Author: HatefulRodeo

Story: Harbinger

Notes: This chapter we have Lucius', Draco's and Dumbledore's POV's. THANKS TO ALL WHO FAV'D, FOLLOWED AND REVIEWED! Enjoy Lovelies!

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. I will make no money from the posting of this fic.

Previously:

Dumbledore wouldn't last long not after Rita's newest article came out, before the old man could make some excuse for the mentioning of his stealing funds from Harry but now that the goblins were leaking the information it would be almost impossible to deny or explain.

Then the actual trial would come and nothing would be kept secret anymore and by doing so it would expose the old coot for the bastard he truly was. Their whole world would see what kind of man their once beloved Headmaster was; Voldemort knew what kind of man Dumbledore was since he was an eleven year old boy but it would be delightful to see the horrified faces of the public when they found out their pinnacle of Light was so depraved and callous.

All in good time, all in good time; right now he had other things to tend to and he had reminisced enough for one day. Shifting, he picked up his quill and another damnable report from his Ministry spies and went back to work.

~~~~~~*********Chapter 25*********~~~~~~

Lucius' Yule was the best it had ever been, this year his family was almost complete and in a few months when they won the war Lucius could divorce his wife and marry the man he loved since he was a teenager.

He could divorce Narcissa now but that would invite too many prying eyes into his affairs and his wife would no doubt make the split as messy and drawn out as possible; all the gossip mongers would salivate at the chance to have some dirt on the untouchable Lord Lucius Malfoy.

Severus understood and seeing as they had waited this long they could wait a bit more. Lucius watched them all happily sitting in the living room, his little family and he cared for them all; Severus, Draco, Harry and surprisingly their Lord; the crimson eyed man had been integrated into their little familial group courtesy of his growing bond with Harry.

Lucius could not and would not complain at all; he always wanted a large family and with the addition of Harry, his soon to be son-in-law, and the Dark Lord, or Marvolo as he asked to be called when they were having non-Death Eater related activities, Lucius' little family had grown by two more.

And when Lucius and Severus married they would hopefully welcome their children into the world. They could have had children before this but since he and Severus were not married they would not be recognized as legitimate Malfoys, as stupid as that was, but it was an age old custom within the Malfoy line to prevent bastards from seizing control of the family.

Lucius could respect the rules of his House but he thought them obsolete. A child conceived between him and Severus would be born of love and who really cared if they were married or not; that fact should prevent their child from being a Malfoy or getting what any Malfoy child should.

Severus' lips on his neck broke him out of his little bubble and he focused his attention back onto their guests, placing a kiss to Severus' lips, Lucius leaned forward and presented Harry and the others in the warm room with their gifts; the elder blonde tried to get gifts fitting of the person receiving them.

The Dark Lord was a particularly hard find but he managed. Harry was quite simple and he knew the boy would like his gift. Draco wasn't an issue either he knew his son well enough and Severus' gift would be given now as well as later. A sexual smirk flittered across his porcelain features earning him a raised brow from his darker lover.

With a small shrug Lucius gestured for them to open their gifts. The sound of ripping paper and rustling tissue sounded through the air as Lucius looked on with satisfaction. It seemed he had chosen well; Harry was tearing up as he turned the ring in his hand, it was from the Malfoy vault and was given to the second son of the family.

"Thank you Lucius, thank you for this. I love it so much." The elder blonde could only smile at the green eyed teen; "It is nothing Harry; you are family to us and I wanted you to know that. Now Marvolo what do you think of your gift?"

The crimson eyed male looked up from his book, a somewhat smile on his face; "It quite acceptable Lucius, thank you. However did you find this? I have been looking for it since I was at Hogwarts."

The blonde preened happily at his Lord's praise but he would never tell the man it took him months to track down the damn book and half a vault of gold to procure it; "It was nothing my Lord and I have certain contacts that I use when I want to find what I seek. I'm pleased you like it."

