The news
Slowly Harry started to become aware. Everything felt heavy, even his hair had a heavy feeling. He could hear mumbles around him but had trouble focusing on what was said. There was an ache inside him that was pulsing, but otherwise he didn’t feel any pain. He tried to remember what had happened. ‘Quidditch accident maybe? No, I don’t feel the soreness I usually do from that… I think I was in potions…’ and then everything came back. He finally opened his eyes and tried to sit up.
“Get back down Mr. Potter, I’m not finished with you.”
Harry looked aside and saw Madame Pomfrey give a potion to Malfoy, who looked like he woke up a while ago as he seemed less confused than Harry felt. Harry still tried to sit up to check on Malfoy, feeling guilty he couldn’t get to him on time; when he noticed some small red scarring on Malfoy’s once spotless face. He never noticed that he had burns all over his own left side. The pain didn’t hit him until he went to stand up; then his chest started to stretch and he whimpered.
“Sit down Potter before I tie you to the bed; you are injured and the rest of us are in no shape to satisfy your every whims.” Snape practically barked out at him. He was stressed and angry and his anger was being directed to the closest person he could think of.
Harry sat back down and leaned back against the pillows on the bed. He grabbed his glasses from the side table and winced when it touched the left side of his head. Then he finally investigated his left arm and left side of his chest. It seemed like he healed quite a bit thanks to Madame Pomfrey, but the skin was still raw and red and very sore looking. He touched his face and could feel that it probably looked the same as the rest of him. Then the pain started up.
“How… How long have we been here?”
Harry wasn’t sure if he wanted the answer. He closed his eyes and tried to breathe through the pain knowing Madame Pomfrey will bring him something for it shortly.
“How much pain are you in Mr. Potter?”
Madame Pomfrey asked him, keeping an eye on his face as she was used to Harry lying about the pain in order to reassure everyone else. When she asks for pain from 1 to 10, a broken arm would lead to a 5 when others would say at least 8. She knew there was more to him than it seemed but Dumbledore denied her access to his full history or to exam him after holidays. She always worried that one day he would give up on any help that she could give because he would know that she hasn’t done everything she could for him.
“More than a broken arm but less than the basilisk venom?” Harry was never sure how to rate his pain as he has a higher threshold than most, so he uses examples and lets Pomfrey figure out where that would range.
She hummed then turned to her potion cabinet and brought back a few of potions for him to take. She made sure he took all of them as sometimes he denied the need for certain ones, but this time he didn’t give any resistance, knowing that he probably needed the 2 pain potions and the calming draught as he could still feel that non physical ache in his chest.
“You have been asleep for 3 days, the salve for the burns has been working wonders but you may still scar due to the fact it was a very volatile potion that caused them. There will be other side effects from the potion Mr. Potter, some we are aware of but others might surprise us.” She turned to Snape and asked “Do you want to explain to him or do you want me to? You explained it nicely to Mr. Malfoy yesterday and this does involve the three of you.”
Harry started to take deep breathes to stop his panic attack. ‘Side effects? And Malfoy and Snape are involved? What’s going on?’
Snape looked at Harry and sighed knowing he would have to tell the bane of his existence all about their new lives, he just knew there would be a major tantrum from the Gryffindor, unlike Draco who took it hard but just talked it through with all his questions. This would not be as easy as he never liked Potter, but he knew it must be done.
“I have it under control Poppy, thank you. If you are done with his treatment for now I’d appreciate some privacy for this.”
Professor Snape stood up and moved around so he was in the seat between Harry and Malfoy, making Harry even more nervous as it seemed that the professor was ready to manhandle him if he reacted badly to whatever these side effects are.
“Call me if you need me for anything boys, I’ll just be in my office.”
And with that Madame Pomfrey left Harry alone with a professor who hates him and his school rival, he physically shrunk down on himself. At least the pain was no longer in the way, he could think past that a lot easier, now if only his anxiety would also diminish. Harry was so busy thinking through his anxious thoughts that he never heard the professor trying to get his attention.
“Potter… Mr. Potter!”
“Wha? Oh, sorry sir, I was trying to calm myself down before hearing any more news.”
Snape didn’t look happy and in fact looked like he didn’t believe a word that Harry said. He had this look like he thought that Harry was just purposely ignoring him now that Madame Pomfrey was no longer around.
“Be that as it may, I have to tell you what the side effects we have discovered are so far. You will not like what I have to say but you will stay quiet and stay seated until I am finished. Then you may ask any questions related to this situation you may have, but you are not to leave this bed any time soon. Is this understood? If you try to leave I will tie you to the bed.”
