Chapter Text
The pair of dark haired wizards, all but sprinted from the ward line of the manor and into the parlour.
"Harry?" Severus asked as they both struggled to breath.
"Safe, with Cissa" Tom replied jumping out of his seat. "come sit, you two look like you need a drink" He said beckoning them over to the empty sofa adjacent to the one he and Lucius had been curled up on. As the two exhausted wizards made their way over to the plump leather sofa, Tom made his way over to the drinks cabinet in the corner of the ornate room.
On a normal day, this scene would have filled his once shattered soul with peace, he had been through so much, growing up in a war, Dumbledore being his mentor and then turning on him, the spell that de-aged and killed the dark insanity that dumbledore had been breeding inside him, he shuddered remembering that night, fleeing to Gringotts, begging the goblins for help, it had cost him a great deal of his inheritance from his Slytherin vaults and rights to access the basilisk skin when shed but it was worth it. He went from being Thomas Marvolo Riddle to Thomas Richard Slytherin, a previously homeschooled half blood who was orphaned after a potions accident killed his mother. He joined Hogwarts, stared in Dumbledores face as he walked to be sorted, Pleased to note that the old bastard hadt put the details together. Sorted into his ancestors house where the portrait of said ancestor awoke instantly proclaiming his heir had arrived jously stating there were now two heirs in the castle and she was waking up.Nobody understood the portrait, other than Tom as It was speaking Parsel.
The rest for Tom was history, he fell in love simultaneously with the heir of the Malfoy house and daughter of the Black house, the rest for him was history, attending governour meetings, and wizengamot sessions, trying to hide his true identity from Dumbledore. It exhausted him, but at the same time, having friends, two spouses and a beautiful son, blood adopted by him was all hed needed, not power, hed known he was a rival for Dumbledore, the goblins confirmed it, however his parsel magic gave him an advantage, gaining power would have been easy but between him and his chosen circle they were playing the long game. He knew there was more at stake it just wasnt apparent to them yet. He was broken from his musings when he felt his husband come up behind him.
"Knut for your thoughts?" Lucius asked coming to his left and gathering the drinks Tom Had forgotten to make.
"Just a knut? i would have thought the were worth at least a sickle" He shot back lowly, attempting to lift his own spirits slightly, "Just lost in my head, thinking back on my journey, the pain and how my gathered friends would normally be bringing me joy not heartache" Tom sighed as he gathered the two other glasses and made his way back to the duo of tear streaked wizards sat holding hands, murmuring lowly to each other. He handed them the drinks and watched as they downed the amber liquid like they were chugging water. He silently summoned the bottle onto the low oak table and sat himself down next to Lucius silently. Severus poured him a Sirius another drink and silently sent it back to the drinks cabinet, much to Sirius disgust. Severus rebuffed him, explaining a pissed Padfoot was not what they needed right now.
The group of four just sat nursing their drinks holding their own husbands hands. A soft creak eliminated from the double doors at the end of the room, a very tired Narcissa entering and closing the door behind her. It was a mystery to all men in the room just quite how, even as exhausted as she was she could look so graceful flopping down on to the lap of Tom and putting her legs over Lucius lap, luckily both men had seen this coming and had managed to put their drinks on the table before she made it, It was a habit the three of them had developed fairly quickly into their relationship and one that happily stuck for then.
Narcissa summoned on of the firewhisky filled glasses and knocked it back in a way Sirius would have been proud of had he not been lost in his sorrow. she cleared her throat and began to speak. "Harry is fine, physically, hed had a cut to the forehead, which i have healed, i havent been able to rid the scar because it was done with a dark cutting curse. He is magically exhausted, on my scan i recorded a very powerful banishing spell as well as combustion spell, in a language i do not understand, i can only assume it was accidental parsel magic. He is abed in Dracos nursery and Dobby it watching over the pair of them." she sighed and leant down onto Toms chest her eyes delicately fluttering closed.
"Wait!" Sirius exclamation pulling everyones gaze his way, even Narcissa woke with a jolt, cursing sirius in french."Wheres Moony? He wont have known what happened? We have to tell him." he jumped up and ran to grab his communication mirror of the side table. "Moony!!" he yelled at it. "Moony............." he yelled getting more frantic.
