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 39 – Meeting of Minds
It was Lucius who had thought of the idea first and while he proposed it to Severus in one of the many meetings they had been having lately, the Potions Master had been admittedly surprised. They were in Malfoy Manor, the building being more secure than Hogwarts for the schemes they were trying to make.
"You actually want to involve the Weasley in this plan to hunt down the Dark Lord's... parts?" Snape had incredulously asked the Malfoy wizard.
"One, stop saying 'parts' when referring to the Horcruxes, I feel that can be taken suggestively and that's one memory I do not need. Two, the red head is a Curse Breaker, that should be self explanatory."
"We are both well versed in the Dark Arts," the Head of House Slytherin argued.
"Yes, but he actually studied them and more so, he studied how to break curses. We could blast our way through with power and cunning," Lucius agreed. "But what if it needs more delicate handling?"
Severus stared. "You think we will need help?"
"It wouldn't hurt to have it," Lucius replied. "And we save more face asking him up front than if we ask him when we are stumped."
The Potions Master stared. "By Merlin's beard... You really have changed. I never thought I'd see the day that I'll tip my hat to a Potter."
"Severus," the blond wizard said warningly, but the dark haired man was merely smiling in amusement.
"I'm saying no more, it's more than enough if you know that I'm gloating on the inside."
Malfoy Manor had been the one place a Weasley never expected to be invited to, yet Bill was here, standing in a lavish library with two Slytherin's, plotting along. It was funny really the concept of three unlikely to meet people meeting so often. But it was all because of Harry. Bill had, as a curse breaker, encountered many branches of magic, Horcruxes were the worst he had ever seen or heard. In older times they were a much more common phenomenon, but so had been the means that destroyed them and their use had fallen out of practice. How Voldemort had found out how to make them was anyone's guess. What mattered to Bill now was to eradicate every single one of them to make sure that monster never rose to power again. Granted, the only way Voldemort could come to power now was only if one of his followers had access to a soul piece. The two Slytherin's in the know were certainly not working towards that end. Lucius had in fact offered a few suggestions as to who might know about the remaining Horcruxes. Bellatrix Lestrange's name was on the top of that list.
"Leave it to me," the blond wizard had commented. "It has been a while since the last time I visited my …dear ex sister in law." Bill had practically shuddered at the tone of the older wizard but took it in a stride. He was willing to overlook a number of things if it got them all what they wanted, a permanent way to ensure Voldemort would not be coming back.
As the Curse Breaker had promised to the two former Slytherin's, he had posed questions at work and towards certain Goblins that saw him in a positive eye. In the end of this endeavour, he nearly lost his head because one of them, Clorkclaw, thought he was asking because he wanted to make them himself. It had taken all his wits to clear up that misunderstanding. Bill had then explained in length about what Voldemort had done in his madness about not losing his grip among the living and just like that, Goblins had offered him all the means they had to destroy soul pieces. This was what he was explaining currently to Lucius and Severus.
"Basilisk venom, goblin forged blades, fiendfire and the blessed water ritual," Bill rattled off. "These are the only ways to destroy the soul that has latched onto an object."
"Basilisk venom is hard to come by," Snape muttered.
"And goblin forged blades are not easy to find either," Lucius muttered. "My family has daggers and knives but nothing big enough to actually damage a Horcrux."
"Fiendfire then?" Bill asked. "Because that is just too risky to perform."
The two Slytherin's stared.
"Can you cast it?" Lucius asked.
The red head shrugged. "I can. How do you think we Curse Breakers get rid of Inferi in the tombs. The ancient Egyptians loved using them as a safe guard, nuts the lot of them. I'm all for destroying Voldemort's soul parts, but..."
"Harry," Lucius finished what the Weasley firstborn would not say.
"We need to make sure the soul piece on Potter is gone for good," Snape mused. "Fiendfire and basilisk venom won't do it."
"But the blessed water ritual will," Bill offered. "I'm already researching the details of it. And I may not need to cast fiendfire at all. Harry," here he looked at Lucius. "He mentioned second year. The Chamber of Secrets."
Severus stared. "What does that have to do with anything?"
Lucius however caught on immediately. He had discussed second year with Harry at one point and the green eyed wizard had offered a wealth of information about the Chamber, the Basilisk that had been in it and how he had killed the beast.
"Gryffindor's sword," the blond wizard muttered.
The other two stared at him.
"Come again?" Severus asked.
"I think," Lucius slowly said, "That we just might need Harry in on this after all."
"We were supposed to keep him out of this, hasn't he already been through enough?" Bill asked.
Lucius gave him a withering glare. "Then what do you propose we do? Ask for Dumbledore's help?"
Severus rolled his eyes. "This dislike you have for the old man is understandable. You have to admit though that he does have knowledge and power and at the very least, during that last meeting he seemed willing to help us make sure the Dark Lord is gone for good."
