Warnings: Mentions of perceived infidelity

*~*~*~ This has been edited by the wonderful _World_In_Black_and_White aka Lucy *~*~*~*~

Chapter Twelve

The next morning was beautiful out; in fact, Harry awoke to the sounds of one of the few neighbouring birds chirping away. Hedwig, who went for a fly the previous night, had returned and was sitting on her perch, grooming her feathers. The creeks and groans of such an old house were nearly silent, the only noise being from Kreacher cleaning. For a moment, only a brief space in time, Harry forgot about the night before.

It was crushing when he remembered what he had been told, like a wave the previous day crashed down upon him, making him gasp. As the information sunk in, Harry couldn't hold back the few tears that slipped past his eyes. Sitting up, the wizard angrily wiped them off his face and took a breath before opening his eyes. The sun through the window was lost to him, the sounds of the birds now deaf to his ears.

Looking at Hedwig gave Harry some comfort and taking his waking form as permission, the faithful owl flew to him. Landing on his blanket-covered knee Hedwig looked up at her master. Moving one of his hands, Harry effortlessly pat her while he began to speak. Perhaps if he explained it to someone who couldn't answer him back, maybe he would be able to make sense of it all.

"I'm supposed to mate with someone, Hedwig, a man who I've never even met! Dumbledore said that he could be the turning point of the war, that he's too powerful to let slip by. He says that he's nothing like the people now that have his name, but a Malfoy is a Malfoy, right? I mean how different could he be? I suppose people said the same thing about Sirius. I just... I don't even know if I can do this Hedwig, never once did I even think about a guy like that. I've had a crush on Cho; dated Ginny for a bit, what if I'm completely straight?"

Cooing softly, Hedwig listened to her master speak, after all it was her job to keep him safe, even from himself. Unlike most owls Hedwig was fully capable of understanding what her master said. Batting her head against his hand when he next patted her she tried to give as much comfort as she could. She was sure that Albus knew what he was doing, after all he may have the war to deal with, but her master was one of his favourites. He would not harm him unless there was no other choice.

Hearing Harry's stomach rumble, Hedwig hopped off his knee to let him get up to find something to eat. While getting up Harry wondered how he could deal with this, one thing was for certain he needed to speak with someone about what he should do. It would be impossible for him to speak to Dumbledore objectively about his situation, and Ron would blow a gasket once the word Malfoy was out of his mouth. The only reasonable one of his friends that wouldn't judge would be Hermione, but even she wouldn't know what to do without looking up everything.

Finally, the answer came to him, Remus would know. While he wasn't as close to the werewolf as he would like Harry was sure that he would be of some help. The only problem was trying to get a hold of the werewolf, normally he would be easy to access, but lately he had been called away to speak to the werewolf packs about joining the light. Making his way downstairs, Harry made his decision to write to Remus after he was done of breakfast.

As he made his way to the kitchen, Harry noticed that unlike normal mornings there was nobody in the kitchen this morning. Thinking about it, Harry realized that perhaps Dumbledore wanted to make sure that he had nobody to rant to. Like the summer of his fifth year he was left alone to deal with what had happened. Although not as final as the death of Sirius, this was a life-changing event and he would be left alone to deal with it again.

At that thought a surge of anger came up from Harry's chest, anger that he was sure could someday consume him. Who was Dumbledore to make that choice for him? Who was Dumbledore to cut him off from any support he could find? Oh, he knew the old man was in his own way trying to protect him, was trying to help him, but at the same time he was also trying to control him. Harry had realized a long time ago that Dumbledore was always trying to help, that he was trying to make sure that the light survived this war but was willing to pay any cost to do so.

Taking a deep breath Harry squished the rage down again, like he had to most of his life, and went about to make some tea and breakfast. Although he could cook after living with the Dursley's Harry decided on just some toast with jam and his tea for the morning. Sitting down at the table to eat, he wondered once again at his situation.

Even if he disliked... okay, hated the thought of mating with someone he didn't choose, that didn't mean that he didn't have options. If what Dumbledore said was true and this Lord Malfoy was as powerful and influential enough to turn the tides of war, then he didn't have a choice, he had to mate with him. There was always the option of running away, but he doubted he would get far without being found out by The Order or Voldemort

Another option, the one most appealing to the Slytherin side was to only pretend to go with it. What if once Voldemort was dead he simply ran away? What could this Lord Malfoy do? Surely there was some law again forcing him to mate with him, after all rape was still illegal no matter how you looked at it. It wouldn't be that he would marry the man anyways; last he heard gay marriage wasn't possible. He of course wouldn't ask for anything, wouldn't use his money or power for anything besides the war.

