Author: enchanted nightingale
Beta Reader: pussycatadamah
Timeline: Book 4, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Pairs:Harry/Lucius
Disclaimer:The characters belong to J.K. Rowling. I merely use them in my plot for fun.
Chapter Eight
Severus Snape was a Potions Master because he liked the delicate art that was brewing, he enjoyed testing out combinations of ingredients and, though he would never admit it, the explosions that came with experiments. There were few times he had deliberately caused an explosion, just tossed in the appropriate ingredient and stepped back to watch it go off. He had the patience for such a thing. His next great hobby, aside from potion making (yes, it was both a job and a hobby) was people watching. He had done that since he was a child. He had not had many friends (any friends really until that shy bossy girl with that brilliant red hair) and the habit had stuck with him throughout school and into adulthood. It was also one of the things (aside from his high tolerance for pain) that made him a potent spy. He could study someone without other people noticing.
His current pet project was one Harry James Potter.
A Gryffindor.
The son of the girl that had been his first (and perhaps his only) love.
A celebrity.
The son of the man he loathed more after the Dark Lord and Sirius Black.
The teen currently entangled in a dangerous liaison with a married man.
Severus' list was short and to the point and it needed not much else for the time being. The man could understand that most of the list qualities were because of the kid's parents, his genes, his rotten fate, all but the last. Severus could not fathom how Lucius got tangled up in this mess. The blond man had given him some version that consisted of 'I saw him, I felt attracted, I kissed him' but none of the specifics. Certainly he had weaselled out of the aristocrat that Potter had captured his attention at age twelve (the however reluctant teacher in Snape was protesting quite vocally at this and in favour of his student), with their interactions sparse in the course of that time up until now (barely three times they had found themselves facing each other according to Lucius) and the two dozen letters they had exchanged the previous year. How that came to trigger sex magic, Severus could only speculate as he had yet to find a book on that branch of magic.
Dumbledore cleared his throat then and Severus snapped out of his musings.
"I believe it is time to announce the champions," the Headmaster of Hogwarts told his fellow professors and Headmasters.
Snape blinked. He had not noticed that dinner was almost over.
As Dumbledore stood, the whispers started and a sea of faces turned to look at the table. Everyone was present, and everyone was waiting with baited breath.
Severus absently noticed that Potter had taken after Granger quite a bit as he had carried a book with him to dinner, much like his mother used to do for half the meals during the week.
"…And the Champion for Durmstrang is… Viktor Krum!"
Snape hid his wince at the noise that erupted when the first champion got elected from the Goblet of Fire. He clapped along with the rest of them as the International Seeker stood and went towards the adjoining room soon to be joined by …
"Fleur Delacour!"
Snape clapped again and despite himself felt giddy to see who the Hogwarts Champion would turn out to be. He was first of all wishing it would be one of his snakes; the house needed good publicity desperately.
"Cedric Diggory!"
'Merlin help us! A badger as Hogwarts' Champion,' Severus mentally winced and deflated but he still clapped for his alma mater.
They were all still bubbling with excitement when the Goblet of Fire flared again and a fourth note was spat out.
Severus felt his stomach drop. This was not going to be good.
His prediction came through scant seconds later, when the fourth name was called.
"Harry Potter?" Dumbledore called out, his surprise evident.
Harry had had a wonderful summer for the remaining days after the World Cup at the Burrow. He and Bill were more often than not huddled together, the eldest Weasley son talking and listening alternately. Harry found it nice that he could talk to an adult about his troubling feelings about Lucius. And Bill listened, never judging. He was also the second person to actually read the letters Lucius had written Harry and even joked about them.
Bill Weasley had also managed at some point to coerce Harry into shopping for clothes. It was not that Harry was not ashamed of the cast offs from Dudley, but he was also a teenage boy and he hated doing chores of any kind and he could hardly ask Ron or Hermione, or Merlin forbid Molly, for help. So he ignored his little problem and wore the rags that were admittedly comfortable but an eyesore. So Harry got himself a new wardrobe, with tight jeans and leather pants and dress pants, shirts and t-shirts and a couple of vests that made his body look longer (Bill's words), new pairs of shoes for all occasions, coats for all seasons, new robes for school, better quality than Madam Malkin's too. Harry spent one day in the wizard district shopping and another at Muggle London at Bill's insistence.
