The Price of Peace (HP/LV/SS, NC-17), Chapter 6
The Price of Peace
by Maeglin Yedi
Pairing: Harry/Voldemort/Snape, other minor pairings (both het and slash)
Rating: NC-17
Disclaimer: They all belong to J.K. Rowling. I just make them shag.
Warnings: AU from HBP onwards
Summary: After ten years of peace, there is now a price to pay, as Harry discovers.
A/N: Sequel to The Semblance of Peace. You should definitely read that story first, otherwise this one won't make much sense.
Big thanks to fluffyllama for the beta!
Snape showed him the house his mother had grown up in. It was a small, white house, with a little lawn and some flowers around it. It looked nice enough, Harry supposed, but surprisingly he didn’t feel much of anything looking at it. It was just a house.
They walked around and Snape showed him a few more places that had played a role in his and his mum’s childhood, and Harry appreciated it, but more because it gave him a glimpse into Snape’s childhood than anything to do with his mother. He’d never known his mother. And he’d been living with Snape for ten years. It wasn’t surprising who was more important to him.
Around midday they bought some pastries at the bakery and found a bench near the river. They sat and they ate, and afterwards Harry turned to Snape and grinned at him.
“By the way, I figured out why you accepted the invitation to the Malfoys’ dinner party.”
Snape slapped a hand against his chest and inhaled a sharp breath. “No! All by yourself? Your brilliance never fails to amaze me, Potter.”
Harry kicked him against his ankle. “I’m serious! You wanted information, right?”
Snape rolled his eyes. “And it took you a whole day to figure that out?”
“I’m a Gryffindor, what can I say?” Harry snickered as Snape smirked at him. “But what did you find out?”
“Plenty.” Snape leaned back against the bench, his legs stretched out. “Lucius is having trouble investing in new businesses. That’s how he’s always added to his fortune, but after his stint in Azkaban people aren’t as eager for his money as they used to be.”
“Serves him right,” Harry muttered. “What else?”
“They weren’t happy with Draco’s choice of a spouse.”
“What?” Harry looked at Snape with wide eyes. “But Astoria’s a really nice girl.”
“Exactly. And that’s the problem.” Snape looked highly amused. “I think they’d have much preferred Daphne for a daughter-in-law. She’s more...ambitious.”
“You don’t say. Did you see how she -- oh, sweet Merlin.” Harry doubled over with laughter.
Snape chuckled and nodded his head. “Apparently she spent a year going after Draco in much the same way as she did last night with our good friend.”
Harry laughed louder and slapped his thighs. ”I never thought I’d say this, but...poor Draco!”
They laughed for a few moments longer, and then Snape composed himself and looked at Harry. “As for our dear friend, Casimir Croaker...apparently there was some disagreement amongst the Board of Governors about whether or not he should be made Headmaster.”
“Really?”
“Yes. They even tried to make public the work he’s done for the Department of Mysteries, to make sure he hadn’t been working on anything too unscrupulous, but the Ministry stopped them from ever finding out what exactly Croaker had been involved in.”
Harry frowned. “That’s a bit suspicious, isn’t it?”
Shrugging, Snape cocked his head as he glanced at Harry. “I find him entirely suspicious, but then again, I’m a Slytherin.”
Pushing his shoulder against Snape‘s, Harry grinned at Snape, who grinned right back.
“Come,” Snape said, as he got up from the bench. “Let’s get back home before our dragon burns down the house.”
-----
Over the next few days Harry helped Snape pack up all the books and a few other trinkets Snape wanted to keep from his tiny house. They arranged for the furniture to be taken away, and they cleaned the place up and performed a few magical repairs. Voldemort kept busy with his lesson plans, and as Harry glimpsed parts of it, he had to admit that he was impressed. They were thorough and included tons of magic Harry hadn't heard of when he'd been a student. And while there were a few discussions planned about the nature of magic and what constituted Dark Arts, there weren't any actual Dark Arts on the curriculum, much to Harry's relief.
Now Snape had an appointment with an estate agent. Since the house was Muggle in origin, Snape intended to sell it as such. With only two more days until their planned visit with the Weasleys Harry was nervous and even a bit cranky, and Snape ordered him to stay home, having no patience for his sulky behaviour.
