Draco couldn’t help the concern he felt when Leif and Alexei went to the study and raised voices were heard. He was also concerned at the state Potter seemed to be in and the surge of power that shook the manor. He, Leif, and Alexei had heard some of what Potter had yelled, but it made little sense to him.

He could still feel Potter’s magic as his tried to latch onto it given the mass availability. He frowned at the yelling coming from the study before deciding to head outside. Whatever was going on was making Potter lose control. He wasn’t sure what he could do, if anything, but Potter seemed to need someone. Considering their relationship, he knew he wasn’t the right person to help Potter, but anyone that would be was unavailable or a potential source of Potter’s anger.

Stepping outside, he was stunned by the sight. Potter was standing and screaming, air with orange flames mixed in whipping around him like a tornado. The Gryffindor’s power was pulsing through the air as it reacted to the tumultuous emotions. The rushing air warmed Draco even from his place on the porch and whipped at his hair and clothes. His own magic was jumping inside of him, desperate for the compatible magic surrounding him in droves. He held it back, not wanting to risk draining Potter or hurting him in some other way. The pain and distress he could feel from Potter pulled at him, and he was surprised at the sympathy he felt for the boy he once hated so much.

He wasn’t sure what to do, but decided to just follow his instincts. He left the porch and slowly approached Potter, circling him so they could face each other. As he got closer, he realized Potter was holding his shirt in his hands and his eyes widened at the sight of the Gryffindor’s back. The skin was marred with scars of varying size, depth, and colour. Some were small, thin, and white. Others were thick and wrinkled like ropes and dark pink. Some were in the very distinct shape of a belt buckle. As he stared, he knew he was seeing the result of what had brought Potter to Prince Manor, or at least the years that had led up to it. He finally tore his attention away from the scarred back and continued moving around Potter.

The rushing magic became stronger and hotter the closer he got to the Gryffindor, but, he noticed, it wasn’t harming him. His own magic was responding, but it felt different from anything he’d felt while interacting with it the last couple of weeks. It almost felt like his magic was trying to wrap around Potter’s, not to drain or use, but to…he wasn’t sure what.

He stopped in front of Potter, finding the Gryffindor’s face covered in tears and his magic still swirling around them.

“Potter?” he ventured carefully.

“They did this to me. All of it!” Potter shouted.

“Who? What did they do?” Draco pushed, allowing his magic to seep out and do whatever it was trying to do.

“Them!” Potter yelled, his magic pulsing across the property. “They all believed a prophecy and made it all happen! My parents, the Dursleys, everything at school, the graveyard! They controlled everything!”

“Potter, it doesn’t mean anything. This prophecy wouldn’t be real now if that’s all true,” Draco said, remembering what he’d learned in the Malfoy Manor library. The Divining Arts weren’t in his prescribed pre-Hogwarts education run by Lucius, but there had been little else to do but read at Malfoy Manor in between lessons and ‘training’.

“They think it is! Dumbledore, Voldemort…they’ve decided it’s my fate!” Potter sobbed.

“Fate doesn’t exist,” Draco said.

“What the hell do you know, Malfoy?” Potter snapped.

“You think you’re the only one whose life has been decided for them?” Draco said.

“You don’t—”

“I do! I was sold to Voldemort before I was even born, remember?” Draco said angrily, not necessarily with Potter, but with what they’d both been forced to go through. “You’re not the only one with marks tying you to a so-called ‘destiny’.”

“What are you—”

Realizing Potter’s magic had lessened slightly and his had begun to tangle with it, Draco swiftly unbuttoned his shirt, revealing the angry pink, raised, wrinkled scar that ran down the length of his sternum, about fifteen centimeters in length. He watched Potter’s eyes fall on it.

“Fate does not exist, Potter, or neither of us would be here,” Draco said, his tone softening.

Potter released a sob and fell to his knees. Draco went with him, putting a hand on the Gryffindor’s shoulder in solidarity. He watched as the tornado of fire around them slowed and sank down to the ground. He realized then what his magic was doing. His magic was helping to ground Potter’s, had helped to keep it contained, and had held it as though comforting it like he’d comforted Potter. He didn’t understand it, it wasn’t anything Leif had mentioned he could do with Aether Magic, but he didn’t care in that moment. Right then, he just wanted to calm Potter down and his magic was helping with that.

