Disclaimer: I do not have any legal claim to Harry and friends though I wish I did.
Chapter 14: The Press Conference
Lucian had just walked back to his room from the kitchen were he had grabbed two apples for him and Draco. When he had first left the kitchen after his father had so subtlety kicked him out he felt Lucius eyes following him as he went and scooped Draco up into his arms and carried him to his bedroom. He figured that his father would say something to Lucius about him and Draco but how much he would tell him he had no idea.
Lucian sighed as he sat next to Draco. "Is there anything I could do?" he asked knowing that if he asked if Draco was ok he would more than likely hex him. He knew that Draco hated being asked that when people knew the obvious answer.
Draco looked up at Lucian his eyes red and puffy from crying, "Just hold me." He said quietly.
Lucian didn't need to be told twice. He quickly pulled Draco into his arms and placed a comforting kiss on his temple. "How's this?" he asked pulling Draco a bit closer so that he could rest his head against his chest.
"Please don't ever leave me." Draco whispered gently sobbing into Lucian's chest. "Tell me that you will always be here with me." He grasped desperately at Lucian's robes. He held onto them as if his clothes were the lifelines to Lucian.
Lucian held Draco tighter as he ran his fingers through his soft blond hair trying to comfort him. He could feel the dampness from Draco's tears seeping through the material of his robes and onto his skin. He began gently rocking back and forth trying to comfort Draco much like you would do for a small child. Tenderly and silently giving Draco his unconditional love and support as he held him close to his heart. A soft knock on his doorframe brought his thoughts back to surroundings, and into the eyes of Draco's father. He smiled approvingly at Lucian's embracing of his only son. Lucian felt like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders seeing the approval Lucius eyes, maybe there was a chance for Draco to have a meaningful start with his father. It was saddening though when he thought about what had happened. In order for Draco to gain the father that he had always wanted he had to loose his mother. Lucian knew that it had to harder to loose one of your parents when you where older than it was for him to have lost both of his when he was too young to remember them. In some aspect he had, had it easier.
He noticed that Lucius had walked in and sat down beside them and with his elbows on his knees he let his head fall into his hands. "Draco, I am sorry that I made you feel like you couldn't tell me who you loved. I just wanted you to know that I think that Lucian is a fine young man and I don't think you could have done any better." He noticed that Draco had sat up a bit in order to better see his face. "I approve of your choice."
And with that Lucius stood up and started walking to the door, he was about three steps from crossing into the hallway when Draco's soft voice stopped him.
"I love you too Dad." His voice was rough and strained from the emotion but the words rang clear and strong for Lucius.
Lucius knew that he and Draco had a lot to work through but at least now they had a beginning to work from. "You two need to get ready for the conference, we will be heading up in about ten minutes." And with that he swept out of the room. He was just about to open the kitchen door when Remus's voice stopped him.
"You didn't tell him everything about Lucian, did you?" Remus said his voice unsteady with worry.
"If you are talking about me telling Lucius who Lucian really was, then yes I did tell him. But I didn't tell him about him being a werewolf since his fourth year, although he would probably be thrilled to know that his son is and illegal animagus with two forms. I think that Lucian should be the one to tell him unless he figures it out for himself in the mean time." Severus said quietly.
Lucius heard Remus sigh. "I still think that you should tell him, I mean Lucian is dating his only son. I just don't want Lucian to go through all of the discrimination that I have endured my whole life."
"I understand that you don't want him to get hurt Remus, but Merlin he has kept it a secret for the past two years and Albus had no idea. It is his decision of who he tells, not mine." Severus said with conviction.
Lucius was stunned; he had no idea on what to think. He stumbled back into the living room and sat heavily down onto the couch. Did he mind that his son was dating a werewolf, well yes. But then he couldn't help but to think back to how Lucian gentle and caring he was toward Draco, he could plainly see that Lucian loved his son very much. And then he though back to Remus whom he had known since his days at Hogwarts. Remus was one of the kindest and honest men that he had ever known and he had been a werewolf since he was young. Smiling resolutely he thought to himself that he would just wait until Lucian or Draco brought it up and he would tell him that he had no problem with it. Just as he was getting ready to stand and walk back to the kitchen he heard Lucian's door close. When he looked up he saw that the boys were ready to go. Lucius nodded in their direction and walked into the kitchen the boys following closely behind him.
The two occupants looked up as the kitchen door opened. Severus saw that his son was gently leading Draco toward the table so that he could sit down.
"Dad, are we going to go up to the Great Hall and wait for Professor Dumbledore to let everyone come in or can we go up early so that he can already be in there when he opens the doors?" Lucian asked wondering how they were going to get through this day with out any bloodshed.
"Yes, Remus had just told me that Albus wants us all up there and sitting with the rest of the staff before he lets the people come in. That way we will have the rest of the staff to protect us." Severus said jokingly, well he hoped that it wouldn't come down to that.
Lucian sighed and took a hold of Draco's hand. He felt Draco squeeze back reassuringly. He watched as his father and Remus stood and made their way toward the door. Lucius followed after them and he felt Draco pulling him toward the door.
"This is going to be a long day." He said to himself but Draco heard him and chuckled quietly. Lucian smiled at his boyfriend and shook his head. "You probably think that this is going to be hilarious that I am going to a conference where they are announcing my death and I get to sit there and act all innocent."
