4 parts today, though honestly I think the first chapter should have been added to the end of the last section. I hadn't realized it was the only chapter left in that section. Ah well.
Yes, I know that Severus' middle name is actually Tobias... well, I know it now, I didn't know it back then. I decided not to change it though.
Part 54/?
Draco let him bask in that affirmation for a few moments before speaking once more. "Are you ready to head back?"
Harry nodded. "I did leave kind of abruptly."
Draco broke the connection to the study mirror and stood up. "While we walk you can tell me about how father asked you."
Harry laughed in remembrance. "He asked and then tried to head out of the room as soon as possible. He said he wanted to give me time to think."
"What did you do?" Draco asked, interested.
"I went 'Lucius Ares Malfoy! Sit your butt down!'" Harry told him. "He did too. We talked about it for a while longer last night."
"How did you find out about Ares?" Draco asked.
"I asked of course," Harry shrugged. "Why? Is it a secret?"
"Oh, no, not really." Draco hurried to reassure. "If he'd given you any other middle name, then I might have had to wonder."
"Any other? Are you saying he lied to me?"
Draco shook his head. "No, Ares is his middle name, his family one. He said that those of us stuck with more than one middle name should have a reason for each of them. I've got three, so I've got a private one, which I only use when talking to myself, and no, that doesn't mean I'm crazy," he said before Harry did more than open his mouth. Harry smiled sheepishly and motioned him to go on. "A family one, and a public one that I sign papers with and such. Father has four though."
Two minutes later, Harry opened the door to the study, walked in and stood looking at Lucius.
"Yes?" he finally asked, after the silence had gone on long enough.
"Is your name really Lucius D.A.M.N. Malfoy?" Harry asked in shock.
Lucius glowered at his son, who was the only one who could have told Harry that little bit of trivia. Severus was chortling next to him. "Unfortunately, that is correct, although it is not a name I prefer."
"What do they all stand for?" Harry asked. "And when Sirius calls you 'damn Malfoy' is he insulting you or calling you by your name?"
"My name is Lucius Damien Ares Matthias Nostrium Malfoy," he explained. "As for your godfather, I have never figured that out myself. He's known of my initials since Potter found out in Third Year and ended up telling the whole school."
"What I've always wondered," Severus spoke up, "is is it true that your father named you that because your mother had a really bad labor and made her husband promise?"
Lucius turned his darkest gaze upon his chortling friend. "No," he bit out. "That is not true. My grandfather is the one that named me. He was always a bit disappointed in my father's personality so decided naming me after four of the most evil men in the Malfoy lineage would do me good. Matthias was my grandfather's name on my mother's side, and she begged until he stuck it in there. Whether he put it where he did on purpose, is something I never asked him."
"Draco said that he has three names, a private one, a family one and a public one. What's your fourth? And is there an order to them or something?" Harry asked.
Lucius shook his head, he was glad to see the curious Harry had fully returned. He might even forgive his son for telling him. Or maybe not. His stare and small smile at his son made him pale and back up several steps. "There's no real order. I chose Matthias as my public name because I always liked that grandfather, and it made him proud. Damian was my favorite so it became my private name, Ares was far preferable to Nostrium as a family name. I didn't have a reason for Nostrium until I joined the Death Eaters, then I realized what I had been saving it for. I don't believe that Draco's names are in order though."
That reminded Harry of something and he turned to look at Draco thoughtfully before talking to his father. "So? What's Drake's public name?"
"Slayton," Lucius answered easily. Harry breathed a sigh of relief. "Is something the matter?"
"No, not at all," Harry shook his head.
Behind him Draco smiled slightly, he knew his friend just wanted to be sure he had gotten the family name when Draco had told him his middle name so many months ago.
Severus looked surprised, even touched. "You use my middle name as your public name?" he asked.
"You didn't know that?" Draco was surprised.
"No," Severus explained, "you've always used T. or Torian on papers you've turned in to me, when you put a middle name there at all."
"Well, you're family," Draco said as he shrugged. He turned back to Harry. "And just so you don't die of curiosity, my other name is Nathaniel. Draco Slayton Nathaniel Torian Malfoy."
Before anything more could be said, Flick stirred on Harry's shoulder, bringing the two older men's attention to her and their minds back to a topic they needed answers to.
"Do you mind if we ask you some questions about your companion?" Lucius asked carefully.
"Flick?" Harry asked, surprised. "Sure, I don't have a problem with that."
"Why did she come here?" Lucius decided to begin obliquely.
"I thought I explained that already?"
"You never explained why she left her... what did you call a group, a nest?"
"That's right. And she left... mostly because the elders were stick-in-the-muds."
"She didn't really say that, did she?" Draco asked with a laugh.
"Not exactly," Harry admitted. "But it's awfully close. More like 'stuck to the ground because they didn't believe snakes should fly even if they do have wings'. Or something to that effect. Concepts like that come through more as a picture with emotions attached than an actual explanation using words."
