Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

"~Cast it Potter,~" Voldemort's words hissed across Holly's senses as she faced down Bellatrix across the Ministry Atrium. "~Cast the Cruciartus Curse on her! Avenge your precious Godfather!~"

Vaguely Holly realized that those words were not coming from inside her mind but hissing in parsel against her ears. In the end it was hearing it that allowed her to slip into the language without a serpent in sight.

"~Are you willing to make a deal?~" Holly hissed back, pretending to threaten the witch with her wand even as she spoke, unseen, to the only other parselmouth in the British Isles.

"~The prophecy?~" Voldemort hissed in question. He hid his surprise over her parselmouth status surprisingly well even as he used it to his advantage.

"~No idea what it said. One of your men knocked me down hard enough by tossing one of my team into me that it smashed. The noise was too loud for me to hear the bloody thing reading it off between your people, my friends, and the Order showing up,~" Holly said bluntly. She continued quickly at the sound and feel of his enraged hiss punctuated by her burning scar. "~I can give you whatever bollocks story Dumbledore hands me and a better idea how our weird mind link works? I can even give you a few things I won't miss about what's been happening and insight into private moments that Dumbledore insisted on with me. I can't promise not to fight with how Dumbledore is threatening my very life and keeps me as a toy or a weapon, something to be put away when not in use. So what is even my reluctant cooperation worth to you?~"

The silence that stretched between the parselmouths lasted for no more than a few heartbeats.

"Bella, go," Voldemort ordered in English. Holly took that as permission to turn around and actually face him as he stood off to one side towards the wall less than five feet away. The floo flared behind her as Bellatrix fled as ordered. Neither of the two remaining magic users left the dueling ready stances they had fallen into upon facing each other properly.

"Sirius was my last chance to avoid going back to my magic hating relatives," Holly said, allowing her rage fueled grief forwards to be seen fully by the man proclaimed as her enemy. "The moment the fucking Order tells them he's dead it will start a count down to me being raped or sold off, just as my Uncle promised me years ago. I would frankly rather surrender to you. At least you don't hate my very being for my magic. You always tried for a clean kill, the graveyard not withstanding, which is fair with how I pushed you. I think its pretty clear that the so called Light are going to make sure that I don't survive much past you."

"~Dumbledore is here,~" Voldemort hissed, once more speaking in parseltongue. "~If you are serious about this lets discuss thing like this to keep it private. We can tell him you are bargaining to avoid further bloodshed.~"

"~Fine by me but I don't have the best control over speaking or not speaking,~" Holly warned, also in parsel. She hoped that Dumbledore hadn't heard anything clearly from her in English.

"~I want the names of your muggle relatives and if I see fit to buy you from them you will come quietly,~" Voldemort said firmly. "~What do you wish of me young viper?~"

"~Snape, give me Professor Snape to do with as I please for the summer but I want it magically enforced so that Dumbledore can't take him away,~" Holly hissed in an aggressive tone that didn't match what they were actually saying. "~I got a good look, once, at your Dark Mark. They're slave brands. You made them swear oaths of loyalty to take a slave brand and made it all the stronger with it. Even if I joined you I don't think I could take the brand, not with how I've been treated since my parents died.~"

"~Is joining me an option in your mind?~" Voldemort asked in surprise. "~Even with everything that has happened between us?~"

"~Yes, under certain conditions,~" Holly agreed. "~Your previous offers did not fall on deaf ears, merely a shackled heart. They've almost broken the last shackle they forged on my heart with their ruthless manipulation. I didn't even get to pick my own friends even if a few of the ones I do have are truly mine. One looks at me as a payday and the other is Dumbledore's man for all that she started as merely a rule and authority devotee.~"

"Well, well, well, a parselmouth not of the Gaunt or Slytherin Line," Voldemort said in viciously pleased sort of way. His words and tone told Holly that the play for Dumbledore had started.

"Dumbledore claims I got it from you the night you killed my parents," Holly told him honestly with a careless shrug. "Something about a piece of you becoming a part of me that night? I just try not to let it dictate things in all honesty."

"A piece of me?!" Voldemort hissed low, edging on the verge of slipping back into parseltongue. "I wonder if that means that you have been mine since the start and Dumbledore merely hid you from me?"

They were still in their dueling ready stances and had started to circle each other as they shifted fully back to speaking English. The jerk of a magical pull dragging Holly away from Voldemort was a shock to both of them. The way Dumbledore stepped out between them and called out Voldemort's birth name in challenge was less so.

"Tom!" Dumbledore practically boomed even as his spell yanked Holly away to land her in the hands of the animated wizard and centaur statues.

"A question, Dumbledore," Voldemort asked with a menacing chuckle even as they continued to circle each other. "Why are you so insistent on controlling your golden girl? If she is truly my enemy why would you need to? Or is she just mistaken on certain key facts? Why does she have a scar on her hand if you are her protector?!"

Voldemort struck with a wordless spell of crimson lighting on his last word and Dumbledore was forced to dodge. The alcove with a small statue behind him shattered into a large ragged archway as the blow landed. There were chips of stone, brick, and mortar flying every which way.

"You have given her your own fair share of scars, Tom!" Dumbledore argued as he shielded from another blast, this time blue.

"A scar that I did not give her!" Voldemort threw back at him in a fury even as he dodged Dumbledore's own spell. A spell that animated some of the rubble into small animal forms to harass the Dark Lord as he moved about.

Holly could tell that he was honestly angry about the blood quill mark. She hadn't realized that he could even see it from where he was standing. She could also tell that his past possessiveness in killing her had shifted to something slightly safer for her. Whatever answers the Dark Lord had gained in their discussion had made him less inclined towards killing her. It had also shifted his view of her just as much towards belonging to him in some fashion as it had given Holly hope of escaping the Dursleys, perhaps even permanently.

The quick back and forth of cast spells was dazzling to Holly's eyes even as she squirmed to get free of the bruising grip of the statues. Voldemort's words had hit a bit too close to home and she was suddenly finding herself, again, distrustful of the protection offered by Dumbledore. It slotted too neatly with some of the random things that her vile relatives had tossed at her over the years.

A break in the fighting occurred at one point soon after Holly got free of the animated statues. Dumbledore noticed her freedom and magically sent her flying down the Atrium, away from the area of the duel. Holly landed wrong and couldn't bite back the cry of pain as her cracked rib broke and shifted harshly on her landing. Her cry of pain shocked both wizards into momentary stillness.

"~Do you need medical care?~" Voldemort hissed in parsel even as he eyed Dumbledore hatefully.

"Broken rib, shifted down not up. I've healed from worse from my Uncle," Holly grit out, unable to speak anything but English in her pain.

"You have no need to lie my dear girl," Dumbledore chastised her, completely ignoring her pain and injury.

"Perhaps our guests could see to you while I deal with this old fool?" Voldemort hissed in controlled fury. "Madam Bones? Would you be so kind as to remove Potter from the field? You also might want a healer to see to her. I will want her checked under the laws regarding possible line theft with Potter also being the victim."

"You have no standing here, Tom!" Dumbledore declared a bit too forcefully even as the Ministry Employees gasped in shock over the accusation.

"Considering that little puzzle is the only thing keeping me from bringing down the entire building and leaving behind only rubble you should be grateful, old man!" Voldemort snarled. "Your little trick with the prophecy record will only hold me to mostly peaceful methods for so long."

"Would you be willing to leave peacefully?" Madam Bones asked, her face completely white as she recognized the Dark Lord.

"That depends entirely on if you plan to return Potter to Dumbledore's substandard care. Now that I have taken an interest in her possibly being a member of my family I very much doubt that you want me deciding the the Ministry has been mistreating her or literally handing her over to one of my personal enemies. I recommend you do your bloody jobs and actually investigate rather than simply trusting the deceitful words of an old man!" Voldemort practically snarled. He was tossing everything he could think of verbally at Dumbledore and the Ministry dunces in part to distract them from Potter's offered deal.

"Are you willing to testify, peacefully?" Madam Bones asked cautiously. One of her medically trained Aurors was seeing to Holly even as she bargained.

"Considering every time I tried to file a complaint or bring evidence forwards when I was younger you all threw me out? Considering Dumbledore has been threatening me since I was eleven?" Voldemort spat. "I don't trust you to not attack me. If the only way I can get a fair hearing is war then I will begin the war again."

"You're lying! You never intended to offer anything but complete subjugation!" Dumbledore accused. The man wasn't playing by the rules that Albus had set and it was starting to unnerve him.

"Look in the mirror, old man, you aren't talking about me but yourself!" Voldemort shot back. "After all you were Grindelwald's lover and claim to have beaten him in a duel! History may be written by the victors but sometimes there is something left over from the fallen to warn the future generations. I refuse to let you continue killing off bloodlines one by one to take their children and everything they own and add them to your little empire! How many children, especially children with pending titles, are under your so called Guardianship?! How many have you placed in inappropriate or abusive homes?! How many have you forced into dangerous situations hoping that they will die?!"

"I have done no such thing and everything I have done is for the greater good!" Dumbledore said self righteously.

Voldemort, unable to control his fury, shot another spell at him and the duel began again in earnest.

The Auror playing medic dragged Holly out of the rapidly shifting line of fire and over to Madam Bones. His colleagues started casting area shields to contain the over powered duel. Madam Bones was snapping out orders and it was clear that she wasn't going to let anyone butte into the ongoing duel. Holly, once Madam Bones passed close enough, grabbed the woman and dragged her down to listen to Holly's words as the fighting continued noisily in the background.

"If he's willing to leave and just take me agree with it!" Holly ordered. "On my life and magic I trust the Dark Lord that is actively trying to kill me over Dumbledore just now. I refuse to go back to my relatives even if it means my death!"

Madam Bones looked at her in shock and decided that while the words were honest and firm she could only publicly claim that Holly offered to end the fighting and protect people. It also told her that whoever the hell had the girl's guardianship was going to be hauled in on charges of neglect or abuse and possibly down right attempted murder.

"He could do anything to you!" Madam Bones objected in clear alarm.

"Better than what my own Uncle has promised to do to me the moment he can get away with it," Holly retorted with a gasp of pain from her still unhealed rib shifting again. "Uncle doesn't consider anyone with magic as human."

Holly could feel the magic of the Dark Mark on several of the nearby Ministry employees. She knew that her words and actions would get back to the Dark Faction and its Lord even if she didn't leave with them that day. At this point she could only hope that there was someone sane listening to her desperately hissed words of warning.

Madam Bones' face went hard before she spoke, "You aren't going anywhere. If you think that a cell in the care of the Dark Lord is better than what you have to go back to then, even if I have to use trumped up charges, a Ministry cell would be kinder."

"I doubt that," Holly said with a mirthless chuckle. "Its too easy for Dumbledore to influence anything related to the Ministry. Voldemort is a bastard but he's an honest bastard, at least to me he is. If he gives his word you can take it to the bloody bank! That's not even saying anything about at least one Ministry employee having actively tortured me and Fudge's attempt to see me thrown to the Dementors before school started this year. At this point ol' Voldy is my best choice even if it means he brands me as his personal slave and torture toy. The only reason I didn't fight you and the Aurors is because I know Susan. She was a good student this year when I had to run an underground defense course. Susan vouched for you more than once. Don't let Dumbledore trick you or cast a memory spell on you. He's done it before."

Holly's words were like a body blow to the woman. The emerald eyed girl finally passed out from the pain practically in Amelia's lap before she could say anything else.

"Stupid chit has gone dark," someone nearby said scathingly. "Toss her back to her Lord and be done with it!"

"The next person to suggest discarding or harming Holly Potter will be in Azkaban before you can cast a stunner," Amelia Bones shouted in open fury. "On the grounds of attempted human sacrifice and attempted murder!"

Bones' shout echoed across the Atrium just as another pause in the duel occurred, allowing her words to echo clearly to every ear in the room.

"If you can not keep your own people from harming her then I shall simply have to protect her until the mystery is solved," Voldemort said in an icy voice that echoed around the room. "Give me the girl and I will leave peacefully."

"No!" Dumbledore shouted only to attack even more viciously before anyone else could say anything.

While the two powerful wizards were distracted one of the marked minor spies placed by Voldemort slipped forwards to try and collect Holly for his master. Madam Bones caught a glimpse of the brand on his left forearm and refused to let the clerk take her. The slight tussle over the injured girl only allowed a different marked follower to scoop her up and fade into the back of the crowd randomly murmuring St. Mungo's to get everyone to let him by with the hurt teen. He didn't make it free of the Ministry, instead an Auror suspected to be one of Dumbledore's men "escorted" him to the hospital and arranged for a guard from his Auror buddies, each a Dumbledore supporter. The marked Death Eater could only comply and report back his failure at getting Holly Potter away for the Dark Faction.

Back in the atrium, in the end, Voldemort could only flee and plot to collect Holly later.

Chapter Text

Holly, for her part, did wake up in a bed at St. Mungo's Hospital. The Auror guards left behind for her though gave her a sense of dread. When they let Dumbledore in that sense of dread doubled.

"I'm glad to see you awake my dear!" Dumbledore said cheerfully. Holly just nodded and acted tired, refusing to meet his eyes. "Now that you're awake we can see you safely home to your loving relatives."

Holly didn't take the bait and murmured something along the lines of "yes Headmaster" in response. Even if her body was healing her emotions and mind were suffering from whiplash. Between losing Sirius, failing to get the Prophecy record safely away, the injuries she had witnessed done to her teammates, and the interactions in the Ministry Atrium she was wiped. She couldn't hold herself upright enough to even pretend at being functional much less normal.

Holly ignored the increasing concern that slipped into anger from the Headmaster. She allowed the grief and despair to enfold her in a protective blanket of emotional walls. The slight jabs she felt clawing at the edges of her mind never got past the feelings that engulfed her to what passed for rational thoughts in that moment.

"Now Holly, perhaps you can tell me why Voldemort cursed Professor Snape to stay in your presence until Halloween? Hm? Why he is unconscious because he couldn't get to you?" Dumbledore inquired politely with a hint of irritation.

Dumbledore had cast a privacy spell before starting in on this line of thought. He didn't want the clueless Auror guards to overhear something they shouldn't. Casting more compulsions, memory charms, and bindings were getting quite irritating after all.

Holly made no move to answer, staring sightlessly at a spot in the vague direction of his heart. Behind the walls of grief that she was focusing on and augmenting Holly wanted to murder the wizard in front of her. The only reason the spy wouldn't have made it to her side or might be ripped away from her once he got there was because of something Dumbledore had done or ordered. When she felt the murderous rage peak and Voldemort slip into her mind she did the unthinkable. Holly Potter took a firmly temporary step back from control of her own body and silently offered to let the Dark Lord answer the meddling bastard.

"I am afraid that Holly isn't in right now, Dumbledore," Voldemort drawled from Holly's mouth with a raspy hiss of a chuckle. "Congratulations on breaking your precious weapon child. I don't think I could puppet her to my side or even to the loo but that isn't the point is it? You put so much pressure and pain on her that she broke, rather like the Longbottoms. You are very lucky that I can't access anything but her eyes and speech or you would have never seen me use her to kill you."

Holly could tell that Voldemort was lying. Not only was she fully conscious and not nearly as emotionally crippled as they were making out but she was capable of fighting back should she so choose. Voldemort silently acknowledged that and joined in on her deception willingly. He wanted his new puzzle to himself and getting her away from Dumbledore's greedy little hands was paramount to that end goal.

"Tom, what have you done?!" Dumbledore demanded in a cold rage.

"I? I did nothing, or rather nothing beyond casting a very rare spell to force open a connection. It was, of course, done in Parseltongue. She was rather upset about it before you arrived in the atrium," Voldemort gloated. He was tossing out more random pieces to throw the old goat off of Voldemort's own suspicions about Holly. "I can see her memories clearly now, not a hint of resistance to my probings. A cupboard for a bedroom Albus? Tsk, and those promises to see her raped to death and bleeding from every orifice as her limbs from the fingers and toes on up were amputated by inches without anesthesia? My that Uncle of hers is quite creative. Not that any of that is far off of what the exorcisms did to me as a child. Then again there was at least a limited number of times they could get away with having me exorcised even in war time before someone got suspicious."

Holly was grimly feeding him the memories and hoping it wouldn't give Voldemort ideas if he did decide to buy or kidnap her. The more graphic and vicious threats levied by her relatives had usually come after watching a horror movie marathon. She very deliberately made sure he knew that some of the threats were copped from horror movies. On the other hand some of them came from her own nightmares, taken from her begging while she slept only to be beaten awake for making noise. She had more than enough material to feed a hundred or more ideas for a horror writer or for the Dementors to force her to relive every time the blasted things got near her.

Dumbledore spluttered and raised his wand as if to curse the man through the girl lying helpless on the bed.

