Lucius
Lucius wasn't one to allow emotion to rule him. Still, in the moments he watched his Lord's grandson fight against the atrocious spell forced upon him, his stomach clenched, and he found himself fighting against the temptation of getting up comforting the young man.
His son had no such problems.
Draco had rushed across the room, hesitating only a second before sitting onto the end of the bed. Eventually, he moved higher onto the bed, trying to be closer to his friend. His son soon ended up settling into between one of the Weasley twin's legs and Harry's body.
After Harry had finally given in and shifted, he had to look away as the three teens on the bed moved around so that all three could be close to the small black cat that was now in his place. It seemed intimate and personal.
He wasn't sure how to feel about the closeness of the four teenagers. Lucius had no qualms with multiple partners in a relationship. What he was worried about were the possible repercussions of the potential relationship.
The twins' parents were entirely on Dumbledore's side. His son, on his and his Lord's. Poor Harry, at the moment, was on his own. The boy no longer cared or trusted the Headmaster, and he had no reason to trust the Dark Lord, at least not yet.
Not to mention, as far as Lucius could tell, the last Potter had no idea how his friends felt about him. He wanted to roll his eyes. Fred and George Weasley clearly had feelings for Harry past friendship; not only had the two young men braved sneaking into Malfoy Manor, but they had also taken the risk of exposing themselves just to give Harry a happy Christmas. He wasn't sure if he should commend them on their bravery or curse them for their stupidity.
His son, he sighed as he looked at the bed again. Draco had his head resting on one of the twin's thighs as all three petted and soothed the sleeping cat, might be just as oblivious about his attraction to Harry as Harry was.
He was tempted to point it out. As well as pointing out that Draco was cuddling with two other boys, just to be close to his crush, but knew that it wasn't his place. The four teenagers would have to figure their feelings out on their own.
What he did need to work on was a plan for Tom.
The man had yet to have a proper conversation with his grandson and Heir and was already protective of him. Lucius had no idea how he would feel about three men potentially courting Harry.
With a shake of his head, he shoved down his worries and looked at the other two men in the room. Barty was opening the box he had gifted Harry. Lucius shouldn't have been surprised that the dirty blond pulled the blanket out, shook it out, and tossed it over the group of the bed.
There was a yelp on the bed as Draco was covered entirely. The twins both chuckled as they shifted around and allowed Draco to unbury himself. They quickly settled again, and Lucius had to sigh at the ease with which they did it. No doubt one of them, if the two older boys didn't know already, would soon figure it out.
He looked away and found Severus. His friend wasn't looking at the bed. In fact, he appeared to be staring off into space.
He got up and walked over, gently brushing his shoulder against his friends, "are you okay?" he asked. Severus nodded, "just thinking," his friend whispered back.
"About?" he asked.
"He fought against it." He raised an eyebrow at the other man. That was not what he expected his friend to say.
"The change," his friend clarified, "he actually fought against it. The last time, he changed so quickly I don't think he had time, or maybe he wasn't desperate enough to try. But this time, he actively fought against letting the change happen," his friend took a breath, "I think that last potion, me and the twins tried, did something. Loosened the effects enough that Harry was able to try and resist."
"You want to go work on it now, don't you?" Barty asked as he walked over to them.
Severus nodded, "If we are that close, I need to keep going."
"Not to mention your deadline is almost up." He added because he felt the need to remind his friend.
Severus glared at him, "I'm aware of how much time I have, Lucius."
"We'll come with you." The twins whispered together from the bed. The two teens didn't wait for a response, just untangled themselves and rolled off the bed. He didn't hear what they whispered to Draco, but his son blushed bright red and then buried his face into Harry's black fur.
He let out a low groan at the sight, Barty and Severus both snickered, he sent a wandless hex at the two. Barty yelped, but Severus must have sensed it coming because the spell never hit.
"You two should stay here," he said because obviously, he was the only one thinking clearly and remembering that there were, in fact, others in the Manor who would attack, maybe even kill the two redheads on sight, including the Dark Lord.
"No.," the two said together.
"If Sn-Severus is right," the one on the right said, "then we needed to be there to help him."
"And if someone else sees you?" he asked.
"They won't," the one on the left grinned at him before pulling something out of his robe and wrapping it around himself. Lucius gasped as the young man disappeared.
"The hell?" Barty cried out, reaching for the spot where the teen had been.
"An invisibility cloak," Severus said in a tone that implied he just realized something. "That little-" his friend cut himself off, coughed to clear his throat, and tried again, "I take it that belongs to Harry."
The only visible twin nodded his head, smirking. Lucius got the feeling he was missing something, and given the fact that the Weasley before him was amused by it, he assumed it meant that Severus had fallen victim to this cloak sometime in the past.
"Fine." Severus said, "you two may come but remain hidden until we reach my lab. Even then, keep it close just in case."
