Work Text:
§¤§¤*§*¤§¤§
Disclaimer: The world of Harry Potter, its characters and settings are the copyrighted works of J.K. Rowling, Warner Bros., her publishing companies and affiliates. No profit was made from the writing of this story nor was any malice intended in any way, shape or form to the author or the actors/actresses who so brilliantly have brought them to life.
This author is not responsible for underage readers. Please observe the ratings, warnings, and age of legal consent for your country.
The Pirate King excerpt is from the musical, The Pirates of Penzance by Gilbert & Sullivan. No malice is intended in its ironic usage.
§¤§¤*§*¤§¤§
Oh, better far to live and die/Under the brave black flag I fly,/Than play a sanctimonious part,/With a pirate head and a pirate heart./Away to the cheating world go you,/Where pirates all are well-to-do;/But I'll be true to the song I sing,/And live and die a Pirate King.
For I am a Pirate King!/And it is, it is a glorious thing/ To be a Pirate King!/For I am a Pirate King!
§¤§¤*§*¤§¤§
Standing in the park, Lucius preened in front of his current inamorata, Narcissa Black. He bowed low, his long blond hair tied in a queue at the back of his head, shining in the sun as he swept his feathered hat from his head with a flourish and made a regal leg. Narcissa simpered, and he inwardly winced. She’d never replace her cousin, Regulus. She wasn’t even a patch on her sister, the beautiful Bellatrix, but she would do well enough to increase his social standing and bring proper gold—and political clout—into Sir Riddle’s grasp. Lucius didn’t give a rat’s arse as long he got his wine, a tight hole to bung, and a ship that could fly over the waves.
“Sir Malfoy, you honour me with your attentions.” Recently out of mourning for her sister, Bellatrix, Narcissa had come from England to recuperate. Lucius grinned at her, knowing that her words were a subtle code for ‘thank you for not paying attention to the scandal hounding my family.’ “I know how you doted on Bella.” Narcissa peeked under her eyelashes, casting a stone since she knew Lucius’ son was Bellatrix’s bastard.
“My dear Miss Black, cast no grand glamours upon me, please. It is my pleasure to escort you…” Lucius stopped speaking. Over Narcissa’s shoulder, he saw someone that Sir Riddle would pay a great deal of money to meet again. “Excuse me, Miss Black. Needs must when the Devil drives.” She looked confused and Lucius had to grit his teeth. “I must leave you, but we shall dance at the Governor’s Ball in a fortnight.” He hurried away, dismissing Narcissa as if she were nothing…and in his mind, she was less than that.
~~|~~|~~|~~~|~~|~~|~~
Severus rolled onto his knees, his hands tied tightly behind his back. Even dishevelled and bruised, he didn’t lose his cool insouciance. One eyebrow was quirked in haughty disregard as he twisted aside from the spittle Malfoy let loose. He let his eyes roam over the men and women lounging in Riddle’s hall, memorizing faces.
Sir Thomas Riddle leaned forward in his ‘throne’, a gilded chair stolen from a doomed Spanish frigate. His velveteen jacket and embroidered silk vest couldn’t disguise the ravages of the pox on his once fine visage. Riddle leaned forward, stroking his chin as he favoured Snape with a cold glance. “Snape…I once had a spy named Snape. Curst black heart he had—which made him a favourite of mine—but then he found love and redemption.”
The pirate king laughed—it was a harsh, grating noise that caused everyone within earshot to wince. “How kind of you to visit me in my new home in the New World, Severus. I’ve so longed to show you the sights.”
Within the blink of an eye, Riddle’s wand slipped into his hand and he murmured, “Crucio!” Severus bit his lips to keep from crying out as Lucius kicked him in the ribs, and his body writhed and tried to break its bones under the curse. “Finite Incantatem.” Riddle stared as Severus gasped for air while trying to keep his stoic façade.
Riddle waved his hand, lace ruche fluttering as he gestured for Lucius to approach, hiding his wand once more up his sleeve. “My good lieutenant, take this…this misbegotten cur to the dungeons. Oh, and do so by the scenic route.” He leaned back, hoisted one leg over the arm of his chair, and swung it lazily as he plucked off a curly, red-haired wig. “Accio ma Black wig!”
Severus’ last sight was of a wig sailing through the air that looked remarkably like the hair that once adorned Regulus Black’s head—which meant it was the hair of Lucius Malfoy’s first love.
~~|~~|~~|~~~|~~|~~|~~
“Remus, enough!” Nymphadora Black stuck out her hand and caught the man as he paced back and forth, literally wearing a trough in the carpet of the Governor’s palace. “We’ll get him back. Sirius and Harry are out there now, scouring the ports for information.”
Remus Lupin, late of her Majesty’s Scottish court, bristled at the dainty hand on his arm. “You’ll unhand me, Nymphadora Black. No one touches me without permission.” His voice was calm and low, and to be obeyed. She removed her hand quickly.
Curling her hand against her chest as if it were burned, Nymphadora backed away, still trying to ease the wizard’s hectic movements into a slower pace. “Please, then, just…sit for a few moments. You aren’t helping matters any by behaving like a peahen,” she grumbled. Nymphadora settled herself on a plain bench with a pinched look on her ever-changing face.
Laughing at the absurdity of a child bride calling him a peahen, Remus spun on his boot heel and dropped inelegantly onto a gold-trimmed settee. He crossed his legs at the ankle, his arms over his chest, and almost crossed his eyes but the childishness of the action stopped him before he did. “Fine! Does this make things better?”
“Well, it does give you a chance to show off those shiny English buckles on those fine shoes, Lupin.” Harry Potter, aide-de-camp of Sir Sirius Black, entered, Sir Sirius hard on his heels. “Madame Black, good day to you.” Harry doffed his hat and threw it onto an occasional table.