"Go away, Albus," Voldemort scoffed. "I am having a difficult time piecing together the mind which you broke and the connection spell won't last much longer. She is of no use to anyone like this and I rather miss her spitfire personality. As for Severus... Well she did want to have a private conversation with the man but wasn't sure she could get it between you and Severus and your attitudes. I just enforced it with a bit of magic. You see even though the answers might help the girl stay sane I want her to know the truth, no matter how detrimental to my position it might be. If she ultimately sides with you that will be her choice but I am hopeful that she will listen to reason once I have finished piecing her back together for at least five minutes, maybe ten. Besides, I am rather curious what revenge she will take on him for the living hell he has made her schooling, on your orders no less. You will get your Potions Master back for the school year, provided you stop trying to prevent him from being in her presence and obeying her orders. It would have ended on September first, sadly you stopped him to the point of knocking him out, which added an additional two months to his time as her slave. Oh and, just to be clear, she can't order him to be away from her or obey someone else. Hopefully, I will have her close to somewhat functional by the end of the day. Don't wait up."

With that the muscles in Holly's body shifted from the more masculine set back to her more normal bearing, indicating that Voldemort had released his control and presumably left. Holly and Voldemort watched in the back of her mind to see what Dumbledore would do. The heavy handed hints that Voldemort's actions might set her more towards Dumbledore than before seemed to be doing their work as the old man grumbled but did nothing except walk out in a snit. Holly gradually shifted forwards again to retake control of her own body and allowed herself to settle back into normal upset over the loss of her Godfather.

Chapter Text

Voldemort deliberately remained connected to her as a comfort in the back of her mind. It wasn't until she and an unconscious Snape were taken to Privet Drive and left in the care of the Dursleys that he released their connection. He withdrew fully only when Snape woke and knelt to Holly, the spy was scowling the whole time.

"Potter, I have been assigned as your... helper for the summer," Snape said sourly as he knelt on the floor of her wrecked bedroom. "Is this to be my room for my stay?"

"No, Professor, it isn't," Holly said tiredly. "Don't worry about what to call this. My first orders are to keep my secrets because I will have no choice but to share most of them with you this summer. Dumbledore had you knocked out so it won't end until Halloween, something about the specific magic that Voldy used that added to it once you were forcibly kept away. I couldn't come to you since I was knocked out or I would have to keep it from hurting you."

"And where am I to stay?" Snape asked tensely.

"It depends on if I have injuries and need the bed or can give it to you instead. You see, Professor, this is my bedroom and I wouldn't even have this much if it weren't for how specifically the Hogwarts letters are addressed. My relatives thought someone was watching them so they gave me my cousin's second bedroom where he keeps all of his broken things," Holly explained reluctantly. "I don't expect you to do anything except observe and not tell my secrets. Just having you here might even make things better or at least keep Uncle from selling me to a whore house. One of my secrets... I asked for you from Voldy for the summer. I want you to see with your own eyes what my life is really like. I have no expectations that anything between us will change, not even the insults. I simply want you to see the truth. I just couldn't tell anyone else that so I might have implied that this was going to be revenge for how you treated me at Hogwarts."

"And what," Severus asked in dread. "Did you trade for this?"

"So far he hasn't collected yet but the tentative agreement was the names of my relatives, this address, and going with him quietly if he buys me from my relatives," Holly explained. "You've protected me before which is why I wanted you but if he comes for me I will uphold the bargain and you will be released if I have anything to say about it."

The look of horror on the dour man's face made Holly feel guilty. She knew she could do literally anything with him that she wanted but, at this point, she didn't feel that it was worth it to make him hate her more. Justice might be to torment him the way he had her for so long but mercy was not giving the deserved punishment. Grace, she had learned, was not only avoiding the deserved punishment but also getting something more on top of that as a gift. Holly deliberately chose not Justice but mercy and hopefully a bit of grace. Even if he didn't change how he acted or felt about her Holly didn't think it would matter. She had made her choice and she was going to stick to it.

"I'm sorry I can't give you something better," Holly apologized sincerely. "If I can get us to Diagon Alley for a day I'll see if I can buy you a bigger on the inside tent or something so that you have someplace better to sleep. I don't even know how I'm going to feed you during your stay. The Lord knows that the Dursleys wont give us more food than my tiny share."

"You stupid child," Severus hissed through numb lips. Holly flinched at the harsh words but didn't try to stop the scolding tirade he proceeded to give her about how stupid her idea had been and how thoughtless the execution was. Once he was done, still kneeling in front of her on the dirty floor, Holly got up and fetched some sort of cloth from her rickety desk and handed it to him.

"None of my relatives will stand for you being out of the room and able to do things so I am lending you my father's invisibility cloak," Holly told him, her voice thick with unshed tears over his scolding. "They would be happy that we got hurt by being forced apart. Even if you do nothing but lurk under my cloak all summer I will see your end of all of this as fulfilled."

Holly felt Voldemort on the edge of her mind questing for whatever had upset her. In answer she gave him an image of Professor Snape being very much not happy and a sense of needing to work it out with him for herself. Voldemort mentally glowered at her but retreated without further comment. She was half concerned that she wasn't actually concerned about the Dark Lord having easy access to her mind but that was something for another time.

"Give me an order," Severus sneered. "I want to see what exactly is forcing me to stay and play servant for you."

Holly flinched but obeyed.

"Take your shirt off," Holly ordered flatly. They both knew that if the man had any choice to not follow her orders he would ignore this one.

Severus tried to retort in outrage only to find his hands already moving to unbutton his robe and shirt starting at the neck without his permission even as he drew a breath to shout his outrage. This evidence took the wind right out of his sails and he quietly finished the task. Holly noted the various scars that littered her Professor's body but made no comment on anything she saw.

"You can put your clothes back on again if you want," Holly said quietly. "I probably should have just asked for your wand but I wanted it clear to both of us without question."

Severus quickly redressed and just fumed for a few minutes while Holly waited patiently.

"So, Potter, what do you wish of your slave?" Severus asked bitterly.

"Watch until you are convinced of the truth of my life. You may choose when or if to act otherwise," Holly ordered firmly. "I decided I wasn't going to punish you once we got here, sir. I shouldn't have asked for this but its done. If you like, once they've all gone to bed, if you can cast magic without us getting into trouble... I'll let you go through my memories as repayment. I won't fight as much as I might not want you to see something you should have what answers I can give. If you need to you have permission to knock me out and take me elsewhere as long as it isn't to Dumbledore."

"Are you not going to forbid me to take you to the Dark Lord?" Severus sneered half-heartedly.

"No, because if it gets that bad you will know the risks better than I will," Holly said bluntly. "We may argue... a lot, but you have sense that most wizards I've encountered simply don't have, something that it sometimes seems as if I don't have it either. It bothers me. I want you free to act just not on the orders of someone else who could order you to kill me."

"Anything else?" Severus asked gruffly. Holly hesitated but eventually bulldozed onwards.

"My... understanding of the situation here might be... compromised. As such if you believe that I am not seeing things clearly I would request that you act appropriately on that knowledge regardless of the consequences. That means even if I say no and you think we need to leave you make me come with you. As a bit of protection I order you to answer with my name should the truth of your loyalty be demanded by someone and it isn't safe to answer truthfully. I also order you to blame me and this specific situation if you find yourself in trouble for whatever happens," Holly told him firmly. "I'll leave the phrasing up to you since you'll know how to present it to best effect for whoever is to hear it. Its my fault anyway, I might as well take responsibility for it."

"Stupid girl," Severus muttered half-heartedly.

Holly just gave him a tired smile, helped him sort out the invisibility cloak, and answered her Aunt's screeching demand for her presence.

Chapter Text

Severus followed the teen out of her wreck of a dusty bedroom while obligingly hiding under the invisibility cloak. He had his wand and was allowed to use it. He was able to allow Holly the use of her own wand as long as he was nearby to fix mishaps. His interest had been caught not only by the lengths his student had gone to, to arrange all of this only to forget the basics but also by her genuine apology. That same interest only increased with the specific instructions she had given him and how she had only issued actual orders on less than a handful of items. He was interested enough now that his own curiosity wouldn't let him leave even if he could. Then again the implications of her warnings and how she had phrased things also made him uneasy.

The first thing that Severus did while Holly was ordered to make a meal was to snatch a newly thrown away piece of mail from the rubbish bin. Thus he had the address and the names of the adults in residence. The second thing he does is fight not to attack the skinny bitch that Holly calls Aunt for slamming a smaller cast iron frying pan into the middle of Holly's back. The blow nearly knocked Holly onto the hot stove she was cooking upon and did force a gasp from her lips.

"I don't bloody care how special those freaks think you are," the woman sneered hatefully. "You will get no special treatment for that beast of a man finally being dead. I don't know what you did to the freak upstairs and I'm glad I didn't have to look at him but we won't be feeding him. You will also do your chores before you tend to him. I don't care if he's dying, you earn your keep or I let Vernon invite his boss to some private time with you... unless you want to be whipped raw. Your pet freak can just get tossed into the river for all I care. Understood?"

"Yes, Aunt Petunia," Holly said levelly. She continued cooking, moving gingerly with the forming bruise out of sight under her shirt in the middle of her back. Holly hadn't understood the thing about Vernon's boss except that it was likely a bad thing but she had understood being whipped raw just fine.

Severus practically fumed over the injury Holly took that had obviously been for his sake to say nothing of the threats made. If she hadn't told him to watch until he was convinced of the truth of her home life he could have acted. Unfortunately, Holly had phrased that particular instruction more as an order than a request. The implications of the order combined with how she had handled the blow made him feel sick. An elite soldier might be expected to shrug off such a blow while high on adrenaline in the middle of a mission but a teenager? No teenager, no adult, would be able to shrug that off. Not without extreme training or years of vicious abuse.

A decision firmed in his mind. For every injury and every basic denied to Holly he would retaliate against the one who caused the injury or lack at least two fold if not three fold. Severus also decided that he was taking the loop hole that Holly had left him. He was going to kidnap her as soon as possible. He would be damned if he left her to such treatment any longer than he had too.

As Holly was sent outside to work Severus concocted a plan. After what Petunia had done to his Holly... Wait, his?! Nevermind, deal with that later. After what the vicious bitch did to Potter who would be sixteen, the age of consent the back of his mind whispered, in a little over a month and a half he could focus on the neighborhood even if he couldn't touch the Dursleys... yet.

Severus realized why his mind went to teenager eligibility almost as soon as he caught sight of the blond baby whale that was Dudley Dursley and his gang of friends. He wouldn't, couldn't, sit back if she was assaulted in a more primal fashion and damn the consequences. The overweight cousin looked at his charge with wary respect for some reason. The other members of the obvious little gang weren't so innocent with their observations. If they touched her with more than their lustful eyes they were dead.

It was this range of realizations that had something in his bond with Holly click into place. His rational mind had finally accepted what his heart had been telling him all along. Holly Potter was not spoiled. No, she was at constant risk and had only gained truly positive attention for risking her life recklessly. Severus Tobias Snape fumed at that realization even as he was unaccountably proud at how strong she had been over so many years of such hatred aimed her way.

A subtle spell had the group turning away from Holly as she worked somewhat peacefully in the garden. A couple of cooling charms at random made sure that his charge wasn't hurt by working so diligently out in the heat. A discreetly delivered goblet of water from time to time also helped but it was clear that his use of magic to help her confused Holly.

The random bits of gossip he overheard as he ranged around the yard while staying near to Holly handed him a snapshot of how the neighborhood viewed her. Or rather it handed him a snapshot of the vicious lies that Petunia had deliberately spread around about Holly. It gave him a few ideas for retribution but it also gave him a cold feeling settling deep in his chest. This was not an environment to raise a magical child in with safety and love. It was a viper's nest!

Once they were back inside to make the evening meal Severus had to watch as Petunia viciously shoved Holly onto the still warming stove top. Holly moved fast to get off the stove but still got light burns for her trouble. As the three humans, both hidden and not, watched the burns Holly's accidental magic kicked in and healed them. Severus didn't see the blow in time to shield Holly from Petunia's backhand to the face that slammed Holly into the nearby counter.

"Freak! No food for a week!" Petunia hissed spitefully. "Expect the rest of your punishment once Vernon gets home, girl."

"That's enough," Severus snarled as he shrugged off the cloak and became fully visible. Petunia swung around only to be met with a furious adult wizard in perfect health, wand raised and ready to strike.

"I told you..." Holly started only to be cut off by her Professor.

"You are not seeing things clearly, as suspected," Severus growled. "I am invoking my right to act and the only way any of this neighborhood will live for even one more night is if you come quietly. Not even the Dark Lord treats his enemies like what I have witnessed in the last twelve hours. At this point I would happily set the town aflame for what has been done to you."

"They aren't all bad," Holly whispered. The emotional and physical exhaustion, despite his helping her, was obvious now with how her flesh sagged on her very bones.

"Either fetch your things or I will stun you and the chances of leaving without simply blasting my way free will become nil," Severus hissed. "Do not test me!"

Severus didn't have the patience to argue with the girl defending her abusers and those who turned a blind eye. He wanted to leave enough of the area intact to send an official investigation team in to determine if there were extra magical influences or if Petunia and her family were just fucking evil. His personal bet was that they were evil but it wouldn't do to leave such a vicious enemy who might arrange this unknown. It had absolutely nothing to do with how his temper was about to overwhelm his occlumency, nothing at all. It would also be harder to fulfill his vow to protect Holly if he was fighting her to burn down the area and slaughter everyone for the pain they had inflicted upon her.

They stared each other down for a good five minutes before Holly caved and fetched her things, thankfully still completely packed. Hedwig was still at Hogwarts because she had never made it back to the castle to retrieve her and it was proving to be a boon. Severus tucked away the invisibility cloak in his pocket while Holly fetched her things. Once that was done he didn't even bother leaving the house. Severus simply gathered up his charge and her things and apparated out. They left behind a fuming Petunia and stove that was burning away the torn bit of skin left on it from Holly's fall.

The curse that Severus let off just as they apparated wouldn't make its self felt until the entire neighborhood was saturated with the anchor magics. Three days later every scrap of a secret hidden within that neighborhood bar magic was published in lurid detail in a special edition of the national paper. It was only considered complete with the question of what happened to Holly asked of the readers and who the hell would arrange for such treatment. The only answer the Dursleys were able to give when questioned and harassed about it was Dumbledore.

Chapter Text

Severus landed just as his temper and occlumency snapped. The only thing he could think of that wouldn't have him attacking some random person in a blind rage was that Holly was his. Holly yelped in shock as she was dragged up into his arms and held tightly. The grab had forced her to drop her trunk and a small extra bag she hadn't bothered to shove inside it. Severus growled low as she squirmed uncomfortably in his arms. He in turn hunched over and around her more, shielding her with as much of his body as he could manage without dropping the pair of them to the ground. Neither knew how long they stood there with Snape firmly curled around Holly's smaller form.

Neither magic user noticed where they had actually landed until Voldemort tossed a stinging hex at the pair and Snape immediately turned to attack the threat. Holly was firmly kept behind him even as his lighting fast reflexes struck back at the unknown with a vengeance.

Lucius Malfoy yelped and ducked away, staring at his friend in shock as Snape and Voldemort engaged in a fast paced duel of overwhelming power. Snape was still going strong until he got his with a Crucio that merged into a wordless serpentine hiss of fury. A combination that Snape had trained himself to yield to no matter what the circumstances were. The man went down and stayed down even when the spell was lifted.

"What happened?!" Voldemort demanded in barely controlled fury.

"I don't know," Holly said helplessly. "I was making dinner and he freaked out over my Aunt punishing me for accidental magic. I had ordered him not to take me to Dumbledore if something happened... I also told him that if he saw something wrong with anything he could kidnap me away even if I said no. I thought I was missing something obvious but I couldn't figure out what."

"If you saw Weasley or Granger or even Draco treated like that you wouldn't have a problem stepping in!" Severus snapped from his prone position on the floor. "The only thing blinding you was that you were the one being hurt... Unless someone cast compulsions on you to make you believe that what was happening was acceptable and normal. Before you comment that was most certainly not normal or acceptable behavior! I don't care if you happen to be muggle, magical, divine, or demonic! Not acceptable!"

"Um, she was a bit rough but it was mostly normal..." Holly said uncertainly. She wasn't sure what she was supposed to say. As far as she was concerned Snape had freaked out over nothing.

Voldemort stared at the pair in an odd mix of consternation, bewilderment, and shock even as he tried to give only a blank mask to the proceedings.

Snape stayed on the floor, not having been told that he could get up yet, and glared at his charge. Her answer just highlighted how badly he had needed to get her out of there. Severus was suddenly very glad that she couldn't get rid of him, even with a direct order, until at least Halloween. He was going to be taking ruthless advantage of that little facet of their current bond.

