2/2
Title: The End of Fear is Where We Begin
Rating: NC-17
Chapter: 2/2 (but both are being posted today)
Pairing: Harry/Draco/Severus
Summary: Harry and Draco live quiet lives. But when will things ever remain that way for those two?
WARNINGS: DH compliant except EWE. Secondly there is a strong warning for an obscene amount of cursing. I, myself, swear like a sailor and I find it slips into my writing. I try to get better since I have kids but have failed at it miserably for the past seven years heh. Thirdly this fic contains a descriptive nc-17 scene.
A/N: Now, this fic was written as per request by pombagira who gave me some life-saving help on one of my hideous assignments. She asked for some Harry/Draco/Male (my choice) pr0n. This MONSTER fic is what came of it. Go figure. X-posted.

part one

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Harry and Snape were sitting on the sofa together after dinner, neither one of them really interested in doing anything other than sitting. Harry's mind was on work and how the hell he was going to go about in figuring out what the hell was going on with the magical dead zone.

Snape, for his part, was just trying to get used to the insane relationship he had just stumbled into. It wasn't just Harry Potter or just Draco Malfoy. It was a war-survived couple, Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy, two men who had always been on opposite sides. And then came Snape who was situated firmly in both sides, some way or another.

It was a frightening thought, really, if one sat down to really work it out.

A half hour passed before Draco finally emerged from Snape's bedroom. "Done," he said, clapping his hands together. "I don't think a single wizard on this earth could possibly break those cloaking charms. God I love being schooled in the Dark Arts."

"Git," Harry said as Draco collapsed into one of the chairs.

"That took a lot out of me," Draco said with a grin. "Who's up for some sex?"

Harry and Snape both rolled their eyes and Harry leant forward on the sofa. "Draco, we have a few other things to worry about right now."

"Like?" Draco asked.

"Like going back home and reporting our 'findings' so they don't send a bloody search party," Harry said.

"So what? We're just going to leave Snape here?" Draco asked.

"No, idiot," Harry said. "He's coming with us." Harry paused and added, "Erm, if you want to."

Severus walked out of the room and came back a moment later with a quill and parchment.

Don't you think that would be too much of a risk?

Harry sighed. "I had considered it but being as Draco and I are incessantly paranoid freaks, no one would be able to detect you if we needed to hide you for any reason. Besides, we've already agreed we aren't staying, we're just making an appearance so no one thinks we suffered the same fate as the Saunders'."

Then I shall accompany you, although I dread seeing what your home must look like.

Harry chuckled. "Come on now, Snape, Draco lives there, it couldn't possibly be anything besides immaculate. And we have a House Elf."

Snape's eyebrows rose so Draco said, "What? You expect me to clean house myself? Not bloody likely."

"So it's settled. We'll head back, I'll go to the office and report our 'findings'. Draco, you and Snape can make up some dinner and then when we're done, we can come back here for the night."

"Can we bring the box?" Draco asked excitedly.

Snape looked at Harry questioningly and Harry bit down on his lip. "Heh. Draco can show you while I'm at the Ministry."

---------- ------------- -------------

Harry felt a little strange, leaving Snape and Draco at the house, but he knew he had to start clearing up the suspicion surrounding Snape's cottage or they'd all be in a lot of trouble. He also had to get on solving the murder of the Saunders bloke or Snape would eventually be caught and put on trial.

He reached the office and was immediately hauled to Kingsley's office. The tall, heavy-eyed man was sitting behind his desk, looking unusually anxious. "Did you find out anything at all?" he asked.

Harry sighed and slumped in a chair. "Not a thing," he said. "We scoured those woods for the last two days and didn't turn up a trace of anything."

"How is that possible?" Kingsley demanded, slamming his fist down on his desk.

Harry flinched and frowned at the normally calm man. "Well it's not a big deal-" he began.

"It is a big deal!" Kingsley cut in. "It's a very big deal when one of our own has been murdered!"

"Er, did you know the brothers?"

"Yes," he said quickly and then retracted. "Well not as well as I know you, but well enough. I'm not going to let this slide, Potter."

Harry shook his head. Kingsley never called him Potter, unless they were in a formal meeting, and then it was always Auror Potter, or at least Mr Potter. "Is there anything wrong?" he asked. "You're not quite yourself."

"Stress," Kingsley said, waving his hand in the air. "I don't mean to take it out on you, Potter. My job is just trying. There is a lot more to being Minister for Magic than I thought."

"Right," Harry said. His suspicions were now threatening to flood his reason and he knew he had to get out of the office before he said or did something stupid. "Minister, I think Draco and I should continue on the case. He and I are the best on the team and we will figure this out. We're not going to let one of our own be murdered without immediate concequence."

It was almost a test. Harry had never called Kingsley 'Minister' in private. Ever.

Kingsley seemed very pleased. "You are good man, Potter. A good man."

"Thank you, sir," Harry said. "I'll inform Draco that we're going back into the field. I'd like to do a bit of research here first, but we'll be back out by the end of the week."

"Excellent," Kingsley said. "I knew I could count on you, Potter."

Harry quickly headed out of the office, out of the Ministry and Apparated home. When he appeared inside, Draco was somewhere out of sight and Snape was rummaging about the kitchen. Harry quickly called out for his lovers and directed them to the lounge.

"Something isn't right," he said immediately. He motioned for Snape and Draco to sit and he went back through the entire conversation he had with Kingsley. "I'd suspect Imperius but I know Kingsley is an expert at resisting it; far better than I am."

"So what do you think? You think Kingsley is up to something?" Draco asked.

"No," Harry said with a shake of his head. "I think Kingsley is not Kingsley."