“Remus! So sorry to keep you cooling your heels, mate.” Sir Black pointed at Potter. “Harry here had a few, shall we say, unsavoury characters from the bad old days to meet down on the docks.” Sirius stepped closer to Nymphadora, grabbed her close for a smacking kiss on the lips, and then snuggled her under his arm. “Mmm, lovey, that takes the edge off the day, it does!” She giggled and coloured up, good humour restored.
“I’m so glad you three are enjoying yourselves.” Remus felt his temper rising. “It’s my mate, my life, that’s been taken.” Remus jumped to his feet, eyes flashing golden as his emotions ran wild. “Enough!” he roared. A wave of wild magic ripped through the room, upsetting candlesticks and vases. “I want answers, damn you all! Where is my Severus?”
~~|~~|~~|~~~|~~|~~|~~
“Enjoy your stay in the dungeons, Severus.” Lucius slammed the heavy oak door and turned the lock with a leer. “I’ll be back to welcome you properly.” Lucius stood out of reach beyond the bars of the cell. “I remember well breaking in that lovely mouth of yours. And that arse…” Lucius cupped his crotch, pressing the palm of his hand against the swell there with a lewd smirk on his face.
Leaning against the farthest stone wall, Severus grimaced. “You had me once, Lucius, when I was young and foolish. Since then I’ve met a real man. He has no need of your toys to make me shout his name.” He stumbled back, farther into shadow, trying to loosen his bindings.
Lucius lurched forward and rattled the bars in his anger. “Damn you, Snape! I’ll make you beg for it once more! You’ll forget this man, I warn you!” he screamed.
“Did Riddle make you take Regulus in front of him as well, Lucius? Did you have to bend your precious Black in half for his amusement?” Severus slowly worked his hands through the ropes binding them as he taunted Malfoy. “Did Riddle have you skin him for that lovely wig?” he said harshly. The ropes fell away silently behind Severus’ back.
A blast of red came between the bars and Severus was thrown into the wall. He groaned as stars flew across his vision and Lucius’ last words echoed in the cell. “He’ll get a new one, Severus, one of fine brown and grey.” Lucius’ angry laugh rolled through the stone halls as he left.
~~|~~|~~|~~~|~~|~~|~~
Sirius drank his mug of grog, a hold-over from his buccaneering days. He looked over the rim of the battered pewter mug as Remus plucked at the lace of his jabot. A small flick of his wrist and another mug, equally as battered, appeared on the table. Sirius poured a healthy tot of grog into it and shoved it across to his friend.
“Drink up, mate. It might not soothe your heart but ‘twill ease your spirit.”
Remus curled his fingers around the mug, remembering years before when the Dread Pirate Black found him in a Tortuga brothel. He’d done the same thing then, said the same words, trying to convince a broken werewolf to trust once more. In that house, werewolves were the main attraction and Remus had had very little trust to spare. Until Sirius…until Severus. Oh, Severus… Remus shook his head to clear the maudlin thoughts away.
“Thank you, Sirius, for everything,” Remus finally said with a sigh. He looked up, eyes golden even though the full moon was weeks away. “He’s my mate, in every sense, you see. He hated me at first, then we…well, you know how Sir Dumbledore is…he made us work side-by-side, day in, day out, until we were a well-oiled machine. Then he left us to our own devices and we began to talk…
“Severus was always so standoffish, so constrained by circumstance. He wouldn’t unbend, wouldn’t let me befriend him for the longest time. We spoke of youth, both of us broken young and left to fend for ourselves or die in the doing. We found a common thread in our lives and we began weaving that into something else.
“Then, one bright, beautiful day, we Apparated to a house in flames…it was the Longbottoms. I found Frank and Alice wandering in a daze. Later, we realized Bellatrix Lestrange had held them under Cruciatus for hours, not minutes. Severus was like a man possessed…you see, he found the babe, Neville, cowering inside an armoire. He’d been Cursed as well, but not as long. The wee mite screamed the walls down when Severus picked him up, clawing and screeching like a Banshee. When Severus cast Legilimency upon the boy, he saw the truth—and he saw what else Lestrange had done to the boy. I never saw a man become a demon until then.
“You know we hunted her down. Your cousin was mad, madder than any inbred royal could claim. She tried to…she hurt the wee lad.” Remus gulped in air and grog. “She had her wand at my throat, taunting Severus with what she’d do to me, what she hadn’t finished doing to Neville Longbottom, and he calmly slit her throat with a wordless spell.”
Remus wound down. Sirius had sat unmoving throughout Remus’ recital, the grog forgotten in his hand. He’d known that Cousin Bellatrix was evil, but he hadn’t known he had Snape to thank for ridding the world of her taint.
“He did the world a mighty favour, Remus. I’ll not hold his duty nor his methods against him.” Sirius seemed to remember the grog in his hand and guzzled it, slamming the mug down when he was finished.
“Now, enough of the mollycoddlin’ and the bellyachin’, me heartie. We’ve a raid to plan.” Grey eyes shining with mischief, Sirius leaned back in his chair. “Think you’re up to some wickedness, Remus?”
~~|~~|~~|~~~|~~|~~|~~
Two masked guards hoisted Severus up by the shackles on his arms as Lucius watched from a pillow-strewn bench. His eyes were rimmed with kohl, giving him the look of a dead man. His fine cambric shirt was blotched and spotted with wine and other things as he oversaw Severus’ daily tortures. His scratched leather knee-high boots were marred by things best left undescribed.
“Three days, Severus,” Lucius called as he swilled cheap wine from a horn cup. “You’ve become tiresome in your old age, man. Why, I remember when just the threat of pain had you giving up your virginity.” Lucius rolled drunkenly to his feet and wavered where he stood, getting his bearings back with some trouble. “You, sir, are making a mockery of my tortures!”