The Dark Lord could barely hide both his fury at the attack and his shock at Snape's actions. He didn't bother letting the man up just yet. Instead he stalked across the room to grab his spy's silky soot black hair and jerked him into a half sitting position. Forcing the obsidian eyes to meet his Ruby ones he gave his spy no room to escape.

"Show me what caused you to attack in a blind fury, my normally self-controlled spy," Voldemort commanded in a deadly tone. He allowed Severus to feel his gathering magic readying for the spell they both knew. Holly gave a wordless protest, reminding them that she was there too.

"Lucius check the girl," Voldemort ordered without looking away from Severus only to add an additional order when Severus tensed and gave off a wordless growl. "Do not touch her or move her from this room."

Voldemort's ruby gaze had sharpened in intense interest at Severus' responses. Clearly unhappy Severus still forced himself to relax at the knowledge that Holly wouldn't be taken from him or even touched by his friend. She was his to protect, not Lucius'!

In the end Severus didn't fight the painful intrusion to view his memories directly. In turn Voldemort witnessed everything from the moment Severus woke up with Holly in her room to the instant he landed in the family entry hall of Malfoy Manor. It took him several moments to process what he had seen but it was long enough for Lucius to fumble through a quietly and calmly explained diagnostic spell on Holly.

Voldemort's magic practically erupts in fury when Holly gives an involuntary shout as the diagnostic test bumps against several magically sensitive injuries. A second flare of magic sends a yelping Lucius scrambling back and away from where Severus still lays, half prone and held only by the Dark Lord's grip on his hair.

The test results fall to the floor in a sad heap of conjured parchment that is glared at balefully by Holly. Lucius receives an equally murderous look from the Dark Lord as it dawns on him that his Lord was upset over something to do with the teen. Lucius cautiously summons the slightly charred parchment and glances through them only to feel sick. The blond Lordling doesn't even notice when his pure blood mask utterly shatters as his eyes race across the results. Nor does he notice when both his friend and his Lord turn slightly towards him, waiting for word of the results.

"My Lord?" Lucius says, his voice all but breaking in devastation at what he was reading. "We need to get Potter to the goblins or at least to my wife immediately! Dumbledore has been playing his games again and... what I am reading here is... well its horrifying and its ready to shatter both Potter and her core!"

Voldemort doesn't bother to demand more information as he lets go of his Spy and turns to send a rapid summons into the Manor for Narcissa. He doesn't notice when Severus tenses, ready to bolt towards Holly and is completely surprised when it actually happens.

"What?!" Narcissa Malfoy demands from the doorway, having responded to the urgent summons. She takes the room in at a glance and stalks past her husband to cast her own, more accurate, diagnostic on the skittish teen only to pause as Severus scrambles up and hastily puts himself between everyone and Holly. Voldemort in turn casts a temporary summoning spell to drag him back to his knees in front of the Dark Lord.

"Severus? Do I need to check her?" Narcissa Malfoy asked carefully, eying her friend, the teen, and the Dark Lord equally.

"Please," Severus agreed grimly before Voldemort got the chance to flatly order her to check Holly. He had relaxed at realizing Narcissa was acting as a healer rather than an irate Lady of the House. "If nothing else, which I currently doubt, she should have a large bruise forming on her back and evidence of burns on her hands healed by accidental magic."

As Narcissa approached the immediately wary Holly Voldemort signaled for Snape to get up with a slight tug of wordless magic. The Potions Master winced as he rose but he was on his feet in quick order. The muscle spasms and shaking after effects of the Cruciartus curse were firmly ignored. The lingering effects would keep him in lingering pain for a time but he was more interested in having Holly seen to than his own comfort.

A skittish Holly was getting checked over by Narcissa Severus gave a quiet report on what hadn't been covered by the memory to the Dark Lord with Lucius Malfoy grimly standing nearby. At one point an exasperated Narcissa shoved a fairly powerful pain potion into Severus' hand. A quick look towards the teen told him that it was more to get Holly to cooperate then to give him relief from the intermittent tremors and lingering pain. After all Holly didn't know that, as part of the Dark Lord using that spell as a punishment, he wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. Severus most certainly wasn't leaving until he was looked over by a healer, fussed over, and given a specialized healing potion to fix the effects once it was safe a few hours after the spell residue had settled. The pain potion would just delay that treatment for an extra twelve hours.

Severus had no problem waiting longer for the Anti-Cruciartus potion if it got Holly healed and checked more quickly and safely. It was, after all, a potion that he had developed. He knew the risks both on waiting to take it and for if he had went and tried to take it with the pain potion anyway.

The look in Narcissa's eye once she was done with the very shortened exam made Severus dread what a full history might show. The way she kept her own husband away from the skittish teen spoke volumes as was the way Narcissa practically stormed up to him and attempted to drag him off.

"No! He's mine!" Holly said harshly, grabbing Snape and dragging him away from the infuriated witch.

Narcissa faltered as Snape was pulled from her grip by a suddenly adrenaline strong and angry Holly Potter. The teen found herself facing off against Voldemort, Lucius Malfoy, and Narcissa Malfoy with Snape dragged to her own side by her grip on his arm. Holly's green eyes sparked in a mix of fury, indignation, and the slightest hint of fear.

In the next instant Snape felt himself pulled down as Holly stumbled over her dropped bag and trunk. The pair sprawled out on the floor of the designated floo and apparation room. Severus couldn't help how he landed on top of her with how they fell. What he could and did do was curl himself so that he was wrapped protectively around her for all that his belated reaction still had her landing hard against the stone floor.

Voldemort hissed in fury at what he saw as a deliberate landing on the only other parselmouth. Before the Dark Lord could raise his yew wand to cast again a shield flared over the pair of them. Voldemort could feel the way that their magic mingled into a single protective whole. He could see how the pair were straining to protect each other even though every report he had before the atrium had the pair hating each other.

"~Holly Potter,~" Voldemort hissed in Parseltongue. "~What do you think you are doing?~"

The magic from Holly surged briefly before abruptly winking out. Severus' magic, on the other hand, shifted to lay as a second skin against the pair of them. Every last one of them felt the crack of magic as something attached to one of the two broke. Holly screamed and Severus' magic surged forwards, filling whatever opening had been made in Holly's magic. He cried out in his own echo of pain only for Voldemort's magic to surge forwards and reconnect to something inside Holly the Dark Lord hadn't known was there.

Voldemort stared at the entangled pair in shock as his own magic settled in to form a protective layer around them while Snape's sought to heal Holly. A sixth flare of magic in as many minutes released a wave of power from Holly's core.

"Multiple binds on her core, at least three separate leeches, and a twisted link to an improperly cast blood ward that was slowly killing her," Lucius whispered just loud enough to be heard. "There was something labeled as a soul shard or soul leech and magics coming from both it and a mark on her arm that echoed the Dark Mark."

Voldemort could tell that the downed pair were unconscious at this point even as he continued to feed them magic. His magic, magic that was singing with glee as it recognized traces of its self on both of them. Vaguely he wondered if he should even bother looking for someone else to guard his newest treasure. One thing he did know was that he wouldn't be letting them return to Hogwarts, Dumbledore's lair, without a damn good reason. It was perhaps very fortunate then that Holly had just completed her OWLs within the last few weeks.

Gathering them up gently Voldemort bodily carried the downed pair to his suite of rooms within the Manor. He put them to bed in his own Ebony bedroom set, draping them in Slytherin colors, and prepared to wait for them to wake up. Narcissa, who had followed him and her patients, checked them again only to shake her head in despair and wonder. The Dark Lord watched her suspiciously as she spelled several potions into them before taking her leave.

Voldemort could do nothing more than sit vigil over the pair long into the night and the next morning.

Chapter Text

Severus drifted into wakefulness, warm, and cuddled up on an unfamiliar bed next to a smaller female body. His magic sparked, telling him that not only was the small form attempting to awkwardly cuddle with him Holly Potter. It also informed him that the Dark Lord was sitting at their bedside.

"Stay," came the quiet order just as he tensed to move. The word caused Severus to freeze but not relax again. If anything it sent adrenaline racing through him as he prepared for anything.

"Severus, enough," Voldemort's quiet voice ordered with a sigh. "You were my first possibly successful courting attempt to Potter in an effort to have her join us. Now I find that Dumbledore's secrets have, in essence, bound the two of us together. If she is what held you to the old goat you have nothing to fear. She will be healed and, assuming you don't object, your presence at her side will be permanent as far as I am concerned."

"He forced me into an Unbreakable Vow to protect her and then refused me access to actually fulfill the Vow. Between that and how he would constantly say she was practically a mirror of her bully of a father..." Severus admitted quietly into the dim room. "I made certain that I didn't fail or at least couldn't be blamed for any failure. It kept her as safe as I could. He still sent her after the stone in first year, after whatever was petrifying students in second year, and after Black in her third year. You arranged for her presence in the tournament forth year and he did nothing to get her out. This last year... I could barely keep Umbridge, the witch, from sending Holly to the Dementors gift wrapped."

"Then it seems I need to keep you both close," Voldemort said tightly. "I will have Lucius issue a press statement that cites her being injured and hidden away with suspicions that Dumbledore arranged for her injuries. His genuine reaction to her medical scan will be enough to convince everyone that her status as Light Savior has no bearing on the reaction to see her healed and hidden from her possible attackers."

"An oath on his magic that he means her no harm after seeing the scan will help," Severus pointed out carefully. He had already practically announced that he was a traitor but in that moment he was more concerned about protecting Holly.

"You know what this means," Voldemort said coldly.

Severus swallowed hard before answering with a raspy voice, "I will be marked as a traitor and recieve a traitor's death."

Those words sparked a reaction from the magic of a still unconscious Holly. Her magic flared in a wavering wounded sort of way before falling in constantly concentrating coil on Severus, gathering at his throat. Voldemort hissed sharply as he recognized a dash of his own power in the move before the magic snapped into place. Ten minutes later it had settled enough to be recognized in its final form. Severus Tobias Snape was now bound to both of them, permanently.

"Apparently, you've done a good enough job of guarding Holly for her very magic to reach out and claim you. I do not envy you, answering to multiple masters," Voldemort chuckled maliciously. "That still doesn't address your treachery."

Severus swallowed hard, unable to respond beyond hoping that he wouldn't be cursed. Voldemort waited several minutes, letting him stew, before finally speaking more lightly

"I will grant Potter primary control of you after I have punished you for your treason. Something I will not be able to do until Halloween at the minimum as per my agreement with the stubborn impossible woman," Voldemort started out malicious only to slip into grumbling as he started to speak on Holly.

"What if I punished him?" Holly asked in the following silence. "Would that work? So that he doesn't have to be tortured or die?"

Holly had been awake since her magic had settled into the new permanent bond and heard everything that had been said after it had formed. While she was wary about what was needed to punish Snape she was also stubbornly going to protect him. Holly hoped it would prove some repayment for his own protection by him over the years.

"~You have no idea what is necessary for such a punishment,~" Voldemort told her bluntly in parsel.

"~Then explain,~" Holly hissed back stubbornly. "~Even if I have to hurt him I owe him more than to let him be killed or tortured.~"

The unseen stand off lasted until Voldemort sighed heavily.

"You have until Halloween to prove to me that you can handle punishing him," Voldemort said in English. "If you can't than any future punishments will be at my discretion as we share him. His status as our joint slave and your bodyguard is non-negotiable. Legally we jointly own everything about him. Personally, I don't see why private things should be infringed upon except as a punishment or if he wishes for our interference. You were obviously correct when you identified my mark as a repurposed magical slave brand. The problem comes in that my magic has claimed you as part of my family. How our relationship evolves beyond that recognition will be up to us. Severus will always be a part of that by virtue of his bonds with us."

"...why is slavery legal?" Holly asked with a squeak.

"It has been an institution across the world over for centuries," Voldemort answered, his raised eyebrow audible in his voice. "It may not be called that but it has been present in most if not all societies for a very long time."

"No, why is it legal now?!" Holly asked in clear agitation.

"Its discouraged but with magic bindings and bonds being a factor its nigh on impossible to eradicate without killing half of our already small population," Voldemort answered calmly. "Too many vassal oaths sworn over the years and family vows and such enforced by the very magic that is a part of our people."

There was quiet before Holly finally answered with a subdued, "Oh."

"You could both order me to hand over just about anything at this point but unless you use the bond and our magic to enforce it I don't have to hand it over," Severus explained with a sigh. "I still have most of my freedoms under the current laws as well as formal ownership of my own property. In this day and age you could give me an order and I would have to obey but I could still take you to court over mistreatment if I thought it worth the cost. The bonds, while technically slave bonds, are more along the lines of what Dumbledore keeps doing with you, acting like an overbearing Guardian with control issues. The oath to the Dark Lord is deliberately worded to give him more freedoms in dealing with us and uses a set of more archaic laws."

"You mean that he's allowed to curse you?! And you agreed to it?!" Holly demanded in open alarm.

"Yes," Voldemort answered her bluntly. "I am very careful to see to their health afterwards when possible. My group counts as a military or paramilitary group. We want legal changes so I don't argue with us being classified as rebels or terrorists when direct action becomes necessary. Dumbledore deliberately closed all routes to do it through the Wizengamot. One of the primary law revisions would have prevented what was done to you and given both Severus and I recourse for dealing with our own mistreatment. Much of our image is pure propaganda aimed at discrediting us, similar to what happened in the paper to you this last summer holidays."

"Then what about the visions..." Holly asked uncertainly. "Seeing through your eyes... or Nagini's."

"Does it ever consistently match a particular mood or emotion?" Voldemort asked into the quiet.

"Anger, anger and fury. Sometimes happiness but that isn't often and since the Ministry it hasn't happened at all. My scar hasn't even hurt being near you like it used to," Holly described honestly.

"That would be why then," Voldemort sighed. "If I have been feeling particularly murderous or dealing with an especially frustrating enemy my thoughts and any bleed through along our bond would reflect that. One can not run even a mildly successful revolution without dealing with such things as killing implacable enemies and information extraction. Those things would fit right in with the... less than pleasant public image that has been crafted for me and mine."

"The crucio coming from the visions didn't help much," Holly said unhappily.

"What?!" came the immediate shocked exclamation from both wizards.

"Um, I thought you knew?" Holly said, slightly confused. "I can feel the Cruciartus when you cast it like you're hitting me through the visions even when I watch from your eyes."

Voldemort immediately swore at this latest tid bit.

"No wonder you automatically assume that I am an insane evil megalomaniac out for your blood anytime we meet!" Voldemort hissed in complete exasperation. "Between that and whatever else Dumbledore fed you its a wonder that you even tried to talk to me at the Ministry!"

"Exactly how desperate were you to run?" Severus asked with a deadly calm.

Holly didn't answer, instead he felt her trying to draw away in the bed only for Severus to reach out and tug her back against him in response. He was grateful that only their shoes had been removed when they were put to bed. Holly only went still when he grabbed her and didn't fight when he held her close.

"How desperate?" Severus asked insistently with a low growl edging into his voice.

"I was planning on surrendering when I gave you back if I couldn't think of anything else," Holly admitted quietly. "Some of what I learned about Voldemort over the years, things that Dumbledore dismissed as nothing, told me that even being his prisoner might be better. I wouldn't be expected to do anything like fight another Basilisk or kill him or anything. A bit of resistance to show I wasn't willingly going dark and then giving in. Not exactly Gryffindor courage but at least I wouldn't be breaking apart into nothing more than a weapon puppet. Of course the hat wanted me in Slytherin in the first place and I had to argue with it for something else."

"Do you know why I didn't snatch you away after the duel with Dumbledore?" Voldemort asked softly in the dark of the room.

"I thought you couldn't get to me just then? I tried to get Madam Bones to listen before I passed out but I think she got hit with a memory charm," Holly said carefully. "Either that or she wasn't actually able to order that Dumbledore not be allowed near me when I woke up in the hospital under guard and he just walked right in. I figured with how you sent me Snape and the trick we pulled on Dumbledore at the hospital you would collect on my end of the deal when you were ready."

"Yes, all of that is a part of it," Voldemort hummed happily. "The other part though was to throw Dumbledore off. You see I believed I had discovered what caused our mental link after what you told me in the atrium. Whether true or not I could not let Dumbledore believe that I knew about even the faintest possibility in that direction. So, in the hospital, I tried something I had done before with Nagini and it worked. It isn't fully proof of my suspicions but the fact that it worked does make you incredibly valuable to me even if my suspicions are incorrect. You offered your meager knowledge on our link as one of the things to pay for claiming my Potions Master for a few months. I will have that and the names of anyone who has done you harm, especially that scar on the back of your hand and any others that adorn your body."

"Not the Dursleys? Not Private Drive?" Holly asked uncertainly.

