Aralia shouted in triumph as her Queen smashed through the last of Rayne's defenses, and dragged the bishop off the chessboard rather brutally. The game ended quickly after that as Aralia smashed through Rayne's weak front of mostly pawns. "Checkmate."
"I still say you cheated somehow." Rayne huffed, sitting back in her chair. George laughed and tussled 'Lia's hair.
"No cheating here!" he said, slipping his wand back into his sleeve before Rayne could notice. Fred stuck his tongue out at his brother from his position behind Rayne, legs to either side, chin resting on her shoulder and his arms around her waist. He didn't really care who won, and he didn't want to listen to the argument that would ensue if he pointed out that George had been spelling Aralia's pieces. She'd beaten both him and George honestly, so he didn't care if she had help beating her sister.
"You bloody liar!" Rayne accused, slipping into the local accent. Aralia laughed.
"Well, well!!" George called as Harry and Draco emerged from the bedroom, a satisfied smile on Harry's face, and a vaguely dreamy one on Draco's. Fred grinned from ear to ear.
"Took y'all long enough. 'Lia has already whipped all our asses at chess at least three times a piece!" Harry shrugged and spoke in an affronted tone.
"Well, he wouldn't quit teasing me! I had to put him in his place!" Draco nodded vaguely, his mind on the last three hours they had spent in the room, uninterrupted by Aralia or Rayne's teasing comments. For once. Harry nodded smugly, wrapping an arm around Draco possessively.
"Yeah. I got 'im alright." The others looked at Draco, to see that he clearly wasn't paying attention to the conversation, as he showed no sign of even hearing Harry's comment.
"Draco?" Aralia prompted, amused.
"Damn, he's good." Draco mused, then seemed to realize that she had spoken to him. He jerked his head up rather inelegantly. "Huh?" Everyone in the room bursts out laughing, Draco looked puzzled.
"Did I say something funny?" he asked. Harry nodded.
"Did you mean to say that out loud, Hun?" Rayne managed to gasp out around her laughter.
"Did I mean to say what?" Draco looked between them, confused.
"That Harry was good." The Weasley twins informed him in tandem.
"Oh…that." Draco blushed.
"Well? How did our resident Gryffindor virgin do in Slytherin terms?" Fred asked, prodding for further embarrassment. Draco blushed furiously at the memory of everything that Harry had done to him.
"Lets just say…." He hesitated for a moment. "That he is very good with his hands." Draco said evasively. All four twins laughed heartily, causing Harry blushed in embarrassed pride.
"Well, at least you wont have to worry about him finding someone else just because they're good in bed. Sounds to me like you broke it." Rayne commented. Fred whispered something into her ear, causing her to blush and giggle like a schoolgirl. George gave him an approving look. Fred was finally getting Rayne to soften up a little. He'd bragged nonstop for a week when he finally got a proper kiss out of her.
"Awww, aren't they just so cute?!" Aralia whispered to him, gesturing subtly towards the other two couples. Harry and Draco had drifted back into their own little world, and as Harry shifted towards Draco, George caught sight of the new tattoo on his back.
"Harry, is that a tattoo?!" Harry looked startled for a moment, and then relaxed.
"Something like that." Fred demanded that he get up and display it properly.
'He just wants a chance to ogle my Harry,' Draco laughed to the girls. George poked a rather large hickey on Harry's back just below the new wing tattoo. Harry squealed.
"That hurts you know!" he said. Fred raised an eyebrow.
"S'not my fault. You're the one that let him eat you from head to toe." George accused, now poking all of the hickeys within reach…. that he could see.
"Strip," Fred said to Draco. Harry did a double take and whipped out his wand.
"He'd better not strip! He's mine and I'm not sharing!" He said defensively. Draco's face twisted into an amused smirk.
"Is that an order, oh golden one?" he asked. "'Cause you know how well I follow orders," he threatened. Harry gave him an evil grin.
"Oh I know. You follow mine to the tooth, don't'cha, you little imp." He said.
"I take it you told him to bite you?" Rayne smarted off, earning herself a nip on the shoulder from Fred. "I didn't tell you to bite me."
"Who said you had to tell me? I do stuff without having to be asked, remember?" he said rather candidly.
"Oh, hush you. Harry, he just wanted to see how marked up Draco was. Since he didn't do us the courtesy of coming out without a shirt."
