He glanced around the hall and locked eyes with Draco. Pansy Parkinson looked at him, then back at Draco and Harry saw her elbow him. Draco laughed and blew Harry a kiss. Harry pretended to catch it and place it close to his heart, before turning back around.
The sorting finished with Zacharias Zillochi, and Dumbledore stood to address the students. Harry couldn't help the feeling of love that came from seeing his grandfather-like figure.
"Welcome to all those new to Hogwarts, and to all those who have returned to us for another splendid year. I must remind all of you that the third floor corridor is strictly off limits, and the Forbidden Forest is named so for a reason- you are forbidden to venture there.
"Now before we indulge ourselves in the spectacular feast awaiting us, I would like to introduce the new, or old I should say, Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher - Professor Remus Lupin. And also, the new Care of Magical Creatures teacher - Professor Sirius Black. I hope you all recall the clearing of said professor's name and the incrimination of Peter Pettigrew for his crimes. I do not want to hear about anyone disrespecting this man who has had to endure so much under false circumstances.
"And finally, I would like to let it be known that two of your fellow students received their inheritance over the summer. Neither of them are human any longer and thusly I have been forced to notify you of them. Draco Malfoy is now a full Veela, and our own Harry Potter is a full Werewolf. I do not want to hear about anyone making them feel anything but comfortable within these walls. The consequences for doing so will be severe. Now, let the feast begin!" Dumbledore smiled and spread his arms in front of him, food appearing on every table.
"Finally!" Ron cried, grabbing a plate full of food and tucking in. Harry saw Hermione's gaze wander over the Slytherin table for the fifth time that evening and raised an eyebrow at his friend.
"See something you like, 'Mione?" Harry inquired with a smirk. Hermione snapped her gaze away from the Slytherin table to Harry and blushed.
"What?" she asked with a feigned laugh.
"Who were you eyeing over there?" Harry gestured to the table of green and silver.
"No one." Hermione replied a bit too quickly causing Harry to just raise an eyebrow in a look that said, "come on, that's such a lie."
"It doesn't matter." Hermione said, but Harry held his incredulous gaze. "She would never go for me...It's no big deal... It's just a fantasy!" Hermione was frantically defending herself under Harry's strong gaze.
"ALRIGHT! I'll tell you, if you stop looking at me like that!" she cried. Harry sat up straight and put on his best innocent face, far from his previous incredulous smirk. "It's pushmihneakominsh..." Hermione mumbled.
"Sorry, 'Mione, I don't speak mumble. You'll have to speak a bit louder as this information is meant for humans...or --Werewolves..."
"It's Pansy Parkinson, ok!?" Hermione hissed at him, in a voice that was quiet but sounded like a yell all the same.
"You know, 'Mione, maybe you should just tell her.. I'm sure that she'd go for you, if you gave her a chance." Harry spoke.
"Just leave it, Harry." Hermione said finally and Harry just nodded and smiled.
"OI! HARRY! Why didn't you didn't tell us you were a Werewolf!?" Seamus had his arm around Dean's waist and was holding him close across the table.
Harry flashed a grin their way, "Didn't want to interrupt your snogging."
Dean laughed and donned a genuine smile, "Thanks Harry. You're so thoughtful!" Seamus smacked his arm. And they all laughed, even Neville.
A wave of dizziness hit Harry, and he remembered he had to take it easy. It was the day after the full moon for Merlin's sake and while he may have managed to ignore his headache, it wouldn't matter for much longer. He nibbled at his food but couldn't stomach anything, not that it mattered to him. Harry didn't mind that his head was ready to explode or that his muscles ached so badly he wanted to cry. He didn't mind that he felt like he was going to puke because he couldn't stop the happiness of being home well up inside him. He was at Hogwarts! He was home! With his friends, with his mate, with Dumbledore and now with his fathers. Yes, life was starting to look very good.
A sharp pain made itself known in Harry's forehead and the laugh that Harry had been in the middle of stopped abruptly and Harry bit back a scream. His hand flew involuntarily to his forehead and he managed to grit out, "Sorry," before fleeing from the Great Hall.