“None of my life has been mine,” Potter said quietly, still crying steadily.

“Neither has mine,” Draco said and met Potter’s green eyes as they slid up to his. “What do you say we take them back?”

“Why?” Potter whispered.

At first, Draco wasn’t sure what Potter was asking, but then he realized.

“Because he may be a bastard, but Snape’s right. We deserve to have actual lives and I’m tired of being what everyone else expects or wants me to be. I’m tired of hiding and I’m tired of pretending,” he said. He moved his hand from Potter’s shoulder and held it out between them. “What do you say? Screw destiny?”

Their eyes held for a long time as Draco awaited a response. After what seemed like forever, Potter reached out and clasped his hand. The moment they touched, their magic twisted together and danced around them, and their hands grew warm.

“Screw destiny,” Potter said and Draco smiled.

He wasn’t sure, but he was positive something had evolved between them and he figured it was the Life Bond. Whatever it was, something had officially changed and a connection was being weaved between them.

“Harry?”

Harry finally looked away from Malfoy, and up at Alexei and Leif. Both men were gazing down at them, clearly worried.

“Did you know?” Harry asked.

“Draco, can you give us some time?” Leif asked.

Harry turned back to Malfoy and let go of his hand. The Slytherin gave him a half smile.

“Chess later?” Malfoy said, buttoning his shirt.

Harry blinked and nodded, overwhelmed by what had just happened between them. He watched the Slytherin climb to his feet and head to the manor, receiving comforting hands on his shoulders from Leif and Alexei as he passed. Harry quickly pulled his nearly-forgotten shirt back on.

“Come over to the tree, paidí,” Leif said, gesturing to the willow.

Alexei offered a hand and helped Harry up. They walked over to the tree in silence and sat against it, the immortals on either side of Harry. He gazed across the grass at the manor, frowning at everything simmering within him and the thoughts racing around his head.

“Now, did we know about the prophecy or did we know what Severus did?” Alexei asked.

“Both,” Harry said.

“Yes, we knew,” Alexei said.

“In fact, it is what caused the decade-long rift between us and Severus,” Leif said and Harry looked at him curiously. “When we both met Severus, it was in nineteen-eighty and eighty-one in Italy where he was getting his Potions mastery. We learned he’d been a Death Eater, which caused its own problems, but he claimed he’d turned spy. It seemed like a good enough thing, but then we learned why.”

“He told us of this prophecy and that he’d brought it to Voldemort to gain favour, not caring what a madman would do with something like that,” Alexei said. “He told us how Voldemort decided to stop the prophecy from happening and targeted two families with baby boys born just twenty-four hours apart: the Longbottoms and the Potters.”

Harry looked at the vampire sharply at the mention of Neville.

“Severus was destroyed at the thought that Lily was going to be targeted, so he went to Albus Dumbledore to get her protection,” Leif said. “In exchange, Severus gave his life over to Dumbledore’s control, becoming his spy only for Lily to still die.”

“When he told us all of this, we were furious, disgusted even with his complete disregard for others’ lives and his part in passing around a dangerous prophecy into dangerous hands,” Alexei said.

“We left him there in Italy and never spoke to him again until this summer,” Leif said. “However, we kept an eye on him and Britain, wondering what would happen.”

“Because, you see, prophecies cannot be knowingly acted upon,” Alexei said.

Harry nodded. “It’s why they’re put in the Ministry, so no one hears them and they can happen naturally.”

“Exactly,” Leif said. “This prophecy is no longer real.”

“But, they think it is,” Harry said. “Dumbledore’s controlled my life and Voldemort’s going to keep coming after me, and it’s all because Snape gave it to them.”

“Just to Voldemort,” Alexei said and Harry frowned.

“Then how did Dumbledore know about it?”

“He was there when it was spoken,” Leif said and Harry felt himself spiral again.

“It seems Dumbledore also hoped to impact the prophecy and hoped to end the war or to create the one who would,” Alexei said. “He seemed to forget that that is not how prophecies work, or decided it didn’t matter. He was desperate and tried to control many lives.”