"Is she your familiar?" Draco asked interestedly.
"You know mages have no need for familiars," Severus interjected.
That was true enough. Most European wizards didn't use familiars, and even though most people considered Voldemort's snake to be his familiar, that was untrue. Technically, a familiar was an animal with, hopefully, a high amount of the life energy that was magic. A wizard or witch could link to an animal as their familiar and thereafter use their magic without draining their own. The familiar usually got an increase in intelligence and lifespan, which often bred true in the next generation, and the bond kept them loyal to their 'master'. The use of familiars fell out of favor in the wizarding world because of the onset of wands and the fact that many animals were being killed because they couldn't handle the magic drain being asked of them. A mage had no need for a familiar because they could draw all the power necessary from the world around them, and did not need to use an animal as an extra power source. These days the word familiar was just another word for pet, such as the owls, cats or toads which many students took with them to school.
Harry smiled as he shook his head. "No, she's not my familiar. She's already smart enough, not quite say, Severus' level, but certainly yours Drake," the men laughed as the blonde boy glared at his friend. "She's not bonded to me, but she is imprinted, our minds kind of resonate, that's why we connected so well together."
"You said she's empathic," Lucius started turning the conversation in the direction he wanted it to go. "Do you know her limits on that?"
"Distance, or what she can actually do?" Harry wanted clarification.
"Let's start with what she can actually do," Lucius explained.
"Well, what I *know* is that she uses emotions when communicating. It adds a... richness, maybe... to her voice and sometimes she'll send pictures or emotions through when words just don't work. She can not only project emotions, but read them as well. That's how she knows if someone is a threat to me or not. She can also show me what another person is feeling if I ask."
"If that... animal can tell when someone is threatening you, why did she look as if she was going to attack me earlier tonight? I meant you no harm." Severus inquired.
Harry looked thoughtful and turned to speak to the minidrag for a moment before nodding and turning back. "At the time the only thing she was really feeling was that I was hurt. She can feel me better than she can others, so my pain was overriding anything else." He frowned. "I don't like that."
"I'm not too thrilled with it myself," Severus growled. "That means if you are hurt she is a danger to anyone around her."
"Actually, I'm more concerned with her feeling my pain. No one should have to feel that. Even with that, she still obeyed when I told her to stop."
Severus had to admit that. Grudgingly.
"You said she could project emotions," Lucius continued on to the point they were trying to get to. "Can she... change them?"
Harry looked interested and revolted. Changing a person's emotions? That was just wrong, wasn't it? Well, unless the emotions were dangerous, like Ginny's obsession with him. He asked. "She says no, she can't. She also says that you want to know something in particular and you're very..." he tried to figure out what emotion that was. "Stubborn? No... determined. That's what that emotion was, determination. Whatever it is, just ask. Stop beating around the bush."
"Fine," Lucius agreed. "We noticed that when Flick settled around you, you calmed down immediately. We want to know if she did something to cause that."
"Yep," Harry answered immediately. "But she didn't change anything. She sent these calming feelings at me. It felt... kind of like... okay, you know how sometimes if I'm upset, I'll come over to you and sit next to you and you'll start stroking my hair and I'll calm right down?" he asked all three of the people in the room, since at some point or another they'd all done it. They nodded. "It felt like that. Like someone I trusted was petting my hair. Not literally, but the feeling was the same."
"So she forced you to calm down?" Lucius specified.
"Not at all." Harry shook his head. "Just like, if I'm really mad at you, you could pet my hair all you wanted, if I let you touch me of course, but it still wouldn't make me less mad. It's not going to work unless I want it to work. I knew I needed to calm down, I just wasn't getting there on my own. It's like quiet music, or a nice hot bath, they're soothing, but they don't *make* you relax, just help." The two talked for a moment before Harry nodded. "She says she would do her best to try to stop me from doing something to hurt myself, but it wouldn't always be possible. Like today, even if she had been in the room when I hit the wall, it's unlikely she would have been able to stop me, just because it blew up so quick. She also promises not to threaten the night-dark one again, that's you Sev. She knows now that you're the head of my nest."
Severus found himself smiling, proud that Harry had just told his new pet that he was the head of their family.
Lucius smiled inwardly as well. Things weren't perfect, the problems they'd already faced today weren't magically solved and out of the way, but they were put aside for now. Harry might be happy again, but there was far more to be uncovered than had been yet. He, himself, would have to be far more vigilant than he had been up to this point. He had let things slide, let himself forget that far more than Harry's body had been hurt through the life he had lived. He would not make that mistake again. At the same time, he knew that if he hovered around Harry or pushed too hard, he could undo all the good that had been done. Draco's changing the subject to something lighter after the emotion filled conversation earlier had been just right and he needed to find a time to tell the young man how proud he was of him. After he tortured him a little for letting those middle names out of course. He couldn't let the boy think he was getting soft, now could he?
Part 55/?
