassuring manner.
“What a ruddy mess,” Moody repeated.
“So who fathered Leona?” Severus asked with the barest sliver of what may have
been dark amusement.
“Don’t smirk at me like that Severus,” Lucius growled very softly.
“Why Lucius I have no idea what you’re referring to,” Severus smiled back.
Lucius gave him a sour look that was dangerously close to a pout. “You’re
accusing me of *Bellatrix*,” he said in a voice only Severus could hear.
“There was that time in school with Narcissa...”
“That did not happen!”
Severus raised one eyebrow silently.
“Once!” Lucius snarled quietly. “That only happened once!”
Severus smiled as blandly as he was liable to until Lucius’ terse expression
relaxed. “There was also that time with Andy...”
Lucius’s lips went white and he pressed himself very close to his ex-lover. “I
*never touched Andromeda*.”
“Excepting for that one time at Christmas when-“
“Severus. Eat shit and die,” Lucius grumbled.
Severus spun his head around to look at his friend in shock.
*
“Are you alright?” Harry asked with an expression of concern. “I should have
thought to take you to the hospital wing.”
“Potter. I’ll be fine. You can take me to the hospital wing later,” Draco
replied. “If you so choose.”
‘Potter’ gave Draco a long look for being referred to as such. “I didn’t mean
to get you hurt,” he said softly.
Draco pulled back from Harry in surprise. “I got *myself* hurt,” he replied. “I
would have gotten a lot *more* hurt if you hadn’t ...been your usual reckless,
noble self.”
Harry thought better of arguing about the ‘reckless noble’ thing. “Not bad for
a Gryffindork, huh?” he said instead dryly.
Draco gave him an equally dry look for making light of Harry’s most recent
impressive deed and settled his weight gradually back onto Harry’s shoulder.
“Are you sure you’re alright?” Harry asked.
“I’m fine Potter,” Draco replied in what was not quite exasperation. He glanced
at the corridors suspiciously. “Where are we going?”
“I’m taking you to the dungeons,” Harry replied. “You need somewhere you can
rest; and I want somewhere quiet. There’s probably no one but prefects and
first years around and your room will be empty.”
“Famous last words,” Draco said deprecatingly.
Harry sighed. “Who’s likely to be in your room? I thought you had a suite for
being a Malfoy?”
“No one, and I do,” Draco said. “But I usually sleep in the dorm.”
“Really? Why?”
Draco gave Harry a sour look but there was little real malice in it. “Because I
happen to like it, alright?”
Harry snorted good-naturedly. “Draco Malfoy likes communal living?”
“It’s... brotherly,” Draco grumbled.
Harry grinned, his eyes saying all he needed to, and helped Draco into the
Slytherin common room.
“How the hell did you know how to get in here?” Draco demanded.
“Talent,” Harry said lightly. “Which way’s your room?”
Draco narrowed his eyes but remained wrapped around the Gryffindor. “That way.”
“Okay.” Harry helped Draco along in the direction the blonde indicated –slowly,
because Draco only had so much energy left- and raised his eyebrows at the
blonde when they reached their destination.
Draco raised his own eyebrows innocently. “It’s not like anyone’s here.”
“You’d rather take me to your dorm when you have a perfectly private personal
suite?” Harry rolled his eyes. “Which bed is yours?”
Draco gave him a snotty look. “You can’t even tell which is the most expensive
can you?”
Harry gave him a dry look. “They all look the same to me.”
“Peasant,” Draco retorted.
Harry said nothing and helped Draco sit on his plusher-than-those-in-the-lions-
den bed. “Are you okay?”
“No,” Draco said shortly. “Do I look okay? I look atrocious and you know it.
However,” Draco paused for a moment, “what you did today was far more
impressive. You killed the dark lord, even if only for a moment. I should be
the one asking after your health.”
“I’m fine,” Harry said carefully. He sat down on the bed facing Draco’s.
“I’m... glad you’re going to be alright, you know?”
Draco sighed. “Potter, sit on the bed with me.” Harry hesitated for a beat and
Draco added, “You’re sitting on Theodore Nott’s bed. No amount of cleaning
charms can quite remove what Zabini does there.”
Without a word Harry quickly moved to Draco’s bed. He sat there quietly and
Draco sighed. The blonde summoned a mirror and started to rescue his appalling
appearance. Harry watched awkwardly.
Draco sighed again, pausing for a moment but not looking around. He stared hard
into the mirror. “Talk to me,” he said, quickly returning to banishing dried
blood from between the hairs of his eyebrows.
“What... do you want me to say?” Harry said with difficulty.
Draco paused again and lowered the mirror. He stared at a fixed point in the
wall. “What do you want to say?”
“I... I’m glad you’re alright,” Harry said.
“You said that,” Draco said. “Actually, what you said was that you ‘hoped I was
going to be alright’; but that’s fairly similar to you; yes?”
“Yes?” Harry softly hazarded.
“I believe it was not what you are still waiting to say,” Draco said.
“Draco...” Harry said.
Draco tilted his jaw to indicate he was listening.
Harry said, “Draco... I miss you.”
Draco nodded swiftly; once.
There was a pause. Harry broke it by asking, “Have... you missed me?”
Draco nodded sharply again and then when Harry thought the boy was not going to
speak Draco said, “Yes,” tightly.
“What did I do?” Harry said.
Draco grimaced, and Harry knew those features well enough to know the young man
was considering fobbing him off with a ‘when?’ but then... Draco said,
“Nothing. You’re asking me if you did something wrong to make me abandon you:
and you didn’t. What you did... was wrong, but not that kind of wrong. *You*
were wrong; *we* were wrong. It was dangerous and stupid, what we ...did.”
“Felt?” Harry asked bravely. “Was that wrong?”
Draco shifted as though he intended to move away, until his body reminded him
of its abused state.
“What did I do?” Harry said again.
“You were perfect,” Draco replied softly.
Harry looked at him swiftly and Draco reluctantly looked back. “You love me,”
Harry stated.
“I never stopped,” Draco said.
“I think I understand now,” Harry said. “You’re complicated, do you know that?”
Draco smiled a little. “I’ll try to behave in a simpler manner that your tiny
Gryffindor brain shall hopefully find easier to comprehend.”
Just like that things were closer to being like they were. “I still love you,”
Harry said.
“I... love you too... Harry,” Draco said.
“Draco, come here,” Harry said. The blonde obeyed and Harry stared into his
eyes. “Draco, ignore everything else and kiss me.”
Draco couldn’t think of a witty comment; he could barely think of a plebeian
comment; so he resorted to pouring every inch of spark he had into the kiss
that he bestowed on Harry’s similarly hungry mouth.
Afterwards Draco sat quietly for a few minutes before breaking the atmosphere
with the statement, “It is not this simple.”
Harry growled a little and put his hand on Draco’s belt. “I’m Harry Potter and
I can do anything.”
“You make a fair point,” Draco conceded.
Harry kissed the neck of the relenting blonde. “Right now I want to do you,” he
said.
“Harry, this isn’t the best idea: I slept with someone else... once. A girl. A,
um, muggle girl. Not that it will *ever* happen again. But I have a duty to
pass on my name to an heir, which I can hardly create with you. And besides I’m
sure I’m too weak to be spectacular tonight.”
Harry looked stunned for a moment and then said, “I promise we can deal with
all of that, okay?”
Draco’s eyes wavered as he stared hard at Harry for a moment. Then he
straightened and said, “You’re right; there are healing and levitation charms.
Go back to that other thing you said.”
“I’m Harry Potter. I can do anything and right now I’m going to do you.”
And so began the most spectacular and creative sex Draco Malfoy and Harry
Potter had ever had in their young lives.
“Not bad Half-Blood,” Draco murmured at some point much, much later.
Harry snorted. “Says the boy who slept with a muggle. Even I haven’t done
that,” he teased.
“Oh shut up,” Draco retorted lazily.
“Make me,” Harry grinned. Draco grinned back, and it wasn’t until the aftermath
of *that* that he said, “So *how* do you intend to ensure the Malfoy line
continues?”
Harry flipped him over. “Shh, I’m working on it!”
Draco chuckled. “Do I need to give you some lessons on the facts of life
Harry?”
