Christmas was coming up, and with it, the castle emptied. Harry, who had been planning to squat at the Weasleys for the festivities, shortened the visit to a Christmas Eve dinner. He wanted to spend the holidays with Severus and Draco, though no one knew about the former.
Harry allowed Draco to become more emboldened now that most the students were gone. Though Harry did demand a certain level of discretion. Colin Creevey was the only other Gryffindor remaining for the holidays, fiddling with his camera (which Ron had helped him brilliantly sabotage) in the common room. Quite a few Slytherins stayed. Draco told him he would have stayed anyway, and Harry did not ask him why, though he did drag him to the pitch for a game of Snitch.
Severus usually took holiday in his dreary house, but it was not unheard of for him to spend the time brewing in his labs, which was much more accommodating than the one in the basement of his house.
Harry spent a long time thinking about what to get them. His presents for the Weasleys and Hermione were already bought. He had even gotten something for Luna, which he was fairly sure she'd like. He was reading a news article, one of the least embellished drivel that the Prophet spouted, when the idea for Severus' gift literally offered itself to him in a small ad. Draco's had been more tricky but a hell of a lot more satisfying endeavor to produce.
When the morning for presents arrived, Harry was almost hysterically nervous. Severus didn't allow the traditional tree in his quarters, but he had the house elves fix a nice breakfast complete with gingerbread cookies and hot chocolate with whipped cream. Harry was so delighted that he pecked Severus' cheek.
"You're chipper this morning," Draco said, smirking.
"I shall guess that Christmas is your favorite holiday," Severus added in a resigned sort of way.
"As a matter of fact, it is," Harry said with that too broad grin on his face.
"I'm rather surprised we haven't been undulated with owls," Severus said, taking a seat in his armchair and sipping his tea.
"I exchanged gifts with the Weasleys last night." He gestured to his maroon jumper, a golden H knitted lovingly in the center. He licked the syrup off his fingers, which made both their groins tightened, and leaned over the arm of the couch to unearth a green package. "Molly told me to give this to you," he said, handing it to Draco.
Draco blinked at him in shock before setting down his utensils and taking it from him. It was rather obvious what it was, but Draco and Severus both were still surprised to see a green jumper, hand-knit in thick wool, with a silver D on the front.
"You don't have to wear it if you don't want to. I don't know how the woman knew, but I think Ginny told her you were being nice to us or something. Draco, what's wrong?" he said when Draco looked like he was going to start crying.
"Nothing," he said too quickly and a stubborn look passed over his face, squaring his features. He tore the rest of the wrapping away. He pulled the sweater over his pajama top, pleased that the neck hole was just the right size though it completely ruffled his hair.
"Bugger, I didn't send her anything."
Harry laughed. "I don't think she expected you to."
"Unacceptable," he heard Draco mumble as he took a sip of cocoa. He said nothing else, but Harry could see his eyes flittering with ideas. Harry shook his head.
They took a moment to finish eating before exchanging gifts, which was done with some embarrassment. Draco handed out his presents first. The Malfoys were no longer rich, nor did they had the contacts they did before the war. Harry had no idea how he paid for the gifts as he unwrapped an expensive dove-grey cloak, trimmed with rabbit fur. It was posh but beautiful, a silver clasp with a griffin's head at the neck.
"It has protection charms woven into it," Draco informed him. "Since you always seem to get into trouble."
Harry gaped at it. No one had ever given him something like this before. Even if the Weasleys were loaded, he doubted they would have considered it. Harry wasn't exactly the type of person who would suit something so splendid. He was slightly worried that Draco had stolen it, or worse, sold some heirloom to pay for it.
"You always walk around in those hideous clothes that practically engulf you," Draco said with a sniff. "It's high time you start dressing appropriately."
"You mean like a pureblood," he smirked, folding the fabric gingerly. "Thank you, Draco."
The blond blushed and took another sip of his cocoa. He grimaced and cast a warming charm. Severus lifted his brow and unwrapped his own gift. Severus was ridiculously harder to shop for. Prior to this chaotic threesome, Draco had always purchased him some tome that had been too much for the man's budget, but he wanted this year, their first Christmas, to be more intimate.