Harry put the finishing touches on his outfit and makeup. He was going for a very specific look and looking at himself in the mirror he thought it was almost perfect.
Everything about this meeting had been carefully chosen and orchestrated. They were in the penthouse suite of one of the swankiest hotels in London. The meeting place had been a problem until Harry suggested it. They didn't want it to be at the Dursleys', not only would it bring back bad memories, but Draco and Severus were going to be working there while they were gone. Malfoy Manor was out, it was too magical, besides, Lucius didn't want any Muggles like that in his house. A restaurant had been suggested, but there wasn't enough privacy. Renting the suite and having dinner catered from the hotel's restaurant was the perfect compromise. It was Muggle, so there was no warning because of magic items or people, it was private and it made it very obvious that the tenant was *very* rich.
Lucius and Jade had moved into the penthouse earlier that day. Harry had convinced Lucius to rent a limo and they had arrived in style. The concierge and bellhops had almost fallen all over themselves to serve the twosome. They might not have known who they were but they were obviously rich and important. The charm spell the two had cast upon themselves before leaving the Manor might have had some slight part in that as well. Thanks to the fact that wizards had longer lifespans, Lucius did not look near his thirty-five years and Harry had dressed up to look older and more sophisticated than his sixteen years, nothing was said about the difference in their ages. Besides, she could always be his daughter or something, even if they didn't look anything alike.
Harry ran a brush through his hair one last time. He still wasn't sure what he thought about this new length. Lucius had convinced him to let him use a potion to grow it out, not wanting any part of Jade's appearance to be too close to what it was as Harry. Harry himself doubted that it would matter. Draco and Ron might have recognized him almost immediately, but the Dursleys had made a habit of ignoring him as much as possible, it was doubtful they'd recognize him just passing in the street while dressed as a boy. Besides, no one except Vernon had even seen him this summer. Inwardly, Harry thought that the real reason Lucius had wanted it done was because he liked long hair. He'd had a hard time keeping his hands out of it ever since it was grown out. Currently it waterfalled down his back to just above the tops of his thighs.
"You look beautiful," Lucius said softly from behind him.
"Thank you," Harry murmured as he stood up. He was wearing a simple black dinner dress, mid-thigh length and small shoulder straps. His only jewelry was a simple jade pendant, barrettes, and a bracelet. His hair was left loose outside of the barrettes to cascade down his back. All in all, he was the very picture of a rich, pretty teen-aged girl.
Lucius took him in his arms and kissed him gently, being sure not to smear his makeup. "Are you sure you want to do this?" he asked.
Harry rolled his eyes. "Yes, Lucius. For the five hundred and eleventh time, I am sure that I want to do this, and I'll be fine. They should be here in fifteen minutes, did you order dinner?"
"Of course," Lucius remarked. "It should be here in twenty minutes."
"You never did tell me what we were having," Harry reminded him.
"Let's just say that I asked what had the smallest portions," Lucius smirked.
Harry laughed lightly. "Good thing I had a big lunch then."
Lucius glared down at him. "That might have been true, if you had actually eaten anything instead of playing with it the whole time. Thankfully I also ordered more food for after they leave."
"What makes you think I'll have more of an appetite after they leave?" Harry asked.
"If you don't, then we'll know this whole thing is a big mistake and I should just torture them like I wished to from the first," Lucius answered evenly.
Harry sighed and folded, melding himself with the larger body holding him. They stood there for several long moments, Harry taking what comfort he could from the older man. He finally, slowly stepped back. "You never did tell me how your meeting with Vernon went," he said a little shakily, trying to keep control. This was not the time to mess up his makeup.
"If I did not already have a... firm and unyielding dislike of the man," Harry heard what he didn't say, if he didn't already have a burning and complete hate of the man. "I certainly would after meeting him once. A more disagreeable man I have not met since Wormtail. Truthfully, he reminded me of the rat."
"Don't be silly," Harry disagreed. "He's much too big to be a rat. Unless it's one of the Rodents of Unusual Size I've been told live in the Fire Swamps in the South."
Lucius chuckled. "Perhaps he is," he agreed. "I ended up coming away from the tour knowing less than I knew going in. It says little for the man that you could explain it better than he did, considering you've never been there. I brought the conversation around to his family and upon his saying that he had a sixteen year old son, I replied that that was Jade's age and invited them over for dinner."
"You say it as if you actually gave them a choice," Harry's eyes glinted with humor as he looked upward.
"Of course they had a choice, they could do as I asked, or they could do as I ordered." Lucius smiled back.
"I wonder if Draco and Severus have reached the house yet?" Harry wondered several minutes later from his position cuddled carefully next to Lucius.
Lucius checked the clock. "They should have," he agreed.
Actually they hadn't. The hold-up had come at their first stop. The Burrow.
"I'll only be a minute," Draco assured Severus as he headed to the Burrow from their Apparation point.
Ron was waiting for him in the back. "Did you get them?" Draco asked.