"Oh no, they have already signed their own death warrants just based on how they treated a magical child," Voldemort said darkly. "If I factor in that it was you rather than just a magical child I would burn the entire town and more to ashes. Something that I suspect would greatly upset you so I will limit myself to only the household that harmed you. Be grateful, little viper, because if my suspicions are correct and you are ever taken from me I will do more damage to get you back than the blitz did to London."

"Noted," Holly said, swallowing hard.

Voldemort had no plans to tell her that she held a piece of his very soul, not without some assurance that she wouldn't deliberately try to get herself killed out of duty to the Light. This conversation just proved that she was willing to accept him as the controlling force in her life. Now he only had to make it so that no matter how unhappy she was with him personally he wasn't giving her up. If that evolved into something stronger then so be it. Either way between him and Severus Holly wasn't going anywhere. He would make sure of it.

"I will arrange rooms to either side of my own for you both but until they are ready you will stay here, in my rooms, with me," Voldemort told them gruffly. "Nagini was once a human Witch so she will chaperone anything female oriented and any... questionable time together. She can and has stopped me from some very foolish decisions at times so I am confident that if something should arise there should be little trouble resolving it."

That night Holly slept in the Dark Lord's bed with Severus in a transfigured cot nearby. Voldemort was in an equally transfigured bed in the sitting room of the suite, guarding them from intruders. Nagini had deliberately curled up next to the fire in the bedroom with Holly.

Elsewhere, the Wizarding World was reeling in shock at the news of Holly's injuries. Dumbledore was fighting questions left, right, and center of what exactly he had been doing with their Savior.

Chapter Text

It had been three days since Holly had been taken from the Dursleys and she had slipped into a fever the very first night. Lucius' statement to the press had become far too real for anyone's liking as Holly fought for her life. Severus had to be repeatedly dragged from her side for minimal everyday basics by an equally worried Lucius on Narcissa's orders. Voldemort was hassled into the same by Nagini only when Severus was present to swap with him, the witch-turned-serpent knowing better than to try otherwise.

Narcissa turned on the two wizards after the forth time she had to stun Severus because her husband couldn't get him to eat or drink.

"Enough," Narcissa told both men, her voice firm. "This isn't helping my patient. Hurting yourselves to stay with her is hurting her, not just the pair of you! Or hadn't you noticed that she is connected to your magic?! As the pair of you refuse to stay healthy she worsens! Either you trade off and take care of yourselves or I will take the risk of banning you from wherever becomes her sick room!"

"She will not be moving," Voldemort said harshly, glaring at the woman in full on healer mode.

"Then change your behavior to benefit her rather than harm!" Narcissa retorted in complete exasperation. Nagini hissed her own sharp agreement which made the Dark Lord grimace but also nod in grudging agreement of his own.

"On a more pleasant note Lucius hid the automatic registration of your acceptance of Holly as your heir. He also managed to hide the paperwork on the bond that formed between her and Severus. Both, should you need them, are filed with our own marriage paperwork at the Ministry," Narcissa informed him tartly. "Still filed, still legal, and completely hidden from Dumbledore's sticky fingers in so many pies. Her guardianship, as a result, defaulted to me as next of kin through Sirius, said paperwork was quietly processed last night with everything that entails. No one can legally contest her presence under our joint care unless Dumbledore admits that he sealed the Potter wills and unseals them with a unanimous vote of the Wizengamot to do so."

"That is good news," Voldemort grudgingly conceded.

"Rita Skeeter has, unfortunately, decided to paint Holly as an abused prisoner under Dumbledore and has spoken to the muggles who raised her," Narcissa said with a grimace. "Its a nightmare but the Malfoy name has kept anything about Holly to either flattering or strictly true. On the one hand Rita has formally apologized for certain comments in previous articles while on the other the details she is unearthing are making the population utterly furious on her behalf. I do believe that if you came out as having been tricked by Dumbledore into attacking the Potters and upon discovering such taken Holly under your protection you might just very well be pardoned for being a Dark Lord. To say nothing about the rest of it."

"I suppose if I acknowledge that this has primarily been a war between myself and Dumbledore we might get somewhere," Voldemort admitted grudgingly.

"Tell them you just wanted to be heard," Holly said sleepily. They all rushed to her side as this was the first time in days that she had been awake and coherent.

"Don't frighten us so, brat!" Severus scolded as he took her hand in his.

"Sorry, I don't usually have this problem. I've worked while sick just fine loads of times," Holly mumbled. She ignored the sharp intakes of breath in favor of cuddling in the blankets she was cozily wrapped in.

"Shh, just rest dear," Narcissa soothed. "I'll keep Severus and the Dark Lord from doing anything stupid until you're healthy enough to keep them in line yourself."

"M'kay," Holly said sleepily before slipping into a healing slumber as her fever finished breaking.

"~She no longer scents of deep sickness,~" Nagini hissed, pleased, as she scented the air repeatedly.

Two days later Holly was met with breakfast in the dinning room and Daily Prophet headlines that made her wonder what she had missed while sick.

Dark Lord Not So Dark ?!
Dark Lord forced into Fighting to be Heard Rather than Allowed a day to Speak Peacefully in the Wizengamot!!
Dumbledore Threatened Dark Lord as a Child!!!
Would he be a Dark Lord without Dumbledore's Harassment?!

Chapter Text

Severus didn't give Holly the chance to ask about the paper after breakfast was done. Instead he herded her into the family library that was open to guests and set a proximity ward on the doorway before turning to address her. Holly just looked at him in curious interest as she waited for him to speak.

"I know that you are uncomfortable with our new... arrangements but, should you chose to, nothing has to change overly much between us," Severus said firmly. "I will, obviously, be less likely to use you as an excuse to insult your father as it is clear that he has had no bearing on your life thus far. I should not have taken it out on you and while I don't regret insulting him I do regret not seeing you for yourself in the first place. I might have been able to help somehow sooner had I not been so blind. For that I apologize."

"Honest?" Holly asked carefully.

"Yes, I realize that my apology is far from adequate for the wrongs that I have subjected you to," Severus said solemnly. "Further more I make you this promise. From now on you can come to me for anything and I will attempt to help you. If you find yourself lacking in needed information I will teach you or I will learn alongside you if I don't have the knowledge you need. I refuse to leave you vulnerable simply because you haven't been taught the necessary information. For anything else I hope to be at your side for a very long time to help in other ways as well."

"Its not just the magic talking?" Holly asked warily.

"No, I am being honest," Severus confirmed with a slight smirk of a smile that Holly just knew was laced with approval.

"How far does this bond go?" Holly asked cautiously.

"Unto death unless we choose to work around it," Severus answered honestly. "As much as I said that Dumbledore forced the Vow to protect you on me I had several other, less palatable, options I could have chosen. My oath to protect you was honest. My issue was that he didn't let me fulfill it and in turn held both our lives in his hands, ruthlessly threatening us both for his plans."

"I am not weak or stupid," Holly said bluntly. "I may not know everything there is to know, especially about magic, but I am adapting. One of my few secrets is that when I care about something I am fiercely protective of it... even if that means hiding that I care about it. If you don't want me being openly possessive over you then you need to tell me. If you don't then I won't let you leave. I can't hold it back with you the way I've done with everyone else. I have a solid reason not to let you go. Everyone else only ever saw me as the Girl-Who-Lived or a tool or were somehow a threat to me. So tell me now to let you go or expect me to prove to you... and to myself that you are mine!"

In that moment Severus saw a warrior goddess shining from Holly's eyes. One desperately trying to hold on to her humanity in the face of being forced into the shape of a weapon. A young warrior goddess that was practically begging him to be her anchor in a shifting world of magic and treachery hiding in the light.

"Do you need me to kneel?" Severus asked, a smile quirking his lips.

"It... would help right now, make it easier to... hug you," Holly said hesitantly.

Severus reflected ruefully that he had expected to die somehow once Dumbledore got his claws into him. Yet even more startling accepting both Holly Potter and the Dark Lord as his final Masters was not only unexpected but satisfying. Severus met her eyes and willingly sunk to his knees. Something in Holly's eye broke in relief and she surged forwards, body and magic, to slam bodily into him. The pair sprawled out onto the floor as Holly quietly began to cry in relief.

Severus caught sight of the Dark Lord stepping out from between the shelves of the library to stand watching nearby. The dour man realized at the look of approval that Voldemort gave them that he had witnessed their discussion from the start. Not only that but that he was pleased with what he had overheard.

"A possessiveness that I share," Voldemort said softly. Holly froze against Severus' chest at those soft words.

"The Dark Marks," Holly breathed, slumping boneless into Severus' careful grip.

"The Dark Marks," Voldemort chuckled in agreement as he crouched down next to where they lay on the floor of the library.

Holly looked up to meet his gaze. They stared at each other for several minutes before Severus chuckled softly, drawing both their gazes.

"I am finally where I belong and the two of you are still uncertain of a bond that is obvious to me," Severus smirked. "Let it rest. It will evolve or it won't. We have time."

"Glad to see that you have finally chosen a solid side, my dear Severus, rather than drifting in uncertainty. I am not so... restrained as our Holly. I marked you and I will most certainly not release you, either of you," Voldemort told them both smugly.

Holly dropped her head into Severus' chest and grumbled something about possessive Dark Lords. Both men noticed that she didn't actually object. Voldemort eventually dragged them both off to his office after some time of just being there in the library together. Holly and Severus didn't bother to try leaving his side for the rest of the day.

Chapter Text

Narcissa waited a few extra days after Holly had recovered before broaching the subject of clothes and a possible outting. The Lady Malfoy didn't particularly mind sharing her wardrobe with the younger witch but she also knew that the clothes were to her taste rather than Holly's. Knowing how Severus felt about clothes shopping she approached the Dark Lord first.

"My Lord? While I don't mind sharing my wardrobe with young Holly I do believe that she should have her own things and the house elves approached me the morning after her fever set in. Aside from her out grown Hogwarts uniforms she has nothing but rags. I would like to take her to get at least a few outfits, enough to last her until a proper time for a full wardrobe fitting can be arranged," Narcissa informed him respectfully. "The hand knit sweaters she may ask about were crafted with knot magic and were checked. They all carried traces of being soaked in loyalty potions. When the potion was introduced was unclear, only that it was reapplied during washes. The knot magic, on the other hand, was fairly harmless overall."

"You wish to take her shopping?" Voldemort asked warily. He was not fond of shopping!

"Yes, it will give her appropriate attire and prove to the public that she is, if not wholely healed, at least on the mend," Narcissa answered politely.

"She is to be accompanied at all times," Voldemort demanded. "If it is an area which Severus can not enter you will do so in his place. Nagini will also accompany you."

"~I would rather not,~" Nagini hissed from her comfy basket next to his desk.

"~You would see a still recovering Holly in reach of Dumbledore and his people without your aid nearby?~" Voldemort responded in kind.

"~No but then I won't be the only one going,~" Nagini shot right back. "~You will accompany us in the more human shape you have been working on to comfort your two humans. You may cast the tattoo carry spell on me, however, we really need to find a way to make your Potions Master a Speaker.~"

Voldemort sighed but agreed on both counts. In the end Tom Riddle joined Lady Malfoy, Professor Snape, and Holly Potter for a day in Diagon Alley. He might be playing hired bodyguard but it was worth it to see Holly's joy at being out of the Manor. It was unfortunate that Dumbledore's little Order had to ruin things.

"Holly!" Remus Lupin practically shouted as he moved to sweep the teen up into his arms.

Severus didn't wait for the order. He cursed the werewolf. In under ten seconds the werewolf was down on the ground groaning and a pair of Aurors were held at wand point.

"Severus?" One dark skinned Auror asked cautiously.

"I have had a very bad time of it lately and with the magic binding me to protect her I can't let you snatch her away as Dumbledore has obviously ordered," Snape told them coldly. "I would rather the pair of us not wind up dead due to your hasty actions. I was lucky that I kept the wolf from touching her."

"Considering your own magics bound the two of you beyond the temporary bond that was already in place one would think that you would be more... sympathetic," Narcissa scolded. "She's barely been recovered from her magical fever for a few days! Try not to push her."

"Narcissa, healer or not, I am not the one pushing her," Severus scowled at the woman.

Holly couldn't help it, she burst out laughing at his indignant expression. Her sudden decent into giggles was ignored by her group beyond checking that she hadn't been hexed. The Order members, on the other hand, looked at her in shock and confusion.

"Holly?" Remus asked with a slight stutter.

"The Dursleys tried to kill me," Holly stated, completely matter of fact after she recovered from her giggle fit. "Professor Snape managed to rescue me but I had sort of tied my magic around him and he couldn't take me to Dumbledore because of it. Lord Lucius Malfoy was the next best thing after what happened. This lady here, Lady Narcissa Malfoy, had to be called right after he got me to hold still for a medical scan. Also apparently filing as next of kin via Sirius and requesting that my guardian be checked for damage automatically gave Narcissa custody since I was placed with Muggles. Did you know that there is some law or maybe its a policy about trying to not give magical orphans to muggle kin because of the magic?"

"I didn't know that," Tonks, the pink haired Auror that Holly remembered being vaguely introduced to, said slowly.

"Blood kin?" The dark Auror, Kingsley, asked cautiously.

"Grandma Potter was born a Black," Narcissa informed them with polite viciousness. "We are, at worst, second cousins. My husband knows very well what vengeance I would take if he was even considering handing Holly over for death and torture. I found it slightly odd that when he was returned to me after reporting this fact that he wasn't cursed in any way shape or form. Useful but puzzling."

"Considering the absolute fury the Dark Lord was in once he got a good look at the list of injuries that someone other than him had caused the brat I am not surprised," Severus drawled with a very dry sarcasm. "Apparently, living or dying, harming Potter is off limits except for the Dark Lord."

"And yet you still found yourself cursed," Narcissa sniffed at him. Severus just rolled his eyes and ignored any additional prodding on the matter until everyone let the subject drop.

Holly was the first one to notice that Remus' eyes had shifted to a more golden yellow than his normal brown. She meet the eyes of the wolf head on and stared Mooney down until the wolf dipped his head in submission.

"Alpha Cub," Remus said softly, his wolf recognizing her.

"Dumbledore is a bad Alpha," Holly told Mooney with a slight growl. "What good Alpha wants the pack cubs dead?"

Mooney's head jerked up sharply to stare at her in shock. Both wolf and human clearly represented in his eyes in that moment.

"Miss. Potter you need to come with us," Kingsley said firmly, distracting both teen and werewolf. "It isn't safe."

"Not safe? Of course it's not safe but if you're referring to the Dark Lord he informed me that until the mess with people except for him deliberately hurting me was dealt with I would just have to have a five minute meeting with him once a week and he would leave me alone," Holly said wryly. She was talking out of her arse but it was close enough to the actual truth, if extremely misleading, to pass muster. "Apparently, he really doesn't like people messing with anything he thinks of as his, which includes personal enemies. Dumbledore has been dragging other people into their fight for half a century. Fifty years! So Voldemort was pissed when he found out that he was tricked into attacking me more than once and killing my parents. As far as I can tell if I keep meeting him our feud will stay on the back burner until Dumbledore is dead. He didn't actually say it but I got the feeling that Voldemort will actively try to avoid killing people and try to find a way so that the two of us can officially stop fighting. I am not in any danger beyond abject stupidity, as Professor Snape puts it, from the Dark Faction."

"You are lucky that he accepted me as your chaperone and allowed Narcissa to see what the hell was going on with your Ministry records," Snape said in open disapproval.

"It isn't my fault that Dumbledore didn't actually legally take me," Holly said in mock outrage. "I hate the Dursleys and am perfectly happy to stay with a magical family, even if they are former enemies. Besides, my blood was used to help make his new body. Its not like the Blood Wards Dumbledore insisted on from the start would actually keep me safe from him now. I think that I prefer living with the Malfoys and people not dead in the street than being hidden away, locked up wherever Dumbledore wants me, and people dying as the Death Eaters run wild."

When someone lunged for her from off to one side, causing Holly to yelp and duck out of the way, the slowly gathering audience stepped in. Neither Severus nor the human faced Dark Lord had to lift a finger. The two Aurors and the various scattered Order members didn't even get the chance to get close to her again for just long enough to pay for the clothes and the group to leave.

Voldemort, Tom Riddle, swept both Holly and Severus up into his arms once they got back and couldn't help but hold them close as he chuckled over their encounter with the "Light". Dumbledore hadn't shown up but that wasn't the point. Instead he had watched Holly spread a close version of his own interview to the crowd without ever actually reading it in the paper. There were enough differences to show that it wasn't rehearsed but instead displayed a different view point. The reporters that had been lurking in the background before the Order members had even shown up and thus hearing everything was just icing on the cake.