And thus Harry found himself sitting in the drawing room beside Voldemort, who had finished his lesson plans the night before.
Voldemort was reading The Daily Prophet, and Harry was lying back in the couch, staring up at the ceiling. He sighed and tapped the heel of one shoe against the floor. Voldemort glanced at him briefly, but didn't comment.
Harry's stomach was in knots about his upcoming reunion with the Weasleys. Parts of him wanted to go, wanted to see them again, wanted to spend time at the Burrow, but other parts of him wanted to run away screaming because of the role he'd played in Ginny's death. Not to mention that Ginny's murderer was sitting right beside him and would be joining them at the Burrow. It just all seemed rather morbid and grotesque.
Harry looked around the drawing room. Nothing had changed since he'd lived here with Voldemort stuck in his head. In fact, it was in this very room that Voldemort had got his new and improved body. Harry thought back to those days, when he'd spent his time bickering with Voldemort about Muggle movies and museums and restaurants. Surprisingly, thinking back to those times made him smile, and at once he had an idea.
"Come on," Harry said as he jumped up from the couch. "Let's go."
Voldemort looked up at him with a frown. "Let's go where?"
"It's a surprise." Harry grabbed Voldemort's arm and pulled him up from the couch. "Oh, come on. It'll be fun."
Voldemort's expression told Harry he doubted that, but he got up anyway. Harry made sure his wallet was tucked in the back pocket of his jeans and then he gestured for Voldemort to follow him. After a moment of hesitation, Voldemort trailed after him out the front door.
----
"They're bones, Harry."
Harry grinned up at Voldemort. "But they're very old bones. They're interesting."
Sighing, Voldemort shook his head, but Harry noticed a small smile playing around his lips. Seeing Voldemort's reaction when Harry had brought them to The Natural History Museum had been very amusing.
"Very well. You get the morning here. I get to choose this afternoon's entertainment."
"The London Dungeon?" Harry asked expectantly.
"Of course." Now Voldemort really was smiling, and they walked away from the triceratops to look at more dinosaurs.
"And lunch at McDonalds," Harry said happily. Voldemort made a face. It was one of those curious things Harry had learned about Voldemort over the years. Voldemort liked good food. He took great pleasure in trying out new cuisines where ever they went, and it was one of the very few instances where Voldemort didn't consider Muggles inferior. In fact, Voldemort claimed wizards had a lot to learn from Muggles when it came to cooking. When he'd first said that, in a seafood restaurant in Lisbon where Harry had eaten lobster for the first time, Harry had almost fallen out of his chair in sheer shock that Voldemort would ever confess such a thing.
"Come on," Harry said, and bumped his shoulder against Voldemort. "It's all part of our little trip down memory lane." Voldemort sniffed, but didn't say anything, so Harry took that for agreement.
"I thought your differences with Severus had been settled," Voldemort said as they entered a new hall. "And yet you seemed quite agitated this morning after he left."
"Huh?" Harry frowned as he glanced up at Voldemort. "Oh, that wasn't about Severus. We've made our peace. I'm just...nervous, I suppose."
"About our visit to that family?"
"Yeah." Harry stopped alongside a display of oviraptors. "Even you must understand why I'm nervous about that."
"I do," Voldemort said, and placed his hand on Harry's shoulder. "But it's been ten years, Harry. What's done is done. You must let it go. You cannot let the past control your life like that."
Harry sighed and shuffled towards a bench. He sat down and stared at his lap. Voldemort lowered himself to the bench beside Harry, and they didn't speak for several minutes as Harry tried to gather his thoughts.
"Did you..." Harry finally said, trying to find the words to ask Voldemort something that he'd been wondering about for years. "When we were here the first time, was this already part of your plan? Were you already thinking of...I don't know..."
"Was I already thinking of giving up my life's ambition when you dragged me here ten years ago, you mean?" Voldemort asked, and Harry nodded in response. "No, not at that time. All I cared about at that time was getting my body back."
"Then why did you go along with it in the end?"
Voldemort sat back a bit and stared at the dinosaurs in the distance. "You made the suggestion, Harry. You spoke of second chances. You gave me the idea that power could be gained in other ways besides world domination." Voldemort pursed his lips for a moment. "And you pointed out the risks involved with going up against the Muggle world." Voldemort sneered a little, as though that confession just didn't sit well with him.
