hey everyone, sorry for the delay but ive been super busy hope you all hd a good easter(providing you celebrate it)

00000000000000

Nathair stayed away from his father and home until late in the morning the day of Yule. Taking the time away to cope with the changes in his life, to try and allow his heart to mend a bit before returning home to his father. As he flooed back to his manor he saw Fenrir standing in the entrance hall pacing silently as if he didn't want to be heard. Blinking owlishly Nathair stood and waited for Fenrir to acknowledge him. Besides thinking of his father while he stayed with the other part of his family he had also thought about his Mate and what it would mean for him now to know his Mate and actually have him there instead of him just being an abstract concept looming in his distant or now not so distant future.

For being a magical creature, one who was supposed to have heightened senses beyond that of a normal human, Fenrir didn't seem to be putting them to good use. Nathair had been standing in front of him as the minutes ticked by and he hadn't even looked up or seem to notice that he was there.

Nathair didn't know if he should wait for Fenrir to notice him and then decided to break the ice and alert the older man to his presence. "Waiting for someone?"

The man practically jumped out of his skin at the sound of Nathan's voice, turning around so fast he seemed to spin.

"Nathair," he breathed, his eyes wide like a deer in the headlights.

"I talked to my father and don't blame you for everything, but it wasn't the best way to find out you're my Mate, or at least have my suspicions confirmed."

"That's not how either of us wanted you to find out."

"Yes I know, my father and most of my family have said the same thing. That you hid it so I could find my own way to love you," said Nathair as he moved further into the room closer to Fenrir. "I don't know that though. I don't know how I felt before I found out so abruptly, and I really don't know how to feel now. So no matter what you want to tell me or talk to me about I need time. I need time to figure out things with my father and to sort through my own feelings."

"Please don't shut me out," Fenrir begged. "I know that we aren't very close. That before all of this the most you saw me was in the lessons your father had me teach you, and around the manor, at dinner and in the library. It hurt me not to tell you, to be closer to you, to... I don't even know what else to say to you. I've known for years that you were my Mate, that you were my future without being able to do anything about it, and now you know. Not that you can be my Mate yet, you will be in time, when you come of age you will feel like I do, you'll come into your inheritance and everything will change."

"Yes, that will happen, and things will change but it'll be a few years until then and we'll have time between before that happens. Not to mention all the things that are set to happen before that, my father's plans are long and ever growing. Many things are going to happen and even more are going to change hopefully in our favor. But I need time, time to sort this out, to make peace with my father and come to terms with what my future with you will hold," said Nathair as he turned away from the werewolf. "I don't want to shut you out or deny anything but I don't know my own heart right now and to be true to anything I need to know my heart," said Nathair as he turned back and place a hand on Fenrir's cheek feeling the coarse hair and warm skin in his hand before sadly pulling away and disappeared further into the house leaving Fenrir standing alone in the entrance hall. His emotions like a whirling dervish that was one more emotion away from creating unstoppable chaos.

Fenrir stood there for a long time taking in the parting words that Nathair left him with and the overwhelming sorrow that came with them. But as he drowned in it the sorrow fell to the small grain of hope that they would be happy, that the missteps that had been taken and that they no doubt would take wouldn't take control and ruin them.

HP/FG - TW

Being back in his own room was strange. After months at Hogwarts where the room was his yet he could never feel that way as long as Dumbledore ruled and Hogwarts didn't belong to him and his father the real owners of the castle, at least by blood as heirs of the founders. Then his stay at Malfoy manor in his old room, however short it was. When he first lived in Malfoy manor after leaving Hogwarts, the room was his, yet he knew it wasn't his home. That the room was borrowed like most things in his life, it was his only until someone said it wasn't anymore then he didn't have it. But this room, it was all his, and it would stay that way until he and not someone else chose otherwise, his father made sure of that when he adopted him. He was torn out of his thoughts as he unpacked his trunk, ready to spend the rest of Yule break at home when he heard a soft knock at the door. Turning to the door Nathair saw his father in it's frame looking uncertain as he looked back at Nathair.

"Will you be coming to the feast, then the ball tonight?"

"Which one is it tonight? The public or private?" Nathair asked as he took a step forward.

"The public one, the private one is tomorrow night."

"Well then no I don't think I'll be going... I have no reason to, just like all the other years, my presence would cause questions and possibly problems," said Nathair as he turned back away from his father and back to unpacking his trunk.

"I suppose it would, but now you're back at Hogwarts and as far as I know some people will be expecting to see you. Apparently Dumbledore has been asking around about you and his questions have reached Fudge's ears and now he's been wondering who you are. He'll be at the Yule ball tonight and he knows you and Draco are close."