"You've seen me without a shirt before, and I don't see why your boyfriends would want to see me without a shirt, and I usually don't go out shirtless in public y'know. I rather like shirts. They're very comfortable. Plus, they keep you from getting a sunburn, y'know?" he was met with 5 pairs of confused eyes.
"Blonde moment," he said, peeling off his shirt, then doing a quick turn for them to see.
What he had done to Harry did not compare to what Harry had done to him. There were angry red scabs in rows down his back and arms. Love bites and puncture wounds all over, there was not a single spot of flesh on Draco Malfoy's chest that indicated that he was white. Purples, blues and angry reds covered every inch of him. Aralia stood up and took a really close took at his collarbone.
"You missed a spot, Harry. I can still see his skin right here." She poked Draco rather meanly on a very tiny patch of white skin, causing Draco to howl with pain. Harry beamed with pride and the other four looked at him in pure dumbfounded amazement.
"Harry did that?" Fred asked, sounding awed. Rayne pointed a threatening finger at him.
"Don't you dare think about marring my beautiful flesh like that! I will have your balls on a stick!" George laughed and Fred looked genuinely frightened, now eying the small hickey he had been working on her shoulder….
Harry walked over and wrapped his arms around Draco's waist, cuddling kittenishly.
"Proud of yourself, eh kitten?"
"PROUD! LOOK AT WHAT HE'S DONE!" Lucius walked into the common room and started poking and prodding at his son. "HE'S MUTILATED YOU!" he shrieked.
"Please dad. It will heal," Draco said dismissively. "But only if you stop poking! That hurts you know!" Fred and George look at each other and burst out laughing.
"DÉJÀ VU!"
"QUIET YOU! This is serious! What do you have to say for yourself POTTER!" he demanded.
"Calm down Lucius, don't have a hernia." Harry said, sneering at the man. "And as for what I say for myself, I say I'm damn proud of m'self. Deal with it!"
"Yeah, and its fairly temporary, compared to a certain Mark you were going to put on him," Fred commented acidly. Rayne gave him an approving smile, and then scratched his ginger head. To George's amusement, his foot began to tap in rhythm with Rayne's scratches.
"And you cannot tell me you haven't done something similar to Narcissa." Aralia said with a smile.
"EWWWW!! I could do without that particular image of my parents thank you very much!"
Lucius gave Aralia a look. "Despite what you six may or may not do, I do not discuss my personal life. That is why it is called personal." But he looked calmer. "Draco, would you mind terribly putting your shirt back on?"
Draco looked positively devilish.
"Yes, I think I would." He flopped onto the nearest couch, pulling Harry down on top of him. Lucius scowled as Harry placed a light bite on the previously-pointed-out-bit of unmarked flesh, and Draco slid a hand half-way down the back of Harry's jeans, only stopping when the hem caught on the flesh between his thumb and fingers.
Both sets of twins smiled, but the silence was broken with the resonating sound of another of Rayne's slaps. Aralia looked over at her.
"Why, dear sister, did you slap him this time? Keep it up and they'll start thinking you're abusive or something."
"I don't mind," Fred said with a smile. Rayne rolled her eyes.
"He was trying to take a page from Draco's book and put his hands down my pants." Fred shrugged.
"Well, can't say I'm not getting anything from lack of trying." He said.
"No, you're not getting anything because you try too much!" Aralia laughed. Rayne's face was twisted in a secretive grin.
"I think she likes it." George observed. "She'd be disappointed if he didn't try."
Lucius balked and turned to leave. "I want to hear no more of this!" he yelled, plugging his ears very childishly.
"Anyone hungry?" Rayne asked, ripping Fred's hold on her as she stood. He pouted.
"Yeah. You gonna go fetch us something to eat, oh purple-headed one?" Draco asked. Rayne gave him a look.
"I rather thought you had enough to eat when you snacked so heartily on Harry." She snapped. "Be glad your in no shape to duel Hun, cause you'd be eating your words if I had it my way." Draco blinked, wondering why she suddenly seemed angry with him. He hadn't done anything to upset her.
"Anyway, we already told you guys that we have to go to dinner tonight. And Draco, your friends have been worrying about you. What with you keep missing classes and all." Lucius gave them both a look.
"You missed classes?" He asked dangerously.