Harry smiled. "Well, I'm glad you went along with it. No one would have liked a nuclear war."
Chuckling, Voldemort placed his hand on Harry's shoulder and stroked a finger across Harry's throat. "You were able to let go of our past. Enough so that we were able to share our lives for all these years in relative comfort."
Harry considered that, unconsciously leaning into Voldemort's touch. It was true, wasn't it? Yes, sometimes he still struggled with his choice, as the last week had proven, but all in all, he had let go of that part of his past enough to make his relationship with Voldemort work. "You're right," he whispered.
"Aren't I always?" Voldemort said with a smirk.
"No, you're -- " But Voldemort cut him off with a kiss. Harry let his eyes fall shut and returned it with soft caresses of his lips and tongue. If anyone had told him ten years ago, when he'd dragged Voldemort here for the first time, he'd one day be sitting there, kissing Voldemort and enjoying it, he would have thought them mad. And yet, they'd done it...they'd both let go of their pasts enough to make it work, to make a life together that was good.
Someone cleared their throat a small distance away.
Harry pulled back from Voldemort and blinked his eyes open.
A woman with three small children stood glaring at them. "Must you do that in public?"
Voldemort narrowed his eyes to mere slits, but Harry quickly cleared his throat and offered the woman an apologetic smile. "Sorry. But it's our ten year anniversary. This is where we had our first...date."
"Well," the woman said, but her expression softened just a bit. She nodded and ushered her children towards the next display.
"Our first date?" Voldemort asked with an innocent smile. He slipped his arm around Harry's shoulders. "Oh, my Harry, I had no idea you were such a romantic."
"Shut up," Harry muttered, and poked Voldemort in the ribs with his elbow.
----
He had to let go of the past. He had to let go of the past. Harry kept telling himself that over and over again as he stood in front of the bathroom mirror and brushed his hair. He slapped on some cologne, heaved a deep sigh, and made his way down to the drawing room where Voldemort and Snape were waiting.
"I'll apparate us," Snape said as he got up from the couch and took in Harry's nervous appearance. "I have no desire to get splinched."
Harry didn't say anything but accepted Snape's arm and let him apparate them to the Burrow.
Blinking his eyes against the bright sunlight, Harry looked around the field they found themselves in. In the distance he saw the pond. He recalled the night he'd discovered Voldemort was living inside his head, how he'd stood there, filled with disbelief and defeat.
"Come," Voldemort said and placed a hand on Harry's shoulder to gently steer him forwards.
The Burrow looked exactly like Harry remembered it; crooked and worn and cosy and inviting.
"There you are!" Mr Weasley held up a hand in greeting. He stood outside, arranging tables and chairs with Bill and Percy.
"Hi," Harry said, relieved his voice sounded normal.
"Harry!" Mrs Weasley came bustling out of the kitchen and threw her arms around Harry for a moment. "And Severus!" Snape took a step back in alarm, but Mrs Weasley merely smiled at him and shook her head fondly.
"This is Joseph Taylor," Snape said, gesturing at Voldemort.
Voldemort kissed Mrs Weasleys hand and offered her the bottle of wine and box of Muggle chocolates Harry had bought for her. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Madam."
Mrs Weasley blushed, giggled and slapped Voldemort gently on the arm. "Oh, you shouldn't have."
Harry shared an amused look with Snape. Voldemort might be an arrogant, homosexual, psychopathic Slytherin, but he always knew how to charm the ladies.
"Harry."
Hearing his name said in that hoarse voice made Harry look up in shock. "Remus."
"How have you been?" Remus stepped closer, Tonks on his heels.
"I..er..." There was a brief moment of awkward silence as Harry stared at Remus, and then he wrapped his arms around Remus' neck and gave him a tight hug. "I've been good. How are you?" he whispered and swallowed, and felt awkward again as he stepped back.
"We've been good," Remus said, as Tonks rushed forward to give Harry a hug. "And you remember Teddy," Remus continued after Tonks released him. He gestured at a boy with bright blue hair and an infectious grin. "He'll be starting Hogwarts this year."
