A week after the explosion Harry was still unconscious. He was also as pink and hairless as a newborn bunny – but he was blessedly whole.

Tom thanked Merlin every day that they'd been in time. They had only been staying in the Muggle house across from number four Privet Drive at night and had just happened to come back to it early that day on a whim only to find the horrifying destruction...

He heard the outer door to Severus' chambers open and he sighed as he finished the second of Harry's thrice daily massages. Dumbledore had not allowed them to leave the school with their mate and so he and Lucius had stayed. They had managed to avoid the old man by hiding in the Potion master's quarters but apparently their luck had run out.

Covering his mate once again with the thick quilts, he dropped a gentle kiss on the younger man's scarred forehead and went to beard the lion in its den.

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Severus watched Tom and Dumbledore stare at each other from opposite arm chairs in his sitting room and had to stifle a groan of annoyance. There was no telling how long it would take for one of them to give in and actually start this conversation...

Draco and Hermione sat next to him on the sofa with Lucius lounging on the far side of his son. Severus was fairly sure that Lucius was dozing with his eyes open while Draco watched the two opposing leaders with amusement.

Slowly the time ticked by...and by...

"Oh for Pity's sake," Hermione burst out, startling the Wizards. "On the night Harry and I were kidnapped you, Headmaster, cast a Radix Acclaro spell which awoke the dormant Draconian genetics in the six of us. In an interesting twist of Fate, Draco and Severus are my mates just and Tom and Lucius are Harry's. Activating the genes revitalized Tom in mind, body and soul, thankfully, and he cares for Harry deeply. They both do. We are happily indulging our new instincts and would appreciate it greatly, Sir, if you would butt out!"

Lucius and Tom looked surprised while Dumbledore was absolutely dumbfounded and Draco doubled over in silent laughter; Miss-Rules-Are-My-Life-Granger had just told her Headmaster to piss off!

Snape grinned.

The grin died a painful death, however, when the Headmaster's dumbfounded expression turned icy and focused on him.

"I assume then Severus that you have abetted these relationships by quartering the students in your rooms?"

Snape nodded cautiously.

"And now Harry is pregnant," Albus said flatly. "Do you even know which of you fathered it?"

Severus growled and he heard Lucius echo him while Tom watched Dumbledore with a raised eyebrow.

"You have a right to be angry Albus, but do not allow that anger to make you incautious. You will watch your tongue when you speak of our mate and our child," the Dark Lord's voice was steel.

The Potion Master watched the old man close his eyes and take a deep breath. "I apologize Tom. I am just so...This should not have..." Albus' words stumbled to a stop and he fell silent.

"Should not have been able to happen," Tom asked. "I assume you are referring to the prophecy."

Dumbledore nodded, wide eyed.

"The prophecy has been fulfilled of course. Really Albus, you of all people should know that prophecies never fall out the way one expects them to. I may have forgotten that in my madness, but what's your excuse, hmmmm?"

The Headmaster was starting to look a bit dazed.

"'Neither shall live while the other survives'...I believe that's how the line goes, eh?"

Another nod.

"For shame Albus, I would have expected you to interpret such a line in several different ways and plan accordingly but you only saw what you wanted to see. Harry and I were barely 'surviving' in the sense that he held onto his sanity only by a thread in that abusive muggle home you placed him in and I existed in a morass of madness keen on destroying everything around me. By casting that spell, you joined us together and now we can truly begin to Live. I am sane and healthy, while Harry has gained the love and the family he has craved for so long. We are happy and content...and Living."

"But...but 'one shall die at the hand of the other'."

"Notice that line comes before the bit about living? Rather telling that. I believe that the 'other' was actually referring to another person. You, in point of fact. You effectively killed Lord Voldemort when you cast the Radix Acclaro spell. Of course it could also refer to Harry's death in the infirmary – and he did die, if only for a moment. That line of prophecy could refer to him dying while my hands were on him, or if rogue Death Eaters were involved the line could refer to them as my hand."

Dumbledore looked skeptical.

"Believe what you will, old man, but the prophecy has been fulfilled. I have been to three other Seers and they all say the same thing."

"And what's that," Dumbledore asked weakly.

"They can see the faded lines where a prophecy once bound me but its influence is gone. It was either fulfilled or nullified but they all feel it to have been fulfilled.

Silence filled the room as Dumbledore absorbed the Slytherin's words.

"Do we know what happened at the Dursley's'," Lucius asked.

Dumbledore blinked a few times and cleared his throat, "The Muggle authorities have concluded that it was an accident. Apparently an explosive gas is used to heat many Muggle homes and a leak of this gas caused the explosion."

Hermione frowned.

"And the Dursley's themselves?" Lucius' tone was bland.

"Dead." Dumbledore answered sadly.

"Good riddance," Hermione muttered, still looking distracted.

Tom smirked at the Headmaster's shocked look, "I agree, saves me the trouble of killing them, though I would have preferred it to have been slower."

Dumbledore's face stiffened and the angry glint in his eyes returned, "How can you sit there and pretend to care about Harry with one breath and then speak of his late relatives in such a manner with the next?"

Tom interrupted before the old man could truly get going, "Do you mean to tell me Albus that you are so willfully blind that you did not know what those people did to Harry?"

"You cannot in good conscience," Hermione broke in, "say that you never noticed how thin he was at the start of every term, how he didn't even have proper clothes. His Hogwarts letter was addressed to the cupboard under the stairs!"

"It couldn't have been that bad, they were his family..." Dumbledore protested weakly.

The young Witch just stared at him until he dropped his gaze. She sighed and Snape took her small hand in his own much larger one. "And we'd be just as blind if we believed that explosion was an accident," she said softly.

"Explain," commanded Lucius, straightening from his relaxed position.

"Gas systems are very safe nowadays. There are occasionally leaks but they are usually detected fairly quickly. The gas smells, and most leaks are in very small quantities. If the leak isn't stopped by the automatic shut off valves and such, then someone generally smells the leak and calls a repair person. Now if this were a normal leak, it would have been very small and would have been caught by the Dursley's because their laundry machines were in the basement and from what Harry had said, they were in and out of there almost daily. There is no way that the amount of gas it would have taken to cause an explosion of that magnitude could have just leaked and not been discovered...well...to be perfectly honest, it is possible but it is highly improbable."

"And besides," Draco piped in, "when has anything with Harry been as simple as an accident?"

Tom rubbed a hand over his eyes, "I fear then that some of the Death Eaters that I gifted to the Ministry must have somehow escaped. They were not the most stable lot, which would explain why they are still trying to kill Harry even after I betrayed them."

"Why would you do that? Why betray your loyal servants; your forces are not so large as it is." Dumbledore prodded.

"My methods have changed even if my goals have not. Those I gave up were incapable of accepting Harry as my mate and they were therefore no longer useful...and you would do well not to make such rash assumptions."

"Perhaps they believe you were punishing them for some perceived failure," Lucius mused, "Perhaps they are only after him to try and regain your favor."

"What of your sources Dumbledore? They undoubtedly believe I was the perpetrator, do they not?"

Dumbledore nodded, "I will, however, have the Order start searching down different avenues. Perhaps we were merely looking at things in the wrong light."

There was a small 'pop' and a delicate silver spider sat on the arm of Tom's chair. Severus watched the brunette allow the creature to scamper onto his hand and after a moment Tom stood.

"Come Lucius, our mate is waking."