Draco saw Harry get up and run from the Great Hall clutching his forehead. He felt Harry's pain immediately and rushed to his aid. **Harry!** was his only thought, but he had not expected a response.
^^Draco?!^^ 'Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit...
**Harry?** Draco could swear he had heard Harry's voice in his mind, but that was impossible. Only Veelas who were deeply emotionally invested in their mates could speak telepathically with them before actually mating... And Draco did love Harry... Could he really love him that much after so little time?
^^Draco...^^ Harry's weak voice made Draco's heart clenched and he pushed all worries and confusion aside in favor of helping his Harry.
**Yes, Harry it's me... Some Veelas can communicate with their mates telepathically, but that's not important right now. Where are you?** Draco stopped his Harry searching and doubled over in pain. OH, Merlin, he had to help his mate!!
**HARRY! I FEEL YOUR PAIN, WHERE ARE YOU!?**
^^I'm in... FILTH!.. Draco--AVADA KEDAVRA! .... Draco, help me...^^ Harry sounded so helpless every time he said Draco's name, then he would say something in a gravelly voice, full of hatred.
**HARRY! WHERE ARE YOU!** Draco cried, tears slipping out of his eyes. His mate was in so much pain.. so much pain... He could see flashes of Harry's vision, but not all of it. Still, those bits were so horrifying to him. It was a family... they were being killed- no, not killed--tortured.
^^Snape.^^ Draco heard the whisper in his mind and rushed off with amazing speed to the Snape's classroom.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Harry was in a small village. There was a traitor's house in front of him. He grinned, they would get what they deserved tonight. He walked forward and up to the house, kicking open the door with a flourish. The mother rushed to her children, pushing them into another room while the father stood his ground, drawing his wand. The father dropped to one knee.
"My lord, why do you enter this way? Have I displeased you?" Harry's voice came out gravelly and dark, "Don't play innocent with me, Nott. I know where your loyalties lie."
"I assure you my lord, I do not know what you speak of. My family is and always has been loyal to you." Harry kicked the man to the floor and dragged him off to another room, not bothering to throw up a silencing charm. He wanted to hear Nott's children cry as they heard their father beg for death.
Harry was spared a little bit of the vision, snapping back into himself when he heard a voice in his head.
**Harry!** it had sounded, he knew that voice.
^^Draco?^^
**Harry?** The voice was confused now...
^^Draco...^^ It was nice to hear his voice...
**Yes, Harry it's me. Some Veelas can communicate with their mates telepathically, but that's not important right now. Where are you?** Draco asked him. A wave of pain hit Harry, his hand going up to clutch his bleeding scar. **HARRY! I FEEL YOUR PAIN, WHERE ARE YOU!?** The voice screamed.
^^I'm in--^^ Harry was snapped back into his vision. Nott was laying on the floor, his wand raised limply in a bloodied hand, trying to fight back. "FILTH!" Harry heard himself cry out before snapping back into himself. ^^Draco..^^ He pleaded, but couldn't get farther than that as his brain was plunged back into the vision. He was standing over Nott with power.
"You can kill me, but it will do no good. The Potter boy is more powerful than you know, he will succeed and you will fail, and killing me will have been in vain." Nott spoke, his voice full of pain, his face spattered with blood. Rage welled up in Harry as he had never felt it before.
"AVADA KEDAVRA!" He cried, and a green flash lit up the room.
He came back to his self and immediately found Draco's mind. ^^Help me Draco..^^ he whispered, helplessly. Falling to his knees on the cold ground he heard Draco calling to him in his mind.
**HARRY! WHERE ARE YOU!** Harry looked around to try and figure out where he was. He knew the classroom instantly.
^^Snape.^^ was all he managed to say before he found himself back in Nott's house.