Harry gaped at the boy. Was he eleven already? When had that happened? He knew, of course, that Remus and Tonks had had a son during the war, but he'd been too busy then to pay much attention to it. And the last time he'd seen Remus and Tonks, in Grimmauld Place when they'd stopped by one evening, he'd had Voldemort living in his head, and his friends' personal life hadn't been high up on his list of priorities.
"Harry will be teaching you to fly then," Voldemort said, and placed a hand on Harry's shoulder.
"Awesome," Teddy said, his grin growing even wider. Snape crossed his arms and gave a snort, and Harry knew he was thinking of foolish Gryffindors and their penchant for troublemaking. He gave Snape an amused look, which Snape returned with a sneer, and then Mr Weasley stepped up to introduce them to even more Weasleys.
Everyone was there (well, except for Ginny, but Harry didn't think about her. Much.), and Harry met all the spouses, and was introduced to more children than he could remember names. They gathered in the yard, sitting at a long table, while Mrs Weasley served tea and coffee and homemade cake, and all the children ran around playing with a few practice Quaffles.
It was loud and disorganized and so utterly perfect, Harry choked up on more than one occasion.
While his life had been good, happy even, for most of the time, he'd missed this. He'd missed it more than he thought possible now that he was there.
Snape sat beside Bill while they discussed something to do with Gringotts. Voldemort was discussing some Ministry regulations with Mr Weasley and Percy, and if Harry hadn't known who he really was, he'd have blended right in.
"You okay?" A hand touched his shoulder, and Harry turned in his seat to look up at Hermione. She'd just put little Hugo down for a nap, and now pulled up a chair and sat down beside him.
"Yeah," Harry said, and managed to genuine smile. "It's good to be back." And surprisingly, he meant it.
"We've missed you, too." Hermione said and patted his arm for a moment. "I won't say we haven't been worried about you when you first left."
Harry sighed. "Look, it's hard to explain why I left like that...it's just something I had to do."
Hermione nodded. "It couldn't have been easy for you, I know. Having to deal with Voldemort since you were eleven...going through the war the way we did...I understand you needed some time for yourself. I'm just glad you're back and doing so well." She glanced at Snape. "He's been good for you, hasn't he?"
"Yeah," Harry said and chuckled. "Who'd have thought?"
But instead of laughing, Hermione gave him a knowing look. "I always thought you two had a lot in common, if only you could let go of all that hatred. I'm glad he makes you happy, Harry."
Harry nodded his agreement, heat rising to his cheeks. He might have been shagging Snape for over a decade, but it still made him feel strange to think of him as someone more than a companion whom he'd entered into a relationship with under Voldemort's conditions.
"And now you're going to teach at Hogwarts," Hermione said with a great deal of excitement. "Why did you decide to do that?"
Harry sat up and looked around for Ron. He'd been meaning to discuss this with his friends. "You'll both want to hear this story," he said, as he waved Ron over from where he stood talking to Fred and George.
Ron hurried over and sat down on Harry's other side, and Harry told them in whispered tones about what had happened in Croaker's office.
"Croaker wanted you that badly?" Ron said after Harry finished the story. "Why?"
"That's the question," Harry said. "He was really laying it on thick, to get me to teach at Hogwarts."
"What did Croaker want?" Mr Weasley, who sat opposite them, asked, and curiously, Harry felt as if they'd been caught discussing something no one else should hear. And then he wanted to slap himself. For fuck's sake, they weren't teenagers anymore. They weren't on some secret mission from Dumbledore only they were supposed to know about.
"Croaker seemed a bit too interested in Harry," Snape answered for him, and at once the table fell silent and all eyes were on them.
"And he was a bit too interested in how Harry killed Voldemort as well," Voldemort said with a smile.
"Croaker? Really?" Tonks leaned forward in her seat. "He was always the ambitious type, from what I understand, but he's never been under any official investigation."
"And yet he would have tied Harry up and kept him there if he could have got away with it," Voldemort said as he leaned back in his seat.
"What I would like to know is what Croaker did at the Department of Mysteries," Harry said, and at once Ron and Tonks shared a look. They were both Aurors, after all.
"We'll see what we can find out," Ron said with a firm nod.
"I'm still on maternity leave, but I'll ask around as well," Hermione said, and Harry gave her a grateful smile. "If he's up to something, we'll work it out, Harry."