Tom winced at his franticness but knew there would be nothing he could say to the manic Black, Hed never trusted the wolf, but never said it to Sirius, The others in the room knew of his distrust and why, a run in with infamous Fenrir Greyback would be enough for anyone. Deciding to keep his thoughts to himself he looked over at Sirius who was rapidly getting louder in his summoning of "Moony" he hid a sigh and clutched his wife tighter to him.
"Remus John Lupin!!! Answer me now. Please" Everyone could hear the desperation in his voice as he collapsed to the floor, crying and muttering about not losing him too. Severus made his way over to his distraught husband just as the Mirror glowed and a very haggard looking Remus was shown "Remus, what happened to you why didnt you answer?" Sirius cried in relief.
"Im in Diagon Alley! Theres a right party going on! fireworks and dancing in the street, come join in" Remus said, chucking as paper confetti rained down on him. "Everyone is saying Voldemort is dead, Dumbledore confirmed it, hes talking to the Prophet now, it will be front page news!" Any other time Remus happiness would have been infectious but this time it filled Sirius with rage.
"YES I KNOW THAT!!!! HE is dead but SO ARE JAMES AND LILY! "Sirius shouted before breaking into sobs. Severus took the mirror to speak to the wolf himself, not that he wanted to, the 2nd year incident was something he never got over, but put to bed when he started getting closer to the gryffindors and merging all friendship groups was hard enough she he just ignored it.
"Wolf, you need to come to Malfoy manor as soon as you can." Severus said simply and closed off the connection. "Ill be back down in a moment, I think Sirius needs to go to bed" He said gathering his husband and leading him out.
The three Malfoys sat pensively, soaking in each others scent and embrace, feeling guilty for how lucky they were feeling, knowing they were all safe now, but what was the cost. All three were broken from their thoughts by the re-entrance of Severus, whom poured himself another drink and promptly sat down on the sofa with a soft thud. " I spelled a Dreamless into him, i hope im not in the doghouse tomorrow" Sev said with a sigh. "I want to show you what happened tonight but not the wolf, what we will tell him is we went and got harry and have been here since, there is something bothering me about the wolfs story" Severus said to no one in particular.
Tom cleared his throat and looked over meeting obsidian eyes with his emerald ones " I wholeheartedly agree, my brother, something is off and he will not know all the information. Narcissa shifted off Toms lap and squeezed her self in between her husbands, leaning forward she downed the other firewhiskey before shuddering and saying how disgusting it was.
"Flossie!" She called for her personal elf, the elf appeared, a smaller elf with big blue eyes floppy ears, dressed in her Malfoy uniform of a white shirt and black skirt, with the malfoy crest embroidered, she had nothing but the biggest smile for her mistress, having grown up with her. " Mistress Cissy whys you all up, it be very late!" She exclaimed, shocked.
"Yes i know Flossie, many things have gone on this night, as im sure you are aware, but it is proving to be a very long night, can we have coffee for five and four pepperups please, theres a good elf" she said kindly, the elf instantly popping away, with in a couple of seconds, four vials of Pepper up potion, appeared on the table. They all grabbed a vial and downed the potion, waiting for the stream of steam to escape their ears. They all felt instantly more awake. No sooner had the steam stopped and silver coffee service replaced the empty vials along with a platter of small sandwiches and pastries. They all silently fixed their coffee as their own preferences, ignoring the food and all sat back to wait for the arrival of Remus Lupin.
About half way through their second cup each the ward system alerted the Malfoys to a person wanting entrance to the manor, as none of the awake occupants trusted the wolf he wasnt allowed immediate access. A house elf popped in "mistress, Masters, Mr Remus Lupin is requesting entry" Tom dismissed the elf telling him to let him in and show him to the parlour, explaining how he was going to say the ward increase is for obvious reasons.
