Chapter 22

The throne room was silent except for Severus and Harry entering after they had showered and freshened up. Harry sat upon his Chaise Lounge throne and, with a flick of his fingers, had the seat elongate so that Severus could sit as well. Severus's lips twitched in amusement as Harry patted the spot next to him.

The heavy doors creaked open, and four guards marched in, dragging two figures bound in chains. James and Albus stumbled forward as the iron collars bit into their necks.

"You will like this, Severus," Harry said, ignoring James and Albus as their chains were fastened to the cold stone floor, requiring them to kneel. His hood was over his face, giving the guards only a brief look at his chin when he tilted his head towards the Potion master. "Magic sealing collars courtesy of the Goblin Alchemy Guild. Apparently, their own convicts would rather work in the mines than try to test these.

"Lord Slyth-AH!" James gasped as the collar tightened automatically, choking him.

"You will only speak when you are commanded to, and you will only speak the truth," Harry warned. "The punishments get worse the more you ignore the will of the wizard those collars are linked to, which is me, by the way."

"Interesting," Severus's eyes gleamed with curiosity.

Before either James or Albus could try and say anything else, the doors opened again. Three figures entered while Lord Slytherin dismissed his four guards to wait outside. Nimue, they all recognized, walked past the duo, shooting them a sultry wink. The other two were a surprise, though. Albus's eyes widened when Slughorn jogged up behind the fae. And then came the third, an elegantly dressed black-haired woman whose arrival made James blanch like a ghost.

His mistress.

"Oh, to be a skeleton in your closet," Harry chirped as he explained softly who the woman was to Severus. Severus's brows shot up as he looked between the woman and James.

"I would like to give recognition to the three people here," Harry said while clapping lightly. "Without them, your demise wouldn't be so entertaining."

"What?! HOW!" James shouted, only to be shocked by the collar now.

"Slughorn, how coil-" Albus gasped as his collar activated, though he shot his old 'friend' a look of betrayal.

"I guess I need to explain some things. Your little brains might not realize the full extent of my manipulation." Harry giggled. "Except for Nimue, who just helped me because she was bored, the other two had a bone to pick with you. James Potter, this woman was a tenant in one of the buildings the Potter family owns. After the death of her husband, you blackmailed her into sleeping with you repeatedly and threatened to raise her rent or get her blacklisted from renting other accommodations, should she seek them. I hardly wonder what drove you to adultery. Was it because she was younger than your wife?" Harry sighed as he leaned on the armrest. "Honestly, I don't really care. You had a son with her. One, you made her hide. I believe you even cashed in a favour with our former Headmaster here to strike the boy's name from the enrollment book."

"And you, Albus Dumbledore, do you even know why Sluggy here decided to turn against you?" Lord Slytherin smirked as he gazed at his captives. "Let me give you a hint. The 12 uses of Dragon Blood."

"He stole my research," Slughorn whispered, though given the empty room, the others heard it. "The Ulcer treatment with Dragon Blood. I came to you as a friend to ask your opinion on it. The next thing I know, you publish it under your name," Slughorn's fists clenched. "That was three years of my research, Albus! THREE YEARS!!! Did you think I'd buy your excuse of 'It was just a coincidence?'"

"My notes mysteriously vanished when I thought of suing you, and you patented the potion." Slughorn continued as anger flared in him. "I waited all this time, playing the quirky friend just to get back at you!"

"Destroying you lot was surprisingly easy," Lord Slytherin commented. "I offered Amanda and her son, Anthony, a new place to live with lower rent and better security. All she had to do for me in return was give Lily Potter all the evidence she needed to start divorcing you."

"Lily Potter would divorce you; it was just my boon that she did so without being able to demand property division. I had plans in place to ruin her over the years. Now she is penniless and without a noble title to her name." Lord Slytherin continued as if it were just an everyday conversation and not the orchestrated ruin of several lives. "Sirius Black was the easiest to take care of. Man always thought with his dick."

"But really, my greatest manipulation was you, Albus Dumbledore," Lord Slytherin admitted. "Your whole quest for the Staff of Merlin was orchestrated by me. From Slughorn giving you the old Tome that started your interest to your meeting with Nimue. If you lot hadn't tortured Severus on top of what you were guilty of, I would have kept the game going for a couple more years."

"We... never did anything to you!" Albus managed to rasp out.

"Harry Potter," Lord Slytherin's voice grew cold. "Everything ends and begins with Harry Potter."

Both James and Albus stared in shock at Lord Slytherin as he lowered his hood and asked, "Tell me, Dumbledore, did it delight you when you were researching Dark organ switching rituals, knowing that you were actively planning the death of a seven-year-old?"

"You convinced James and Lily Potter to sacrifice one child for another. The Potters aren't innocent either. They emotionally abused their youngest just because he was born from their own horny trysts. You as an educator did nothing to address it," he continued.

"Tell me, looking at my face now, do these features not make you realize something?" Lord Slytherin asked. "Lily Potter's eyes, James' jawline,"

James made a strangled sound when it dawned on him, but then the man shook his head vigorously. "Yes, James." Lord Slytherin smirked. "I am he, he is I,"

"Impossible," Albus said breathlessly as he looked from James's features, now ashen, to Lord Slytherin's."

"Go on, speak," He ordered as he paused the punishing effect of the collars with a wave of his hand.

"H-How?!" Albus sputtered.

"Oh, just some simple reality hopping," Harry laughed, though the smile didn't make it to his eyes. "I had a bone to pick with you lot in both realities. Just your bad luck that you got vaporized by the nukes in that one. You want to know the fun part? That staff, well, the crystal embedded in it, did indeed work. Too bad it only works once per reality."

"Wait, what did you," Severus started to ask, but then his eyes widened. "No... You didn't."

"As expected of my genius fiancé," Harry said as he took Severus's hand in his and kissed his knuckles.

"A Life debt is not supposed to work collectively, but it did for you," The Potion master uttered. "You... rewrote the reality around that spell's clause."

"Exactly," Harry stated. "Remember, I met Nimue when I first arrived in this reality. She let me use the staff to make a change to reality. It only works to a certain degree, so I had to be smart about what I changed."

"The entity that brought me to this reality wanted that crystal, in still working order, which it wouldn't be once it was used, so I made a more... attractive deal with him." Harry continued to tell Severus. He gestured towards his chest, where Severus knew a large scar was situated. "In my reality, the Muggles Anti-Magic squadrons captured Nimue and her hoard of magical treasures. The staff amongst it. The researchers at the institute thought it would be a fun experiment to graft the crystal in my chest to study the effects it had on a magical body, but your counterpart saved me before the actual tests could begin."

"So in return for using that one," Harry gestured vaguely towards Dumbledore, "I had them take the one from my chest as payment. My reality certainly didn't need it. There was nothing left."

The throne room fell silent as the weight of revelation hung in the air. Lord Slytherin, Harry, turned back to his two prisoners. "Now, about your punishments. Let's see, Adultery, Treason, I can probably have Lucius add some other charges. I should let the blond go ham once in a while," Harry said dismissively. "I have just the punishments for you two lined up."