Hello as with all writers my writing has undergone changes. I am looking for a beta reader. Please re-read all chapters a lot of the story has changed.

Chapter 5:

After Narcissa Left:

Manor Sitting Room:

After breakfast Lucius and Severus retired to Lucius' study to talk. As they walked down the long corridor Severus observed his husband; although for must of their time a part life had been good to him, Lucius was definitely suffering the effects of the past few months in prison. Severus observed that Lucius' steps were slow and measured and that his eyes lacked some of the fire that it used to. But the more Severus studied him, the more he noticed something was out of place, thinking hard he followed the man he loved, suddenly it dawn on him, 'Yes Lucius looks haggard like someone who has spent time with dementors, but he does not look like he has spent four months with them. He is just to healthy, I mean Lucius does have a lot of memories for those demons to torture him with.' Pondering on what he was thinking, Severus did not realize that they reached their destination until he bumped into Lucius' back. Lucius turned and looked at him with a raised eyebrow. Smiling sheepishly, Severus covered his thoughts quickly by saying, "What it has been a long time since I had the pleasure to lust after your arse, do you think I would pass the opportunity now?" Lucius giving his husband a knowing look, knowing of what Severus was not sure, turned back and walked into the room, giving his arse more of a switch than before.

After entering the room, Lucius pulled out his wand using a first year spell to lit a roaring fire to heat the room, prison and the dementors seemed to instill a cold in him so now Lucius was determined never to be cold again. After doing taking care of that Lucius walked over to the bar, looking to his husband he said, "If you are done looking at my arse, would you like a glass of port?"

Severus had watched his husband's movement since entering the room, he had taking a winged seat to the left of the fire, knowing from his research of dementors that one of the side effects of exposure to them was coldness. By doing this Lucius would be able to take the other winged chair without showing any weakness in front of the man he loved. This was how Slytherin pride and loyalty worked. Smiling again at his husband, he answered, "I would love some port. Most likely it will help the discussion we are about to engage in."

Nodding in head in a grave fashion, Lucius poured two drinks and walked over to the other winged chair, very grateful for the fact that Severus had chosen to sit by the fire, this way he could keep warm, and secondly he was grateful to be off his feet and resting, Lucius realized that in his attempt to act as if nothing was wrong, he had over taxed himself. After all it was only yesterday that he had been in prison surrounded by those foul dementors, and he knew such pretense was not needed in front of Severus but old habits were hard to break. Handing over the glass Lucius sighed and said, "I have been foolish old friend, here I pretend to be okay when I am not. I have over extended myself, but we must talk.

Accepting his drink Severus nodded, "Indeed the pretense is unnecessary in front of me, but I understand. For years we have both played a dangerous game, and we both know that any show of weakness even in front of each other would have lead to one or both of our deaths. After almost sixteen years this will not change over night. But since we are aware of the problem, I am sure that we can over come it and get back to how we were before that bitches interference.

Smiling both men nodded and relaxed, silence descended soon it was two old friends enjoying a drink with the other, but soon reality intruded and Lucius knew it was time to get to business. Looking at his husband he said, "While we are back to were we belong. Over the last sixteen years we have been a part and now is the time to clear the air. We know about what happened up until Narcissa interfered but what happened after, is important as well."

Severus nodded, "I agree but shouldn't we have this conversation with Rhainnikki since she has a right to know as well. And I would like to know what she has spent her time doing as well."

"Yes, we should but I know that I have done things that might turn her away from me. I don't know if I could bear that, and I know that I will have to tell her some day soon, it would not be fair to begin again with lies and deceit between us, but for some reason, I want you to know first. Maybe by doing it this way, it will allow me to be able to tell her later." Lucius said, in a small voice.

Understanding filled Severus, although he had been a spy after losing his "wife", he to had to do some horrible things in order to stay in favor with his master. Thus, both he had Lucius had painful and hurtful stories to tell, which no matter the reason might turn their wife against them.

Taking a sip of the rich wine, Severus smiled and thought, 'Only the best for us.' Looking at Lucius he decided to be blunt. "Okay, so where do we start."

The hours flew by as each told the other about their lives a part, and what they did in service to their Lord. Surprisingly neither one of them had done anything truly unforgivable. Not to say that they had no killed anyone, because they had, but only when it was a choice between their life and the one they killed. In any other situation they would have chosen their own death, but Severus had a family to avenge by destroying the Dark Lord. And Lucius had a family to protect from the wrath of the Dark Lord. But when opportunity presented itself, both men had been able to save lives especially children by magiciking them away from the danger before the other death eaters became aware of their presence. Neither man tortured their victims but gave them quick ends and when torture was necessary they usually places spells on the victims so that they would not feel anything but react as if they did. In the end they always did what they could. What neither one realized that this was done due to Narcissa influence on them, she knew that each man had to be able to live with themselves at the end of the day or in the end they would become just as hard and cold as the Dark Lord.