That night the evening headlines were:
Savior Still Protecting Us!!!
Holly Potter Negotiating With Dark Lord to Protect Us!!!

Chapter Text

"We need to deal with the rest of the binds on you before what happened when we arrived repeats its self," Severus told Holly a few days after their Diagon Alley trip. He had sat down both Holly and Voldemort to go over the medical scan and decide what to do about it since she was no longer too weak from fever or recovering from the same to address it.

"I don't think we can get rid of the possessiveness," Holly joked wryly, shifting into a slightly more serious tone as she continued. "But it would be nice to actually be able to use all of my magic now that I know why I keep having trouble learning to cast some spells. I mean the patronus was supposed to be hard to learn but when I first got the mist part it felt like something was strangling the flow of magic on top of being the wrong memory. It gave me a hint on how to teach everyone else this year in the DA and a way to do it without the memories but it was still frustrating."

"Is that what happened?" Severus asked in open surprise. "I know she demanded Veritaserum once she had you in her office and you gave me that ridiculous message. How many did you teach it to successfully?"

"Most of the DA so a bit more than half the school?" Holly guessed. "Some people didn't make it to that lesson and I think that was that one I was teaching when Umbridge finally broke in on the meetings by blasting her way through a wall."

"On that note why did you start a club in the first place?" Severus asked with a frown. "I expected you to be more likely to practice together at random and the students to approach you rather than for something more formal."

"Hermione forced me to make the club and teach it," Holly explained, making a face. "Don't get me wrong I like teaching and I'm glad that more of them can defend themselves than before but I really would have preferred if Miss-Dumbldore-and-rule-worshiper hadn't been the one to get me to do it. I really didn't like how she and Ron forced it on me. Of course her idea of rescuing me after you left from being Crucioed by the witch was even more stupid."

"What did Granger do? And why exactly would Umbridge decide to use the Cruciartus on you?" Severus asked with a concerned frown. "I can believe her making the threat but I don't know that she would follow through."

"She was ready to," Holly said thoughtfully. "Raised her wand to cast and everything. Hermione decided it was better to trick her into visiting Hagrid's half brother in the forest and giving her to the Centaurs then whatever Umbridge was going to do. Of course the bitch had been forcing me and a lot of others to write lines in our own blood all year for detention and I wouldn't put it past her to have sent the Dementors after me during the summer. She demanded to know where Sirius and Dumbledore were, called them traitors to the Ministry and anyone who helped them."

Holly's answer had the spy going bone white and Voldemort visibly holding his temper.

"I swear, I didn't know," Severus immediately told the Dark Lord.

"She threatened me and some other students with being sent to Azkaban for not complying and declared that she was covered by some order signed by Fudge," Holly added helpfully. "Something about being authorized to do anything she wants at Hogwarts."

"Getting me angry will only distract me for so long, little viper," Voldemort said firmly. He mentally tagged Umbridge next to the Dursleys and Dumbledore on his to kill list before getting them back on topic. "Holly we are concerned about your health, both magically and physically. We need to take you to the goblins to get you cleansed of any and all binds as well as flush any potions you've been given. Even if we just tried to heal the physical damage such as scars and the like you would need this. There is also the remote chance that there are lingering effects from when you arrived. I would rather not see you collapse or never wake up again if a basic check and cleanse could have found and fixed the issue."

"Once we are certain that your mind is fully your own or at least identify anything else that might be affecting you there will be options on what to do next," Severus dangled in front of her. "Options that could see you flying again if that is your wish."

"But Umbridge got me permanently banned from Quidditch..." Holly said with a frown.

"That doesn't mean we can't take you flying in the countryside or at the cliffs of Dover or some other location," Voldemort pointed out, catching on instantly to the bribe.

Holly's eyes went wide. No matter how she tried to hide the longing flying was, to her, a time to decompress and just be. No demands, no deadly threats, no obligations, no puzzles, no reason to even have a name, just flight and the joy of soaring, playing in the clouds or what passed for them so close to the ground. Quidditch was only played because it got her into the air, regularly, and it was expected. Holly might be an adrenaline junky, she could at least admit that to herself, but she wasn't exactly fond of risking her life over points and a shiny gold ball. It was a way to win freedom if only for a little while.

Holly visibly wavered for several minutes before caving.

"Fine, but you both are getting the same check and cleanse," Holly huffed. "If we have to check for weirdness in my mind then we can check yours too. Besides what would happen if only one of us in this weird set of bonds has their mind messed with? Would it hurt the others?"

"It could," Voldemort said slowly, reluctantly.

"Call it part of our official negotiation then," Holly ordered, giving him a piercing look. "It can be used to prove that no one is using us as puppets and if someone is trying to we can go after them."

"Its not a bad idea," Severus said with more than a little interest. "The cleanse will hit anything even remotely detrimental and isn't itself harmful."

"Then you will both allow me further liberties," Voldemort bargained. They had their own rooms at this point and he really didn't like them out of easy reach.

"Define liberties," Holly said, eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"Nothing overly intimate such as lack of clothes or inappropriate touching," Voldemort hastily added. He didn't want to jump that far! They weren't whores!

"Then what did you mean?" Severus asked archly.

"More physical contact, spending more time together... a connected door between our respective rooms so that I can get to you both quickly in an emergency," Voldemort outlined hesitantly. "I have found that I feel uncomfortable with either or both of you out of easy reach or at least without me placed between the pair of you and any entrances or exits."

Nagini whipped around from her warm spot by the fire to stare at her wizard in open shock.

"~You're imprinting!~" Nagini blurted out. "~If you don't take them as mates then they will always be nestmates!~"

Holly choked in shock even as Nagini's words sent Voldemort into a splutter of incoherent denials.

"What is it?" Severus asked in a mix of curiosity and a long suffering tone. He still couldn't understand the Parseltongue words so he was relying on non-verbal clues out of necessity.

"Ah, um, I don't think he can control his possessiveness if she's right," Holly said lamely. "My guess is that he's trying to avoid forcing us to share his rooms... in case we don't want to."

Severus fought himself to stillness to avoid reacting in a bad way before nodding slowly as he breathed deeply.

"A compromise then, once we are all done with the cleansing we can... revisit the issue," Severus suggested delicately. "I have no issue requesting the house elves move me deeper into the hall to let your rooms be passed before reaching mine or Holly's nor of spending additional time with you both. I simply think we should see to the cleansing first to catch any ongoing damage quickly."

"Your argument has merit," Voldemort conceded. "To Gringotts then?"

"Yesss, because you are acting weird," Holly drawled, eyes narrowed in suspicion again. "If its just your feelings being odd that's fine and we'll deal but if its some spell you got hit with... I'm not sure if I want to find out what else its doing. So, cleanse and then talk. We can go through any bank stuff when the goblin healers make us rest so that we aren't bored to tears. Alright?"

"~If you say no I am knocking you down and making you stay for them to put to sleep and take you anyway,~" Nagini warned with a threatening hiss.

Voldemort looked at how they were reacting to him and mentally went through his own actions only to decide that they might be right. Hesitantly, he handed his wand to Holly. Severus had them up and moving for the floo almost at a run after seeing that. As Holly had predicted the goblin healers knocked them out cold after the first set of deep history scans on each of them. They would be trapped by the healers with no official business or outside visitors for nearly three weeks.

Elsewhere, Dumbledore was frustrated. He needed Holly but after that one outing to Diagon Alley he couldn't find her! The muggles were a bust and had been officially arrested, requiring Albus to sweet talk their placement in a holding area other than Azkaban but their verbal abuse of anyone and anything even remotely magical that came near them was rapidly destroying anything he might do for them. On top of which there was no legal way for him to put Holly back with them.

Dumbledore didn't dare have the Potter wills opened, not with the explicit instructions that neither he nor the Dursleys were to ever have custody of young Holly. How Lily Potter had come across the ritual words that magically bound the opposition in a magical war or feud to protect and raise her child as one of their own if both parents were slain was something Dumbledore was never going to find out. Equally, he wasn't going to manage to find whatever scrap of diary or journal she had found that provided a ritual which identified the strongest enemy to her child and prevented him from actually killing the brat himself!

Dumbledore couldn't lift his wand to strike down the impossible child that was an open threat to him! The same child he had presented to Magic's Chosen Dark Lord and Dark Champion as an enemy in an attempt to kill her while still in diapers! The same child (now a young woman) that he couldn't drain of her magic!

Needless to say Dumbledore was quite upset with how things were going. Then again it could be worse.

"Albus!" Remus roared from down the hallway.

Ah, he had a werewolf to calm down... or Obliviate, again.

Chapter Text

Holly was hyper focused on Voldemort when Severus brought up getting checked. The bribe she recognized just fine and his immediate jumping on it to offer her was fairly normal for him. It was when he tried bargaining to get out of his check up that the similarities caught her attention. The slight tugging in the back of her mind both at a sore spot in her own mind and at the clearly oblivious Dark Lord's mind had Holly on high alert. She just didn't know what to do with it... yet.

Then Nagini said something about imprinting and it had clicked with her own question about sharing damage via the bond. The moment her attention wavered towards focusing on the tugging it blared at her. Look/Listen/Feel Me it cried, fading in and out like the revolving light on a lighthouse or a screaming siren in a raging storm. The warning was very nearly painful as it tried to rattle her skull.

Holly caught Voldemort's glance as she tried not to wince, if only briefly, and failed. Severus didn't notice. He was too focused on their reactions to the spoken Parseltongue from Nagini. Taking a leap of faith on the genius that had once been only Tom Riddle Holly tried to explain the Parseltongue to Severus as Voldemort thought.

Voldemort, on the other hand, had seen the wince and it brought to mind Holly's odd pain from Lucius casting a hasty diagnostic spell. It was then that it clicked, something... was very wrong. Wrong with him. Wrong with Holly and very possibly wrong with Severus as well. He could feel the need to keep the pair close getting stronger and something else was trying to break It!

The same thing that was trying to break the need for these two people was also declaring them enemies and traitors. All while the need to keep them close was re-enforced when he fed magic towards either Severus or Holly, conveniently giving a smothering effect to the one urging their deaths. Not just their deaths but their deaths by his hand as they screamed in agony with their last breaths.

Understanding, clicked in his mind yet again. Knowing that he couldn't speak, couldn't gesture, couldn't even hint in case there were other triggers Voldemort did the one thing that would drive home to both of his own special people that something was wrong. He gave up his wand.

Voldemort hesitantly extended his wand, sideways with both hands, and placed it gently into Holly's hands. The hands of a girl, no a woman, who had been a personal enemy for most of her life. The Dark Lord watched his Spy pale in shock and didn't ask for his wand back as the three of them bolted for the floo.

Severus barely breathed as he spat out an oath and then cast his patronus in a panic while on the move. He was silently using the messenger aspect to warn Gringotts of an incoming emergency and, on his authority as one of their prime potion brewers on retainer, ordered a medical team to be waiting for them on standby as they arrived. Abusing his authority and the emergency code words further Severus also ordered the emergency floo access opened and took the three of them straight from Malfoy Manor into a fireplace at Gringotts, deep inside Nation territory.

Severus had barely let himself think as he rushed them towards the floo and through it. Ignoring Potter's complaining about how the floo always tried to throw her out and that the two wizards shouldn't have needed to help her Severus snatched the pair of wands Holly held and threw all three to the waiting medical team. The spy was slightly amused that his companions were too busy staring at him for snatching their wands and tossing them to the waiting team to notice the charms cast at all of them. They did notice the sudden shouting and upset the results had caused. As the Potions Master had expected if something were actually wrong they were hit by the goblin version of stunners an instant later. All three were out cold when they were placed in their isolation rooms.

Severus worried. He worried at the enforced separation from his companions. He worried that his oaths were in conflict, again. He worried at what alarmed the goblin healers so much on the diagnostics as to immediately isolate them and begin treatment. He especially worried at what might have prompted the Dark Lord to give up his wand!

Even with the tentative bonds, magical and otherwise, being built between himself, Holly Potter, and the Dark Lord Severus never once thought that his sworn lord would disarm himself like that. He had been awake for a week with however long that the healers had decreed for them to sleep and even with his credentials as a Potions Master and sometimes brewer for Gringotts the healers told him nothing. A fact that did not bode well... for any of them.

"What's going on?" Severus growled, yet again at the monitoring spells. He knows those spells, knows how much his words carry to whatever healer or assigned healing apprentice is working on his case. Getting ready to shout again his breath is taken away by the arrival of a message designed for this specific use in isolation wards.

"Master Snape, as you might have figured out by now, there was evidence of deeply implanted mind manipulation on you and your companions. It was honestly a shock to us that there was any evidence at all considering the methods used, or at least it was until someone thought to check the number of times you have each been tampered with... I am sorry," the voice came from the patronus was female. Her news, however, had Severus swallowing hard. "As per protocol when such embedding is discovered with no record of a healer on hand or notes on any of the embedded mind work you were all placed in isolation until we could be reasonably certain you would not be triggered. Also per protocol any other needed healing was attended to from the other side of the isolation wards or while the patient was unconscious. Your companions are fine but between the three of you the tampering was quite severe. During treatment your magics and the pre-existing bonds between you shifted."

"And what does that mean?" Severus asked with a growl. The patronus answered, showing that the question had been asked during a deliberate pause in the message.

"What this means is that unless you want to keep the bond we need to know immediately if you want us to try severing it. I don't recommend it but the currently existing bond could be viewed as a marriage bond or a soul bond, depending upon your definition of either or both. Either way we can't let anyone come into contact with you until you decide how to handle the bond, keep it or risk severing it. We await your answer through the monitoring spells," the voice finally finished and the patronus faded away.

"I need to keep them. At least two of the contributing oaths would take my life if I refused them," Severus told thin air rather firmly. "Besides I have come to enjoy some of the more personal aspects of being bonded, however strongly, to both of them."

Another patronus bounded into the room, unlike the earlier bunny rabbit, this one was a ferret of some kind. It spoke with a deep masculine voice of a different healer.

"Then your wish to maintain the bond will be marked down. Depending upon their own preferences you may or may not see them in a couple of hours."

Just like before the ferret faded away once its job was complete. Severus would never know that the patronus changed because the first caster had tried to kill him and his bonded using the embedded failsafes in his own mind.

Chapter Text

To say that Great Chief Ragnok the Wise was alarmed, furious, and just a tiny bit frightened at what was discovered was like saying that Goblins liked gold or the sky was, supposedly, blue. All of which were complete and utterly redundant and well-known facts or at least supposedly common knowledge. A pointless waste of breath.

Dumbledore had truly either gone insane or had started out as a complete sociopath from the beginning. With the way that all three of them carried the bastard's signature as blatant victims Ragnok was tempted, oh so very tempted, to declare war on the wizardlings just based on the medical scans. He knew better but it didn't abate his utter fury over what was done.

There were bindings upon bindings and hidden amid various types of leeches on the three unconscious new Goblin-Friends-to-be. Something which was a standard play for the bastard of a twinkling Wizard. Yet this particular use of compulsions, bindings, leeches, and potions was sickening.

When Ragnok thought on the current Dark Lord and his initial results all he could do was wince. The wizard had been tampered with since he was eleven. It was, upon checking with the man, the very first time he had met Dumbledore.

Ragnok knew that the healers feared for the trio. This new bond, discovered by accident and still strong yet fragile, was the key to saving the trio’s sanity. Still, the entire thing had to be done delicately least they lose them to the triggers, booby traps, or in case this trio of victims turned warriors started breaking under the strain.

Ragnok had also received word that Potion Master Snape was starting to work himself to a panic state. The healers couldn’t explain to him what was happening, it wasn't safe to do so. Dumbledore had placed dozens of fatal failsafes into his painstaking work over the decades in all three of them. If the Potion Master learned the wrong thing… it might kill them all, literally and figuratively.

The primary failsafe could only be read so far without setting it off but it was enough to see that the results would qualify as a complete mental destruction. The trap magics would eradicate any and all knowledge in the person's mind before going after the personality of the target. On top of which the caster, Dumbledore presumably, had linked these effects in various ways. Assuming they were lucky and the primary trigger didn’t go off when trying to remove the mess then a secondary trigger or a tertiary trigger might. Those secondary and tertiary triggers weren’t much better from what the healers and the helping curse breakers could tell.

Ragnok knew that Death would have been kinder… but Dumbledore obviously yearns to keep them dancing on his strings, slaves to his will.

On the plus side, what there was of it, Ragnok had located five traitors out of this mess alone. One of which had been discovered to be plotting with Dumbledore to put one of the man's puppets on the goblin throne. For that alone the trio was not only getting the best care that the Goblin Nation could provide but also their accounts were being gone over with a fine toothed comb. The Goblin Friend status couldn't be bestowed until after they were back in their right minds and stripped of any foreign controls but it would be bestowed. The Nation was covering the cost of everything involving the trio, including sorting out shameful discrepancies in their accounts.

