Four chapters today, though one of them is cut a bit. ^_^. Enjoy!

Part 3/?

The next two weeks passed slowly but inevitably. Harry tried to spend equal amounts of his free time with his father and his friends. There were no sudden upsets in the school, such as Snape suddenly giving points to Gryffindors, or anyone for that matter, except his Slytherins and the occasional Ravenclaw. Blaise was still enamored of the DADA Professor, though he was not the only one by any stretch of the imagination. Professor O'Feahr seemed to know what he was talking about and was competent at instructing his students, as long as they were paying attention to his words and not his body. Harry was still a little wary of him, not sure if he had a part to play in Dumbledore's schemes or not. So far, although the older man seemed to spend a great deal of time watching him, he had made no moves, and Flick did not feel anything untoward from him.

Most people still hadn't realized there were a couple of Alsaspinian minidrags in the school. There had been no death threats or other worrisome behavior. In all, it was becoming almost boringly routine, and as the routine set in, so did the moodiness on the behalf of one nearly married famous Gryffindor.

Harry had become an almost compulsive reader of both the 'Daily Prophet' and the 'Wizarding World' papers. The WW was much fairer in its reporting of the problems and solutions inherent in Malfoy's take-over of the Ministry, however the DP tended to have more personal articles, and by this time Harry would take whatever news of his love he could get. There had been some speculation of the whereabouts of the girl the Minister had been seeing, but none of the articles came anywhere close to the truth.

There'd even been one article about a supposed new romance for the Lord Malfoy. However, since the person he'd been photographed with was number one a woman, and number two of a disposition that would make Pansy Parkinson seem the epitome of pleasant and well behaved, Harry wasn't too worried.

He was, however, becoming very unhappy. He missed his husband, and the separation seemed worse with every day that passed. He managed to spend at least a couple of minutes on the mirror with Lucius every day, but it wasn't enough. He had tried taking care of his own needs at night with silencing charms up, but had found it vastly unsatisfying. Mostly, however, he missed sleeping next to his lover and waking up curled in his arms. Harry tried to hide his growing unhappiness from his friends and family, but what might have worked the year before had no chance of working now. The others knew him too well, and had too good an idea of how he was feeling, not to worry about his occasional bouts of depression. Surprisingly, Severus seemed to be the least worried, as the second weekend came around.

The group was gathered together in an unused classroom on the dungeon level. Some were studying, a couple were talking. Harry was pretending to study, but he wasn't fooling anyone. Normally, when you study, your eyes moved across the page of the book, and you turned a page occasionally; he was doing neither.

Suddenly the door opened and Snape glared around indiscriminately. His eyes took in the changes the room had gone through since the group had taken it over, and stopped on his son. "I require your assistance," he ordered. He looked at the others. "You may come or not, as you wish," he said grudgingly. Without waiting for acknowledgment, he swept out of the room.

Everyone looked around at each other in confusion. Shrugging, they all got up to follow. Not even Hermione could say that studying was more interesting than whatever the Potions Professor had up his sleeve. Internally, most were hoping that whatever they were doing would help pull Harry out of his funk.

Snape stalked his way down the corridor, seemingly ignoring the students following him like ducklings would follow their mother. Leading them deeper into the dungeons, to a part even the Slytherins rarely entered, he finally stopped in front of what seemed to be a blank wall. When he did nothing except turn to look at them, everyone really began to wonder what was going on. Finally, he seemed to get tired of the uncomprehending looks being sent his way. He turned to Harry. "Well?" he asked. "Are you going to open it, or not?"

Harry was completely confused. "Open what?" he asked, looking at the wall. "What are you talking..." his voice trailed off, as his eyes seemed to catch a shadow between two of the stones. It almost looked... like... was that a snake? /Hello?/ he ventured.