Lucius was just finished telling his story of his part in the Chamber of Secrets. "Well after everything was in motion, I sent Dobby to the Potter boy to ensure that he was protected and warned. Although from what Dobby reports to me, it seems that sometimes he was more of a menaces than the chamber. But in the end, Potter presented me with the prefect opportunity to keep Dobby near him without suspicion from him or that blast old fool Dumbledore."

Sighing, Severus knew how Lucius felt about Dumbledore and he knew that he had to tell him about his service to the man. So he looked Lucius in the face and said, "Lucius after I thought the Dark Lord took away my family I wanted vengeances. But I had no power, the Snape name was in ruins due to my family's known involvement with the Dark Lord and my suspected ties to him. So the only place where I could get my revenge was to Hogwarts and the Order of the Phoenix. Dumbledore, welcomed me and I began to spy for him. Voldemort trusted me as well as needed my skills as a potion Master so that placed me in the prefect position to get the information that I needed to help fight him. In the end it was Dumbledore who saved me from Prison, but that too came at a price. He wanted to watch me to ensure that I did not turn to the dark, so he made it a condition of my release that I be turned over to his custody having to gain his permission for almost everything I want. Needlessly to say the only way he would let me support myself was to teach at his school at only 25 of what he would have to pay someone who was a Master Potion Maker. With Voldemort's return Albus has required me to re-enter his service no matter what the cost so that I can spy on him." Looking down Severus waited for Lucius' rejection. He heard Lucius get up and walk over to him. Waiting for the hex to come all he got was a hug and soothing words, "You did what you had to, and that is all that matters. Your with family now and we will protect you always."

Relieved Severus Snape broke down and cried, the last time he had cried was when his family had been taken from him. Now he cried because they were given back and once again he knew unconditional love.

Taking a deep breath Lucius continued, "We are a family again, we must keep to our promise of no secrets. I am glad you told me this, thus as I am glad I was able to tell you about my past. We have shared much, but know that no matters what happens in the future I will never betray or forsake you."

Looking up into now stormy and wild eyes, Severus found truth and honor. Smiling he replied, "And I for you my love. Nothing will tear us a part again."

Suddenly, Lucius' eyes flashed then shut down, "As much as I like to believe that, I hope our past does not cost us Rhainnikki. But also there is another matter I must discuss with you." Retuning to his chair Lucius looked at Severus and said, "Although, we promised no secrets this is something that I don't want Rhainnikki to know about. The Ministry has taken all the money in the upper Malfoy vaults and it seems that even though I am free the money is tied up and cannot be returned. In passing the Ministry official said that after the war was officially over payments would be made to compensate us for the full amount plus interest. She also explained that an irreversible spell had been placed on the lower Malfoy vaults and that it would not end until the war was over. She then thanked me for my understanding in the matter without another word left." Lucius looked at Severus waiting for what he said to sink in. When he saw that it did he continued, "The only money that is available to us is what I keep in the house vault. Sadly to say I did not anticipate what happened and the vault in not full and what is in there won't last long unless we live very cheaply. So until the war is over we the most powerful and riches pureblood family has nothing; we are broke."

"Surely, that is an overstatement of our finances, I mean surely between what I have and what you have available is more that enough to run the estate and allow us to keep our wife and raise our son in the style and manor expected?" Severus asked thinking over of what he remembered of the Malfoy estates.

Lucius laughed, "Severus I am afraid not. All the Malfoy lands are inscrolled so we can't sell them or rent them. The money accounts are either frozen or gone. And from what I remember right before we lost our memories, when it came out about the Snape family involvement with the Dark lord, Dumbledore had your family's vaults and estate tied up thus we could not merge our estates as we intended. I am betting man, I am willing to bet that your estates are still tied up by that old fools manipulations and I am also willing to bet when he finds out that we are truly a family he will not release them to you."