He paced down the hall, it was eerily quiet.. They had anti-apparition wards up, the mother couldn't have gone anywhere.. A whimper came to Harry's ear, before it was cut off, as if someone had slapped their hand over a crying child's mouth. Harry grinned and followed the sound. He kicked open the door, reducing it to splintered wood. He heard little ones inside scream in terror and relished in it. Harry came back to himself, but he was still in the vision. He was no longer in Voldemort's mind, but he could see what was happening. He saw as the mother put herself between the children and the Dark Lord.
^^MUM!^^ he thought, and for a moment he saw his own mother standing between him and Voldemort. Voldemort had his death eaters in the room and they surrounded the mother and her twin girls. The children were sobbing heavily, crying out, "Please, don't kill me, please, I'll be a good girl!" The mother was crying silently.
"Kill me, keep the children alive. Please, my lord, let them live." Harry saw Voldemort grin.
"Tell your husband he was wrong." Harry heard him say in his dark, horrible voice. Three flashes of emerald green lit up the room for a moment, Harry could hear the menacing words that had just taken the lives of four innocent people. The words that had ruined his entire life.. Avada Kedavra.
The vision ended in blackness and Harry felt someone holding him. He became aware that he was in his mate's arms. Draco had come in to find Harry writhing on the floor, crying out in agony, screaming, "No, don't kill them, please, they're just kids!" Draco had rushed to his mate's side, gathering the Werewolf in his arms on the floor, seating him in his lap. He rocked the slightly larger boy, murmuring soothing words and stroking his hair, crying the whole time.
"Harry, shhh, please come back to me. It's just a vision, it's not you..shhh." He knew it the moment Harry's vision had ended, the boy gasped against his chest, drawing in a giant breath before breaking down. Harry became vaguely aware that he had been sobbing the entire time and now let loose an entire new stream of tears, letting the sobs come as never before.
"It's ok, Harry, I'm here for you." Draco murmured as the werewolf buried his face in his robes.
Draco was surprised when the raven haired boy pushed himself off of Draco's lap and sat himself farther away on the stone floor.
"Go away, Draco. I'm evil, I'm becoming him. It was me, it was me in that vision. I did it, I'm evil. Just go away before I hurt you!" Harry's voice was shaky and full of pain. Draco could literally feel Harry's agony. He would not leave his mate, nothing could make him. Draco crouched next to the broken boy.
"No, Harry, I will not leave. I cannot leave. You are everything to me. You are not evil. Just because you saw what he was doing through his eyes, does not mean that you are becoming him. It is our actions that dictate who we are, and you have never done anything as horrible as what that raving maniac does." Draco said firmly, running his hand across Harry's cheek.
"Look at me, Harry." The raven haired boy shook his head at the blond's request. "Look at me," He said more forcefully. Light blue eyes met bright emerald ones and Harry's tears froze in their tracks. Draco leaned over and kissed them away, rubbing away the wetness as he did so. Harry's eyes were swollen and puffy, but his face was no longer wet.
"You are an amazing man, Harry James Potter. I love you, because I know who you are and I know who you are not. And you are not, nor will you ever be Voldemort. You are too good at heart, too loyal, too honourable. You are NOT evil, Harry." Draco enforced, kissing any tears that were new in coming. "I will not let you become so, either." Draco added strongly, knowing that Harry probably believed he could become evil. Harry's eyes watered more and his voice came out as a tiny, nearly inaudible whisper.
"Promise?"
"I promise, Harry." Draco replied, looking directly into Harry's eyes. The Werewolf leaned in and kissed his mate. The kiss was tender, and loving. It was the reassurance that Draco would be there for Harry in the same way that Harry would be there for him. It was the seal to the promise that Draco would never let Harry be anything but the Golden Boy he'd come to love so dearly.
Harry quickly lost himself in the feeling of his mate's lips. Everything around him disappeared and he was carried away on a tidal wave of emotion. He was quickly brought back to the present as the sound of a very angry potions professor's shouting reach his hypersensitive ears.
"MR. MALFOY, MR. POTTER, WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY CLASSROOM!?" Snape shouted causing the boys to spring apart immediately.
"Professor!" The boys cried in unison, jumping to their feet.