"I'll think about it..."

"You don't have to go but if you want too you can, besides without you there to keep Draco in line who knows what he would get himself into," said Tom trying to lighten the conversation.

"Yeah," said Nathair as he huffed out a small, yet still strained laugh, his eyes glancing back to his father. "He always seems to get himself into trouble… Here."

Tom blinked as Nathair turned around and was holding out a parcel wrapped in brightly colored paper.

"What's this?" Tom asked as he took the gift from his son's outstretched hand.

"I went with everybody to Diagon when they went to do their last minute Yule shopping. It wouldn't be right to not get you a present. I've given Uncle Lucius and Severus, Aunt Cissa and Draco their presents. I also got the twins and Charlie presents, as well as Fenrir and Aunt Bella, I'll give them theirs when I have the chance," said Nathair as he looked away from his father as he started to open his present.

As Tom opened the gift he was shocked as he came face to face with an emerald and silver bangle with an engraving on it. The engraving read, pater enim corpus meum de anima mea, et cor tuum, which translated meant father of my body, heart, and soul.

"I ordered it two months ago for Yule, I couldn't decide what I wanted it to say," said Nathair as he removed more colored packages from his trunk and set them on his desk.

"All of the presents from me and others who sent them by owl are under the tree in the family sitting room, along with the ones people had sent me. I wanted to wait until you came back to open them, so we could open them together," said Tom as he looked down at his gift so Nathair couldn't see the sadness on his face. "Well... now that you're here I do have something of a surprise for you, or at least I hope you see it as such."

"Yes, you hinted that you wanted to surprise me with something that wasn't a present in your letters. What is it?"

"If you want to grab the present you have for Bella you can bring it and come with me," said Tom as he led Nathair to the nearest floo. "You go first. Go to the safe house, I'll be right behind you."

Nathair couldn't help the look of confusion that appeared on his face when his father told him where they were going, unsure of why a surprise for him for Yule would have anything to do with the safe house for his father's followers. Either way he lightly shook his head and stepped into the fire place and called out the name and password for the safe house then disappearing in a flash of green fire. Ever since the first time his now father had taken him somewhere using the floo he hadn't really liked it and often found himself falling but that had been years ago and Nathair found using the floo was much easier once you got the hang of it.

But that didn't stop Nathair from tripping as he came out of the floo, not that anyone saw, as Nathair had righted himself before his father came through the same floo flawlessly.

First they went and found Bella's room and Tom waited as she hugged and wailed happily at Nathair over her present. Nathair had bought her new robes, shoes and a set of matching jewelry for the Dark Yule ball that was taking place the next night and she had been given the all clear by the healers that she was healthy enough to attend. The robes were floor length and flowing with lace details and black crystal beading, the shoes were three inch heels in black satin that in the right light looked silver, and the matching jewelry was silver with onyx gems in a teardrop design in a necklace, earrings, bracelet, and even a ring.

Bellatrix had been very keen to meet Nathair as soon as she was able and she had been ingrained in his life ever since, which made since as she was his godmother. Over the years while Nathair learned anything and everything that could be taught to him, he learned and then learned more. Thought he learned a lot that Bellatrix was dying to teach him, Bellatrix had begged Tom to be able to teach Nathair the finer points of torture. Not that the over decade long stay in Azkaban had helped Bella's sanity, though she wasn't insane all the time. Nathair didn't love it as much as Bellatrix did, but not many people did as much as she did.

While for the most part Tom tried to not harm anyone while he tried to take over the wizarding world, on occasion there was the need for such ferocity. In truth the dark side wasn't as bloodthirsty as the light made it out to be, but unlike the light they didn't fear causing pain and using it to their advantage. Though that wasn't the case of all members of the lightside, Dumbledore was one of the worst people as he pretended to be kind and grandfatherly when in reality he was vicious and heartless.

"Come this way," said Tom softly as they left Bella to moon over her new clothes and they turned down a hall that Nathair didn't go down very often and even some parts of it he had never walked down. After releasing his followers from Azkaban Tom had placed them all in the safe house, at first most of the were placed in what used to be a formal dining room that they had turned into an infirmary so the less affected could be taken care of in a group and watched after easier verses the more seriously affected, which had been given more personal care. Either way everyone, at some point, was given a personal room and Nathair had been told where they were in case there was trouble or something important happened.

The hall they were walking down was sparsely populated and as such Nathair had no reason to go down but whatever his father was showing was down a hallway he didn't visit.

Soon Tom stopped in front of an empty wall and tapped it with his wand, as soon as he wand had touched the wall the wall looked like it was melting away only to leave a door in its place.