Harry lightly swatted the blonde beneath him –which took a lot of concentration
because there wasn’t a lot of white skin available- and said, “No, but could
you go over those lessons on sexual intercourse again please?”
“Only if you call me Sir,” Draco
replied. “And get on your knees.”
“Certainly Sir.”
 
*
“Devastation,” Hermione whispered. “Utter devastation.”
Harry afforded her a glance. “It’s not so bad,” he said in muted tones.
Hermione simply pressed her lips together until they were white and surveyed
the packed hospital wing with wide, concerned eyes.
“I hadn’t realised so many people had got hurt either,” Hannah Abbott confided,
“but a lot of this looks worse than it is. It’s just because of the numbers
that it seems...”
“Daunting,” Hermione supplied.
Hannah nodded. “Mm-hmm.” She
took bundles of gauze from a shelve and passed them around. Only so many
mediwizards were present to tend to the wounded so the older uninjured students
had been given the unenviable task of cleaning and bandaging the less pressing
wounds until they could be given attention. They were not permitted to use
magic for this in case their magic interfered with curses the patients may have
been struck with.
The students got to work helping deal with the minor patients. Harry noticed
Hannah pause and look across to a bed: both of them realising Neville was
tending to Jessa. Hannah had wisely said nothing and Harry said nothing either.
Hermione turned and gave Harry a quizzical look but he quickly drew her
attention elsewhere.
“Professor Snape? It’s taking effect!” Neville called. The man in question
moved with a stiff speed towards the bed and snapped the curtain around it.
Harry caught a brief glance of Jessa stirring beneath the restrictive hospital
sheets. Harry chose to treat the patient in the subsequent bed next.
Things behind the curtain were for the most part quiet as Severus and Neville
performed various diagnostic spells. Snape’s voice was clipped and somewhat
rough; although his ire seemed directed at his patient rather than Neville.
“M’fine, lemmealone,” Jessa whined sleepily. A noise followed that could only
be Snape rapping the girl’s knuckles with his wand: and the resulting yelp.
“Show me that you’re capable of healing yourself if you’re that sore,” Severus
said, sounding bored.
*
“Practising again?” Peeves smirked.
Jessa looked up. “Got to hell Peeves,” she said automatically. She paused and
considered her surroundings.”How did you get in here?”
“Magic,” the Poltergeist replied.
Jessa sneered. “What do you want anyway?”
“Ooh, listen to you. Is practising your magic getting to you?”
“At least I can *use* it now,” Jessa growled.
“Are you sure? I haven’t actually seen you do so,” Peeves taunted.
Jessa acted unaffected and twirled her wand around her fingers.
“Trust the idiots to let you have that,” Peeves snorted. “Still, your darkness
*did* go flat.”
“Thank you Peeves,” Jessa drawled. “What are you talking about?”
“You know what I’m talking about,” Peeves snapped back.
Jessa got up from her seat before the coffee table and moved towards the
Poltergeist. “My core feels funny,” she confided.
“It’s changed,” Peeves said, only a little churlishly. “It’s regenerating into
something more usual instead of replenishing the same warped images you latched
onto at some point a long time ago.”
Jessa looked at him. “I didn’t lose my core? And it’s not too old?”
“It’s going back to the way it should always have been,” Peeves shrugged, “but
you aren’t exactly a teenager are you.”
“I suppose not,” Jessa said. “Do you think I’m going to start looking older?”
“Not by much. You’re hardly ancient, but perhaps you’ll age enough that it
won’t make your darling Professor sick to look at you.”
Jessa flinched a little.
Peeves closed his eyes to drink in her emotion. “He does care about you. It
makes him feel *sick*.”
“Don’t, Peeves, huh?” Jeesa asked mutedly.
Peeves gave her a strange look but obeyed. “So much for devastating them all,”
he said conversationally, “I must say I’m disappointed Kinny Jessa.”
Jessa pulled a face. “I resurrected the dark lord in front of everybody. How
devastating did you want me to be?”
Peeves rolled his eyes. “You see the answer to that question when you close
your eyes at night: a lot of you currently do.”
Jessa shifted uncomfortably and twined her fingers softly around Peeves’ bow
tie. “Still listening to your conscience are you?” he drawled. “I won’t worry;
you’re bound to cause turmoil when it comes out.”
“When what comes out, Peeves?”
“You don’t know!” Peeves let out a burst of wicked laughter but did not
cartwheel: he was enjoying her touch too much. “Oh, you’ll see. You’re going to
be seeing double after that one.”
Jessa looked at him in confusion. “Leona can’t come back: she’s dead.”
Peeves pinched her nose, “Don’t you fret, it’s not your dodo-dead half-cousin
I’m talking about, alrighty? Merlin, your emotions are electrifying.”
Jessa hugged herself. “She had a mix of my face on when she died, you know.
Like I did her’s. When she died... it didn’t go back to her own face.”
“Well it wouldn’t, would it?” Peeves drawled in an awkward moment of
compassion.
“Sometimes I want to take her out my face,” Jessa said, “but I used my face
when I tricked Severus... and he doesn’t want to see it again. I suppose it’s
nice that my face is a tribute to her...”
“But maybe it wouldn’t kill you pair to smudge your features a fraction closer
to your own,” Peeves said. “Don’t you look at me like that; I’m hungry for
Professor Snarkula’s reaction.”
“In time,” Jessa said softly.
The wards shifted and a moment later the door opened to allow Alastor and
Severus to enter.
A stream of silver smoke burst from Jessa’s wand. It shot to the floor and
slowly took the form of an African hunting dog that loped between them.
“What a horrendously hideous Patronus,” said Peeves. “Ew, yuck, it’s
disgusting!”
“You might be being a tad unfair to the ugly brute,” Alastor stated.
“You shoot put that misshapen runt down,” Severus stated acerbically.
Jessa snapped Peeves’ bowtie so that he choked, and sent the professors a
glare. “Well I think he’s lovely,” she retorted.
A moment later Alastor started chuckling.
“Spit it out if you must Moody,” Severus sighed, pinching his nose.
“Have you noticed that your patronus is an adorable, silky, little gunpuppy and
Jessamine’s is a rangy, mangy, old wild dog?”
The two men were well-matched to be friends as Alastor was talented at dodging
the nasty little hexes that Severus was talented at throwing.
*
“I do hope you have a plan for this Albus?”
“I always have a plan,” the old man retorted in a voice less characteristically
genial than usual.
“For this?” Sirius questioned disbelievingly, indicating the contents of the
room with a sweep of his painted arm.
Albus narrowed his eyes.
“He finally makes a valid point,” Nigellus said.
Albus grit his teeth as the thought of knocking the portraits flat flashed
through his mind. Remus Lupin caught the inclination in his mild amber eyes and
Albus reluctantly quelled the desire.
“Everyone saw Lord Voldemort die. No one of consequence knows Tom Riddle and he
is no longer a threat. The most pressing matter at hand is simply to care for
the wounded and try the wrongdoers. I have contained Tom Riddle.”
“He should be Kissed!” Sirius howled.
“What is a life without magic if not the severance of the soul?”
Both portraits looked ready to argue so Remus inserted, “What about the baby?”
Sirius grit his teeth. “Now that she knows, have you heard what she’s going to
call it?”
“He is not an ‘it’ Sirius; he is a member of the bloodline,” Nigellus chided.
Sirius glowered. “The whole lot should be put down.”
“Now now, that’s not very open-minded is it?” Albus scolded. Sirius narrowed
his eyes.
There was a knock outside and after a moment Albus bade entry. Bellatrix stood
awkwardly in the doorway hugging Sirius Marvollo to her chest.
“Bellatrix, my dear, I was not expecting you until later. How are you?”
Dumbledore asked gently.
“Fine thank you Albus,” the woman answered meekly, glancing warily at Lupin
before taking a seat near the headmaster.
“How is the child?”
A look of love passed over Bellatrix’s
face and it took a moment for her to look up from her son. “He’s good,” she
said.
Albus smiled back. “Wonderful.”
“Albus..?” Bellatrix asked tentatively. “Is my family going to be alright?”
Albus nodded. “Things are different now,” he said.
