Chapter 51 - Part A
“You think Remus is corrupt? You?” Sirius demanded incredulously, instantly on the defensive. “I suppose you consider yourself purer than the driven snow now that you’re on our side; now that Draco and, by connection, Harry have forgiven you your crimes. Except,” he paused for dramatic effect, “wait, that still doesn’t remove the fact that you raped my godson, does it?” His heavy, caustic tone cut through the air and brought Lucius to a frozen halt at the foot of the bed.
Slowly, Remus sat up as well but placed the palm of one hand on Daniel’s shoulder, indicating that he should stay put. He was evidently content for Sirius to handle this and so the cub’s interjection was not required, just then.
Lucius, Sirius was astounded to note, looked immediately chastened. He dipped his chin and glanced down and to one side.
“There’s perhaps something you should know about… that time,” Daniel murmured and then faltered when Lucius lifted his head sharply and cast him a quelling stare. After a moment, though, he began once more; all the while holding his mate’s gaze. “Not that this in any way excuses what Lucius did to Harry. Harry was under the influence of the Sanguinarius Control and was therefore incapable of doing anything but what Voldemort wished and, well, rape is rape.”
“Daniel,” Sirius didn’t take his eyes off Lucius, “we know this. What are you getting at?”
“Don’t.” That was all Lucius said: one flat, no-nonsense word. There was so much emotion behind his eyes, however, that Daniel swallowed with an audible gulp.
“There’s no way Lucius could have managed anything without a potion riding him.” He stated and then sighed and whispered an apology to his partner.
“You were high?” Remus asked quietly after a few moments and, at length, Lucius replied.
“That’s a muggle term - associated with taking drugs?” Lucius cocked his head to one side thoughtfully. “Yes, I was pretty much high then.”
“So it wasn’t your fault?” Sirius bit out with a little sneer. “Poor misunderstood Lucius?”
“Siri,” Daniel cautioned and Remus had opened his mouth to interject too. “Let Lucius explain.”
For a moment, Sirius glanced down at Daniel, taking in the warm expanse of his bare chest and exposed throat. He noted too that Remus’ fingers were carding through the cub’s hair and wondered if this was all that was keeping Daniel calm; keeping him from leaping to aggressively defend Lucius. How conflicted must the cub be, right then?
Finally, Sirius sat back on his heels and looked back at Lucius. Only then, did he note that Lucius had been staring at Daniel too.
“The shift of power within the Inner Circle of the Elite,” Lucius began again, his voice soft and a little rough, “the little performances that the Dark Lord enjoys so much -”
“Yeah, the rape, we get it.” Sirius growled, “Voldie’s a sick fuck: this we know.”
“Siri,” Now Remus was warning him off and Sirius cast him a single, swift, apologetic glance.
“You’re right,” Lucius nodded, eyes too bright, “the Dark Lord seems to thrive on it all. But he doesn’t get his thrills from taking part; instead, he likes to watch.” Lucius stared back at Sirius for a moment and then swallowed. “Well, some of the victims are less than pretty when they reach this point and so the Dark Lord began administering a potion to help us… to make us…”
“To put lead in your pencil?” Sirius asked, tone and expression not unkind. His mind repeatedly shuddered away from imagining what state Harry must have been in and so focused instead on the man before him. And so he recognised suddenly that Lucius was trying and he was honestly struggling with the memories of what he’d done. Had he always regretted his acts or was that the life-bond with Daniel talking? It didn’t really matter either way; Lucius regretted it now and that was important, right? After all, there was no way to undo the life-bond.
“It was the same potion my father gave me on my wedding night,” Lucius declared with so much casual cheer it was painful to witness. “There was no way I could have gotten Narcissa pregnant without it. As I once told Daniel,” he looked down at his partner again and smiled when Daniel sat up and reached out to hold his hand, “the potion takes over everything and there’s no room left for thoughts of right or wrong. I wanted one thing and one thing only.”
“Harry,” Sirius supplied, his voice breaking a little.