“And he succeeded with many, allowing him to continue pursuing the fulfillment of a now false prophecy,” Leif said.

“Have you forgiven him? Snape?”

“No, I don’t think so,” Leif said, contemplatively. “But we acknowledge the things that have happened to him since in the name of his redemption through Dumbledore that helps us look past it. His actions were terrible, but so was his life and so are Dumbledore’s actions.”

“It is more we believe he has been punished enough, both by himself and by others,” Alexei said. “After all, he was not the sole participant in the entire affair.”

Harry pulled his knees to his chest and wrapped his arms around them, staring out at the manor again. He was conflicted, fighting an inner battle over how to feel or react. He was angry, devastated, betrayed, but, most of all, hurt. He’d trusted Dumbledore, believed everything in his life had to be that way for a good reason, but there wasn’t a good reason, only a reliance on a prophecy that shouldn’t have been acted upon. His life had been controlled and determined by a prophecy. His life had been destroyed for the sake of Dumbledore’s misguided campaign for the ‘greater good’ and defeat of Voldemort. A war Dumbledore had helped create had been put on him to finish.

Then there was Snape.

“So, this summer wasn’t real?” Harry said quietly, feeling the pain tearing at him.

“What do you mean?” Alexei asked.

“Snape. It was all because Dumbledore told him to,” Harry said. “Nothing was actually changing.”

“Did you want things to change?” Alexei asked.

“No…I don’t know,” Harry said and he let out a huffed breath. “It hasn’t been terrible here, better than what I’m used to. He seemed…real.”

“No one can control how you or Severus feels,” Leif said. “If you felt things were changing, then they were.”

“Severus was told to protect you from a distance,” Alexei said. “There is a reason Dumbledore did not approve of you and Draco staying here.”

“It doesn’t matter anyway,” Harry said. “I can’t forgive him and we’ll go back to normal at Hogwarts. The prophecy might not be real, but Dumbledore and Voldemort think it is, and they’ll get what they want. I’ll be alone.”

He dropped his face to bury it in his knees as tears suddenly welled up and spilled over, the pain unbearable.

“You were wrong,” he whispered, agonized. “This isn’t home.”

“Oh, rebenok,” Alexei said with a sigh and wrapped an arm around Harry’s shoulders.

He flinched automatically, but let himself melt into the touch. For once, he didn’t care that he’d only known Alexei for a couple weeks. He needed what was being offered and had no energy to deny the fact. So, he let himself be pulled to the vampire’s side, let Leif’s hand settle on his knee, and he cried for all he’d lost and had taken away.

“Leif.”

He looked over at Alexei, pulled from his raging thoughts, concern for his friend, and hurt for two young boys he was still just coming to know. As much as the three wizards were now hurting, he couldn’t help but feel glad the damned prophecy was known. It was time to remove it as the weapon it had been made to be.

“He is interfering,” Alexei said and Leif looked at the manor, his eyes hardening. He turned back, gazing at Harry still buried in the vampire’s side, though the tears seemed to have stopped. “I’ll stay with him. Go.”

He nodded, squeezed Harry’s knee, and returned to the manor. He quickly glanced into the kitchen and sitting room, glad their emptiness indicated Draco was upstairs. He approached the study quietly and stood outside the closed door to listen, wanting to know how Dumbledore was going to try and use the new conflict to his advantage.

“It is for the best,” Dumbledore was saying.

“For whom, precisely?” Severus snapped.

Leif sighed at the anger Severus was projecting and the hurt he knew the man would be refusing to acknowledge. He knew Harry, Draco, and Severus were still confusedly navigating each other and had yet to truly acknowledge how they were changing. Thus, they would be unable to understand or accept why this conflict was hurting them, and he was sure Dumbledore would use their individual pain, hesitations, and confusion for his own gain.

“I told you that any relationship between the three of you was unwise and dangerous,” Dumbledore said. “You each have enemies desperate to discover and exploit weaknesses.”

Leif could imagine the flash of pain that likely occurred in Severus’ eyes and clenched his own hands in fists in anger on Severus’ behalf.

