Chapter 59
Chapter 58
“That was,” Harry muttered as he stumbled out of the floo, covered in soot, and into the Prince estate’s Petit Salon while Severus and Deidric followed afterwards with not a speck of dust on them.
“How do both of you do that?!” He asked and then gestured towards Severus and Deidric who not only managed to make a gracious floo exit but to also remain spotless.
“It’s just a dirt-repelling charm,” Mordecai laughed from a painting near the mantle. The former Prince lord was leaning against a resting cow in a painting of a pasture.
“That’s it?!”
“That and not having two left feet,” Severus added as Harry shot him a glare.
“Now if you’ll excuse me, I will use the rest of my night to drown myself in alcohol and to try to forget that trial ever happened,” Snape spoke before walking past Harry and out of the salon, probably to go either to the study or their bedroom.
“What bunched up Uncle Sev’s britches?” A voice asked, making Harry jump. Deidric had also excused himself so Harry thought that he was alone.
“Draco, what the Hell?!”
“What?! I was the one here first!” Draco scoffed.
“What were you doing over there?!”
“Reading!” Draco defended.
“Right, in a dark corner in an already dimly lit room?” Harry rolled his eyes.
“I’m a wizard you know! I have a wand!” Draco defended.
“That you are using to read in a dark corner of a dimly lit room while there is a perfectly good lamp on the table,”
“I hate you,” Draco hissed while bunching up the magazine in his hand before stuffing it under his jacket.”
“You love me,” Harry shot back.
“I tolerate you,” Draco muttered. “Now stop being so nosy and tell me if something interesting happened today,”
“Well, a lot of interesting things happened today,” Harry stated as he drew Draco’s attention more. As Harry knew Draco’s future self he also knew that the blond was too curious for his own good and a horrid gossip at times.
“Your father became Chief Warlock today,”
“Wait what?!”
“Dumbledore was arrested while trying to enter the Ministry, we had his trial, Dumbledore was actually Grindelwald, turns out body snatching is a thing, the real Dumbledore is getting released from Numengard, Grindelwald inadvertently created Voldemort. Oh, and he had a list of people whose bodies he thought of taking over. Congrats, you made the top five!”
“WAIT WHAT?!” Draco shouted as Harry had just overloaded him with information and just skipped away. “POTTER GET BACK HERE! WHAT DO YOU MEAN DUMBLEDORE WAS GRINDELWALD?!”
“Oh,” Harry said, popping his head back into the room with a grin. “Deidric might have a date with Neville,”
“POTTTERRRRRRR!!!!!”
When Harry made it back to his and Severus’s room he entered slowly, afraid to startle Severus who must have already been busy emptying his grandfather’s liquor collection. “Sev,” Harry called out as the door creaked open.
“Hmmm,”
“You doing alright?”
“You were there Potter,”
“Right,” Harry muttered as he completely entered the room. Snape was laying on the duvet of their bed with an open wine bottle in his grip. The man sat up to take a swig of it before flopping back down.
“Do you want to talk about it?”
“Talk about what?” Severus growled. “How my whole friendship with Albus was a lie?! How we were nothing to him but possible vessels?!”
Harry grimaced as that part came up again.
“Oh Merlin, imagine what Minerva would feel once she’s told!” Severus sat up as he uttered this. “If she never managed to distinguish the real Albus from Grindelwald then… She’ll be devastated!”
“Take a deep breath Sev,” Harry said as he came to sit by his lover and rubbed his back soothingly.
“Professor McGonagall would probably be shocked, yes, but she’ll more than likely march over to the prison and hex Grindelwald’s balls off for deceiving her.”
“Too true,” Severus chuckled. “You know what the really sick part is, his reasoning for choosing and discarding us as possible options to switch bodies with.”
“I’m kind of offended actually,” Harry muttered. “I didn’t even make the list but any future children of mine did?! Even Voldemort made the list!”
“You’re salty about that?!”
“Number one, Moldy Voldy,” Harry listed as he started to count on one hand. “Grindelwald’s pros: Magically powerful, cons: not from a politically powerful pureblood family and tainted by Dark Magic,” Harry scoffed. “As if, the real reason was probably that all those Horcruxes fragmented his soul so much that swapping souls was a no-no,”
“Number two, Ron and Hermione’s future children,” Harry made a disgusted face. “Pros: Direct blood relationship, Cons: being tied to a Squib lineage.”
“You and my father were third, my future children were fourth, and Draco was fifth,” Harry grumbled.
“Harry, we are trying not to get chosen by a megalomaniac bent on world domination,” Severus muttered as he took another swig of his wine. “Also you being a Horcrux might have deterred him as well. Imagine the whole ritual backfiring and you being stuck with both Grindelwald and the Dark Lord in your mind, throwing insults at one another at the behest of your sanity.”
Harry grimaced at that scenario. “Knowing me and my rotten luck, that would be fairly plausible of happening.
“Well, I am glad he doesn’t want your body,” Severus whispered in Harry’s ear as he pulled the other closer to him on the bed. “I can have you all to myself now,” Harry blushed at this while Severus’s hands trailed lower.
Harry moaned obscenely while he was being fondled. Severus leaned in and nipped at his earlobe, sending a shudder through his body. It was one of his sensitive areas they had found during their previous wild night.
Meanwhile, in the damp cells of the Ministry, cold calculating eyes watched several of the prisoners quivering in horror at what they had just witnessed.
“No… No! Please!” Someone begged.
“Avada Kadavra,” was so nonchalantly whispered as the first body dropped.