All in all, Harry got a makeover. Ron in particular was a bit jealous at Harry's transformation (even after Harry clarified that he paid for everything and not Bill) and Molly had gushed at how cute he looked when he cleaned up, till Bill stepped in to save Harry. Another reason why Ron on occasion would glare at Harry, was said green eyed wizard's camaraderie with the eldest Weasley son. Hermione had been approving and Ginny had started spluttering around him, the signs of a crush that a now mortified Harry could actually identify.
"And the makeover is not for your benefit alone," Bill had told Harry one evening. They had been camped out on a blanket, Butterbeer and snacks shared between them as they watched the twins, Charlie, Ron and Ginny fly like maniacs above them.
"I did it for Lucius too," Bill continued. "He won't be able to keep his hands off you now that you actually look your age and not like a twelve year old."
"He met me at that age, snogged me too," Harry had grumpily replied, making Bill laugh.
The curse breaker had also explained the concept of sex magic.
It had not been easy. The books on the subject were all in Ancient Greek, a couple that were not readily available, were in an Old Latin and one in Cantonese. They had pored over the ones in Ancient Greek, using spells and potion so that Harry could get fluent in said language as well. So far Harry could read the texts but his speaking skills were a source of mirth for Bill. So far Harry had learned that sex magic was some kind of ambient, natural magic that existed every time wizards or witches had sex in small amounts around them for seven days afterwards. Spring time, sex magic was at its most potent, as well as during magical festivities like Beltane and the Solstice, when ambient magic of any kind spiked and ran wild.
In the more particulars of this branch, sex magic was fed by magic as well as fed back into certain unions. Unlike the name, it did not only appear during or after the actual intercourse. The Priestesses of Demetra in Ancient Greece, or Hestia in the Roman times, and a number of deities like Hecate, and large goddesses like Aphrodite, Hera and Artemis (those with magical abilities or squibs that is) were all virgins but they were enveloped in sex magic from the moment they started their duties.
Sex magic was derived from earth and the magic that naturally existed in Nature. Whenever there was a good conduit, the magic would go to that person and manifest. Sex magic was one of the manifestations. In the past the conduits for sex magic were many more while after 1672 the numbers dropped as a Dark Lord in Italy used the magic to his advantage to scare and control large crowds of people. And apparently that somehow messed with the natural ambience and it took almost a century for another manifestation of sex magic to make an appearance. And it did not mean the small sparks that came with each child conceived, but the large boom of power that could be felt by sexually mature wizards and witches.
The conduits were more often than not unaware of their status until the energy manifested. It took two conduits for it to manifest. If only one was a conduit for sex magic then it would not manifest accordingly. And after 1850's it was rare for two conduits to actually meet and most of the lore had been forgotten and the magic fell into misuse and then into oblivion. Most texts did not survive the war with Grindelwald in Europe in the 1940's and Xiun Xao in Eastern Asia during the 1970's.
The texts Harry pored over during summer had been the tip of the iceberg. Bill had managed to get Harry interested in knowledge and got Harry up to date with 4th year Arithmancy and Runes. He also made the teen promise to keep up with the subjects in his spare time and take the OWL's with the rest of his year mates and also pick up his grades in several subjects. Harry liked that for once someone wanted him to be better, to strive for more. He had promised Bill to study more. The tall redhead had jokingly said that he was cute, smart enough, knew how to cook and dressed good and that as soon as he was of legal age he would make one fine wife for Lucius Malfoy. Harry had tackled the curse breaker to the ground and tickled him to tears for that comment.
His new found thirst for knowledge was one of the reasons he had taken to reading books on various subjects whenever he could. And this year, with no exhaustively hard Quidditch practices (Oliver had not let them completely off the hook) and no games, Harry actually had free time.
Currently Harry was reading a thick book on druidic magic and he noticed two chapters back a couple of references on ambient magic. Nose buried in the book he missed the Champions being called out by his Headmaster. It took Hermione driving her elbow to his ribs for him to look up from his book and glance cluelessly at her.
"What?" he asked her.
The frizzy haired witch nodded towards the Head Table. Dumbledore was standing and had his blue eyes pinned on Harry.
"Harry Potter, please step forward and joined the rest of the Champions," Hogwarts' Headmaster called out.
And Harry could only think of one thing.
"What?"
End of chapter
A/N: Here it is, the explanation about sex magic as promised several chapters back. And Lucius is really not a paedophile ^_^