"How?" Draco asked.

Snape snorted and mouthed, 'Polyjuice?'

"Exactly," Harry said. "Is there an antidote to Polyjuice potion? Like something that works immediately?"

Snape accio'd the parchment and quill he had been using earlier to talk to Draco and wrote furiously:

There is but I have none. It'll take about three days to brew a properly working batch. Do we have that kind of time?

"Draco and I have been the only Aurors assigned on the case for the moment. Kingsley, or whoever he is, said he'd give us til the end of the week to do at home research before we go back into the field."

Snape nodded his okay.

"And you," Harry said, looking at his blond lover, "need to find me all the information on the Saunders'. I want their family history, their work history, school history, everything. But be discreet about it, Malfoy. And I mean discreet."

"I'm always-" Draco began but twinned looks from Harry and Snape shut his mouth. "Fine, okay, I'll be discreet."

"I'm going to look into their present situation and try to figure out where the hell the real Kingsley might actually be."

----------- ------------- -------------

They set their plan into immediate motion. Harry and Draco packed Snape up with plenty of potion supplies and sent him back to the cottage to brew. Draco went over to cast a few more protective charms and by the time he got back, Harry was ready to head back to the Ministry.

He had wanted to wait until he was sure Kingsley had gone home for the night before they began to rummage about in the records office.

When they walked in the building, nearly everyone had gone home for the night. Those still remaining didn't look surprised to see Harry or Draco, as they were often working late into the night on various assignments.

When they got up to their office, Harry shut the door and gave Draco a small kiss. "This feels like the war all over again, and I don't know why."

Draco sighed and pulled Harry close to him, a rare moment of nonsexual comfort. "We'll get through this."

"I'm scared for Snape this time," Harry said. "After all of this, I think it does have something to do with him, and I'm not willing to give him up after all these years."

Draco smiled and looked down. "I guess we ought to get to work then."

"I'm going to start with the one brother's office, the one who is still alive. What was he called, again?"

"Andrew," Draco said. "I'll go into the Department of Magical Records and see what I can come up with there."

Harry kissed Draco again. "I love you."

"I know," Draco said. Harry headed for the door but before he opened it, Draco said, "I love you too, you know."

Harry smiled at him. "I've never doubted that." With that, he headed out. He had to do a little bit of investigating, but eventually he discovered where Andrew Saunders' office was located. Using a cloaking spell on himself, he went into the darkened office and closed the door. Charming the shutters to block out any light, Harry illuminated the room and began to dig about.

The man was messy, to say the least, but after about forty-five minutes of digging, Harry finally stumbled on something. Andrew had about six piles of unmarked folders and inside were pages upon pages of parchment covered in what had to be ancient runes. Harry, who had never even bothered to try to study ancient runes, couldn't make right nor left of them.

But, he knew someone who could. Using a duplicating charm, Harry gathered up the originals and shrank them to put in his pocket. He placed the duplicates exactly as he had found them and quickly let himself out of the office.

He went back to his own office and quickly penned a letter to his long time friend, Hermione. He sent it by floo, wanting it to get there as quickly as possible, and before long, Hermione stepped through the hearth and met him with a warm smile.

She was pregnant again, due any moment by the look of it, and she met him with a sideways hug. "What's wrong, Harry? Your message was so urgent."

Harry pulled the shrunken files out of his pocket and pressed them into Hermione's palm. "How well do you remember how to read ancient runes?" he asked.

Hermione frowned. "As well as I remember how to read English. Why?"

"Listen, I'll explain later when we're in more private quarters, but for now I need these translated. As quickly as possible, time is my biggest enemy in this."

Hermione nodded and put the files into her pocket. "What's wrong, Harry?"

"I promise I'll explain as soon as possible. How long do you think it'll take you?"

"If they're simple runes, just an hour or so. There's a simple translation spell I can use."

"Good," Harry said, letting out a breath. He took her hands in his. "Use the back bedroom floo when you've got them done, okay? The one Draco has cloaked."

"You're starting to worry me, Harry. We haven't spoken in months and now this?" Hermione's brown eyes were wide and piercing.

"I'm sorry," Harry said. "I didn't mean to drift. Things were just so..." he shook his head. "It was hard, after everything."

Hermione hugged him again. "Whatever it is, you know I'm here to help. Ron and I are both always here to help. No matter what."

Harry nodded. "Thank you. I'll talk to you soon."

Hermione nodded and stepped back through the floo. Once alone, Harry sank into his office chair and waited on edge until Draco came back. The blond was empty handed and wore a very confused expression.

"Nothing," he said. "There's not a damn record on those two idiots. I don't understand. They didn't go to Hogwarts, or if they did, it was under a different name. How the hell did they get hired on here?"

"That's probably going to tie in with everything else," Harry said. He rubbed his face. "We'd better get back. I want to pop in on Severus and then I have to be back for Hermione."

"Granger?" Draco said, wrinkling his nose. "What's that mudblood have to do with this?"

"Hermione is helping me translate a bunch of ancient runes I found in Saunders' office. I think it might offer some insight."

"I hope so, because I came up with nothing."

Harry reached across the desk and took Draco's hand in his. "I guess we should go."

Draco nodded and together they headed back home.

-------- ---------- --------

Draco decided to stay with Snape while Harry went back to talk to Hermione. Draco had never been able to find a place to fit in with Harry's old friends. Draco's former prejudices still held fairly strong; if not in true meaning, in old habit and it was enough to cause nearly violent fights between Draco and Ron.

Harry was pacing the floor for an hour and a half before Hermione finally arrived. She looked a little dizzy from the floo but she righted herself immediately. "They're not runes," Hermione said. She had unshrunk one of the pages and she showed it to him. "It's made to look like runes but they're definitely not runes of any sort."

