6.

Kurt snuffled a little in his sleep, pressing his face further into his pillow. Well, Blaine's pillow. He'd been at war with himself for the last couple of nights in which he'd had to Floo into the Slytherin dorms to rid the incessant buzzing-uncomfortableness that came with being away from Blaine for long periods of time. He'd start out the night in his own dorm but, inevitably, he'd end up here.

Blaine wasn't too bad of a sleeping partner, anyway. And over the last two days Kurt had gotten to know him a bit better and he guessed he wasn't that bad of a guy, either.

Though that didn't stop him from adamantly refusing every time the subject of him permanently moving into Blaine's dorm came up or shunning the veela every time he tried to cop a feel.

Kurt had drawn the line at light, non-intrusive kisses, even though he'd had to raise ten kinds of hell to get his way.

Kurt had been more than a little antsy in the hours following his unsettling conversation with Blaine. The thought had been weighing heavily on his mind.

Chandler's going to get hurt because of me. Again.

Kurt didn't want anything to happen to Chandler. They might not have been boyfriends anymore but they were still friends and on some level, Kurt cared about his wellbeing. He didn't want him hurt. Not because of him, at the very least, and he was going to have to man up and tell Blaine to leave Chandler alone.

It took Kurt a while to decide what he was going to say and to gather up his courage—not because he was afraid of Blaine, but because he knew how upset the veela was going to be about everything. He didn't want Blaine mad at him just as much as he didn't want Chandler getting hurt.

But if he had to choose between the two… Blaine would just have to get over it.

Blaine knew something was wrong with Kurt. He wasn't altogether sure what it was but he could practically feel his mate worrying over something, the lines etching deeper and deeper into his beautiful skin until finally, later on that day in the great hall at dinner Blaine reached over and smoothed out the worry lines on his forehead.

Kurt looked up at him, startled. Blaine's felt his lips curl into a soft smile. "You'll get wrinkles."

Kurt returned his smile, but it was only a halfhearted flash of teeth, and his gaze wandered across the hall to the Gryffindor table. He stared for a moment, then blinked, his fingers curling around Blaine's hand which had slid down to cup his cheek warmly. Kurt stared down at their laced fingers on his lap as he said, "I need to talk to you about something."

Blaine's fingers tightened around Kurt's as he tensed, immediately thinking the worst. "Oh?"

Kurt's light gaze flicked up to meet his briefly. "Yeah. I-It's not really…" He trailed off, then, "I don't want to talk about it here."

Blaine was on his feet in an instant, settling his hand more comfortably in Kurt's so that he could help him out of his seat and quickly take them somewhere more private.

Kurt was practically hyperventilating by the time he was sitting next to Blaine on a plush leather couch in the Room of Requirement. He'd never been in the Room before, hadn't even known where it was, but Blaine had led them straight to it like traveling to the Room of Requirement was a part of his daily routine. It likely was, for all Kurt knew. He didn't know Blaine well enough yet to be able to judge these types of things.

"Kurt?" Blaine's voice was soft and tentative when he spoke, and he reached over and grabbed his mate's hand which had gotten away from him when they'd been walking over to the couch. "You okay?"

Kurt nodded as he let out a slow, calming breath, squeezing Blaine's hand a little to reassure him. I-I'm fine. Just a little worried. I…" He trailed off for a moment, but Blaine sat next to him, holding his hand and waiting patiently for him to gather his thoughts. It took Kurt a minute, but eventually he carried on. "I understand that veela mate pairs are for life, and I think that if we're going to have to spend that much time together it's important to establish some level of trust." His gaze lifted from their clasped hands to meet Blaine's eyes expectantly.

Blaine startled a little at the sudden attention, surprising himself, but even still he nodded eagerly. "Yeah. I—of course."

Kurt gave his own short nod in response, his gaze hardening as he said, "Okay…. So I would like to talk about this morning." He paused for a moment to swallow hard, fiddling with the edge of his robes, avoiding Blaine's gaze completely. "A-And the night you claimed me."

Blaine had a feeling he knew where this was going, but he didn't say anything, just waited for Kurt to finish.

"If we're going to be together, I want to be able to make my own decisions. When I say something or do something you don't agree with, I don't want you to just use your allure to make me do what you want anyway."