Remus Lupin only dared to chuckle much later when Bellatrix Lestrange and her
son had left. “She called him Sirius!”
“She regrets his death,” Nigellus said.
Sirius scowled and left his frame.
 
*
Things were slowly reaching a level of new normality. Life could not be called
the same as it had once been, but it was evening out into mundanity as the
sparse-yet-prominent war-related episodes became further and further apart.
Seated at the Head Table, Harry’s eyes were like death but he was still
smiling. Draco’s body was brushing against his own and that was all that he
really needed to recover. Harry regarded Jessa as she slid onto a chair nearby.
She was a muted version of the girl he had known before but the easy, bouncy
nature natural to her slowly seemed to be returning. Harry signalled to Draco
not to say anything to her. Jessa said nothing either but she smiled mildly as
Harry regarded her: a brief flash of teeth was quickly replaced by that same
soft, doubtful half-smile that had taken the place of so many of her usual
expressions. Harry was thoughtful as she brushed her lips and collarbone with
her jumpy hands. “Where did you learn CPR anyway?” he asked.
Jessa gave him her full attention for a moment from surprise before her face
attempted to relax into another expression. She shrugged and pressed her
fingers against her cutlery, pushing it in circles around the tabletop. The
decision to answer Harry appeared clearly on her face and she shifted in mild
discomfort. “Amongst... you know. That lot.” Meaning: muggles.
“Why would you learn something like that?” Harry pressed, his expression half-
indulgent, half something quite different.
Jessa glanced up at him for a nanosecond then pretended never to have looked at
him. “Healing people without magic just seemed important. Something I should
learn.”
“Why?”
Jessa reluctantly looked at Harry. It was clear she still found his company
uncomfortable since the final, bizarre battle but beneath that there was still
a sliver of fondness and familiarity that made her open her mouth and admit,
“In the event I needed to heal someone.”
Harry looked at her over his goblet of pumpkin juice. “Who?”
The look in Jessa’s eyes told that she was considering not answering fully, but
then she shrugged and muttered, “Regie? ...Or someone else... I...”
“Who’s Leona?”
Jessa’s head shot up so fast that a moment later a pained look in her eyes
indicated she had experienced whiplash. She mouthed the name as though trying
it on her tongue then stared at Harry with an emotionally charged expression
that he could not read. Eventually Jessa said, “I think Leona was my friend...”
“*Who was Leona?*” Draco pressed. “What did Aunt Walburga-”
Jessa swallowed. “I think she died. My friend. Leona... I think... I’m sure she
died. I’m not sure...” Her head sagged a bit and she brought up a hand to
support it. Massaging her temples, she said, “Something happened.”
With an expression of upset and deep concentration Jessa ran her fingers over
her knife, spinning it in circles and causing light to flash off its silver
surface.
Alastor’s heavy hand gripped Jessa’s shoulder despite his attempt not to
interrupt the conversation. “Stop playing with that and eat something.”
Jessa ignored him and the man gave a disgruntled sigh. Dipping his fingers in
the pool of blood congealing around his meat, he proffered his hand for Jessa
to taste or at the very least smell. “Remind your stomach that you’re hungry.”
“I’m not...” Jessa went white and pulled her hand away from the still-spinning
knife. Light flashed off it and bounced along the blood on Moody’s thick, warm
fist. “I was thinking,” Jessa whispered and she changed from white to grey.
“I’m going to be sick!”
“Jessa?” Alastor and Harry questioned together as Jessa flew from the table.
Draco arched his brow in confusion.
“Was that about Leona?” Harry said.
“Who kno-” Alastor trailed off and looked at the blood on his fingers and the
silver implement beneath them. Surely not again..?
“Kindred Jessamine!” The injured ex-auror threw himself out the door after the
young woman.
True to her word, Jessa was being very sick down a porcelain bowl when Alastor
reached her.
“Not again,” the man commented as he entered. At least he couldn’t smell that
ugly, dark magic.
“Sorry,” Jessa said calmly as she wiped her mouth slowly and drew herself back
up to her feet. “I just suddenly felt funny. The... blood... smelt bad.”
“The meat was fine,” Moody said.
“Maybe I’m coming down with something,” Jessa said as she moved slowly towards
the sink. “A lot of things have been smelling too strongly for the past few
days.” She looked thoughtful. “Do you think I’m getting my dog-senses back with
my magic?” Her expression flickered as she washed her hands and her nose
wrinkled. It seemed the soap was making her feel mildly nauseous again. She
held her arms out straight and continued washing her hands awkwardly. “I don’t
remember the smells being so bad though,” she said. “Maybe I was just used to
them.”
Alastor stepped forwards to rub her shoulder as she dried her hands. She rested
her head against his shoulder. “My magic’s been acting so strangely lately,”
she complained into his chest. “I can’t wait ‘til it all gets back to normal.”
“Who was the one foolish enough to stop using her magic for months and then
used so much she burnt out completely and ended up in a hospital bed?” Alastor
chided automatically.
“Yeah, yeah,” Jessa said. “You don’t need to say anything: my body’s punishing
me enough.” She moved away to rinse her mouth.
Alastor watched her and thought of the cumbersome jars of glittering, pure,
blood left in dusty jars in an intensely unpleasant room in the Black
residence.
Jessa turned and met his thoughtful expression with a puzzled smile. “What?”
she said. “Come on, let’s leave.”
Alastor hesitated for longer than a moment. Then he followed her from the room.
They were shortly to discover Draco’s loophole.
*
“You lied to Potty.”
“What? I didn’t lie to him. Do you just follow me about Peeves?”
“Of course,” the Poltergeist replied. “I drink you in.”
“That’s... rather wrong Peeves,” Jessa replied, giving him a look from over the
rim of her goblet.
“Well *nyaaaah*,” Peeves replied snottily, thrusting his tongue out at her.
“Don’t you see anything wrong with where you are?”
Jessa glanced around the kitchens, and more specifically at Kreecher, who was
blatantly giving Peeves a very nasty look indeed. “No, I’m quite happy,” Jessa
replied.
Peeves wrinkled his nose at her. “Figures. But you still lied.”
“I didn’t... oh Peeves, it hardly matters, does it? The charms Kreecher put on
the tapestry back home won’t wear off until I’m dead. There’s no need for
anyone to know anything about Leona’s existence or my age.”
“They know she exists,” Peeves said.
“You think Scarhead needs to have any more nightmares than he already does?”
Jessa snapped.
Peeves smirked at her but said, “Don’t you think
Professor Randypants would like to know that you’re... whatever age you are?”
“You think I wouldn’t like that... but it’s not worth the hassle. Besides, I
don’t even really know... Kreecher, have you still kept count?”
“Mistress is twenty-seven,” Kreecher replied. “Little mistress would be twenty-
four.”
“Right, so... Sev’s thirty-seven. There’s still an age difference... and I
don’t really want to see Draco’s face when he realises he’s not the firstborn.”
*
“Will you please just go to Poppy?” Alastor was heard growling as he followed
Jessa back out from the toilets. It was the fourth time in three days that
she’d ran to empty her stomach.
“I’m fine,” Jessa was heard growling back.
“You are far from fine. Your magic’s been erratic since-”
Jessa looked at him. “Yeah, ‘since’,” she mocked dryly.
“And you’ve vomited-”
“Get over it,” Jessa said, continuing to stride away from both Alastor and the
toilets.
Alastor strode after her. “This could be serious!”
“Mad Eye stop wor- ohh. Oh.”
Draco watched as Jessa stopped dead and Alastor quickly caught up with her.
Draco quickly started walking towards them when Jessa snatched for Alastor’s
arm. Jessa had fainted.
Moody pressed his lips together as though he was swallowing an ‘I told you so’
that Jessa probably couldn’t hear and checked her over before taking her to the
hospital wing.
“Does she do anything other than faint?” Draco drawled, almost effectively
masking his concern from the man who had grown to know him rather well. Alastor
made a face that was somewhat sympathetic and went to find Madame Pomphrey.
The woman gave Draco a glance and then pulled a curtain briskly around the bed
Alastor had deposited Jessa on. After a moment a bewildered Alastor found
himself on the outside of the curtain also.