Flick and Spitfire both slithered out of the robes they'd been hiding in. */Is something the matter?/*

/I thought I saw.../ Harry's jade green eyes were still caught on that shadow. The shadow that was now moving. It *was* a snake. A thin, black snake that slithered in between the stones. He suddenly realized that it was like the one on the fireplace leading to the Dark Lord's room in Malfoy Manor, and understood what his father wanted. /Open/ he commanded.

The shadow snake moved so fast it almost couldn't be seen, heading for the bottom of the wall, then slithering upwards in as close to a straight line as was possible between the stones. As it reached the top, the stones below it started separating, not pulling back or moving like Diagon Alley's wall, but as if the entire wall was pulling apart. Severus only waited until the door was opened enough for him to slip through before sliding between the stones and disappearing into a room that the students couldn't see into even when the opening was three feet wide. They stood there, looking at each other, before Harry finally shrugged and followed his father into the darkness.

One by one the others followed.

Once they had completely entered the room, they all stopped in utter stupefaction. Seeming in response to their need, light crept up, and they saw that they had entered a room which seemed endless, expanding outward in all directions except where they came in. And every wall they could see was covered in books, only broken up by a couple of doors. The doors themselves showed just how tall the walls of bookshelves were; if the doors were normal size, the bookshelves that had been built even over the top of the doors extended upwards for at least twice that height. Tables and shelves in the middle of the room held artifacts of all sorts; vials and jars, wands and bones, strange metal and glass and wooden contraptions of all sorts. They now could see the source of the lighting; it was from where there were seating arrangements, though the rest of the room remained slightly shadowy. It was possible to tell there were books on the shelves, but not the size or colors of the spines.

"What is this place?" Hermione asked, with awe heavy in her voice.

"This," Severus intoned, "is Salazar Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets."

"What?" Everyone screamed, Harry the loudest of all.

Severus smirked. "I believe my words were clear enough that even the Gryffindors in this group should have been able to understand them."

"But... but... what about the other one, you know, with the giant basilisk I had to kill?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, where my sister almost died!" Ron added.

"According to Salazar, this is the only Chamber of Secrets he has ever had. However, Lucius and I did some research in the libraries found at the Manor. From what we were able to establish, what we had considered the Chamber of Secrets was created by the same sort of person that created the Dark Lord's Common Room in the Manor. It was a shrine to Salazar, and his body was interred there. The basilisk was brought in to guard his mausoleum. Coincidentally, since everyone believed that was the Chamber of Secrets, this one remained concealed."

While those who had had personal dealings with the Chamber tried to fit this information into their worldview, Blaise was looking around with interest. "What are those doors?" he asked.

"They lead to Slytherin's personal rooms," Severus explained.

"Can we go in there?"

Snape's answer was to head towards the doorway while talking. "One of the interesting things about these rooms is that they both are, and are not, a part of Hogwarts. While inside, you will be shown to be within the walls, but it will be impossible for you to be found. They also are different enough to have their own set of emblem portkeys. I will leave it up to you to find out what those are, if you don't already know. In other words," he opened the door he'd been heading towards, and stepped out of the way, practically pushing Harry inside and then closing the door before anyone else could look in, and continued his statement, "someone can use one of the portkeys to come in and no one would know."

He moved the students away from the door, but not before they heard Harry's joyful yell. "Lucius!"

Part 4/?

Lucius paced the length of the sitting room. In a better frame of mind he would have appreciated his surroundings, rich without being ostentatious, comfortable, and in very good taste. A part of his mind was cognizant of the fact that he was in *Salazar Slytherin's* private chambers, but most of his attention was split between Harry's imminent arrival and the job that had almost taken over his life while his son and lover were away.

For the past two weeks he had been focusing almost all of his attention on the Ministry. Things were both better and worse than he had expected. Better, because the position of Minister of Magic gave him even more power than he had expected. Fudge *would* have been able to put all of the reporters in Azkaban. There were in fact very few things the Minister of Magic couldn't do legally. Why more Dark Lords hadn't tried for the job was something he didn't understand. Of course, the wizarding world was in a lot more trouble than he had thought, simply because the last Minister of Magic, and probably the one before that at least, were very good at arse-kissing, but very bad at actually running the place, and seemed to have an aversion to having underlings actually capable of doing their jobs.