“Sex,” Lucius corrected. “All I wanted was sex. Harry was the one on offer but, in truth, I would have fucked the first person to look at me the right way.” He shook his head and edged a little closer to Sirius. “I’ve committed monstrous crimes but I’m not a paedophile. I don’t seek adolescent boys. I want Daniel… and right now I want my pack-brother…” he finished on a whisper and met Sirius’ eyes with a level gaze.
“Do you also want your Alpha?” Remus asked very softly.
Lucius swallowed and turned his head. “I…”
Remus rose to his knees and leaned against Daniel’s back, resting a hand on his hip for support. He closed the other hand around the back of Lucius’ head and held his gaze. “Sirius,” he said then, not breaking eye contact with Lucius.
Sirius cleared his throat and then said, “Remus?”
“He’s yours, Siri. Take good care of him.”
Daniel gasped between them all and his wilting cock twitched back to life. Sirius spared him only a glance, however, before knee-walking forward to slide an arm around Lucius’ waist.
Kneeling upright on the high bed, Sirius found that he and Lucius were exactly eye to eye. The front of Lucius’ shirt brushed against Sirius’ naked stomach, the ticklish sensation sweet and tantalising. And then, as Sirius drew Lucius to him for the first kiss, Lucius’ hand slid down to mould itself against Sirius’ side and that sensation was so much better. That and the kiss - oh god, could Lucius Malfoy kiss! - was all consuming and Sirius forgot about where they were; forgot about the dynamics of this coupling; even forgot about Lucius’ crimes. He kissed the blond man into near-submission; kissed him until Lucius started to push back in an attempt to assume dominance. At that point, Sirius wrapped his arms around Lucius’ body and then leaned backwards to deliberately over-balance them. He twisted mid-fall so that Lucius toppled beneath him.
As Lucius stumbled and fell to the bed, Sirius was vaguely aware of Remus scooping Daniel out of the way and the cub muttering, “Fuck me, that’s hot!” but all of Sirius’ attention was focused on Lucius.
For a start, he straddled the man’s hips and made a thorough job of kissing Lucius: hard, hot kisses where their tongues twisted and played and they bit at each other until their lips were full and dark. He then moved to lip and bite over Lucius’ chin and jaw. Nosing Lucius’ chin up, he then nipped at the soft meat of his throat and felt Lucius growl in pleasure.
As he crawled down Lucius’ sprawled figure, pulling his shirt open and nibbling at the broad chest, he growled little words and phrases of ownership, dominance and possession.
Lucius gave one half-articulated sound of protest at that but fell silent when Sirius bit and then sucked at his nipples. He squirmed, wriggling free of his shirt and then boosted himself higher up the bed even as Sirius pulled his trousers down and away.
Back on top of Lucius once more, Sirius looked over to where Remus was reclining on the bed, back resting against the wall, with Daniel between his legs. Both of them were watching him with hungry, predatory faces and Remus had Daniel’s cock in one hand, casually working it back to hardness with long, lazy strokes as he cleaned himself with a soft, wet cloth (courtesy of the Room of Requirement).
Sirius and Remus shared a small, private smile and Daniel looked up into his Alpha’s face as if seeking reassurance. Remus hushed him with a kiss on his temple and they settled again.
“Hey,” Lucius grumbled and gave one of Sirius’ nipples a hard pinch, “remember me?”
“How could I forget you?” Sirius replied and then tilted his head to one side. “I’m going to ride your cock in just a minute. Does that sound good to you?”
Lucius remained silent but something in that silence - perhaps the tilt of his chin or a flicker in his eyes - gave Sirius pause for a second.
“Or perhaps not.” He said with a mild hint of surprise. He managed to keep from glancing at Daniel and held Lucius’ gaze as he stroked a hand down his chest, onto his hip and then curled his fingers into Lucius’ buttock. “You want me to take you?”
Still, Lucius refused to respond but the silence was answer-enough really.
“Okay,” Sirius nodded and continued his stroking, bringing the hand down and underneath Lucius’ thigh until he could pull the leg up and wide. He turned his head then and pressed a deep, sucking kiss into the inside of Lucius’ knee and left a red-purple bruise. “I’ll fuck you deep… and hard…” he promised between kisses and bites against Lucius’ inner thigh, “I’ll bring you screaming my name, okay?”