"Fuck," Harry said angrily. "So that leaves me nowhere."

"Not exactly," Hermione said. "As I was studying them, I realised there was a pattern to them."

"What?" Harry asked, his eyebrows raising in faint hope.

"I think it's an alphabet," she said. "It's a code, something pretty simple, actually. School children do it all the time. In fact mine do it all the time at Hogwarts."

"Oh my god!" Harry said. "Do you think you can decipher it?"

"It might take me some time," she said. "How soon do you need these?"

"We have a week," Harry said. "Is that long enough?"

"Should be," she said and tucked the page away. "Harry, what's going on? You know I'll help you no matter what but..."

Harry took a deep breath and suddenly launched into the entire story. It felt so good, such a relief to be pouring his heart and soul out to his former and dearest friend. He realised he had kept too much, too long from the people who had been his family and he deeply regretted it right then.

When Harry came to the part about Snape, Hermione gasped and pressed her fingers to her mouth. "Alive?" she asked.

Harry nodded and continued with the story until he reached her arrival at his office. "Now I'm in fear for Severus and not only that, Hermione, but this just feels like... like... before. Him."

Hermione looked down and nodded. "Sometimes I fear that it's never really going to be over. That somehow, even in his death, his pieces of soul will be able to reach back into our world and hurt us again. I have such nightmares sometimes..." she trailed off and shook her head. "I've spoken to Ron. He's... well... Ron, you know, a little bitter but he loves you and he'll do whatever you need him to."

"There isn't much he can do right now," Harry said. "Since he doesn't work at the Ministry there isn't anything he can access. But I'll keep you informed."

"Okay," Hermione said and reached out to pull Harry into a firm hug. "Don't be a stranger anymore, okay? I mean, I'm not saying you should bring the er... boys... with you, but we wouldn't ever turn you away. Any of you."

Harry smiled. "Thanks, Hermione. I mean that more than you know."

"No," she said. "I completely understand. Completely."

Harry bid her a farewell and saw her back through the floo. When she was gone, Harry quickly headed back to the cottage where he found Draco dozing on the sofa. Snape was in his lab, which Harry found to be in a room beneath the cottage.

Snape tipped him a nod of greeting when Harry walked in and listened with rapt attention as Harry explained the whole story about what he had found and what Hermione had discovered. "She thinks she can have it deciphered by the end of the week. I'm going to have Draco dig deeper into the Saunders' records. He couldn't find anything on paper but something has to exist somewhere. I mean, they're Ministry employees for fuck's sake."

Snape sighed and put down the knife he had been chopping something with and scribbled on his parchment.

Does this have anything to do with me, Potter?

Harry shrugged. "I don't know. It might. I'm starting to think you are being used somehow. I just don't know how, or why."

And Malfoy, what does he think?

"I don't know. Did you ask him?"

I attempted to, but when I try and write something to him, he pushes it away.

Harry frowned. "Odd. I guess he's just stressed."

Snape shrugged indifferently and went back to his brewing. Harry sat there for a long while, watching the man at work, and eventually there was nothing more Snape could do. The potion had to stew now for three days. Snape put his things away and gestured towards the stairs.

Harry nodded and followed Snape up to the main room. Draco was now no longer on the sofa. In fact, he was no longer in the cottage at all. He had scribbled a note that he had gone back to the house for a few items and would return shortly.

Harry decided on tea and made a pot for the pair of them. He had to consciously keep from pacing the floor, concerned with Draco's strange attitude, concerned with their current predicament and wondering where they were going to be in a week.

Eventually, Snape put his hand on Harry's knee and fixed him with a stare.

Harry sighed. "It's a lot to worry about. I haven't felt this nervous or edgy since we were dealing with Voldemort. Even then, I had at least an idea of what I was dealing with and what I was supposed to do. Right now I'm just fumbling in the dark for answers and it boggles my mind that my life was so still just days ago. Now it's gone topsy-turvy, the Minister isn't the Minister anymore and I don't know when the hell any of this even happened!"

Severus squeezed Harry's hand. It was really all he could do right then. Even if he had a voice, he wouldn't have been able to offer any words of comfort. Severus was in much the same place as Harry, perhaps even worse off because he had been living a rather nice, quiet life with nothing but time to himself.

The pair sat there for some time and eventually Harry glanced at his watch and realised Draco had been gone for far too long. "I think I should go check on him," Harry said. "Would you like to come along?"

Snape shook his head and settled back against the sofa.

"Okay. I promise not to take long at all. If he's not at the house I'm going to come right back. It's better to have us staying close together while we don't know what's going on."

Snape nodded and waved Harry off towards the floo.

When Harry, not quite so gracefully stepped out of the bedroom floo, he found Draco lying on the bed, his eyes open, staring at the ceiling. The blond was twiddling his foot in the air a bit, to a rhythm only he could hear. He didn't seem at all surprised or concerned at Harry's sudden appearance.

"Are you coming back at all?" Harry asked.

Draco shrugged. "Should I? Room for me in your bed, is there?" The tone was icy and bitter and it made Harry's heart lurch painfully.

He sank down on the bed, stretching out on his stomach along side Draco, and took his lover's hand gently. "Is this really about me and Snape?"

Draco licked his lips and looked away. "Yes."

"Do I have to call you a liar out loud?" Harry asked.

Draco made a small 'tisk' sound and then sighed. "Potter," he said, exasperated. "Why do you have to make things so bloody difficult?"

"Are you asking me a serious question, Draco? Are you really? Because you damn well know the answer to that."