Bill cleared his throat pointedly. "How about we tell Harry? If I know him well, which I think I do," he explained, "Harry appreciates honesty. It will do us a lot of good to include him from the start instead of moving a few paces on our own and discover down the line that we need him anyway."
The two older wizards pondered over this.
"I will tell Harry," Lucius decided.
"Over my dead body," Snape quickly cut in. "I won't have the two of you ..." he made a motion with his hands. "No, I won't let you two alone in my office."
"It's not like we can't control ourselves," Lucius muttered after he finished glaring the Potions Master.
To this Bill coughed harshly, almost choking in his attempt to disguise his chuckling. He ignored the harsh glares directed at him and spoke of the reason this meeting was taking place. "So we agree then. We talk to Harry, explain about Horcruxes and that we are hunting the soul pieces. We tell him what we think about the piece that was in him that may or may not be truly there, about the ritual we want to perform on him."
"And we stress that he should in no way be involved in this hunt," Lucius added.
"And hopefully we will all have a quiet year," Severus added.
"One question," Bill said. "Do we tell Sirius and Remus?"
Snape sneered at the mention of the two Marauders.
"Not yet," Lucius answered the red head. "Black can be..."
"An insufferable idiot?" Snape suggested.
"Hot headed," the blond wizard amended.
"I forgot, you hate angering the father in law," the Potions Master sneered.
Bill choked once again and raised his hands up in a sign of surrender when he got two similar glares for this. "Honestly, I agree Sirius can be, difficult shall we say, but if we keep this from him…"
"I knew we should not have called you here," Snape muttered. "The rate we are going we might as well announce to the prophet what we are about to do."
This time the red head did roll his eyes while inwardly wondering if all Slytherin's had this flare for dramatics and how was young Harry handling it. "I'm just thinking up ahead. I bet none of you wants Sirius at our necks in case something goes wrong. Plus, he is a Black."
Lucius caught on fast. "The Black library."
"And it is wasted on that idiot," the dark haired wizard added. "Fine, we are telling Potter's mutts but I won't be meeting those two."
"I'll handle them," Bill offered. There would be less insults exchanged that way and more chances for cooperation.
"I'll talk with Dumbledore then," Lucius said, "The old coot has nothing on me," he added with a look at Snape who was now grimacing.
"And Potter is left to me, O joy, O joy" the Potions Master deadpanned.
"Want the two Gryffindor's?" Bill teased.
Snape glared. "I'll take the lesser of all evils."
"Then we are settled for now," Lucius decided.
Potions with Slytherin and Gryffindor was rarely a quiet class but somehow, this time around there had been no explosion, no sabotaging, no insults exchanged, nothing. Perhaps it was because the students could sense the foul mood the Potions Master was in. Neville was partnered with Hermione and the witch was quick to avert any big disasters happening. Harry and Draco had been ordered by Snape into a partnership though none of the teens was actually sullen about it. While working on the Potion, the two managed to hold a hushed conversation.
"Do you know why he's in such a mood?" Harry questioned the blond Slytherin.
"Stir once clockwise and no, not a clue. I heard he made a few Ravenclaw's cry during the last block of classes. Did you lot play a prank?"
Harry shook his head. He noticed Snape was glaring at him and Draco raised his head just in time to also see this.
"Nice meeting you Potter," Draco commented airily.
"He does look like he wants to murder me," Harry agreed.
"Hm, perhaps father asked him to pass on a message again?"
The green eyed Gryffindor groaned. The last time Lucius had asked Snape to pass on a message Gryffindor had lost sixty points. And Harry had been unable to protest because the Slytherin Head of House could be very difficult about it. No, he really did not want Gryffindor in the negative after only a month into term. He would need to send a letter to Lucius. On the other hand, he had noticed that Draco was quite amused by all this. Neville, who was in the know, did not find it amusing, rather he thought the whole situation exasperating.
"Could you not look more smug?" Harry muttered.
Draco smirked. "I could. If you and father keep this up we have the House Cup to ourselves."
Harry rolled his eyes. "Prat," he told the blond but without any heat behind it.
"Whatever, now stir counter clockwise six times, gently. I'll start adding the porcupine dust and after that pull back immediately so that I can add the armadillo bile."
"Got it."
At the end of the lesson Harry was asked to stay behind. Hermione looked on worriedly while Neville was trying to distract her. The Boy-Who-Lived made a mental note to try and see what stance Hermione had on same sex relationships and about age difference before he even thought of telling her about the relationship between him and Lucius. Harry sent a thankful look at his friend and a glare at Draco who was muttering 'thank you' when Snape took forty points from Gryffindor suddenly.
When the Potions classroom was empty Harry finally faced Snape.
"Is it really necessary to take so many points?" the teen asked the older wizard.