Sometime later a displeased voice cried, “Mad Eye!” and indicated Jessa had
regained consciousness. Draco pulled open the curtain to discover an irritated
Jessa sitting on a hospital cot in a hospital gown and scowling darkly.
“Why am I here?” she immediately demanded.
“You passed out-” Alastor began.
“I know that!” Jessa snapped. “Why amn’t I in my bedroom?”
“Because the blood left your face and your eyes rolled back in your skull and
you *fainted* and could have smashed that skull open on the flagstones if
Professor Moody hadn’t caught you,” Draco said with finality, crossing his
arms. He glanced across at Poppy, who had an odd look on her face. Jessa caught
the look and quietened, squirming slightly as she moved her arms around
herself.
Alastor gazed at the jeans on the chair beside her. Jessa had been giving her
waistband a dissatisfied look just that morning.
Jessa caught the look on his face, sighed, and wrapped her arms further around
her stomach defensively.
“Are you healthy?” Alastor asked.
Jessa nodded. “All fine except for you know... Explaining to, um...”
Moody gave her a look. “Do you know who?”
“Yes!” Jessa quickly sighed.
“Did Poppy have to check?” Alastor said.
Jessa shook her head mutely, her hair falling softly around her face.
“What are you talking about?” Draco asked.
“I’m pregnant,” Jessa said quietly.
Everyone was silent for a beat.
“Is it-”
“Severus’,” she said. Jessa took a deep, troubled breath and held her head in
her hands. “It... well... Severus is the father.” She looked lost. “How am I
going to tell Sev?”
“I do not expect that you’ll need to,” came a drawl from the doorway. Severus
strode in briskly and gave the young woman a penetrating look. He smiled very
slightly in an attempt to seem less severe. In reply to the startled question
in her eyes he said, “I’ve got charms on you to alert me if you find yourself
in the hospital wing, remember?” The other question was less easy to reply to.
Severus sat down quietly beside Jessa. “Are you alright?”
Jessa nodded hesitantly. “Are you?”
Severus twitched his features mildly in reply. “You’ve had morning sickness for
about a week haven’t you?”
Jessa nodded.
“So that puts you somewhere between six and twelve weeks I suppose? Have you...
I don’t know much about wizarding pregnancies... Some muggles have a scan at
twentysix weeks... my line has a predilection for...”
“For twins?” Jessa said dryly. “Yes, you neglected to tell me that before.
Thank you so much for the warning.”
“Oh you’re very welcome,” Severus said dryly. He glanced at her. “I hope you
realise Longbottom and Crouch Jr will not be getting the honour of your hand
now?”
“What?”
“Oh Severus!” Poppy clucked. To everyone’s surprise, she slapped his arm as
well. Severus gave her a shocked-yet-threatening look but the matronly woman
ignored him and said to Jessa, “That’s his appalling attempt to propose to you,
dear.”
Jessa blinked in surprise, not least because Poppy Pomphrey had called her
‘dear’. “You... don’t have to do that,” Jessa said to Severus.
“You’re not getting the option to decline,” Severus retorted.
“Smooth,” Draco said. Severus gave him a dirty look but Draco ignored him as a
calculating expression lit his face. “You’re a half-blood,” he said.
“And she’s a bastard; what’s your point?” Severus bristled.
Draco beamed. “You have to take her name. And she’s officially become a named
Malfoy.”
Snape groaned. “Marvellous, I’m going to be a Malfoy; won’t your father be
thrilled.” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Well, I never liked the name
Snape anyway.”
“No you don’t get it; it’s better than that!” Draco said quickly. “I have to go
tell Harry. Thanks Pureblood!” He kissed Jessa’s cheek as he darted away before
doubling back momentarily to quickly thank his godfather also. “No running in
the hospital wing!” Poppy shouted after him.
***** Epilogue *****

Author's notes: Wherein there are marriages and babies.
===============================================================================
It's been a long time, but we're finally here. The 'licorice' comment made me
smile all that time ago because it was just after I had decided on Lycoris'
name. Enjoy, and thank you for reading.
“James! James! Jamie! Prongs!”
James Potter, who had been leaning on his portrait frame talking with Remus
Lupin, stepped back warily as their friend Sirius stumbled towards them at
great speed.
“Prongsie you have to come see!” Sirius puffed. He grabbed James’ arms. “Come,
come now.”
James attempted to pull his arm out of Sirius’ grasp even as the man made to
bolt in the opposite direction, and pushed his glasses back up his face with
his other hand. The lenses caught the light and flashed, obscuring his eyes,
but it was still possible to see his concern in the creases near his painted
lips. “What in Merlin’s name, Padfoot?” James demanded.
“What’s happened Sirius?” Remus reiterated.
“Just come see what Harry’s done; it’s amazing,” Sirius answered in breathless
impatience. “You have to see this, especially you Prongs; you’ll love it!”
Remus and James exchanged glances for a moment. The instant later, James was
finally conceding to let Sirius bodily drag him and Remus was running towards
Harry’s room.
“Are you alright, Harry?” were the first words out of James’ mouth.
Harry tilted his head somewhat reluctantly towards the picture frame looking,
if possible, somewhat embarrassed. His hair flopped into his eyes. “Yeah... I’m
fine Dad.”
“What’s your idiot godfather been scaring me about?”
“I... um,” Harry pushed his glasses up nervously. “It’s that... I just finished
something.”
“Finished what? Harry, you’ve not...”
“With Draco? No, no we’re fine. More than fine,” Harry reassured with a smile.
“No, it’s just... I’ve been doing something, and Hermione taught me the charm,
and... it worked out really well actually,” Harry finished with a shy, happy
smile.
“Where is Hermione?”
The door opened then, but it was Remus.
Harry said, “Hermione... thought I should do this on my own. Since it’s...
personal.”
Remus stepped further into the room and closed the door. “Are you alright
Harry? You seem nervous.”
Harry gave a half-smile. “Only a little.”
Sirius was almost bouncing up and down in the frame. “Just tell them Harry!
Show them!”
Remus and James looked at Harry questioningly. Harry ran his hand through his
hair and said, “You remember that picture you gave me recently Remus?”
Remus blinked. “Of your mother?”
“Yes.” Harry stepped away from the desk he had been hovering by and swept his
arm to indicate a pile of drafts and botched drawings. “I’ve been... well.”
Instead of finishing his sentence, he stepped across the room and stood before
a new picture frame. Filling it, was an oil portrait of his mother.
“Lily,” said James. And because Harry had performed the charm Hermione taught
him correctly, Lily smiled back and ran from her frame into the one occupied by
her husband and the godson of their child.
“You’re a beautiful artist Harry,” Remus said softly.
*
Harry was woken unceremoniously by a plump pillow attacking his face. He
snatched it off and scowled at the culprit, who had felt it necessary to hex
the pillow rather than employ the muggle method of throwing it. “If you’re
going to wake me with something eating my face can’t it be your mouth?” he
grumbled.
“No it cannot,” Draco answered briskly, “as then I would get distracted and it
would impact poorly on my timekeeping. I cannot say it would impact poorly on
yours as that is already atrocious. Now get up and get ready because I am
babysitting this morning.”
“And that means I have to get out of bed why?” Harry mumbled in protest as he
obediently sat up and swung his feet over the side of the bed. “Floor’s cold,”
he continued to mumble.
Draco sighed at Harry’s sleepy whining and cast a heating charm on the floor.
“Thank you,” Harry said and shuffled towards his ablutions.
“Call yourself a wizard,” Draco called after him mock-disparagingly. He went
downstairs to breakfast rather than stick around for a wet Harry who could feel
tempted to retaliate by mussing Draco’s hair, as he had done twice already this
week.
Once ready, Harry also made his way downstairs. He helped himself to breakfast
and huffed dispassionately to his lover, “I don’t see why I have to go anyway.
She’s just going to tell us to have babies.”
“And I will just tell her what I always tell her: that we will settle down and
adopt some heirs once we’ve both been educated and working for a few years,”
Draco replied.
“And then she’ll remind us that we are ridiculously rich and don’t need to
work; and you will growl about ‘life skills’,” Harry continued.