A very flushed looking Remus Lupin entered the room and sat down on the only unoccupied furniture in the room and solitary leather wingback chair and helped him self to a cup of coffee, adding an extreme amount (at least in Severus opinion) of sugar to the beverage, he took a sip sighed and said "Securitys a bit tight" trying to ignore the elephant in the room "wheres sirius?" he asked Severus, looking concerned.
" I put him to bed, hes had a harrowing night, finding his brother and sister in all but blood tortured and killed, and then you taking an ages to answer him sent him over the edge. So i have him a dreamless sleep potion so he could rest, you can see him tomorrow im sure" Severus responded stoically.
"and i increased security this night for obvious reasons, our friends murdered, we are protecting out selves." tom added from his spot on the sofa, he noted Lupin looked uncomfortable at this statement.
"Ahem, errr," Lupin struggled for words, seeming to tear up " What happened to James and Lily, Wheres Harry" He said a lone tear falling down his face. Severus was ashen faced and found himself suddenly unable to say the words, he silently cried as Lucius made his way over to him. He put his arms around his soul brother and soothed him, Severus just sobbed into his shoulder, unashamed of showing such weakness. Lucius sat back with Severus crying onto his shoulder and began the tale of how they heard Sirius yelling at his mirror and how the night had progressed from them all, retelling the story there was not a dry eye in the room finishing a he got the when Lupin arrived he went back to comforting his best friend.
Lupin dried his tears and wiped his face on a handkerchief, stowing it back in his pocket, he looked up and asked "and Harry?"
"Safe" was all Narcissa was willing to divulge on that situation, alarm bells were ringing in her head to not tell him where the precious child is.
"Where, can i see him?" lupin asked.
"Hes safe and resting, thats all you need to know right now" she retorted softly but her tone may have soft but all the men know that was her saying end of discussion.
Lupin stood up abruptly, usually amber eyes glowing black. "Im going to kill that fucking rat, He sold them out, didnt he, DIDNT HE?!?!?!?!" he roared
Tom Jumped out of his seat " Mr Lupin THAT is enough, i will not have such raised voices in my house this time of day when we have all had a heartbreaking night, if you want to go kill a rat by all means go hunt him down but do NOT shout like that in the presence of my wife and husband as well as my one of my closest friends."
Lupin ignored Toms outburst and stalked out of the parlour, the wards notified the occupants to his departure. " Lock it down, my love, I dont want him back here" Narcissa said to Lucius, who did just that with a wave of his wand.
By the time they had all calmed down Severus was fast asleep on his friends shoulder and Narcissa was dozing on Toms lap, " Come, my Loves, we must abed, he said scooping up Narcissa and watching as his husband picked up Severus "spell a dreamless into him, wont you, dear husband" He suggested as Lucius made his way to the Blacks bedroom. Lucius nodded in affirmative and they went their separate ways in the hall.
Once Tom reached their own room he placed his wife down in the middle of their enlarged bed and transfigured he robes into a satin nightgown, he silently summoned and spelled a dreamless sleep into his wifes belly and began changing for bed him self and preparing his husbands night wear.
Said husband entered the room and silently made his way over to his husband and placed his arms around his waist, he rested his forehead on Toms back a let out a large sigh. Tom turned in his arms and held his husband. He knew his husband had been trying to control the majority of his emotions to be strong for Severus and Sirius, and now just the two of them he was letting it out, Tom felt his loves tears soaking his shirt and chest but said nothing just cradled his husband.
No words were needed, they both knew the other thoughts, Tom had always tried to be the most stoic of the three but in here no masks were needed, he let his own tears fall, for his murdered friends, fear for the future, guilt knowing that he could have been the one murdering had he not had the accident, thankful that they were all safe under the wards.
Silently he helped Lucius change into his satin Pyjamas, fed him a dreamless sleep potion and guided him over to the bed where Cissa slept soundly, feeling the dip of the bed she shuffled closer to Lucius and sighed contentedly. Tom hastened his own changing and potion taking and gently laid down on the bed, putting and arm over both his spouses as much as he could reach, he dozed off gently, thoughts filled on what the immediate and beyond future was going to bring, as he dozed off he felt Lucius lace he fingers through his, enabling Tom to fall into a depper sleep, dreaming of his loves and son.