"If you don't like her, you can exchange her for something else," Draco started. "I just noticed that you always used the school owls, and you cannot use her for ingredients. I already checked so don't even think about it."
The creature was a crossbreed between a strix and some type of predator bird that Severus suspected was a hawk until the bird jumped on his arm.
It was a stymphalian. The huge black eyes belonged to a strix, the ill-omen bird that crossed from the underworld to perch outside the houses of the diseased. Strix were small, their eyes taking up most of their body with a small beak designed for pecking out tongues. Stymphalians were large. Birds of war, their feathers were metal, talons perfect for ripping warriors off their steeds.
The strange mixture had created a beast a little above average height. The puffy feathers of the strix were elongated, turning into a strange metal like tin or very thin magnesium, bent at the edges where it had flapped against the parcel. Its head swiveled oddly, characteristic of an owl, sharp, iron talons kneading his forearm as it balanced itself. It jumped on Severus' shoulder, tucking its head beneath its speckled wing to sort out its feathers.
It was an odd looking thing, face too squashed for a hawk and body too long for an owl. It was handsome in a rustic sort of way, sinister with death but proud with war. It was obviously illegally bred.
"She's intelligent," Draco said. "If you want to keep her, you'll have to let her smell your blood, and the owner told me that there is a chance she won't take to it," he said. "She'll hunt on her own, but if you need her for something she'll… somehow know or something, so you don't even need to call for her. She just sort of… reminded me of you and I thought you'd like her, but there are a lot of other animals and it's no problem if you want to-"
"Hush," Severus ordered.
The boy snapped his mouth shut. Severus flicked his wand and levitated a letter opener from his desk. He pressed the tip into his finger and presented it to the bird. She swiveled her head, those wide eyes so disarming. She cocked her head and lowered her wing, sliding her feet along his shoulder. She nibbled lightly on his finger as if to taste it, then flapped her wings, the metal making a light clicking sound like coins. Her talon caught Severus' chin, turning him so that she was staring into his beetle-black eyes.
The three held their breath. The head suddenly swiveled all the way around, making them wince. The foot released him, and her body turned, following her neck. She looked away again and continued righting her feathers. Draco and Harry expelled their breaths.
"She could be immortal," Draco continued saying. "But she's the only crossbreed that I've heard of so nobody really knows."
"What will you call her?" Harry asked.
"Alcyone," Severus said immediately.
Draco blinked, then smirked. "Another tragedy, Severus? What is it with you and Greek suicides?"
Severus scowled at him. "I was unaware that my tastes were so abhorrent to you."
Harry smiled at the bird. "I like her."
Severus rolled his eyes. "I'm glad that my bird pleases you."
Harry shrugged. Her eyes swiveled to him, pausing in grooming. Harry suspected she could taste the death on him or something equally peculiar. He raised his hands in a "not much I can do about it" motion, and Alcyone returned to ignoring him.
"Alright," Draco announced. "My turn for presents."
Severus gave a good-natured sigh and summoned the packages from beneath his bed. Alcyone gave a perturbed flap and lighted herself on the back of his chair. Severus had none of the money that Draco and Harry had, so his gifts weren't as exclusive. Draco was the first to undo his wrapping and gave an excited shout at the various assortments of chocolates Severus had arranged for him. There was a steeple of white chocolate with raspberry swirls, which Severus knew was his favorite. Small baubles of chocolate covered cherries and ones with orange filling surrounded the structure in the center, coconut shavings littering the bottom.
There was a small gasp from Harry. Harry had been the one he was dubious about. He'd had years to become accustomed to what Draco wanted, but Harry was a new species, and he had gone with a whim. Harry pulled the bundle from the box, scattering the newspaper around it. There were six books strung together. AFarewelltoArmsby Earnest Hemingway, TheGreatGatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, a few short stories by Graham Greene, Fahrenheit451 by Ray Bradbury, 1984 by George Orwell, and LordoftheFlies by William Golding.
Harry put his hand over his mouth. Severus wasn't expecting this reaction. All of the books were new, but none of them had even broached expensive, available at almost any muggle bookstore worth its salts. They weren't even titles that he had to look for. Harry closed his eyes.
"Harry?" Draco called softly.