Draco groaned and rolled over onto his belly, pulling his hand away from Harry. "I was content with the fantasy of him, Harry. I was content because with the fantasy I didn't have to deal with how angry I was at him for dying."

"He's not dead now," Harry pointed out.

Draco looked up. "Yeah, but he was. He was as good as dead for the past ten years, Potter. He promised to save me, Harry. He promised to save me and protect me and then he went and fucking died and left me to face it all completely alone."

"Your parents-"

"Did what they could, yes," Draco bit out, "but they had enough of their own mess to make up for. My father was Lucius Malfoy, for god's sake! He loved me but he didn't exactly have the time to make sure that I wasn't teetering on the brink of madness because I nearly had to kill Albus Dumbledore."

"You didn't kill him," Harry said.

Draco snorted. "Obviously, but I let Severus kill him for me. And then I had the nerve to be rescued by him again, and coddled by him and promised that I wouldn't have to bear any of it. And then he died and I was left with the world, Potter. The fucking world. And it wasn't okay until I met you. I never bothered to deal with that anger afterwards because what we had soothed that old ache, but now he's back and it's so hard not to feel."

Harry swallowed thickly. "I suppose I should be thankful I was never in his good graces until now. He saved my sorry arse so many times I've lost count, but it was always dripping with bitterness and regret. He even let me think he only cared because of my mother. I can't pretend I'm not a little bitter that he got to face the world as a dead man after the war, but I think my joy to have him alive and have him here, with us, was enough to eclipse any of the negative I had felt."

Draco rubbed his face against the sleeve of his robe. "It pisses me off, because it makes me feel like that insolent, pointless teenager again, and I'm nearly thirty. I shouldn't feel like that again."

Harry laughed. "Why not? You act like it all the time."

"Hilarious, you are," Draco bit out.

"I think you need time to deal with it. And you can have that time, but I also need you dedicated because we're likely to get royally fucked up the arse with a giant's broomstick if we muck this mission up."

"Lovely mental image, thanks for that," Draco said, but his tone told Harry that he knew exactly how much they were getting into.

"I'm going to go back to Severus now. I don't mind it if you or I are alone, but I'd rather him be with one of us as much as possible. So can you help me there?"

"Yes. But I think I need some time to myself right now. I'll be by later."

Harry shoved himself up off the bed. "Fair enough."

Draco poked his head up from the crook of his arm long enough to say, "No shagging without me, though! I still like that part just fine."

"Twat," Harry said and headed back through the flames to Severus' cottage.

Severus was still sitting on the sofa, looking a bit far off, but didn't startle as Harry came back into the room.

The younger man situated himself on the sofa next to Severus, cuddling up to him a little. "Draco needs some time. He's dealing with emotions that I never had to face. I can't blame him." He felt Severus shift a little under him, but only a bit. Harry kissed the side of Severus' arm. "I think I'm just going to enjoy having this moment of quiet with you all to myself."

There was a moment of pause, and then, slowly, Severus drew his arm round Harry and pulled him close. A noiseless kiss was pressed to the top of Harry's head and together they sat, looking into the fire, and both not trying to think about what tomorrow might bring.

----------- ------------------ ------------------

It was near the end of the week before Draco was able to come up with anything useful at all. Harry was doing some feigned research on the "attack" when Draco came into the office, closing the door tightly behind him. He cast several cloaking and silencing charms before he began to speak.

"Durmstrang," he breathed. "They went to Durmstrang. They were only a year apart in school, and their parents weren't Death Eaters but they were known Voldemort supporters. Their parents died during our fifth year at Hogwarts." Draco sat and let out a heavy breath. "And I think we're being watched because I just got heavily questioned in the corridor by some Unspeakable who's name I don't even know."

"Well that's totally expected," Harry said flippantly. "If there's an internal conspiracy going on, and I think there is, we're bound to be watched."

Draco sighed. "So what do we do?"

"Nothing," Harry said with a shrug. "Nothing more than what we're doing now. It shouldn't be long before Hermione has those pages done."

"So what the hell do you think they're up to?" Draco asked. "Revenge?"

"I wish I had a clue," Harry said with a sigh. "Revenge seems logical but they were obviously not in Voldemort's inner circle or we would have heard of them before."

Draco licked his lips. "Yes well, maybe they slipped past us."

Harry rolled his eyes. "They were all living in your bloody house with you, I think you might have noticed them."

Draco shrugged. "Well then, I guess I'm at a loss."

"I think we should go home," Harry said. "One of us needs to pop in on Severus and make sure everything is well."

"Why don't we both go," Draco said as Harry rose from his desk.

Harry sighed wearily. "I love you so much, Malfoy, but I'm really not feeling up for sex right now."

Draco reached out and squeezed Harry's wrist. "I didn't mean for that."

Harry smiled. "Okay."

An hour later found both men stepping into the cottage. Snape wasn't in the main room so Harry assumed he was in the lab perfecting the potion that should be ready at any moment. "I'll fetch him," Harry said as Draco slipped into the kitchen to fix them all drinks.

Harry ventured down into the lab and found Snape bottling the potion into two phials. He looked up when Harry walked in and fixed him with a tight-lipped smile.

"Draco found out those Saunders blokes came from Durmstrang," Harry said and took a seat on his usual stool. "But nothing more than that. I'm still waiting on Hermione and those papers." Harry sighed and ruffled his hair a bit. "Unfortunately things are starting to get tense at the Ministry and Draco and I are being watched at work. We can't do any more digging until we have some leverage."

Snape held up the corked phial and nodded towards it.