Harry reached for his tea. Yes, it really was good to be back.
by Maeglin Yedi
Pairing: Harry/Voldemort/Snape, other minor pairings (both het and slash)
Rating: NC-17
Disclaimer: They all belong to J.K. Rowling. I just make them shag.
Warnings: AU from HBP onwards
Summary: After ten years of peace, there is now a price to pay, as Harry discovers.
A/N: Sequel to The Semblance of Peace. You should definitely read that story first, otherwise this one won't make much sense.
Big thanks to fluffyllama for the beta!
Snape showed him the house his mother had grown up in. It was a small, white house, with a little lawn and some flowers around it. It looked nice enough, Harry supposed, but surprisingly he didn’t feel much of anything looking at it. It was just a house.
They walked around and Snape showed him a few more places that had played a role in his and his mum’s childhood, and Harry appreciated it, but more because it gave him a glimpse into Snape’s childhood than anything to do with his mother. He’d never known his mother. And he’d been living with Snape for ten years. It wasn’t surprising who was more important to him.
Around midday they bought some pastries at the bakery and found a bench near the river. They sat and they ate, and afterwards Harry turned to Snape and grinned at him.
“By the way, I figured out why you accepted the invitation to the Malfoys’ dinner party.”
Snape slapped a hand against his chest and inhaled a sharp breath. “No! All by yourself? Your brilliance never fails to amaze me, Potter.”
Harry kicked him against his ankle. “I’m serious! You wanted information, right?”
Snape rolled his eyes. “And it took you a whole day to figure that out?”
“I’m a Gryffindor, what can I say?” Harry snickered as Snape smirked at him. “But what did you find out?”
“Plenty.” Snape leaned back against the bench, his legs stretched out. “Lucius is having trouble investing in new businesses. That’s how he’s always added to his fortune, but after his stint in Azkaban people aren’t as eager for his money as they used to be.”
“Serves him right,” Harry muttered. “What else?”
“They weren’t happy with Draco’s choice of a spouse.”
“What?” Harry looked at Snape with wide eyes. “But Astoria’s a really nice girl.”
“Exactly. And that’s the problem.” Snape looked highly amused. “I think they’d have much preferred Daphne for a daughter-in-law. She’s more...ambitious.”
“You don’t say. Did you see how she -- oh, sweet Merlin.” Harry doubled over with laughter.
Snape chuckled and nodded his head. “Apparently she spent a year going after Draco in much the same way as she did last night with our good friend.”
Harry laughed louder and slapped his thighs. ”I never thought I’d say this, but...poor Draco!”
They laughed for a few moments longer, and then Snape composed himself and looked at Harry. “As for our dear friend, Casimir Croaker...apparently there was some disagreement amongst the Board of Governors about whether or not he should be made Headmaster.”
“Really?”
“Yes. They even tried to make public the work he’s done for the Department of Mysteries, to make sure he hadn’t been working on anything too unscrupulous, but the Ministry stopped them from ever finding out what exactly Croaker had been involved in.”
Harry frowned. “That’s a bit suspicious, isn’t it?”
Shrugging, Snape cocked his head as he glanced at Harry. “I find him entirely suspicious, but then again, I’m a Slytherin.”
Pushing his shoulder against Snape‘s, Harry grinned at Snape, who grinned right back.
“Come,” Snape said, as he got up from the bench. “Let’s get back home before our dragon burns down the house.”
-----
Over the next few days Harry helped Snape pack up all the books and a few other trinkets Snape wanted to keep from his tiny house. They arranged for the furniture to be taken away, and they cleaned the place up and performed a few magical repairs. Voldemort kept busy with his lesson plans, and as Harry glimpsed parts of it, he had to admit that he was impressed. They were thorough and included tons of magic Harry hadn't heard of when he'd been a student. And while there were a few discussions planned about the nature of magic and what constituted Dark Arts, there weren't any actual Dark Arts on the curriculum, much to Harry's relief.
Now Snape had an appointment with an estate agent. Since the house was Muggle in origin, Snape intended to sell it as such. With only two more days until their planned visit with the Weasleys Harry was nervous and even a bit cranky, and Snape ordered him to stay home, having no patience for his sulky behaviour.
And thus Harry found himself sitting in the drawing room beside Voldemort, who had finished his lesson plans the night before.