"I guess I can understand that." Blaine said. "Kurt, I promise I won't—"

Kurt shook his head sharply, effectively silencing him. "If you can understand that," Kurt said, his voice wavering a little as if he were nervous—which he was. "Then I think you should also be able to understand the reasoning behind me wanting to take an Oath."

Blaine ripped his hand from Kurt's as the other boy pulled out his wand, shooting up from the couch and stumbling a few feet away before whipping back around to face him. His expression was severe, a mix between hurt and pissed. Kurt had expected him to be mad about it, but he hadn't really anticipated him being hurt over it. "What the fuck are you trying to say?" Blaine shouted. "You don't fucking trust me enough to just take my word for it?"

Kurt sighed softly. "I'm sorry, Blaine, but… no. I don't. Within the past two days you haven't really given me a reason to trust you. And, I'm sorry, but any respect I thought I had for you—after this morning—"

"Oh, I fucking see what this is about now." Blaine scoffed, nodding his head sharply and taking another step back away from Kurt. "You just want me to take an Unbreakable Vow so that you can fucking prance off with Kiehl—"

"Blaine, if you knew me at all you would know that I would never do that to you. Is it wrong for me to want to know for sure that you aren't going to try to control me, to know for a fact that you don't have that type of power over me?"

"You do know for sure. I fucking told you—"

"Blaine."

Blaine huffed out a sigh, his nostrils flaring out a bit, but he seemed to calm down just a little. He could, in fact understand where his mate was coming from. If he'd been treated how he had treated Kurt over the past seven years and, more importantly, the last two days, he'd probably be asking for all the same things that Kurt was at this point. Which is why he sighed, again, before slowly trudging back over to the couch and sitting back down next to Kurt, though admittedly a little farther away than he had been initially. "Fine. I—What would you want me to be promising?"

Kurt seemed to sag in relief now that Blaine was no longer hovering over him threateningly. "I just want you to promise that you won't use your allure on me, ever, for any reason. Or to manipulate any of my friends unless it's like some kind of life or death situation. My family too, for that matter."

Blaine's gaze lowered as his hand went to the pocket of his slacks and withdrew his wand. "I-I guess that would be okay."

Blaine didn't really know what he expected, but it wasn't Kurt suddenly surging forward and grabbing his hand, forcing the veela to look back up and meet his gaze. "Are you sure, Blaine?" He asked, his voice soft. "I know I want this, but you don't have to if you really—"

"No." Blaine interrupted firmly. If he hadn't been sure before, he was now. Kurt was giving him an out and he didn't know why that solidified things for him, but it did. "Let's—let's do this, okay?" Blaine felt his eyes start to burn and his throat start to tighten and he had to force his next words past the knot of tears. "I want you to be able to trust me."

Kurt nodded, rewarding Blaine with a soft smile before glancing around the room, suddenly looking lost. "Blaine…"

"What's wrong?"

"We can't do this by ourselves. We need someone else to hold the wand and act as Bonder."

Blaine stood up then, still holding Kurt's hand, trying to pull him up as well. Kurt resisted. "We could go find someone really quick if you—"

"No, we can do that later. If that's okay with you?" He tugged a little on Blaine's hand, and his question was answered when he sat back down next to him. "I really just want to finish our conversation before we leave and go do other stuff."

"There's more?" The prospect was a little daunting for Blaine, considering.

"Yeah." Kurt let out a nervous little laugh. "It's the last—well, I guess it's not the last thing, but I still consider it pretty important."

"Okay."

"You remember yesterday when you told me what we did concerning… um. The sexual side of our relationship was entirely up to me? I'd like to talk about what I decided now, get it all out in the open." He gave Blaine another one of those uber expectant looks he was so good at, and Blaine wasn't altogether sure what he was supposed to say to that. He settled for a small nod, even though all the nodding he'd done in the last hour was making his head start to throb.

"All right, well. As far as I'm concerned we're in the dating stage. The night you claimed me—if we ever get to this point—I'd like for us to not think of it as our first time. I would like to be able to think back on my first time with fond memories. Not… the ones I have now."

"That… would be all right with me." Blaine agreed, his eyes narrowed as he carefully considered his mate's choice of words. "Kurt, I—That night, did I—"

Kurt's bright, ice blue eyes shot back down to his lap. "If you're asking me if you took my virginity, the answer is yes."

