Chapter Text
[===== Plot =====]
Severus grumbled to himself, scowling into his coffee and trying to pretend that this was his usual disdain for facing the morning too early and not his stress manifesting about staying at the castle over break instead of following Harry around all summer.
His nephew could handle himself. He had Severus’ floo access codes and two overprotective alphas plastered to him. It would be fine.
…Maybe Severus would send another letter to Narcissa, just to check in. She had already sent him a confirmation that she and Lucius had been able to pick the boys up from the train station. Apparently, Celestina had also invited herself to stay with them until Harry decided to visit the Weasleys.
Severus wanted to be disillusioned in the corner for the poetry in motion that was sure to be Celestina Zabini’s scolding. He could take notes for the next time the dunderheads almost blew up his classroom.
“You do know it's noon, right? The students have only been gone for twenty-four hours, Severus. Did you really sleep for twelve of those?” Tom asked as he settled into the chair next to Severus.
They were in the great hall, at the head table. Severus pretended that it didn’t make his heart flutter that his pretty omega chose the normal professor chair next to him over the gaudy headmaster chair the man was entitled to.
Not. Tom was not his omega. Not yet, at least.
“I will sleep for another twelve the minute I’m done eating,” Severus threatened, only half-serious.
Tom laughed, eyes squinty and hair perfect. Pretty, precious bastard. As if he didn’t just wake up himself. Severus was on to him. No one had seen Tom yet when Severus asked around on his way to food and coffee.
“Maybe hold off on the small coma you are attempting to indulge in. I need some help, if you have the time. Or… Well, there are others I could ask. You don’t have to-”
“Tom,” Severus cut in patiently, “What do you need?”
There was a faint blush painted on Tom’s cheeks as he determinedly met Severus’ eyes, “I need to visit St. Mungos and speak with Dumbledore. It would be helpful to have someone with a mediwix license with me. I could take Pomfery, but I’m not certain of her political standing here. I trust you, though. I know you will tell me the truth.”
“Of course,” Severus said quietly, firmly, “What exactly do you need from him?”
“There is something odd about the wards. They are constantly drawing energy from the grounds and anything or anyone magical on the grounds, but it's going somewhere else. It’s not being stored or used as far as I can tell. I need you to evaluate him, take a glance at his core if you can. I don’t want to believe that he would bury a leech in wards that protect children…”
“I don’t think any of us were expecting what he was really doing. I don’t understand his motives. What was the point behind all of this? If only we could prove what he did to you and what he was responsible for with Harry… Yes, I will help in any way I can, Tom. Just let me finish my coffee first,” Severus replied.
Amusement glinted from ruby irises as Tom teased, “I wouldn’t dare try to drag you away from your coffee, Alpha. I know how sacred the first cup is for you. I do want you intelligible and logical for this little side trip.”
Severus choked on his mouthful of life juice when it finally clicked that Tom just called him ‘Alpha’. Wide-eyed, he glanced over to see that pretty blush turn bright red.
Tom glared and hissed, “Not a fucking word. You know I didn’t mean it like- I would never force you- It’s just my stupid hormones-”
“Don’t hurt yourself, Omega. Let me finish my coffee, we can go interrogate Dumbledore, and then you and I can have a conversation about us,” Severus said as calmly as he could. His heart was thundering in his chest, and it was only partially due to the surge in caffeine he had imbibed.
Ruby eyes searched his for a long moment, and Severus kept his gaze steady, his face resolute. A tiny smile curved thin lips, and Tom said, “Okay. Coffee, interrogation, and then us.”
[===== Plot =====]
“What do you mean ‘he’s gone’?? He was in a secure ward! He’s over a hundred years old! His beard is five feet long! How did he just walk out of this place with not a single person stopping him?” Tom demanded, rage starting to bubble in his chest.
“W-well… He signed himself out,” The young man behind the desk said, timid and regretful before he even opened his mouth.
“He. Signed. Himself. Out. Of. The. Secure. Ward. While. Under. Ministry. Watch,” Tom ground out.
“I-It would appear so. It says here that he was released from Ministry custody, so there was no flag in the system when he checked out. He was up and walking by that point and left against mediwixen advice,” The secretary mumbled apologetically.
Tom heaved in a deep breath, trying to control his emotions so he didn’t accidentally set the desk on fire.
“Who signed the order to release him from custody?” Severus growled as he set a supporting hand on the small of Tom’s back. Tom leaned into it subtly, grateful to have the Alpha with him.
The secretary scrambled up from the desk and disappeared into the filing room, hopefully to use his brain and summon the paperwork instead of making them wait while he-
“It’s not a name I recognize, Sir,” The boy said, appearing in the doorway and scanning a sheet of parchment, “It’s an Elphias Doge. Some kind of official Wizengamot person. There’s a special stamp they use that is next to his name, which is why no one questioned it.”