Ragnok knew that he was going to have to bring all of this to King Jareth down in his Labyrinth. He also knew that neither the King nor the originally mortal Labyrinth Champion he was still trying to court was going to be pleased about this mess. Oh well, offering the young Potter as a mentee to the Lady Sarah might sweeten the deal a bit for his King.

"Keep them secured and if the Master Healers clear them for it move them into the same room. I will be away speaking of this... mess to King Jareth," Ragnok ordered his son and heir gruffly. "Do not disappoint me Ruffneck. We can not lose these three. Regardless of general wizardling stupidity these wizardlings are ours."

"Yes Chief!" Ruffneck said stiffly, giving his father a brisk salute.

Two hours later Ragnok was being hit for interrupting his King trying to woo the Lady Sarah.

"Jareth!" Sarah scolded as she grabbed his hand to stop the next blow. The Elven King of Goblins and the human glared at each other until Jareth grudgingly looked away and stood off to one side sulking.

"Ignore him," Sarah instructed as she turned to address this new type of goblin. "He's just upset that I can't spend time with him this weekend."

"As you will Lady Sarah," Ragnok said warily. A sulky wave from Jareth to go on had him immediately giving his report. Sarah's face paled in a mix of fury and ill reaction to the outlined medical reports of the three wizardlings. When he moved on to the established intent to name them Goblin Friends as well as the discovery of the traitors she started to sit down only for a chair to materialize underneath her. The tentative overview of what had been stolen from them was upsetting in a different light and allowed the Lady Sarah to somewhat recover even as Jareth had moved to stand at her shoulder and rest his hands on her in comfort.

"All told these wizardlings have done us a great deal of services while being controlled and against said controls. All three wizardlings also show signs of being a lost wished away. There are some markers on them that indicate someone from another court worked with Dumbledore to prevent them from being rescued by your magic my King," Ragnok finished his report bluntly. "At this point the teenager may still find use from the Child Healing set but the two full wizards will need High Healing, especially the one with Soul Damage. The bonds appear to be permanent."

"Will you allow me to help?" Sarah asked softly. She didn't see the flashed expressions of shock, slipping into glee, before settling on satisfaction.

"Yes, so long as you abide by our laws and actually listen to me both about this and some of the side effects from your first Labyrinth run. Side effects I have been attempting to inform you of ever since but you keep sending me away," Jareth told her. His voice easily conveyed his absolute frustration with being unable to talk to her.

"Very well," Sarah said evenly. "I apologize for not at least hearing you out once I hit my twenties. You may claim one day with sufficient warning to allow for sorting out other scheduled things as a forfeit."

"One day is hardly sufficient!" Jareth protested.

"Let me finish," Sarah said in warning. "Should a single day not be enough to go over everything that I should have allowed you to tell me about my first run I will agree to a week in your complete control. This presumes that I will be able to safely resume my mortal life without issue afterwards if you don't convince me to remain as one of yours. I recognize the possibility on both fronts and wish to cover all bases. Anything that is a result of the initial Labyrinth run doesn't count as far the criteria of being able to return to my mortal life should I need to. That was my own foolishness and I am more than willing to recognize it."

Jareth looked like Christmas had come early for him and the look in Sarah's eye had Ragnok wondering if the human female was tiring of the constant chase between them. Although, to Ragnok, the week of complete control by his King was a heavy concession considering how long she had held out until now.

"Jareth," Sarah said with a sigh that made the King go utterly still behind her. "I want us to speak plainly. I realized years ago that I had misunderstood your offer in the end but what's done is done. Something new would have to be forged between us if you still want me as your wife and queen. If you can't respect my boundaries then it would be foolish to allow you the power to destroy me. Whatever else we are now I consider you a friend. Let's use this to test if we can work together as a pair and by the end of it I know you will either have convinced me to consider your suit or not in all seriousness."

"Lady Sarah? If I may?" Ragnok offered cautiously. He ignored the glare from his King and continued at the wave of the Labyrinth Champion. "My King is sincere in his affections for you but I don't think he realizes the... age maturity difference between human and Fae. I realize that humans mature at various rates depending upon outside influences and family training. Is it not like the difference between a veteran warrior and one who has simply trained the same number of hours the other has been in active combat?"

"I suppose," Sarah said slowly as comprehension crossed Jareth's features behind her. "I gather that you are talking about the difference between sheltered children and those with hard or even abusive childhoods?"

"Yes, Lady, I am," Ragnok said with emphasis and a meaningful look at his King.

"You would be correct," Sarah said with a sigh. "My childhood was extremely sheltered and the Labyrinth run was a massive wake up call. One that I needed rather badly. By the time my run was done I was still changing with the experience and it didn't fully settle into a part of myself until several years later. There is a very good reason why I only dated human men when my friends and family forced me too. They were too mundane and I was still changing. By the same token I couldn't afford to take Jareth's repeated attempts seriously."

"The difference Lady?" Ragnok prompted gently.

"I was still a child in maturity while someone with a hard or abusive childhood would have been forced by circumstance to grow in maturity much faster. At 16, depending on what that person has lived through, they can still be a child or be an adult in a still growing body. I was sheltered enough that I was still a child," Sarah said, aiming an amused look at the goblin.

Sarah could feel the way that Jareth tensed behind her and the way his grip tightened just slightly on her shoulders. She supposed that this was one way to get the point across. It was something she had expected the Fae to already know but then Jareth was Fae not human. Then too the age of adulthood among humans had changed drastically over the centuries and he might not have realized his mistake.

"You also agreed that family teaching was a factor?" Ragnok asked.

"More the way that society and the world at large recognized that until certain basics are learned one is still a child. For women, and even men to some extent, that knowledge and the way it was taught has shifted a great deal over time and much past knowledge has been lost. Barely two hundred years ago I would have been of marriageable age when Jareth first approached me but it was eventually discovered that human women who bare children too early have a higher death rate in child birth along with a higher mortality rate for the babies," Sarah explained. "A side effect of understanding that has it that women must be older to be seen as an adult and of marriageable age."

"That... I was not aware of that," Ragnok said, blinking in surprise. "Goblin women are adults as the men are depending on goblin types. We are still of what you term the Fae but it didn't occur to me that the issue with a human might be that they had yet to finish development. Wizardlings are quite hardy compared to mundane humans."

"If it makes you feel any better I only know the difference because I read through a number of old stories and wanted to know why it was different today," Sarah said, amused. "I also took a course on basic anthropology which covered a great many differences between cultures, why one group of humans might worship spirits and another the image of a dragon, that sort of thing. When I found the numbers on women dying from childbirth so often in earlier times mirrored in some of the other cultures I went looking for answers. I guessed that if I ever agreed to marry or even just court Jareth it might be a factor with the difference between healing techniques. A human male can safely produce a child with a human female at age twelve just when it comes to the body being able to safely do it. Human females have a bit more to grow into the correct place, size, and shape so the body takes longer and the mind doesn't always keep pace in maturity. The mind doesn't finish development in a human, male or female, until the mid-twenties. Maturity is a slightly different matter since its a learned understanding not a part of our bodies. You understand what I am getting at, right?"

"Yes," Ragnok said firmly. "Yes, I do. Would you be willing to talk to the female wizardling? She has just reached 16 summers and their bond might be... inappropriate for a time yet if what you explained applies."

"Ah, yeah," Sarah sighed. "If she isn't ready for it or willing she will fight and fight hard. Then again if they, or somebody else, has already hurt her that could make it worse. There are very good reasons why children are taught not to go with strangers or even speak to them if they can help it. I assume there are good reasons to avoid breaking it?"

"It could kill all of them or steal their sanity as I told you before," Ragnok reiterated obligingly. It had been a part of the medical report that he had skimmed over a bit.

"She might honestly see those as better options," Sarah told them with a sigh. "Let me talk to her and see what the situation is. If she doesn't view the bond with favor we have to sort it out quickly before someone does something stupid."

"I suppose those good reasons for eschewing all things strange would be part of why you reacted so negatively to my offer?" Jareth asked quietly as they followed Ragnok.

"Yes and no," Sarah sighed. "I honestly did misunderstand your meaning at the time. I also thought it was a trick. I was still in the age range for being snatched if for different reasons then Toby would have been taken. What little I knew of the Fae at the time didn't say anything good about mortals interacting with them to say nothing of actually staying with them for more than a night. I thought I was pushing it just running the Labyrinth and could only hope to hold you to your word of returning us, or at least Toby. It didn't occur to me at all that you only discussed Toby's fate with me and not my own until more than a year later. I am grateful that you haven't yet forced the issue or that of the single bite of peach from your lands. I may not know the direct consequences but I do realize that there are some."

Jareth chuckled darkly but refrained from addressing those particular subjects. He had known he would have to address them at some point but he had also been hoping to ease her into it. Now he knew that he didn't have to.

Sarah cast him a wary glance over her shoulder but didn't say anything as they took the goblin stone transfer platform deep into Gringotts London Branch.

They had barely landed before Jareth's magic sprang up in a feel of golden spun sugar that Sarah was beginning to associate with Jareth's Time Magic. Knowing instinctively that he was keeping her aware and with him as he worked she turned towards him only to be slammed into by him. Jareth pinned her by the throat against one wall of the momentarily empty transport chamber.

"You claimed your right as my Queen that night my dear," Jareth hissed into her ear. "By your words you claimed the crown at my side. I refuse to let the time elapse that would leave you open to being claimed by another of the courts."

"Ah, there's your darker side," Sarah said mirthlessly. "Jareth, I played your game as a teen but at no time do I believe I wished for honest harm between us. I appreciate the subtle cushioning magic when you moved me against the wall but unless you plan to forcibly claim my body as your forfeit kindly let me up!"

"I will have you," Jareth insisted. His eyes flashed in a dark hunger he would never have shown to a much younger Sarah.

"And I am willing to let you... under certain conditions," Sarah told him firmly. "I did my research on Fae, I know that as far as humans are aware most of you have a cruelty and darkness that is unnerving and dangerous to us. I am no longer a child to be coddled. If I am to be your Queen then I must first learn to stand on my own merits at your side. I can't afford to only be seen as your pet mortal."

"By our laws you already hold a title with no small weight, Champion of the Labyrinth," Jareth said, teeth bared in a sharp edged, predatory smile.

"And what will you do when my mortal life runs out?" Sarah demanded sardonically.

"You aren't mortal anymore or hadn't you noticed the small magics you perform without thought?" Jareth countered. "Even without the peach do you honestly think a living Fae Labyrinth would allow its champion and representative, the only representative in more than 12,000 years, to fall to mortality? You only yet age because you wish too."

"Then we understand each other," Sarah said fiercely. "You will continue trying to court me and I will continue to resist until you sit your stubborn arse down and listen to my concerns. Once discussed we can move forwards but until then I will continue to refuse to give you the ability to shatter me beyond repair."

"If I listen to these concerns you will give me a fair chance?" Jareth asked, hope creeping into his eyes as his stance softened and his grip gentled.

"I would," Sarah conceded warily. "I might even agree to a date or two. I will not be a toy."

"Agreed, bargain struck," Jareth said with a fierce smirk. Sarah rolled her eyes at his antics as she was let up and time returned to normal.

Chapter Text

Ragnok, followed by his King and the Lady Sarah, approached an area that had cells. Sarah saw that they were clearly well furnished and comfortable with a quick glance inside an empty one. She was glad that the Goblin Chief had taken pains to tell them at the start of his report that they were in medical isolation. If he hadn't she might have thought they were prisoners in a less pleasant manner.

"Sir," a human in green robes with a symbol of a crossed wand and bone hurried up to Ragnok and spoke. "We found triggers on them for each other but the bond was tightening, trying to physically drag them together. We had to put them in the same room. Head Healer Gorsmack authorized it on her authority and they took apart the bedding in the new room to make a sort of nest in the back against the wall. One of the apprentices tried to get close to at least the teenager but they attacked him. We haven't managed to pull him out to see if he was killed or not by his landing against the stone. It wasn't an issue earlier when a different apprentice approached slowly and asked very politely to examine one of the men."

"That sounds like..." Sarah said softly before bolting, never finishing her sentence. Jareth cursed and then followed close on her heels.

When the pair got to the open entrance to the room the trio was installed in Sarah came to an abrupt halt in the doorway. A moment of observation, especially focusing on the teenager wrapped up in two wizards on a pile of bedding, had her chasing out all of the men. When wary eyes focused on a few of the female healer apprentices those specific ones were sent on tasks or otherwise made to leave. In the end, aside from the three patients, there were four women left. Sarah approached the group calmly only to take a seat a few feet away on one of the stripped beds. Her magic naturally shaped it into an ornamental carved wooden bench but she paid it no mind.

"Has anyone else overly bothered you?" Sarah asked the teenager calmly. "I presume that you want to keep those two?"

Holly's grip on her wizards tightened at the last question causing Sarah to nod in understanding. It answered Sarah's question nicely and told her a great deal about how at least the young lady saw their situation. It wasn't good.

"Very well," Sarah said primly, pretending there was absolutely nothing wrong. "Would you or your men like something to eat or drink? Tea? A biscuit? Some bread and butter? Something more?"

"We're not going to be held down or trapped again?" Holly asked warily.

"Not without a damn good reason," Sarah said firmly. There would be hell to pay against whoever set the teen off, that was for certain. "If someone did that to you here, especially if it wasn't to help you, I'll box their ears myself!"

Holly blinked but uncurled enough to crawl slightly out from between her protective duo of wizards.

"Tea would be nice," Holly said cautiously. "Tom? Severus?"

"Tea is fine," Severus said even as Voldemort murmured his own agreement.

One of the two female apprentices present dashed off to fetch the tea service as the three wizardlings stood up and took a seat on the bed frame next to them. They startled for a moment as Sarah's magic reached out briefly to reshape the wooden frame into a three man bench with a backrest under them but otherwise remained civil and settled down in their seats. Holly was sat in between them on the bench and watched in fascination as the wild magic of this woman reshaped part of the floor into a low coffee table once the tea service had been brought. There was quiet movement as the four of them sorted out their respective teas. Sarah refrained from going near any of their chosen foods or drinks out of respect for their wariness and pointedly took a bite and a sip of everything available before they did to show a lack of poison.

"Now, if you haven't already been told there were a few things found that need fixing," Sarah started to chatter a bit, watching them all the while. "A few of them have nasty trigger conditions which is what put you into isolation when you arrived. That doesn't excuse any extra manhandling that may have happened and a female really should have done everything with you, young lady, if only for propriety."

Holly's hands tightened on her cup to the point of her fingers going slightly white.

"Ah, I see," Sarah said softly. The pair of remaining female goblins, one healer and one apprentice, could be heard muttering angry curses behind Sarah. The Labyrinth Champion didn't blame them one bit.

"Why were there binding marks on her arms if that is the case?" The black eyed man that Sarah presumed was Severus Snape sneered.

Sarah could see an equally tight mouth on the ruby-eyed wizard. She easily deduced that they were both very protective of the young witch. The only thing it changed was how polite she was going to be about threatening the idiot or idiots who had clearly messed with the teen in goblin care.

"Because someone apparently has a death wish," Sarah answered darkly. "If they did anything to even remotely take advantage of her I will have their heads and that may not just be metaphorical. If I find their reasoning even close to suspicious, assuming I or Jareth give them a chance to explain, I may just give them to you for judgement. If you don't kill them kindly try to return them in a less than battered state or at least one they can recover from... eventually."

Sarah's words had the trio visibly relaxing as everyone settled in to pay attention to their tea for a bit. The more civilized atmosphere was an immediate help to all three of them, Sarah noted. She did her best to give the air of them discussing things over tea time in a sitting room somewhere instead of the medical isolation ward at Gringotts. To that end her magic provided a few bunches of different colored crystal flowers out of the wall to one side of them and a tiny water feature, also embedded in the wall.

"They tried something and it reminded me of something Piers Polkiss did to me last summer," Holly said quietly, refusing to look at anyone or anything except her tea.

"And that was something else I was coming to talk to you about as a just in case thing," Sarah sighed. "It was something that we needed to know in case your two men over there were... pushy. You said his name is Piers Polkiss? Do you know where he lives?"

"He's one of my cousin's gang," Holly said, feeling very small in that moment. "Tom and Severus haven't been pushy but the bond makes us want to cuddle a bit more than I really like being pinned. I can tell the difference."

"Well, that's something at least," Sarah said with a soft hum of thought. She could get the cousin's name and address and from there the stupid boy who thought to assault Holly last year. "Would your bond let you be on top of the pile or just sitting next to them?"