Blaine felt his breath catch in his throat and his eyes once again started to smart and water because—oh my god. "Kurt, I'm—"

Kurt's eyes moved back up to meet his, a few degrees cooler than they had been before. "And don't say you're sorry because I know deep down you're probably not."

Blaine felt his eyebrows furrow into a scowl. "Kurt."

"Whatever." Kurt said loudly, sharply, brushing a small piece of fuzz off his light colored pants. "I don't want to talk about it." Kurt paused, his face relaxing from the bitchy expression he'd so suddenly adopted. "And anyway," He went on, "I'm not willing to do anything like that with you, at the moment."

"Nothing at all?" The thought of doing nothing sexual after doing such things for, at least, the past four years was enough to make the veela cringe in distaste.

"Well," Kurt seemed to think on it for a second before relenting. "I guess kissing would be okay." He smiled a little to himself. "Light, baby kisses."

Blaine made a gruff sound of annoyance but knew he'd end up agreeing anyway. So he just shrugged. "Anything else?"

"Yeah, just one more thing." Kurt suddenly pierced him with a level look, his fingers tightening just slightly around the hand in his own. "Now, I don't want you to get mad or jump to conclusions, but since I know you're likely going to anyway… it's about Chandler."

Blaine felt more than heard a loud growl erupt from his chest as he fought to suppress his veela. He was trying not to be that person, trying not to jump to conclusions and launch to his feet and star ranting and shouting. He succeeded, but only just barely.

The smile Kurt gave him was wide and amused, his gaze light and his voice teasing. "Wow, Blaine. I'm surprised."

"What?" Blaine's smile was a little lopsided and pained, as his veela instincts were shouting at him within the confines of his mind. "I have some self-control."

"All right," Kurt laughed softly and squeezed Blaine's hand. "I can respect that."

"So what about Kiehl, again?"

"I kind of would like for you to maybe… leave him alone?" Blaine opened his mouth to speak, but Kurt was quicker. "And I know you said this morning you'd leave him alone as long as he returned the favor in respect to me, but Blaine that just… That doesn't really sit well with me."

"So what do you want me to do?" Blaine asked, more out of obligation than him genuinely wanting to know.

"I just want you to leave him alone, even if he does something to bother us. I feel like Chandler shouldn't be punished for feeling the way he does about me. Neither one of us knew I'd end up being soul mates with you." Kurt brought a hand up to rub at his tearing eyes. "You punishing him for that just wouldn't be right, Blaine, and I—"

"Fine." Blaine groaned as soon as the word passed his lips, knowing he'd regret it just as soon as he said it. But he'd do anything for Kurt. Anything to make him "Just stop crying. Merlin." He grabbed Kurt and brought him in closer, wrapping his arms around him in a hug. Kurt buried his face in the crook of Blaine's neck, surprising himself at the action, but Blaine had been more understanding than he'd thought he would be and his warmth was more than a little comforting.

"Sorry. It's just… I feel kind of bad. I was really mean to him…"

Blaine said, "He'll get over it." At the exact same time Kurt let out a muffled, "I think I need to apologize."

Blaine reared back in shock, his eyes almost comically wide. "Kurt, I'll leave Kiehl alone, but I'd really prefer it if you didn't go anywhere near him."

"I have to, Blaine." Kurt pulled back just enough to look at Blaine's face, his bright blue eyes teary and breaking Blaine's heart. "I owe him an apology and a decent explanation and I'm not going to let you force me to deny him that."

"Ugh." Blaine groaned again, pulling away from Kurt completely to drop his face in his hands. "Why the hell did my mate have to end up being so fucking nice?"

It took Kurt a few minutes, but he did finally manage to blink his way into awareness enough to realize that Blaine was lying half on top of him, his face buried in Kurt's neck as if he'd been scenting him in his sleep. His arm was wrapped around Kurt's waist, and Kurt recognized the fact that the hold was meant to comfort and soothe more than it was to keep him there. The thought made him smile softly to himself and press his fingers to Blaine's cheek reverently.