"That's definitely something, so long as my instinct is right," Harry said. Snape tossed the phial at him and Harry caught it with his Seeker's skill. He pocketed it and looked back over at Snape, swinging his legs back and forth.

There was a small thump from upstairs and Snape looked at Harry sharply. He held up two fingers, their own private sign for Draco, and then pointed up.

"Yeah," Harry said and when Snape pulled a face, Harry laughed. "Don't worry, we're all pretty worn out. He just wanted to see you and have some tea."

Severus crossed the room in a few short strides and approached Harry. His black eyes were half-lidded and the skin beneath them was dark. His thin hands that reached up to cup Harry's face were cold and smelled of spices and herbs. He kissed Harry very gently and pressed his forehead to Harry's, a simple, but necessary bit of affection.

"I'm only not afraid when I'm here with you and Draco," Harry whispered. He reached up and closed his fingers around Snape's wrists as Snape's fingers gently pressed into Harry's face. For a moment Harry felt a whisper of that old fear when Voldemort had risen to power again and the lives of everyone he loved dearly were in jeopardy. "I'm not going to lose either one of you," he said more to himself than to Snape.

He still didn't know why he felt this way. The Dark Lord was gone. Not just gone, but dead and no one had made a move to attack Harry, Draco or Snape. But it was something... just... off.

Snape pulled Harry gently from the stool, dislodging Harry from his thoughts. They headed upstairs where Draco was just setting out the cups for tea.

"I thought I heard something in the floo just now," Draco said offhandedly. "The back floo."

Harry frowned. "Let me go check. I'm hoping it's Hermione." Harry went into the bedroom and quickly stuck his head in the fire. He got a full view of his bedroom and it took a second but he eventually spotted Hermione poking about the house.

"I'll be right there, Hermione!" Harry called. He pulled his head back and rushed back to the kitchen. "It's Hermione. I'm going to take care of it, and I'll be back shortly." Harry quickly floo'd back to his home where Hermione immediately threw the pages at him.

"They're trying to resurrect Voldemort," she said.

Harry's eyes widened. "What?"

"They've been on this plan for years, it seems," she said. "The code was what I thought, symbol for symbol and the most tedious part was just translating letter by letter." She and Harry went into the kitchen where Hermione spread out a few pages.

"Here," she said, "is how to brew Polyjuice."

"That's a relief," Harry said, thinking of the antidote he had in his pocket.

Hermione looked at him curiously but didn't ask. "The bulk of the pages are the ancient magic spells you were talking about before, the ones Dumbledore had been dabbling in. Cloaking spells, the resurrection spell, illusions. The plans aren't really very detailed, but there are letters back and forth. They've been tracking Snape through Britain for about four years now. They were planning on using him as a scapegoat."

"Fuck," Harry whispered.

Hermione lowered her eyes. "They also planned to have you and Draco arrested for treason and put to death."

"But they can't-"

"I know," Hermione said. "I'm not sure how they planned to accomplish it all. I mean, it's all rather above their heads, I think. But needless to say, this is big."

"How the hell do they plan to resurrect Voldemort?" Harry wondered aloud. "How could that even be possible."

"All they'd really need is a piece of him," Hermione said. "His bits of soul were all banished from this realm, but they exist somewhere. The spell they have calls the pieces back to this earth and actually it's quite simple to restore a body, so long as they can have a piece of him there for the pieces of soul to recognise."

"That's... I mean... wasn't his body destroyed?" Harry asked.

"We were all under that impression," Hermione said. She tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Didn't you say these brothers worked in the Department of Mysteries?"

Harry's eyes widened. "They wouldn't." He dropped his face into his hands and groaned. "Fuck. They would. They totally would."

"You think Kingsley is the Polyjuiced dead brother, don't you?"

Harry nodded. "Which still doesn't explain where the hell the real Kingsley has got to."

Hermione fell silent again. After a moment, she let out a small gasp. "Harry, do you remember when Barty Crouch Jr escaped Azkaban?"

"Yeah. I don't see what-" Harry said and then it dawned on him. "Oh. Oh!"

"You can Polyjuice a dead body," Hermione said.

"Oh no," Harry said, shaking his head. "No. I don't want to believe that."

Hermione touched his hand. "I don't want to believe Kingsley's dead any more than you do, but it seems the most logical explanation."

Harry swallowed thickly. "Look, I need to go talk to Draco and Snape about this. It looks like we aren't going to have much time to waste and I've got to come up with a plan."

Hermione nodded. "Is there anything at all I can do? Me or Ron?"

"No," Harry said. "Even if you weren't about to pop out another child, there isn't anything you can really do. Your department is so far off from mine, it would cast too much attention over us."

Hermione nodded. "Alright. But if you need anything at all..."

"I know exactly where to find you." Harry kissed her cheek and saw her out. When she was gone, Harry floo'd back to Snape's cottage with all the papers. Snape and Draco were still having tea in the kitchen and Harry spread the papers on top of the table.

He explained everything Hermione had told him while Snape leafed through the stack. "I don't even know where to begin," he said.

Snape pointed at Harry's pocket where the potion was.

"Yeah, but I can't just waltz up to Kingsley and dump this down his throat," Harry said.

Snape shrugged and then mimed pouring something into his teacup.

"Yeah. Yeah, that could work," Harry said.

"What do you want me to do?" Draco asked. "Should I go in with you?"

"Probably," Harry said. "At least until we know what we're going to do. Will you be okay here?" Harry asked Snape.

The older man rolled his eyes and waved them off.

"We'll be back soon," Harry said. He and Draco quickly floo'd back to their home and without stopping for anything, headed out the door. They arrived at the Ministry in record time and was happy it was still early; everyone was likely to be in their offices.