Voldemort was reading The Daily Prophet, and Harry was lying back in the couch, staring up at the ceiling. He sighed and tapped the heel of one shoe against the floor. Voldemort glanced at him briefly, but didn't comment.
Harry's stomach was in knots about his upcoming reunion with the Weasleys. Parts of him wanted to go, wanted to see them again, wanted to spend time at the Burrow, but other parts of him wanted to run away screaming because of the role he'd played in Ginny's death. Not to mention that Ginny's murderer was sitting right beside him and would be joining them at the Burrow. It just all seemed rather morbid and grotesque.
Harry looked around the drawing room. Nothing had changed since he'd lived here with Voldemort stuck in his head. In fact, it was in this very room that Voldemort had got his new and improved body. Harry thought back to those days, when he'd spent his time bickering with Voldemort about Muggle movies and museums and restaurants. Surprisingly, thinking back to those times made him smile, and at once he had an idea.
"Come on," Harry said as he jumped up from the couch. "Let's go."
Voldemort looked up at him with a frown. "Let's go where?"
"It's a surprise." Harry grabbed Voldemort's arm and pulled him up from the couch. "Oh, come on. It'll be fun."
Voldemort's expression told Harry he doubted that, but he got up anyway. Harry made sure his wallet was tucked in the back pocket of his jeans and then he gestured for Voldemort to follow him. After a moment of hesitation, Voldemort trailed after him out the front door.
----
"They're bones, Harry."
Harry grinned up at Voldemort. "But they're very old bones. They're interesting."
Sighing, Voldemort shook his head, but Harry noticed a small smile playing around his lips. Seeing Voldemort's reaction when Harry had brought them to The Natural History Museum had been very amusing.
"Very well. You get the morning here. I get to choose this afternoon's entertainment."
"The London Dungeon?" Harry asked expectantly.
"Of course." Now Voldemort really was smiling, and they walked away from the triceratops to look at more dinosaurs.
"And lunch at McDonalds," Harry said happily. Voldemort made a face. It was one of those curious things Harry had learned about Voldemort over the years. Voldemort liked good food. He took great pleasure in trying out new cuisines where ever they went, and it was one of the very few instances where Voldemort didn't consider Muggles inferior. In fact, Voldemort claimed wizards had a lot to learn from Muggles when it came to cooking. When he'd first said that, in a seafood restaurant in Lisbon where Harry had eaten lobster for the first time, Harry had almost fallen out of his chair in sheer shock that Voldemort would ever confess such a thing.
"Come on," Harry said, and bumped his shoulder against Voldemort. "It's all part of our little trip down memory lane." Voldemort sniffed, but didn't say anything, so Harry took that for agreement.
"I thought your differences with Severus had been settled," Voldemort said as they entered a new hall. "And yet you seemed quite agitated this morning after he left."
"Huh?" Harry frowned as he glanced up at Voldemort. "Oh, that wasn't about Severus. We've made our peace. I'm just...nervous, I suppose."
"About our visit to that family?"
"Yeah." Harry stopped alongside a display of oviraptors. "Even you must understand why I'm nervous about that."
"I do," Voldemort said, and placed his hand on Harry's shoulder. "But it's been ten years, Harry. What's done is done. You must let it go. You cannot let the past control your life like that."
Harry sighed and shuffled towards a bench. He sat down and stared at his lap. Voldemort lowered himself to the bench beside Harry, and they didn't speak for several minutes as Harry tried to gather his thoughts.
"Did you..." Harry finally said, trying to find the words to ask Voldemort something that he'd been wondering about for years. "When we were here the first time, was this already part of your plan? Were you already thinking of...I don't know..."
"Was I already thinking of giving up my life's ambition when you dragged me here ten years ago, you mean?" Voldemort asked, and Harry nodded in response. "No, not at that time. All I cared about at that time was getting my body back."
"Then why did you go along with it in the end?"
Voldemort sat back a bit and stared at the dinosaurs in the distance. "You made the suggestion, Harry. You spoke of second chances. You gave me the idea that power could be gained in other ways besides world domination." Voldemort pursed his lips for a moment. "And you pointed out the risks involved with going up against the Muggle world." Voldemort sneered a little, as though that confession just didn't sit well with him.