"Father?" Nathair asked more confused now than ever. What would need so much protection and had been kept secret from him? Though a part of him could tell this was different than what Fenrir and his father had held from him, that this wasn't about him, or at least not just about him. That whatever this secret was it was about more than just keeping it from him.

"It's nothing bad... it's complicated," said Tom in response to the look on Nathan's face. "I've had years to think of a way to talk to you about this and I still don't know what to say to you... When Lily and James joined me they wanted to bring other people to my side, some did come others they never really got the chance to convert. Neville's parents for example, they did plan on joining us and Dumbledore drove them to insanity, and others that they didn't get a chance with were... Well Dumbledore watched them so carefully, that at the time, talking to them more than likely would have also cost them their lives or worse.

"Growing up at Hogwarts James had three best friends that were more like brothers to him. One was a werewolf who has been living in hiding since their deaths, Remus Lupin. They all looked past his condition and loved him like a brother, even going so far as to become animagus' in just a few years so they could all watch over Remus when he turned into his wolf form. The second was Peter Pettigrew, he was the secret keeper for your parents house and was killed by Dumbledore to get to them and because he had joined me. The last is the most complicated, Sirius Black, he was the closest to James and they even thought of making him one of your godfathers but he unfortunately couldn't be trusted at the time. He's the cousin of Narcissa and Bellatrix, but was the black sheep of the Black family. Despite having a neutral affinity he was drawn into the light by their propaganda and despite being raised in a dark family he believed the lies and turned on his family. And yet despite his dislike for the dark he was continuously drawn to it, first with his family, his love for his little brother Regulus being the strongest, his Mateship with Remus being the other. As a werewolf Remus was naturally a dark creature and as a dark creature Remus developed an affinity to the dark after he was turned. That is to say if he didn't have an affinity to the dark to begin with."

Nathair grew uncomfortable as sadness tinted Tom's voice and eyes, making Nathair itch to hug his father as he spoke with such emotion. Yet he held back, still unhappy with his father and not wanting to disrupt what his father was revealing to him, more about his past. Or at least part of the past that he didn't know about, a part that had led to him being where he was now.

"Before your parents died they had been working on converting Remus and through Remus they were hoping to get Sirius back to his family and the dark side. As it is that never happened, though they did show Remus the truth and had it not been for their deaths Remus would be with us now. When Dumbledore killed Lily and James along with Peter he placed their deaths on me and made Sirius out to be a mole, claiming that he had been the secret keeper and given me their location. Being a family member of one of the most well known dark families in the wizarding world it didn't take much convincing to convince the whole of the wizarding community of his guilt. As such Sirius was sentenced to life in Azkaban, which might as well have been a death sentence. Most people don't last more than twenty years alive and ten sane and Sirius was twenty two at the time, only a few months older than James, when Dumbledore sent him to that hell, twelve years is already past the decade it usually takes.

"That's why you're here now, I think not only is Sirius well enough to meet you, but for you to meet him. When we raided Azkaban I found Sirius trying to escape in his animagus form of a black dog. Transforming into his animagus form helped him, as dementors don't affect animals nearly as much as humans. That's not to say he is alright even with the help of being an animagus. He is the Mate of a werewolf and their bond is stretched so thin it's surprised us that the lack of contact with his Mate hasn't killed either of them."

"Why now?" Asked Nathair who was overwhelmed and wondering why his father had never told him any of this until now, between taking deep breaths to calm himself.

"He wasn't well enough for you to see him until recently, and I didn't want to tell you of his existence and not allow you to meet him. Only a few people besides the healers know he is here and have seen him, myself, Lucius, Narcissa, Bellatrix, Severus have seen him regularly. We haven't even talked to Remus yet, mostly because until recently we weren't really sure if Sirius was going to make it. The way Dumbledore had painted him to the public left him more vulnerable to attacks from the Auror's and guards than other prisoners, knowing that no one would care about what happened to such a traitor to the light, and so he was in much worse shape than most of the others, except for people like Bella and the twins. I'll be sending Fenrir to get Remus the day after the ball tomorrow night. Sirius is much better now and will need Remus to continue his recovery, just as Remus has no doubt been needing him these past twelve years."

Even with the problems that had been tormenting Nathiar with his father and future Mate, his heart beat a little faster and ached in his chest at Fenrir going off somewhere unknown to meet and bring back someone that was supposedly on his father's side but had left after the lost of his Mate. Who knows what that had done to this Remus, the loss of his Mate for so many years, the knowledge that his Mate would die and that next to nothing would stop that from happening, not to mention being betrayed by his Mate.