In a quick motion, Harry stood, going around the coffee table to approach Severus' chair. The man held himself rigid. Harry, ignoring the rapture-ish bird on the back on his seat, wrapped his arms around him, bending awkwardly over his lap.
"Thank you, Severus," he whispered in his ear. His voice cracked a smidgen but remained sincere, hot with a gratefulness that Severus was unused to.
"They are simply books."
Harry rose up and shook his head, but he didn't say anything else. He held out his hand. A piece of paper and a box that looked like it might hold a ring flew into the room. He sat back down, a wild and soft smile on his face, his eyes gleaming like glass shards. He handed the box first to Draco.
The boy gave him a dubious look. "You aren't proposing are you?"
Harry outright laughed, though it was not malicious in the least. "Open it, you git."
Draco did as he was told. Severus could not see what it was, but the expression on Draco's face froze.
"Where… how did you get this?"
"Nicked it," Harry said cheerily.
Draco looked up at him, his eyes oddly vulnerable. He handed the box to Severus. It was his ring. The ring. The ring that the Ministry had confiscated under the pretense of investigation. The ring that had run through the Malfoy heirs for centuries, a signet ring with the coat of arms. Losing the ring was just as painful as losing the manor, how the line authenticated documents and passed inheritance down the family. This was how Draco proved he was pureblood, the thing that would allow him to marry other purebloods or give his children the same right.
How had Harry gotten this?
Before either of them could question him, Harry handed Severus the sheet. He took it, recognizing a certificate but unable to comprehend much else besides the fact that it granted him rights to something slain in battle.
"What is this?"
"This," Harry said, "is the rights to the basilisk currently rotting in the Chamber of Secrets. It's been five years but the fangs and some of the scales are still harvestable."
Severus gaped at him. "This is a fortune."
"I know but it's useless where it is right now."
Severus shook his head. "I cannot accept this," he said, trying to hand the parchment back. It was just too much. The boy could pay other experts to harvest it. He would still reap a fortune. This was just too much.
Harry stood up again. This time when he came around the coffee table it was with a sly grace that would have suited a panther. Severus could only stare at him mutely, as Harry set the certificate aside and knelt in his lap.
"You can and you will because I want you to. Because you are the most intelligent person I could possibly find to do this. Because you are already thinking of a dozen different potions that you could make with this, and it's the only thing in the world that I could give you that no one else can and it can make you happy."
He traced the shell of Severus' ear with his lips and drew back to look him in the eye.
"And I like thinking that even when you are brewing, you will be thinking of me. Just like Draco will be thinking of me every time he pushes that ring around his finger."
Severus felt the tightness in his chest expand into his fingertips. It pooled between his legs. Jade eyes watched him, delighting in the smolder that rose like steam in his jet-black eyes. That Harry Potter could turn him so, that he would even want to, was a thought heady with a promise like liquor. He heard Draco utter an oath.
That the boy could be so possessive… Severus wasn't sure why he was so powerful, why this secret side of him was so enthralling, but it made his body hot and his mind fog with the urge to bend him backwards and demand all the juicy promise from his lips.
They collapsed in a tumble of bruising force on the bed. They could hear Harry's laughter, like a dulcet bell, all throat and no forethought. Draco was fumbling with clothes, and Harry was teasing them both with chaste kisses that made Severus want to turn him over and fuck him mercilessly.
Severus caught Draco's eye from the light spilling out from the study. He nodded and the harsh tumbling of limbs and raw smack of kisses eased. Severus flicked out his hand, the motion sharp and quick, and the red candles on his dresser rose cautiously in a dim glow. Harry was lying across the bed, Mrs. Weasley's jumper pushed above his nipples, his glasses threatening to fall off his nose and his hands raised at each side of his head. A flush stained his cheeks, and the motions of his chest were pronounced, his ribs moving in tandem with his breathing. Harry looked up at them both, debauched and tussled, as if to ask why they had stopped.
Saliva pooled in Severus' mouth. He took Harry's glasses.
"I feel as if our presents did not quite measure up to yours."
"But, they-"
"Quiet," Severus said easily, the corner of his lip curling up. Harry's breathing quickened. "So we're going to express our gratitude and you are going to do exactly what we tell you, aren't you?"