"No problem," Ron told him, pointing to the cage of garden gnomes beside him. "We also had an imp show up in the last couple of days and just managed to catch him. I promised him a much better house to live in, one without the twins. He was being outpranked."
Draco laughed. "I don't think anyone will have a problem with that. Thanks for gathering these up for us."
"Hold on," Ron backed up a step. "You don't think I was doing this for free, did you Malfoy?"
Draco's face lost all traces of good humor. "And what do you want for them, Weasley?" he growled.
"Simple," Ron glowered back. "I want to go with you to help."
"Help?" Draco snapped.
"Yes, stupid! Help! Harry's my best friend, remember? I'm the one that convinced my brothers to go break him out in second year and my family went to pick him up before fourth. If you're going to make them sorry they ever treated Harry as they did, than I want to go with you to help."
Draco wanted to argue, but really, how could he? He'd leave that up to Severus. "You do know I'm going with Severus, don't you?"
Ron paled slightly but still stood strong. "I'm still going."
"Us too!" "Don't forget us!" Came from around the corner. Ron and Draco turned quickly to face the identical faces of Ron's twin brothers.
"Fred, George, what are you doing here?" Ron asked in exasperation.
"Hey, when our younger brother," one started.
"Starts catching garden gnomes," continued the other.
"And putting them in cages instead of flinging them over the fence..."
"We start to wondering. And then, when he tells an imp..."
"He can go to another house with mean people..."
"We're sure there's something going on. He's obviously going to be pranking someone..."
"Which would make us interested..."
"And proud..."
"In the first place..."
"But to find out he's going to prank..."
"Those people who were so mean to our bestest bud Harry..."
"We just have to help out!"
Draco's head had been going back and forth, trying to keep up with which one was speaking at what time. Ron however, just sighed. "You practiced that, didn't you?"
"Us?" one of the twins asked innocently.
"Yes, George, you."
"What I want to know, don't you agree Fred, is why you are planning on pranking someone, and *not* asking us along?"
"Oh, I fully agree George. That is the important question here."
"We're not planning on pranking them, so much as driving them completely insane," Draco admitted.
"Even better, old bean," George said happily.
"We have the perfect thing," Fred bounced in enjoyment. "Wait here, I'll go get it."
"Get that other thing while you're at it," George called after him. "And don't forget the camera!"
"You guys get to explain this to Severus," Draco gave up.
Five minutes later, they were heading up to where the Potions Professor was waiting.
Severus glared as he saw the entourage his favorite student was bringing with him. One look at their resolved faces showed him immediately what they were hoping for. He couldn't honestly say it was a bad idea. The twins had certainly done a good job driving him insane over the past seven years. That did not mean he would make it easy for them.
"Mr. Weasley, Weasley and Weasley. I was not aware it would take so many people just to carry one cage," he sneered.
Fred jumped in immediately. "Don't be like that Sevvie."
Total stunned silence enveloped every other member of the group. Was he suicidal? From the look on Snape's face, the answer to that was most definitely yes.
George jumped in before his brother was killed right in front of him. "We have the perfect prank for those bastards. They're proud of their house, right? Well, we have this spell. It's a sympathetic magic spell. See, what we do is take a picture of the house, and then paint over it with our special paints. If we leave the pictures in the house where they won't see it, only people who spend time in the house will be able to see the different colors. Everyone else will see the house as it really looks. And even better, these paints change colors every so often, and they're the worst colors we could make."
As Fred went to open his mouth again, both of his brothers hurried to stop him and only a gasp of pain escaped as both of his feet were stepped on at the same time.
"Please, Professor. He's our friend too, and if this is all we can do to help him get back at those... *people* who were supposed to take care of him, than we want to do what we can." Ron begged.
The boys begged for several for minutes before Severus finally relented and allowed them to go with him. Luckily the twins had already learned how to Apparate and had been to the house before so were able to follow his directions to get there as he took the younger two boys with him. They entered the house at the same time a buzzer in a penthouse suite announced visitors.
"Showtime."
Part 56/?
Harry walked over to the buzzing phone and picked it up. It was the lobby saying that the Dursleys had arrived. He told the concierge to send them up.
"Are you sure about this?" Lucius asked one final time. Harry just glared in return. He walked over to turn on the television and flipped channels until he reached the one he wanted... the camera on the elevator.
The penthouse was a secured floor, there was only one elevator that reached it and it had a camera on board so the renters could see who was coming up.
Lucius got his first glimpse of the only remaining members of Harry's family at least by blood. "Are you sure you're related to them?" he asked. There was no resemblance that Lucius could see between either Harry or Jade and the two people in that elevator that he hadn't yet met. The woman was blond with a very long neck and absolutely none of the delicacy of feature that was so much a defining characteristic with both Lily and Jade. The boy... well, he'd been shown some of the clothes that Harry had been forced to wear before he had bought his own, so he'd thought he had some idea, but those overly large clothes must have come from when Dudley was much younger. He was almost double the size of both parents put together and looked ridiculous in the suit he'd been forced into. The potion Severus was making to make him sick of food would be a kindness, at least then he might lose some weight.