Snape was completely serious about this too, Harry could tell. Now he was getting really worried that this would be worse news than he originally thought.
“Yes sir. Can you just tell me one thing? Am I going to die?”
“No Potter, you are not dying at this moment but you may feel like that would have been better.”
Harry was shocked, what could be worse than dying? He started to hyperventilate a little and worked hard to get his breathing under control. The Calming Draught did not appear to be working any longer. Snape got up and got another dose and forced it down Harry’s throat.
“Calm down Potter, wait until you hear what I have to say before you panic yourself to pass out.”
He sat back down and waited while Harry got his breathing under control again and then started to explain what the main side effects they’ve noticed are.
“As you are aware, the leech juice reacts strongly to this potion when not given in the right dosage, and the amount that Weasley” He sneered Ron’s name so harshly Harry cringed; “dosed the potion with was quite a bit too much. Unfortunately for us, it caused a lot of permanent issues, including the scars you will be stuck with. The main concern is what it did to us three as a whole.”
He paused to think of how to say it so the Gryffindor would understand.
“Do you know what a bonding is?” At Harry’s paling face he figured that Harry had an idea if not knew what he was talking about. “Right, well, the Binding agent decided to bind us in a way that is not physical, unlike its usual ways where there’s a physical component to the binding. For us, it decided to bind us by bonding the three of us together, with a permanent bond. As you are certainly aware a bond is like a marriage but made with magic, it is usually done with a ritual and spoken promises but since this one was done accidentally we are not one hundred percent sure what it may entail. Most bonds demand certain fidelity; definitely there will be no sex with any others, it may even deny us from certain touches, like a hug or a kiss on the cheek, we are unaware of how far this bond is tied at this moment.
The biggest thing with this bond is that the potion itself decided on which role we will be playing in our tri-bond. I am the alpha, which means that you both defer to me in and out of the bedroom, Draco is our beta, he is in the middle, which means you defer to him, but from what we can tell it is mostly in the bedroom as I am in charge of you both outside of it. You, Mr. Potter, are the omega, which may sound like you are in the bottom of the chain but you will be in charge of carrying any children we may want and of their care as well. This will be the hardest part for you to follow, as I know you are used to doing whatever you please, but due to me being Alpha you will obey my commands. The rest of our bond we will learn as we go, we may end up feeling each others’ feelings or other side effects may appear but for now we have not seen much other than our positions.
The amount of potion we have in our system may also cause issues further down the line, somehow you got some in your blood stream while Malfoy swallowed some and I only got some on my skin. We are unsure what these issues will be so keep aware of yourself and let me or Madame Pomfrey know.
Now, do you have any questions?”
Harry looked at Snape with tears in his eyes, trying hard not to let them drop. The words omega and bond kept repeating in his mind over and over. He had to cough to get his dry throat working.
“What... I mean… How do you know this is permanent?”
Harry was trying to keep his mind on questions he has and not on how much his life will change due to one of his best friends.
“Were you not listening in class Mr. Potter? Miss Granger explained how the binding is permanent when it comes to this potion. She even mentioned how having been dosed can cause unexpected results.”
“Right. I forgot about that. And you are sure I’m the omega? Does this mean I can’t have a job or friends or anything?”
Snape sneered at him as if he was being purposely stupid.
“We are not going to be your money makers, Mr. Potter, we still expect you to care for yourself and if getting a job is what you need to do that then that is what you will do, as for friends, we are not keeping you prisoner, you may still keep your friends, even if it is one of their faults that we are even discussing this. The only time that this will become a concern is if we decide on having children.”
Harry sighed a little, thinking his dream of a family is now ruined. He knew that men could become pregnant but it was still a rare occurrence and he didn’t even know if he was gay so it never really concerned him. ‘Guess I have to be gay now, my bond mates are 2 males and there’s no stopping it.’
“Any other questions at this time Mr. Potter? If not I have to go brew some more salve for you and Mr. Malfoy.”
Harry shook his head; unsure about what else could be a problem, but knowing in his gut that this is just the start of things. He was just about to ask another question when Snape decided he had enough and left the infirmary. That’s when Harry noticed that Malfoy was awake and had been listening the whole time.
“Malfoy, do you know if this changes anything while we’re at Hogwarts or summer vacation or anything?”
Malfoy shrugged.
“As far as I know it doesn’t, but we aren’t sure of all the side effects now are we?”
Harry cringed at the hate he could still hear in his bondmate's voice. He grew up in a loveless household and always hoped that one day he’d find his own family and make sure it was filled with love. He supposed he just wasn’t meant to have that.
“Right… Thanks...”
Harry turned around and tried to stop himself from crying. ‘Snape was right. This is worse than dying.’