"This is NOT the astronomy tower, boys. Care to elaborate on why you just had to snog in MY dusty, dank, cold, unwelcoming classroom?!" Snape fumed.
Both boys appeared stunned into silence. Harry sent Draco the sound of his laughter, asking, ^^Did Snape just say 'snog'?^^ Draco giggled at the thought, causing Snape to turn a furious glare on him.
"Just what do you think is so funny, Mr. Malfoy?" Snape asked, his voice deathly quiet and full of menace.
**Thanks, Harry, you got me in trouble!** Draco sent his mate.
"Well? Out with it!" Snape ordered.
"You said snog!" Draco answered erupting in giggles, his mate following. Snape's face turned a deep shade of scarlet in fury and he grabbed them by the neck of their robes as he hauled them off to the headmaster.
"Headmaster, I do believe these boys would like to share with you tales of their forays in my classroom." Snape presented Harry and Draco to Dumbledore with contempt.
"Boys? What is Professor Snape talking about?" Harry and Draco met each other's gazes.
^^I'll tell him.^^ Harry told his mate before addressing the headmaster.
"Well, professor, what we were doing in Professor Snape's classroom and what Professor Snape thinks we were doing are two totally different things. What Draco was actually doing was comforting his mate after a particularly horrible experience, while Snape seems to think we deemed his classroom a nice comfy cozy place to, as he put it, 'snog'." Harry spoke matter-of-factly. Dumbledore's eyes twinkled furiously behind his half-moon spectacles.
"Is that so, Potter?" Snape spat. "Well perhaps you'd like to tell us just what horrific experience young Draco was comforting you for?" Harry's face fell immediately. His voice grew quiet and his eyes became glassy.
"It was Voldemort, Sir. He was-" Harry faltered a moment. "He was killing a family that was not loyal to him." There was a small silence.
"Do you know who they were, Potter?" Snape asked quietly, almost gently, if Snape's voice could be called that.
"It was Theodore Nott's family, Sir."
"Is there any hope that any of his family may have survived?" Dumbledore asked calmly.
A tear bled down Harry's cheek as he recalled the mother shielding her children as his mother had for him. Immediately his mate was next to him, looking up into his saddened face and lifting his hand to brush away the tears. Harry wrapped his arms around the slightly smaller boy and pulled his close, burying his face in the blond locks, inhaling the scent deeply. He clung to Draco like a lifeline for a few moments before finally lifting his head.
"No, Sir. No one survived." Harry said quietly, tears tracking down his face unbidden. Dumbledore nodded gravely then motioned for Snape to approach.
"Severus, my boy, please go collect Mr. Nott." He requested quietly. Snape nodded and whisked out of the office with the usual swish of billowing robes.
With Snape gone, Dumbledore turned to the two boys clinging so desperately to each other. "Now, Harry, I heard you say something about young Draco, here, being your mate. You are certain of this?"
Harry gave his mate a gentle squeeze and nodded to the headmaster. "I am certain. There is no other for me."
Dumbledore smiled and nodded."Then I suppose you two shall need a new set of rooms, and we'll have to find out how we are going to work out your mating season.. that will be just delightful.. but first we'll just alert the house-elves of your change of address.." The two boys stared wide-eyed at the headmaster.
"Now.. just the matter of where to put you.." He muttered to himself. Harry heard him clearly however and took to the opportunity immediately.
"Headmaster, could I request a room?" He asked timidly.
"Why, I suppose so.."
"Well, you see sir, on my first day here, I was strolling to your office and I decided to take a new route. A few corridors down from here, where I had never been before, there is a portrait of Salazar Slytherin that was just placed up there this year. He says he's glad he was put back on display as it was annoying to keep wandering in and out of paintings just to be seen." Dumbledore chuckled.
"Yes well, I was just wondering... could we possibly inhabit the room that he guards?" Harry smiled sweetly, his best "give-me-what-I-want, I'm-cute!" smile.