“I do not growl; refrain from painting me as so uncouth,” Draco drawled calmly
from over his breakfast. Harry simply smiled in reply and returned to his
breakfast.
After eating Draco got up and headed towards the fireplace whilst Dobby cleared
away the breakfast things.
“Thankyou Dobby,” Harry murmured as he got up quickly to follow his lover. “I
don’t see why you have to babysit anyway, why can’t one of her men do it?”
Draco gave him a sour look. “Do you really want to consider that question?
Besides, I *want* to spend time with the children.”
Harry cringed at the thought of what Voldemort, Rodolphus and Rabastian got
upto with Bellatrix. “Whatever for?” Harry asked.
“You *like* children,” Draco reminded him briskly.
“Sort of, but there’s a difference between sitting the twins and... you know.
It’s still weird being around that lot.”
“The man can’t even perform a simple levitation charm,” Draco retorted archly,
“what could you possibly be afraid of, you cowardly lion.”
Harry glowered but could not quite bring himself to banter about the muggle
movie reference. “Can’t you just hand me Tommy and maybe Evanna through the
floo and you can stay there with Voldie Jr and ‘Bastian?”
Draco gave Harry a stern look. “I’ve warned you before about calling Little
Sirius that: his name is Sirius Marvolo. And no you cannot; because you are
going to pull your weight and help me look after the little terrors.”
“Why can you call them that?!” Harry protested, but sighed and followed Draco
through the fire. “Besides,” Harry mumbled, “I wasn’t taking the purely easy
route. Evanna’s a handful too. She’s too clever.”
Draco rolled his eyes and strode through the parlour he had arrived in.
Bellatrix was seated combing the dark curls of a slumbering Little Sirius but
she stood and greeted her visitors warmly. “How are you my loves?” she enquired
affectionately as she kissed them.
Draco replied with ease whilst Harry awkwardly murmured back. Having children
–and indeed, a more concrete sense of ‘family’- had changed Bellatrix
considerably. She doted on her own four and was just as fiercely devoted to the
other youngsters she now considered family. Harry was still struggling to
acclimatise himself to Bellatrix channelling Molly Weasley and uncomfortably
attempted to deflect her insistence on clucking over him, scolding his
thinness.
Little Sirius had woke upon hearing voices and regarded the room with a groggy
but commanding stare. “Mum, put Harry down!” he declared.
Bella smiled and obeyed, moving to pull her eldest son into a cuddle of his own
(eliciting gruff protests).
Lord Voldemort entered the room with an immaculately dressed Evanna. Since
being vanquished by Harry and losing his magic, the Dark Lord had become rather
withdrawn, mostly in shock. However the birth of his first son had done even
more to change his character (largely because he had found something he would
not hesitate to give his life for). His adoration for little Sirius Marvollo
had made him easily susceptible to the charms of his son’s next two siblings,
and when little Tommy had came along, Lord Voldemort felt rather complete.
“Son, let your Mum cuddle you,” Voldemort said. Little Sirius quietened.
“Thankyou sweetie,” Bellatrix said, to possibly both.
Evanna stepped around Voldemort and smirked at Harry, enjoying the nervous
expression that provoked. Draco noticed and raised an eyebrow at the young
girl, who smiled back in amusement. There was a bustling noise in the corridor
outside and Evanna’s attention went to it immediately. She curtseyed and
skipped out of the room to where her father was searching for one of his shoes.
“It’s here Daddy,” she said warmly. Rodolphus himself was rather happy with his
life. He’d fathered an exquisitely beautiful daughter named Evanna –Greek for
‘of noble birth’ of course- and had found himself in love with the intriguing,
young Luna Lovegood. His wife had been exceedingly supportive of it and told
him to set about providing their daughter with a half-sister, because it wasn’t
fair that poor Evanna should grow up without a sister. Luna had taken it in her
stride when Rodolphus breached the subject with her. Nothing ever seemed to
take her by surprise.
“Thankyou princess,” Rodolphus answered his daughter. He glanced at her. “What
are you smirking about now?”
“Harry’s babysitting us,” she replied honestly.
“Don’t torment him too much,” Rodolphus told Evanna. “Etiquette’s changing from
what the old portraits tell you. Our world’s building new rules now.”
“You tried to kill him before,” Evanna said.
Rodolphus looked at his daughter in surprise. There was something infinitely
disturbing about hearing those words from his child’s young mouth. “You need to
start considering what the portraits tell you in the context of *now* rather
than then, my princess.”
Evanna looked unimpressed. “He takes away magic!”
“Only Tom’s and... not without reason,” Rodolphus said with a heavy sigh,
barely glancing at the sleeve covering his left arm. “You don’t have to fight
someone because you’re afraid of them Evanna.”
“But I like to make him nervous,” Evanna said.
Rodolphus thought hard. “Someone of your breeding, princess, shouldn’t need to
resort to antagonising others. You should get close to them, and learn from
them.”
Evanna stood for a while, and seemed to absorb this. “But I can still scare
Harry a little?” she whined.
Rodolphus finally put his shoe on. “Oh yes,” he told his young daughter. “I
believe a dose of fear now and again is a healthy thing.”
*
The twins that Harry would so rather have been babysitting were currently
bludgeoning each other with their wands. As Severus became aware due to the
increase in yelping that his lively children were tussling again, he stalked
through to the room they were boisterously demolishing and crossed his arms
sternly. “Like a pair of rabid, hyperactive, collie-dog puppies,” he announced
of his twins.
In the time it had taken for Severus to cross from one room to the other the
children had descended to rolling on the carpet occasionally bashing his or her
sibling with their wand on the rare moments that they could free an arm to do
so. Despite becoming increasingly practised, it was not immediately easy for
Severus to determine where one streak of dark-haired scalp begun and another of
Malfoy-blonde ended, due to the pair inheriting their mother’s (somewhat
wretched, in Severus’ opinion) genes and finding it necessary to swap their
hair colour constantly to mimic the other. Toby had inherited the Malfoy
colouring whilst Lycoris was dark, but when last seen (about twenty minutes
previously) each wore streaks of the other’s colour and for their hair to be in
monochromatic patterns was the norm as their magical prowess progressed.
Severus’ daughter ignored the note of displeasure in her father’s voice but
Toby wriggled away from his sister reluctantly. Lycoris made a face of disgust
that grated on her brother’s nerves and a moment later they were squabbling
again.
“Tobias! How many times have I told you not to hex your sister? Lycoris, I have
told you not to hit your brother with your wand!” Severus shouted, running into
the fray to separate the brats. Being the little devils and spawns of Jessa
that they were, the pair decided to take offence at Severus’ actions and
attacked his legs with playful fervour. The little monsters were just as
devoted to each other as they were in the pursuit of naughtiness, in Severus’
unfortunate experience.
Jessa did not have to make any sound of amusement for Severus to know she had
appeared in the doorway. She met her lover’s eyes and smirked widely, not
moving a muscle to help him separate the scrapping twins. She said, “Tobias, do
what your Daddy tells you, young man. You too Lycoris.”
The wretched little whelps separated and then smirked up at their unimpressed
father. Then Severus realised that he had once again referred to his son by the
infernal name ‘Tobias’. All Severus’ attempts to use the boy’s other names, and
even shortened versions such as ‘Reg’ or ‘Al’, were dismal failures. The
obstinate boy stubbornly refused to answer to anything other than ‘Toby’, to
Severus’s dismay, and Severus had just called the little toerag ‘Tobias’ which
was as close as he would come (hopefully) to using the aforementioned moniker.
Severus took a deep breath, all too aware that his children were amused by his
mistake, and glared at Jessa. He then directed his glare at the children, who
weren’t really impressed but wiped the grins off their faces because …well…
they didn’t really want to do something boring like Daddy always made them when
he decreed they were in ‘much too high spirits’. Severus cancelled the hex Toby
had placed on his sister and healed the bump on Toby’s face. The siblings acted
as if they had barely been aware of the hex and the injury in the first place.