"Yes, now sit quietly because I'm only going to say this once."
Harry, used to the man's attitude and moods nodded.
Snape sat across from Harry and then he started explaining the meeting that took place a few days ago and the matters discussed during that time.
"I see," Harry muttered when Snape had finished explaining what he and the other two wizards had agreed on. "You weren't going to tell me then?"
"Do not make this into a sob story. It has nothing to do with thinking you a kid and everything to do with the fact that not everything about the Dark Lord is connected to you. Sometimes it is the right thing to do, letting adults take charge. I do believe that Lucius proved that last year."
Harry sighed. He wanted to be mad, but Severus had spoken just the right words. Lucius had indeed proven to Harry the past year that it was okay to stand back, let someone else take the brunt of his troubles, ask for help. Had he not asked Lucius and Bill and in a way Snape too to help him survive that Tournament. Each of them had delivered. Still, years of settling his matters on his own had made Harry suspicious of adults, authority figures and generally people who were supposed to protect him. He was still getting used to the fact that people (Lucius, Bill, Sirius, Remus and even Snape and Fleur) wanted to support him.
"I'll stay out of your way," Harry finally told Snape.
"We will keep you informed," Severus reluctantly revealed to the green eyed teen.
The revelation about Horcruxes did not go well with Sirius and Remus as Bill realized soon after he started explaining the situation to Harry's parental figures, of a sort. While Remus was brooding quietly, contemplating the new information, Sirius' explosive Black temper made an appearance rather spectacularly.
"What do you mean, 'we have a plan'?" the last male Black demanded.
Bill sipped his Firewhisky and regarded the older wizard. The meeting took place in the newly renovated Grimmauld Place in London and not the beach house Black and Lupin had spent the summer along with Harry. The house still had some residual darkness, but the vibrant colours, the large windows and the redecorated rooms helped improve the place. Bill had sent a letter, requesting to meet with the two Marauders. The talk had been going well, initially, until he mentioned exactly how he found out about the Horcruxes and exactly who was helping the curse breaker track them down. Neither Black nor Lupin had minded the Goblins, but any mention of Snape and Malfoy had made the conversation turn sour almost instantly. There was a lot of bad history between the two groups.
"Sirius," the Curse Breaker said with a strong voice and an even stronger glare to keep the wizard from interrupting him. "I'm not taking sides, I do not have an ulterior motive, I just want to help Harry. Lucius Malfoy and Severus Snape got rid of their pride long enough to ask me for help. Me! A Weasley and a former Gryffindor and a Light wizard to boot. Only because they wanted to help Harry. Now, I'm not saying that those two do not have ulterior motives, they might have them. But they already proved that they are willing to do anything to kill Voldemort and, at least Malfoy cares about Harry. You may not like it but that is Merlin's honest truth. Now, both Snape and Malfoy are going to tell Harry..."
"What?" Sirius spluttered.
"I think he plans to say more," Remus told his best friend. "Sorry Bill, go on."
"But we are also going to ask him to put his faith on us," the firstborn Weasley son said. "If Harry is kept out of the loop purposely and then we need him..."
The two Marauders winced. They had learned that summer that Harry, though mature and willing to listen to them, was a teenager. A moody, mood changing, authority challenging teenager.
"You've got a point," Sirius reluctantly admitted.
"Many good points," Remus added. "What do you want from us?"
"Support," Bill readily replied. "And access to the Black family library."
Remus elbowed the last male Black. "Stop scowling. Bill has made sense so far and he's been firmly on Harry's side even when neither of us could."
"It may seem strange to you," the redhead said, "and by saying this I'm not in any way explaining myself... well, maybe I am. Had you been anyone else I would not have bothered... Anyway, Harry's my friend. It may seem unorthodox or odd, but we are friends, best mates even. I hear his troubles, he listens to mine, I advise him about Lucius and he helps me with Fleur. We have fun, like the same Quidditch team and listen to similar music." He shrugged. "Had I thought that Lucius or Snape would endanger Harry I would have not let it slide."
"You are basically saying to get our act together and support you instead of acting like sullen idiots," Remus offered his opinion on why Bill was saying this.
Both of them looked to Sirius.
"Just don't expect me to like it," the dog Animagus said. "So, access to Grimmauld Place?"
"Just the books mind you," Bill said.
"Never mind," Sirius sighed. "I actually think I know which books you need."
"You do?" Remus said surprised.
"The library was the one place in that building my dear mother did not mind seeing me spend time," Sirius admitted. "And the subjects available in all the books were limited to dark, darker and the darkest books available on magic so..."
"Thank you for the help then," Bill said.
"Don't mention it... Wait! Actually, please do. In fact, in front of my mother's portrait." Sirius had a wicked grin on his face. "I want to be there when she learns that her oh so precious collection will help end Voldemort once and for all."