"Harry, as I'm sure you've guessed by now, those were Salazar's rooms when he inhabited these walls. Those rooms have not been used in centuries." Harry's face fell at the headmaster's tone. It sounded like rejection. "I suppose it's good we put all those preserving charms in there." Dumbledore added with a smile. Harry beamed at him.
"Yes, it should be quite suitable for you two...I will tell the house-elves to move your things there." Harry smiled and relaxed into his mate's arms as Dumbledore summoned Dobby to give him the orders.
A knock on the door and the sight of Severus Snape with Theodore Nott in tow, restored the somber feeling in the air.
"Ah, Mr. Nott, how terrible that you could not be visiting my office under more joyful circumstances." Dumbledore gestured for Nott to have a seat.
"What did you wish to see me about, headmaster? Why are Draco and Pot--Harry here?" Draco moved to place a consoling hand on Nott's shoulder. Harry, seeing the meaningful gesture, felt the beast in him rise up with jealousy for his mate, but he stifled it for Nott's sake. "Theo, we have some bad news." Draco said quietly.
"What is it?" Theo asked hesitantly. Everyone looked at him with pity for a moment before Dumbledore finally spoke.
"Voldemort came to find out about your parents' true loyalties. He is a cruel, cold, heartless man. Theodore, I'm afraid he killed your family." Theo paled considerably, as if someone had just placed him in a room full of dementors. He hung his head as tears slowly managed their way out of his eyes.
"How do you know?" His voice was so quiet, only Harry could hear it.
"I saw it." Harry answered. "I saw it happening. Your father tried to protect your family, he was a great man. He couldn't have had a nobler death. Your mother... she.." Harry's voice broke off. "I saw her shielding your younger sisters.. She begged for their lives, asking that he just take theirs. She did everything in her power to try and let them live. She must have been an amazing woman." Harry spoke so softly. It was as if every word was painful for him.
"She was." Theo said mournfully.
"I'm sorry, Theo." Draco murmured, clasping hands with Harry as he did so, to calm the jealousy in his mate.
"Just promise me, Harry. When you defeat him, make sure he knows you're doing it for your mother. And for your father. For all the parents who gave their lives for their kids. That bastard deserves to know that when he dies, he will die without the love that our parents died giving us." Theo spoke forcefully, tears coming down his face, some out of depression, others out of rage.
Harry nodded gravely, squeezing Draco's hand as he replied to Nott, "I promise."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Seeing as only Harry, Dumbledore and the House-elves knew the location of Harry and Draco's new rooms, Severus chose to accompany Theo back to his rooms. Dumbledore insisted the boys get some rest and had Dobby lead them to their rooms.
It was on the sixth floor, being somewhere in the middle of the castle. The rooms themselves were in two twin turrets, adjoining. The upper turret was the bedroom and bathroom while the bottom turret was the living area. The boys gave their thanks to Dobby and made their way to their rooms.
"Everyone seems really worried about our mating season..." Draco mumbled as he snuggled under the covers close to Harry.
"Yeah.. wonder why." Harry yawned.
"Well, I think it's because we'll both be so hungry for each other's bodies... Well, who knows where we'll be and when, when we decide we can't stand to be even a few inches apart anymore." Draco mused. "'Just think of all the kids that will be scarred for life,' is what Sirius said." Harry chuckled.
"Hey, if you get up early enough tomorrow, you know what that means?" Harry whispered into his mate's ear hotly.
"Mind-blowing shower sex?" Draco's eyes widened with anticipation. Harry nipped at his earlobe, lapping at Draco's pulse-point with his tounge.
"Exactly." He said huskily before withdrawing completely from his mate and turning over in bed. Draco laid there wide-eyed gaping at his mate.
"HARRY!" He whined making the Werewolf laugh. "That is not fair!" Draco swatted his mate on the rear causing the raven haired boy to turn around grinning.
"I'm sorry," he said sweetly, kissing the blond's lips. Then kissing his neck, and his collarbone, sucking lightly and scraping his teeth back and forth ever so gently. He lifted his head and cuddled the Veela to his side.
"Cocktease." Draco mumbled into Harry's chest before drifting off to sleep.