A snarl rumbled from Severus’ chest, and Tom jolted in surprise. He didn’t feel threatened by the distinctly protective sound, but it wasn’t one he had ever heard from Severus before.
“That asslicking, shallow-bottomed, boot-humping, no good pushover! I bet he didn’t even hesitate or question why Albus was in custody. Just signed the release and patted his own back,” Severus raged. Tom watched with interest as the paperwork scattered over the desk in front of them started to float up in an invisible wind. As much as he relished Severus’ emotional outburst, he should probably rein the other man in before he wrecked this very nice lobby.
“Did you just call him ‘shallow-bottomed’? Is that a potions insult? Are you implying he would make for a shitty cauldron?” Tom asked impertinently, already knowing the answer.
“Of course, he would be shallow-bottomed! He wouldn’t even be deep enough for me to make a single dose of- of-”
“Hmm… A cure for boils? Or herbicide? Or maybe a forgetfulness potion?”
“You chose those ones because I teach them to the first years, didn’t you?” Severus asked, voice sardonic, but the papers were gently settling back into place.
“Well, I would hardly want to use him to make Felix Felices or Polyjuice. I don’t know where he’s been. He could have any kind of contaminants or inconsistencies. Plus, he is apparently too shallow,” Tom said seriously before smirking, “We should visit the ministry. I would like to have a word with this Elphias Doge, and we should have a conversation with the minister.”
Severus nodded and followed Tom out of St. Mungos. His hand never left its spot at the small of Tom’s back. Tom used that fact to bolster his hope that he could still fix this mess and get to talk to his Alpha about their relationship.
[===== Plot =====]
A broken purr vibrated the air, a steady metronome that declared how happy Harry was with his new nest. His set of rooms at Malfoy Manor was wonderful and included the largest bed he had ever seen. It made the king-sized bed his pack nest was built on at school look tiny.
The vast, comfortable surface was the perfect canvas for his ideal nest. Harry had spent hours yesterday arranging and fussing with it until everything was where it belonged. Dobby had been delighted to requisition supplies for him, too.
Harry would never tell the others, but he sometimes asked Dobby to… acquire things for him. Like Hermione’s favorite sweater that was drenched in her scent and was currently woven into the foundation of his new nest. She would get it back. Eventually. Maybe.
Perhaps Harry should send Dobby to buy her an identical one that he could switch out every time the one in his possession lost her scent…
“Dobby,” Harry called quietly.
The elf popped into the space next to him immediately. Harry smiled softly and gently pulled Dobby closer to cuddle in the warm softness of the nest. Dobby didn’t pull away, just sighed with pleasure and burrowed into Harry’s chest.
“Good morning, Dobby,” Harry whispered.
“Good morning, Harry,” Dobby whispered back.
Harry gently let some of his magic bleed into their connection, monitoring the elf in his arms and his own magic levels until a gentle wash of magic started to come back to him.
Bonding with a house elf was not supposed to be slavery. House elves used to be brownies. They would clean wixen homes and get food in return. Eventually, the relationship evolved to the brownies getting magic in return for acts of service. That snowballed to house elves forming bonds with specific wixen families to benefit from their magic.
It was necessary for the life and health of a house elf to have a bond with a wixen. A household was needed to support more than one elf safely. The ancient ancestral homes tended to have elves bonded directly with the wards. This allowed for an army of elves to help maintain and clean the grounds and house, even if there was only one person alive in the family.
Harry shuddered to think of what must have happened to any elves bound to the Potter Manor wards. Sixteen years, or longer, with no one living there… They were long dead. It made his heart ache, but there was nothing he could do for them now.
Dobby had enthusiastically answered Harry’s every question about house elves and bonding. Harry made sure that he fed magic into their bond every day. Not that Dobby had to be physically present for him to do so. It was just nice to start the day with a cuddle from one of his packmates.
“Lady Zabini is halfway to your door, Sir,” Dobby mumbled into his sleep shirt.
“Don’t call me ‘sir’. What do you want to do while the rest of the pack is on break? Do you have anyone to visit or anyplace you want to go?” Harry asked quietly.
“I would like to visit Winky. She’s not doing well still, and I don’t want to abandon her. Otherwise, I was going to bully Kreacher into clearing Grimmauld Place with me. I don’t care how old he is; the state of that home is a disgrace,” Dobby said.
“Is she still refusing my offer?” Harry asked softly.
“I- I haven’t asked her again. And I won’t until your pups come. Your magic is strained enough trying to support us three. I’m not going to ask you to add a fourth. Winky will be fine for a while longer,” Dobby replied.