Thinking more of it, Harry realized that it would in fact be horrible for the man if there were feelings involved. Sighing, Harry took another sip of his tea and pondered. What if he didn't express emotion? Despite being mates there was no way love could be involved this early in the game. So long as he didn't let Malfoy fall in love then nobody got hurt. The more he thought about it, the more the plan seemed to form in his mind.

The Slytherin side of his brain was quite happy that he wouldn't have to be forced to have no choice in the matter, while the Gryffindor half was happy nobody was hurt. It was the pit of his stomach the one that told him to tell someone about his dreams, the one that told him to listen to Snape, and the one that never let him down if only he listened, that spoke of terrible things to come, but he was too busy to listen.

It wasn't until later that night Remus came back to the house, he looked tired, but he had a glow to him that Harry hadn't seen since Sirius. For a moment he didn't know what had taken over Remus, after all he had only gone to the ball with the rest of The Order and now he was looking relaxed. It was then that what Dumbledore said clued him in. 'Albus said that Lord Malfoy caught my scent from those that I knew at the ball... maybe my scent caused a reaction for him to know... but Remus wouldn't, and surely someone trying to impress his mate wouldn't...'

Remus was the one that suggested that they sit down to talk and getting the tea ready the older man was also the first to start the conversation. Although he looked relaxed there was a tense air around him while he spoke.

"I don't know what you've been told Harry, about what happened at the ball, or what we as The Order are trying to accomplish with Lord Malfoy. If you don't know by now than I guess I should tell you... William isn't human; he's a vampire... from what I can tell an old and very powerful vampire."

Nodding his head, Harry indicated for Remus to continue as he paused in his speech. He had known that Malfoy was a vampire, and given the math he knew that he was old enough, but powerful? Sure, he knew that the man had influence with the Ministry but not any true power as a vampire.

"When Albus first started recruiting him Lord Malfoy asked only for one thing as a promise to the light. He asked that when it was made known whom his chosen mate was that he would be able to complete the bond without ridicule or anyone trying to stop him. When everyone went the ball last night... there was mixed reactions of course, none of us felt like we belonged in his mansion for starters... and what was peculiar was how he reacted."

"He never harmed anyone, but when he got close enough to smell your scent Harry... he seemed to lose himself a bit. His eyes dilated, his fangs became more noticeable and what I noticed that others couldn't was the scent of arousal. The closer the person he could smell was to you, or had been to you, the worse he got."

Looking to Harry so that he could see his eyes, Remus tried to think of how he would be able to break this to Harry. There was no way that he would be able to keep this kind of thing from his cub. Trying to form the words, Remus took a breath before he continued, getting his thoughts together.

"I had the most of your scent last night, cub. After speaking with Albus and letting him know what I could smell I stayed behind. He was supposed to tell you that Lord Malfoy is needed if we want to win this war, and that you are his mate... but... I... I had to know if he would harm you. He could no more stop himself than I could stop my transformation during the full moon, I'm sorry cub but we nearly… though he stopped before it got to removing clothing he nearly tried to claim me last night."

There was only silence in the room for a few minutes; on the one hand Harry had known that it had happened. Some part inside of him felt betrayed something that he didn't understand. It didn't make sense that he would care about this Lord Malfoy having sex with someone else, after all he didn't want to be his mate. There was a nagging voice on the back on his head that told him differently, that he wanted this William to prove his loyalty to him and only him.

"You have to understand, Harry... the need for a creature to claim their mate, to make sure that no other is able to take them is the most powerful feeling we will ever experience. Lord Malfoy however is willing to try and suppress his need, to try and tame that part of him that wants nothing more than to find you to complete the bond. There is only one way for this to happen Harry so that you don't have to go around him. Over the next few weeks I will be visiting him after seeing you; with your scent on me he will resist the temptation as much as possible until the need is no longer there."

"What?"

The exclamation came out before he could even register that he had said it. Pausing for a moment to get his thoughts together, Harry tried to think about what he wanted to say.

"I just... both you and Dumbledore have said that I need to accept this... accept that Lord Malfoy will be my mate. Now you're saying that I have to let him cheat on me? How could someone expect me to accept this? No, if this Lord Malfoy wants me then he is going to have to prove it."