"Maybe?" Holly answered after a moment's thought. "I know I'm smaller and they like tucking me against them or behind them but it feels... off. I don't have any problem with Tom being forceful and controlling for some reason but with Severus... Well, it feels like I should be pinning him, at least sometimes or in private. I know he's really protective too but he's... I don't know how to explain it."

"Both of us have been expected to be leaders for a very long time my dear Holly," Voldemort pointed out with a chuckle. "Being able to relax in private is... difficult. As long as Severus doesn't try to take command too often it should evolve on its own. Its just new and someone was deliberately poking at the bond with methods that would have severed a better known bond that looks similar. I wasn't surprised that we abandoned our cooperation with the healers in general once we got a good look at each other. The marks on you were especially damning but we haven't yet figured out who to kill for it and killing wildly here is... unwise."

"I didn't see, couldn't see, only that they were three boys or men or whatever you want to call them," Holly said bluntly. She was trying very hard not to break down in tears now that she felt closer to safe.

"Prime idiots that might just be dead men walking," Sarah offered with a viciously wicked smile.

A smile that had Holly slumping in boneless relief across both her wizards as the three cups they had went flying to smash against the stone. The female healer tutted over the mess but gave her a sympathetic look and said nothing about it otherwise as the apprentices cleaned up the mess. Severus and Voldemort on the other hand immediately set to soothing her, hands rubbing gently up and down safe areas, reassuring her that she was safe again.

"Do you mind if I invite someone in? Someone who can make very sure that the idiots never do this again or come near you?" Sarah asked softly. Holly sniffled a bit but nodded her consent. Sarah stood and quickly fetched Jareth. "Holly this is my friend Jareth. Would you tell him what happened so that he can punish the ones who touched you inappropriately?"

Holly looked at the Fae and nodded slowly before going over everything that had been discussed so far in a quiet voice.

"Thank you my dear. Would you be kind enough to stay with my Sarah while I deal with them?" Jareth requested politely. Holly murmured her agreement and a new tea service was fetched for them as Jareth left to hunt down the idiots.

"Once Jareth is done with that I can ask him to look at the triggers the healers found on each of you," Sarah offered cheerfully. "If he needs to do something special about it then we can see about one of us ladies staying with you when one of your men can't."

Holly murmured a thank you before ducking her head almost shyly and focusing on her tea. It was clear to Sarah that she was very confused about everything and was still highly distrustful after what had happened. Sarah didn't blame her one bit.

"There was a part Veela hired last summer by Gringotts that she made friends with during the mess of a Tournament," Severus said cautiously. "Perhaps Miss. Delacour could be loaned to us to help sort out our group healing?"

"Fleur?" Holly asked hopefully, managing to stifle her impending tears, hidden until she had looked up at Sarah. She struggled back into an upright position and tried to wipe away the sparks of tears at the edges of her eyes.

"I will see if we can arrange it but if we can't then I will stay with you as much as possible alright?" Sarah offered comfortingly. Holly nodded her own agreement and they settled back into the comfortable companionship of tea time.

"How do you feel about the older Weasleys, brat?" Severus inquired teasingly.

"Fred and George are probably mine, Percy is a rule bound idiot... I don't know much about Charlie or Bill except that one works in Egypt for Gringotts as a curse breaker and one is a Dragon tamer or dragonologist or something like that. We sent the Norwegian Ridgeback Tom gave to Hagrid to the Dragon obsessed one during first year after she bit Ron," Holly answered with a shrug. Severus was pleased to note that his question had distracted her and she was nibbling on a biscuit covered in chocolate.

"And the youngest two?" Voldemort inquired only to watch Holly droop.

"Both are Dumbledore's," Severus answered for her softly. "The boy has less than stellar designs on our Holly and is only waiting for Dumbledore's say so to force the issue. He's not the first I have caught planning such unpleasantness. I believe I told you this already."

"You did not," Voldemort growled lowly.

"Well once we've gotten that spell work off of the three of you we can keep you from being pranked again," Sarah said lightly. They all understood why she might have used the term pranked to indicate the foreign magics. Each made a face at the word choice but didn't object as the topic was redirected to more important things.

"Eat a sandwich, brat," Severus instructed grumpily.

Holly childishly stuck her tongue out at him but obeyed. Sarah counted that as a major win. If Holly was feeling safe enough to act childish then the risk of a freak out was drastically reduced.

"Not going to argue the point?" Voldemort asked his no-longer-nemesis curiously.

"I caught a few of the boys in a couple of different houses and years plotting to bed me more than once," Holly shrugged. "I mostly set the Weasley twins on them. McClaggen I had to accidentally knock down the stairs and curse his family jewels but he stopped being so obvious after the third time."

Severus grumbled a bit about idiots and having guts and limbs for potion ingredients. He didn't do much else beyond press up against Holly. Voldemort made note of this and slyly did the same so that she didn't feel trapped. Holly just huffs at them and ignores the loss of elbow room.

"~Once I know what that boy did to you I will make sure that Severus and I erase any memory of it with our own hands,~" Voldemort hissed in Parseltongue under his breath. "~Not only will we make him bleed but you will find the pleasure we erase his fumbling with more than sufficient.~"

Holly shuddered in reaction but refused to openly respond, much less in the same language. It was bad enough that her reaction definitely wasn't fear.

"Is there anything I can see about getting for you while you're here? Different beds? Books to read?" Sarah offered cheerfully. "I presume you know better than to start something... personal between yourselves while under the healer's care but it was something that needed checking. As such I apologize if I came off as a bit... brisk on the matter."

"If you could send a letter to Lord Malfoy informing him that we are here and under the care of Gringotts it would be greatly appreciated," Severus said cautiously. "We left our rooms in his manor with more haste then was polite before the healers got their hands on us."

"At least you asked," Holly said uncomfortably, waving off her apology. "I figured out just fine what this is probably going to change into. Its far better than what I think Dumbledore and the Light planned for me."

Sarah and Holly fell into a woman's version of a stare down as Holly was openly assessed for non-magical coercion and maturity.

"Young but more adult than child," Sarah told Jareth as he dropped the concealing magics that had let him return and hover at Sarah's shoulder without fear. "She has see things no child should and if their respective protectiveness is anything to go by anyone else trying anything will be in for a rude shock. She is capable of choosing her life partner if it comes down to it. It also really wouldn't surprise me if these two wizards react like overprotective High Fae to any perceived threat to their bonded, internally or externally. They are possessive but very clearly sane even if that hasn't always been the case."

"They would kill for her if needed?" Jareth asked, intrigued.

"I already have," Severus said bluntly and left it at that.

Holly made a mental note to pin him to whatever bedding they had that night and refuse to let him up. She wanted to know who had been enough of a threat for Severus to kill them on her behalf.

Tea time was finished some time later and the beds replaced. They received an extra one that could hold all three of them if needed, replacing the nest they had made on the floor against the back wall. Several books were also provided on various topics to keep them occupied and, on order of the Goblin King, only married females were allowed in the same room as Holly and her bonded. The only exceptions were Sarah and Jareth himself.

Chapter Text

Holly waited roughly twenty minutes before pouncing on Severus and pinning him to the nearest soft surface. Severus in turn craned his head around to glower at her over his shoulder, firmly ignoring the blatantly amused Dark Lord.

"To what do I owe the pleasure?" Severus drawled only to get his head shoved flat, cheek down, on the bedding he was trapped against.

"I'm not playing," Holly said firmly. Her tone shifted the atmosphere from the playful it had started as to something more serious.

Severus tensed under her hands at how similar the tone was to an angry Dark Lord and forced himself to relax under her grip. Out of reflex, he went pliant between her and the twin sized bed he was bent over with Holly lightly holding him down. Severus suspected that if he tried to struggle Holly would clamp down hard to keep him in place. Knowing the Dark Lord he would help her hold Severus down.

"My little viper," Voldemort said in silky amusement. "Is there a question or two you wish to ask our Severus?"

The bond thrummed between them, giving them a flash of each other's feelings in that moment. Severus was understandably feeling wary. Voldemort was curious and interested. Holly? Holly was feeling firm and dominant and protective and possessive. It sparked a response in Voldemort's own possessiveness as his magic was released into the room to curl around them in satisfaction that they were his.

"Who did you kill on my behalf?" Holly demanded firmly.

"A Hufflepuff seventh year who thought to take you from the infirmary at the end of your first year. Having just graduated I felt no compunction taking the information on his plans for you," Severus said very carefully. "They were not... pleasant to review. The Acromantula Nest in the forest was quite pleased with their snack... once I finished with him first."

Holly moved one of her hands from his shoulder blades to the back of his neck before asking her next question in a voice laced with steel.

"I presume that you covered your tracks? Ensured that no one can use it against you?" Holly asked, hot steel echoing in her voice.

"I did... My Lady," Severus said very carefully. He was under no illusion that he could command either of them unless they allowed it at this point.

"~Mine!~" Holly hissed in parsel.

"~Ours,~" Voldemort corrected in the same language. He stared her down, recognizing that the bond and her magic were struggling with something. After a few minutes of this he changed tactics.

"~Feel him under you, does it help?~" Voldemort hissed his question calmly.

Holly made a grumbling sound but also pressed the Potions Master more firmly into the bedding. The way she shuddered as she openly used him as an anchor for her senses and magic worried the Dark Lord. Letting more of his own magic out he used it to try and sense what was happening not only between the three of them but also in Holly specifically. He very nearly recoiled from what he found. Holly's magic was fighting fiercely to throw off a layer of magic that was both binding her and also trying to forcibly shape her into something she wasn't. The way the foreign magic was trying to almost surgically clip back parts of her made him feel sick. Him! He who was at least a dabbler in Necromancy! A Dark Lord!

"Severus, you may become very uncomfortable for the next twelve hours or more. Don't fight back," Voldemort said softly. His eyes never left the glowing emerald ones sported by Holly in that moment, filled with power and magic and a rage tainted by confusion.

Severus said nothing in answer but he seemed to settle more solidly into the bedding under Holly's hands, encouraging her grip to gentle. It didn't. Both men knew he was likely to have bruises by the end of all this even if he didn't have them yet.

"~You will not take him from me!~" Holly hissed with an audible growl that resonated oddly with the Parseltongue words.

"~I won't let you keep him from me either, or yourself, but I am willing to share,~" Voldemort offered cautiously before switching to English. "Little Viper, you said before that you understood where this was probably leading but sex is only part of it, a part you are not ready for, and not even something we must have. Will you let us help you fight whatever your magic is trying to throw off? Will you let us become equals beyond what the prophecy said?"

"How?!" Holly snapped out in frustration.

"Focus on the bond and let us join our magic together," Voldemort instructed calmly.

As Voldemort spoke he opened up his senses to the bond and started feeding it magic. Severus picked up on it quickly and started to do the same. Holly fought with herself and with her magic. She very deliberately took damage to shield them from different types of blows that would have used the bond to get past their normal defenses to hit them. Both men scowled hard at that and at some point Holly found her and Severus moved to the big bed only to be joined by Voldemort. Severus stayed pinned under her but she fought slightly when Voldemort wrapped himself around her. It wasn't long before she had to decide between focusing on her magic or on his hands and allowed him the physical contact to focus on the conflicting magics.

Power swirling around the trio they sank deep into a bond that their own magic forged out of bits and pieces of themselves to save them. The poison power fought them, clawing at their very selves to stay anchored and eating them from the inside out. The oldest sickly tendrils of rot, anchored deeply in Voldemort... in Tom. Twisted by the evil forced upon him his soul would forever bear the scars of the rotten magic and the abominable twisted soul ritual he had cast repeatedly in response. In turn the magic that fought for them now had used the link spawned by the misfired ritual and incomplete magics of the Lily Potter's death to forge their bond, their lifeline. A lifeline that now shined with power. Power that called to the wild Fae magics in the walls, wood, crystal, and earth that now surrounded them.

Holly saw all this and more. Severus trembled under her until something inside of him made a choice. The last piece of resistance doesn't break so much as surrender, surrender to the combined magics of the two above and on top of him. The claim that could have still been thrown aside locks into place. The soul shard in Holly's scar sings, eagerly acting as another link between them.

"I am a possessive bastard," Voldemort hissed out with a chuckle before taking control of the joint magics and lashing out, ripping away the rotting, poisonous magics of an obvious enemy. All three scream in pain as the foreign controls are ripped out by the roots. Even so not a single one of them would stand to leave them in place a moment longer even if it meant their deaths.... It doesn't.

Holly's magic, wounded even as the other two main magics are from the rough treatment, reaches out to each of them. Her magic reflexively starting to heal them. Nets of power forming over the spiritual and magical bleeding wounds. A magical check of memories, bodies, and blood finds vast swaths of damage of various types across all three of them. Deeper than the healers could ever find Holly's magic dives inside them, setting pieces into motion. A spark of wild magic within the merge twists the seed of healing to come.

They pass out just as a new source of wild magic bursts into the room, obliterating wall and door alike.

Jareth stands there, furious and regal as he takes in what was happening. It is only his skill as a mage and as the King of the Labyrinth that allows him to notice the rotting magic. To notice and grab it, keeping it from reattaching to the wizardlings in his people's care. It writhes in his magical grip in serpentine fury as he quickly acts to purify it, burning it away to nothing in a burst of light and heat and power.

When the air cleared and the flash damage faded he can only stare at his guests. Three humans with elven ears lay tangled together before the Goblin King on the bed. Not full Fae but not traditional Changelings either. Jareth tentatively reached out again with his magic only to recoil in shock as he found traces of magic from both the Labyrinth and himself. Whatever they had done, whatever they had been, by Fae law the three were now married to each other and were also his children.

Reaching out one last time to check them with his magic Jareth deliberately decided to accept them. They may never take his throne but they were his family now. An engraved crown was left marking the wall above their joint bed with Jareth's magic and the three extra, smaller beds were transformed into couches and love seats with a new stone table raised off to one side. Satisfied with his changes to the medical room Jareth left, repairing wall and door behind him. He would have to talk to Sarah about this....

Chapter Text

Watching her hatchling-master silently give his wand over to the female speaker, Nagini mentally swore and hissed the phrase that triggered the tattoo spell from her side. Feeling the magic gather her up and settle into Tom’s skin Nagini just barely missed the heat from floo travel and the stunning by the goblins. Holding a piece of her friends' soul Nagini had easy access to his magical core. She had once been a witch with a blood curse and only Tom's diligence had given her any hope or protection. Her magic, although bound by the blood curse and her current form, urged her to guard the core. A soft hiss of speech would have made Nagini shiver but it ‘unlocked’ her magic whenever she was bound together with Tom.

Nagini carefully sent a representation of herself to guard his magical core while she tried to lend power directly to her Tom’s mind. Yet lost in the timeless nature of the tattoo form, Nagini also reminisced about her time with Tom.

[Memory Start]

They had found each other during one of her forced transformation s preceding her final entrapment in serpent form and Nagini was overjoyed to have someone to talk to! Tom had been horrified when Nagini explained what would happen to her at some point, being forever trapped as a serpent once the curse ran its course. Tom had immediately began researching different spells, despite Nagini repeatedly explaining it was unbreakable and carried in her family bloodline. Over the years the pair had lived happily together as friends regardless of Nagini’s current form.

Tom had, in a show of great consideration, remodeled the house with snake tunnel-vents all over the place so that Nagini had an easier time getting around without legs. If snakes could cry Nagini would have been bawling like a babe when Tom first showed her what he had been doing. Then came the research on bloodless bonding spells, augmented by parseltongue and more other magic in place of blood. Before her family curse had run its course, trapping her, Nagini had happily bound herself to Tom as a friend and protector.

It was during her final three or so times as a human that Nagini and Tom had completed crafting their best spell together. It had been created over many long days and nights, buoyed by determination and friendship. It was the last piece of human magic Nagini would ever cast before the blood curse came to full power and trapped her as a serpent.

The Tattoo Spell.

Such an innocent name for such a powerful spell but then Tom preferred to have Nagini protected. Of course calling it the ‘Poisonous Serpent Living Tattoo and Summoning Spell’, like Tom first wanted too, would have been counterproductive. For that was the truth of the Tattoo spell spelled out in all its glory. The spell allowed either Tom or Nagini to trigger it and would safely summon Nagini to Tom when invoked. To hide any such summoning as an extra nasty surprise for any enemies Nagini’s form would immediately appear on Tom in the form of a magical moving serpent tattoo.

The unexpected benefit of the spell was it allowed Nagini to access her human magic even though being within Tom's skin meant she rarely used it in more active ways. Over their many years together Nagini watched the world turn around them and eventually grew fearful for Tom. Dumbledore, she could only ever think in disgust, was truly wicked, and with each encounter the pair had, assuming she wasn't with him, Tom returned smelling increasingly of illness. Until finally, one day, her friend and confidant Tom Riddle vanished completely into Lord Voldemort.