Kurt hadn't meant it to, but the touch made Blaine stir, his eyelashes tickling Kurt's jawline as his eyes fluttered open. It was only a few seconds before he spoke, tilting his head up to get a better look at Kurt before letting out a quiet, "Hmm," to himself and rolling out of Kurt's personal space. He rubbed his eyes and yawned, pulling the blanket more firmly around himself and allowing his eyes to slide back shut before he finally said, "Time for you to get up already?"

"Uh, yeah." Kurt lifted his hand and made an attempt to right his hair, which he knew had to be sticking up at odd ends and matted in places it shouldn't be by now. He reached under his—Blaine's—pillow to grab his wand.

"You know you wouldn't have to wake up so early if you'd just move in."

Kurt rolled his eyes, but it was more teasing than anything else. "I know, Blaine. You've said."

"I could even request our own set of rooms. Figgins is actually required to give us that, you know. Since we're mates and everything."

Okay. Now that Kurt hadn't heard before. "Really?"

"Yep. He'd probably never say anything about it to us, though. He's kind of… I don't know? Not as by-the-book as he should be, in some cases."

"Well, in that case." Kurt said as he slipped out from under the covers, "I'll think about it."

Kurt never really got a chance to apologize to Chandler, well, not really. That night Kurt and Blaine had finally talked through their problems had been a little hectic and stressful what with them trying to find someone to act as Bonder so that they could take their Vow. It had ended up being Coach Sylvester, of all people, and Kurt still wasn't really sure how that had happened.

The problem was, Chandler was avoiding him. And there wasn't really anything Kurt could do about that—he wasn't going to force the other boy to talk to him—so he'd sent an apology along with Grayson (who had taken it upon himself to lecture Kurt for ten minutes before finally stopping to take a breather and see what the hell it was Kurt wanted) and hoped it'd gotten back to him.

It wasn't the best way to go about things, but it was all Kurt had, for now.

Kurt sat with his own friends at breakfast for the first time in a long while, and wasn't at all surprised to see Blaine make a face at him when he stepped into the great hall and realized where he was seated before making his way over.

"Oh my goodness, Kurt." Rachel flailed excitedly at the sight, tugging on Kurt's sleeve and pointing blatantly (and uselessly) at the boy headed in their direction.

Kurt slapped her hand away from his clothing, rolling his eyes for the second time this morning as he turned his attention back to his plate. "Rachel, calm down. I see him."

"Morning." Blaine said with a warm smile and his usual charm, addressing the occupants of the table as a whole before zeroing in on Kurt and allowing his smile to die down to something more personal, genuine. "Hey." He ran a hand through his loose curls (he'd been leaving his hair that way ever since Kurt had expressed his fondness of the style), seeming to shrink in on himself a little as he glanced about the table and let out a nervous, wavering, "D-Do you mind if I…" He trailed off, leaving the rest of his sentence hanging in the air.

Kurt made a split second decision, scooting to the right, practically plastering himself to Rachel's side to make space for Blaine between him and Mercedes, the better choice of the two. He gestured to the spot, a little hesitant to touch the 100 year old seat with his bare hand, motioning for Blaine to sit. "Of course I don't, come sit down."

Blaine's smile brightened, his whole face lighting up in a way vaguely kin to a puppy. The more time Kurt spent with Blaine, the more he came to realize that he just wasn't that bad. Over the years of his schooling at Hogwarts, he'd built up an image of what Blaine Anderson was probably like in his free time, with his friends and family. He'd painted him in the light of a condescending jerk—as he had always been around Kurt, to Kurt.

But Kurt wasn't so sure about that now, wasn't sure that that Blaine was this one. Did he normally act this way or was he just being kind and gentle and so (really, surprisingly so) understanding with Kurt because they were mates? Or was he just being that way to try and get something out of him? Initially, he'd had the nagging thought of "What if he just made all of this up?" which would make Kurt stupid and gullible for falling for Blaine's nonsense—but no. That wasn't it. He knew it wasn't. Kurt could feel the bond they shared, could feel Blaine, in a way. He had even felt it that day he'd ran out the dungeons screaming rape. That magical bond had been there ever since the night Blaine claimed him.

Kurt wasn't really sure what he was supposed to think. Wasn't even sure if he should even be questioning it.