Corruption breeds corruption. That is something he had always known, and why minions were so easy to come by. It was also why so many Ministry officials were bribable or susceptible to blackmail. They weren't getting any satisfaction from their jobs, so why not get some satisfaction from screwing their jobs up?

One of the main things he had done to date had come from a recommendation of Harry's. He had spent several days with a couple of muggleborn wizards in the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Department, learning that Harry had been right. There were things that muggles did better than wizards and that was something that could not and would not be borne. When it came to weapons, the wizards still had the edge, but that edge was far thinner than he had ever considered possible. When it came to ways to make life easier, the muggles were actually ahead in some instances.

His next stop had been the Department of New Spells and Enchanted Items. From the look of things, no new spells or items had been accepted in the past ten years, and technically, selling unapproved items was against the law. He had taken great delight in telling Weasley that his twin sons had been breaking the law with their new joke items. He didn't intend to do anything with the information, but appreciated having it, just in case.

Not everything had been work, some had been simply fun. After all, the new laws hadn't gone into effect yet, and no one would notice if certain people who bothered him too much simply disappeared. No one whom he had *dealt* with would be missed, and that included a certain family of muggles. All signs showed they had moved away, hoping to get away from their problems. He knew Harry hadn't wanted anything *serious* to happen with them, but he hadn't been able to leave it alone. As long as Harry didn't ask, he wouldn't have to decide whether to lie to him. Besides, it's not as if they were dead... just wishing they were.

There had been many complaints about his ruthless use of Veritaserum. However, considering most of the ones who complained were the ones that failed the test, no one was really taking that seriously. Surprisingly, or perhaps not, the only section of the Ministry that was still adequately staffed was the Auror division. Perhaps it was because they, more than any other section, had seen the true danger of Voldemort. He had moved some of the higher level Aurors to other divisions, just to give them enough people to deal with emergencies.

Now, however, was not the time to be thinking of all that. Thanks to the portrait of Salazar, Severus, with Spitfire's help, had found this set of rooms and the Chamber just outside of it. To have a place where he could portkey into without Dumbledore knowing, a place where he could meet Harry without having to wait until holidays or Hogsmeade weekends, was worth taking the time off. He knew how much Harry had missed him, and truthfully he had missed the younger man himself. And not just the fantastic sex, although he had missed that greatly.

He missed talking to his mate and having Harry's warm weight curled up in his lap as he sat in the study. He missed just sitting in silence, working on paperwork while Harry read or wrote quietly next to him. He missed the family eating together. Surprisingly, he'd never before realized how large and lonely the Manor was. He found reasons to eat out or stay at work all night, just so he wouldn't have to go to sleep without Harry's warm body next to him.

Lucius suddenly turned towards the door. He heard voices. It was another very long moment before the door opened and Harry came stumbling in, looking around with a confused expression on his face. Lucius knew the moment his green-eyed lover saw him.

"Lucius!" Harry called out joyfully. He ran forward and flung himself into the blonde's arms. Lucius wasn't even given time to respond before Harry's lips were on his.

Lucius' hands roamed over Harry's thin but muscular back and down to the globes of his arse. Harry's hands were fisted in the front of Lucius' robe as their mouths devoured each other, as if their separation had been years instead of weeks. They only broke apart when the need for air grew acute.

"How are you doing?" Lucius asked, without moving his hands from their comfortable positions.

Harry looked at him. "Lucius, I love you and I've missed you, but I'm sixteen years old and I haven't had sex for two weeks. Talking can wait, shagging can't!"

Lucius was surprised into a laugh. "How can I argue with that?" he asked humorously.

"You can't!" Harry replied adamantly. He immediately attached himself again, mouth voracious as his hands worked feverishly on the buttons of Lucius' robe.