“You make a mockery of the man I once knew, Lucius,” Severus bit out. His shirt was a bloody rag hanging in tatters around his shoulders and ribs. His breeches were stained with more than blood, thanks to his jailers’ poor aim when they pissed near him, or left him hanging without a visit to the pisspot. “A proper pirate would have the bollocks to kill me without all this faradiddle. You were a proper pirate once, Lucius.” Severus had to pause to spit out the blood that collected in his mouth.
“Ha, ha, ha! Severus, I was never a proper pirate but that I loved to ream the nearest hole for my own pleasure and steal the family jewels on my way out of port.” Lucius spilled his wine as he gave a grandiose gesture encompassing the cell, perhaps the whole sea. “When I want to add my tuppence and tup you,” Lucius snickered drunkenly, “I’ll ram my rod up yer arse an’ make ye taste it fer weeks…” He slid off the bench in a small avalanche of pillows, slurring his words as he went. “Roger ye jolly, I will…”
The two guards snickered and began to push Severus back and forth until he swung like a pendulum between them. Severus smiled inside; as long as Lucius was non compos mentis, he could make plans and let the indolent thugs have their fun.
~~|~~|~~|~~~|~~|~~|~~
Lucius dreamed of his Regulus, dark-haired and wicked of wit, the only lover he had truly loved. He could almost feel the dark silken tresses clinging to his fingers as he thrust in and out of his tight heat. His heart beat faster as his body remembered the stretch of whipcord lean muscles under his fingertips. His gut tightened as the memories came…
The hold of too much wine and too little sleep was loosening. Lucius felt himself waking. Inside, he cried for himself…and for Regulus.“Lucius, love, consider me plunder to be collected, totted, and spent under your direction.” Regulus’ grey eyes shone with glee as he undid his cravat and pulled the tails of his shirt from his velvet breeches. Regulus’ other hand danced over Lucius’ chest even as he tried to disrobe himself.
Regulus Black’s deceptively innocent face darkened as he bared his chest to Lucius’ hungry gaze. He fought with their clothes, tickling Lucius’ sides as he tried to pull the shirt over his head without first having him raise his arms. Growling, Regulus pressed his face into the material and sucked a nipple into his mouth. After gnawing it to a point, he let it go and started on the other one, the material an inconsequential barrier to Regulus’ teeth and tongue. Once the nipples were peaked, Regulus pulled back and blew a loud kiss on Lucius’ breastbone.
Lucius laughed, a free, bright sound that drew out Regulus’ laughter as well. They fell into bed, the cloud of the feather mattress surrounding them in softness and comfort. They rolled together, clothes hindering them but not stopping them from touching, tasting, feeling. Lucius came out on top, knees to either side of Regulus’ narrow hips, his cloth-covered cock resting over the open placket of Regulus’ breeches, budged up to Regulus’ burgeoning erection. Their laughter died away as Lucius gazed long and hard into Regulus’ merry eyes and then rolled his hips against Regulus’.
“You are my best treasure, Regulus Black,” Lucius whispered as he fell against Regulus. He pushed the shirt up Regulus’ chest, baring his smooth, lightly tanned skin to the light. He scraped his nails over Regulus’ nipples, pinching and twisting, drawing out sweet sighs and gasps. Lucius bent forward to press soft kisses to his lover’s breastbone, collar bones, and finally his lips. The kisses grew deeper, slower, until they had to break apart to breathe. “My love…” Lucius breathed against Regulus’ lips. A delicate, uncalloused hand smoothed over Lucius’ back, rucking up his shirt, searching for its own warm skin to caress.
Grinning, Lucius reached down and tugged his dagger from the top of his boot and stroked over Regulus’ throat with the ball on the hilt. They shared a look as Lucius reversed the dagger and sliced through his shirt, ripping it in two so their naked chests could press together. Regulus clutched at him, nails making a trail of crescents in his back as Lucius peeled the material halves apart. “Ah, Lucius, what you do to me…” He pulled Lucius’ head up and whispered, “Bugger me…ream me…plunder my depths, love…”
~~|~~|~~|~~~|~~|~~|~~
“We’ve got news, Remus!” Harry skidded around the open doorway of the Library. “Grab your sword and wand! We’ve got news!” His tricorn was askew and his vest misbuttoned. He was beaming ear-to-ear.
“Malfoy’s bastard son, Draco, turned over the map for Riddle’s lair. You wouldn’t believe it, but the scum called it Slytherin’s Rest.” Harry’s mouth turned down in a moue of distaste. “Nothing against Slytherins per se, but the man does give them a very bad name.”
Remus thrust his arms into a plain coat of brown sack and put a battered black tricorn on his distinctive brown and grey hair. With a snap of his fingers, his wand and his sword and scabbard appeared in his other hand. “Less talk, more action, lad. Lead on!” Remus pushed Harry out of the library and outside.
“Tell me, Harry,” Remus said as they wove between pedestrians, “where exactly are we going? And why would you trust Draco Malfoy?”
Looking back over his shoulder, Harry’s green eyes gleamed. “Oh, didn’t I tell you?” He grinned. “We’re going to Wrecker’s End. That’s the island Riddle put his damned Slytherin’s Rest on.”
Harry turned away and yelled over his shoulder, “And just so you know, his name ain’t Malfoy, it’s Draco Black. He’s Sir Sirius’ cousin, and he's mighty glad someone's done for his mother, the bitch Bellatrix.”
Remus' steps faltered, and then he ran to catch up to Harry, a fierce grin on is face. "Oh. Severus will be pleased."