His grey eyes looked over to Draco who was smiling down at a picture of him and Harry in the garden; it was taken when neither of them knew anyone was watching. They looked so happy holding each other, swaying to music no one else could hear and just staring into each other's eyes.

When Lucius captured the sweet moment on film he developed it and charmed it to move before he framed it in an ornate silver frame. It pleased Lucius that his son found someone to love him as much as Draco loved them; Lucius would do anything he could to ease the way for Harry and Draco. They deserved to be together without anyone interfering.

Severus chuckled, drawing Lucius attention back onto the older raven haired male; "My Lucius it is quite lovely." Lucius smirked, quite pleased with himself, pressing a kiss to his love's lips he murmured against Severus' mouth; "I'm pleased you like it."

The elder blonde pulled away and looked down at what his lover was holding; it was a simple silver ring, no adornments but the engraving on the inside was the date he and Severus became lovers. His partner mentioned they should get rings in jest but the idea made Lucius happy so he went to his vault and found two simple silver bands and charmed on the engraving.

Lucius raised his left hand to show Severus his rings mate on the blonde's slender ring finger where his old wedding band once rested; "I think this is the ring that should have always been there and it won't ever be moved." Severus nodded, slipping on his new ring before turning back to observe the gift giving and opening, Lucius let his attention fall back onto the others.

Thank Merlin Narcissa decided to stay in France for Christmas, neither he nor Draco would miss her presence. Fortunately the woman seemed to understand this fact and did not impose on them. Lucius didn't know if he could tolerate the woman, not when things were finally going their way.

Harry cleared his throat and waved his hand, distributing their gifts to them; Lucius looked down at his gift, it was a large rectangular box. Popping the silver ribbon the elder Malfoy ripped apart the emerald wrapping paper and lifted the boxes' lid, eyes widening when he saw the gorgeous cream colored cashmere sweater.

With a delighted sigh the blonde man raised the sweater out of the box to admire it more, it was marvelous, soft and would keep him warm while accentuating his coloring. Harry it seemed did have quite good taste if this piece of clothing was anything to go by. "Thank you Harry. This is quite lovely."

The emerald eyed teen smiled, blushing a bit at the praise and mumbled something that sounded like, "No problem," before the raven haired teen turned to watch the rest of them open their gifts. Severus was gifted with new set of casual black robes in a cotton- silk blend that would look stunning on the tall form of the potions master.

Marvolo was gifted with a picture of Harry, smiling and waving from the frame. The frame itself was a dark wood with silver snakes at the corner. The formidable dark lord looked stunned but a small true smile broke out on his face when he looked at his ward; "Thank you Harry, I will place this in my study."

Harry smiled happily, beaming at his father figure, shyly the raven haired teen stood and made his way over to his surrogate dad; the short raven leaned down and gave Marvolo a hug. Lucius thought them absolutely adorable and awkward but it was good that both of them were comfortable enough now to share an embrace.

Finally, Harry pulled away, quickly making his way back over to sit on the floor with Draco. His son's grey eyes were alight with happiness and Lucius thanked Harry silently for making his son open up and smile again.

True, Draco had never been unhappy but he wasn't living life fully and there always seemed to be some sadness around his son. But now with Harry around his son and heir was smiling more, laughing more and just all around enjoying himself freely. He cast his eyes down and took in the little box sitting in Draco's large palm.

Harry looked a bit nervous and bit his lip as Draco opened the parcel; this made Lucius curious as to what the emerald eyes teen bought his heir. They all waited to see what the gift was and the elder blonde was quite pleased when he saw the gorgeous white gold pocket watch being drawn out of the box.

Draco just stared at it for a moment before opening the watch; "It is lovely Harry. Where on earth did you find it? How did you do the charms work?" The little raven blushed, ducking his head; "I found it in the Black heirloom vault; when I saw it I knew it was perfect for you."

"Then when I opened it the faces of my most precious people appeared on the outer arms, adding more when there wasn't enough. See it changed for you, the hands for me showed Marvolo, your father, Severus and you but now it shows me, your father, Severus and Blaise."