"Good Lord," Harry whispered, suddenly realizing he hadn't seen any member of his family but Uncle Vernon this summer. "He's gotten even bigger."
"Do you think he's going to pop soon?" Lucius asked humorously.
"It looks like it," Harry answered seriously.
~Petunia was fussing with Dudley's hair and tie, much to his dismay. "Now, you two both remember how you're supposed to act, correct?" Vernon straightened his own bow-tie in the reflective doors of the elevator. "And Dudley, he's got a daughter your age, so you be charming to her, you hear me?"
"But Dad, what if she's ugly?" Dudley whined.~
In the suite, Harry shuddered and Lucius glowered. That... thing was worried about a girl's beauty?
~Back in the elevator, Vernon was responding. "It doesn't matter," Vernon told him. "She's the boss' daughter and you be as nice to her as you can possibly be."~
"That's not much," Harry muttered.
~"Do you know if there's a woman in the family?" Petunia asked, giving up on Dudley for now and straightening her own flowered dress.
"He didn't say anything about it, just his daughter Jade," Vernon told her.~
"I never said daughter, I simply said that his son was your age," Lucius murmured.
"Uncle Vernon hears what he wants to hear," Harry murmured back. "That's it, they're on this floor," he said as the elevator doors started to open. He quickly turned off the tv and headed back into the bathroom for one last check on his makeup.
Lucius waited for the knock then rose to his feet and let them in.
"Mr. Malfoy!" Vernon said heartily, grabbing his hand to shake. "How nice to see you again! This is my wonderful wife Petunia and our son Dudley."
Lucius removed his hand from the odious grip. "Dursleys," he said in greeting. He found he couldn't bring himself to be any nicer to these people than he absolutely had to be.
"Are our visitors here?" Jade's voice came in front of her as she walked into the room.
"Indeed they are. This is Vernon, Petunia and Dudley Dursley." Lucius introduced them.
"How do you do? I'm Jade," she smiled uniformly at everyone in the room.
Lucius carefully watched the reactions of the three strangers. He did not like what he saw. There was no look of recognition but the expressions were... Dudley practically had his tongue hanging out of his mouth. It didn't take a telepath to read what was on his mind, 'pretty girl, pretty girl smiled at me, me want pretty girl'. The truly disturbing part was that Vernon's expression was not much different. Of course, considering who he was married to, it wasn't that surprising. Petunia just looked as if she'd eaten something sour.
Jade was frowning slightly as she looked at the three of them, not that any of them noticed. It would have worked better if someone had noticed, but she would work with what she got.
"You're the director of Grummings?" she remarked, looking at the oldest man in the room.
"That's right, little lady," he said condescendingly. "Why don't you talk to my son, Dudley, while your dad and I talk business?"
Jade's eyes narrowed. "Excuse me?" she said in a dangerously soft voice.
"Why don't you show Dudley the balcony?" Dudley seemed to like that idea, Jade was just revolted.
"Why ever would I wish to do that?" Jade asked snappily. "Besides, I believe that dinner will be here any moment."
Vernon didn't seem to notice how Lucius was glaring at him, but Petunia didn't miss it, although she wasn't sure why. After all, her Dudley-kins was a very well-made young man. This girl, Jade, should be proud to be seen in his company, even if she was dressed too old for her age. She knew that rich children tended to be spoiled, and it was certainly seeming as if this one was as well.
The group moved to the dining room portion of the main room of the suite. "Where do you go to school?" Petunia asked politely.
"I'm sure you've never heard of it," Jade answered back. "It's a small school, out of the country. You have to be invited, so it's never gotten much recognition, but it's a very prestigious school."
"And your son?" Lucius strove to be polite. It was extremely difficult.
"He goes to Smeltings," Vernon said proudly. "It's my own alma mater."
"Isn't that the school that teaches people to hit others with sticks?" Jade asked ingenuously.
Dinner was a strained affair. Vernon kept trying to talk about work, even after Lucius had made it very clear that he did not intend to speak business over the dinner table. Petunia kept making veiled references to Jade's mother and spoiled rich kids, which made both of her hosts swing between annoyance and almost uncontrollable mirth from sheer disbelief. Dudley was still panting after Jade between complaining about the size of the servings even after Vernon had told him to shut up about it. And Lucius... Lucius tried to keep himself from hexing these annoying Muggles.
"Dessert will be up in a while," Lucius told them as they finished their food. Showing that the chefs could follow directions; the food had been very good, but in extremely small portions and Jade hadn't even finished her portion.
They moved towards the living room portion of the main room of the suite and Lucius and Jade settled down in the two most comfortable chairs. "Why don't you sit over there on the loveseat with Dudley?" Vernon suggested to Jade.
Jade just stared at him for a long moment. "Why would I do that? I'm quite comfortable where I am and staying far way from your son seems to be a good move to me."