“What is it you are suggesting?” Severus asked, clearly through clenched teeth.

“You know well my thoughts on the matter. You know what needs to be done, by all of you,” Dumbledore said. “Come your return to Hogwarts, you must each forget anything that may have occurred this summer. This cannot continue.”

“You would have me abandon them?” Severus said and Leif could hear how much Severus would struggle with such a thing, whether he was aware of it or not.

“You each have a role to play, a job to do,” Dumbledore said. “You cannot be what each other needs. You know better than anyone the danger affection poses, the consequences of allowing such a distraction.”

Leif couldn’t take it anymore and crashed into the study, throwing the door open more violently than necessary. He glanced at Severus, noting the stiff stance, crossed arms, and blank face. Yet he was able to see what most couldn’t in the hard, dark eyes: confused hurt. He turned a harsh glare on Dumbledore.

“Severus, might you excuse us for a moment?” he said. “I need to speak with Albus.”

He kept his eyes on Dumbledore, but saw Severus give a small nod after some hesitation in his periphery. He tracked the Potions Master until the door was closed behind him and he instantly cast a Silencing Charm over the room. Unlike the headmaster, he did not enjoy having potentially harmful conversations overheard by those it would harm.

“You’ll kill them,” Leif said harshly. “You did this to them.”

“They have their roles.”

“That you helped created,” Leif snapped.

“The prophecy—”

“Isn’t real because of you and Voldemort, and you know that.”

“Voldemort believes it is real and it is our only hope.”

Leif glowered at the old man. “You would destroy them for a false prophecy?”

“Belief is a powerful thing, Mr. Marcus, and Voldemort has plenty of it. Harry must do this or our world is doomed to fall to him,” Dumbledore said, putting an air of regret into his voice that Leif didn't believe for a second.

“I would rather it be doomed than you break them,” Leif said, his jaw clenched.

“They are strong.”

Leif wanted to snort. As if that was a good reason for what Dumbledore had done and was continuing to do. “Not with this. You know this isn’t the way. You know what they are, what they mean.”

“It isn’t possible,” Dumbledore said and Leif's eyes narrowed. The man was really going to deny the other prophecy?

“It is. It was a prophecy in the Ministry, but you know it was not Trelawney’s,” Leif said.

“We must fight Voldemort with his belief,” Dumbledore said.

“I will not let you do this to them,” Leif said, shaking his head slowly at the headmaster.

“I think you will find you have little sway here, Mr. Marcus. Mr. Romanov as well. It is best you also do as I have instructed Severus; leave and forget,” Dumbledore said and Leif's eyes narrowed again at the clear threat in the words.

“We will not leave them to you to be sent to their deaths. We cannot ignore them, abandon them,” Leif said, the mere idea of leaving Harry and Draco, and even Severus, behind threatening to rip his heart from his chest. He couldn't leave the boys and he refused to leave Severus the way he did in Italy ever again.

“You must.”

Leif took a step towards Dumbledore, eyes hard. “I think you will find, Albus, that not everything can be under your control. You have created what’s happened to them, but they will break it. You know what they will be.” 

“Make your peace, Mr. Marcus. They cannot have this,” Dumbledore said with far more sereneness than was acceptable in the moment.

“They will.”

“Goodbye, Mr. Marcus. Make the best of your remaining time.”

Leif watched with blazing eyes as the headmaster stepped calmly into the Floo and disappeared with a final hard stare from those blue eyes. He couldn’t believe what the man was willing to do, who he was willing to sacrifice for a foretold fate that wasn’t even true because of him. The moment he allowed Severus to hear the prophecy, it was null. Yet, because it allowed him control, he continued, willing to destroy the three people that needed each other more than anything whether they knew it or not. There was a destiny, but it wasn’t this one and pursuing this one was going to kill them in any number of ways.

He could see it, feel what Severus, Harry, and Draco could be to each other. It was like nothing he’d ever experienced before. The depth, the purity…it was overwhelming, and he couldn’t let it be lost.

Screw what the world needed.

It was time Severus, Harry, and Draco got what they needed. If they didn’t, they would be lost forever.