"He was learning astral projection, and he doesn't have much control on the relative time yet." Aralia informed him, her tone not leaving room for parental arguments. All four of them knew that the Protector's studies trumped all other obligations except the obligation to his charge.
"Astral projection, huh?"
"That sounds kinky." Both Weasleys burst out laughing.
"Ha. Ha. To you, everything sounds kinky."
"Very true." Rayne grinned.
"We're going to go ahead. I'm starving. See y'all at dinner." She grabbed Fred's arms and he followed her obediently out the door, his brother's mocking laughter following him.
"You know, dinner don't start for another half hour, babe." Fred asked, wrapping an arm around her waist and forcing her to slow down.
"I know. C'mon." She led him approximately halfway to the Great Hall, then pushed him into a branching corridor.
"What's down here?"
"You'll see." He followed her down the empty hallway trustingly. Apparently this wasn't a part of the castle that was frequently used.
"Where are we going?"
"You'll see when we get there."
"When are we going to get there?"
"Soon."
"How soon?"
"Do you want me to leave you here?"
"Not really."
"Then stop asking questions."
"But I like asking questions." She stopped and gave him a look. He gave her the puppy dog-eyes in return. She tried not to but couldn't stop herself. She grinned and took his hand again.
"We're going to a small room I found. Its beautiful." She said. Fred inwardly punched air and started thinking 'I'm going to get some! I'm gonna get some!'
Rayne stopped suddenly and pushed open a heavy looking door, then led Fred inside. The walls were painted with breathtaking night scenes. The detail was perfect, and the colors blended in cool, ethereal metallics. Paper-Mache trees and 3-d scenery pieces were scattered tastefully throughout the room. The entire décor was hand made, and with deadly accuracy. Fred forgot his hormones for a moment as he took in the mind-blowing scene before him.
"You did this?" he asked. She giggled in delight.
"Yep. All done by hand, no magic involved," she bragged. Fred walked slowly around the room, taking in the texture of the paper-mache, and stumbling across a few ceramic field mice. He stopped to stare at a squirrel monkey hanging from one of the trees. When he poked it poked him back. Fred did a double take.
"Whaaa-?" he said poking the monkey again, thinking it was an animation charm. The monkey shit in its palm and threw it at him. Rayne laughed openly and beckoned to the monkey affectionately.
"Come here, Lunai." The monkey scampered to her obediently, traipsing all over her like she was a tree to be swinging from. Fred cast a cleaning spell to rid himself of the animal's feces.
"Lunai, this is Fred. Be nice." She looked up at him with a serene smile. For once, she was entirely relaxed and not bitching about something, or having to drill something into someone's head. To Fred, she positively glowed, and with the unworldly scenes behind her to bring out her exotic looks, she seemed like she did not belong on earth.
"I'm baffled," he said, still trapped in her spell. She gave him a questioning look. "Why do you keep holding me close, but pushing me away? You act like you don't want anything to do with me sometimes, but if I leave you to talk to anybody else you get upset. Why are you playing with me like that?" he asked. She dropped her gaze to the floor, also painted to imitate outdoor scenery.
"If I tell you something about us, do you promise not to tell anyone else?" she asked, now looking a bit worried, and on edge again.
"Promise." He said simply. She sat on one of the toadstools, and absentmindedly stroked Lunai's fur.
"Remember the tattoo on Harry?" she asked.
"What does that have to do with anything?" Rayne gave him a pointed look and he fell quiet again.
"It's the mark that every one of the protected receive when they accept that they are bound by something greater than themselves to a Protector. A soul mate, if you will." She began. Fred nodded, taking a seat next to her.
"What you didn't see though, was a tattoo on Draco similar to this one. In the exact same spot." She lifted her Amethyst hair off her neck and showed him the crest of the Protectors, a combination of holly and honeysuckle, with a pair of angel wings on the background. Fred touched it, and soft warmth filled her neck.
"This is the mark of a Protector who has accepted their obligations and duties as a Protector."
"What has this to do with why you are treating me like a boy toy?"
"I'm getting to that!" He motioned for her to hurry up and get to the point.
"Well, when a Protector receives this mark, most often it is at the same time their soul mate."
"So your telling me you have a sweetheart back in the states?" She shook her head.