~~|~~|~~|~~~|~~|~~|~~
Barely sober enough to stand, Lucius could still wield a whip like no one else. He had Severus chained spread-eagle between two pillars in Sir Riddle’s garden. Severus had given them nothing after four days of off-and-on torture. With each day, Lucius had remembered more and more of his life with Regulus, of the carefree youth that had run away from Hogwarts, from the restraints of British Wizarding life to the sea…and Lucius’ arms. Severus made him remember all the pain of loving someone!
“You will tell us what we want, Severus!” Lucius flicked the whip and the leather bit into Severus’ skin, completing the letter ‘M’ on his back. “No matter what, you will always remember me.”
“Lucius, I say that’s enough for now.” Sir Riddle wriggled his fingers and a firm, red apple appeared in them. “I say he needs something applied more directly…if you catch my meaning.” He bit into the apple, chewing slowly as Lucius handed over his whip and began divesting himself of his sweaty shirt. “I knew you’d know what to do, Lucius.”
Severus closed his eyes tightly, calling on his acting ability to make it seem that he was wishing with all his might that he could deny Lucius. Once, he’d known he’d come as Lucius never left anyone—prisoner or lover—unfulfilled when it came to buggery. His fingers slipped on the chains as he grabbed them, pulling himself up, trying to stand straighter.
He remembered Lucius taking his virginity so well…
“Severus Snape, as I live and breathe,” Lucius drawled. The dissolute noble still looked as good as when Severus had known him during their shared school days. “I’ll stand you a drink that will put hair on your chest, Snape.” A throaty laugh greeted this sally and Severus looked beyond Lucius’ shoulder and saw a thin, dark-haired aristocrat.
“Come meet Regulus again as well, Severus.” Lucius reached back and drew Regulus forward as gently as any lover should. Severus could feel the contentment that wafted off the pair, and he could smell the musky scent of recent sex as well. “You remember Regulus from school, Severus?”
“Malfoy, I’m neither decrepit nor pox-addled. I remember Mr. Black well.” Severus turned to Regulus and gave him a friendly nod in lieu of a hand-clasp. “Good to see you, Regulus. Taken to being a privateer as well?” His glance indicated Lucius and Regulus’ proximity.
Lucius grinned and put his arm through Severus’. “Snape, you never cease to amaze me. Regulus is my advisor. Where I go, he goes. What secrets I have, he already knows. Now, come with us, drink and make merry. We’re only in port for a few more days and it will be good to share new stories. So, do tell what strange potions have brought you to Londontown?”
Stories hadn’t been the only things Lucius and Regulus had wanted to share. They’d drugged Severus after a fine meal on their second-to-last night in London. He’d woken up to Regulus sucking his prick and Lucius three fingers deep in his arse. He’d screamed then, bloody murder and threats, thrashing about and kneeing Regulus in the jaw and drawing blood. He’d yelled more Curses than could be shot from a wand, but they’d only laughed at him, told him he’d begged to give up his virgin arse and who were they to deny such bounty. Regulus had bitten his stomach and the tops of his thighs leaving a bloody trail of teeth-marks that didn’t fade without help. Lucius had pushed in, hard and fast, with no thought to Severus’ pleasure.
“C’mon, Snape, unclench those cheeks again. Regulus needs to warm his cock and bollocks, and you’re the finest heater we’ve ever had.” Lucius had held him down while Regulus had plowed him, pushing out Lucius’ spunk with each slide. Severus had begged for death, for anything to numb the pain.
For hours they had tormented him, made him come again and again, often with the aid of potions and spells. Severus never forgot waking up on Sir Thomas Riddle’s ship, bound for Ireland. He’d promised anything to make them stop, to keep his body from being defiled over and over. Riddle had made him swear an oath, branded him with the sign of the snake like he was a pirate or thief, and then used him for ten years as a spy.
“Snape, I’m so very glad Lucius and Regulus brought you to me.”
Severus still cringed at the warmth those words had brought him after all the rapes, all the mind-changes, all the madness.
Clinging to his chains, Severus glared with his one good eye, the other swelled shut when Riddle had backhanded him for some harsh words. “Don’t touch me, Lucius. Beat me, flay me if you wish, but you’ll not take what’s mine to give.” He felt his fangs aching, hidden inside his mouth. He moved his jaw from side-to-side.
Sir Riddle cackled and clapped his hands in glee. “Oh ho, Lucius, our fledgling has been become a bird of prey!” He rocked back-and-forth with manic laughter. “He’s…he’s gone and done something wicked to his wizard self, Lucius! Look in his mouth, Lucius, but don’t let him bite you!” Riddle said in a sing-song voice.
Lucius stuck the curled length of his whip against Severus’ lips and pried them apart. The tips of his canines were higher and sharper than they had been years before. “You went and got yourself bitten, eh, Severus?” The whip handle disappeared from Severus’ mouth and he spit out the taste of sweaty leather with a glower. “Those teeth won’t protect your lily-white, tight arse from my prick, or anyone else’s.”
“Would you care to place a wager on that, Malfoy?” Severus willed his vampiric nature to speed up and his bruises and bleeding wounds began to heal right before their eyes. Severus left off playing the poor prisoner and flexed one arm, tugging the chain attached to it partially out of the wall. “It seems I’ve regained my second wind.” He brought his arms down to his sides and the chains ripped from the walls, the bolts clanging on the tiled floors.
Lucius had stepped back, his only weapon the whip in his hand. He slashed at Severus’ face, moving backwards, toward his wand. Sir Riddle was cowering behind his “throne”, shooting Stunners and Incarcerous hexes as Lucius occupied Severus’ attention.
“Damn you, Snape!” Lucius screamed as he backpedalled. He finally got room enough for a strong swing and wrapped the whip around Severus’ throat, pulling suddenly, overbalancing Severus and bringing him to his knees.