At that, Lucius drew a shuddering breath and nodded, still silent but with wide eyes. Daniel made a tiny, cut-off sound as if he couldn’t help but interject. When Sirius and Lucius glanced over, however, the cub’s mouth had been filled with Remus’ tongue and so he couldn’t say any more.
Sirius boosted himself forward, stole a swift kiss from Lucius and then growled, “Fuck, Lucius. Roll over.”
After pressing another kiss to Sirius’ mouth, Lucius nodded and moved to comply.
*~*~*
On the other side of the castle, oblivious to what was transpiring in the Room of Requirement, Professor McGonagall was considering what she should do with the students before her.
“Never,” she said with asperity as she regarded the girls from over the top of her glasses, “have I ever heard of anything like this. Not only have you frightened your poor parents half to death by failing to get on the train but you, Miss Montgomery-Nott, have quite a bit of explaining to do concerning Mr Malfoy.”
“How come you’re not interviewing Mr Malfoy?” Caroline demanded indignantly, stepping forward to defend Arabella. “For all you know, he might have been pestering lots of girls.”
Professor McGonagall chose not to respond to Caroline but instead continued to watch Arabella as she asked, “Did Mr Malfoy - as Miss Knight just put it - ‘pester’ you, Miss Montgomery-Nott?”
“No, Professor,” Arabella replied softly. Her voice was scratchy from crying and, since Lucius had so obviously spooked her by mentioning her late father, was far more subdued than before.
Professor McGonagall nodded primly and levelled a steely gaze upon Caroline, “Unless a student raises an allegation against Mr Malfoy, I won’t be interviewing anyone.” And then she addressed the whole group before her again, “Mr Malfoy, his life-bonded partner, Mr Litworth - along with several others - are guests at Hogwarts and I cannot convey my shame when I think of how you conducted yourselves today. The things you said to Mr Malfoy, Miss Montgomery-Nott - the way you spoke to him - I will expect a written apology from you, young lady; to Mr Malfoy, Mr Litworth and Mr Lupin.”
“Is he really?” Arabella said anxiously, worrying at her bottom lip.
“Is who really what?” Professor McGonagall demanded impatiently.
“Is Daniel Litworth really Lucius’ life-bonded partner?”
“Yes. He is.” Professor McGonagall replied flatly. “Now then,” she sat up straight and briskly shuffled some sheets of parchment in front of her, “is there anything else I should know about?” When the girls mumbled quiet negations, she said, “Your parents will be here shortly to escort you all to your homes. Miss Montgomery-Nott, you will use the time between now and then to write your letters of apology while your friends collect their bags and yours. Off you go.”
*~*~*
“Here now,” Vera coaxed Toby towards the sofa in Kingsley’s living room and Jenna smiled, silently encouraging him to go while she and Alison brought Kingsley up to date.
“We need to send a dispatch of aurors to the Van Stolren house.” Alison said very quietly, “William is extremely dangerous and his parents,” she glanced quickly at Toby, “are no match for him. It won’t take him long to work out how we escaped and then…” she shook her head, refusing to finish that sentence.
“I’ll contact Albus,” Kingsley replied, “let him know you’re safe and I’ll ask him to send members of the Order. Right now, though,” he gestured to the chairs around his dining table, “you two need to sit and rest a bit. Eat some food, drink some tea and regroup before continuing on to Scotland.”
Alison nodded and offered a wan smile to Jenna, “Guess it’d only be a matter of time before we started making mistakes anyway.”
Jenna nodded and sighed wearily. “Toby couldn’t go on much further in any case.”
She glanced out the window, noting the rolling moor land. “Doesn’t Severus Snape live somewhere up here?”
“Just over the next couple of Dales,” Vera responded while Kingsley fetched a steaming teapot. “He and Kingsley were friends once upon a time.”
