ONE WAY OR ANOTHER

-CHAPTER TWENTYFIVE-

BETA: Green eyes

INFO: www. livejournal. com /users /draycious

LINK: http//www. fanfiction. net /s/2562885/1/

"What the hell are you doing with my godson?" Sirius yelled as stormed into the room absolutely furious and pushed Dracula hard enough that he almost toppled over. Raven looked around groggily. What the hell was going on? His world felt extremely wobbly, and he was disoriented.

"You fool!" Dracula hissed at Sirius. With a quick motion of his hand Sirius went flying across the room and hit the wall. He fell in an undignified heap remained laying there, unmoving. Dracula turned back to Raven and grabbed his head, looking into the green eyes.

"Raven, can you hear me?" he asked briskly, with a little hint of fear in his voice. This wasn't how it was supposed to go. He had been disconnected and lost control over Raven's mind.

"Hmmm," Raven mumbled. The shouting on Sirius's side had captured the other's house guest's interest and they came rushing into the room, ready to fight if something was wrong.

"Stand back!" Dracula said in a demanding voice when they all fell through the door in a heap.

"We better do as he says," Blade said quickly and tried to hold Severus back from running to his son. Blade knew those vampires, and he had quickly scanned the room to take in the situation. Apparently Black had made yet another scene, and by looks he had interrupted something very important. Blade realized he'd better leave this mess to Dracula's very competent hands. Instead of helping they all stared at Raven.

"He looks drugged," Draco remarked. Dracula looked over his shoulder.

"He isn't and he would have been fine if the dog hadn't pushed me away from Raven while I had him in my willpower." Remus put a spell on Sirius to wake him up and helped him onto his feet.

"What the fuck did you do that for!" Sirius screamed at Dracula.

"You shouldn't have pushed me in the first place!" Dracula responded, this time without looking away from Raven. Blade looked a bit guilty, he thought and even felt that he might have had a little something to do with Raven's current state of mind, and in a way he was right.

"What were you doing with Raven in the first place?" Sirius spat out with a fire that only he could. Dracula ignored him but the other's curiosity had been awakened with Sirius's question.

"What were you doing with him Dracula, that made Sirius react this way?" Remus asked calmly but not without a dangerous undertone. He was a werewolf, and as such he felt very protective towards what he considered his family. The animal within wanted to act, and the only reason that kept him from lashing out at Dracula was because the human in him exercised great control over the animal.

"I can't explain it so you all would understand. All I can think of to compare it to is occlumency. This is not dangerous, or shouldn't be unless you are interrupted, which we were. Why we did it in the first place I will not reveal since that is between Raven and I. However, I can assure you that I would never do anything to harm Raven, he too is my son after all."

Most of the gathered people nodded but a few looked a little bit skeptical, Sirius was included in that last group of course.

"What happened to him when Sirius broke your contact?" Lily asked and Sirius glared at her. She only glared right back and said nothing to him. She blamed the her husbands rash friend for her son's state.

"I took Raven to a special place within his mind. When Sirius pushed me away I lost contact with him and since I was his guide in that place he can not get back from there."

"But you can fix it, right?" Lily asked anxiously. It was her son after all, even if she did not know him as well as she would like too. Dracula frowned in frustration.

"Yes, I can fix it if only I can get a quiet moment around here," he said and directed it to everyone. Silence immediately fell upon the room and no one asked any more questions even through they might have liked to. Dracula murmured some well chosen words to Raven sometimes but since they were not directed to the crowd they were spoken so quietly that even Remus couldn't hear it despite his exceptional hearing. What they all could see was how Raven stopped looking so drugged; he looked more like he was in a normal trance, if such a thing existed. Slowly but steadily Dracula drew Raven back to the current time. Raven blinked and looked around the room.

"What the fuck happened, and who dared interrupt us?" he burst out.

"Er, I did. I thought he was doing something funny to you," Sirius confessed sheepishly. Raven rolled his eyes.

"Trust you to come barging in and destroy everything." He frowned. "But I love you anyway," he hastily added when he saw Sirius hanging his head. Sirius looked up and gave him a bright smile. Raven looked around once again and his gaze stilled on Blade. He gave him a hard glare.

"You," he said slowly, letting the word roll out slowly and dangerously on his tongue. He walked towards Blade in a stalking way, almost like an animal who had spotted its prey and that were now playing with it before eating it. Blade didn't seem faced with his advances and stared back at him defiantly. Out of nowhere Raven's pounced and went sailing through the air and hit Blade in the back of his head with his foot. The crowd parted with some startled yells. Blade rolled onto his feet quickly despite the ache in his head. Blade blocked the next blow thrown his way. By now the adults tried to stop the fight but they were unsuccessful. Whenever Raven had something in mind, he was determined to get through with it and nothing could stop him. Right now his target happened to be Blade.

"Let them be!" Dracula yelled over the commotion in the room.

"They are fighting Dracula!" Lily hissed like an angry cat. "We have to stop them. Someone's going to get hurt!"

"Oh, let them be! They're only playing; they need to get rid of some steam," Dracula said easily. The others looked at him incredulously.

"You can't be serious! Just look at them! That is for real man!" Draco shouted. Dracula shrugged.

"Don't worry, I will look after them. Now there, off you go. Chop, chop!" Dracula said and began to physically remove them all from the room before they could even comprehend what was happening. Then he proceeded to slam the door in their faces and lock it with his own special magic so the people outside would not be able to break through. Dracula turned around and watched the fight with amusement. He knew it was for real, but he also knew that they both needed it to be able to move on with their relationship. As things were looking right now, their friendship would crumble to dust if they didn't sort it out. Dracula knew that what they both needed was some serious ass kicking from each other, and then they would be fine again. It was the typical male bonding. Knock 'em down, love them more, was the motto.

Raven had managed to get Blade onto the floor with another nasty blow to the head and began to use the almost unconscious Blade as a human punching bag and he did not hold back the strength in his blows either. He was pissed off for real. Dracula cleared his throat after a while.

"Raven, unless you wish to kill your friend here and now I suggest you stop punching him this second. He is not immortal as the rest of us you know," he said dryly. Raven seemed to actually listen to him and with one final blow he stood up and dried his bloodied hands on his jeans.

"I needed that," he said quietly. Dracula nodded.

"I know you did," he said soothingly.

"He will be alright," Raven said tonelessly and looked at the heap, which was also known as Blade. He turned his emotional less face towards Dracula. "I think I need that memory sorting now, he will be out for a while."

Dracula nodded seriously. Raven really did need his help, now more than ever. He needed to get some balance in his life, tomorrow they would leave for the U.S. and they would not have time for this then. Raven also needed to have a serious conversation with Blade. They needed to sort things out, first their own tribulations, and then the problems they had together. The first step was taken; they had fought about it, now it was time to talk. Dracula would be there to make sure they got over things. He would look after them. After that, who knew, maybe they could finally move on with their lives and live it like the young men they were.