"And the inner arms are a watch so now you can see that we are all well and tell time. And if we have children or Lucius and Severus have a baby more arms will be added to the watch. But then again with the amount of babies that may be coming we may need to get a bigger watch." Draco chuckled, leaning forward and pressed a kiss to Harry's lips; "I adore it love."

With that the present exchanging continued into the morning until Harry and Draco rose to go and exchange gifts with the Longbottom boy and Lovegood girl who were staying at the Manor for a few days.

Besides Lucius wanted to discuss things with his Lord, the elder Malfoy was not about to send his son back to Hogwarts not with Dumbledore still there and getting desperate. The blonde knew Dumbledore would do anything to ensure his victory and he doubted the old coot would hesitate to take Draco away from him in an effort to blackmail the Malfoy Lord.

That would not be tolerated and he knew many Death Eaters with children felt the same so a significant portion of their children would not be going back after Yule. They could continue to teach their children at home just like it used to be in the old days before Hogwarts was created.

Clearing his throat the blonde leaned forward and began to converse with his Lord, Severus' hand in his as the blonde explained his hesitation and fear in sending Draco back to Hogwarts. In the end Marvolo agreed that it would be best to keep Draco home, the risk of Dumbledore seizing any form of advantage over them was too great to risk at this point.

The blonde was relieved to know his son would be safe even if his lover had to go back to Hogwarts. While Draco wasn't able to gather useful sensitive information at Hogwarts Severus still could so his partner would have to go back to keep an eye out on Dumbledore and the remaining Order members.

Hopefully this arrangement would soon be done so they could be together like they used to be; going to sleep and waking up in the same bed every day. The future certainly did look bright and with Dumbledore's trial coming up they would erode the last of his support, leaving the old bastard alone, out in the cold and possibly in Azkaban for fraud and theft.

Yes this Yule was the absolute best that Lucius ever had!

~*~*~*~POV CHANGE~*~*~*~

Draco wrapped his arm around his lover's slim shoulders and escorted him to Luna's room, they decided to exchange gifts with the other two there instead of with the rest of Draco's family and the Dark Lord. Neville was firmly on the Dark's side but he was still nervous about being near Voldemort and Harry wanted Longbottom to be comfortable while they spent time together.

The grey eyed teen also thought it was so Neville could have a bit more alone time with Luna this morning but that was just speculation on his part. Harry looked quite happy and it pleased him immensely to see his lover enjoying himself; the fact that his Harry was so pleased just to spend a pleasant holiday with others was a sore spot to Draco.

Oh those muggles Harry called family would pay but not yet, if the absolute waste of flesh and bone turned up missing or dead then everyone would assume it was the Dark Lord or Death Eaters; that it would be the truth was not a factor.

Lately they had kept a low profile, not giving the press a chance to snipe at their cause, the fact that Rita Skeeter was in their pocket may have helped with that. Not to mention that Harry's shift in sides made the general populace rethink their stance on the Dark; Voldemort couldn't be all bad if the savior of the wizarding world found sanctuary with him.

The plan as Draco saw it was working out splendidly; the world was looking at Dumbledore with distrust, the old bastards support was crumbling and Harry was firmly on the right side.

The only part of what was currently happening that was unexpected was his love for Harry, he had never expected to fall for the ex-Gryffindor but now that he had he wanted to punch himself for not acting on his interest in Harry sooner.

The blonde had always been fascinated and drawn to the green eyed teen but he did not understand the attraction, Draco always chalked it down to hate. But now he could see it was attraction and jealousy that someone other than him had Harry's coveted attention while they were at Hogwarts.

How foolish they both had been to not realize their mutual attraction! However, that was in the past and now they were happy together and no one would take his lover away from him. Smiling he knocked on Luna's door, chuckling at his bouncing lover next to him and opened the door when Luna's dreamy voice invited them in.

