5 Years Later

Tom had requested a private meeting with me in his study. I hadn't a clue what he wanted; I just prayed he hadn't discovered what I had been keeping from him for so long.

When I reached my destination, I rapped on the door with a gloved hand and was immediately granted entrance.

Before I had even stepped fully into the room, Tom started with, "Lucius, as my second in command, you know what is expected of you, correct?"

I quickly shut the door behind me. "Of course, My Lord." I replied with an exaggerated bow.

He motioned, wand in hand, for me to take a seat on the small settee across from his wing backed chair and continued, "So you understand that in the event of my demise, you would become the next Dark Lord?"

I managed to keep my surprise to a minimum. "What about Harry?"

"Yes, what about Harry?" A familiar voice floated over from the now open door. The dark-haired young man entered the room, shutting the door behind him, and seated himself next to me.

Tom smiled at his consort, something I'd seen him do many times before, but this one unsettled me for a reason I couldn't quite fathom.

"You're late." He stated. This rather surprised me. He never mentioned this was between the three of us.

Harry flushed and replied, "Sorry, Jamie didn't want to go down for her nap, keeps insisting she's too old."

An awkward silence fell over the room, well, it was awkward for Harry and I. Tom seemed completely unfazed as he casually fingered the end of his wand.

I finally broke the silence. "Might we get on with it then?"

"Yeah, what were you saying about me?" Harry added. He must not have heard what Tom said just before that.

"As you both know, all of my horcruxes were destroyed by the end of the war." I noticed the pointed look he gave Harry but I'm not sure if the younger man did. "Because of this, I am vulnerable to attack or falling fatally ill. I have thought about creating more horcruxes but with so little of my soul left, it would be too dangerous and it would more likely obliterate me than save me. This meeting is basically to make sure my affairs are in order.

"Lucius, you do accept the responsibility of taking my place, do you not? That is, until Jamie is old enough to reign." He asked.

"Yes, of course. There would be no greater honor than continuing your work." I was lying. The only thing I wanted was to take Harry, Jamie, and Draco some place where this man, this thing, couldn't find us.

A thick silence filled the room. Something wasn't right and despite the lackadaisical hold on his wand, it was starting to make me nervous.

Rightly so.

Tom suddenly and deliberately pointed his wand at me, then Harry, then back to me.

"Liar!" The snake of a man finally spat, his red eyes flaming with anger.

My heart froze in my chest. I couldn't breathe, couldn't move, couldn't even glance at Harry. But I didn't need to. We both knew he knew. I wouldn't be able to guess how, but he knew.

"How. Long." Tom gritted out.

From the corner of my eye, I saw Harry nervously tuck his hair behind his ear. "H-how long what, exactly?" He asked shyly. I could only guess Harry was hoping, by some slim chance, that this was about something else.

Tom's wand pointed between my eyes. "How long. Have you. Been Fucking. My CONSORT?"

I didn't know what to say. I didn't know what to do. I was going to die no matter what. How could I tell him Harry and I had been in a relationship for five years? That the little girl sleeping just a few rooms away wasn't his heir?

It was too late. Harry saw it coming before I did. I wasn't able to move a muscle.

A bright green light enveloped the room and Harry was in front of me. Then he was on the floor.

Time froze as I stared at the slumped form of my lover. Harry's beautiful emerald eyes stared blankly at me and I felt wet heat racing down my cheeks.

I heard a murmured, "No."

I snapped my vision toward the voice. Tom looked incredulous. But I saw red.

I lunged at the other man, tore him from his chair and threw him as hard as I could into his solid oak desk. Next I gripped his throat and I hit him. I hit him over and over again. Body shots, head shots, anywhere my fists could connect.

When my hands and arms couldn't take the blows anymore, I cracked him in the face as hard as I could with my knee and heard a sickening snap. Tom's head flew backward, smacking into the wood behind him, and I saw his eyes roll back into his head, blood oozing from where his nose should be.

Was he dead?

I prodded at Tom with my foot and his body fell to the side. It seemed the Dark Lord was more frail than anyone suspected.

Hastily, I turned back to Harry and knelt by his side. "Harry." I whispered, pulling him onto my lap. He fell limply against my torso, his eyes staring blankly at the ceiling, and I sobbed. "Harry!"

I can't say how long I was on the floor holding him. But by the time I was stirred from my grief, the sun was setting.

"Daddy, are you in here?" A small voice called from the now open door.

"Jamie!" I shouted from my place on the floor. Luckily, she couldn't see us from where she was standing. "Don't come in here right now. It… it's not safe."

"Lucie, is that you?" She asked with a small giggle.

I replied, "Yes, it is. Stay out in the hall and wait for me." It took every ounce of my control to keep my voice from wavering.

I quickly wiped the tears from my face before standing with my young lover still in my arms. I transferred him to my shoulder and left the room.

"Hi, Lucie!" The little girl said with a bounce. "Is-is that daddy?" She was suddenly concerned.

"Yes." I replied, trying to keep my emotions in check. "There's something very wrong with him and right now, we need to go." I took the girl's hand and nearly dragged her to the foyer, where apparation was possible. We disappeared with a crack.

When we reappeared, it was outside the gate to Hogwarts. I had to tell everyone. They had to know. Voldemort was dead. But… so was Harry.

The Great Hall was filled to the brim with students and teachers a like eating dinner. The room fell silent almost instantly the moment a middle aged man walked in with a dead body and a small child.