"Dursley," Lucius said before he could make any other stupid comments. "Sit down."
Vernon found himself seated on the sofa next to his wife without anymore thought.
Lucius sat forward. "Dursley, would you explain to me why you disobeyed my order about this dinner?"
Vernon looked confused. "You asked me to bring my family to dinner at seven tonight, that's what I did."
Lucius looked even angrier. "Why do you believe I bought your company Dursley?"
"You knew it was a good company with a good future in front of it," Vernon stated though with a questioning lilt at the end.
"Incorrect," Lucius barked. "I bought it for one reason, and one reason only. Jade asked me to."
"I don't understand, what's a cute little girl like that want with a business making drills?"
Jade glared. "Mr. Dursley. You were just told that I, in effect, am the new owner of your business, I would suggest you stop the condescending remarks. I don't appreciate them."
"He didn't mean anything by it, dear," Petunia said in a sickly sweet tone of voice.
"As for why I chose your company? Simple, there was a member of your family that I wished to meet," Jade ignored the woman.
Dudley smiled widely. "How did you know about me? Does this mean you want to go out with me?"
Jade glared at the fat lump with a disgusted look on her face. "Don't be absurd. Why would I want to date someone like you? I'm talking about Harry Potter. I know you're his guardians. He" she nodded at Lucius, "is a member of the Ministry and he told me so. Why didn't you bring him here? He is part of your family, isn't he?"
"What are you talking about?" Vernon roared, standing up. "How do you know about that freak? Are you one too?"
Lucius lithely rose to his feet, his wand already in his hand and stood in front of Jade, shielding her. "I would suggest you do not take that tone of voice with us," he rumbled darkly. "Sit, now."
Vernon suddenly found himself sitting. "You... you used some of that... that freakish stuff on me, didn't you?"
Lucius settled himself back down. "So far it has not been necessary, but I will if I have to, and do it very willingly. Now, answer her question. Where's Potter?"
"What do you want with him?" Petunia said waveringly.
Jade jumped up with a sudden smile. "I want to meet him of course! I've got every article ever written about him, and all of his pictures. He's a shoo-in for Witch Weekly's Most Eligible Bachelor this year as well as the Most Charming Smile award and Man of the Year. Do you want to see the scrapbook I have on him? I've bought a couple of copies of every magazine and newspaper that's had something about him in it and cut out the pictures for it. Now I want to meet him, face to face. And you," the smile dropped from her face. "You were supposed to bring him here."
"Never!" Vernon boomed.
"Why are you acting like you have a choice?" Lucius asked. "Jade wants to meet him, and she always gets what she wants. I didn't buy your company for no reason after all."
"What are you saying?"
"He's saying," Jade said sweetly. "That if you don't bring Harry here, soon, I'm going to close that company down, and you will not only lose your job but you can explain to all of your employees how you lost them their jobs."
"You can't do that!" Vernon bellowed, exploding to his feet once more.
"Can't I?" Jade purred. "I can do whatever I please to get what I want."
"But... but no one knows where he is," Dudley complained, almost blubbering. After all, if his father lost his job how would he get all his presents?
"Then find him," Jade told him. "We'll be in town for three more days, if I haven't met him by then, you can kiss your job good-bye. I *want* to meet Harry Potter. I'm *going* to meet Harry Potter. Do we understand each other or not?"
Vernon looked at the determined girl in front of him. She meant what she said obviously, and her father seemed willing to do whatever it took to get her what she wanted. He didn't understand how any father could spoil his child like that. He never gave in to his son like that, after all. "I'll tell the police on you!"
Jade and Lucius laughed. "You're going to tell them what? That we threatened your job if I didn't get to meet your nephew? Well, then they'll probably ask where that nephew is, and since you're his guardians you'd be expected to know. Maybe you'll get arrested for child neglect."
A knock on the door caused her to walk over there and opened it for the dessert tray. She watched Dudley's eyes almost pop out of his head. The dinner might have been small and gourmet, but the dessert was anything but. Large slices of chocolate cake with ice cream and hot fudge sauce topped with whipped cream and chopped walnuts. There were only two slices. She picked one up and carried it over to Lucius before taking the other to her own seat.
"Where's mine?" Dudley whined.
"Is Harry Potter here?" Jade asked as she took a big bite of cake and ice cream. "If he's not, then why are you even asking?"
Lucius settled his own dessert next to him. "Three days," he reminded them. It was obviously a dismissal.
Vernon dragged a panting Dudley out of the room, followed huffily by his wife. As soon as the door closed, Jade was up and running to the television, turning it on to the elevator camera.
~ "I can't believe that Mr. Malfoy spoils his daughter so! And to think, they're..." she shuddered. "Magical!"
"Yes, I know dear, but it's also my job." Vernon complained.
"Maybe you'd be better off working elsewhere," Petunia suggested. "You know you can't trust those kinds of people. Even if we do find the boy, there's no guarantee that they'd let you keep your job."
