Chapter 12: mates

"So I found my mate."

It was that one simple sentence that made every seventh year lion stop eating and looked at Hermione, who began to fidget under the states.

"Really? Who is it?"

"Is he cute?"

"Is he in Gryffindor?"

"What year is he?"

"Do we know him?"

"Where did you meet him?"

"ENOUGH!" she yelled, causing everyone in the great hall to look at her. She flushed but turned back to her friends," one question at a time! First of all it's not a he it's a girl. Yes she is cute. No she's not in Gryffindor. Yes you know her. We met in the library; she stopped me from getting crushed from a bunch of heavy books."

"Sounds great 'Mione. Who is she?" Harry asked, taking a sip of his pumpkin juice.

Hermione mumbled under her breathe and Harry leaned over, "what was that?" again she mumbled, only slightly louder but still too low to understand, "speak up now."

"I SAID MY MATE IS PANSY PARKINSON!" she yelled then slapped her hands over her mouth when she realized that she yelled it out loud.

"PARKINSON!" they all yelled as one, turning to look at the Slythetin girl who was looking somewhat frightened by all the angry Gryffindor glaring at her.

The great hall was silent as everyone watched the drama unfold. The silence was broken by the sound of Harry laughing.

"What's wrong with him?" Seamus asked, turning to look at his friend.

"I think he's finally gone around the bend!" Neville said.

"Harry? Why are you laughing?" Hermione asked.

It was a few more seconds before calmed down enough to speak,"oh this is rich! Two thirds of the golden trio are mated to two people who are the perfect example of how slytherins be!" he laughed.

"Harry your mate is a slytherin?" Dean asked.

Harry smirked, "I'm not talking about me."Although his mate was in Slytherin, he didn't want anyone to know before he was 100% sure Malfoy was his mate. He nodded towards Ron, "His mate is Zabini."

"WHAT!" everyone yelled, mostly because a lot of them didn't realize Ron was gay.

"Is that true Ron?" Ginny asked her brother.

Ron, the poor guy, was as red as his hair when he nodded, "yes I found out this morning."

They all looked between the two Gryffindor and the two slytherins, wondering

How people who are such opposites can be mates. Pansy and Blaise were also getting the third degree from their housemates. Harry wasn't surprised though, he knew that Pansy had fae blood in her and Blaise was a vampire as well. They were bound to find their mates and seeing as they picked Ron and Hermione didn't bother him in the least.

"Now that's what I call interhouse unity." Hermione elbowed Harry for his comment, who just laughed.

Everyone was so busy trying to wrap their heads around the fact that two sets of students who were polar opposites were also mated, teachers and staff included, that they didn't see Harry climb onto the table with a glass in his hand until he cleared his throat loudly.

The Gryffindor looked up at Harry as he used his wand to make his voice louder, "I propose a toast to the new couples!" he lifted his cup and everyone followed his example; Gryffindor smiling and chuckling at Harry's sudden urge to give a toast, Slytherins a little hesitant and wary of what the golden boy was going to say, Hufflepuffs smiling, Ravenclaws confused, teachers a little upset that Harry was standing on the table, and the headmaster smiling with his eyes twinkling like Christmas lights.

"To my best friends on finally finding someone who will love them as they deserve to be loved. I wish you and your mates all the happiness in the world." Hermione and Ron smiled at their friend. Harry smiled back and looked towards Pansy and Blaise, "To Parkinson and Blaise...good luck. Merlin knows you're going to need it with this family. "The Gryffindor laughed, knowing that the Weaslys, especially the twins, will make it hard on the two slytherins who were mated to their little brother and Hermione, who they considered a little sister.

"I wish a world of happiness for all of you but know this, you ever hurt my brother and sister in any way, shape or form," Harry's smiles twisted into a dark smirk, "and I promise there won't be a place on this earth that you'll be able to hide from me. Trust me when I say this: We lions look after our own and if you hurt them...well I can't be responsible for what happens to you."

The golden boy didn't look so golden at that moment as the look in his eyes promised unimaginable pain should Parkinson and Blaise hurt the two friends he considered his family. In fact all the seventh year Gryffindor was smirking in a way that you would think it was them who were slytherins. The slytherins all shuddered at the evil looks directed at their follow snakes.

"To the happy couples!" Everyone tapped their glasses against each others before downing the pumpkin juice in one gulp.

Harry smiled and wiped his mouth with his sleeve, "now a happy occasion such as this deserves some kind of a party. Don't you agree?" He asked his fellow lions, who all yelled and cheered in response. The raven haired boy looked towards the head of his house, staring at her with giant pleading eyes. The head lioness smiled and nodded her head. Harry whooped, "PARTY IN GRYFFINDOR HOUSE!"