The second twin's head appeared, just long enough for everyone to see him nod. Then he must have wrapped the cloak around his brother because both disappeared.
"I'm going to regret this." he heard Severus mutter as he left the room.
"He likes them," Barty whispered when the other three were gone. Or at least he hoped they were. The idea of the twins having an invisibility cloak left him on edge.
"He does." he replied, "not that he will admit it."
Barty snorted, "no, he won't."
"So what do we do now?" the younger man asked after a second.
He sighed, "I don't know." he answered truthfully.
While he was thinking about it, he pulled out his wand, waving it at the mess of wrapping paper, vanishing it with ease. He then gathered all of Harry's gifts. He had intended to put them in Draco's room with the rest but stopped when he remembered the mirror.
He crossed the room as silently as he could; he was pretty sure his son was starting to fall asleep next to Harry and didn't want to wake either of them. The mirror had been left on the right side of the bed by one of the twins, and he carefully picked it up.
He looked back at Barty, who titled his head to the side like he was trying to figure out what Lucius was doing. Casting a quick spell so none of the others could hear him, he pulled the mirror up and held it in front of his face.
"Sirius Black," he said and was pleased when a second later the man's face appeared. Having met the man a few times in the past, he started talking the second he saw him; otherwise, the man would go off, and he didn't want to deal with that.
"Harry's fine," he said at once, "sleeping now. Severus and the two terrors have gone off to the lab. They think they might have made a breakthrough." He almost laughed at the bewildered look on Black's face before the man got control of himself.
Balck opened his mouth to speak, but whatever the man was about to say was cut off by a hand appearing out of nowhere and covering his mouth.
"Thank you." Lupin said as he appeared in the mirror, "does Severus know for a fact his new idea with work?"
"He seemed…" he searched for the right word, "determined." Lupin nodded. Lucius noticed the man had yet to remove his hand from his friend's mouth. Black might have looked offended, but he hadn't even tried to move away or shake the hand off. He wondered about the two men, just how close were they?
"I have a question, well, two questions," Lupin said cautiously, which had Lucius turning his full attention to the werewolf.
"And those are?" he asked. He felt Barty step into his bubble, the blond carefully tapping his arm to let him know he was there. It was a common courtesy among their group. If he did not want the other Death Eater near him, all he had to do was give a sign, a flick of his finger, a shake of his head, even a small hex, and the other man would leave. He did none of those. He trusted Barty, and he was pretty sure Harry did as well.
"Severus informed us when he was gathering our gifts last night," gifts? He almost asked. He hadn't seen Harry open gifts from Black or the wolf, and then he winced; the teen must have changed back before he had the chance to open the ones from them. "That Vold-" the wolf cut himself off, not sure how to refer to the man to one of his followers.
"The Dark Lord." he supplied. Black's eyes narrowed, but the wolf nodded his head.
"He said that the Dark Lord didn't want to kill Harry anymore. Is that true?"
He could see the hopeful expressions on both men's faces, and it hit him. If his Lord managed to convince Harry to join their side, they would get more than just Tom's grandson and Heir.
His Lord would get the twins. As he had no doubt, those two would follow Harry anywhere. They might even get the two oldest Weasley children, a curse-breaker and a Dragon tamer, as they had to have known where Harry was to be able to pass along gifts, and they would get these two. The wolf, he learned from Draco, was brilliant, the best Defense teacher they had ever had, his son had admitted. And Sirius Black, who, if cleared of his crimes, would be Lord Black. The head of his wife's family. In recent years, the family that had fallen in public opinion still held a great deal of power. It could change so many things for them.
"It is," he replied.
Black smacked away his friend's hand, "why not?" the man demanded to know. It was clear from the wolf's frown that wasn't what his second question was going to be.
Lucius thought about it. He couldn't tell them the truth. Even if his Lord had given permission, they were still at the Order's headquarters. He wouldn't take the chance that someone got the information from the two men.
Oh, he didn't doubt them. Wolves were wired to protect their packs, and from the cub comment he heard the man let slip earlier, it was clear that was exactly what Harry was to the man. Blacks were strangely loyal to their family. Even with the different beliefs during the last war, he had never seen Bella, Sirius, nor Narcissa fire a deadly spell at one another.
They may have been on different sides, but they were still family. Harry was Sirius godson, his Heir if the rumors were right. So no, he didn't think the two would betray Harry's secrets, but that didn't mean he trusted those around them not to try and take them from them.
"I can not give you all the details." he told them, "but I can tell you that Harry Potter has nothing to fear from my Lord, and as his friends, his family, neither do you." he saw how surprised yet excited that made them and couldn't help but smirk. "That doesn't mean you can just appear at my front door. My Lord doesn't know about Harry yet, and would assume you were here to attack."
Black frowned, but Lupin nodded his head in understanding.
"Your second question?" he asked the wolf.
