On August thirty-first Tom, Lucius and Severus went to Diagon Alley one last time before the start of the school term. While they had put on the act that Harry was fine after the 'unfortunate incident' at his Muggle relatives', they had all decided that Harry would have to be officially withdrawn from Hogwarts and be receiving private tutelage before taking his O.W.L.'s.

While that route would limit their ability to lure their enemies out in the open there was no way Tom could polyjuice himself daily and stay sane, not to mention that because they were having to use skin cells instead of Harry's hair for the potion the effects did not last as long as the standard mix.

Harry had also stated that one bout with insane-Tom was more than enough for him.

Hermione sat on the couch in their joint common room cuddled up next to her Drake watching Harry sleeping in his Muggle recliner – ugly things, recliners, but the chair allowed her friend to comfortably spend time outside his bedroom.

She worried about the brunette constantly.

He was handling this whole affair so well- or seemed to be, anyway – in usual Harry style. She was sure that if it had been her in his shoes, she'd have cracked by now. It was laughable really, in a twisted way; a sixteen – now seventeen – year old boy magically bound to two men, one a man old enough to be his grandfather and that had been the one to orphan said boy, an act that had resulted in years of both physical and mental abuse from his relatives, and the second man the right hand man and general to the first. Not to mention the five years of rabid Death Eaters trying to kill him off, the destruction of his home and the death of his only blood kin, an unexpected pregnancy, a near death experience and a prolonged convalescence.

All of this and Harry Potter barely blinked... until it came to the small mater of Lucius and Tom trying to lure out the boy's attackers, then Harry became anxious and depressed. But that was her friend to a 'T' – once he cared for someone he gave everything for them. It was a good thing that the two Slytherins realized this about their Gryffindor... otherwise Hermione would have to kill a few people.

That, of course, would in turn upset her own Slytherins. Somehow she didn't think Draco and Severus would condone the murder of their leader. Luckily Tom and Lucius had been exemplary husbands to her best friend, so she wouldn't have to test her mates in that regard anytime soon.

For now all she could do was pray to Circe that the three men returned safely – she didn't think Harry could survive it if they didn't.

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Tom paraded through Diagon Alley wearing his mate's delicate figure followed by a polyjuiced Lucius and an annoyed looking Severus Snape. Severus was looking annoyed because, well, who wouldn't be annoyed after following what appeared to be two active sixteen year old boys through Diagon Alley; especially someone who had a reputation for despising children, no matter his personal history with these particular two children.

Except for the handful sent to guard Hogwarts, every member of the Order of the Phoenix was stationed throughout the Alley. His own people, the Death Eaters he'd found loyal, were even now infiltrating the Ministry of Magic. Information gathered by both groups all pointed to the same thing: Fudge was going to have Harry Potter assassinated today.

Or so Fudge thought.

Today the Dark Lord was going to make sure his little mate never had anything to fear ever again.

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The first curse in what would historically be known as the final battle of the 'War of Ascension' was thrown at precisely a quarter-to-two in the afternoon and while Tom would have preferred to conduct the fight in his own, larger form he decided that wasn't exactly prudent with so many of his former enemies present. They might know intellectually that he was no longer their enemy... Well, better not to chance it.

Lucius had taken the polyjuice antidote as soon as the fight started and along with Severus the three Draconians formed a lethal triad moving back-to-back-to-back through the seething mass of confusion in the streets.

Tom hadn't wanted to have this fight here; there were too many bystanders to get in the way and with them not really knowing who they were fighting...

For the most part their attackers were wearing Death Eaters robes, though every face he revealed was that of a stranger. Severus, however, vaguely recognized a few as Ministry workers.

Lucius stumbled just as a short, fat 'Death Eater' yelled Avada Kedavra. Tom had just enough time to turn and see bright green...

Harry jerked awake at the loud 'bang' that echoed through the room. Blinking blearily he focused just in time to see Draco and Hermione felled by a binding hex. The pair struggled uselessly against the magical ropes and cursed their attacker until a gag spell garbled their words.

There, in the doorway of their rooms, stood the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge and, behind him, Peter Pettigrew.

Fear flooded Harry as he pulled himself to his knees in the recliner. He had no idea what to do. He couldn't use magic – and it wasn't a matter of choice, his magic reserves had been virtually nonexistent since the explosion – he could barely even walk and now Draco and Hermione both were out of commission.

"Well if it isn't the great Harry Potter," Fudge sneered, walking further into the room.

The Gryffindor noticed that while Peter was smiling broadly about Harry's imminent death, the rat made sure to stay behind Fudge. Harry growled at the creature and smirked when he jumped.

Fudge scowled and muttered, "Useless," under his breath before turning back to Harry. "Shame on you Mister Potter, such scandalous behavior! You were supposed to let the Dark Lord kill you, not fuck you."

Harry growled again, his fear slowly giving way to anger. This... man... had invaded his nest while he was carrying an egg...

The Minister's eyes slid over him and Harry shuddered in revulsion, "Although I suppose I can see your appeal... if one were into fucking little boys."

Harry growled a third time, louder and more threatening and while Pettigrew grew pale at the forbidding sound, Fudge took no notice.