The great hall was filled with the sounds of screaming Gryffindor. The other

Houses were confused seeing as they never went to a Gryffindor house so they did not know how wild the parties could get or how awesome they were. The Gryffindors each went to different tables and pulled their friends from other houses with them. Harry followed Hermione and Ron over to the slytherin table, the slytherins not entirely sure they wanted to go to a gryffindork party.

"Come on it will be fun, besides it's to celebrate your friends' new found mates. If you don't come, you might offend your hosts." Harry pouted then smirked when the snakes finally gave in and followed the other students up to the lions' common room.

"Nice speech Potter." Draco drawled as he looked at the smiling golden boy. Of course his heart didn't skip a beat when Harry turned that smile on him.

"Why thank you Malfoy. Now come we have a party to attend!" he grabbed Malfoy's arm and pulled him out of the great hall, Ron and Hermione pulling their mates behind him.

"Here we are!" by the time they got to the common room, it was filled with dancing and drinking students.

Parkinson, Zambini, and Malfoy all looked in slight awe at the huge common room; it was expanded to fit all the kids. Harry came back with drinks for everyone floating in front of him. The three slytherins looked at the plastic cups with slight hesitation.

"Oh relax its just fire whisky." With that said he downed the alcohol in one gulp, feeling it burn the back of his throat as it went down.

Shrugging they followed his example, the whiskey helping them to relax a little. Harry walked away from them, going to greet his other friends before sitting down on his chair by the fire, watching over the party like a king watching over his subjects at a ball. Which that was what Harry was to his fellow lions; the king of their den, their savior, their messiah, their only hope. Needless to say, Harry had all their lives in his hand. If he failed them then he wouldn't be able to live with himself. They were all counting on him.

Harry was pulled out of his depressing thoughts by someone pulling on his hand, "dance with me Potter." Draco told, not ask, Harry.

The boy who lived smiled and let himself be dragged to the middle of the dance floor. Draco pulled him close and it wasn't long before they were dancing as if they were the only two people in the world. They might as well been with the way they were dancing and grinding against each other. A slow song started and Harry looked around to see that most people were now pressed against each other, swaying slowly. Blushing, Harry looked over at Draco and saw the blonde staring back at him.

"may I have this dance?" he asked, bowing low while holding out his hand looking like one of those prince charming fellows from those animated Disney movies.

Harry nodded and placed his hand in Draco's open. The slytherin pulled him close and soon they were swaying to the slow beat of the song. Harry had his head resting on Draco's shoulder, realizing that the blonde was still taller than him even after his inheritance. It felt nice though, like he belonged there. Draco had his arms wrapped around the raven, inhaling Harry's wonderfully intoxicating smell, still a little confused about why he couldn't catch Harry's scent. He had sent a letter home to his parents about this and they said that Harry was probably masking his scent, but for what reason? They couldn't fathom why anyone would hide their scent, even if they weren't magical creatures and just plain magic folk. But pushing that aside,

Draco closed his eyes and just let himself move to the music with the smaller Gryffindor, not ignorant to how great it felt to have Harry in his arms. It just felt…right with his arms wrapped around the smaller Gryffindor's waist. He could hear Harry's steady heart beat and felt Harry wrap his arms tighter around Draco's neck. That moment was, for lack of a better world, perfect.

"Hey Harry come sing for us!" Exclaimed Seamus excitedly, breaking the couple out of their own little world.

And then the moment was ruined. Damn those stupid Gryffindorks! They had to ruin Draco's dance with Harry. Sighing, grey eyes looked down and he saw Harry blink a few times, as if he was coming out of a trance, before smiling at Draco. Ok maybe this time his heart skip a beat….or two.

Harry turned his head to the side, his arm still around Draco, and nodded, "sure!" he looked back at the blonde slytherin, smile still in place, "thanks for the wonderful dance Draco." He gave Draco a light peck on the cheek before pulling away. Draco let go, albeit reluctantly, of his black haired raven and watched as he bound over to where Finnegan was handing him a mike. Granger, Weasly, and Lovegood following behind him and grabbing instruments, or in Ron's case sitting behind a drum set.

"well this will be interesting." Blaise commented, looking at his loving smiling and nodding to something Harry said.

Harry spoke to the other two girls, who both nodded in agreement, before he turned back to the crowd. A smirk replaced his smile and he placed his lips close to the mike. He opened his mouth and…..

Desiree: CLIFFHANGER! Lol aren't I horrible? Well you just have to wait a little to find out what song Harry sings. Reviews are loved and if you review there is a 99% I will not only reply to you but I will also PUT UP A NEW CHAPTER FASTER!

P.S: this is 2,000 words. I made this longer just because i love you all xD arent you lucky?