It took some doing, but Lucius managed to get them moving towards the bedroom he'd found while exploring earlier. His robe was unbuttoned and being worked off before they reached the side of the bed.

With a sudden heave, Lucius picked Harry up and tossed him lightly onto the bed, shrugging off his hindering robe and pulling off both of their shoes before following his lover down onto the satin sheets. He pushed Harry's hands above his head. "Leave them there." He purred the order, knowing what that tone of voice ordering him around did to his lover. Noticing Harry's shirt was tucked in, he pulled back to start working on unbuckling his belt. After sliding it free, he held it for a moment, looking consideringly between the leather and Harry's wrists. Reluctantly, he decided against it, not sure Harry was ready for that yet, and tossed the belt off the side of the bed.

He rose up to kiss Harry as he started working open the buttons. His mouth moved down, sucking and licking his chin and neck. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Harry's hands clenching and unclenching, but not moving from where he'd placed them. Harry was already making soft whimpering sounds as Lucius sucked hard on his neck.

Once he'd undone all the buttons and had created a sufficiently dark mark on Harry's neck, Lucius started moving down, his hands petting over ribs and stomach as he moved his mouth towards a nipple. He reached it and sucked hard, only to find hands pushing on his head and sounds of discomfort coming from his lover. "Please stop," Harry whispered.

"What's the matter?" Lucius asked worriedly. "I wasn't too rough, was I?" He didn't think he was being too rough. He'd bitten him there before without a complaint.

"No," Harry answered, shaking his head almost wildly. "They're just kind of tender."

Lucius raised an eyebrow and smirked. "And what have you been doing to make them tender?" he asked with interest.

"Nothing," Harry protested.

"Right," Lucius agreed indulgently. "Is there anything else that's too tender to touch?" He looked downward, inquiringly. He realized something else as he looked down. "You're still bare," he said, pleased. "Everywhere?"

Harry nodded and pulled his shirt all the way off before putting his hands back over his head. "Yes, yes!"

"Maybe I should check, just in case," Lucius said thoughtfully.

Harry mewled his agreement, arching his hips in invitation.

Afterwords, they lay there together for a while, just basking in the comfort of not being alone.

They talked quietly about nothing in particular, both not wanting the first time they'd been together in so long to get too serious. They knew they'd have to talk about the things that had come up, but not yet, not now. For this moment they just wanted to bask in being together, and, of course, see how quickly they could recover any lost stamina.

Part 5/?

Severus closed the door and threw up a silence barrier. It was entirely possible that the rooms behind the Chamber were soundproofed, but he didn't wish to find out the hard way. He'd learned long before to take all the precautions reasonably possible, although they were usually for more life and death situations than this.

He looked at the door for a moment, remembering the happiness in that one shout he had heard. Regardless of how it seemed to others, he had been very worried about his son. The difference was, he knew Lucius would be showing up sooner rather than later. The reasons he had not told anyone were because he had wanted it to be a surprise and there had not been a guarantee of when Lucius would be able to show up so he had not wanted to get Harry's hopes up.

Harry had tried to look as if everything was normal, but he hadn't been able to fool Severus. Not that he'd always been down; Severus hid a smile as he remembered Harry's expression during one of their extra lessons. The potion had been very difficult, but Harry had managed to get it right without any help. This was still a big deal. Even though Harry was much better than he had been in Potions class, it would never be his best subject. He would never have the pure love of it that Severus and Draco did. He was at least competent at it, and occasionally even better. That time, he'd done exceedingly well. Severus had even given House points. To Slytherin. After all, it was obviously Harry's Slytherin side that made him good at potions, therefore it made more sense to give Slytherin the points for a correct potion.

Harry's expression of shock had been priceless. Draco had fallen over laughing. Harry had argued of course, but once he got over the shock, Severus could see the amusement in his eyes as they argued over the fairness of awarding points to the rival house. He was still waiting for Harry to get back at him for that one. He knew his son wouldn't let it go without retaliation.