“We’re not exactly enemies now, you know.” Kingsley protested and then shrugged, looking awkward. “It’s just… when I was signing up for Auror College, Severus was enlisting with Lucius Malfoy and Col. Different paths, different circles.”
He followed Jenna’s gaze out the window but said nothing more.
*~*~*
Slowly, Remus sat up as well but placed the palm of one hand on Daniel’s shoulder, indicating that he should stay put. He was evidently content for Sirius to handle this and so the cub’s interjection was not required, just then.
Lucius, Sirius was astounded to note, looked immediately chastened. He dipped his chin and glanced down and to one side.
“There’s perhaps something you should know about… that time,” Daniel murmured and then faltered when Lucius lifted his head sharply and cast him a quelling stare. After a moment, though, he began once more; all the while holding his mate’s gaze. “Not that this in any way excuses what Lucius did to Harry. Harry was under the influence of the Sanguinarius Control and was therefore incapable of doing anything but what Voldemort wished and, well, rape is rape.”
“Daniel,” Sirius didn’t take his eyes off Lucius, “we know this. What are you getting at?”
“Don’t.” That was all Lucius said: one flat, no-nonsense word. There was so much emotion behind his eyes, however, that Daniel swallowed with an audible gulp.
“There’s no way Lucius could have managed anything without a potion riding him.” He stated and then sighed and whispered an apology to his partner.
“You were high?” Remus asked quietly after a few moments and, at length, Lucius replied.
“That’s a muggle term - associated with taking drugs?” Lucius cocked his head to one side thoughtfully. “Yes, I was pretty much high then.”
“So it wasn’t your fault?” Sirius bit out with a little sneer. “Poor misunderstood Lucius?”
“Siri,” Daniel cautioned and Remus had opened his mouth to interject too. “Let Lucius explain.”
For a moment, Sirius glanced down at Daniel, taking in the warm expanse of his bare chest and exposed throat. He noted too that Remus’ fingers were carding through the cub’s hair and wondered if this was all that was keeping Daniel calm; keeping him from leaping to aggressively defend Lucius. How conflicted must the cub be, right then?
Finally, Sirius sat back on his heels and looked back at Lucius. Only then, did he note that Lucius had been staring at Daniel too.
“The shift of power within the Inner Circle of the Elite,” Lucius began again, his voice soft and a little rough, “the little performances that the Dark Lord enjoys so much -”
“Yeah, the rape, we get it.” Sirius growled, “Voldie’s a sick fuck: this we know.”
“Siri,” Now Remus was warning him off and Sirius cast him a single, swift, apologetic glance.
“You’re right,” Lucius nodded, eyes too bright, “the Dark Lord seems to thrive on it all. But he doesn’t get his thrills from taking part; instead, he likes to watch.” Lucius stared back at Sirius for a moment and then swallowed. “Well, some of the victims are less than pretty when they reach this point and so the Dark Lord began administering a potion to help us… to make us…”
“To put lead in your pencil?” Sirius asked, tone and expression not unkind. His mind repeatedly shuddered away from imagining what state Harry must have been in and so focused instead on the man before him. And so he recognised suddenly that Lucius was trying and he was honestly struggling with the memories of what he’d done. Had he always regretted his acts or was that the life-bond with Daniel talking? It didn’t really matter either way; Lucius regretted it now and that was important, right? After all, there was no way to undo the life-bond.
“It was the same potion my father gave me on my wedding night,” Lucius declared with so much casual cheer it was painful to witness. “There was no way I could have gotten Narcissa pregnant without it. As I once told Daniel,” he looked down at his partner again and smiled when Daniel sat up and reached out to hold his hand, “the potion takes over everything and there’s no room left for thoughts of right or wrong. I wanted one thing and one thing only.”
“Harry,” Sirius supplied, his voice breaking a little.
“Sex,” Lucius corrected. “All I wanted was sex. Harry was the one on offer but, in truth, I would have fucked the first person to look at me the right way.” He shook his head and edged a little closer to Sirius. “I’ve committed monstrous crimes but I’m not a paedophile. I don’t seek adolescent boys. I want Daniel… and right now I want my pack-brother…” he finished on a whisper and met Sirius’ eyes with a level gaze.
