A/N Another chapter done. I apologize for not updating sooner. But real life really sucks!

Chapter 14

Harry stumbled out of the fireplace and dusted himself. Now that he was at the Malfoy Manor, he was at a loss of what to do. He looked around wondering if anyone's there. But all he found was an empty room which was tastefully done in muted colours. He stopped for a moment to ponder his next steps. Out of nowhere came the thought that he was meeting his soul mates for the first time without the urge to kill or maim each other. He wanted to impress them and looking down at himself in his old school robes made him grimace at himself. This was not how their first meeting should go.

Since no one came asking him questions he quickly went about cleaning himself. He waved his wand in front of him and his glamour dropped. Sirius had been furious of what he learned about Harry's life with the Durselys that he immediately went about rectifying that. With some help from Remus, Sirius was able to brew nutrient potions and growth potions that now Harry looked quite different from how he would have been if not treated properly. He wore glamours at school to fool Dumbledore and the Order.

Harry now looked quite healthy with glowing rosy cheeks. His hair was still the mop of unruly mess but somewhat tamed as it had been left to grow and now hang up to his neck and a fringe in front covers the scar. He also grew in to a considerable height reaching 6'2". He was not scrawny anymore and had a lean but muscular build. Finally he removed his glasses and pocketed them as his eyesight had also being corrected. Harry couldn't believe Dumbledore had left his with such bad eyesight as it could have been easily treated. He was surprised that no one noticed that he was the only student wearing glasses.

It had been around ten minutes since his arrival and still no one came his way, worried that he won't be welcomed Harry took a few steps toward the doorway when he heard footsteps. Instantly he knew it was Lucius coming his way so he waited. Few seconds later Lucius appeared and stood at the door way looking at Harry in stunned silence.

When Lucius was first alerted to the fact someone entered the Manor via floo, he had been in the middle of a meeting with Marvolo, Bella and the Lestrange brothers. They were discussing about some changes to the current law on Dark Creatures. It was to be a quick meeting so he and Marvolo would be free to meet Harry later. So thinking his elves would see to who ever came, he continued with the meeting when it suddenly dawned to him that the particular room from which the floo alarm went off was chosen only for Harry. So Lucius had quickly excused himself from the meeting giving a significant look to Marvolo and went in search of Harry. But what he saw was not what he expected at all. The Harry Potter he saw just this evening at Hogsmeade had completely transformed and in his stead stood a tall handsome young man with beautiful piercing green eyes the colour of the Killing Curse.

"Harry?" Lucius asked uncertainly looking up and down the young man. Said young man looked at him and smiled before answering. "Lucius, I hope I'm not intruding. I mean I found something that couldn't wait until later. So I came as soon as I heard it. I'm not disturbing you, am I? I could come back later as we agreed. It's just that I_"

"Harry, you are not disturbing nor are you intruding." Lucius interrupted Harry's nervous rambling. "Now take a deep breath and calm yourself down. We were in the middle of a meeting but it will end soon. Come let us wait till Marvolo comes, he knows of your arrival."

Gently Lucius led Harry away from the room but Harry was hardly paying any attention to his surroundings. The day's events came crashing down on him. He couldn't understand any of it and he wanted to impress his soul mates with their first meeting, not act like a scared nervous kitten. But he was glad of Lucius's hand on his back giving him silent support.

Lucius took Harry towards his private wing. It was separated from the rest of the Manor and provided the privacy and isolation Harry required. He showed Harry in to the small living room.

"Take a seat Harry. I can tell you have been through a lot today but whatever happened, remember that Marvolo and I are with you always. Now do you require anything to drink? perhaps a cup of tea?"

Harry who was looking around the cozy living room nodded his head in appreciation. He needs to calm down and trust his mates. It was the reason he came here in the first place. Still he couldn't help himself be tongue tied. Harry was jerked back to the present with the sudden arrival of a house elf carrying a tray. They silently had tea, Lucius did not question Harry but waited patiently until Harry was comfortable enough to talk with him.

It didn't take long for Harry to calm his nerves. "I'm sorry if I over reacted Lucius, but what I learned today completely turned my world upside down." Harry said with an apologetic smile.

"No need to apologize Harry. We are here for you anywhere any time. We'll help you whatever the matter is." Lucius replied with a gentle smile. Harry couldn't help but think that the smile made Lucius to look years younger and wanted to know what else could make him smile like that. Before anything else could be said they both felt the arrival of their mate.

Sure enough, Marvolo arrived and he too couldn't stop himself from looking at Harry in shock. Harry blushed under the intense gaze but didn't look away as he smiled at his mate. Strangely Marvolo's presence had a strong calming effect on him and he felt at ease.

"Harry, are you alright? Did anything happen at school? That old fool didn't try anything, did he?" Marvolo asked him without pausing or waiting for a reply. Harry suddenly had an idea that Marvolo was nervous as well which caused him to exchange an amused smile with Lucius. The Dark Lord was nervous! But Harry didn't comment about that but turned to Marvolo who was still looking a bit worried. Harry then decided to get straight in to the matter at hand.

"I'm fine Marvolo. It's just that after our meeting with Aberforth I had a meeting of my own with a few of my friends including Draco" Harry said nodding at Lucius. "The Weasley twins came as well and they had managed to question Trelawney regarding the prophecy. That's what made me come here as soon as possible because I don't know who else to talk to."

"Don't worry Harry, we'll help you. Now why don't start at the beginning. Tell us what Aberforth had to say first." Marvolo said. Harry nodded and relayed everything Aberforth said.