"Well, Anderson." Santana plopped down unceremoniously across from the couple at the table, her glossed lips curving up into a salacious smirk as she pinned Blaine with a stare that made Kurt uncomfortable. "Never thought I'd see the day. Knew you'd come crawling back, though." She wrapped a lanky arm around Britney's shoulders as she sat down next to her. "So what can I do you for? I'm with Brit, now, but I'm sure we could work something—"

"Santana." Kurt cringed almost violently, nearly flinging himself into Blaine at the force of it to get away from Rachel's shrill voice. "I'm sure you've been notified by now that Kurt and Anderson—"

"Blaine." The veela interrupted. "Please call me Blaine."

Rachel flashed him a brief smile before, "Kurt and Blaine are dating now and it is very inappropriate to talk to him like that." She took a deep breath. "However, I understand how easy it is—as Blaine's exes—"

"Oh god." Kurt mumbled under his breath, his lips twisting into a deep frown. "Rachel, not again."

"I know it's hard for you to think about, Kurt, but me and Blaine do have a very extensive past and if you two are going to have a successful relationship, you're going to have to accept the fact that your best friend and your boyfriend have… done things together."

Kurt remained silent, but he knew he must've been blushing as his face was almost uncomfortably warm. He stayed that way until a familiar hand landed on and squeezed his knee, and Blaine leaned in and whispered, "I'm starting to see why we've been sitting with my friends now. I kind of forgot how crazy she is." Kurt snuffled out a quiet laugh under his breath. Blaine's hand slid up and he laced his fingers with Kurt's on his lap, a soft smile playing on his lips as he said, "I guess we should talk about that stuff, though—my past girlfriends and your past… Kiehl, so you'll know when people are bullshitting you. Like Rachel. We didn't do anything together—barely even kissed. She was just too…"

Kurt nodded. Rachel was just… Rachel. There were really no words to describe the brazen brunette. "Well, that makes me feel a little bit better, but we shouldn't talk about this here. Later, okay?"

Blaine nodded and pressed a gentle kiss to Kurt's temple before pulling back and withdrawing his hand from his mate's. "Kurt, baby, you should eat something. Potions today is going to be pretty tough and I want you to have all your energy."

The sentence sounded a little strange, coming out of Blaine's mouth, and even Puck snorted under his breath and guffawed, "What the hell is he gonna do, Anderson, suck you off under the table?"

Kurt blushed again and threw his balled up napkin at Puck and was about to turn to Blaine (who was tapping incessantly on his thigh trying to get his attention) when he locked eyes with Chandler. He didn't know what it was in Chandler's gaze that startled him so much he was unable to look away—the hurt. The anger. The jealousy. The disgust.

"Kurt?" Blaine said, his voice soft and a little worried. "Baby, don't pay attention to Puckerman, he's just being—" But then he stopped, drew in a deep breath (scenting the air, Kurt could tell) and slowly turned in Chandler's direction. He was seated down at the end of the table with Grayson, not too far away from where they were sitting. Kurt felt Blaine start up a low growl at the sight. "Is he bothering you, Kurt?"

"N-no—"

"Don't fucking lie to me."

"I'm not. He's… he's just looking." Well, he had been.

Blaine tensed at Kurt's side, a firm, possessive arm looping around Kurt's waist and pulling him further into the veela's side as Chandler stood, walking forward a handful of steps until he was standing in front of Kurt and Blaine, just behind Britney and Santana.

He didn't even look at Kurt, then. His gaze was focused solely on Blaine. He had a fairly sarcastic smirk on his face, an expression Kurt had never seen on the boy before. He gave a jerky shrug, feigning nonchalance. "So… first you take my boyfriend, and then you take my friends?"

Blaine stared, his hazel eyes starting to bleed to black as his breathing noticeably picked up. He started to slowly slip his arm from around Kurt's waist, but Kurt grabbed onto it, his hold almost biting in intensity and his eyes frantic. "Blaine, you promised." He hissed, his voice barely audible to even his own ears but he knew the veela could still hear him. He also knew he probably wasn't even listening—Chandler was still talking.

"It took me a while, but. I see what this is now." He gave a purposeful, dramatic pause. "Obviously you want to be me." He shook his head as his lips twisted up into a sardonic smile. He turned his gaze to Kurt, then, but his words were still directed at Blaine. "I bet Kurt can barely even stand the fact that you'll never be able to fuck him the way I did—"

Kurt felt his jaw hit the floor at the exact moment Blaine jumped up from the table, jostling it and startling screams from people as cups and plates clattered loudly across the surface.