"I can't just change jobs like that," Vernon muttered.
"Why would she want to meet him anyway?" Dudley asked. "He's nothing special."
"I know sweetums," Petunia soothed. "You would be such a better choice. If she wasn't a witch that is."~
They watched as the elevator came to a stop and the doors opened to let them in.
"How are you feeling?" Lucius asked, coming up behind him.
"I'm not sure," Harry said softly. "It felt good to... I guess... put them in their place maybe? But it felt weird too."
"I don't think you were hard enough on them," Lucius admitted. "I was expecting something much more... aggressive."
"Part of me is seeing this as getting my own back for everything they've done." Harry admitted. "But on the other hand... I spent a lot of years reacting in one single way to them. It's *hard* trying to act differently. When he stood up and started yelling, I just wanted to cower down and promise him anything if he wouldn't hit me, you know?"
Lucius hugged him closer. "I know. I understand. You did wonderfully. I'm sorry I didn't realize how hard this was going to be for you."
Harry shrugged. "I needed to do it. I needed to confront them if I ever wanted to get past them. But now... I've got to do it as Harry."
"What?" Lucius roared, spinning him around so he could look in his eyes.
"It doesn't do any good to stand up to them if they don't know that I'm doing it," he told him. "I need to do this."
Lucius just nodded and gathered him closer, holding tightly. "I understand, but I will be close by."
"We'll figure it out," Harry said comfortingly.
"Yes, we will," Lucius agreed.
Part 57/?
Severus made sure each member of his group was covered in an obscuring spell. It wasn't an invisibility spell, more of a notice-me-not type spell.
Fred quickly took pictures of the outside of the house as the other four entered through the magically opened back door.
"Remember," Severus told the others, although admittedly the Weasleys never knew, "Everything needs to be time delayed for three days."
"We can't keep an imp in a cage for three days!" Ron complained. "The gnomes'll be okay as long as they're outside, but the imp would go insane."
"I don't know if we can put a time delay on the paint spell either," George said thoughtfully. "It'd react badly to the sympathetic magic we're trying for."
"Fine," Severus growled. "Weasley, you can let the imp out, but ask it if it won't show itself for three days or do more than minor mischief. As for you Weasleys, can you do a three day illusion spell over the paint spell?"
George looked thoughtful. "That might work. Only one way to find out, huh?" He went off to find his brother while Ron talked to the imp.
Draco took the two bottles Severus handed him and headed upstairs. His first stop was Dudley's bathroom. His eyes caught on a disposable cup dispenser and he quickly checked the garbage can. There were several cups already in there. The question was, did he change cups every time he brushed, once a day or every couple of days? Draco shrugged. It wasn't really that big of a deal, it would change how quickly the potion started to effect him, but there was never an exact science for this anyway. He pulled down the next six cups and poured part of the potion in each of them, swirling it around so it covered the bottom and most of the sides. He poured the excess into one of the cups and stuck Dudley's toothbrush inside, letting it soak. Once the paper cups had absorbed all of the potion they could without weakening or changing color, he poured the rest back into the bottle they came from. There was no way he'd pour a potion like this down the drain, there was no telling what it would do.
When he had finished, he replaced the cups in the dispenser, placed the toothbrush back in its holder and cleaned up any indication of his being there. Then he went downstairs.
He saw the twins sitting at the kitchen table and walked over to see what they were doing. They had pictures of the outside of the house spread out around them and both had a small artist's paintbrush in their hands. He looked at the pictures that had already been painted and blinked in shock before he started chortling. There were blotches of dayglo orange, pepto-bismal pink, puke green, blood red, and extraordinarily deep black. Chartreuse, fuchsia and mauve. There were sections that were blue and orange checks, yellow and green stripes, red with purple, orange and green polkadots. He watched as one of the twins finished painting a section an absurd shade of blue, then he stuck his brush back in the can and stirred. Slowly the color in the can changed to a neon yellow and he pulled his brush out to start painting in that color.
"That's absolutely hideous," he told them in an almost worshipful tone.
"Why thank you!" one of the twins answered. "It's nice to see some people appreciate our artistic endeavors."
"And one of the really interesting things about this paint is that it will change, even after it's been used, about every fifteen minutes or so for this particular paint," the other twin told him.
"We're also doing a line of colors that people will actually want to see that change anywhere from every day to every week, for people who get bored with the same color on their bedroom walls all the time. You just have to be sure not to stir it while you're painting with it unless you want a bunch of other colors like this," the first continued.
"Are you just going to do the outside, or are you going to do the bedrooms as well?" Draco asked thoughtfully. "And the parlor, can't forget the parlor."
He was handed the camera. "Get us the pictures, we'll do the painting."
He placed the two vials he was carrying down on the table with warnings not to touch and then headed upstairs with a grin.
He found Severus still in the elder Dursleys' bedroom. "Are you finished?" he asked sharply.