Harry smiled. "Well, I'm glad you went along with it. No one would have liked a nuclear war."
Chuckling, Voldemort placed his hand on Harry's shoulder and stroked a finger across Harry's throat. "You were able to let go of our past. Enough so that we were able to share our lives for all these years in relative comfort."
Harry considered that, unconsciously leaning into Voldemort's touch. It was true, wasn't it? Yes, sometimes he still struggled with his choice, as the last week had proven, but all in all, he had let go of that part of his past enough to make his relationship with Voldemort work. "You're right," he whispered.
"Aren't I always?" Voldemort said with a smirk.
"No, you're -- " But Voldemort cut him off with a kiss. Harry let his eyes fall shut and returned it with soft caresses of his lips and tongue. If anyone had told him ten years ago, when he'd dragged Voldemort here for the first time, he'd one day be sitting there, kissing Voldemort and enjoying it, he would have thought them mad. And yet, they'd done it...they'd both let go of their pasts enough to make it work, to make a life together that was good.
Someone cleared their throat a small distance away.
Harry pulled back from Voldemort and blinked his eyes open.
A woman with three small children stood glaring at them. "Must you do that in public?"
Voldemort narrowed his eyes to mere slits, but Harry quickly cleared his throat and offered the woman an apologetic smile. "Sorry. But it's our ten year anniversary. This is where we had our first...date."
"Well," the woman said, but her expression softened just a bit. She nodded and ushered her children towards the next display.
"Our first date?" Voldemort asked with an innocent smile. He slipped his arm around Harry's shoulders. "Oh, my Harry, I had no idea you were such a romantic."
"Shut up," Harry muttered, and poked Voldemort in the ribs with his elbow.
----
He had to let go of the past. He had to let go of the past. Harry kept telling himself that over and over again as he stood in front of the bathroom mirror and brushed his hair. He slapped on some cologne, heaved a deep sigh, and made his way down to the drawing room where Voldemort and Snape were waiting.
"I'll apparate us," Snape said as he got up from the couch and took in Harry's nervous appearance. "I have no desire to get splinched."
Harry didn't say anything but accepted Snape's arm and let him apparate them to the Burrow.
Blinking his eyes against the bright sunlight, Harry looked around the field they found themselves in. In the distance he saw the pond. He recalled the night he'd discovered Voldemort was living inside his head, how he'd stood there, filled with disbelief and defeat.
"Come," Voldemort said and placed a hand on Harry's shoulder to gently steer him forwards.
The Burrow looked exactly like Harry remembered it; crooked and worn and cosy and inviting.
"There you are!" Mr Weasley held up a hand in greeting. He stood outside, arranging tables and chairs with Bill and Percy.
"Hi," Harry said, relieved his voice sounded normal.
"Harry!" Mrs Weasley came bustling out of the kitchen and threw her arms around Harry for a moment. "And Severus!" Snape took a step back in alarm, but Mrs Weasley merely smiled at him and shook her head fondly.
"This is Joseph Taylor," Snape said, gesturing at Voldemort.
Voldemort kissed Mrs Weasleys hand and offered her the bottle of wine and box of Muggle chocolates Harry had bought for her. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Madam."
Mrs Weasley blushed, giggled and slapped Voldemort gently on the arm. "Oh, you shouldn't have."
Harry shared an amused look with Snape. Voldemort might be an arrogant, homosexual, psychopathic Slytherin, but he always knew how to charm the ladies.
"Harry."
Hearing his name said in that hoarse voice made Harry look up in shock. "Remus."
"How have you been?" Remus stepped closer, Tonks on his heels.
"I..er..." There was a brief moment of awkward silence as Harry stared at Remus, and then he wrapped his arms around Remus' neck and gave him a tight hug. "I've been good. How are you?" he whispered and swallowed, and felt awkward again as he stepped back.
"We've been good," Remus said, as Tonks rushed forward to give Harry a hug. "And you remember Teddy," Remus continued after Tonks released him. He gestured at a boy with bright blue hair and an infectious grin. "He'll be starting Hogwarts this year."