"Now I think it's time we got on with this. It is time for you to die Mister Potter so that Lord Voldemort can take the blame. You will go down in history as a clueless lack wit who allowed himself to be seduced by a murdering pedophile."

Fudge grabbed Pettigrew by the scruff of the neck and, after shoving a long silver dagger into his hands, he pushed the rodent at Harry.

Pettigrew stumbled nearly into arms reach only to be sent rolling across the stone floor as sixty pounds of enraged, hissing cobra launched itself at the short man. Nagini wrapped herself around her squealing prey and struck again and again.

Fudge cast Petrificus Totalus on the serpent but Harry thought that was more to protect his own skin than anything as he made no move to help his now slowly dieing accomplice.

Draco and Hermione were trying to shout through their gags, their muffled cries doing nothing to distract the cursing Minister as he calmly picked up the fallen knife and thrust it sharply into Harry's chest.

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Silence.

It echoed in his ears.

Silence.

Harry looked down at the delicate handle of the weapon where it stuck out of his shirt. He had thought it would hurt, dieing, but he couldn't feel anything. He saw Draco fall off the couch in his struggle to get at their attacker and for a split second he saw that the blonde's eyes had become slits. His own eyes flit up to Hermione's to find hers still human but wide with shock and horror.

Fudge stood gloating over him. He said something but Harry couldn't hear it.

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Dumbledore stumbled into the Draconian common room and stopped dead in the doorway.

Lucius paid no mind to the injuries the Headmaster had incurred fighting Bellatrix Lestrange and shoved him out of the way, only to stop dead as well.

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The edges of Harry's vision were turning red and all he could think was that this man had killed his baby.

He watched impassively as Fudge's gloating turned to shock when a black... something...pierced his chest.

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Lucius clutched the doorframe.

Harry knelt in his recliner with a... wing protruding from his back and... through the obviously dead Minister of Magic. Harry lifted slit eyes to Lucius and pulled his new appendage back. The dead man slid off with a sickening sucking sound and hit the floor with a dull thud.

That's when the blonde saw the dagger sticking out of his mate. With a roar he lurched forward and caught the boy as his beautiful green eyes rolled back in his head and he collapsed.

"Oh Merlin," he cried, his clawed hands ripping through Harry's clothes... there were so many.

Then Tom was there helping him dig through the cloth.

Albus released Draco and Hermione and the young Drake nearly fell into the fireplace in his desperation to summon the Medi-Wizard.

The dagger fell to the side as the two Draconians finally got through the cloth to find... armor? Lucius' eyes met Tom's and as one they fully removed the tatters still covering their mate so that the boy was half naked when Meriwether came through the fire.

The blonde Slytherin looked in confusion at the silver corset completely encasing Harry's chest, stomach and back. His claws scraped against the round metal pieces proving they were indeed metallic in nature but they flexed with the movements of Harry's body as they handled him. They were skin tight and there was no clasps that they could find... there was no blood.

Lucius looked to Tom. "There's no blood, no wound."

Numbly he noticed Meriwether casting spells and a pale Severus was holding a sobbing Hermione and a shocky-looking Draco.

Tom ran his human fingers down the front of the armor while Meriwether cursed about not being able to get any readings. Suddenly the largest 'scale' in the armor moved. It sprouted legs and lifted away from the rest... then they were looking at Xyria.

"My apologies Tom and Lucius. Once we merged with Master's body we were unable to separate ourselves until now. We could not aid Master in his battle," she hissed as all of the little creatures began pulling free of Harry's skin.

The two Slytherins stared in shock at the spiders, and then at each other.

Finally Tom cleared his throat and hissed, "Well it looks like things turned out for the best Xyria... I do believe, however, that your family is bouncing Mister Meriwether's diagnostic spells back at him and we really need to check on Harry."

Xyria hissed an affirmative and the air was filled with a loud 'pop' as the spiders apparated away en masse. Xyria merely crawled onto Tom's hand to await the diagnosis.

Pomphrey limped into the room and began examining Albus and Severus while Meriwether once again cast his spells.

After a few moments the Medi-Wizard sighed in relief, "He is perfectly fine, Gentlemen, as is the baby."

Lucius looked down at his mate, "But..."

Meriwether seemed to understand the unasked question, "He passed out from exhaustion with a good dose of shock. He was attacked after all and this partial transformation," he waved a hand at the wing lying limply across the recliner, "explains the exhaustion. I'd say rest and plenty of attention from you two should have him right as rain in a few days."

The pair slumped against the chair in relief and Tom placed a delicate kiss on the spider still sitting in his hand, "You saved his life," he hissed softly. "Thank you."

She giggle-hissed and then pointed a delicate leg across the room. "You may want to free Nagini, Tom. She stopped the first attacker and then got stuck."

As one Lucius and Tom turned and saw the petrified Nagini still wrapped around a swollen and very dead Peter Pettigrew.

Tom grinned, "She's wanted to do that for years." With a flick of his wand his familiar was free and she immediately slithered around her master hissing about how pathetic Wormtail had always been.

Lucius looked to his son and found that the boy had pulled himself back together and was now trying to mother the battered Severus. The blonde grinned.

"It's done then," he whispered.

Tom pursed his lips. "Not quite," he said turning his eyes to their couch and the slumped figure of one Albus Dumbledore.