Severus’ fingers scrabbled at the braided leather choking off his air. Even though a vampire he had to breathe, myths and stories aside. The edges of his vision began to darken and narrow as the whip tightened.
“You’re the one what killed Regulus!” Lucius shouted, his face turning red as he continued pulling on the whip. “They found him drained and naked in an alley! You fucking killed my Regulus!”
As he gasped for air, Severus smirked. Yes, I killed your precious Regulus, you damned pervert! I spat his filthy blood out on the alley stones and left him there as a warning! Severus thought to himself. I’ll do the same to you as well.
~~|~~|~~|~~~|~~|~~|~~
Wrecker's End: a misbegotten pile of dirt seemingly spat out of the Earth with the purpose of stealing both ships and their crews from the sea. It was riddled with limestone sea caves and saltwater marshes, and the scum of the sea further inland. There was only one safe bay in which to shelter, and it was controlled by Sir Riddle and his henchmen, vile creatures one and all.
As Remus heaved and bent at the oars of Sirius' favourite longboat, he remembered how it had felt to escape from the island before Riddle's hold had grown too strong. How the mad dog Englishman, Fenrir he called himself, had roamed the place, attacking children for pay; of how his parents had almost died keeping his wolfish nature from the others until they could all slip away on smuggled brooms and to a waiting ship of French pirates. Remus' lips stretched in a mirthless smile when he recalled his father's laughter at leaving Wrecker's End behind, with all its dark magic and sinister memories.
"We'll land on the beach where the Avada-green fires are flaring," Sirius whispered.
Remus shipped the oars and concentrated his magic on keeping the boat on course, but silent. Soon, the longboat was scraping the rocks in the surf and then bumping into the beach, the tide slowing it, grinding it into the sand and steadying it. The green fires were nothing but the island Will o' the Wisps, but they could be bought like anything else, and Remus wondered just how Sirius had known to send them sweet honey, the one thing that couldn't be found on the island. But he'd wait for another time to ask about that.
"You said you had a man here?" Remus whispered harshly. His wolf was straining at the leash of his restraint, so close and yet so far from its mate. He knew his eyes were gleaming amber in good light; in the strangely lit night, they probably shone yellow like those of a wolf.
"Aye, laddie. I'm here," a soft voice called out from the dark. Three wands—Remus', Harry's, and Sirius'—were drawn and ready in the blink of an eye, the flare of a Protego shield surrounding the trio. "Can't say’s I blame the lot o' ye, but ye've no call to harm yer father, my Remy." The man who stepped out of the shadows was as tall as Remus, but his hair was pure white, as was his beard.
"Papa!" Remus breathed out. "How? Why would you leave Maman?" Remus rushed up the beach to hug his father and then hold the man away as he questioned him.
"Mon enfant, your mother and I would do anything for you and your cher amie. Did you not know how he cured your mother's crooked joints with a month of potions? Nothing is too good for the two of you." Reynard nodded toward Sirius with a sly smile. "When I was tol' how your fine gentleman had been taken, I could not stand idle."
"Ah, weren't you just talkin' like a skivvy an' now you're talkin' like a proper gent?" Harry asked.
"Ah, Harry, I want you to meet my father, Reynard Lupin, of Rouen, London, Calle, and Wrecker's End." He hugged his father to his side and drew the others close with a wave. "This fine young fellow is Harry Potter, and, since you know Sirius, I'll not flog that dead horse." Remus looked at his father intently. "Now, what's the plan?"
~~|~~|~~|~~~|~~|~~|~~
Severus grimaced at the chains wrapped around his legs and arms. Riddle's explosive Incarcerous had caught him in mid-leap after he tore the whip from around his throat. He lay on the cool stone floor of the chamber, waiting for someone to cast the Killing Curse or—
"Milor', Milor', tha devils, tha devils!" One of the minions ran in screaming, teeth missing and blood spraying about. Severus breathed in the heady scent and almost groaned. He hadn't fed in a handful of days and it was distracting. The battered man continued to shriek, "They're here! Green as Avada and twice as col—" He choked as Riddle fired off a quick Crucio and then lifted it with a wave of his hand.
"Lucius, no time to play with your prey. Go see what the hell Pettigrew's babbling about," Riddle ordered. He stood up from his chair and straightened the red wig on his head. "I'll see to dear Severus' needs for the moment." A few hisses and Severus could see the bastard's pet python sliding down from the rafters, heavy loop upon heavy loop crawling from sconce to sconce until it could drop down onto the floor and slither to Riddle's side.
Lucius wiped the sweat from his face with his sleeve, and then pulled his wand out with a flourish. First he tidied himself, and then he set a fire charm on Severus' clothing, leaving him smouldering at his back. Riddle laughed with delight as Lucius stalked away behind a frightened Pettigrew.
Riddle stalked down the stairs toward Severus, tapping his wand against his leg while the python curled onto itself, cold eyes staring at Severus as if trying to decide just how much it would have to squeeze before he'd fit down its gullet. "My, my, my, good Severus," Riddle murmured as he walked around Severus. "A vampire? I would have thought you'd have enough of being bloodied after Lucius and his precious Regulus were through with you." He spat at Severus, who had just enough magic to keep the glob from landing on his face. Riddle gave a harsh laugh and came to halt. "I could use you, Severus. You'd be much more useful to me now, you know. A heart of darkness and a fine mind, and with the strange magic of your twinned existence..." his voice trailed off as the python reared up and hissed suddenly.
Lucius was yelling in the hall, and a series of explosions began rocking the manor walls. Riddle turned on his heel and barely missed treading on his precious familiar before Lucius skidded through the doors.
"My lord, it's true. We've been attacked!" he gasped out.
