Disclaimer: As always I own nothing but the original characters and the situations all characters end up in. Everything else belongs to someone else and that's the way of it.

Note: Roxy's mom being named Colin was just me loving that name, not a reference to Firth heh.

The Mating Ceremony

Harry had never witnessed the end of a mating before; it was a rare thing in their culture. But in order to prepare himself for what was to come he'd gone to the Guild's official library and accessed what information there was about the ceremony, and he had left feeling fairly confident he knew what to expect. The Keeper would give a short speech about why the mating was being dissolved, followed by the official removing of the bracelet and another small speech about what that meant before the bracelet was purified for its next owner. After that The Keeper would call upon their dragons to acknowledge the dissolution of their bond, the final announcement, and that would be that. The separation of their wealth and such would be taken care of afterwards, and wasn't part of the ceremony. So basically the only part Harry really wasn't looking forward to was having his failures as an omega trotted out before their whole Guild, but it wasn't like everyone didn't know already. Chester had never been quiet about whose fault it was that their union had provided no children and why his mate had taken others to his bed.

Prepared to keep a stiff upper lip while his faults were listed Harry's eyes widened along with everyone else's when, after a very short introduction that had done nothing more than gain the attention of everyone in attendance, The Keeper got to the part about why the mating was being severed.

"Due to the incompatibility of their dragons, as well as the Guild Master's need for a heir with his present mistress, this mating is to be dissolved. The bracelet, please."

No speech, no list of his faults that Chester had probably been happy to prepare with Veronica's help. The whole mistress thing could even be seen as a slap against his soon to be ex mate, The Keeper one of the very few who could get away without that unscathed. The speech had been straight to the point in the extreme, Harry holding out the bracelet in question automatically when it was requested, his mind too busy trying to figure out what was going on to concentrate on anything.

From the look on Chester's face, their minds were in synch for once, even. What the hell was going on here?

Taking the bracelet The Keeper held it between her hands, a large flame erupting to encase it as it was purified and the bond it signified was 'burned' away. The words she spoke were in the old tongue of their kind, Harry only catching a little as she was basically speaking under her breath rather than to them. And then the flames ended and she held the piece of jewelry over to Chester, the Guild Master all but snatching it out of her hand.

"All right then, that takes care of that. You may step down, Guild Master. Eggsy, if you would come up now please."

"What are you talking about?" Chester demanded to know as he dared to glare at The Keeper, having no doubt researched this process as well. "Our dragons need to end the bond before this becomes official. Is this the first time you've performed this ceremony?"

"It is, actually, but I do know what I'm doing. I didn't ask you to call up your dragon halves because there was no reason to. Your dragons never mated."

Now more than a few jaws, including Harry and Chester's, hit the floor as they gaped at her like she'd just informed them that the world was flat.

"What…forgive me for questioning you, Keeper, but what do you mean our dragons never mated?"

"Precisely that, Child." The old dragon's eyes softened a little as she met Harry's gaze, no doubt seeing the turmoil that dwelled there. "Your dragon was always too strong for him, Consort, and his dragon could not accept that. He tried to break your spirit, even though he was warned that such an endeavor was utterly pointless." A pointed look in Chester's direction, and then she continued to explain in a voice that easily carried despite its softness. "As the more sovereign dragon, your other half's consent was necessary for the bond to form and solidify and there was none. Therefore there is no bond for me to severe."

Everyone was silent except for Chester, his face red as he sputtered and mumbled to himself. He did have the sense not to outright argue, but it was obvious that that was why his words weren't audible even to Harry who was standing right in front of him. His ex was striving so hard not to offend The Keeper that a stroke or heart attack wasn't out of the question.

If it came to that someone else was going to have to perform CPR.

"He's an omega." Chester finally bit off with hands clenched into fists at his side.

"He is a dragon first."

For his part Harry couldn't have said a word if his life depended upon it. He knew, of course, how strong his dragon half was. He'd spent more than half of his life restraining his dragon, keeping him quiet and asleep so that he could live the life assigned to him by his body and place within their society. His dragon had never accepted that he was an omega, too sovereign in mind to allow himself to be subjugated or controlled by any but the human who shared his mind and body.

And then Eggsy was suddenly with them on the platform, the boy's eyebrow raised in Chester's direction in a silent inquiry as to why he was still there. He looked so handsome in his suit too, the clothes one that Harry had helped him pick out from the tailor shop Eggsy would now own when their mating was complete. Though it was a little tight on the boy around the shoulders, Harry noted with a small smile, thinking to himself that the boy just kept getting broader and more handsome the older that he got. Lee would be so proud of his son.

