blood bound

chapter 21: Potting and Potions

Severus was still out when Harry and Voldemort woke several hours later. Working together they gently lifted him long enough to magically change the bedding and use a cleaning charm on him before settling the Damphyr in the middle of the bed. Wrapping him in the covers as they cleaned up and dressed before retiring to the sitting room to discuss Lucius, planning on returning to the bed before Severus woke.

"Lucius needs to die," Harry said flatly. "I don't care how valuable he is to you he hurt Severus and from the sound of it has been trying to hurt him since they were in school together."

"No argument," Voldemort said with a mirthless laugh. "I suspect you'll also want to kill Bellatrix since she's obsessed with me and has tried to make her way into my bed on more than one occasion. The woman fancies herself in love with me and I'm partly to blame for it."

"I might be able to let it go if she doesn't try anything now that we're mated," Harry said honestly after several minutes of deep contemplation on the matter. "Of course I fancied someone earlier this year and while I kissed her she could only think of Cedric who died at your resurrection, water works and all. On top of that she was one of the students to trigger my transformation, without all of that I would have kept trying to kill you until one of us died. With that understanding I think that we should leave their punishment to the ministry besides with anyone else at Hogwarts who showed an interest I either played clueless or avoided because they were obviously fans stalking me. I'm just glad that my most dangerous stalker turned out to be my mate."

"Fair enough but if I ever meet this Cho person I reserve the right to curse her," Voldemort countered, his natural possessiveness kicking in as he ignored the stalking jibe knowing it was true. "You have permission to kill any of my Death Eaters who try anything with you or Severus but as the Dominant I will deal with any who make a pass at me or at the two of you within my sight or immediate reach. Anyone unmarked that you find wandering around bring to me especially if they seem to belong and have made a pass at either of you, unfortunately allies need slightly more delicate handling than minions."

"First, I can protect myself but I would also be a hypocrite if I insisted on dealing with it myself after what we did with Severus. Second, I will not back down if they attack me but I also promise not to seek a confrontation. Third, there may not be time to get you at which point they'll either be dead or mangled if I respond," Harry warned, deciding to make sure he couldn't be blamed after the fact if something strange happened and he was forced into killing someone.

"Understandable," Voldemort allowed before countering. "That does not excuse me from acting as your Dominant. You are both my submissives and I will treat you as such but I also recognize that you are both strong, more than strong enough to protect any children the three of us may have. I would also like to know your real level of schooling."

"Near or just above NEWT level in most things," Harry admitted with a grimace. "I suck at History, middling at Astronomy, and Divination is a farce to the point that I'm barely OWL level with them. I've been studying everything else on my own when I wander off for quiet time away from everyone. I'd be further but this year I had to run the Defense class for a large part of the school and try to take out Umbridge on top of her damn blood quill detentions. The Aurors arrested her during Spring Holidays because we managed to sneak Madam Bones in and give her the evidence directly. Its being kept quite since it sparked an investigation into Fudge. I also found out that Hermione set it up under some lordship law about training retainers and potential retainers."

"No wonder the hat wanted you in Slytherin," Voldemort said with a delighted laugh, only to swoop down and scoop him up into his arms. "Now that we have that sorted out lets go check on Severus and make sure he doesn't think we've abandoned him."