Harry gaped at the boy. Was he eleven already? When had that happened? He knew, of course, that Remus and Tonks had had a son during the war, but he'd been too busy then to pay much attention to it. And the last time he'd seen Remus and Tonks, in Grimmauld Place when they'd stopped by one evening, he'd had Voldemort living in his head, and his friends' personal life hadn't been high up on his list of priorities.
"Harry will be teaching you to fly then," Voldemort said, and placed a hand on Harry's shoulder.
"Awesome," Teddy said, his grin growing even wider. Snape crossed his arms and gave a snort, and Harry knew he was thinking of foolish Gryffindors and their penchant for troublemaking. He gave Snape an amused look, which Snape returned with a sneer, and then Mr Weasley stepped up to introduce them to even more Weasleys.
Everyone was there (well, except for Ginny, but Harry didn't think about her. Much.), and Harry met all the spouses, and was introduced to more children than he could remember names. They gathered in the yard, sitting at a long table, while Mrs Weasley served tea and coffee and homemade cake, and all the children ran around playing with a few practice Quaffles.
It was loud and disorganized and so utterly perfect, Harry choked up on more than one occasion.
While his life had been good, happy even, for most of the time, he'd missed this. He'd missed it more than he thought possible now that he was there.
Snape sat beside Bill while they discussed something to do with Gringotts. Voldemort was discussing some Ministry regulations with Mr Weasley and Percy, and if Harry hadn't known who he really was, he'd have blended right in.
"You okay?" A hand touched his shoulder, and Harry turned in his seat to look up at Hermione. She'd just put little Hugo down for a nap, and now pulled up a chair and sat down beside him.
"Yeah," Harry said, and managed to genuine smile. "It's good to be back." And surprisingly, he meant it.
"We've missed you, too." Hermione said and patted his arm for a moment. "I won't say we haven't been worried about you when you first left."
Harry sighed. "Look, it's hard to explain why I left like that...it's just something I had to do."
Hermione nodded. "It couldn't have been easy for you, I know. Having to deal with Voldemort since you were eleven...going through the war the way we did...I understand you needed some time for yourself. I'm just glad you're back and doing so well." She glanced at Snape. "He's been good for you, hasn't he?"
"Yeah," Harry said and chuckled. "Who'd have thought?"
But instead of laughing, Hermione gave him a knowing look. "I always thought you two had a lot in common, if only you could let go of all that hatred. I'm glad he makes you happy, Harry."
Harry nodded his agreement, heat rising to his cheeks. He might have been shagging Snape for over a decade, but it still made him feel strange to think of him as someone more than a companion whom he'd entered into a relationship with under Voldemort's conditions.
"And now you're going to teach at Hogwarts," Hermione said with a great deal of excitement. "Why did you decide to do that?"
Harry sat up and looked around for Ron. He'd been meaning to discuss this with his friends. "You'll both want to hear this story," he said, as he waved Ron over from where he stood talking to Fred and George.
Ron hurried over and sat down on Harry's other side, and Harry told them in whispered tones about what had happened in Croaker's office.
"Croaker wanted you that badly?" Ron said after Harry finished the story. "Why?"
"That's the question," Harry said. "He was really laying it on thick, to get me to teach at Hogwarts."
"What did Croaker want?" Mr Weasley, who sat opposite them, asked, and curiously, Harry felt as if they'd been caught discussing something no one else should hear. And then he wanted to slap himself. For fuck's sake, they weren't teenagers anymore. They weren't on some secret mission from Dumbledore only they were supposed to know about.
"Croaker seemed a bit too interested in Harry," Snape answered for him, and at once the table fell silent and all eyes were on them.
"And he was a bit too interested in how Harry killed Voldemort as well," Voldemort said with a smile.
"Croaker? Really?" Tonks leaned forward in her seat. "He was always the ambitious type, from what I understand, but he's never been under any official investigation."
"And yet he would have tied Harry up and kept him there if he could have got away with it," Voldemort said as he leaned back in his seat.
"What I would like to know is what Croaker did at the Department of Mysteries," Harry said, and at once Ron and Tonks shared a look. They were both Aurors, after all.
"We'll see what we can find out," Ron said with a firm nod.
"I'm still on maternity leave, but I'll ask around as well," Hermione said, and Harry gave her a grateful smile. "If he's up to something, we'll work it out, Harry."
Harry reached for his tea. Yes, it really was good to be back.