Clearly recognizing a few faces, Jamie excitedly ran ahead toward the head table. I moved Harry back into my arms and slowly followed.

When I reached the head table, I gently laid Harry's body in front of Severus, the current headmaster. I looked up at my best friend, tears silently falling down my face. "He's dead." I murmured.

Severus glanced around at the muttering students. "We can't do this here. Come." The dark haired man led myself, Minerva, Remus, and Hagrid, who picked up Harry, into a side chamber. Jamie was purposely left behind with the other teachers.

Everyone in the room was in shock and I couldn't take my eyes off of my Harry.

"Lucius, what happened?" Severus asked.

"He's dead." I said again. It was quiet as they waited for me to elaborate, but I could barely say that much.

Severus moderately shook my shoulders. "Damn it, Lucius, what happened!?" His voice contained a note of desperation now and I finally snapped my eyes away from Harry.

"He found out." I whispered.

Remus stepped up next and gently asked, "Found out what?"

I suddenly sobbed harshly and had to take a minute to compose myself. "About Harry and I." I sniffled. "We've been seeing each other this entire time, right under everyone's noses. Jamie is my daughter. And Tom kil-led Harry. He was aiming for me but… but Harry had to protect m-me.

"I snapped and attacked Tom. I'm pretty sure he's dead too." I finished explaining. The room was dead silent as the other occupants processed the information they'd just received.

"I need to make an announcement. People deserve to know." Severus finally started morosely.

"What do we do about 'Arry?" Hagrid asked through his own tears.

"I think it would be best to take him to the hospital wing until better arrangements can be made." Minerva suggested softly. "What do you think, Lucius?"

I could only nod my head in agreement.

As the others started to file out of the room, I grabbed ahold of Severus' sleeve to hold him back. I shut the door behind Remus and turned to my best friend. "There's more." I started.

Severus led me to a chair and had me sit. "What is it, my friend?"

"I-I…" I didn't know where to begin, but I had to tell someone else. I couldn't keep it pent up inside. "I n-never got to tell hi-m."

Severus squeezed my shoulder encouragingly.

"Harry w-wasn't exclusively bottom in our relationship. He l-liked to switch places sometimes. And I nev-ver got to tell him we're going to have another child." I burst into tears again. Harry died without knowing he had a second child.

We finally reentered the Great Hall. Hagrid was gone, Minerva and Remus had taken their seats, and Jamie was sitting on the latter's lap.

Severus moved to the head of the room to make his announcement that would change their world once again. I didn't need to stay for this. I already knew.

I walked over to Remus and Jamie. "Please come with me." I asked of the little girl. She needed to know now. Even if she wasn't going to fully understand yet.

Jamie quickly took my hand. "Okay, Lucie." She said with a bright smile. I gave her a watery smile in return.

Outside the Great Hall, the two of us made our way up the stairs and I tried to figure out how to tell a four year old the person she believed to be her papa wasn't really her papa.

"Jamie, I need to tell you something very important." I started.

"What is it?" She asked, swinging my hand a little.

Halfway up a set of stairs, I stopped and sat down. I put the young girl on my knee. "Harry w- is your daddy, right?" I questioned quietly.

"Yeah! I love daddy!"

"And who's your papa?"

Jamie's smile dropped. "Papa Tom."

"What if I told you he wasn't your real papa?" I decided to ask her.

"I don't like Papa Tom." She whispered. "He's scary."

I smiled a little. I knew Tom wouldn't make a good parent. "And what if I said I'm your papa? Would you like that?"

The dark-haired girl squealed. "Are you my papa now?" She asked excitedly.

I smiled bigger, tears still in my eyes. "Yes. And I love you."

"I love you, too, Papa!" Jamie's brow suddenly drew together. "What happened to daddy though? Is he okay now?"

"That's where we're going." I took Jamie in my arms and stood.

In the hospital wing, we found Hagrid and Madam Pomfrey having a quiet discussion near the only privacy screen in the room. It seemed the former was filling the latter in on the situation.

"Is he there?" I asked, gesturing to the curtain behind them.

"Yeah."

I stopped near the other two and asked, "Would you mind leaving us alone for a bit?" They both nodded their understanding and made their way out of the room.

I set Jamie on her feet and knelt to her level. "Jamie." I started. "My beautiful baby girl. There's one more thing I need to tell you. And it's about your daddy."

"Is he here?"

It was difficult to maintain my composure at this point. "Yes. He's behind this screen, but he's not. I mean… your daddy… he had an accident." I tried to explain.

"Did he get hurt?" She asked, leaning around me to try and see him.

I could feel the tears trekking down my cheeks again. "He got more than hurt. Your daddy… he died."

"Died?" She repeated. "What's that?"

"He's-he's gone and he can't come back."

Jamie started backing away from me. "But you said daddy was here!" She screamed and ran around the privacy curtain. "Daddy! Daddy, wake up!"

I followed her to find her on the bed shaking Harry's chest. "Daddy, wake up!" She cried again.

I picked her up again and she struggled against me. "No! No, no, no, no, noooooooooooo! Daaaaddy!"

"Sweetie, it's ok. Ssshhhh. Ssshh." She slowly calmed, but continued to cry.

"I want my daddy." She sobbed into my chest.

"I do to." I whispered as I held her against me. "I do to."