Severus tilted his head to the side, "Now that you remind me of it, Dumbledore also got official receivership of the Snape estate, when I was released into his custody. And to ensure that I taught for him, he denied me access to it, while placing most of my pay within. Now with the start of the war, it has been the Snape and Black estates that have financed the Order in their war with the Dark Lord. However, with Sirius dead and leaving no Heirs of his body, the Black estates now belong to Draco. But again I am sure the Old coot has already tied them up to protect them from the Dark Lord. It was a show of good faith on my part. And since I make whatever extra I need on the black market, I have never bothered to pursue ending the old fools hold over me. And like you said, once word gets out that we are now a family, me doing so would be seen as a violation of his custody of me and since he is furious about your release, he would stop protecting me thus allowing the ministry to put me in prison. Thus no matter how we look at it, we have no way of using our fortunes to take care of our families." Putting his head down Severus was overwhelmed with feelings of failure. He was a Man, a pureblood and a Potion Master and yet he was unable to support his family. In a low whisper he said, "I just got you guys back. I can't loss you again."

Leaning over Lucius once again held his husband, he now knew how scared his mate was. While he was allowed to have some semblance of life with a wife and child, all of that had been stripped from Severus. All he had for the last 16 years were children he hated, a dead family and revenge that were both unfulfilling and hallow. Yes, he had been Draco's godfather but that did not help anything, and in order to protect himself from hurt he never truly allowed Draco to get to close to him. "Severus I know what you are thinking and feeling. If anything we are both failures as husbands, because I also cannot provide for our wife and son either. But think of it this way we only have to last until the new school term begins. Since we are a family we can ask for family quarters in the dungeons. I am positive that Rhainnikki will prefer to be with us, rather than stay here by herself. So once school starts all of our needs will be taken care of at the castle. After that we can combine our pay, plus even though I don't have the official title I too am a Potion's Master thus we can make some extra money on the side. So we will be able to survive until the end of the war. We can do this, we are Slytherin men and we will not let our family down. Our only concern is getting though the next month."

Seeing the wisdom in his husband's words Severus began to pull himself together. Laughing lightly, "You know Luc you always knew me best. I use to hate trying to hide things from you because you always read me so well. But your right, we have to focus on taking care of our family no matter what we have too. I refuse to be like those Weasleys. I take it Draco knows of our money situation?"

Sighing, "Yes, Draco does know. I would have preferred that he remained ignorant of our financial problems but he was there when the Ministry official informed me of what they had done. But on the bright side, with him knowing we can count on him not to throw tantrums when he can't get new things and he can help us keep it from his mother."

Severus smiled at the mention of his son, "Although, we have not done so together, we have raised him to be a fine young man. So the question is how do we place the lady of the house on a budget, without telling her?"

Both men talked about different ways to accomplish their goals, and while man lived up to their Slytherin natures, all were eventually rejected for some reason or another. Finally it was their eavesdropping son who gave them the answer.

After Draco saw Narcissa off Draco went in search of his fathers. Knowing that his father intended to fill his dad in on their money problems he figured that they would retire to Lucius' study. As Draco approached the room heard his fathers voices. Wanting to know what was going on, Draco pulled out his wand and cast a spell to be able to hear what was being said. Luck for him his father had forgotten to place silencing wards or alarms on the room. It soon became apparent after hearing one of their schemes that they were trying to keep his real mother from finding out that they no longer has money. Although Draco was spoiled, this had not disturbed him at the time because he was so happy to get his father back. But now it sunk in that the Weasleys now had more money than them and that the golden trio would now that in his face. As Draco stood there he thought about it and what Narcissa had just told him, and he realized that was not so important. Family was and he was blessed with it now.

Not really wanting to face thinking about Narcissa, Draco turned to leave but as he took the spells down a simple answer to his fathers' dilemma occurred to him. Walking in his father's study without knocking he said, "Hey fathers, maybe I have a solution to your problem."

So engrossed in their conversation the two men were that they did not even hear him at the door much less come in. Looking at Draco then at each other Lucius spoke, "How did everything go with that bitch?"

Draco frowned a little at his father's venom at Narcissa but right now he did not have the energy left to deal with it. "Narcissa has left to wherever mother has sent her. Although she did not tell me why she did what she did, she told me some other stuff that I needed to know. But I really don't want to talk about it right now if it is all right with you father. I need time to think about her and what has happened."

A little worried but understanding the boy's need for space and time, both men nodded and Severus broke the tension. "Well Mr. Smarty Pants what solution do you have to our problems."

Smirking the famous Malfoy smile, "Dad, I know you just found out that you have a child, but please do not confuse me. Because I am male not female and my name is not Hermione Granger." Laughing at his father shocked look Draco ran when he saw his father pull his wand. With an evil grin Severus said, "You know Luc I always wanted a daughter." And with that he took off after his son.