"Lucius, you state the obvious." Riddle climbed the stairs to his pirate throne and pulled a sword from one arm. It had been hidden amongst the intricate carvings of the thing. "Are the guards at their posts?"
"No, my lord." Lucius backed away, toward the doors, his eyes never leaving Riddle's face. "They've run away, something about the island's sins coming home to roost." A larger explosion, this one pushing dust and debris before it, swept around Lucius' back and into the chamber. Severus rolled over and over until he was pressed against the wall, away from the entrance. If either of the other wizards had looked his way, they'd have seen him smirking, eyes glowing crimson.
"Lucius Malfoy, under the authority granted me by her majesty Elizabeth Regina, you'll come with me to the dungeons of Port Royale where it'll be but a wink of a flea's eye until yer hung by the neck until dead." Sirius' amplified voice boomed all around them.
"Black! You scurvy dog," Sir Riddle shouted. He hissed something and his pet python slithered into the darkness. Lucius recoiled and cringed, down on one knee due to a glancing blow by some debris. Riddle looked around his great hall and saw only rack and ruin and one lone wizard on his side. He smiled thinly and tugged off his red wig with a maniacal laugh. His pale, bare skull shone in the strange light of the flickering sconces.
Riddle touched his throat with his wand and his words boomed out like thunder. "I rule this island, Black. Every stone, every grain of sand, every bedraggled whoreson and fallen woman on it, and I say you'll have to kill me to drag me back to Elizabeth's cold comfort."
Severus rolled his eyes at the theatricality of the speech, but noticed Riddle moving around the dais, plucking odd weapons from the walls and strange items from the low tables nearby. When he tossed something toward Lucius—and the snivelling coward dropped it—Severus saw what it was: a charm bag, much like the Voodoo priestesses had made when he asked for their help to calm his vampiric nature, and now to be with Remus. His eyes grew large and he began shouting.
"Stay back, you fools! He's got gris gris bags here! Gris gris, Remus!" Severus screamed. He began flexing his muscles and wriggling more determinedly, the thought of what havoc Riddle could spread mixing Voodoo and Magic giving him strength.
The python suddenly dropped down onto Severus. It writhed and wriggled until one coil was wrapped around his head. Grimacing, Severus opened his mouth and bit the reptile. Again and again he tried to get past the scales without avail. It took one fang getting caught in a scale and then wrenching the thing loose to make a dent in the prehistoric armour. When he'd made a hole barely big enough to get one whole fang in, there were two coils suffocating him. Severus closed his eyes and pressed down as brutally as he could and then there was a rush of life-giving blood in his mouth. He drank as deep as could as the python constricted around him, rolling its monstrous muscles under its skin and trying to squirm away from the thing impaling it.
~~|~~|~~|~~~|~~|~~|~~
Remus winced as yet another explosive hex ripped into the pirate king's lair. He'd hated the building with a passion since his youth, and to see it crumbling under his power was heady, but not so much that he could stand back and wait for Riddle and his henchmen to send Severus out to them.
"Sirius," he hissed in an urgent undertone, "we've got to get in there." Some guards—less gullible, more frightened, or some mixture of the two—had crept back and were sending stunners and even firing Muggle blunderbusses at where they thought the attacks were coming from. Remus worried about Harry a bit, and his father not at all; as each targeted retaliation occurred, he knew the pair were setting the attacks off on a precisely calculated time-table. He and Sirius were both reinforcements and spearhead once the premeditated volleys were expended.
"Moony, laddie, ye've yet to gather the reins o' your patience when it comes to Snape." Sirius held his wand tip in the palm of his other hand and whispered an incantation that had a ball of blazing golden light appearing. "Stand to the side, will you?" Sirius asked before taking a step and lobbing the golden ball of energy toward Riddle's manor house. It impacted the walls and there was now a gaping hole into the damned place. "There now. That should grant ye access to yer lover, yeah?" Sirius grinned and climbed up onto a pile of rubble.
He touched his wand to his throat. "Riddle, yer a jackanapes and a spineless worm, but I'll grant ye think ye've got us at a standstill. But, I'll say this only once, ya pox-bitten, scum-swilling, little boy-swiving, bald bastard, if ye won't come peaceably, then I'll just take yer head." At the last word, another explosion—this one with gouts of coloured flame and whistling spurts of debris—erupted. Sirius threw his head back and laughed, the amplified bark scattering what guards had regrouped to fight. The flashes of red and green and gold highlighted the mad look in Sirius' eyes.
Remus reached up and dragged Sirius back when he saw someone moving behind the ruined walls. They'd barely cleared the rubble mound when some of it blew up and showered them with disintegrated stone. "How many times have I told, Sirius, you really need to stop showing off?" Remus gritted out from behind clenched teeth. A shard of stone had caught his off-hand.
"Here, let me 'ave that," Reynard said, Harry at his back. He pulled Remus' hand away from where he'd been pressing it to his chest. "Loup garou, you may be my son, but impervious you are not." He touched the wound site with his wand and drew out the thin splinter of granite. As soon as the stone was out, Remus' preternatural healing began. "See, a bit of help, and you are ready to find your mate once more." Harry snickered a bit, hiding behind Reynard.
Rolling his eyes, Remus shook his hand. "One day, Harry Potter, you'll not be at my father's back." Sirius chuckled and punched him in the shoulder before turning to peek over the pile of stones in front of them.
"There's nary a movin' body around. Did any of ye hear Riddle's response, by the bye?" Sirius asked over his shoulder. He threw some stones at a patch of darkness and saw something small dart out. A quick hex and the small, twisting thing was found to be a rat. Remus leaned forward and sniffed, and then growled.