The two teens walked in and saw their friends sitting by the fire, both wearing happy, content smiles on their faces. It seemed another couple had found the happiness he and Harry enjoyed and though he was never close to the other two teens Draco was happy for them.

These two supported Harry always, were there for him when his other fair-weather friends turned their backs on him and made it bearable for Harry to continue on. Not to mention the Weasely twins, those two were obnoxious but they were loyal and did what was right even if it went against their family.

Draco and Harry settled onto the sofa in front of the fire while Neville and Luna gave them smiles and bid them Happy Yule. The newly arrived blonde and raven wished the others Happy Yule as well and then they got to the best part, opening more presents.

Harry pulled his gifts out of his pocket, resized them and hovered them over to Neville and Luna. Draco followed suit and watched as his two guests opened their presents; he felt pleased and smug when Neville spluttered at the many rare seeds inside the medium sized wooden multi-compartment box. "Draco, these are unbelievable! Thank you!"

Draco merely smiled and nodded while Luna looked at her gift with a dreamy smile on her face and a pleased look in her wide blue eyes; he really did not know what to get Luna so he purchased her a portkey and lodging for two in Madagascar for a week.

He choose Madagascar due to the fact that some of the beasts she claimed were real hailed from there. Plus, it could be a type of vacation for Neville and Luna away from Britain and the pressures here due to the ongoing war. Draco knew Neville more so than Luna was under stress from his grandmother Augusta.

Augusta Longbottom was a bitch of an old biddy and constantly tried to pressure Neville into doing what she wanted. He didn't know Neville for long or particularly well but he knew that piece of information was fact. Draco was fortunate that his father and Severus supported him in his choices, most of the time, and they were also on the same side with most of the same views.

Harry nudged his shoulder drawing him out of his musings and placed a bright orange box with a ridiculous ribbon in rainbow colors in his hand; ah this must be from the twins. Opening the box slowly Draco had to laugh when he saw the edible Dark Marks with the proclamation on the packaging of 'So good they'll make you sick!'

The whole room seemed to laugh at their gifts from the twins before moving onto Harry's gifts. The green eyed teen watched closely as Neville and Luna opened their gifts, the demon twins' presents were sent by both Draco and Harry two days earlier, a cute nervous look on the raven's sculpted face.

Draco smiled and took his lover's hand and enjoyed the scene in front of him; they had joined forces in their gifts to Neville and Luna. Each gift played off the others; Neville's gift from Harry was a rare tomb on plants and detailed the information about the rare seeds Draco had gifted the Gryffindor.

"Wow Harry this book is great and I see it mentions all of the seeds Draco gave me. This will be useful when I plant them in the garden at Longbottom Manor." Harry beamed, looking like the cat that got the cream; "I'm glad you like it Neville. Now on to Luna's gift, go on open it."

Harry's gift to Luna was a new camera, a waterproof notebook that never ran out of pages along with a new beautiful blue and green Quick-Quotes Quill that actually accurately took dictation, unlike Skeeter's poisonous pen. Now Luna was set to go on her week long exploration and could detail and catalogue any discoveries she made.

The blonde Ravenclaw looked quite excited about her gifts and lost the dreamy expression for once; "Thank you both. I love the gifts and will use them well and when I find the Crumple-Horned Snorkack I will give you both a mention in my article."

Draco just nodded, looking honored and serious while Harry adopted a similar facade but inside they were both chuckling at Luna's rare seriousness and determined expression, it was just so unlike her and the blonde male found he liked her better when she was her usual dreamy self.

The afternoon went well. The quartet finished exchanging gifts; Harry received a beautiful emerald cashmere robe and Draco got a similar cloak in dark grey. They continued talked about the other gifts they received from other friends and Draco showed off his watch.

Before long it was time for lunch, Draco and Harry made their exit to freshen up in their rooms, telling Neville and Luna they would meet them in the dining room in a bit. Once the two teens were in their rooms Draco turned to his lover and took both of Harry's small hands in his, dropping to one knee Draco fished out a small ring box.