Turning back to the students, he found they had already wandered away. Obviously, the lure of all the new books and items was too much for them, even Weasley, who was far and away the least studious of the group. In fact... he hurried over to where the red-headed Gryffindor and Blaise were looking at some of the items on display. He quickly glanced over them to make sure they did not include anything that even the youngest Weasley boy could make dangerous. Reassured on that score, he checked on the other two.

Unsurprisingly, Granger was already reading a book she had pulled off the shelf. He wasn't concerned about that; none of the books low enough to be reached while standing on the ground were dangerous. Not to mention that the bushy haired girl had enough sense not to play around with something she wasn't sure about. Unfortunately, she was too much a Gryffindor not to eventually try things out, but she was usually good about researching adequately first.

Draco was wandering around reading the titles of the books he could reach. He ran across a small platform with rails on three sides. The other side lay right at the edge of the bookcase. "Severus?" he called out. "What is this?"

The Potions Professor walked over and stepped through the small gap in the railing and onto the slightly upraised platform "Step up," he told him. He was thankful that he had spent as much time as possible in this room since he'd managed to find it. Even with Salazar's help, it hadn't been exactly easy. The only difference between that section of wall and any other was the almost indistinguishable snake like a moving shadow in between the stones. If it hadn't been for Spitfire's keen eyes, he never would have managed to find it, much less have gotten it open without the minidrag's hissing. Now, however, he could look all-knowing in front of the Gryffindors. Always a good thing.

He told Draco to bring out his wand and place the tip into a small hole in the railing. Making sure at least an inch of its length was securely in the hole, he stepped back down. "Push forward on your wand. Carefully!" The last part was said too late as the platform flew upward at a rapid rate, stopping when the ceiling was a foot above Draco's head. Well, where his head would have been if he hadn't dropped into a crouch as he saw the ceiling getting closer.

Severus used a spell to extend his voice towards the blond boy. "CAREFULLY pull your wand backwards." When the platform had reached the floor again, Severus was scowling. "If you want it to go slow, you must push it just a *little*. Forward makes it go up, backward goes down and left and right will send you in that direction." He waited to make sure that Draco had some control before heading over to one of the tables. Placing his hand on it, he spoke softly. "Aura magic."

"Whoa!" Draco screamed from ten feet in the air as a book exploded out of the bookcase right in front of him. Even Hermione looked up as books flew from all over the room to land on the table in front of the Potions Master.

"How did you do that?" Hermione asked, awed.

Severus nodded at one of the two other long tables in the room. "Place your hand upon it and call out the topic you wish to research. As long as there are less than twenty-five books on the subject, they will all pile up there. If there are more than twenty-five, the twenty-five with the most information will appear."

Hermione walked over to the table to try it out. "Tuatha de Danaan," she said strongly.

"Oh, give it up, 'Mione! Haven't you learned everything you can about him by now?" Ron groaned.

"Are you jealous?" Blaise smirked. "After all, he's a red-head too. And he's more mature and handsome than you."

Severus unobtrusively rolled his eyes. Connor O'Feahr had been a major topic of all the classes since he'd shown up. He remembered his first meeting with the Defense Professor.

/Flashback/

Severus settled into his seat, unobtrusively looking around. He didn't like Harry being away from the protection of both himself and Lucius. Even if it was just for the amount of time he'd been on the Hogwarts Express. After all, at least one of those delivering death threats was a student. There was no guarantee he was safe there. Even if Flick and his friends were with him, Draco among them.

His attention was instantly caught when an adult that he didn't know walked into the room. The auburn haired, tanned young man moved gracefully through the room to speak to Dumbledore before moving towards the empty chair next to him. As he settled into the chair, he smiled and held out his hand for a shake. Severus just stared at him, one eyebrow raised.

The new man didn't seem dismayed by his chilly reception. "I be Connor O'Feahr, Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts. Ye can call me Connor."