Draco shook his head. "I did the whale's bathroom, then I saw what the Weasleys' were doing. There's no way we can allow them just to do it to the outside. I got drafted to take pictures of the bedrooms and the parlor so they can paint."
"Bad?" Severus said with interest.
"Beyond bad," Draco admitted. "That was one of the worst things I have *ever* seen."
"Then by all means, take your pictures," Snape stepped back so that he wouldn't be in them as Draco quickly took photographs of the walls. When he left, Severus went back to what he was doing. He'd sprayed a potion over much of the bed, between the covers and on the pillows and quickly dried it. Making the potion had been one of the hardest things he'd ever done. Not because of any difficulty in the brewing itself, but because one of the ingredients had been liquid from a pensieve with Harry's memories within it. He'd watched as the different memories came to the surface as he brewed. Although there was no sound the pictures themselves were enough. He wished he could do far more than he was currently doing. He wanted to *personally* make them hurt. Whispering a spell over the potion, he moved on to the younger Dursley's room. This spell would start immediately once the family laid down to sleep.
Draco took the camera back downstairs and George got to work quickly developing the photos into something they could work with. Meanwhile Draco got back to what he had been supposed to be doing. Taking up the second potion he headed for the cabinet under the stairs where he knew from Harry's stories there would be spiders. He poured a small puddle of the potion on the floor. It was a slow grow formula and the insects that drank it would very slowly start to get bigger. Hopefully most of them would be out in other rooms before that happened.
He went back to the kitchen to find a third red-head painting and was handed his own brush and a picture of a wall in Dudley's room. He dipped his brush in the muddy brown paint currently in the can. "How did yours go?" he asked Ron.
"The imp has promised not to do anything major until the family starts yelling about the walls. The gnomes are still in their cage behind the garage. They've got more than enough food and water for three days and the lock will open during the night three days from now."
"Is this all the rooms?" George asked as they each took one wall of the guest room.
"Except for the room Harry has been staying in," Draco told them. "It's still got his personal lock on it."
"Alright," Fred said as they finished. "Now all we have to do is the spell." The twins pulled out their wands and said the spell.
From upstairs a noise of disgust came floating down. It was followed by "Ten points for extraordinarily hideous imagination."
The twins blinked. "Snape gave us points!" they said in unison.
"Of course, you've already graduated. It's not like he's actually giving Gryffindor points," Ron mourned.
"Hey, it's still the first time he's ever given us points, we'll take what we can get." Fred told him.
Severus had finished with the potions and was setting up the second part of his job. Malfoy and he had not told Harry about this part, but they were sure he wouldn't mind. Every mirror he could find was turned into a viewing portal hooked to a useless old mirror in the Malfoy Manor so that they could keep track of what was happening.
A quiet calling had him pulling out a mirror. Looking in, he saw a house elf looking back at him. "Call from Master," it informed him.
"Well?" Severus snarled. "Put it on."
The house elf quickly transferred the call. "They left about five minutes ago," Lucius informed him. "Did you get everything finished?"
"Thanks to some help from the youngest three Weasley boys, I believe we did far more than expected." He turned the mirror to show off the walls of the room he was in.
When he looked back, Harry was looking at him and laughing. "Aunt Petunia is going to completely *flip*!" he grinned widely. Then he looked thoughtful. "But we gave her three days," he muttered.
"Don't worry, we will be placing a illusion spell over all of the rooms as well as the outside before we leave. It will last for three days. What about your room?"
"I'll deal with that when I go back," Harry told him.
"What? What do you mean when you go back?" Severus yelled as he headed downstairs.
"I've got to confront them as me," Harry told him solemnly. "I'm not going to be past this until I have that chance. Now that the wards are off the house, I can do magic as long as I don't use my wand, so I'm not going to be in any danger."
"We'll talk about this later," Severus warned him.
"There's nothing to talk about," Harry told him seriously. "This is what I am going to do. You've got about twenty-five minutes before they get home, I'd finish up and get out of there if I were you." He hung up abruptly.
"Is something wrong?" Draco asked the question the Weasley boys wanted the answer to as well. They had all heard the yelling Severus was doing.
"Harry's being..." Severus couldn't decide on a word that explained exactly how contrary he was being.
"Harry?" Ron asked, hiding his amusement.
"Exactly!" Severus growled.
The younger members couldn't help but laugh.
"Put the illusion spells up," he ordered the twins. "Is everyone else finished?"
Draco and Ron both admitted they were, and Severus took a last run through the house to make sure they hadn't left any sign of their short occupancy of the house. When he was done, he renewed the notice-me-not spells and led the way out of the house, making sure to lock the back door as they went through it. A quick check of the outside of the house showed the illusions were up and the gnomes were hidden. Grabbing the younger two he Apparated them to the same spot they had left from. The twins showed up moments later.
"Thank you for your help," he grated out.
"You're welcome, Sevvie!" the twins chorused as they ran back to the house.
Ron took one look at Severus' face and fled after them.