"What now?" Draco hissed as they stepped into their office.

"I think I'm going to talk to Kingsley. I'm not sure how that's going to go but-"

Harry was cut off by one of the men who worked for the Department of Mysteries appearing in their doorway. "Have you two come up with anything, yet?" he asked.

Harry shrugged. "No new leads, why?"

"The Minister is getting anxious," he said. "He was in a right snit this morning about it all."

Harry sighed. "I don't know what else to tell him. Despite popular belief, I really don't work miracles. Maybe we ought to try and talk to Saunders."

"Too late," the wizard said, "I'm afraid his family has moved him out of the country. We probably won't be hearing from him again."

Harry paled and it was all he could do to keep from looking at Draco. "How much time did he spend going through old records?" Harry questioned. "Is there a way to track what he was in to?"

"The Minister ordered our duties to go unrecorded," the wizard said. "Found that a bit strange myself, especially since there are only four of us guarding what was left of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named."

Draco pinked just slightly. "You, someone else and the Saunders'?"

"Just Andrew Saunders. Thomas was working as an undersecretary for the Minister. I think his goals reached higher than his brother's." The wizard shared a small chuckle that was definitely forced on Harry and Draco's part.

Harry extended his hand to the wizard. "Thank you. You've been a pretty big help."

The wizard flushed with pride and mumbled about helping the Hero of the Wizarding World any time he needed it.

As soon as he was out of hearing range, Harry turned to Draco. Panic was flooding through him and he had a sudden feeling that one of them needed to get to Snape, and fast.

Draco, who either read it from his face or had the same feeling, grabbed Harry's wrist and nodded. "I'll go. You get to Kingsley's office and do what you can as fast as you can. I'll secure Snape and be back to help you."

Harry kissed Draco fiercely. "Just be careful."

"I should be the one telling you that," Draco said as he stepped back from Harry. "I..." he hesitated. "It's going to be fine."

"I know," Harry said, nodding but not quite believing himself. "I know. I love you."

Draco shoved Harry. "I know. Sentimental git. See you soon."

Harry nodded and did his best to regain his composure.

Harry didn’t dare look behind him as Draco walked off, and instead headed straight for Kingsley’s office. Kingsley was seated behind his desk, looking tired but far less anxious than he had looked before.

He smiled when Harry rapped on the door. "Ah, Potter, please come in."

Harry did so, closing the door behind him. He could feel the weight of the potion against his thigh and he felt, just for a moment, scared. "How are you today, Minister?"

"Oh better. Things are looking up for me," he said with a grin.

"Excellent to hear it, sir," Harry said with false pleasantry.

"Isn’t it though?" Kingsley mused. "Fancy a cup of tea, Potter?"

"Sure," Harry said and Kingsley summoned a teapot and two cups. He had a strange look in his eye, so when Harry brought the tea to his lips, he murmured a spell that banished the tea away and Harry took a fake swallow.

"So how is that investigation coming along? Any leads?"

"Nothing new, sir, sorry to disappoint," Harry said.

"Oh no matter," Kingsley said, waving away the apology with his hand. "I’m sure we’ll come up with something."

"Indeed," Harry said.

They fell silent a moment, and out of nowhere, a rolled up parchment appeared on Kingsley’s desk. "Official business," he said hurriedly as he fumbled for the was seal. "Do you mind?"

"Not at all," Harry said, watching carefully. He was thinking it might be a good moment to slip the potion into Kingsley’s tea, as he was reading the note with rapt attention, but before he could act, Kingsley slowly set the parchment down and fixed Harry with a dark stare.

"So Harry," he said and clasped his hands on the desk. "You found out our little secret."

The only way Kingsley could have known was if the other Saunders’ brother was at the cottage now. Panic and a desire to protect himself and his lovers washed over him, and Harry acted without really knowing he was going to act. Harry pulled out his wand and petrified Kingsley with a single swish.

Harry's aim was slightly off, he noticed, when Kingsley let out a huge roar, as his head was still able to move. The door to the office burst open and two Aurors, Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnegan, burst in.

"What the bloody hell?" Seamus gasped.

Harry turned to look at them. "Wait!" he said.

"Arrest him!" Kingsley bellowed. "Arrest him!"

Harry pulled out a potion and showed it to his two, longtime friends. "Trust me," Harry begged.

They both hesitated. Dean moved to step forward but Seamus stopped him. "What is that?"

"It’s an antidote to Polyjuice," he said. "This isn’t Kingsley."

Their eyes widened as Kingsley cried out, "He lies! It’s not Potter!"

Harry approached Kingsley, forced his mouth open and tipped the potion down his throat. The effect was instantaneous; Kingsley let out an agonising scream and before anyone could blink, he suddenly wasn’t Kingsley.

He was now a shorter, chubby man with long auburn hair and beady brown eyes. His face was red and he was struggling against the curse.

"Who?" Seamus wondered.

"Thomas Saunders," Dean said. "I was on the team who brought him to St Mungo’s. How-?"

"Because he’s killed Kingsley," Harry said grimly. "I don’t know where the body is and to be honest, there is more going on and I don’t have time to interrogate him. You two up to the task?"

As Kingsley was rather dear to Seamus and Dean as well as Harry, they both nodded. "Absolutely," Seamus said.

"Remember the magical dead zone Draco and I were investigating?"

"Aye," Seamus said.

"When you find out where Kingsley’s body is, send a team there. There’s going to be one more arrest," Harry said. With that, he took off running. Knowing the best was to use his floo, Harry Apparated to his home and went into the bedroom. When he tried to light the fire, nothing happened.