Neither of the children had seemed to take up on the idea that wands were for
anything other than clubs and seemed to delight in using them as such. Severus
wished his idiot partner hadn’t felt it necessary to teach their brats wandless
magic either, and wished they didn’t have such a flair for it. Jessa had
insisted that their children learning to control their magic wandlessly was a
non-negotional decision. She seemed to think it was an important means of self-
preservation and whenever Severus pointed out that her unusual skill had made
her more attractive to undesirably dangerous people like her father and the
dark lord, she simply got that look in her eyes and said it was worth it.
Somehow this always squashed the argument and Severus was left trying to deal
with two hyper brats practising wandless magic. Heaven forbid Jessa grew less
exasperating with age.
Pressing his lips together in an indication of his displeasure, Severus stared
down at the unrepentant gazes of two of his dearest miscreants. No one was
quite sure what their natural eye colour was because once they changed from
blue they simply kept on changing for the next four years. The twins had since
got bored and each settled for one grey eye and one almost black. “Wretched
puppies, stop making eyes at me,” he drawled in displeasure.
Lycoris reached up and wrapped her arms around Severus’ neck. “Daddy lift me
up. Please. Carry me.”
Severus inwardly rolled his eyes at himself and knelt to allow his daughter to
clamber onto his shoulders. He met his son’s eyes questioningly but the boy
merely snorted and stepped out of reach until Severus had stood. When his
father was standing, Tobias stepped closer and allowed Severus to place his
hand on his shoulder as they walked back towards Jessa.
Toby stepped out of the way carefully as his mother stepped forwards to kiss
her husband. Holding Lycoris in place with one hand, Severus reached out and
pulled the boy back to his side, saying, “Oh no you don’t. If I have to submit
myself to your mother’s shows of affection you do also.”
Jessa smiled at her son, who was as retiring as his father despite not sharing
his colouring. His facial features were also similar, although his nose was
softer. Jessa wrapped an arm around her the boy and drew her other two loves
into the embrace.
Lycoris’ lips turned upwards as her mother cuddled the three of them. The
little girl kissed her father’s head. “Love you Daddy.”
“You’re not supposed to have favourites,” Jessa scolded with a fond smile.
“But Daddy’s the best,” Lycoris responded, running her little hands through her
father’s hair. Enjoying the rare way her lover’s face melted, Jessa grinned
softly and gave Severus a warm look that he knew meant that she agreed. Holding
his daughter tightly, Severus leant forwards and placed a kiss on Jessa’s lips
that was only mildly awkward.
Meanwhile, Toby had let out an appalled noise and stared up at his sister. “But
I’m your favourite Lyco! We’re best friends!”
Lycoris gazed at her twin as though he had said something strange. “Of course
you are Tobes. I never ever let anybody else call me Lyco ever: I’m Lyc to
*everybody* else. *We’re* bests. But Daddy is my best too, and Momma. I’ve got
lots of bests, because I’m lucky. Lucky, lucky Lyco.”
Severus gave his daughter a despairing look. “You’re going to be a Hufflepuff
aren’t you?”
“Just for you Daddy,” Lycoris said brightly.
*
Back at Bellatrix’s residence, Draco and Harry were waiting for the woman to
finish her prolonged goodbyes to her children. Kissing each of her litter one
more time she finally handed Tommy over to Draco, whilst Harry looked on
nervously. Tommy completed the family, yet was markedly different from the
rest. Physically he was a disturbing carbon copy of his father Tom Riddle, but
his personality was that of his eldest brother’s namesake. Harry couldn’t help
but see his godfather in the mannerisms of the three year old, and it was
disconcerting.
“Bella, come,” said Voldemort in a moderately firm voice. He never raised his
voice beyond ‘stern’ anymore so Bellatrix understood that she was beginning to
try his considerably lengthened temper.
She found it fitting that she had had two boys by he who had once been her Dark
Lord. She loved the man –for what was he now, if not a man?- dearly and there
was something indescribably pleasant about bearing him two sons, Sirius
Marvollo and Thomas Orion. Tommy had been even less planned than his other
three unplanned siblings as he had been conceived after a year of Bella
deliberately trying not to fall pregnant. Bellatrix had thought three was a
good number of children to have since she herself had been the first of three.
“I will see you all later,” Rabastian said, going to the floo to greet Luna
courteously.
“Did you enjoy yourself with Parkinson and Longbottom?” he asked her as she
swept soot off of her pretty clothing.
Luna had smiled and answered brightly as she pulled him towards the floo,
excited to leave. It had surprised them all (except Luna perhaps) when Neville
and Pansy declared their intention to be married, and Luna had become very
close to the both of them. They had been lovers for a while before she had told
them she had to be with Rodolphus, whom she had hardly spent time with before
then. This new age seemed to be one for unanticipated partnerships.
Conversely, Rabastian was very happy in his life without another partner.
Fathering a child with Bellatrix before his brother, and a son at that, had
increased his confidence and made him feel quite settled. He was in no rush to
go out and find a new lover and was instead content for the moment to raise his
son and the boy’s siblings with the aid of Bellatrix, Voldemort, ‘Dolphus and
Luna. He enjoyed having such tangled family ties because he felt so close to
them all, and could never imagine wanting a more normal family. He’d been
closely woven into ‘Dolphus and Bellatrix’s lives for too long to desire
another option. Little Rabastian Nigellus didn’t seem to mind the arrangement,
though at six years old he had a limited view on the world.
Staring hard at her children, Bellatrix attempted to clear from her mind a
conversation she had had with Lucius’ daughter when Little Sirius was a few
months old. Jessamine had just given birth to her twins and had asked Bellatrix
to be present when Regulus Tobias Alastor and Lycoris Marvella Leona Malfoy
were placed on the family tree, as the family’s eldest member. Bellatrix and
Jessamine had gotten talking, feeling closer because of their shared experience
of new motherhood, Bellatrix presumed, and Bellatrix had found herself
declaring that she was the one responsible for wiping Alfard off of the Black
tapestry. ‘He didn’t help Andromeda,’ Bellatrix had said. And shockingly,
Kindred Jessamine had reinstated Mrs. Tonks into the family.
‘It didn’t occur to me before that I could do this,’ Jessamine had said. It was
strange for an illegitimate to become a Head of Family after all. Sirius and
Leona found themselves legible on the tapestry.
On Jessamine’s advice Bellatrix and Narcissa had started to spend time with
their sister again. The reinstatement had come as a shock to Andromeda, and
finding themselves able to tolerate Ted Tonks and the metamorphmagus whelp had
shocked Bellatrix and Narcissa. It was to Andromeda’s that Bellatrix was
heading now, with Voldemort and Rodolphus, which was still a surreal
experience. Tonight was to be especially so as young Nymphadora’s werewolf
lover would be there, with their cub, and their friends werewolf Weasley and
the former Miss Delacleur.
Bellatrix took a deep breath, and apparated. Voldemort and Rodolphus nodded at
the babysitters and followed suit.
*
“But you can’t be a Hufflepuff,” Toby continued to protest, “because I’m going
to be a Ravenclaw or a Slytherin like Dad. Hufflepuffs are stupid and I don’t
want to be a Hufflepuff.”
“You’re not going to be a Hufflepuff, son,” Severus said.
“But I’m going to have to because Lyco’s first in the alphabet so she gets to
pick our house!”
Lyc gazed at her twin with interest. “But we have to be in different houses
Toby,” she said. “How are we going to take over Hogwarts if we’re only the best
in one house? I’m gonna be the best in Hufflepuff and you’re going to be the
best in your house and we’re going to be the bestest ever.”
Toby reluctantly clambered up his mother so he could look into his twin’s eyes
with ease. “But they’ll split us up if we’re in different houses. I want us to
be together Lyco.”
Lyc giggled and bent over to kiss her brother’s face. “Don’t be silly Toby.
Nobody could break us up. You’re my best friend and we won’t let them. Sides,
if they try, Siri’ll be a second year and he’ll beat them up for us.”
This was true. Bellatrix’s son had grown devoted to little cousins (once
removed) (who were also his second cousins) and was hugely protective of them.
“’Bastian’ll be with us too!” Toby remembered cheerfully, referring to
Rabastian Junior.
“Then we can take over three houses!” Lyc said excitedly.
Tobias made a face like he wasn’t sure he wanted his cousin to be in a
different house from him but said instead, “And we’ll all look after Evanna.”
