Harry's POV
Bill and Antonio stood shoulder to shoulder. Bill looked exhausted but extremely glad. Antonio was still pissed. (I think I'm starting to lose patients with his bad attitude problem). I didn't even get the chance to speak. They both grabbed an arm and hauled me down stairs. Without a word to anyone, they kept tugging and pulling until we were all grabbing a fistful of floo powder and throwing it into the fire.
Bill went first and then me. Antonio quickly followed. Several hunters were waiting at the old womans house. Bill ordered them to find Fenrir and tell him that they found me. Antonio said nothing and joined the rest of the hunters in leaving. Bill grabbed my arm and walked me all the way back to the caves. I was too scared to say anything. You know, that kid nervous, when you're about to be scolded by a teacher or parent. Especially if you don't know exactly what's coming to you.
"Harry!" A booming voice called out to me as soon as Bill and I entered the clearing. I blinked at the beam of sunlight and felt myself being crushed into a bone splitting hug. I naturally wrapped my arms around the warm body before I knew who it was. Then again it had to be Fenrir. I have no idea why it had to be him. But it did.
"God, Harry. Where have you been? I was so worried about you." His words gushed as my eyes adjusted to the glare of sunlight. His fingers combed through my hair, holding my entire body to his. Refusing to let me go. I patted his back gently. I enjoyed the embrace just as much as he needed it.
"I'm sorry, Fenrir. I didn't realize how late I was." I whispered to him. It's true that I missed him too. But I think he's taking this a step too far really. Fenrir pulled away. I didn't like the lose of contact but I let it happen. He kept my hands and looked down at me.
"What are you talking about, Harry?" His eyes studied me closely. I felt the burn on my skin of being watched. I tried ti shrug it off.
"I over slept. Wasn't I suppose to be back a few hours ago?" His jaw fell. Literally, I'm not kidding. He was so shocked over this little bit of news that his mouth popped open and stayed there for several seconds. Any other day I would have laughed. But now, I'm not so sure if that's a good idea.
"Harry, you've been gone since yesterday." Okay, was that thunder clap real or just me? I recalled the dread that knotted up in my stomach during that dream. Maybe it wasn't actually a dream? Maybe I'm not that crazy.
My skin started to crawl too. Muscles twitched and I shook. It wasn't a dream. That means that someone really did kidnap me. Someone chained me to a bed and then put a spell on me to make me sleep. Fenrir didn't miss a thing. He tossed a strong arm around my shoulder and the other under my knees. I lost my breath as he picked me up as easily as a rag doll.
"Fenrir, what-"
"Don't." His voice was commanding. The only reason I didn't flinch was the edge of fear buried under the faint growl. When I looked at his eyes, I could tell that somehow, he was every bit as scared as I was. I wanted to reach up and hold him too. It wasn't until the light disappeared that I might have possibly guessed.
"What do you remember?" Fenrir asked as he set me on his bed. I wanted so badly to just pull myself into the corner. But I stayed on the edge, staring at my bare toes. I didn't get to grab my shoes from the Leaky Cauldron. Funny, I didn't notice it until now.
"Nothing really. I woke up in some weird room. I was chained to the head board and some people walked in. One of them charmed me and I fell asleep again. That was it. When I woke up again, Bill and Antonio were there to take me back here." I tried to keep it short. I also tried to stop shaking like a stupid child. Two things I failed miserably at.
"Did anything strange happen before you went to sleep?" I shook my head no. There wasn't anything strange. The bad stink was a little weird but not that bad. Fenrir pulled me into him again.
"I'm so sorry, Harry. I should have never let this happen to you." I shook my head quickly.
"No, Fenrir."
"Yes, Harry. This was my fault. Please don't try to defend me; I don't deserve it." He mumbled the words as he buried his face into my hair. I reached my hand up his neck to comb my fingers through his hair.
"I don't care. I don't want you to beat yourself up over something so stupid. I'm fine. This kind of thing happens all the time." Again, Fenrir tore himself from me. Again I hated the lost of contact.
"Exactly. It shouldn't happen all the time. Especially now that I'm here. I want you safe, Harry. Not waking up chained in god knows where." His huge hand was stroking him cheek. I sighed at the simple tough alone. I found myself touching that hand, trapping it there. I don't want him to pull away.