Though what his former guard would think of the idea of Eggsy mating with someone of his age…oh dear.

Giving Eggsy and then Harry a dark look, all the while very pointedly not looking at The Keeper since he'd already made a fool of himself thanks to her, Chester turned around and then marched down to take his place at the front of the crowd, no one stupid enough to so much as look in their Guild Master's direction as they all looked ahead instead, doing their best to hide how eager the were to see what was going to happen next.

And all of them struggled to try not to reveal that they were all thinking about what The Keeper had said about the strength of Harry's dragon, omega or not.

)

Calm and acting as though nothing out of the ordinary had occurred, The Keeper had Eggsy assume the spot his Guild Master had just left and then announced that their mating ceremony could begin if Harry was ready. And though he nodded his agreement Harry had to admit that he probably wasn't in the best mindset to do something as important as bind his life with another man. He was still recovering from the shock of how his last mating had just ended. But concentrating on Eggsy was probably a good way to regain his equilibrium, especially since the boy was grinning at him like he hadn't a care in the world. He'd have whacked his future mate upside the head for not taking this more seriously if not for the solemnity of the situation.

The speech The Keeper gave was the usual one, which was basically to tell everyone who was listening that Harry would belong to Eggsy from this day forward, Eggsy responsible for protecting and providing for his omega as a dominant should while Harry's duty was to provide Eggsy with a home and children, as was an omega's duty. And then she called for the gifting of the bracelet, The Keeper's helper hurrying over to open and then offer the box containing the bracelets The Keeper had blessed earlier.

This was the first chance Harry had gotten a chance to see the bracelets in question, the two pieces of jewelry identical in all but size from the looks of them. It was like bands of gold had been woven together over and over again in a complicated pattern that ended with the Hart and Unwin family coat of arms, one on each side to mark where the ends of the bracelets met. They were beautiful.

Looking up to meet Eggsy's gaze Harry hope his own communicated how lovely they were, the pleased smile that crossed the younger man's face reassuring him that yes, he'd gotten the unspoken message.

Taking the first bracelet when it was handed to him Eggsy's smile beamed that much brighter as Harry held out his arm, Eggsy tenderly pushing up the shirt and suit jacket sleeve Harry had deliberately left undone for him and then just as carefully wrapping the bracelet around Harry's wrist, locking it into place. "With this bracelet I claim you as my own till death do us part. So I do will it, so will it be."

And then Eggsy held up his own arm to present him with his wrist, Harry taking the bracelet he was offered by The Keeper with a smile of thanks as they all ignored the raised voices as the other members of the Guild all started to whisper amongst themselves about this latest surprise.

Pushing back the material of Eggsy's clothing to get it out of the way Harry carefully slid the bracelet into place, and though they hadn't discussed it Harry decided what the hell, and repeated the vow Eggsy had just given him back, the uproar that caused almost loud enough to drown out his words. But Eggsy was right in front of him, and Harry could see that his words had been heard.

"Excellent. Now call up your dragons, please."

The Keeper's request meant different things to both of them. For Harry, due to the purity of his bloodlines, his dragon was basically another being living inside of his human body, or Harry was living in his dragon's body when he shifted. Most purebloods were this way by virtue of the fact that they literally could not survive in the world of men if they didn't cultivate a 'human' side to be in control most of the time. Their dragon halves were animals, however intelligent and sentient they might be, and dragons by nature were vicious, cunning, and prone to spilling blood when they didn't get their way. It was also necessary to keep the dragon side of their personalities at bay because the more power that part of their nature had, the more instinctual it was to want to transform and then stay as a dragon all the time. Which they couldn't do for obvious reasons.

Eggsy didn't have that problem because of his diluted bloodline. He could transform into a dragon but there was no dragon half to him. He simply was who he was, his eyes going to slitted dragon eyes simply to give the impression that his beast was present, even though technically he always was to a certain extent. The dragon part of his personality was just something that the boy rarely ever showed unless he was feeling threatened. Then the nature of their kind came through loud and clear without any need to shift his thinking.

But for Harry, as he released his inner dragon from the deep sleep he normally kept the beast in, the slitting of his eyes were nothing in comparison to the somehow dark voice that slipped into his thoughts, the dragon half of his nature making Harry's tilted his head in consideration as he looked Eggsy over.

'A gorgeous creature, young and virile, no doubt. He will please us well.'

If Harry had been in control he would have blushed. 'We do NOT think of him in that way.'

'Why not? Silly human; how you complicate things. He is our mate, pleasuring us is his duty. One he is eager to fill, no doubt.' A purr of pleasure at the thought. 'And at his age he will be more than up to the task. Unlike that useless old man we were stuck with before.' The dragon's all-consuming hatred and loathing of their former mate dripped from every unspoken word.