He doubted she would need looking after but it was nice to feel protective of
her.
“Yeah. I think she’ll be a Slytherin,” Lyc said. “Eww, I think Tommy’s going to
be a Gryffindor though.”
“Watch your language Lycoris,” Severus said sternly.
“Ignore your Daddy, Lyc. ‘Gryffindor’ isn’t a swear word,” Jessa said.
“It should be,” Severus grumbled.
“But I don’t want Tommy to be one,” Lyc said. “Slytherins are much better.
Uncle Draco’s much smarter than Uncle Harry.”
“That’s very perceptive Lyc,” Severus said approvingly.
“Coming from a Hufflepuff that’s a terrible view to have,” Jessa said.
“She’s not one yet!” Severus said darkly.
“Oh I’m definitely going to be a Hufflepuff Daddy,” Lyc said. “It’s going to be
easy to make loads of friends and they’ll all want to make me happy, and
because I’ll be a Hufflepuff everyone’ll think I’m stupid so I’ll be able to
surprise them.”
“I told you she’s suited to Slytherin,” Severus said with satisfaction. “She’s
far too cunning and manipulative for Hufflepuff.”
“Will you stop encouraging our child’s manipulative streak? It’s not something
that should be nurtured in her!”
“Don’t worry Daddy,” Lyc said. “Me and Tobes will be best at Potions so you
won’t mind that I’ll be a Hufflepuff. I’m going to be a Potions Mistress and
you’ll have to be happy.”
“Your Daddy won’t give you any points if you’re a Hufflepuff though sweetheart.
You won’t get any points for your best subject. But if you’re a Slytherin
Daddy’ll give you lots and lots of points and you’ll win us the House Cup every
year!”
“Sev!” Jessa cried.
“It’s okay Momma, I know Daddy’s just trying to manipulate me,” Lyc said
wisely.
“You’ll still have me Dad,” Toby said. “I’ll win the Cup for you.”
“Thank you son,” Severus said approvingly. “But Lyc, just imagine you and your
brother together. You would *crush* Gryffindor!”
“That’s a bad word Daddy,” Lyc said blithely. “Besides, I’ll still crush
Gryffindor as a Hufflepuff, and they’ll hate it even worse ’cause they’ll think
we’re rubbish.”
Severus opened his mouth to protest, but caught his partner’s amused eyes and
sighed in defeat. That was becoming an exasperatingly regular habit.
*
“You are a pitiful excuse for a Gryffindor,” Draco told his lover in amusement.
“Shut up,” Harry huffed, “just because you aren’t afraid of a sadistic little
five year old.”
Draco laughed outright before pointing out, “She didn’t do anything to you all
evening.”
“She probably did that to torment me,” Harry grumbled, looking less impressed
when his lover continued to laugh at him. “Don’t you have something better to
do?”
The blonde smiled. “Mmm,” he said in agreement.
Harry yelped in surprise as Draco pressed up against him. “I’m sure you can
think of a suitable distraction for me.”
“Mmm,” Harry agreed.
“And for the record, I don’t think Evanna intends to keep torturing you as
much,” Draco said.
“Dray baby? Don’t mention the kid anymore right now...”
“Oh... Oh... Okay... Mmm.”
“Articulate as always,” Harry mimicked quickly, before returning his attention
to Draco’s body.
*
“What happened to you, you used to be so complex,” Peeves lamented.
Jessa laughed good-naturedly and rested against the poltergeist comfortably.
“You’ve got the whole school to feed from Peeves.”
“It’s not the same,” he huffed. A small smirk shaped his lips. “It’s fun to
follow your husband when he’s trying to subdue the rugrats, however. He gets so
frustrated! It’s also good just following your brats and enjoying the
devastation they leave in their wake.”
Jessa smiled and snuggled further into Peeves’ somewhat bony form. “You should
put on some weight,” she mumbed into his shoulder, “you’d be more comfortable.”
“I do not know why I put up with you,” Peeves drawled in mild annoyance,
narrowing his eyes at the woman.
“Because we’re friends,” Jessa said.
Peeves growled but made no attempt to revoke his use as a cushion, even when a
startled trio of lost firsties walked past. “You’re a bad influence you know,”
Peeves grumbled. “You’re feeling so lazy I can’t find the energy to torment
them.”
Jessa patted the poltergeist’s head. “I know,” she said, managing to sound
almost sympathetic.
“They’re probably more afraid of you than me,” Peeves continued.
Jessa looked at him blankly. “Me?”
“You’re married to their terrifying potions teacher and you use a terror like
myself for a *pillow*.”
Jessa smiled a little and simply said, “Sev’s not so scary now. He’s just a bit
of a grump.”
“Even the improved version is still the most terrifying person these little
people have ever had the misfortune of meeting,” Peeves said.
Jessa grinned lazily despite herself. “Well I think he’s lovely,” she replied.
“It astounds me daily that they haven’t locked you away in St Mungo’s yet,”
Peeves retorted.
“Hush, pillow,” Jessa said.
They heard more noises from along the hall and Jessa wondered if it was those
firsties again. It soon became apparent that it was not as Alastor and Severus
appeared; the later carrying two mischievous twins who were attempting to wind
themselves around their father.
“We’ve been looking for you,” Lyc announced brightly.
“What a surprise that you’re with this miscreant,” Severus said.
Jessa rolled her eyes and Peeves made a childish face that made the twins
giggle. “Charming as ever, beautiful,” Jessa said.
Severus huffed, not altogether unkindly. After a beat he said, “Alastor agreed
to take his god-brats for a couple of hours.”
Jessa sat up, squeezing Peeves’ arm affectionately as she did so. “Oh good.”
“That’ll be fun to watch,” Peeves beamed, causing Alastor to sigh. Severus
smiled and deposited his children into their godfather’s arms before gliding
forwards to pull his wife to him.
“We’ll see you later,” Severus said.
“Oh, wait, Mad Eye,” Jessa said, “Harry said to remind you to be at ours
tomorrow. It’s important.”
Alastor nodded whilst Severus regarded the woman suspic... *speculatively*.
“It’s just another wretched get-together,” he said.
Jessa smiled benignly.
Scowling at her for a moment, Severus huffed and then decided the thought was
not worth dwelling on when he had time alone with his woman. “We will see you
later,” he reiterated, and dragged Jessa off in the direction of his rooms.
It was nice to return to his old rooms during term-time, even if it was perhaps
nicer to have a home to go to during the holidays. Jessa’s old bedroom at
Hogwarts had transformed into a nursery and looked much better that way, whilst
Jessa and Harry’s house had improved all round.
But this was a fleeting thought when Severus had time alone with his wife.
“You’d think it had been more than two days,” Jessa commented in a faux-
innocent voice as Severus slammed the door behind them.
“Hush,” replied Severus briskly, and gave into the urge to pick Jessa up now
that they were definitely unobserved. Jessa yelped in a way that he pretended
not to find endearing and carried his wife through to their bedroom.
“Who says I’ve consented?” Jessa complained with a badly-repressed grin.
“I say,” Severus growled back, dropping her onto his bed and reaching down to
unfasten her clothes.
“Hold it, hold it,” Jessa protested, batting away half-heartedly the mouth that
was nuzzling her throat nicely.
Severus reluctantly pulled back a little, stilling his hands but not removing
them. “What?”
Jessa grinned and flipped her lover onto his back. “You seemed to be under the
misapprehension that you were in charge.”
Severus grinned lazily at her and began unbuttoning his own robes. Jessa
swatted his hands away and used the stripping spell that she had heard him use
nearly seven years ago. Left wearing nothing but the chain around his throat,
Severus smirked seductively and reached over to pull Jessa towards him. Jessa
pulled off the remainder of her clothes and straddled her husband’s warm body.
Severus wrapped his arms around her and gazed at Jessa’s face for a moment. As
she’d aged she’d grown to look more like North, and the features that hadn’t
altered had slowly become less disturbingly youthful. Severus sat up and pulled
Jessa closer to him, lowering his head to nuzzle her chest. “I love you,” he
murmured into her skin.
