Disclaimer: Still not mine. Do I really have to do this every single chapter? It's so depressing. Seriously.

A/N: I'm not sure if this should be a warning or not. Anyway, Harry has a big hate going on for Derek. Worse than Voldie or Snape. He has his reasons and you will find out what they are in the next chapter (not this one, sorry). This story is going to be a bit Derek bashing but not much because of this thing between Derek and Harry. And truthfully I'm rewatching the episodes and finding that Derek just pisses me off. He's judgmental and blows hot and cold like crazy.

This chapter was supposed to go up yesterday but my account wasn't working so it didn't. Anyway, here you go. Sorry it's a day late.

Links

Harry made his way back to the quiet of his office. He needed the privacy it offered for what he was about to do. And his office had a lock. Even though he usually found it unethical and impolite Harry hadn't been able to resist reading Meredith when he'd seen her trying to find the CT. He hadn't delved very deeply. Only enough to see how her mental state was. She had been so close to rock bottom the first time he'd met her and he'd helped to pull her away from the brink. He just had to make sure she hadn't backslid. He had been fairly sure she hadn't but it had been so long since he'd actually seen her that he had to be positive.

He'd actually been a bit surprised by what he'd found inside her mind. Surprised in a good way though. He'd known that she was strong but now he realized exactly how strong she really was. The darkness inside her heart and mind that had seemed set to overwhelm her the first year of Medical School was nearly vanished. There was still a bit residing inside her and there always would be. Kids with backgrounds like theirs would always have a bit more darkness than others. But hers was not only at a manageable level, it was nearly gone. He knew that it could have just been the joy of seeing him again but…a change that drastic had to mean something more.

What had surprised him more than anything else though were the links. Harry had never given much credence to Hermione or Dumbledore's rantings about fate and destiny. He'd seen enough in both of their minds through the years to know they were gullible and so desperate to believe that they would believe anything. After being the subject of a prophecy he knew that fate and destiny existed he just chose to believe that a person made their own destiny when they could. He preferred to believe that everyone made their own choices in life and fate had to work around that.

However he did also know that there were people that you were just supposed to meet. They could be just moments in time, a face on the street that you barely remembered the next day or they could be people that would be there for the rest of your life. And these people formed links to each other. Mental and emotional links that carried a tint of what those people meant or would mean to each other.

The face in the crowd links were temporary fleeting things that really had very little bearing on a person. The middle ground ones…the face in the crowd that did something important had a bit more importance but not by much. They were the ones that linked to someone that would have an impact for a short time and a person may remember them for a long time after but they weren't the hard and fast links of relationships. The highest link was the relationship links. Those usually helped to mold and shape a person's personality and future.

Five years ago, Meredith had had one relationship link…well, two if you counted the one to him. Her only other link was to her mother. And that one was a shabby, dark sort of link that only boded trouble for Mer. Now though she had so many she was just about bursting with them. And most of them were nearly bright enough to blind him.

He filtered through all the temporary ones, the ones that were a face in the crowd. Those would fade and were more than likely the nurses, patients and other such people. He passed off the middle ground links. They weren't really important for this reading. He'd probably check back in at a later date to see if any of them might grow into a relationship link.

He grabbed onto the first relationship link he came to and grinned both inside his own head and in the darkness of his office. It was a light blue color and almost blindingly bright. The brighter the link the better it was for the person. That was good. It signified admiration and respect. He followed it and found the short African American resident…Bailey wasn't it? Even after only a few hours the link was strong and lasting. Bailey was going to be an 'until the end' influence and perhaps friend. Harry would have been satisfied if that had been the only new link Meredith had had but she had so many more.

He let go of that Bailey's link and grabbed onto another. A light purple one. Also incredibly bright. Affection and a kindred spirit. He didn't know the man on the other end. So he dug a little and found his name. Alex Karev…and he'd called Meredith a nurse or would call her a nurse. Links weren't always linear. That name calling had amused her more than irritated her. He was another long lasting link. He would be though. Kindred spirits rarely formed temporary links with each other.

He dropped Karev and reached for the next. Another kindred spirit link. A small Asian woman with a pissed off expression. Cristina Yang. Oh, that was interesting. Closer than lovers or sisters. Nearly a twin link. That was an excellent discovery for him. Meredith would be able to take on a whole lot of pain and come out on top of it as long as those two were with her. And they would be. Both were the lifetime kind of links. And kindred spirits never really left each other. Even when they were no longer physically present they were still close.

He dropped it and moved eagerly onto the next one. He almost wished he hadn't. A greenish yellow one. And darker than the others. Friendship mixed with envy, though he couldn't tell which of them was envious yet. A tall blond woman. Isobel Stevens. Izzie. Oh, damn. She was going to cause Mer pain but the link would be around for a while. He'd need to keep an eye on that one. Alex and Cristina could only help Mer so much. Even though she was a very strong woman she could use help all the same. And he wouldn't let anyone hurt his baby sister without some kind of reprisal.

He let go of it. The next was a pinkish yellow one also dark. Love mixed with envy again. A pudgy little man with brownish hair. George O'Malley. He had a crush. Cute. But he was so far from what Meredith's type was it was like he was on a different planet. He seemed like a good guy but he was still going to cause Mer some pain as well but she was going to do the same to him. They'd be okay in the end and their link would grow. Another lifetime one. Good. Even the dark links could have a positive effect.