"Professor Snape, Potions. You may call me Professor Snape," Severus remarked cooly.

"Snape, are ye?" Connor said thoughtfully. "Met a boy name a' Harry Snape on the train. Any relation?"

"My son," Severus replied harshly, hardly able to keep the pride out of his voice.

"He seemed ta' be a nice boy," Connor ventured.

"Indeed," was all Severus answered. The students were entering the room and Severus quickly checked on his favorites. Everyone seemed to be okay and in good spirits.

"'Tis a hard time he's had," Connor said thoughtfully, looking at the green-eyed boy.

"I don't see why that's any of your business," Severus stated, his entire attention suddenly taken by the man beside him.

"Can I na' worry about a young man soon ta be in my charge?" O'Feahr said sincerely.

"If you have any worries about him, they are to be brought to *my* attention," Severus ordered, his black eyes burning into the dark blue, almost violet eyes of the new professor. "*You* are not to approach him in *any* form beyond what is strictly necessary for the performance of your duties. You will not hold him back to speak to him alone after class, and if you truly feel it necessary to give him a detention, it will be with Filch. If he decides to approach you, that is his prerogative, but if I hear of you even *speaking* to him unnecessarily, I will deal with you myself. Do you understand?"

Severus had managed to load those commands with a good portion of the malice of he was capable, and knew he sounded deadly dangerous. Just as well, because that's exactly what he was. Connor however, only blinked and looked slightly startled.

"Being a little harsh there, are ye na'?" was his soft response.

"Of the past five holders of your position, two actively tried to kill him, two almost got him killed through sheer stupidity and utter incompetence, and one was dangerous in and of himself. Until you prove to me, as unlikely a possibility as that might be, that you are not a danger to him, you *will* stay away from him. I am more than capable of making your life a living Hell, and certainly more than *willing* to do so. Have I made myself clear?

"Aye, that ye have," Connor agreed, resignedly. Severus noticed the way the DADA professor's eyes flickered, just momentarily, over to Dumbledore after he had promised and tucked that observation away for later.

/End Flashback/

Since then O'Feahr had done exactly as he'd agreed. As far as Severus had been able to tell, and he'd asked Harry a time or two, Connor had done nothing more than occasionally watch the younger boy intently. That behavior, however, had not endeared his DADA counterpart to the Potions Professor, who still kept his eye on him, just in case. The auburn-haired young man had tried to start up conversations with Severus several times, but the Potions Master was being decidedly uncommunicative towards him. He had noticed that the descendent of the Sidhe had been receiving a fair number of letters and propositions from the older students, both female and occasionally male, but seemed to be turning them all down politely while seeming to be slightly uncomfortable with the attention. He supposed he should be getting less enjoyment out of that situation, but then, he was a Slytherin, after all.

After several peaceful hours, he sent everyone except Draco up to dinner. When he rang a small bell he pulled out of his sleeve, the new house elf for these rooms popped in. "Cattie, will you please go inform Harry that he is expected to have dinner with his family in half an hour?" he asked politely.

The house elf nodded silently and popped back out.

"Wasn't that one of ours?" Draco asked, confused.

"Actually, Lucius gave her to Harry for his birthday," Severus reminded him. "Since she wouldn't have much to do in the Manor with Harry gone, it was decided that she could take care of these rooms. That way, they'll stay clean and ready to be used without the school elves knowing of this space. Plus, we'll be able to eat together, since Lucius would not be able to go through the halls to my rooms."

Thirty-five minutes later, the door Harry had vanished through opened once more. "I suppose you can come in," Harry sighed in a put-upon voice, however he was smiling too much for anyone to take it seriously.

"Did you enjoy yourself?" Draco smirked.

"Immensely," Harry smirked right back. "Your father did this thing…"

Draco's hand covered Harry's mouth before he could say anything more. "I think that's all I need to know," he muttered in a sick voice.

"And more than I wanted to," Severus agreed. He sighed. At least Harry was truly smiling once again, all traces of unhappiness wiped from his face. It was worth a great deal, to see that expression on his son's face.

