HI.

It's been years (4 and a half to be exact). Longer than I thought it was. You must be wondering what's up. I've decided to upload some chapters I worked on on the time in-between. I make no promises that the updates will be regular going forward, or that there will be many updates at all, but I wanted to at least put something out after so long.

This is a story I don't want to let go of even though I'm in a section that's been driving me crazy for literal years to write. I'd skip to the part I've been dying to write if I didn't think that the summer section was very important. I'm this close to just making it a summary but I feel it wouldn't do the summer arc much justice to do that.

I've also reuploaded the earlier chapters because I went through and edited them a few years ago. Now, I don't remember how much I edited but I don't think anything major changed. Those of you who have stuck around this long probably need a refresher though, so feel free to reread. Those of you who started reading more recently, thanks for giving it a chance.

I'll also be updating it on AO3, but it will take a little longer to upload it all.

January 5 - January 10

Harry and Seamus had spent the rest of their time together at Potter Manor basking in each other and their love and visiting Seamus' parents every other day. It had been one of the best Christmas holidays Harry had ever had. He'd really come to love Seamus family. Even Grandpa Cal (Callum Finnigan, Seamus' grandfather on his father's side of the family, a muggle farmer.) who had only stopped by for New Year's Day and had spent the entire day with his son in front of the television being perfect copies of each other. He was just an older version of his son with the added ability to make Seamus' father do his every bidding. It had been interesting to watch him uproot Mr. Finnigan, Shane, from his La-Z-Boy reclining chair with only a look just after Shane had done the same to Seamus.

Over the last two days though, Harry had been feeling a little off. It might have been the fact that they were returning to school today but he didn't think so. It wasn't much, just a slight discomfort, like there was something missing. Like there was something he wasn't hearing, seeing, feeling or smelling. It was a nagging sensation that seemed to have no cause He had told Seamus about it but he hadn't been sure what it could be either. Harry decided to just let it go. It would eventually go away. Hopefully.

For the moment, it was the least on his mind after being hugged and greeted by Hermione and Ron on the train back to Hogwarts. Neville had joined then and soon after Seamus, Ginny and Dean squeezed in with them. They spent the trip talking about their holidays and how much they enjoyed it. Harry was very vague about anything after visiting the Weasleys since Neville didn't know about his and Seamus' relationship. It was probably time they told him though.

It was during dinner when they had finally gotten to Hogwarts that anything weird really happened. Harry had been eating and listening to Hermione chatter on about her study schedule for the rest for the school year when he first got a whiff of the scent. It was very faint but he instantly caught it. He couldn't describe what it smelt like but it pulled him in. He looked around trying to pinpoint where it came from but there were too many people and too many scents to find it here. He couldn't understand what was so special about it either. He just knew he had to find it though. His Neko needed him to find it's source.

"Harry?" Seamus whispered catching his attention. He was sitting on the other side of him. He was looking at Harry with a worried look. "Is something the matter?"

"Later." Harry answered turning his attention back to his meal. He couldn't smell the scent again. It had been drowned in all the other scents in the Great Hall. His Neko's disappointment was obvious and sat like a weight in his mind. There was something about that scent that draw him and drove his Neko to find it. He needed to know what it was.

Harry spent the rest on the meal trying to find the scent again and thinking about what it could be and what it could mean and why he was having such a reaction to it. The trip up to Gryffindor tower was a blur as he was lost in thought considering all these things. He quickly got ready for bed and threw himself into Seamus' bed before anyone even came up for bed.

"What's bothering you?" Seamus asked suddenly appearing by his bedside. Harry looked up at him with a frown.

"Just something that happened at dinner. It's probably nothing." He answered. Seamus sat on the edge of the bed and carded his fingers through Harry's hair.

"What happened?" He asked.

"Nothing much really. Just one minute I was minding my own business and the next there's this smell that just lures me in and makes me want to chase it back to its source. It was only a little and it was gone the next minute anyway." Harry answered with a shrug. It was unusual but it wasn't a problem. The sensation had come and gone in less than a minute. Seamus was the one frowning now instead of Harry. "Weird huh. It was probably a scent I recognised but couldn't place."

"Maybe not." Seamus said seriously. Harry looked up at him questioningly. "It may be something much more serious."

"Much more serious? A scent?" Harry asked disbelievingly. How could a scent be serious? Unless it was the scent of a dangerous potion, he couldn't see how. Seamus nodded getting into the bed fully and putting up wordless silencing wards. He had a lot of practices over the past few months. He sat cross legged facing Harry.

"Yes. It could be a very serious thing that I really should have mentioned a long time ago. I didn't really think it would apply to us though. I'm sorry I didn't tell you before." Seamus answered mentally assessing what this could mean for them. He had known this could happen but had never really thought it would. Harry noticed how serious he looked and propped himself up on his elbows.

"Didn't think what would apply to us?" the brunette asked curiously.

"What you smelt might be another mate." Seamus said and Harry looked at him incredulously.