Harry smiled deviously in return and did not answer. Draco smirked beside him. He curled his body into Severus' side and stared down at him with his eyes so darkly hooded that the dove looked charcoal.
"Never say a Slytherin doesn't give you what you deserve."
o.O.o
Severus hiked his grip up higher, forcing a tortured groan from the boy.
"God, please. S-st-t-top."
Severus smiled. His arms were hooked underneath his legs, wrenching his knees apart. Harry was sitting on his thighs, clothed only in his shirt. His fingers whispered over the barrier surrounding his cock. He leaned his head back on Severus' shoulder, exposing his throat. Draco's hands rested on Severus' knees, bracing himself beneath them both.
"Wider," he demanded breathlessly.
Severus obliged, forcing Harry's legs even further apart. The boy screamed, his back rutting against Severus' erection. Draco thrust his tongue. Harry made small motions of bobbing, impeded my Severus' hold.
"I… I can't…" he muttered incoherently.
"Where's that Gryffindor resilience?" Severus hummed.
Harry let out a peal, ignoring him. Severus nosed his neck, pressing his lips to his ear.
"Toss me off."
"Wh- I… I can't…"
Severus pulled his knees up higher so that he slid a little down his lap, exposing his spread cheeks for Draco's tongue.
"You sure?" Severus smirked onto his salty neck.
Harry struggled to move his hands, cuffed behind him, wincing and flinching. His hands found the length of Severus' cock and grip him, but he didn't seem to know what else to do. Tears were leaking out of the corner of his eyes, hisses escaping his clenched teeth.
"Good. Now up and down," Severus instructed.
"Fucking bastard," he spat out, trying and failing to lean up. He was clumsy, too distracted for finesse, but Severus didn't mind. "For fuck's sake!" he screamed.
Severus decided he had had enough and moved to stand. Draco immediately pulled back, lying across the floor, pale and naked. Severus lifted Harry by his armpits and while Draco guided his cock, sat the boy firmly on his lap. Harry's eyes flew open and a long, deep moan erupted from his throat.
"I never knew you were such a slut, Mr. Potter," Severus hummed behind him.
"Shut up," Harry snapped. He shuddered around Draco's prick, wrists straining against the conjured rope. He stayed still, clenching and unclenching as he adjusted to the feel. Draco, who had been in Harry's position too many times to count, knew better than to rest his hands on his hips and instead grasped them behind his head, bucking in small controlled thrusts. Harry, thighs quivering, lifted himself up and went down. Draco hissed, his back arching.
"Not good enough, Mr. Potter," Severus said.
He grabbed Harry's sides, lifted him all the way off the boy and then speared him. Harry cried out, released an arch of precum. Severus tapped Draco's hip, and the blond rolled them over. He adjusted his shoulders, and his legs went automatically to encircle Draco's waist, his ankles crossed over his back. Grinning and sweating, he slid in and out.
He developed a rhythm until Severus delved a finger, slick with lube, into Draco's arse. Draco yelped in surprise, automatically clenching around the digit. Harry released his legs, splaying his thighs wider. He had already come and was watching them both with glazed eyes.
Draco, whose body was still more accustomed to penetration than Harry's, did not take long to stretch. He could hardly feel the pain of the fingers anymore. With a squelching sound, Severus slid into him. He choked on his gasp, collapsing to his elbows atop Harry's chest. His prick slid out to the tip of him. Harry was awash in the sensation of Severus fucking Draco, pressing him into the floor and moving him slightly with the momentum. Draco's cock ran hotly into his own, sliding over his balls. Harry's eyes rolled backwards. When they focused between a thrust, he saw Severus above the two of them, his face in a rare moment of abandon, muscles tensing.
If Harry had had the strength for another erection, he would have come again. Instead, he felt Draco climax, screaming into his shoulder, belly coated again in hot fluid. Severus rolled his hips upward and growled out a finish as well, kneeling limply atop them both.
Harry felt a wide if tired grin crawl up his face. Draco panted wetly into his skin, the shirt tangled around his neck. Breathing heavily, Severus followed the summons in his eyes, kissing Harry softly as Draco lied between them.
This was the best Christmas ever.