"In mine and Aralia's case, we found our soul mates in a pair of twins similar to you and George. Our marks had activated when we were twelve, and we'd been looking for them for three years when we finally found them. They were marked less than a year later; we bonded with them." She paused, as if to try to capture just the right words to make him understand. "We were all at an amusement park, having a wonderful time on our days off. We got onto a roller coaster together." Fred had a feeling that he knew how this story was going to end. America's theme parks were notorious for malfunctioning rides. "The hydraulics malfunctioned, and the ride went haywire. Aralia and me escaped just barely because we have a higher tolerance for pain, as well as our magical and spiritual gifts. The boys were not as blessed as we are, and…they didn't make it." A tear paved its way down her cheek, and she had to take a moment to steady her voice.
"We were supposed to protect them, and we failed. We were not called to accounting because it was an accident beyond our control, but it does not soften the blow to the soul when one looses a soul mate. Especially a Protector." She looked into Fred's helpless eyes. "I know it's illogical, but I'm scared that if we get close, something bad will happen to you, but I don't want you to be away from me so I can protect you if it becomes necessary." Fred wrapped an arm around her shoulders, and she laid her head on his chest while she finished.
"Aralia took to George easier than I expected, and refuses to believe that history will repeat itself. But I can't stand the thought of getting close and have the same thing happen. Loosing someone close to me tears me apart from the inside out. I don't think either of us would survive it if it happened again."
Fred suddenly felt guilty for his constantly chasing her romantically. He pulled her off her stool, beautifully carved mahogany, and onto his lap. "If it helps any, I'll come back to haunt the bastard until he goes mad if anyone tries any funny business." Rayne laughed, in the wizarding world that is not really an idle threat. It can be done. She curled up against him, for the moment willing to let him comfort her.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I have an announcement to make." Rayne and Aralia tuned the old man out, already knowing what he was going to say. There were going to be students from other schools at Hogwarts this year. Why this was such a big deal they still didn't understand, despite the competition, because at their school in America, they had students from other schools all the time, and they stayed anywhere from a week to several years. The excited murmuring informed them when the headmaster had finished his speech, and they turned to Draco, who was seated across from them, next to Pansy Parkinson and Blaise Zabini, for an explanation.
"Well?" Rayne asked rather pointedly.
"Well what?"
"Well, what's the big deal? A few foreign exchange students and a dangerous competition, what's the big deal?" Aralia asked and Draco gave her one of his most bemused looks.
"What's the big deal?! This is the most dangerous competition known to wizarding kind, and its only open to students! It only happens every 4 years at a different school every time." The girls thought for a moment.
"Not much different than the Olympics." They said in unison.
"Though I'm rather glad that they won't let our boys in, not that I'd tell them that." Draco looked surprised for a moment, then rather horrified at the thought of his charge being in the dangerous competition.
"Are you going to enter?" He asked them. "You're both 17." The girls looked at each other and shook their heads.
"Too reckless."
-
"I wish I could enter." Ron said longingly as Draco joined them.
"Why Weasley, not enough pocket money?" he drawled. Ron glared at him, not knowing that Draco was actually teasing this time. Harry gave them both a look for their bickering, wrapping his arms around Draco and biting his ear, sucking on it for a moment.
"Do I want to ask?" Aralia asked her sister, as Draco had slapped Harry playfully.
"You tease!" he accused in an outraged voice. Harry grinned at him while Ron and Hermione looked confusedly at them both.
"Ummm… what?"
Harry and Draco looked at each other. "Don't ask."
"Why not?"
"Because this is far too public a place for us to explain."
"Let's go to our room then." Aralia suggested cheerfully. Draco shot her a playful glare while Harry grinned. Fred's eyes lit up automatically. George nudged Aralia and whispered something in her ear. She blushed furiously. Seeing the look on Fred's face, Harry stared at him for a moment, then blurted, "Fred, are you bi or something?" Fred did a double take, and tried to hide the red coloring in his cheeks. Rayne saved him having to answer.
"If he is it doesn't matter, cause I'm not sharing." She said wrapping her arms around his stomach possessively.
"I was just trying to figure out why he's so interested in my sex life." Ron and Hermione looked rather taken aback. They hadn't even known he had a sex life; much less that Fred was interested in it! Aralia gave her sister a questioning look.
"I'll tell you later,' she thought, then planted a kiss on Fred's cheek.