“Do you also want your Alpha?” Remus asked very softly.
Lucius swallowed and turned his head. “I…”
Remus rose to his knees and leaned against Daniel’s back, resting a hand on his hip for support. He closed the other hand around the back of Lucius’ head and held his gaze. “Sirius,” he said then, not breaking eye contact with Lucius.
Sirius cleared his throat and then said, “Remus?”
“He’s yours, Siri. Take good care of him.”
Daniel gasped between them all and his wilting cock twitched back to life. Sirius spared him only a glance, however, before knee-walking forward to slide an arm around Lucius’ waist.
Kneeling upright on the high bed, Sirius found that he and Lucius were exactly eye to eye. The front of Lucius’ shirt brushed against Sirius’ naked stomach, the ticklish sensation sweet and tantalising. And then, as Sirius drew Lucius to him for the first kiss, Lucius’ hand slid down to mould itself against Sirius’ side and that sensation was so much better. That and the kiss - oh god, could Lucius Malfoy kiss! - was all consuming and Sirius forgot about where they were; forgot about the dynamics of this coupling; even forgot about Lucius’ crimes. He kissed the blond man into near-submission; kissed him until Lucius started to push back in an attempt to assume dominance. At that point, Sirius wrapped his arms around Lucius’ body and then leaned backwards to deliberately over-balance them. He twisted mid-fall so that Lucius toppled beneath him.
As Lucius stumbled and fell to the bed, Sirius was vaguely aware of Remus scooping Daniel out of the way and the cub muttering, “Fuck me, that’s hot!” but all of Sirius’ attention was focused on Lucius.
For a start, he straddled the man’s hips and made a thorough job of kissing Lucius: hard, hot kisses where their tongues twisted and played and they bit at each other until their lips were full and dark. He then moved to lip and bite over Lucius’ chin and jaw. Nosing Lucius’ chin up, he then nipped at the soft meat of his throat and felt Lucius growl in pleasure.
As he crawled down Lucius’ sprawled figure, pulling his shirt open and nibbling at the broad chest, he growled little words and phrases of ownership, dominance and possession.
Lucius gave one half-articulated sound of protest at that but fell silent when Sirius bit and then sucked at his nipples. He squirmed, wriggling free of his shirt and then boosted himself higher up the bed even as Sirius pulled his trousers down and away.
Back on top of Lucius once more, Sirius looked over to where Remus was reclining on the bed, back resting against the wall, with Daniel between his legs. Both of them were watching him with hungry, predatory faces and Remus had Daniel’s cock in one hand, casually working it back to hardness with long, lazy strokes as he cleaned himself with a soft, wet cloth (courtesy of the Room of Requirement).
Sirius and Remus shared a small, private smile and Daniel looked up into his Alpha’s face as if seeking reassurance. Remus hushed him with a kiss on his temple and they settled again.
“Hey,” Lucius grumbled and gave one of Sirius’ nipples a hard pinch, “remember me?”
“How could I forget you?” Sirius replied and then tilted his head to one side. “I’m going to ride your cock in just a minute. Does that sound good to you?”
Lucius remained silent but something in that silence - perhaps the tilt of his chin or a flicker in his eyes - gave Sirius pause for a second.
“Or perhaps not.” He said with a mild hint of surprise. He managed to keep from glancing at Daniel and held Lucius’ gaze as he stroked a hand down his chest, onto his hip and then curled his fingers into Lucius’ buttock. “You want me to take you?”
Still, Lucius refused to respond but the silence was answer-enough really.
“Okay,” Sirius nodded and continued his stroking, bringing the hand down and underneath Lucius’ thigh until he could pull the leg up and wide. He turned his head then and pressed a deep, sucking kiss into the inside of Lucius’ knee and left a red-purple bruise. “I’ll fuck you deep… and hard…” he promised between kisses and bites against Lucius’ inner thigh, “I’ll bring you screaming my name, okay?”