Harry frowned and tried again, but still, nothing. Then he realised it. The floo had been cut off. "NO!" Harry bellowed. "No!" He couldn’t Apparate to the cottage because the dead zone prevented it and it was an hour’s walk through the woods to get to the cottage.

Harry had one idea, and he wasn’t sure it was going to work. Grabbing his broom, he Apparated to the area just outside of the dead zone. He wasn’t sure how high the deadened area went up, so he drove his broom as high as he could and still breathe.

The flight seemed to take forever, even though he pushed his Firebolt to the very limit of its speed. He couldn’t see well beneath him as he was so high, so he estimated and eventually swooped down. The anti-magical field caught the broom and sent Harry plummeting to the ground.

He hit with a hard thud, but he wasn’t as hurt as he thought he was going to be. Brushing himself off, Harry tossed the broom aside and went rushing through the trees. He reached the cottage in a moment’s time and burst inside.

It was there he saw them, Severus was sitting upright on the sofa, Saunders was there with his wand pointed at him. Draco was lying on the floor, his eyes closed, blood trickling from his nose and mouth.

Harry grabbed his wand but before he could act at all, he was petrified and fell to the floor with a thud. His eyes were open, staring at a particularly dusty spot on the ground, and he could hear Saunders taunting Snape.

Harry saw Snape’s hands fluttering in slight movement, like signs, but Harry couldn’t understand them. Then, almost like from a light breeze, words began to form in the dust on the ground.

Your wand is still in your hand. Sectumsempra. I trust you remember how. Aim for his wand hand if you can.

Harry concentrated with all of his might. He only had a half-view of Saunders’ hand that was holding the wand. He hadn’t used the spell since his sixth year at Hogwarts, but he gave it all his might.

There was a loud roar and suddenly Harry was free. He jumped to his feet and pointed his wand at Saunders who was lying on the floor. Snape, who had taken Saunders’ wand from his severed hand, was also standing over the wizard.

"Your brother is being interrogated by the Ministry as we speak," Harry said. "Eventually they will find Kingsley’s body. We already have your detailed plans about what you were going to do here. Make it easy on yourself and tell us where the remains are."

The wizard said nothing, so Harry petrified him and turned to Snape. "What happened to Draco?"

Snape mouthed, ‘Stupefy’ and then mimed Draco hitting his head on the side of the stone hearth.

Harry dropped to his knees and felt for Draco’s pulse. "He’s alive." He looked up at Snape, desperately trying to keep it together. "Do you know where he put Voldemort’s remains?"

Severus gestured towards the side table where a sack lay.

"Go tuck that away somewhere," Harry said. "I’m not risking it being found by another nutter. I’m not going through this again." Harry sounded half-hysterical, his voice trembling with every word.

Severus pulled Harry up and put his hands on his shoulders. He looked at Harry for a few, long moments before he nodded slowly and did as Harry asked.

It wasn’t long before a large team of Aurors arrived at the cottage. Dean and Seamus were in first and looked rather triumphant. "He’s not dead!" Dean called out. "He’s alive. They found him-" but his flow of words stopped when he saw Severus Snape standing there.

"Bloody hell," Seamus breathed.

"There’s time enough for that later," Harry said, taking command once more. "Right now I want him and his brother secured and guarded at all times. There must be no means of escape."

Seamus signalled to two Aurors who quickly took control of the prisoner. They hauled him off while Harry enervated Draco.

With a groan, the blond sat up and held the sides of his head. "God damn it. I’m so sick of having my head cracked open!"

Snape disappeared and came back with a phial of potion. Draco groaned loudly but took it without further protest. Harry and Snape helped him to his feet and the blond leant on Snape heavily.

"Where is Kingsley?" Harry asked.

"St Mungo’s," Seamus said, "recovering nicely. He’ll want to see you soon, I expect."

Harry nodded. "Listen, I’m ordering this cottage to remain untouched until further notice. I’m going to get Draco and Snape home and I’ll be back at the Ministry to finish up paperwork. Seamus, please take charge until I arrive."

Seamus nodded and ordered the rest of the Aurors out. When they were gone, Snape set Draco on the sofa, who was already starting to fade out of consciousness, and approached Harry.

Taking Harry by the shoulders, he pulled him into a firm embrace. Harry allowed this comfort, knowing that he needed it, and that he wasn’t likely to get this very often from Severus Snape. Harry buried his face in Severus’ neck and let out a shuddering sigh.

"There’s always going to be something, isn’t there?" Harry asked, face still pressed against Snape’s skin. "There’s always going to be some crazy maniac that wants to bring him back, or that wants revenge against me... or you... or Draco. It’s never going to be completely over, is it?"

Snape sighed and Harry could feel him shaking his head. Snape threaded his fingers through Harry’s hair and then pulled Harry up for a kiss.

Harry smiled and looked over at Draco. "We’re all alive. I guess that should mean something." He laughed and took Snape’s hand. "We should get Draco home now. If you’re ready to go home."

Snape looked over at Draco, and then once around the cottage. He gave Harry’s fingers the barest squeeze and then, ever so slowly, nodded.

------------------- Epilogue ----------------------

Harry kept his promise to Hermione, and even had the honour to be named godfather to this latest child, a girl. He didn’t bring Snape or Draco round more than once or twice over the years, only because Ron was Ron and Draco and Severus were... well... themselves. But it was enough for the Weasley family to see him as often as they did.

Their first year together was the hardest. Severus’ return was leaked to the Prophet and they had to endure floods of letters, some thanking Severus for his sacrifice, many condemning him for killing Dumbledore. He bore it all with grace, and the three of them made it an evening routine to burn them with their nightly brandy.