Looking into Harry's wide shining green eyes the blonde opened the box and withdrew a white-gold ring inlaid with grey pearl, taking a deep breath he spoke; "Harry I adore you, can't imagine being without you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you honor me and be my husband and bearer?"

The raven's eyes filled with happy tears, a heartbreakingly beautiful smile on his gorgeous face, in a choked voice his love responded; "Did you even need to ask Draco? Of course I will! I would be honored to be with you for the rest of my life."

With a smile that could split his face Draco stood and slipped the ring onto Harry's slender finger, watching as the ring sized itself to fit his fiancée's thin finger. The raven haired teen launched himself into Draco's arms, pressing kisses to the blonde's lips. The taller's arms moved to wrap around his love's slim waist, holding the smaller teen close to him.

This felt so right to the blonde and he never wanted this to end but alas all good things come to an end when a house elf popped into the room to call them down for lunch. Pulling away Draco pressed one more chaste kiss to Harry's lips; "Shall we go love?"

Harry murmured his agreement and took the bone's hand in his and went to leave before the raven stopped; "What about your ring Draco? Should I get you one?" Draco chuckled at his lover's question; "Of course not Harry I already thought of that." Slipping his hand into his pocket once again he pulled out another ring box and opened it, exposing another white gold ring this one inlaid with emeralds.

Harry gasped and held his hand out for the ring, placing it into his love's smaller hand Draco watched as the shorter male examined the ring, joy in his eyes and a soft smile on his face. Those gorgeous green eyes lit up and Harry fell to his knee, raising Draco's still clasped hand; "Draco, I adore you and I will for the rest of my life. Will you do me the honor of being my husband?"

Draco shook his head, looking at his lover in exasperation; "Of course I will love. You didn't even have to ask." Harry slipped the ring onto the blonde's long finger and kissed Draco when the ring resized itself to fit, pulling away the raven spoke; "But I wanted to and now we can go to lunch and announce our engagement."

Two happy teens walked out of the room, hands entwined and smiles on their face. This was a good day and it was only going to get better when they told their assembled friends and family about their upcoming marriage when they reached the dining room; his father would already be planning the event by the end of lunch.

~*~*~*~*POV CHANGE*~*~*~*~

The Daily Prophet was flung through the circular office, crashing into a small table next to the door; Albus Dumbledore was livid. How the fuck had that little Potter brat become such an issue?! Now he wished the boy would have been slaughtered by Tom at least then he would not be causing him problems now.

When Harry first slipped past his guard at Number Four Privet Drive Dumbledore thought the boy was kidnapped and he would receive a ransom note or the boy's dead body within a day or so. When no note or body was found the Headmaster thought the boy was being held for torture or hostage.

When the news came out that Harry had changed allegiances and a mention was made that Dumbledore was sneaking money from the Potter vault the venerable Light Lord passed it off as a trick by the Dark and misinformation by Skeeter.

But how could he do that now? Over the past few months it was one issue after another; first the boy goes missing then he gives Skeeter an article stating he is loyal to Tom and his side. Not to mention that it could not be spell or even a potion causing Harry to act in this way, not when he was emancipated by Gringotts; everyone knew it was impossible to conduct business with the goblins if you were under the influence of a spell or potion.

Now another article was published in this morning's Prophet exposing his fraud and theft of gold from the Potter boy's vaults. Of course it wasn't another interview with Harry; no it was the goblins that leaked this news along with the mention of Dumbledore's upcoming trial in front of the Wizengamot.

He did not see what he did wrong?! So he had taken a bit of gold from Harry's vaults! It as for the war and war was not cheap. Dumbledore refused to admit that he was being underhanded in his handling of both Harry and his vaults. Everything he did was all for the Light and the betterment of their world.

If people could not see that then they would have to be educated to understand that Dumbledore's way was the best way. This requirement made recruiting a challenge, not many wanted to join his Order anymore not with the rumors of his foul treatment concerning Harry swirling about.