At that, Lucius drew a shuddering breath and nodded, still silent but with wide eyes. Daniel made a tiny, cut-off sound as if he couldn’t help but interject. When Sirius and Lucius glanced over, however, the cub’s mouth had been filled with Remus’ tongue and so he couldn’t say any more.
Sirius boosted himself forward, stole a swift kiss from Lucius and then growled, “Fuck, Lucius. Roll over.”
After pressing another kiss to Sirius’ mouth, Lucius nodded and moved to comply.
*~*~*
On the other side of the castle, oblivious to what was transpiring in the Room of Requirement, Professor McGonagall was considering what she should do with the students before her.
“Never,” she said with asperity as she regarded the girls from over the top of her glasses, “have I ever heard of anything like this. Not only have you frightened your poor parents half to death by failing to get on the train but you, Miss Montgomery-Nott, have quite a bit of explaining to do concerning Mr Malfoy.”
“How come you’re not interviewing Mr Malfoy?” Caroline demanded indignantly, stepping forward to defend Arabella. “For all you know, he might have been pestering lots of girls.”
Professor McGonagall chose not to respond to Caroline but instead continued to watch Arabella as she asked, “Did Mr Malfoy - as Miss Knight just put it - ‘pester’ you, Miss Montgomery-Nott?”
“No, Professor,” Arabella replied softly. Her voice was scratchy from crying and, since Lucius had so obviously spooked her by mentioning her late father, was far more subdued than before.
Professor McGonagall nodded primly and levelled a steely gaze upon Caroline, “Unless a student raises an allegation against Mr Malfoy, I won’t be interviewing anyone.” And then she addressed the whole group before her again, “Mr Malfoy, his life-bonded partner, Mr Litworth - along with several others - are guests at Hogwarts and I cannot convey my shame when I think of how you conducted yourselves today. The things you said to Mr Malfoy, Miss Montgomery-Nott - the way you spoke to him - I will expect a written apology from you, young lady; to Mr Malfoy, Mr Litworth and Mr Lupin.”
“Is he really?” Arabella said anxiously, worrying at her bottom lip.
“Is who really what?” Professor McGonagall demanded impatiently.
“Is Daniel Litworth really Lucius’ life-bonded partner?”
“Yes. He is.” Professor McGonagall replied flatly. “Now then,” she sat up straight and briskly shuffled some sheets of parchment in front of her, “is there anything else I should know about?” When the girls mumbled quiet negations, she said, “Your parents will be here shortly to escort you all to your homes. Miss Montgomery-Nott, you will use the time between now and then to write your letters of apology while your friends collect their bags and yours. Off you go.”
*~*~*
“Here now,” Vera coaxed Toby towards the sofa in Kingsley’s living room and Jenna smiled, silently encouraging him to go while she and Alison brought Kingsley up to date.
“We need to send a dispatch of aurors to the Van Stolren house.” Alison said very quietly, “William is extremely dangerous and his parents,” she glanced quickly at Toby, “are no match for him. It won’t take him long to work out how we escaped and then…” she shook her head, refusing to finish that sentence.
“I’ll contact Albus,” Kingsley replied, “let him know you’re safe and I’ll ask him to send members of the Order. Right now, though,” he gestured to the chairs around his dining table, “you two need to sit and rest a bit. Eat some food, drink some tea and regroup before continuing on to Scotland.”
Alison nodded and offered a wan smile to Jenna, “Guess it’d only be a matter of time before we started making mistakes anyway.”
Jenna nodded and sighed wearily. “Toby couldn’t go on much further in any case.”
She glanced out the window, noting the rolling moor land. “Doesn’t Severus Snape live somewhere up here?”
“Just over the next couple of Dales,” Vera responded while Kingsley fetched a steaming teapot. “He and Kingsley were friends once upon a time.”
“We’re not exactly enemies now, you know.” Kingsley protested and then shrugged, looking awkward. “It’s just… when I was signing up for Auror College, Severus was enlisting with Lucius Malfoy and Col. Different paths, different circles.”
He followed Jenna’s gaze out the window but said nothing more.
*~*~*