Remus didn't speak; after all he knew that Harry had a point to make. The problem wasn't that he didn't understand his cub; it was that his cub didn't fully understand the situation. Sighing, Remus tried to think about how to phrase what he wanted to explain.

"Harry... you have to understand that if you don't want him to try and resist your scent on me, then we he sees you he will not be able to resist you. If you don't allow this to happen, allow him to use me as a substitute until he gets his control in order he will rape you Harry. There is no stopping a creature that had found their mate, which is why fate normally gives us to another creature." Pausing ever so slightly, Remus waited for the information to be absorbed before he continued.

"I know that it's not fair, that you don't want this to happen and I understand, Merlin Harry, I understand why, but you have to let it. With time he will be able to resist the temptation and there are other things that we would be able to do to help, if he had something that smelt of you it would help as well. We can try other things, but you can't ask me to wait to have you taken by your mate..."

Harry took a minute to think things over, on the one hand the thought of his mate being with someone else while trying to win him over made him feel ill. On the other he had no desire to be taken against his will by anyone.

"What about you, Remus? Didn't he hurt you?"

Shaking his head, Remus answered the question that he hoped would not come up in the conversation.

"No Harry, although driven by lust he did not harm me... but I am not... I have... it wasn't my first time in such a situation. You haven't met him yet, but Lord Malfoy isn't exactly hard on the eyes. If he was genuinely interested and not already destined for you I would have wished for chance to be with him romantically."

Looking up at Remus, Harry knew that he must look shocked, after all Remus had never given him the impression that he was gay. Even while going through his memories he couldn't see anything that would indicate that he would like men. Suddenly Harry felt like someone had wrapped a fist around his heart. The night that he had first seen Sirius, the look in their eyes, it had been more than what he assumed.

Trying to think back to every time he saw Remus and Sirius together, from when they were reunited to Christmas and finally to the night that made him tear up. When he thought back to the night that Sirius fell through the veil Harry tried to focus his thoughts to Remus, how he acted, how he reacted. Now thinking on it, Remus changed since then, hung around Harry more often, looking like he was somehow broken.

At first Harry had assumed that it was the loss of his best friend, his only connection to his old life. Now he realized that Remus now looked at Harry as his only connection, as his only thing worth living for since Sirius' death. When Sirius was alive the looks were different than what he gave Harry, were more tender more emotional. Now Remus seemed for lack of a better word, empty.

"Was... was he your mate?"

The question was asked so softly that Harry wondered if Remus could even hear it. As he watched Remus and saw the look in his eyes, he almost wished that he could take the question back, but a part of him had to know. Harry had only been able to spend at most a few weeks with his godfather, but in those weeks... no in the first few hours of knowing him he could claim that he loved the man dearly. It hurt now to realize that neither Remus nor Sirius thought to tell him about their relationship.

"He found out during our fifth year, but Moony... he knew since our first."

Nodding his head slightly, Harry could understand that. It would be hard enough for Remus to understand the feelings that he was experiencing at such an early age... infatuation was one thing but being mates would be another. One major fault of the Wizarding world that was pointed out to him numerous times by Hermione was the fact that it was hard to come by any information for creatures. Sure, they had classes dedicated to the study, but for personal research, it was incredibly hard to come by. Classes were supposed to be based on basic knowledge of the creature followed by how to identify and if it was dangerous, how to kill it.

Remus would have had to figure out what was happening to him on his own, after all if Hermione was unable to find close to nothing about werewolves and their habits, or Merlin forbid how to help them then it would be next to impossible. Standing up from his spot, Harry waved off Remus' protest with a simple "I need to think" before he made his way to his room.

Once he made his way to his bedroom, Harry once again wondered what Fate had in store for him next. First, he loses his family because of some maniac, then he gets put into an abusive home, he gets pulled out of his mundane life to say that he's magical, then finds out he's famous for being alive. He is faced with his parent's murderer who is now after him again and again, losing the only family he has left, and now this, he can't even choose who he gives his body to.

Flopping down on the bed, Harry closes his eyes and places an arm across his forehead. On the one hand he understood; he really did understand the fact that both Remus and Malfoy couldn't help what happened, that they were victims too. He could understand logically that Remus is just trying to help him in the long run, but no matter how much sense it made he couldn't accept it. Looking at the ceiling Harry made his choice.

'No, if he wants me... then he will have to come around and fight the temptation on his own. I will not have him snogging someone else while I wait here like bought wife!'

Somewhere in Malfoy manor, while tending to his own duties, Spike also known as William Malfoy shivered.

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