"Put it down, after you Stupefy it, of course," Remus directed Sirius. Shrugging his shoulders, Sirius put the stilled rodent down on the ground and backed away. "Harry, keep a look-out, will you?" Remus asked without looking at him. At Sirius' head-bob, Harry climbed up the rubble hill.
"Father, let me introduce you to the man who almost made me a killer." Remus spat out the spell to reveal an Animagus, and there at their feet was Peter Pettigrew, Remus' childhood friend. "Do you recognize Peter, Papa? He sent Madam Doderidge's youngest girl to me one moonlit night. If not for the timely intervention of Harry's father, I'd have torn the chit stem to stern." Remus toed the beady-eyed man immobile on the ground. "Do you think he has any information we can use?"
"I'd put him down and sally forth, my fine bucks," Sirius said with a dark laugh. "I'll have no truck with such as this vermin if I can avoid it. But, such a stain might be too heavy a weight on your—"
A large stone crashed down onto Pettigrew's head. The three men looked up at Harry. Harry looked down at his two hands—he was wandless. "Doesn't count if you kill it like the rat it is." He turned back around while Reynard looked to Remus and Sirius for answers.
Sirius leaned close and said softly, "There was someone who betrayed Harry's parents. All I knew it was a man called Peter. Never knew if Harry knew, but," Sirius paused and looked at the heavy stone surrounded by blood, "I take it he remembered just who it was right now."
Reynard nodded. He understood revenge. After all, he'd killed the cur that turned his son with a knife to his diseased gullet. He looked back up and changed the subject. "Ignoring this misbegotten filth, shall we sally forth and find Remy's cher amie now?"
"One more minute, if you please," Harry called down to them. A whistling sound came from behind their backs, followed closely by another and another. Soon the whistling resolved itself into three cannonballs, pulverising the wall Sirius' golden ball had torn open. Harry stood up and grinned, doffing his cavalier's hat with an elegant bow. "The new door's wide open, and with our cannons sighted-in, we can walk in as bold as brass."
~~|~~|~~|~~~|~~|~~|~~
Severus squirmed and grunted. The dying python was still coiled around his head, but it was so sluggish with blood-loss that it was only a matter of time before he escaped its clutches and the chains Riddle had bound him around him. When Severus finally got free, he just lay next to the wall breathing and listening.
"—cius! Lucius! Bring me my fightin' wig!" Riddle screamed.
"Get it your goddamned self, you miserable excuse for a pirate!" Lucius shouted back.
"I'm your king!" Riddle actually stomped his feet like a child having a tantrum. The air was fizzing with the amount of magic expended in such an enclosed space, small lightning bolts shooting off of Riddle at he jumped up and down. "You have to do as I say."
Lucius snarled, "No, I bloody well don't!" He prowled back and forth in front of the doorway. One door was buckled, only one out of three hinges holding it on, while the other was nowhere in sight. Lucius kicked rocks away from his feet as he walked, his eyes darting every direction but the wall where Severus was lying. "You've done nothing but lead me to ruin, with your schemes and playacting. Morgana's tits, you took Regulus from me when I wanted—I owe you nothing." Lucius spun on his heel and cast a vicious Stunner at Riddle.
Soon the two wizards were duelling from behind overturned furniture and even the throne itself. Neither one seemed to notice first one person and then another three other people standing in the shadows beyond the chamber's broken doors. Severus noticed and pressed himself flat before his eye caught a glimpse of grey-brown hair. He opened his mouth and then snapped it shut, wincing when the one fang that had saved his life cut into his lip. Severus growled and began a slow, slinking crawl toward the doors.
~~|~~|~~|~~~|~~|~~|~~
Remus growled deep in his throat. He'd caught Severus' strange and marvellous scent the closer they got to Riddle and the thought of that deviant having Severus at his mercy was wreaking havoc with his control. When he saw something, someone wriggling like a worm across the floor while Riddle and his second-in-command ferociously duelled, his instincts had him lunging forward. Only two sets of hands on his arms held him back, and he snarled at Sirius and his father, teeth bared in a rictus of anger.
"Let me go," howled Remus. Thankfully Riddle's and Malfoy's fight was loud enough to cover his demand. He moved his shoulders, trying to wrench his arms out the other men's grips, but Harry tapped him on the shoulder with his wand and cast a calming charm to break through his bloodlust. Seconds passed, then Remus drew in a deep, mind-cleansing breath and let it out. "Thank you all. I'm-I'm ship-shape again," he murmured.
With a nod at each other, Reynard and Sirius slowly let Remus loose. Harry crouched down by the right side of the damaged door and motioned the others to watch the ongoing duel. He whispered to Sirius, "Cap'n, the bald bloke, Riddle, right? Well, he's taken a hit. See? His left arm's hangin' like a loose rope, floppin' back and forth. And Malfoy—I'd know that guinea-gold hair anywhere," Harry said with a grin, "he's wavin' like a Spanish flag bein' lowered." They watched the two wizards firing off hexes and jinxes, their words slurring together.
"And that's Snape, aye?" Harry pointed cautiously at the slowly moving person coming closer to them. "He's looking mighty worn, Cap'n Lupin, but lively."
Remus leaned forward, willing Severus closer. Narrowing his eyes, he drew his wand and carefully aimed at a pile of something scaly lying in Severus' wake. A mumbled hybrid spell of Voodoo and Magic animated the carcass and the dead python uncoiled itself and began a slow, laborious slither toward Riddle. He saw the moment when Malfoy noticed something moving over the debris-strewn floor and a feral grin blossomed as the other pirate captain herded Riddle toward the looming dead thing.