A red link was next. Darker than this type of link should be but still there and still forming. It signified passion, desire, and possibly the beginnings of love. Had Meredith finally found her mate? Excellent. Hopefully it would brighten up later. Meredith had a bad habit of fighting against the things that were good for her. He followed it to find the name and face of the person it was attached to and pulled out so fast he nearly fell out of his chair and onto the floor from the vision of the face in her head.

"What in the Hell is that stupid, fucking wanker doing here?" He hissed furiously into the dark confines of his empty office.

More importantly what the Hell kind of game was he playing with Meredith? It couldn't be anything good.

Harry drew in a deep breath and searched out her mind again. He had to know what the Hell was going on. Why the blazes did his baby sister have a link with Derek Fucking Shepherd?

Her memories of him before today were hazy with tequila. She didn't know anything about him beyond the fact that he was the guy that she'd woken up with on her living room floor and that he was an attending at the hospital where she was doing her internship. He didn't tell her that he was married. He didn't tell her anything important. He'd simply chased her down and propositioned her. And she felt like she was falling for him.

Harry groaned aloud in the silence of his office. This would only end in tears. Unfortunately most likely her tears. Derek Shepherd didn't have the same human emotions as the rest of the world. The man was like a damned robot so it wouldn't be him crying and it wouldn't be him that was hurt by this relationship.

He loosened his hold on Meredith's end of the connection and used the link to search out the arse. It didn't take very long to find him. He must be close to Meredith now.

Harry did something then that would have been impossible had he not already had such close contact with both Meredith and Derek. He completely let go of the link between them and 'jumped' into the morass of self-aggrandizement that was Derek Shepherd's mind. Harry shivered mentally. Derek had no shields of any kind and his mind was an utter chaotic mess. How did the man remember anything at all?

Harry wandered in Derek's mindscape for a moment and wondered how even a Muggle with no knowledge of proper meditation could survive with no mental shields whatsoever. It only took him a few moments to realize that Derek's natural mind defense was the mess. Hunh. Interesting, he thought to himself. Still he wanted to know why Derek was here. And why he was messing around with Meredith.

Harry, being the stronger willed and better practiced at this sort of thing, found what he was looking for with little fuss. Off to the side of the mess of everyday thoughts was what looked like…well, a missile strike? Charred rubble littered the ground and broken memories floated like dust in the air. Hesitantly Harry reached out for one of the floating memories with one finger. It curled around the finger and suddenly Harry was standing in a doorway watching his best friend fuck his wife.

He shook the memory off with a gasp. Well that would explain why Derek had left New York then. He found it hard to summon up any pity though. He'd warned Derek though. He'd warned him that he needed to pay more attention to Addie or he'd lose her. Now he'd lost her and he'd come to Seattle and found Meredith.

Harry delved into Derek's memories again, a little more cautiously this time. A phone call. Land by a lake. A bar. A girl. Meredith. Feelings of affection and desire and lots of tequila.

Harry pulled himself out and away from Derek's mind with a fierce frown. This was going to be very complicated. Harry leaned back into the comfort of his desk chair and sighed heavily. "Arse," he muttered to himself. In the years he'd known that particular trio he'd never really taken to Derek. He liked Addie well enough and Mark was one of his best friends. Probably the best friend he'd had since Ron. He was different from Ron. In many ways a better friend than Ron had been as well as disloyal as it felt to say that even if Ron agreed wholeheartedly. But Derek? Derek had driven him insane. Always so proper and uptight. And cruel. Always cruel. Crueler than anyone Harry had ever had the misfortune of meeting. The worst part was that Derek didn't have to try to be cruel, he just was, it wasn't intentional either it was simply the way he was.

Derek always saw everything in black and white. Right and wrong. There was no room in his world for the shades of gray or doing the wrong thing for the right reasons. Or doing the right thing for the wrong reasons. Doctors became doctors to save people not for any other reason. Derek couldn't unbend to look at a viewpoint that might differ from his own. Harry had never been able to understand that kind of rigid attitude and he'd never met anyone who stuck to it so religiously.

And yet here he was, the righteous and always right Dr. Derek Shepherd, breaking his holy vows of matrimony. With Harry's baby sister, dammit! And why? Because his wife had slept with his best friend. So he was getting back at Addie by sleeping with a girl from a bar with no thought or care that the girl in the bar might have a life of her own to lead. Because who cared about the girl in the end. As long as Derek got some of his own back on his supposedly faithless wife and the man he'd never think about again. Derek's mind was a bit of a morass of hate and love and anger around the subject of Mark and Addie and even inside his own head Harry had trouble making sense of it.

"Ignorant arsewipe," Harry cursed under his breath. Harry pushed himself to his feet and headed for the door to his office. Now he was going to have to go track Derek down and set him straight. Meredith didn't need his baggage added onto her own. She had more than enough to deal with. Harry wasn't about to let this situation go on if he could help it. Derek wasn't any good for Meredith and she was meant for someone else entirely anyway.

Besides Derek would only hurt her in the end, like he did to everyone. Derek Shepherd was unworthy of any kind of trust. Harry knew logically that he shouldn't interfere. He should let Meredith and Derek work this out on their own but he couldn't help it…she was going to end up hurt…just like he had…just like Draco had. Only Draco had ended up dead because of Derek's cruelty and that…Harry could never forget or forgive.