The ones who did want to join would not be controlled easily, not like the Weaselys were. The raid on Order Headquarters was a crippling blow to them; he lost a fair few good fighters and two of his most trusted were taken. Merlin knew what was happening to Arthur and Kingsley now and he regretted losing such obedient pawns.

Bill, Ron and Ginevra Weasely were unfortunate losses but not staggering; Dumbledore thought the youngest Weasely children quite useless. Indeed they were valuable when Harry was around but now that the Potter brat was firmly on the Dark's side the two youngsters were no longer needed and just made nuisances out of themselves.

Bill Weasely was a talented wizard; strong, intelligent and brave but Dumbledore never truly trusted him like he did Arthur and Molly. Bill was a curse breaker and used Dark magic in his work that disturbed Dumbledore to no end. Along with the fact that Bill always asked questions when he gave orders, offering new ideas or a change to the plan when Dumbledore felt one was not needed.

The only surviving Weaselys were the twins, Percy and Charlie. The twins had essentially told him to stuff it and they did not like what he did to Harry. Charlie was in Romania and while he was upset about his family's passing and kidnap he had no interest in fighting a war. Percy, well Percy was in the Minister's pocket and would hear nothing against him which excluded the middle Weasely form joining Dumbledore's Order.

At least the wizarding world was aware that Voldemort was back for all the good it did. Most ordinary folks just wanted this conflict over with and had no interest in risking their or their family's lives to join the war effort on either side.

Now that his Order's numbers were thinned the Death Eaters would capitalize on the mismatch in numbers. The attacks would come with more frequency now, even if Tom had been quiet lately, it was only a matter of time before the Death Eaters made their move and hopefully by that time he would have gained enough support back to stand against them.

Times like these he wondered why he was doing this. Was it worth everything he gave up? He still missed Gellert with all his shriveled black heart but he did what he had to do, no matter how much he regretted sending his love to Nurmengard when he could not bare to kill him.

Even now Dumbledore did not want to kill anyone, with Gellert it was love that stayed his wand, but with the rest it was the fact that he was the leader of the Light and it would not do to be seen as a killer.

Pushing the thoughts of his past away Dumbledore glared at his familiar; Fawkes was still here though not by his choice or freewill. Lately the elderly wizard had to strengthen the blood wards every other day as the Phoenix was pressing a considerable amount of magical force to break free.

Apparently Fawkes was determined to leave while Dumbledore was determined for the blasted firebird to stay. And stay the damn bird would, he was Dumbledore's and the aged man would rather die than allow the bird to desert him. Smiling evilly he cooed to his once closest ally; "Well Fawkes it seems you are still here aren't you."

The bird glared right back, trilling a dark screech at his once master; Dumbledore could feel the animosity and hate in the notes sounding from Fawkes. Good then the bird was just as angry as he was. It may have seemed juvenile but the Headmaster wanted Fawkes to suffer with him, his life was being up-ended so why should the Phoenix be allowed to be happy and free?

A knock on his door drew him out of his own mind, looking up he called for Minerva to enter; "Ah Minerva what can I do for you this morning?" The aged witch glanced around the office, raising an eyebrow at the Prophet laying on the floor by the door and then tilting her head in study as she looked at Fawkes.

Dumbledore cleared his throat, calling her attention back quickly; he couldn't allow Minerva to notice something was amiss with Fawkes or feel the strong current of the blood wards holding the thrice damned bird here. "Good morning Albus. I wanted to come and see if everything was alright; it is Yule after all and breakfast is about to begin."

"Forgive me my dear Minerva I was merely caught in my thoughts. Such things happen when you get to my age. But now that you have woken me from my mental wanderings let us go to breakfast and enjoy the Christmas festivities." A curt nod was Minerva's response, rising the aged Headmaster left for breakfast and hopefully a respite from his raging thoughts.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter! More to some soon and the end is drawing near for us.

All Mistakes Are My Own!