"Does your Lord have plans for the memorial in 4 days?" That question surprised the hell out of him.
Again he thought about what he was allowed to share.
"I believe he does. Though he has yet to share them with me." He looked over the mirror at Barty to see if the man had any information about it. The younger Death Eater shook his head. He wanted to sigh; it appeared Tom was keeping this one a secret from everyone.
Draco
He faked being asleep until his father and Barty left.
He shifted to roll on his back, staring up at the ceiling as he thought about the things running around in his mind. Mainly Harry and what had just happened. He'd hated seeing his friend in so much pain and not being able to help. He also hated that he could make it stop.
He had gagged as he watched Harry double over and cry out in pain. It only got worse when the stubborn Gryffindor had crawled into a ball and absolutely refused to change. He didn't know how Harry found the strength for it. He'd never have been able to do that. It showed just how strong his friend was. Not just for fighting against the spell in a desperate attempt to keep talking to his godfather and Professor Lupin, but mentally as well.
Draco hadn't thought about it, how freaking horrible it must be to be trapped in another shape. A helpless form that forced Harry to rely so much on others, not just others but strangers. Which led him to realize how shitty it must be to be stuck in the Manor, surrounded by people Harry barely knew, trapped far away from the only family he had.
It would have driven Draco insane, a week in.
He'd been stuck between wanting to hold Harry, offer any comfort he could, and scream and the idiot to stop making it worse. He'd felt so useless just sitting there watching. All he had been able to do was silently pray that Severus and the twins found a cure soon.
Thinking about this led him to think about...the twins. Who confused the hell out of him.
He reached down and ran his fingers down Harry's spine. The cat's body shivered a little and shifted closer to Draco's side.
When he had climbed onto the bed before, hoping to offer Harry some kind of support, he hadn't been sure the twins would allow it.
It was clear the two were protective, probably a little possessive of the younger Gryffindor. He'd noticed it the second the three had walked out of the bathroom together. The two Weasleys had their arms over Harry's shoulders like they were claiming him as theirs.
At first, he had been jealous, but then Harry had looked up at him, confused and afraid of being rejected, and he knew that while twins were close to Harry, so was he.
When he joined them on the bed, neither twin had said a word. Fred just had shifted his legs away from Harry, giving Draco just enough space to crawl into so that he too could be close to their friend.
He wondered now if it had been as scary for them as it had been for him. Watching Harry fold in on himself to try and get away from the pain. Or if it had been just as gut-wrenching to them, listening to Black begging his godson to stop fighting and let the spell do its work. He wanted Dumbledore dead at that moment, and he wanted it to hurt.
When it was over, and they were all just lying there petting and whispering to Harry, he had been silently waiting for them to tell him to get lost, but again the twins just rearranged themselves so that he could fit.
He'd been embarrassed when he found his head on Fred's thigh, the older boy running his fingers through hair, the twin's other hand doing the same to Harry. He hadn't dared to look around to see what his godfather and father thought at the sight of them; he just closed his eyes and relaxed.
He half-listened as Severus and his father talked. Drifting off a little until the body beneath him moved. He'd made an embarrassing unhappy noise, which got a snicker from George. He'd opened his eyes to glare at the redhead, who just smiled at him.
Together the twins had whispered for him to take care of their Harry while they were gone. George even leveled him with a meaningful look before they left. It took a second for him to understand that the twins hadn't meant "their" like Harry belonged to Fred and George, but "their" as if Harry was Fred, George, and his. His face had burned at the implication.
He'd tried hiding it in Harry's fur but still heard his father groan and his godfather snicker. He knew eventually there would be a talk about it. He had no doubt his father would corner the twins as soon as he could, which might have been funny if he wasn't terrified about what they would say.
He groaned and then jumped when he felt a coarse tongue lick at his arm.
He pulled the blanket up to see Harry's green eyes looking up at him.
"Are you okay?" he asked softly. The cat's head nodded once and then stopped after letting out a pained sound. Draco winced. Harry was still in pain.
"Okay, let's go find Severus," he muttered. Not that he let the car have any say in the matter. He bundled up that large blanket wanting to let Harry stay wrapped in it, but it was too big. He eyed the blanket and then the identical but smaller one hanging off the bed.
With a quiet, "fuck it," he stole Barty's blanket. He carefully shifted Harry onto that one and then picked up both cat and blanket, making sure some of it covered the small cat, and left the room.
He'd been heading for the potions lab he knew Severus and the twins were working in but bumped into his Lord first. Literally. He cursed as he stumbled backward, Harry cried out in pain, yet neither of them hit the floor.
When he found his feet, he looked up to see his Lord's hand out. The man had wandlessly cast a levitation spell to stop them from falling.
"I'm sorry," he said, lowering his head. Silently hoping that the man would dismiss him quickly and he could get Harry to Severus.