"What? You're my only mate." Harry said moving to sit up. Seamus couldn't think he had more than one person could he. He wouldn't do that to him.

"Potential mate would be a more accurate thing to say." Seamus said and he could see the confusion in Harry's eyes.

"Potential mate?"

"Let me start from the beginning." Seamus said ordering his thoughts. He should have explained this to Harry earlier. "When Nekos mate they form an undeniable bond and are or become romantically involved with whoever they mate with. Nekos are capable of having more than one mate. Usually there are only pairs of mates together but multiple mate sets are also capable of being made. It's not rare or anything like that. From what my mom said approximately 30 percent or less of mateships are multiples. It's not accurate considering that information is from years ago when there were actually more Neko so you can understand why I wouldn't think it applied to us."

"Multiple mates? Why would you think I'd do that to you?" Harry asked hurt that Seamus would think so.

"It's not a matter of doing anything to me." Seamus said and sighed. He really should have had this conversation sooner. Harry wasn't likely to understand this or accept this fully right now. "You wouldn't be cheating on me or anything like that because whoever the other mate is, is always someone we both like and we would all be in one relationship, a mateship made of us and the other mate."

"The three of us?" Harry asked sceptically. Seamus nodded.

"Or more." Seamus added.

"Or more?!" Harry exclaimed, scandalized.

"Yes. Multiple mateships in Nekos are usually four or five. It's rare to just be three. Even six is more likely than three." Seamus explained. "Three just isn't a very popular number in mateships."

"But- why do they even have more than one mate anyway?!" Harry asked as the thought of having multiple partners began to spin around in his head. He could not believe such a thing.

"Because they are needed to keep you sane." Seamus stated ensuring he had Harry's attention. "When you chose your first mate you bond with them forever but sometimes you need more to stabilise and strengthen the bond. Sometimes there are people other than your first mate who you need and are a part of you. You are drawn to them by their characteristics. In this case by their scent, its like a clue of who to find next. You smell this person's scent because you chose me. When you chose me to mate with, you became the one who decides who we mate with."

"Me? What about you?" Harry asked. This was beginning to sound like Seamus didn't have a choice in this whole 'more mates' thing.

"Obviously whoever you chose has to be like us both and be liked by us both since we are going to be together forever." Seamus said with a small smile he was glad Harry cared.

"Then why am I the one smelling them?" Harry not understanding why he would be the one with this ability if it lead to choices that would affect them both.

"I just explained that. You smell them, to find them, to get to know them." The blue eyed boy answered.

"What if I don't like them? What about your choice in this?" Harry asked folding his arms. He didn't really like this.

"If you don't like them you can reject them and move on to the next potential mate." Seamus answered simply.

"What if I reject them all?" Harry said. He couldn't think of anyone he would like to share what he had with Seamus with. There was just no one that he felt that way about.

"Then we will suffer from a missing piece, a part of our mate bond, that we will constantly long for and eventually lose our minds and kill someone or many people and eventually die or kill ourselves or kill each other." Seamus said flatly. Harry looked at him wide eyed. All of that sounded very violent and all because of needing an extra mate? Seamus sighed. "Look, let's just get to know them. Let's find them, talk to them, get to know them and if you don't like them enough to mate with them, then we will at least have another Neko friend who is probably in the same boat as us. They might be able to help us and we can help them."

"How do we know who ever it is a Neko? Is it a girl or a boy? Could we date a girl? Could we even date a boy? Can two people even date another person?" Harry said as a whole slew of new questions came to mind. Why were things like these not in the books he read at the Manor?

"We know they are a Neko because you wouldn't have noticed the scent or been drawn to it if the person wasn't a Neko. This mating thing only happens within Nekos." Seamus explained slowly so that Harry could get everything that he said. "We will know the gender when we meet them and we'll figure out how to date a third person when we get to that point, if we get to that point. I assume it will be just like hanging out with a friend just that we are all intimate with each other or at least seeking to be intimate with each other."

"So how do we do this?" Harry asked after a moment of silent thought. This was new and he couldn't quite wrap his mind around it but His Neko was in agreement with what Seamus said so there must be truth in it. He'd try to understand it better later when he could really think about it.

"Use any time we have to sniff them out." Seamus suggested.

"What about you?" Harry asked seriously.

"Me?" Seamus asked confused at the question.

"How do you feel about this?" Harry clarified.

"I'm not sure. I wasn't expecting this to happen and I love you very much but it was something I thought about before we got together and it didn't seem like a bad idea. I even thought I'd like that if it ever happened to me." Seamus answered with a shrug. A thoughtful look settled on his face. Harry also seemed thoughtful at this. "Right now, I don't really like the idea of sharing you but when I think about it if it's three of us we can have more of everything; more cuddles, more kisses, more closeness, more persons to talk to about things you can't talk to friends about and more love, a bigger family. I wouldn't be losing you, just gaining another. It's confusing to think about but if we find the right person it could be great. That would have to be someone who is right for both of us, some who fits us."