Jessa placed a hand softly on his head. “I know,” she said. Tilting his head
up, she told Severus, “I love you too.”
*
Severus moved his daughter from his shoulders to his hip and went to where the
floo was expelling Bella, her three lovers and their progeny. Tobias scrambled
down from Jessa’s arms but permitted her to lead him inside by the hand.
“Auntie Bella!” Lyc crowed, jumping down from her father and running into the
witch’s arms.
Bellatrix kissed her all over and swung her up into her arms, causing Lyc to
squeal delightedly.
Closely behind, Lucius sidestepped this madness entirely and homed in on his
grandchildren.
Toby’s eyes lit up although he remained stiffly where he stood. “Grandpa Lucy!”
Lucius crossed the last few steps and threw the boy up into his arms. No one
else in the world could call him Lucy, but his grandchildren could.
Particularly Tobias, because he reminded Lucius so much of Severus. Lucius also
delighted in the fact that though Toby felt he was too old to still call his
parents Daddy or Mommy, he still called Lucius ‘Lucy’ because he knew Lucius
found it endearing. The boy was almost as crafty and charming as his sister.
That girl would likely rule the world, with young Tobias as her right-hand man.
“Grandfather!” Lyc smiled somewhat more timidly than she would for anyone else
but ran forward to hug him. He smiled and lifted the other six year old into
his arms. “How are you my little Princess?”
“Good thank you Grandfather; I hope you and Grandmother are well?”
“Of course my child, of course.” He kissed the top of her head, making her
flush.
Grandfather Lucius made her shy because he was the only man she knew who was
more charming than she was. She called him Lucy very rarely because she wanted
his respect. Toby understood that she had it anyway.
Lucius glided over to Severus, both twins still in his arms. He quirked his
lips. “How are you coping?”
Severus gave him a dark look. “It’s bad enough when it’s just family,” he said.
“But of course she insists on inviting *everyone* once a month. I rue the day
when she decided
Longbottom was honorary family, and don’t get me started on the Weaslies.”
“We love the Weaslies!” Toby and Lyc said in sync.
“Hush, you do not,” Severus said sternly. He glanced at Lucius. “Your
daughter’s been allowing the Weasley twins to babysit the pair. I’ve been
tearing my hair out.”
Lucius shook his head. “Narcissa invited the lot of them to the manor last
weekend. I was ready to hex those twins into dust after their ‘pranks’. Draco
just had to fall in love with the one boy who considered the Weaslies his
surrogate family.”
“Draco always used to have such impeccable taste,” Severus reminisced.
The fireplace crackled into life once more. More Weaslies. And Bill Weasley’s
young sister-in-law, who doted on Lyc for some reason. Lyc wriggled out of
Lucius’ grasp and ran towards Gabrielle with a gleeful squeal. Severus listened
to his daughter speak impeccable, joyous French for a few moments then turned
to Lucius. “Come on, I’ve not greeted my godson or his partner yet.”
“I didn’t notice they were here already,” Lucius commented, following Severus
to where Harry and Draco were standing with Jessa. The floo was busy expelling
Alastor, Hagrid, and the Zabinis but Severus ignored it.
“When do you ever not notice something Lucius?” He refused to play host. He
continued to ignore it when the Notts, Goyles plus Miss Weasley, Crabbes,
Daphne Greengrass and Milly Bulstrode, Auror Kingsley, and Seamus Finnegan
stepped through. Dean Thomas -who was looking decidedly debauched- followed
shortly. Then Hermione and Ron Weasley stepped through, Hermione glowing in
pregnancy, and Severus turned his back to the fireplace. It was bad enough
having his home overrun by Gryffindors without watching it happen. And everyone
seemed to be breeding. Greggory had better hope the female Weasley was less
fertile than her brothers.
Jessa had disappeared off to greet their guests. She needn’t expect any help;
he’d made it perfectly clear that he did not enjoy these enormous gatherings.
“Fiyer’s here,” Toby commented.
“Your mother did *not* invite him?” Severus whispered, horrified, and refusing
to turn around.
“She invited most of the Death Eaters apart from the Creepy Carrows and
Wormtail,” Tobias said. “I think you should punch him though Dad. Even if
Mother did invite him.”
“I can’t,” Severus said sourly. “I promised your mother I wouldn’t.” Both he
and Tobias had been rather cold towards the young man since Luna Lovegood had
predicted that the as yet unborn child he had fathered with Katie Bell was
going to fall madly in love with both Lyc, and Rodolphus’ younger daughter, and
the three of them would live together extremely happily. So far Rodolphus only
had one daughter but as Luna had proven herself to be a talented Seer everyone
expected Luna to fall pregnant with the other girl soon.
Jessa had shrugged at the prediction. “As long as Lyc’s happy,” she’d said.
Severus hadn’t been impressed.
“It’s not really Fiyer’s fault,” Harry hazarded.
Severus turned his death glare on the young man. “I will not have my daughter
growing up and forming some sordid little *triad* Potter, even if *you* have
nothing against them.”
Harry sighed. “The threesome was *your* idea,” he muttered at Draco. Sharing
Kay for a night had seemed like a good way to get over Draco’s ‘infidelity’ at
the time.
“And this party’s your fault,” Draco retorted smoothly.
Lucius and Severus raised their eyebrows together. “How so?”
Draco lifted his left hand casually. “Harry made it official.”
Jessa returned to the group with Neville, Luna and Pansy just in time to see
the light shining on Draco’s engagement ring. She reached over to kiss her
brother and her soon-to-be brother-in-law. “I love this family,” she said.
Severus glanced at Toby and then at Lyc, who was working the room like a pro
and charming everyone in sight. He met his lover’s eyes and smiled despite
himself. He kissed her cheek lovingly before reaching over to shake Draco and
Harry’s hands in congratulations.
He noticed Lyc had wandered up to Katie Bell and was reaching up to feel the
girl’s bump. “Lycoris Marvella Leona Malfoy you keep away from there!” he
bellowed, running across the room to make sure the girl didn’t come into
contact with the kicking boy she would supposedly fall in love with. The longer
he could keep Lyc away from the little monster the better.
Harry watched this in amusement. “Which of our families do you think is
crazier?” he asked Draco.
Draco watched the Weasley twins entertain Bellatrix’s brood with their new
toddler-friendly wares. “They’re both yours now,” he said.
Harry smiled and kissed the blonde. “And you.”
“And me,” Draco smiled. He suddenly looked past Harry’s shoulder. “Is Lyc
playing with *the snake*?”
“Charming it you mean,” Toby said.
Draco rolled his eyes. “That sounds like her. Go take my niece away from Nagini
please Mister Malfoy.”
Harry pushed his glasses up his nose and gave his lover a Look. “What makes you
think I’m taking *your* name Mister Potter?”
“Urgh.” Draco wrinkled his nose daintily. “Because I’m a Malfoy and Malfoys are
superior to Potters.”
“Oh really. Well if that’s the case *you* can tell your father that you’re
bringing a Potter into the Malfoy name.”
“I’m right here,” Lucius said to Severus in quiet confusion.
“The boy’s an idiot and thinks Draco’s stupid enough to think braving you with
that information is worse than being a Potter.”
“Nothing’s wor-” Lucius caught sight of the Weasley chit sneaking out of the
room with young Greg Goyle. Things could have been much worse.
“Father knows that I’m marrying you,” Draco said.
“And he knows you’re going to be a Potter too,” Harry said.
“He does not! I’m to carry on the Malfoy line!”
Harry smirked as his raised eyebrow implied the physical impossibility of Harry
bearing an heir, whilst Toby piped up, “But I’m a Malfoy...”
Eyes narrowing, Draco said stiffly, “We’re hyphenating.”
Harry kissed the blonde. “Anything you want, my future Mister Potter-Malfoy.”
“That sounds awful! Malfoys come first.”
Jessa wandered over carrying Lyc and being followed by Nagini. “You can’t just
swap surnames?”
“No!” Draco and Harry snapped. “What a stupid idea,” Draco muttered to Harry.
“Completely, Mister Potter-Malfoy.”
“Malfoy-Potter!”
“Jeez, you’re not even married yet,” said Toby.
Harry and Draco grinned at each other. “Yet.”
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