“Okay,” Harry said, “I trust your judgement. Also, don’t be too mean to Kreacher. He has to stay bonded with the dark twisted wards of Grimmauld Place until I can figure out how to clean them up. They just make him a little… eccentric.”
“Crazy. The word you are looking for is crazy. He’s also an asshole, so it's hard to tell what is him being a grumpy old bastard and what is the wards twisting him into a hate-filled racist,” Dobby grumbled.
Harry sighed, “True. There are so many problems, sometimes I feel like I’m drowning. When am I going to be able to help Kreacher and Winky? I keep putting them off for one reason or another, and the babies aren’t going to change that. I feel like-”
“Harrison,” Dobby said gently, using spindly, slender fingers to cradle Harry’s cheeks, “You don’t need to save the world. You don’t need to solve the problems of every elf in existence. You just need to be healthy and happy. We can talk to Hermione or Ron if Kreacher or Winky needs immediate help. They don’t right now. It can wait.”
Harry heaved in a breath, caught in large, earnest eyes, “Okay. You win. I’ll stop trying to be the elf hero. I think it would be a better title than ‘The Boy Who Lived’. I could be ‘The Hero of House Elves’.”
“You’ll just have to live with ‘The Hero of Dobby, the best house elf to ever live’ instead,” Dobby said with a grin.
A knock echoed through the room before Harry could reply, and he was abruptly reminded of Dobby’s warning earlier. It must be Mrs. Zabini. Blase’s mother. Harry wasn’t ready for this! He wasn’t even dressed yet!
“Do you want me to go drop a cake on her as a distraction?” Dobby asked seriously.
Harry giggled hysterically as he scrambled to the edge of the enormous bed. He stumbled to his feet and pointed emphatically at the innocent-looking elf, “No dropping cakes or pies or any other kind of tasty dessert on unsuspecting victims. That didn’t work out well for either of us last time.”
“What about gross desserts? Can I drop those? I have very slippery magic, you know,” Dobby asked with a chaotic gleam in his eye.
“No! No dropping things. Go see Winky, you fiend. Tell her I said ‘Hi’. And be nice to Kreacher!” Harry demanded as he rushed around to find clothes and a brush to drag through his hair.
By the time he was ready to answer the door, Dobby had already left. Harry grinned to himself, happy that he got to spend time with Dobby before the day really started. He queried the wards about his visitor, tilting his head and closing his eyes as they eagerly told him all about the powerful grey magic that was standing at the door.
With a hum and a little more confidence, Harry pulled the door open a crack a peaked out. A tall, gorgeous woman was patiently waiting on the other side. She was so clearly Balise’s mother. She was also an Alpha. Harry wasn’t sure he had ever met a female Alpha before.
He let his left eye catch on her magic, the way it pulsed like a star and lit up the hallway around her. Mrs. Zabini tolerated his silence for a moment before she said, “Good morning, Heir Potter. I would like to invite you to breakfast with myself and Narcissa. We had some ideas we would like your input on.”
Her smile was predatory, screaming danger and death with gleaming white teeth and prominent Alpha fangs. But Harry could only smile back at her because her scent was soft with affection and awe. How could he be afraid when she seemed to adore him on sight?
“I would be happy to, Mrs. Zabini,” Harry replied.
“Please, darling, call me Celestina. You are family, and I will not have the barrier of formality between us,” Celestina purred in a rich Italian accent.
“Okay,” Harry agreed, “but only if you stop with the ‘Heir Potter’ nonsense. Just call me Harry.”
The surge of delighted Alpha musk almost drowned him. Harry had never been around an Alpha with such a strong scent before. Was it because she was a woman? Or maybe the British Alphas did something different with their scents?
“Perfect. Come, mio genero. Let me escort you. This ridiculous manor is much too large to risk getting lost before you have the first meal of the day. I refuse to let my grandpups go hungry,” Celestina said grandly as she held out a hand and wiggled her fingers at him.
Harry only hesitated a beat before he reached out and let her pull him out into the hallway. He made sure the door was closed and the wards fully engaged before carefully stepping closer to the tall Alpha woman. Her smile was gentle as she let their shoulders brush and kept hold of his hand.
“This way, tesoro. Now, before we get there, I have a few questions for you. The first, and most important, is have you thought of any names for your babies yet? Because I have some wonderful ideas that you simply must consider-”
Harry… might have made a mistake. He hadn’t even considered the territory fight that could happen over his pups while he was staying with his mates’ family.
This was fine.
He would just tell them to ask Draco. Harry was pretty sure his blond mate had a folder full of parchment lists of names, nursery ideas, wedding plans, and a slowly building picture of the perfect pack house for all of them to build and live in after school.
Harry just needed to get through breakfast without promising his firstborn child to either witch. He could do this.