When Voldemort went looking for a new Horcrux container after finding her again in his odd wraith form Nagini quickly volunteered herself. The effects of a living Horcrux weren’t known but Nagini felt that her saner mind might be able to push back the sickness. A bit of her friend Tom returned to her in the form of the Horcrux and Nagini was happy. It was agonizingly slow, but progress was being made Nagini believed. The sudden arrival of the ‘dark-stork man’ and ‘treasure-holding girl’ as Parseltongue termed them though triggered something deep in Voldemort. Nagini could feel that her Tom was trying to claw back to the surface against the sickness and she would be damned before she let him slide back into the Abyss of Dumbledore's obvious creation!

[End Memory]

As healing magic swept through Tom and drew Nagini back out of her memories she re-focused on the living world. Using the connection between the two of them she silently directed the small portion of magic that she could to hidden pockets of sickness she knew about or strengthened Tom’s magic when it seemed tired. The sudden agony when Tom moved to rip out the rotting magic by the roots caught Nagini completely off guard. She watched as Magic ripped away all traces of rot, even the bits hidden from her sight, only to watch as more, new magic came from the others to fill in the holes.

Nagini sent her own magic out into the torrent and deliberately focused on her pure desire to have Tom back, even though it required more to make all three of them whole. Nagini knew it was needed. Sending one of the larger chunks of her magic toward Severus' own Nagini asked Lady Magic to grant him the serpent's tongue. She knew that he truly yearned to understand her and being the odd one out in their odd family bond was only going to hurt him. Nagini knew he had far too many experiences with such hurt to let it stand if she could correct it.

So Nagini prayed and sent as much magic as possible without harming Tom. The sudden appearance of wild magic normally would have had her jumping or snapping her fangs. Instead she studied it as it didn’t seem harmful but seemed to be rather confused and wanting to be helpful. Pulling her last shards of magic from its guard of Tom’s core Nagini followed the pull in the slowly calming chaos of, she didn't know how long, to the surface. Nagini could sense her three, now mated, nest-mates and two unknowns.

Deciding to take a chance Nagini popped out of the tattoo, reared back in an almost striking position and studied the pair intently for any ill wishes against her new family. Not sensing any ill intent she set about fixing the blankets and circled the bed for any threats to the sleeping wizardlings. Once done she made a point of looking at a patch of uncovered skin and between it and the couple a few times before she sank back into Tom's skin and once more formed a living tattoo. She wanted them to know that the sleeping nest was not undefended.

As she settled back into the comfort of her Tom Nagini could truly feel that Lady Magic had given her Tom back. Silently she hoped that Voldemort would only exist as a facade, much like Dumbledore with his Grandfather Persona. Nagini gave a mental laugh and vowed to never compare Tom to that man aloud. It was a guaranteed way to truly anger him. With a mental sigh, Nagini settled down to resume her watch, sending a prayer of thanks for her nest's safety thus far as she did. She would wait and watch, staying for years if necessary as a tattoo. Taking her Tom and his mates away from her would only gain her utmost hatred. It was something about herself that she knew all too well and why she guarded him so fiercely at times.

Chapter Text

Jareth sat with Sarah as the trio slept and waited for her to say something. He had explained what had summoned him, the living building of Gringotts reacting to the magic being drawn from her and the distress of the wizardlings. The fact that once the magic was banished they showed clearly in his mage sight as magically married and adopted afterwards by his own magic, changing their blood to be part royal Fae. He also explained that, should she want to, touching them in the first twenty-five hours the changing magic would sample her and make her also one of their parents. So the pair sat by the bedside of the changed wizardlings and thought as they waited for them to wake.

Something moved under the Dark Lord's clothing and Sarah bit back a shriek as a snake practically erupted from the man's skin and among the folds of his clothing. Jareth moved to kill it or at least knock it away until ut rose up in a striking pose and tilted its head like a bird. The Goblin King froze mid move. That was not a typical snake movement. The snake, no longer concerned with them, looked down and then moved to bite and drag the blankets back over the still unconscious trio. After sorting out the blanket the snake circled the bed once, checking along the edges for things that neither awake adult could fathom. Once done she made a point of looking at a patch of uncovered skin and between it and the couple a few times before she sank into the skin and formed a living tattoo. A tattoo that she had been randomly living as since the trip to get Holly clothing. Nagini watched the pair of Fae and Human from the skin of her hatchling-master. She wanted them to know that the sleeping nest was not undefended.

Twenty minutes after the pair retook their seats they saw movement from the trio. Holly was still mostly asleep but she couldn't help but scramble with movements closer to a not all there flailing to pull Severus tight against her. Voldemort looking far more like an older version of his diary shade with pointed ears grumbled and, still mostly asleep, practically flopped on top of the pair that were his. Thus it was his form that was mostly visible when the giggle was heard. Both wizards practically snapped awake at once for all that they tried not to give themselves away. Holly, unfortunately used to random giggling from her dorm mates only grumbled a bit and held Severus tighter. Despite sleeping like the dead she was treating him like a living stuffed bear or other animal.

"Trying to hide that you are awake is... unwise," Jareth drawled a bit menacingly.

"Goblin King," Severus whispered in reluctant greeting.

"Goblin King," Voldemort said in greeting a few heartbeats later. He was obviously grumpy and just as obviously didn't want to offend the Fae sitting at their bedside for no reason the wizards could fathom.

"You'll have to forgive our Holly for not being awake enough to greet you," Voldemort said softly. "She took the brunt of some of the attacks from the binds yesterday that we were unable to handle at the time. The effect naturally exhausted her."

"Considering your snake tattoo made a very pointed appearance as an actual snake guarding the three of you there are probably other things we need to talk about that are more important," Sarah said with wry amusement.

"There are stranger things in the Labyrinth, my dear," Jareth reminded her with a smirk. His expression turned instantly darker as he changed topics. "Although, I am immensely displeased that someone meddled enough to keep the three of you hidden from me. You were each wished away and had you not been hidden you would have been raised among the Fae as one of our own. The amount of damage we've found on you each just makes it all the worse."

"You said you burned away the most dangerous parts last night," Sarah pointed out calmly.

"Yes. Thankfully, whatever happened last night to rip the rotting magic from the three of you, rot that I had to finish off before it touched you three again, when I came to investigate has made the point moot. The wild magic part of whatever it was deemed it acceptable to make you three my children after marrying you," Jareth smirked darkly at the two wizardlings even as they moved to instinctively shield Holly's still sleeping form. "Congratulations are in order I suppose, then again we will have centuries to get to know each other well as family. You can maintain your Wizard holdings and heritage but there will come a point where I will exercise my right as your joint parent and call you. Don't force me to drag you home or to the High Fae Court when my own parents eventually demand to see you and we shouldn't have too much trouble with each other for at least a century. You have automatic safe harbor among the Goblins as they are a part of my people. You won't be eligible as my potential heirs for at least two hundred years if someone happens to rudely bring that up you may respond as you see fit but take care if they are High Fae. I can only shield you so much if enough issue is made of the situation."

"Noted," Severus said shortly.

"I was originally a non-magical human whatever I am now," Sarah said calmly. "As a word of warning you gained enough Fae blood, judging by the change in your ear shape, to bond deeply with your spouses once married. Wait a good couple of decades before looking elsewhere for a bed partner and be certain that your spouses are in agreement to share or it will only end in tragedy."

"That's unlikely but we will keep it in mind," Voldemort said with a thoughtful hum. Severus gave him a look but was quickly distracted by Holly trying to burrow into his ribs and collar bone.

"We haven't discussed anything yet," Severus told them, thoroughly distracted by Holly's sleepy movements.

Voldemort chuckled darkly and before Severus could react, pulled his husband close enough to steal a kiss. As he withdrew he knew that even though they might kiss or cuddle anything like sex between him and Severus alone was probably off the table. Neither of them were attracted to other men, something which Severus had demonstrated by gelding one of the more insistent higher ranked Death Eaters soon after he was marked. It had been amusing to watch the idiot who had tried to force himself on Severus have his balls ripped off by Severus' magic instinctively moving while the dour man was only half conscious. It had gotten the potions prodigy a full healing from Voldemort's own personal healer and the potential rapist fed to an illusion of Nagini. Nagini had suggested giving him to the Nocturn Alley Hags when the illusion was lifted as he passed out. It had gotten them some very interesting alliances down Nocturn Alley as a result that year since his blood had been shared with the Vampires while he still lived. The example was used to very pointedly forbid rape even on raids or during revels. The few exceptions he made to that rule actually fell in line with actual active laws, usually related to some form of oath or slavery, and were a part of an internal judicial process among his followers.

Severus reeled back from the kiss, spluttering indignantly which just made Voldemort laugh and woke Holly.

"Wha?" Holly asked groggily. No one liked how she flinched deeper into the crevice the two wizards had made around her at least until she was awake enough a few minutes later to start taking in details of where they were.

Severus decided that now was a good time to make his own move and pulled Holy up into a deep kiss that left her wide eyed but not protesting even a little bit. Voldemort just smirked and looked satisfied with the results of his own move. He wasn't certain that Holly wouldn't just reject his own kisses for being the Dark Lord and killer of her parents so he wanted to wait on that try for a more private time and place. As far as he was concerned sharing his wife with his husband was no hardship.

"~Now, that we are married I plan to get you full of hatchlings as soon as I can,~" Voldemort teased her wickedly.

Holly spluttered and hissed a wordless protest.

"I understood that..." Severus said faintly. As he stared at his spouses in a daze Voldemort's hand darted out to grip his jaw and feel around certain parts of the fleshy underside.

"You should be able to speak it as well since I can feel the physical pieces necessary," Voldemort said decidedly a minute later. "We can go over it later as well as my statement. For now... I will react badly to having either of you out of easy reach so please don't test me."

Holly huffed and pointedly pulled Severus close again from where his movements had shifted him away from their original cuddle pile and almost out of reach. Severus snapped out of his slight daze to grumble a bit but didn't fight Holly's guiding hands or protest the strong grip Voldemort took of his shoulder once he was in closer reach. The Fae and probably former human watched this interaction with interest but didn't comment.

"What is it that you wish of us your majesty?" Voldemort finally asked into the watchful silence.

"The name of whatever or whoever hurt you," Jareth said bluntly. "Whatever you were before you are now my family and in such a way that even my parents can't dispute your adoption. Even natural born children of my line would be at risk for certain things, legally, that can never be brought against the three of you. I will have the name of the threat to my family."

"Dumbledore," Holly said quickly, distracting the two dominant men from their impromptu stare down. "Dumbledore's magic was all over the rotting stuff we pulled out. He's had legal control over all of us at some point for years if only as students at Hogwarts... I think he obliviated me after I found out some things. It really wouldn't surprise me if our vaults and holdings through Gringotts were drained or messed with by him either."

"He knew we were being hurt as children and students," Severus put in, finding himself huddled against his spouses. "He made sure we were never removed and couldn't get any help. I found some of his notes on us once. He's been using us as experiments. The notes were riddled with admiring and fond references to both Grindelwald and Hitler. We also weren't the first he's done this to. We're just the only ones to survive this long and with the more extreme treatment. One of the notes said something about making sure to take any children we might have and a marriage contract for me or Holly. Not necessarily to each other but both outlines gave him complete authority over both of us and our family, our children."

"When?" Holly demanded, her voice deadly calm.

"Shortly before he took the fall for your defense club," Severus admitted. "I was able to distract him with complaints about Umbridge using all of my Veritaserum stock on the students. He made it a point not to take any food or drink from her after that but refused to stop it."

"Jareth? One month under your complete control down to what I wear and eat if you can kill this evil bastard," Sarah offered, fuming at this news.

"Three with courtship rights, you quit your job, and you help me make you more comfortable in your own role," Jareth countered.

"If you can find and kill or at least neutralize the Fae working with him... A year but it must be all of them, including the humans who know and are helping them," Sarah countered. "A year to convince me of your sincerity without me being able to send you away or walk away. A year living wherever you place me, learning or doing as you wish."

"Deal," Jareth declared gleefully.

"Not so fast," Sarah warned even as she reached out to very deliberately only touch Holy on the skin of her hand. They all felt when the magic accepted her donation and made her a part of Holly. "The time limit for completion is by the time our daughter, Holly, is twenty. My guess is that her husbands wouldn't be willing to accept me as mother so mother-in-law will have to do. You may claim the month and year respectively upon completion. I won't be able to send you away permanently until that year is finished."

Jareth saw what she was doing. It set a firm time limit on his attempt to press his suit. It also gave him more than a year to work with so long as he kept even one conspirator alive in his dungeons. Holly had just turned 16 while in goblin medical isolation. He had four years to sort out the mess and an extra year after to convince Sarah to marry him. It was far better than the previously offered week largely made up of explaining what had changed Sarah in the Labyrinth.

"Bargain made," Jareth said firmly. "A month of control for Dumbledore's head and another year of promised secluded courtship time for the conspirators before Holly's twentieth birthday."

Sarah finally looked at him only for her mouth to be captured in a kiss much like Holly's and Severus' had been earlier. Sarah sighed when released and allowed him to wrap his arms around her. Ruefully, she thought that she had just given her answer. Sarah would likely be his bride by year's end and she knew it.

Jareth addressed them again, smugness over the stolen kiss practically oozing from him.

"The increased need for touch and possessiveness is normal, as far as I am aware, for the bonding. The fact that you were essentially under attack for years before you bonded will just make it all the stronger. If you feel that you need time alone say something both to your spouses and to one of the servants that will be assigned while you are here. Even if you can't be far apart we can still give you a suite so that whoever needs to be alone can go deeper into the rooms while the others stay between them and any threat. Alternately, two of you can go deeper into the rooms and leave the third in the outer room," Jareth offered. "No one will interfere in any family affairs that come up except for perhaps Sarah and I for obvious reasons."

"We understand," Voldemort said graciously.

Holly got the feeling that Voldy hated giving any authority over him to someone else. Even so she also got the feeling that for them? For his two new spouses? He would burn down the world or save it if they asked or it was necessary to save them. When he looked at her with his ruby gaze right after thinking that she realized that it had bled through whatever link they now had, changed from before by the wild and bonding magics.

"~I won't give either of you up, my Holly,~" Voldemort said firmly in Parseltongue.

Severus sighed but scooted just a tiny bit closer to his new spouses. He knew they would get irritated being basically on top of each other before long but for the moment it was comforting. They had time.

Chapter Text

Dumbledore was out of time. He had to produce the Potter brat now, under his control, or start seeing his carefully established kingdom over the British Wizarding World crumble. The brat was seen as his successor but in truth she was only a pawn, a human sacrifice to stop Tom. Albus had miscalculated with young Tom. Setting him up to be the next Dark Lord to defeat hadn't worked out the way that Dumbledore had planned for. The boy was too good, too clever - even with those curses driving him insane, for Dumbledore to corral properly much less kill. Then that bloody prophecy popped up!

Of course Dumbledore hid the true contents of the prophecy before that night but would it have killed Aberforth to let young Severus hear the whole of the altered prophecy? It would have made things much easier for Albus. Then again he had managed to regain control when the Snape boy came to him begging him to save the Evans girl. It worked out in the end even if the solution wasn't ideal. Or at least it had been working out until this stunt had been pulled.

Dumbledore's eyes dropped to the official letter from the Ministry and the Wizengamot. It detailed the demands to see Potter since her disappearance from the Malfoy's care and the consequences of refusing. If he couldn't produce Potter and show her as happy and healthy to the Wizengamot in the next twelve hours as her official guardian since the Potters passed he would lose a great deal of political power as well as be charged with kidnapping and line theft. To say nothing of the other pending charges if the brat couldn't be produced. Even being charged with the second degree murder of their child savior was going to utterly ruin everything. Never mind that he was the one to prop her up as their savior in the first place.

The pounding that soon started up on his office door was unwelcome but somewhat expected. Dumbledore didn't have the girl after all. He mentally cursed his minions for telling the paper that he did have the brat as a way to cover her disappearance. He wouldn't be having this problem if they had just kept their mouths shut so that he could blame the Malfoy's for this mess in the first place.

There had been too many missteps with both Riddle and Potter. Now, Dumbledore was going to have to pay for his failure to bring the wizarding public to heel under his benevolent care and properly led into the light.

The door to his office burst open and he barely had time to raise his wand in an attempt at defense before the goblin capture net wrapped around him. Albus Dumbledore was dragged from Hogwarts tangled in a heavy net by the goblin hunt team and missed the Aurors sent to fetch him and Potter several hours later. Twenty-four hours later there was an official warrant for his arrest on child endangerment, kidnapping, line theft, and abuse of power charges. Pending an actual trial, a kill on sight order was ready and waiting to be signed right next to the Dementor KISS on sight one. Whichever one was used would be determined only after the old man was tried for his crimes, in absentia if necessary.