Part 6/?

Dinner started out normally for this mismatched family. Conversation was light and drifted from classes and the new professor to work at the Ministry.

All three of the others noticed that Harry's appetite seemed to be in fine form as he reached for thirds. "Hungry, are you?" Lucius purred wickedly.

Harry blushed with embarrassment and quickly put back the meat pie he'd just grabbed. "I'm sorry," he murmured. "I didn't mean to be a pig."

Severus glared at Lucius, before picking the meat pie back up and placing it on his son's plate. "He didn't mean it that way," Severus told him severely. "We're all happy that you've got such an appetite."

Harry smiled slightly, though it didn't reach his eyes. "It's okay," he said, putting the meat pie back on the platter. "I hadn't realized how full I was."

Draco rolled his eyes. "Yes, of course you're full, after all you ate so much at breakfast and lunch, didn't you?" he asked snidely.

Harry glared at Draco. He knew what kind of response that would get from the two overprotective ones. And he was right; both Severus and Lucius jumped on that statement immediately.

"Was there something wrong? Are you feeling all right?" Severus asked worriedly, reaching for his wand.

"What does he mean?" Lucius almost barked. "Did you eat today?"

Harry sighed in aggravation. "I'm fine! I wasn't feeling very well this morning, so I didn't eat breakfast, then I went back to bed after quidditch practice and slept through lunch. But I'm feeling fine now. I was just a little hungry, but now I've eaten, and everything's okay."

"Why didn't you have that pet house elf of yours get you a snack?" Severus asked, still holding his wand as if he was going to use it.

"I only missed two meals!" Harry groaned. "I've gone a lot longer than that without food; it's no big deal! I knew I'd be eating dinner tonight, there was no need to send Dobby for a snack."

"Did you go see Madam Pomfrey?" Severus asked.

"For an upset stomach that went away after I got some sleep? I don't think so! Do you know what she'd do if I showed up in the Hospital this early in the year? Especially for something that didn't even need medicine to clear up? *I* *am* *fine*! My stomach does not hurt, I don't feel sick, and I just ate plenty. There's nothing going on here, so just leave it alone!"

They did, mostly because Harry was getting so worked up about it, but Severus made a mental note to keep an eye on Harry's eating for the next couple of days. Lucius glared at Draco until he got the idea he was to do the same thing. Of course, he was already doing that, which was one reason he knew that Harry hadn't shown up for meals that day.

Severus had one last thing to say. "Since you didn't eat today, maybe you should have a little more."

Harry shook his head. "That's okay, I've had enough. I don't want to get fat, after all," he said, semi-humorously, but with the image of Dudley in his head.

The other three looked him up and down as if he was crazy. "That's not going to happen," they said, almost in unison.

Harry just laughed at their synchronicity. They were so alike sometimes.

"At least drink your pumpkin juice," Severus mostly gave up. "It's good for you."

Harry rolled his eyes and wrinkled his nose, but picked up his goblet. He'd never quite gotten into pumpkin juice. There was nothing really wrong with it, it was just an acquired taste, and he'd never really acquired it. He drank it mostly because there usually wasn't much else to drink at Hogwarts. He took a gulp of the juice, before stopping. "Oh," he said, a bit happier. "It's your kind of pumpkin juice." The juice he'd had at Malfoy Manor was much better than the usual at Hogwarts.

"What do you mean by that?" Lucius asked.

"Hmm?" Harry hummed. "Oh, it's just that yours tastes better."

Severus frowned and took a drink. "It tastes just like it always has," he said.

Draco shook his head. "Maybe the stuff they give the teachers is fresher, or something, but Harry is right, school pumpkin juice isn't the greatest."

"It leaves an aftertaste," Harry explained.

Severus' frown intensified, his dark brows lowering over his gleaming eyes. "It's supposed to be the same." He turned to his apprentice. "Get me a sample of your pumpkin juice in the morning," he ordered. "I would prefer to check it to be sure."