"Just a bit to starboard, Remus," Sirius whispered. Reynard nodded as Harry chuckled softly and Remus did as he was told. He put the reanimated python directly in the path of Riddle's latest scramble away from Malfoy's volley. As the pirate king stepped back and hit the python, he fell backwards, a stray hex lighting up the ruined great hall. Remus took his chance and darted out of the shadows to Severus' side. He was on his knees, one hand grasping Severus' and the other pointing his wand at Malfoy's filthy back.
Without a blink of an eye, Malfoy dispatched Riddle with a shouted Avada Kedavra and stood dragging in gulps of air. His face was streaked with sweat, his fine clothes torn and burned. He suddenly laughed and spun around like a mad top. "I'm free," he crowed.
"Yer a fool such as ye ever was, Lucius," a voice from the shadows muttered. Sirius stood up and slowly advanced around piles of broken stone and burnt beams. Neither one paid any attention to the still moving corpse of Riddle's familiar.
"Black," Lucius spit out. The venom was practically visible as the two wizards eyed each other. Sirius' wand hand spun in an elegant curlicue and a hole appeared at Lucius' feet. He stumbled back with a mad laugh. "Still pretending to be a better wizard than you'll ever be, eh?"
Sirius smirked and then glanced toward the dead python coiled ready behind Lucius' unsuspecting back. "No, ya scurvy ponce. Just waiting for Remus' surprise to bite ye in yer arse." Reynard held Harry back when he would have rushed to Sirius' side.
The python lunged forward and knocked Lucius to the floor, coils already wrapping around his wand hand and breaking his wand. Remus shook with the effort of maintaining his spell on the dead thing. Lucius struggled, but it was no use against the powerful beast. As it covered his head, Reynard cast a silencing spell over Lucius.
"Come away, Remy, and end your spell, Mon Enfant," Reynard said softly. "It is finished."
Severus curled around Remus and seconded Reynard. "Aye, my lover, the beasts are no more and I want to go home."
Remus glanced down at Severus with a frown, but released the reanimation spell. He turned away from Malfoy and the python then, pulling Severus into his arms, nose snuffling into the side of the other man's neck.
Harry sighed and jerked his head toward the way they'd come. "Shall we be goin', sirs? I've a deal of good news to give my Draco." He turned and left the ruined chamber with a brash laugh.
Reynard shook his head and laughed as well. "Ah, the joie de vivre of youth, so insouciant, so nonchalant." He put out a hand toward Remus. "Let us take Severus away from this hellish place, Remy. We've done what we came to do." He helped Remus lift Severus, a lightening charm making easier to do so.
"You three head to the boat. I've one more thing that needs doin'," Sirius said. His face was set in hard lines and his eyes glittered. The other three didn't ask what, but just turned and began the journey back to the beach. After ten minutes, Sirius caught up with them. "Remember the beach?" he asked with a barking laugh. "Ye'll want to be there in a few minutes." He Apparated away with a grin.
Remus and Severus rolled their eyes at each other. "Papa, you go on. Severus and I will be right behind you." Remus pulled Severus more fully into his arms. "If I know Sirius, and I do, the prat's gone and set a bomb." Reynard disappeared with a resounding pop, leaving the two wizards behind.
"Shall I take you, love, or will you be my guide?" Remus asked gently.
"Why spoil your rescue? I'm too weak to Side-Along Apparate, and when have I ever turned down the chance to hold you in my arms anyway?" Severus tucked himself close just as Remus held up his wand. They reappeared on the beach, feet away from the other three.
"You aren't splinched?" Harry asked, laughter in his voice. When Sirius hit him on the shoulder, he scowled. "Hey, now! If I tried that, you always said I'd splinch something somewhere I might not find it." They were laughing at his indignant face when Riddle's manor exploded with all the sound and fury magic could manage.
Fireballs shot up, lighting the night sky. A cannonade began a minute after, streaks of red and gold making the sky appear as if dawn was mere minutes away. Soon, there was nothing left but the burning timbers and the remains of a madman's dreams. They could hear shouts and cheers beginning.
"I'd say that's a start." Harry turned and went toward their longboat. "Now, can we leave this place? I hate to say it, but I need a bath and it's not yet Saturday." Severus found that so funny, he actually laughed out loud, startling Harry into spontaneously Apparating into the bow of the longboat. That set the others to chuckling as they climbed aboard and set to rowing back to Sirius' ship.
~~|~~|~~|~~~|~~|~~|~~
Lying in Remus' bed, Severus luxuriated in the touch of soft, worn cotton sheets and Remus' warm skin. He licked his lips and let his fangs descend as he leaned in to nuzzle Remus' neck. "May I?" he asked in a husky whisper.
Remus leaned his head to the side with a smile. "Drink, you randy beast," he murmured with a soft smile. "I've missed being poked by you." His hand was stroking over Severus' cock, his words taking on a variety of meanings as Severus' fangs broke his skin and his hips pushed up toward Remus' silky grip.
"Ah..." Remus felt the euphoria of Severus' feeding loosening his muscles. When his lover was done, his broad tongue lapped at the two wounds, and his hands were smoothing over Remus' chest. Severus turned Remus toward him and let one hand drift down to his cock, mimicking Remus' clenching strokes with ease. "Missed you," Remus gasped out. "So much."
"Won't have to miss me again, my pirate captain." Severus smiled against Remus' lips and then kissed him deeply. Their hands pulled and tugged and squeezed, mouths working to capture their pleasured moans as they worked together toward an orgasmic peak.
As Severus felt his climax approaching, he groaned into Remus' mouth. "Gods, what a wonderful mouth you have, Remus Lupin."
"All the better to eat you with, Severus," Remus sighed as he wriggled down Severus' body and engulfed his cock just before it erupted.
~ The End ~
§¤§¤*§*¤§¤§
~~~ Comments, like rain in the desert, are greatly appreciated.
Thank you for reading. ~~~