"Still. Don't mind it." I could tell Fenrir was about to disagree and argue a little more. So I quickly added, while holding his hand a little tighter.
"Besides, it's not like this could happen again. I'll be a werewolf for the next full moon anyway, so there's no reason for me to go to the wizarding world, right?" Fenrir was quiet for a moment before letting his breath out. In an instant, he kind of changed. His expression was more serious and his body became freakishly still. He looked somehow guilty about something.
"There's something I need to tell you." He whispered. I noticed how his eyes spaced out over the air above my head. Like he didn't want to see my expression. I waited, but the curiosity was murder. I wanted him to just spit it out. The way he was behaving was starting to worry me.
"I-"
Fenrir's POV
I swallowed my pride and went for it. There really is no doubt now. Harry and I are mates. Nothing has seemed to really change with my acceptance for it, except for the acceptance itself. The last 24 hours have been hell. If I wasn't angrily searching for Harry (or yelling at my hunters to find him) I was ready to start crying. The feeling was nearly as bad as loosing Harry. I'm a grown man, the fearless leader of the largest werewolf pack in Europe. I'm been to battle more times then I remember and have witnessed the glory of life. Wanting to curl into a fetal position and bawl like an infant was not something I was experienced in.
Okay, I was exaggerating a little bit. But the pain of possibly loosing Harry forever was so unbearable. I never felt this way even when my father and mother died. Now it was a dim memory. Thinking about any point in time over the last day brought back every emotion with the need to vomit or scream. Or both.
So I decided to tell Harry. About how we might be mates. Just as I opened my mouth to speak, disaster struck. Well not a real disaster. Just Bill interrupting me. Draco, Sandy, and Cassandra want to see Harry. They've been missing him too. Hiding my disdain for this, I nodded and gestured for Harry to leave first. He patted my hand and hopped off the bed. I could hear how excited the teens were to see each other through the curtain that hid the silent tears that pooled in my eyes.
Why is this so hard?
Harry's POV
Draco and Sandy happily threw themselves at me. We all had tears in our eyes as we laughed. Aunta Cassy took to scolding me as a joke for disappearing. All I could to was grin. But inside of my head somewhere, there was a part of me that wanted to grimace. I could tell something bad just happened. Yet I'm back here. I'm safe, right? Draco had explained to me how safe it was around here for werewolves. I know I'm not technically one but being part of the pack pretty much sums up the protection thing.
I was a little sad that I missed what Fenrir wanted to say. But when Aunta Cassy invited me for a big lunch, I couldn't refuse. I don't feel hungry but I did feel very hollow. I'm sure that now that I was thinking of it, I'll be absolutely starving. Many of the other pack members welcomed me back when they saw me. I resisted the urge to hug half of them. That would be painfully rude.
But the person the surprised me most was Antonio. He walked right up to me, ignoring all others, and asked if I was okay. I nodded, although I was pretty much flabbergasted (such a weird word). For the first time, his features softened. The moment of that was so short, I wasn't even sure if it actually happened. He disappeared just as quickly as he came. You know, mixed messages really really suck.
The rest of the day, I of course didn't work. It wasn't getting done anyway. Everyone was out looking for me. I wanted to cry tears of joy many times because of how much I realized they cared about me. Me, a wizard who was only welcomed to the pack a little over two days ago. I was nothing to them before. It changed so quickly.
Fenrir didn't come to see me for the rest of the day. I sometimes caught glimpses of him in the corner of the room. No matter what, he hung back. And just when I would start to approach him, someone would distract me for a mere second and Fenrir would disappear for god knows how long. It wasn't long until the distraction of company wasn't enough. I missed him as if we said good bye for the second time this week.
I didn't see him until everyone was going to bed. I had no where else to really go, so I found Fenrir's room again. He wasn't there when I collapsed into the pillows, pulling the thick blanket over myself. What was bothering him? He was going to tell me something earlier but ever since, I feel like he's been avoiding me. I want to know what was bothering him. But there's no way for me to know without him telling me.
Just because I know you guys have been wanting an update. Plus I need a little more time to develop the relationship between Fenrir and Harry. For those of you that actually read these things, it's technically a spoiler. But it's not like no one knew that it was going happen in the first place. So, don't freak out if I don't update for a while, okay?
A.N.