"You think there might be a potion in it?" Lucius asked, all good humor gone from his expression.

"It might not be anything bad," Harry suggested, though he didn't look as if he truly believed it. "Maybe it's just a cold preventive or something. I've heard that in America they sometimes put something in the tap water to help keep your teeth strong. Maybe it's something like that."

"Perhaps you're right," Severus said, but it was obvious he didn't believe it.

Those comments brought everyone's minds to the topic they had been avoiding. Dumbledore.

"Is everyone finished eating?" Lucius asked. When assured that they were, he moved to a nearby sitting area. The others quickly followed. Harry immediately curled up by his side.

Now that the topic had been raised, Harry had some questions. "It doesn't make any sense," Harry complained. "If what we've been speculating is right, and Dumbledore used this 'aura magic' to place compulsions in us while we were drained and unconscious, how come he didn't just tell us not to doubt him or question him? Why just the command not to wonder about the newspaper articles? He's not the kind of person to deal with just short-term goals."

"What I want to know, is, if it's any use against wizards, or only against mages, and did Voldemort have this ability as well?" Draco asked. "We've been looking in the Library, but there's really almost nothing there."

"Luckily, there's quite a bit more in the Chamber," Severus told them. "All four of the Founders were mages, so they had researched quite a bit. Since their time however, there have rarely been more than one or two known mages in Britain per generation, and they never worked together, in fact they preferred not to be near each other. Rumors abounded that they were dangerous to each other and could perhaps even control each other, so they stayed as far apart as possible. The basis for those rumors seems to be what Lucius called 'aura magic'. It was a very good term; did you hear it before?" Severus asked.

Lucius thought for a moment, then shook his head. "Not as far as I can recall. It just seemed to fit what Harry reported."

"Indeed, it did," Severus agreed. "Surprisingly, it's the term the Founders used as well, which is why I asked. Aura magic can be used by anyone capable of doing wandless magic, although mages use it best simply because it requires a very large amount of power to blanket even a small area. It is also best used *against* mages, who pull magic from outside into themselves and thus would pull the commands straight in. It can be used against normal wizards, but will not be as efficient; it simply smothers them in the feeling or command that the one casting is trying to convey. Like Imperious, the closer the command is to what the person truly wishes to do, the harder it is to fight. When you are being told what you wish to hear and are covered in an aura saying, 'This is the truth, trust me', it would be very hard to resist. A message you already want to believe is being confirmed, then combined with another message to believe the caster. That is the best way to gain someone's trust, always lead with the 'truth' as they want to hear it, then add your own message. And yes, I do believe that is what Voldemort did to coerce many of his people to follow him. Once they received his Mark, it was too late to do anything about it. As for why Dumbledore did not do more when it was easiest, or if he did do more, but we haven't yet figured it out, that I do not know." Severus finished.

Draco looked thoughtful. "Could he have been testing it? Maybe he just found out about it, or was testing to see if it would work on other mages?"

"It would fit," Lucius said, considering the idea. "However, I find it hard to believe the Headmaster would not have access to more books than there are in the school Library, perhaps even Gryffindor's or Ravenclaw's personal libraries. As for the second idea, although it is *possible* that Dumbledore didn't know about you, myself and Severus being mages, everyone that knew what truly happened at Godric's Hollow should have been able to figure out that *Harry* was. I find it hard to believe he wasn't using it on Harry before."

There was silence for a moment before Harry spoke quietly. "Who says he wasn't? I've done several very stupid things that I never quite understood *why* I did, and there were several times he spoke to me just before they happened. True, it *could* have been just because I was insufferably Gryffindor, but what if it wasn't?"

"Which just leads to even more unanswered questions," Draco groaned.

"We're talking about Headmaster Dumbledore," Harry said in what would have been a humorous voice if his face hadn't looked so bleak. "When have we ever had answers?"

Silence was the only reply he received.