Marvolo and Lucius were stunned in to silence upon hearing it. "This is unexpected" Marvolo finally spoke. "I wonder how Dumbledore had kept this quiet for so long. If this could be publicized with enough proof, Dumbledore's popularity would fade considerably thus decreasing his power base."

"I agree" Lucius commented nodding his head. "He had made a whole different world just because he had some bad experiences with Dark Magic. How can he justify that? Making new rules and banning Dark Magic because he didn't get what he wanted? People would definitely stop following him if we could make this common knowledge"

"I know, that's why I wanted to talk with you at first" Said Harry. "I wanted to discuss how it should be done but when I heard what Trelawny said I sort of lost my mind" Harry said sheepishly.

"What exactly did you learn about her that made you so agitated? Tell us Harry, we'll discuss about the other issue later" Marvolo declared.

Harry took a deep breath and launched in to the story.

Silence met with Harry at the end of his speech. Marvolo could not believe what he heard. Dumbledore couldn't possibly know Harry would be Marvolo's soul mate nor he could predict that Harry would be chosen as the prophecy child. So why go to search lengths? No wonder Harry went a little mad. Dumbledore worked alone and Marvolo doubted any one knew what his plans were for Harry and himself. He didn't think his hatred for Dumbledore would increase, but it did. He couldn't help the loathing he felt for Dumbledore, so much so that the windows and all the glass around them started to rattle with his anger. A gentle hand on his shoulder had him calming down instantly. Marvolo looked up to see Harry sitting beside him on the couch and couldn't stop himself from smiling at Harry who smiled back but didn't back away. Marvolo quickly stamped down the desire that build up in him with just that gentle gesture, this was not the time. But soon.

Lucius had been quiet till now knowing instinctively that Harry would be able to calm Marvolo down. "It's a good thing you came for us quickly Harry" Lucius said. "With Dumbledore's constant present at Hogwarts, you cannot do many things. Let us take care of this information. It's true that we cannot understand Dumbledore's motives at this very moment, but nothing can stay buried forever Harry. We will find everything and see the end of this quickly."

Marvolo nodded in agreement. "It's a shock to every one of us. Once we calm down and think rationally everything will be cleared. Do not worry, no matter what we'll be there for you. You're our mate and it is our responsibility to care for you."

Harry was glad that he made the decision to come to them and most importantly trust them. He would be lying if he said that he didn't have his doubts about his soul mates. But those feelings had vanished as soon as he came face to face with Lucius. These men just promised him everything he wanted, needed and craved since he was a child. Someone to take care of him, love him for who he is. A family of his own. He knew he had his friends and Sirius and Remus, but growing up with the Durselys had a part of him wanting to be the centre of attention. No, not the fame he got for being the boy who lived but that of a loved one. He knew at once that he would be loved and cared for by his soul mates. It encouraged him to face whatever Dumbledore had in store for him.

Since words failed him Harry just inched closer to Marvolo and rested his head on Marvolo's shoulder. A shift on the couch alerted to the fact that Lucius had joined them as well. For a moment all of them forgot the rest of the world and just basked in the feeling of each other. They can worry about Dumbledore later, for now it was all about them.

Harry's sudden departure had stunned them all in to silence which was broken by Fred who asked tentatively, "Will he be okay?"

"Yeah, don't worry. I mean we all are shocked to hear that so think what it must have done to Harry?" Hermione said reassuringly.

"He went for his soul mates, I'm sure they would know what to do and most importantly they would be able to calm him down" Ron said and asked "Should we inform Sirius? "

"No let him talk to them himself. This is something Harry needs to do. Besides I don't wanna be the one to inform Sirius that Harry had gone to meet his soul mates without telling him first" Hermione replied with a shrug. And the others except the Slytherins nodded understandably while said Slytherins looked at them in confusion. Luna took pity on Draco and Blaise and explained. "Sirius is very protective of Harry. Even though Harry is of age he doesn't want him to meet his soul mates alone at least until they officially bond. He thinks Harry's teenage hormones would get the better of him"

It took Draco a minute to understand what Luna said and scrunched up his face in disgust. "That's my father and the Dark Lord you are talking about. Ohh ew. I do not want to think about my father and Harry in any way sexual. Thank you so much for the mental picture." Draco said with a shudder causing the rest of them to laugh.

"Oh but Draco, you should just get used to that you know," Ron said with a mischievous smile looking scarily like the twins. "Harry's your father's soul mate, meaning he will be your step father. You should not talk about your step father like that".

All the colour drained from Draco's face at Ron's words. "Oh Merlin! Potter's my step father. Why didn't I think of that before?"

"Don't be a drama queen Draco" Blaise quickly intervened before it went out of control. "You can worry about that later now what should we do about our current situation?" He asked turning to the others. The mood at once became somber. Everyone remembering why they were here in the first place.

"There's nothing we can do except look for more information but I doubt we'll succeed much considering we are at school and under Dumbledore's watchful eye." Luna said in a firm voice surprising everyone except Neville who was used to Luna's sudden behavioral changes.

Hermione agreed with her nodding her head, "Yes, we should wait until Harry returns. Once Sirius also has been informed we could come up with something with their input as well"

"There's no point in waiting for him I think" Neville said thoughtfully. "We'll leave now and return another day. I doubt Harry will be in any condition to discuss war strategies with his current mood".

Everyone nodded their consent and left the Room of Requirement in twos and threes. Everyone was worried for their friend's sake. Even Draco and Blaise, who had no reason to worry, couldn't help but be concerned for him. But for now they'll wait for further news.

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