The dining hall went completely silent, almost eerily so, and every gaze in the room was trained in their direction. Blaine stepped forward, pressing his front flush up against Kurt's back and settling his warm hands upon his shoulders and giving a gentle squeeze. The touch made Kurt relax, made him sigh in relief at the inherent knowledge that Blaine wasn't going to attack Chandler.

It was a tense, long few seconds before Blaine spoke. "You do realize that I'm not human, right?" His voice was soft, but still somehow firm with an icy edge to it. "I could fucking kill you, right now, this moment." He took in a deep breath, and Kurt felt him shrug. "And I wouldn't think twice about it."

Chandler's eyes narrowed into a glare behind his oversized glasses. "You think that's supposed to make me scared of you?"

"It's supposed to make you back off!" Blaine's voice trailed off into a shout and he continued in that tone as he said, "Can't you see that Kurt doesn't want you? He was never supposed to want you. He never did. Me and Kurt were brought together by Fate. We're soul mates, Kiehl, and you can't fucking compete with that."

Kurt watched, his throat tight and his heart squeezing in his chest as Chandler's eyes slowly started to fill with tears. His glittering gaze flicked down to meet Kurt's for a long moment before he turned, his movements stilted, and walked out of the great hall.

Kurt was on his feet that next second and made a move to stride out after him, but was stopped by Blaine's hand clamping down hard around his wrist. He stared at Kurt, his eyes only a few shades lighter than when he'd been talking to Chandler. "Don't you fucking dare."

Kurt rolled his eyes at Blaine's possessive display, much more than used to it by now. "Blaine, let me go." Kurt said, his voice quiet, for Blaine's ears only. "I'm just going to go talk to him."

"I don't fucking trust him." The words came out as a growl more than anything else.

Kurt nodded slightly. "I know you don't, Blaine, but I'll only be a second."

The veela let out a soft sound of annoyance, his hand tightening around Kurt's wrist for a moment before he finally let go. "If he puts his hands on you…" The threat was left unsaid, but Kurt understood it all the same and he nodded again before turning away from Blaine to follow Chandler out of the great hall.

It took Kurt a short while to find the other boy, as he wasn't right outside the great hall as he'd initially thought he'd be, but eventually he did find him a number of hallways away. He was sitting on the floor, his knees curled up to his chest, staring blankly ahead at the opposite wall.

"Ch—Chandler?" Kurt called out, his voice almost painfully loud in the quiet.

Chandler's head snapped up at the sound of his voice and he scrambled to his feet quickly when he caught sight of who we was. He pushed his glasses off his face, running the sleeve of his robes over his eyes. Kurt's mouth twisted up in distaste and he fought back the urge to mention how that would ruin the fabric (because he knew how expensive that fabric was to replace—he'd been the one to help him pick it out), but now wasn't the time.

"What?" Kurt wasn't able to read a bit of emotion in that single word, and for some reason, that made him sad.

He sighed, long and soft. "I'm really sorry."

Chandler didn't reply for a minute, apparently content to stare blankly at him, tears still pooling in his eyes before he let out a stunted breath and, "Don't be." He was quiet, then, "Anderson's right. Can't fucking compete with Fate." The boy seemed to scoff a little to himself when after a few seconds, Kurt still hadn't replied with anything.

But really, Kurt didn't know what he was supposed to—what he could say to that. Because Blaine really had been right. How does someone compete with Fate?

"I'm—"

"Don't say you're sorry, Kurt. It's not your fault, just…" He went quiet, then continued, his voice wavering a little more than it had been for the duration of their chat. "Were you ever even happy with me?"

Kurt hesitated, and he didn't mean for it to, but his silence stretched for a second longer than it should've. And before he could make a move to try and fix it, Chandler nodded his head sharply, jerkily, before taking a step back away from him.

"Right." He muttered, his voice thick. He took another step back, then turned around and started to walk away completely, throwing over his shoulder, "Have a nice life, Kurt."

Kurt sighed a little, his eyebrows cinched together in a scowl, annoyed at himself as he watched Chandler's back as the boy moved away from him down the hall, then turned the corner, out of sight.