Chapter 16: Severus, King of the World….Or How Severus Conquered the Library

"I've got it!!" Severus shouted, shooting up from his chair.

Lucius flew out of his chair and onto the floor in a fantastic "duck and cover" maneuver, while Harry jumped and spun with wand raised. After realizing that the "threat" was just their over enthused mate they resumed their previous sitting positions, surreptitiously looking around to see if anyone had seen their minor spaz attacks.

'That didn't happen.'…shift.

"Got what, Severus?" Lucius asked, clearing his throat and trying to cover his mugglish reaction.

"This!" Severus stressed, waving his book and looking at Lucius like it was obvious what he had. Seeing his mates' blank stares, Severus sighed and realized that he'd actually have to explain what he had in his hand. 'As if it isn't obvious what we've been searching for!' "I've found a way to destroy a horcruxe, of course!"

"That's GREAT, Severus!" Harry exclaimed as he and Lucius once again shot out of their seats.

"Let's hear it, then." Lucius said as he and Harry made their way to Severus' side. The two wrapped their arms around Severus' waist and rested their heads on his shoulders, being careful not to read over his shoulder as they waited for him to start reciting the passage.

"It lists here a potion that will 'Separate the soul from the object, therefore destroying the section of the soul.'" Severus turned his head to Harry.

"You see, when a person creates a horcruxe they have to count on leaving that part of the soul there forever. To take the soul out again and reattach it to the main source is a long and daunting process. There is always the chance that the soul will not mold back together again, and the person will die. Each soul portion sustains the others, it's true, but they now serve as separate entities and are hard to reform into a single piece again.

"Though, this doesn't mean that if we kill the portion currently in Voldemort, that he will come back as a torch or a necklace. It's like broken glass that you try to put back together. There will always be cracks were it broke. The soul will never really be whole again until the person dies and all of the pieces are destroyed." Severus then turned to Lucius. "This book gives us the directions for making the potion and destroying the horcruxes. Once we make it and the horcruxes are destroyed, Harry only needs to kill Voldemort, and we'll be rid of him for good."

"No pressure," Harry grumbled sarcastically into Severus' shoulder. Severus smirked and turned to kiss the top of Harry's head.

"Harry, after the soul pieces are destroyed, anything you use will kill Voldemort. Even a muggle gun would work." Severus murmured into Harry's hair.

"No. I want to use magic. I want to know that it's over, once and for all." Lucius and Severus turned the embrace's focus to Harry, pulling the younger man into their arms and sandwiching him against their chests. Harry closed his eyes, letting out a long sigh that took a good deal of his tension away. His mates stroked his hair and shoulders, and whispered gentle words of encouragement and love into his ears. Lucius nuzzled against his cheek, and Harry pulled the blonde closer to him. "I would be able to do it with just the knowledge of what he did to you, Lucius. The fact that he's also stolen others from my life just adds to my wish for his downfall…I just hate that I'll have to kill for this. It doesn't sit well with me at all."

"Then, for once, let's not talk about it." Severus stated. "I'll start this potion right now, and tonight we'll destroy the first horcruxe to make sure it works. Ok?"

"Ok," His mates agreed.

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It had taken five hours for Severus and Lucius to brew the potion. Harry had moved to their bedroom during that time, a book on souls in hand. Though he did want Voldemort gone, he couldn't reconcile the fact that he would be destroying a soul as well as killing an evil man. Granted, Voldemort needed to be removed from the picture, but Harry was a firm believer that no soul was inherently bad.

Sirius, for example, was an amazing man, but the years in Azkaban had driven him slightly mad, and had given him the will to kill another man for revenge. Granted, Wormtail had landed Sirius in Azkaban and killed Harry's parents, but Sirius took it too far when he became willing to involve young Harry and his friends. Harry would never regret his involvement, but it wasn't lost on him that that night could have ended very differently if Remus and Severus hadn't shown up.

Harry stretched out on the enlarged bed. He and his mates had left their "sanctuary" as Severus had made it, but had taken to opening the curtains during the day. The vast expanse was perfect for sprawling out with a good book, or cuddling up with two other people who happened to like sprawling across each other.

Harry spent the five hours reading about the true nature of souls. He realized that when Severus had said "destroy" the soul, he had really meant killing it in this life. Yes, here the soul pieces were just shards, but once all of the pieces were "destroyed" in this life, and the body was killed, the soul would mold back together.

'Removed,' Harry thought to himself, 'is probably the better term.'

He sighed. So he wouldn't destroy a soul completely, he would instead send it to that 'great beyond'. Harry hoped that even Voldemort would find peace…or at least finally shut up about taking over anything he laid his eyes on. Whatever the fate of Voldemort's soul, Harry just felt better that he would only be killing the snake-faced Dark Lord, not totally demolishing him. Even if he did hate the "man", if Voldemort could be called that anymore…hmm.

A soft knock at the door caused Harry to give a noncommittal grunt. He knew that whomever it was, they would probably start talking soon, and so Harry continued on reading. When he felt someone slide onto the mattress and start gliding his way, he sneaked a glance out the corner of his eye. Just as he had suspected, Lucius was smoothing his way toward him, the blonde's body swaying a bit from side to side as he shifted his weight with each move forward.

'Ever the cat,' Harry thought amusedly to himself. Lucius came to a halt next to him and leaned forward, but stayed on all fours. There was a pause where the two mates just looked at each other, Harry waiting for Lucius to speak and Lucius contemplating what thought he wanted to voice.

"Severus and I have finished the potion. We're ready to test it." Harry blinked. Lucius blinked. "The potion will keep for only an hour…what do you want to do?"

"Will Voldemort sense that a piece of him is being removed?"

"Removed?" Lucius repeated. Harry summed up his findings and explained his reasoning for replacing 'destroyed' with 'removed'. Lucius nodded, agreeing with the change in terminology. "He may."

"So really, the sooner we gather the troops and destroy all the horcruxes, the sooner we can get the final battle over with?"

"…yeeesss….What are you thinking Harry?"

Harry pulled Lucius into a slow and gentle kiss, tasting Lucius' confusion on his tongue. He pulled back to meet Lucius' bewildered expression.

"How would you feel about a Voldemort-free Christmas?"

Lucius froze.

"SEVERUS!"

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AN: HA! Ok, so I don't really like cliff hangers….BUT I thought it fit right here. I won't say this is drawing to a close in ANY way, but we are about to see some really big action…and I'm not just talking Harry/Lucius/Severus action, oh no. I'm talking "Get your wands ready kids! We're gonna see some fireworks!" Anyway, please review… And I'm still looking for artists for this fic. I'm on deviant art, so if you know anyone there that would like to do a pic for this fic, or you want to do one yourself… contact me! J Thanks for reading, and don't forget to review! Muah!