Draco snorted and then tried to cover it up with a cough, "Just think now you can see what people really think of you and can you honestly say that you're not going to get a kick out of seeing the reaction of people when they find out that their precious Boy-Who-Lived and savior of the Wizarding world died not at the hands of the Dark Lord like every one would assume but at the hands of his family."
Lucian stood there not saying anything for a full minute; he had never really realized how ironic it was. He had really come close to dieing. "Yeah, I think I will get a kick out of this, just promise me if I start to look too happy you will kick me or pinch me."
Draco laughed out loud this time, "Yeah alright I think that I could do that, I mean after all it wouldn't look good for Sev's son to look happy at the prospect of Harry Potter dead now would it. You will probably already be condemned for being with a Malfoy." He shook his head sadly at this, thinking back at how lucky he was to have Lucian as a pivotal part in his life.
"Come on we need to catch up with our fathers." He said as he started to jog up the corridor in order to catch up with the adults.
Lucian laughed as he ran after Draco. This definitely was going to be an interesting day.
Meanwhile in the Great Hall.
Minerva McGonagall was sitting in her usual seat at the head table in the Great Hall thinking back to what Albus had said to her earlier.
He had told her that Severus was bringing his son with him to the conference. She had been shocked to find out that he had kept it hidden that he had a son. Albus had said that he was transferring to Hogwarts for this term but he neglected to tell her how old he was.
She guessed that she would find out today when she sees him. Minerva also found it odd that Albus didn't say which school the boy was transferring from or even what the child's name was for that matter. But she couldn't blame him for forgetting trivial things with everything that had happened lately. She hastily swiped at the tears that threatened to fall; this year would be so different without Harry.
She had known that it was a very real possibility that Harry would not make it because of the extent of the injuries that he had received from his uncle. But she had thought deep down that he would bounce back like he had from all of the other scrapes from death.
She couldn't even imagine how the Weasley's and Miss Granger were feeling, although it seemed as if Ron and Hermione had gone there own way and left Harry to fend for himself. She had only noticed it last term and had no idea when it had started or even what had happened to cause that rift.
Minerva heard the staff door open to her left and saw Severus walk in with Remus and Lucius Malfoy and then directly behind them where Draco and a young man about the same age who had to be Severus's son. There was no mistaking him for anyone else, he stood taller than Draco almost matching his father's height, and he had long black straight hair that hung below his shoulders. He was a very handsome boy.
"Ah Minerva, I see that you are already here. I would like to introduce you to someone." Severus said gesturing to the boy beside Draco. "Lucian, come here please I would like to introduce you to the Transfiguration professor Minerva McGonagall." He said smirking slightly.
Lucian stepped over to Minerva and clasped his hand into hers and slightly bowed in respect to her. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Madame. I look forward to your classes this term." He said politely.
Minerva was pleasantly surprised; she would never dream that Severus's son would be so polite and respectful to someone that he had never met before.
"I am looking forward to seeing you there as well. Now why don't you tell me a little about yourself and tell me where your father had you hidden all these years." She said teasingly.
Lucian chuckled this was the moment that his father had been waiting for. "I am transferring from The Griffin Academy. With everything that has been going on lately my father felt that I should be closer to him and go to Hogwarts instead of in the states at my old school." He smiled at the shocked expression on Minerva's face as she turned toward his father.
"Your son was attending Griffin Academy in New York? My word Severus why didn't you tell anyone, you must be so proud of him. What year is he going to be in this term and goodness are we even going to be able to teach him something that he doesn't already know?" she asked clearly bewildered.
Severus laughed; he had waited years to get something past Minerva that would leave her speechless. It was priceless. "Lucian is going to be entering into the sixth year for this term and I am sure that we will find something to teach the boy." He shook his head in amusement as he sat down. Lucian sat down beside him and then Draco sat next to Lucian. Lucius sat down next to his son and Remus sat on his other side. Now they just had to wait for Albus to let the crowds in. They sat silently and waited for Albus's cue that he was going to open the doors. As if on cue Albus came through the staff door and walked up toward the staff table.
"Are you all ready, I think that it about time to start the conference. Be sure to keep and eye out for any thing unusual. Stay on alert." Albus said his eyes void of the ever-present twinkle.
He swept toward the massive doors at the end of the hall and with a moments pause and a flick of his hands the doors swung open. People started filing in and sitting in the chairs that were lined up in rows in the room. Albus slowly walked up to the head table and sat down in his usual seat in between Severus and Minerva.
He leaned over to his right and whispered to Lucian, "Are you ready for all Hell to break loose?" he said trying to keep the grin off his face.
Lucian nodded his head discretely. He looked back out into the crowd as he watched wizards and witches from the ministry fill up the first three rows of chairs. Some were giving him cold and calculating looks as they looked from his father to him making the obvious connection. This was definitely going to be an interesting day. He stopped staring at the crowd when he heard Albus clear his throat and stand up.
All noise stopped and it was deathly quiet.
"Some of you already know why I have called this conference where as others of you don't. So I will get to the heart of it." Albus cleared his throat again and rested his hands on the top of the table.
"Three weeks ago it became clear to myself and the staff that there was something wrong with Mr. Potter who was currently spending the summer holiday at his home with his aunt and uncle. I sent two of my most trusted staff to go and check on Harry. When they arrived they found Harry severely beaten and just barely alive. They quickly gathered his stuff and brought him back to Hogwarts to be treated. After being healed to the best that was possible Harry slipped into a coma. Due to the extent of the injuries that he had sustained to his head and body I am sad to say that Harry James Potter passed away last night at around midnight."