Harry mentally called his other half mental, his dragon responding with an inner snort that made his derision towards Harry's human self quite plain.

How had he forgotten that the few times he and Eggsy had been in dragon form together his dragon half had shown an inappropriate appreciation for the boy? It had embarrassed the hell out of him at the time, even as he'd understood that his dragon half was far more basic in his needs than Harry was. Fighting, amassing power and gold, and reproducing one's line were most important to that side of him, and one could not reproduce without sex. Which he hadn't had in a very long time and which his dragon had never had the chance to enjoy because Chester had refused to be near him when his dragon had any noticeable control over Harry's actions.

Most likely because, as The Keeper had stated, Harry's other half was dragon first, omega second. And his dragon had wanted control over their mate at the time, while Chester had tried and failed to master him. And had hated him for it.

But now was not the time for him to be thinking about that, and luckily for him, while he'd been mentally freaking out, Harry's dragon side had done nothing but stare at Eggsy and listen as The Keeper had launched into her final speech before telling them to link up their hands. Which they did, Harry rather grateful to be allowed to take Eggsy's hands in his as they crossed their arms to form an X. It was comforting, to be able to feel Eggsy's hands in his, reassuring him that they were in this together. And then The Keeper placed her hands under theirs, a large flame erupting from her hands to encase their joined hands above her. The fire's warmth was a comfort, though there was some irony to that seeing as the heat of the flame would have turned human hands to ash.

With the fire, which their own magic reacted to, their bracelets were bound to their wrists, not to be removed by anyone but the dragon who'd placed said bracelet around their wrist.

Her hand dropping away, and the flame flicking out like it was never there, The Keeper announced that the two were mated.

)

After that it was time for him and Eggs to step down off to the platform to greet and thank the members of their Guild that came forward to congratulate them in their mating. That Chester was obligated to greet them first as their Guild Master was of some amusement to the two of them, especially since it was so obvious that the old dragon would have much rather ignored them for the rest of the evening. He was brisk and had brought Veronica with him, the woman he would mate with the following day doing the majority of the talking as she told them their ceremony had been so very unique and them, her tone making it clear that she thought it was as bizarre and wrong as they were together.

But he no longer belonged to Chester, he was Eggsy's now, and now that the ceremony was done and he'd reined his dragon side in Harry was far too happy to care what she or anyone else thought of them. The future was bright and he didn't have to fake his brilliant smile as he thanked her and Chester for their well wishes.

Smiling very fake smiles in return the two quickly moved away before things got ugly, especially as The Keeper was staying close to them.

"All they need is Dudley to be the Dursleys."

Guffing at the whispered words Harry had to bite down on his bottom lip to keep himself from bursting out into laughter. And though he looked over at Eggsy to silently warn him not to say something like that again, the grin and twinkle in the other man's eyes made it impossible for him not to smile back.

Thankfully the next people in line had Harry's eyes lighting up with delight, though years of training had him automatically hiding just how happy he was to see Merlin. The two had been great friends as lads, inseparable really, but then Harry had been revealed as an omega, it no longer proper for them to be alone or play the rough games and sports they'd once shared together. And then, to make matters worse, Harry had been stuck being mated to Chester, who hated Merlin with a passion as the Scotsman had been the son of the previous Guild Master. The fact that Merlin had never wanted the position after his father's death didn't matter; all that mattered was that quite a lot of the elders had wanted Merlin for the position instead of Chester. So Merlin wasn't often in the Guild Master's presence, and was not allowed near Harry but for the briefest of greetings.

Now here was one of those rare moments to be savored and-

Harry yelped a little as he found himself be yanked into his friend's arms, the familiar scent of the man making his heart hurt in the best way even as he clutched Merlin back reflexively, loath to let him go for that moment before he realized that what they were doing was not allowed. No one could touch an omega without their dominant's permission. And Merlin had just grabbed and hugged him in front of everyone.

"If you break him we're going to have words, Merlin."

"Not to mention breathing is rather important." Merlin's mate Rachel pointed out dryly from her man's side. "I'd loosen your grip a little, Darling."

Fearing for Merlin and the backlash his friend could suffer for the social faux pas he'd just committed, Harry moved out of Merlin's grasp, his eyes immediately going to Eggsy to see what the boy's reaction to Merlin's actions were.

Eggsy smiled at him, reaching out to lace his fingers with Harry's. "I gave him permission. He can hug you as much as he wants. Get inappropriate and Rachel and I will kill him."

Rachel nodded in complete agreement.