"I understand what you're saying." Harry said, running a hand through his hair agitatedly. There was so much to think about now. This was not what he expected the first night back. "I'll think more about it and we can see if this whole thing was just a one off tomorrow."

"Alright. Are you going to bed now?" Seamus asked and Harry shrugged. "I'm going to get ready for bed and come back to lie with you."

Harry watched Seamus take the wards down and leave for the bathroom. He threw himself onto his back. There was so much to think about now. Could he do this? Who could the other Neko be? Would they even get along? If they did, could he like them as anything other than friends or even at all? What would having another mate mean for he and Seamus?

XXXXX

"How are you feeling?" Seamus asked when he found Harry sitting on the bench out by the lake during their lunch break the next day. Harry looked away from the water and looked up at him. He shrugged and moved over so that Seamus could sit down too. "Have you thought about what we talked about last night?"

"Maybe we should." Harry said after a nod. He had thought about it. He thought about it long and hard. All of last night and this morning, he had thought about it very hard.

"Should what?" Seamus asked wanting to be sure of what Harry meant.

"We should find them and at least give it a try." Harry clarified turning his head to look at Seamus. Seamus slipped his right hand into Harry's left and hid their joined hands between them in the folds of their robes. "It's a part of Neko nature, we have to at least give it a try."

"We'll figure it out." he reassured him. Harry gave him a small smile. "First we have to find them. Have you smelled them any time today?"

"Not really. There was a small really fleeting smell in the corridor earlier but it passed quickly." Harry answered with a sigh.

"None at breakfast?" Seamus asked and Harry shook his head. "Alright, we have double charms after this right? So if you smell it we can try to follow it and find where it comes from."

"Yea. We should go now or we'll be late." Harry prompted. He sighed again when Seamus had to let go of his hand so that they could get there bags and go to class. Seamus chuckled before throwing an arm around his shoulders.

"Come on. Let's get to class so I can show you what a charms master can do." Seamus said as they walked up to the school.

"Charms master? You? Yea right." Harry smiled teasing him.

"I'm better at it than you are." Seamus stated and they continued teasing each other right up to the class room then split up to find their own seats.

It wasn't until three days later on Friday, that they came any closer to finding the other Neko. Harry had smelled the mysterious scent on and off for the past three days as he had been just a little late to find them or as a secondary scent in some one that must had talked to them or at least brushed past them. It was beginning to become frustrating for Harry.

However on this Friday during dinner Harry smelt it just as they were preparing to leave the Great Hall and head up to the common rooms. He pulled on the sleeve of Seamus' robes stopping him.

"What?" the sandy haired teen asked. Harry touched his nose but was intent on following the trail. Realising what he meant Seamus waved off their friends telling them they'd catch up. "Where?"

"I'm not sure." Harry answered they pulled lightly at Seamus as they stepped out of the Great Hall. They paused in the corridor as Harry tried to pinpoint the smell in the others that we milling around. When he did he pulled Seamus to where it led and stopped before the stairs leading down to the dungeons.

"Here?" Seamus asked watching as other students passed them heading to their common room in the dungeons.

Harry nodded staring down the stairs as well. "I can say with absolute certainty that whoever it is, is definitely Slytherin, Hufflepuff is in another direction."

"Well that complicated things." Seamus commented with a sigh. Convincing a Slytherin to talk to a Gryffindor on friendly terms wasn't very likely, much less talking to two. The likelihood of this working just plummeted. Seamus turned away and pulled Harry with him up to Gryffindor Tower. They were silent on the way up since there were still people around them and they were each thinking about what to do now that they knew the Neko they were trying to find was a Slytherin.

"What do we do now?" Harry asked when they were finally in the tower and hidden away in Seamus's bed. They were both sitting cross legged on the bed, facing each other.

"We still try to talk to them and get to know them." Seamus answered and Harry nodded.

"Are you sure?" Harry asked unsure. Slytherins didn't like him at all. Most hate him. "You'll be fine talking to a Slytherin? Many of them are related to Death Eaters."

"As long as it's not Malfoy." Seamus answered and a new horror dawned on Harry.

"What if it is Malfoy?" Harry asked panicked and Seamus frowned. It wasn't something he wanted to even think about. That had to be the worse-case scenario there.

"If, for some reason, it is Malfoy, then we will attempt to give him a fair chance and if he screws it up, we move on and don't look back." Seamus said with certainty then frowned again. "Does Malfoy even come to school anymore? I haven't seen him."

"Who knows? Probably not considering everything what's happened and with his father going crazy and taking over from Voldemort." Harry said relaxing again. If there was one thing that wouldn't work out it would be trying to talk to Malfoy. Just the thought of Malfoy being Neko was ludicrous. "If he was here he would have found some way to annoy me by now. That much I'm sure off."

"True. I hope it's not Nott either. He creeps me out." Seamus commented with a thoughtful look, taking Harry's comment about Malfoys father at face value because if anyone knew it would be Harry. Harry snorted. "We'll try to be more thorough from now on."

"Good. We can do that." Harry nodded then smiled. "Can we go to sleep now?"