Draco and Snape fell into their own routine after one night when Draco finally exploded. Harry, who had been working late, walked in and found Draco sulking at the kitchen table. There were several parchments lying on the floor with one sentence written in spiky black letters:

Talk to me, you ungrateful little sod.

Snape was sitting in the lounge, staring at the fire, and he didn’t look up when Harry came in.

Harry gathered up the parchments and set them on the table. "What’s going on?"

"Nothing," Draco snapped.

"Nothing?" Harry asked. "This doesn’t look like nothing."

"Well what the fuck would you know, Potter? You left me here all day."

"You asked for the day off-" Harry began.

"Fuck you!" Draco shouted, but he wasn’t looking at Harry. The blond was facing Severus back. "Fuck you Snape, for thinking I have anything to say to you. Fuck you if you think because I took your cock up my arse meant I had forgotten how you just fucking left. How you kissed Voldemort’s arse and watched what he did to me and my family and then you just left. You swore you would be there and you DIED. So fuck... you!"

Draco never cried. Never. But now tears were streaming down his cheeks and his hands, clenched into fists, were trembling.

Snape took all this without turning around. Slowly, the older man rose and crossed the room to where Draco was standing. He shoved the blond against the wall so hard Draco’s head made a hard thump and he winced.

Harry couldn’t see Snape’s face full on, but he could see Snape’s jaw working. He was mouthing something and Draco let out a great sob. He buried his face in the front of Snape’s robes and Snape curled around him.

They stood there for the longest time and eventually Harry crept out of the house. He loved them both so dearly and he knew they needed their time. Harry went down the street to the pub and found Seamus and Dean their for their usual, nightly drinks. He joined them and chatted and desperately tried not to think about the pain Draco had been feeling all this time.

When Harry came back, Draco was composed and he was sitting with Snape on the sofa. They were sitting on opposite sides of the sofa, Snape reading a book and Draco reading the day’s paper. They weren’t touching except for the foot that Draco had stretched over to hook underneath Snape’s.

Draco looked up at Harry and asked, "Pissed?"

"No," Harry said, which was true, he had nursed one beer for the entire time he was gone.

"Want to sit?" Draco asked.

Harry situated himself between Draco and Snape. "All right?"

Draco looked past Harry, over at Severus and then said. "Fine." And for the first time since Snape had ‘come back’, Harry believed him.

That year the three of them received an invitation to Malfoy Manor for Christmas. Draco and Harry had been invited every year, but this year was the first time Harry penned a letter back, accepting.

Christmas came too quickly, it seemed. When they arrived, Harry realised it was the first time Draco had been back to Malfoy Manor since the war ended. The Malfoys, at first, had been banned from their home until investigations had been done, but eventually they retained all of their property. By that time Draco had moved far away from there.

"This should be-" Harry said and shrugged.

"Yeah," Draco breathed. He didn’t know what to do once they had reached the door, so he rang the bell.

Harry had expected a house elf to answer, but Narcissa and Lucius both opened the door. They stepped aside to let the three men in, and Harry got a good look at the Malfoys for the first time in ten years.

They still looked very much the same as they had when Harry was a teen. Draco looked very much like his father, Harry noticed, which was only slightly disconcerting.

Narcissa, who never forgot that Harry had saved her son’s life, immediately embraced Harry tightly. She didn’t say much, just a simple, "You look well."

Harry laughed. "Your son makes sure of that." Harry exchanged a quick, wordless handshake with Lucius. They had never got close and Harry didn’t find he regretted that very much.

Narcissa quickly turned her attention on her son, pulling Draco close and kissing both cheeks several times before hugging him tightly. Draco didn’t seem at all flustered by this, or by when his father pulled him into his own fierce hug and whispered something in his ear.

Draco had once brought up that Harry was starved for attention. Harry snorted and made a comment that Draco probably suffered the same fate. Draco then looked Harry in the eye and said, "I’ve never wanted for any sort of touch, Potter."

Harry now knew that Draco was referring to his parents. The Malfoys were horrible people sometimes, and made poor decisions sometimes. But they loved their son and clearly had no qualms with showing it.

When the two older Malfoys had finished with their son, they turned identical gazes on the third man. Severus had slipped himself into the background and waited patiently for his reunion with two people who had been very close to him for many, many years.

Draco, sensing this was going to be one of those moments, grabbed Harry by the hand and hurried him down the hall into the parlour. It was sparsely decorated for Christmas, a tree in the corner and a few garlands here and there. It smelled heavily of pine, but it was quite pleasant and warm.

Draco smiled a little as Harry had a look round and he fetched two glasses of his father’s finest brandy. He pressed a snifter into Harry’s hands and kissed his mouth. "Odd, isn’t it?" he asked.

"A little," Harry agreed, "but what isn’t in our lives?"

Draco snorted. "True. And it could be worse; we could be at the Weasleys."

"We were invited, in case you change your mind," Harry offered with a smirk. Harry craned his head to the side where he had a view of the foyer. He caught a strangely warming glimpse of Severus Snape embracing Lucius Malfoy with a quiet desperation of two loved ones that thought they might never see one another again. Harry had felt that too many times in his life.

He watched as Lucius pulled away and casually brushed his hand over the scars on Severus’ throat. Severus was nodding to whatever Lucius was saying and then the three older adults stepped out of view.

"He loves us, doesn’t he." Draco mused.

Harry was drawn out of his thoughts by Draco’s voice and turned to look at the blond. "Hmm?"

"Severus," Draco said. "He does love us." It wasn’t a question really, merely a request for reassurance.

"Yes," Harry said quietly. "He really does. Haven’t you asked him?"

Draco smiled. "No. But then again, I didn’t really need to."