Disclaimer: (Sticks fingers in her ear and ignores it)

Thanks to:

Starr Light1: Tell me about it, but don't worry Harry will have words with Percy soon.

Shamanogler: Aw you make me blush. But no I know what you mean, kind of why I was worried not many people would take to Cara as an OC...BOY was I wrong thankfully lol.

Elena Küher: Ok so strictly speaking you weren't a reviewer but I wanted to thank you for asking my permission to translate the fic. Plus it helped make my morning lol.

And My beta reader Chrissi – So there should be no mistakes because she's better at spotting them then me! Ta mate!

~*~

Chapter 15 – Claddagh

Christmas Eve passed reasonably quietly except Harry had now started to pick up on the inquiring scowls Percy sent towards Cara. Holding his temper in check was proving difficult but the young animagi was going to ensure his werewolf had a wonderful Christmas.

The Saturday finally rolled up...Christmas day. Cara had had to return back to the girl's room the previous night, which explained why Harry was woken up by his lively red-haired friend as he jumped on the lump that was Harry.

The darker male grunted as his body was squashed and groaned, about to pull the quilt over his head when he suddenly remembered what the day was. Whisking his covers back down he looked up at Ron excitedly.

"NOW he remembers." His friend quipped before jumping on him again. Laughing, he pushed the red head off and the two bolted for the door, crashing down to the next landing to find Ginny, Hermione and Cara with bewildered looks on their faces.

"It's Christmas!" Ron shouted before banging on all his brothers' doors and running downstairs.

"Basically what he said." Harry grinned as he walked over to the blonde placing a morning kiss on the smiling mouth.

Bounding down the stairs the foursome found Ron sat by the Christmas tree, bouncing slightly on his hunches as he looked longingly at the mountain of presents. Rubbing her hands together Ginny sat beside her brother as Hermione shook her head amused.

Harry took one of the chairs that came with the sofa set and settled himself in. Cara sat on the floor between his legs, arms folded on his boyfriend's knees. The darker male began to softly toy with his hair.

A couple of minutes later the rest of the Weasley boys charged in to grab the best seats, Bill & Charlie succeeding in grabbing the sofa as the two oldest brothers. Peaking order after that resolved Fred winning the last gap between the two older boys, George grumbling as he squished over by Ginny and Percy huffing as he was forced to go into the kitchen and retrieve one of the wooden chairs to sit on.

The adults followed after a charging Tonks who bounced into a smirking Charlie's lap and Fleur walked over to Bill's with a little more dignity. Mr and Mrs Weasley each grabbed a chair from the kitchen and sat themselves down smiling.

Dumbledore & McGonagoll walked up and Bill, along with Fred gave up their seats, settling on the floor instead. Moody was still in bed and finally Remus settled beside the arm of the chair that Harry and Cara occupied.

"Can we open now pleaseeeee!" Ginny said as she bounced like a little kid.

"Yes, yes. I think we should establish how this is going to work though. Youngest to oldest? Each open one then the next oldest open's theirs?" Mr Weasley said looking round the group, as there was a murmur of agreement.

"Off you go then Ginny, Oh wait, Cara when's your birthday?" Molly said quickly.

"Oh, er April 30th."

"Right so after that it's Hermione, Cara, Ron then Harry. Anyway, off you go then Gin." She said kindly.

"Ok, this one's frooom...Harry. Thank you!" She said as she ripped off the paper to reveal a little purple pot with a small slit in it.

"It's a Money Pot. You're supposed to fill it slowly over time and then you have to smash it whilst making a wish. They were used a lot traditionally in Italy."

"Ooh funky, thank you." She reached over to hug him as Mrs Weasley picked it up to admire it, commenting to her husband every now and again.

Hermione to received one of these pots from Harry only hers was red and gold. Then Cara was handed his first present.

He held it for a few moments, smiling at it then he checked the tag. This one was from Hermione and Ron together.

"Thanks." He said quietly as he opened it a little more calmly then Ginny.

He pulled out a leather bound book with a large pewter pentacle in the centre. The corners on the front of the book were also encrusted with pewter and resembled the texture of leaves.

"It's a Book of Shadows. You can record all your spells, dreams, thoughts and information into it and it even locks with magick." The bushy-haired girl said as she smiled at him that he returned. He smiled at Ron too then gave them both a hug.

They slowly went round the group, each cooing and awing at one another's presents. Harry had gone joint with Cara to buy Remus a book called "The Elements of Ritual by Deborah Lipp" as Cara hadn't known the older man at the time and was unsure what to buy him. The pile was getting lower and lower until finally there was only Cara's present to Harry, Harry's present to Cara and the last few presents between Mr and Mrs Weasley who always bought one another lots of small presents rather then one big present.

As everyone watched the married couple Cara reached over for his and Harry's present. Turning he offered his present to Harry.

"Open I-it." He said through a shy smile. Placing a quick kiss on the blonde's lips Harry began to carefully open the present. Throwing the metallic silver wrapping away he came to a small Midnight Blue velvet box about the size of his hand.

Opening it his lips twitched up into a heartfelt smile.

A thin cuff-bracelet was embedded in crushed purple velvet padding. It was silver and went straight round save for a small gap at the back for one to adjust the size of the weak metal.

On the front a circle of moonstone represented the Full Moon with a crescent moon on either side representing the moon's cycle. Harry looked up into the nervous eyes of his mate, and leaning forwards he kissed him soundly on the lips.

"It's magnificent." He whispered while Cara smiled and took the cuff out of the box. He then took Harry's wrist and placed the bracelet onto it. The animagi twisted his wrist so the light hit it from every angle, making the silver glistening brightly.

He kissed him again as he stroked the smooth cheek of the young werewolf. Pulling back he grinned.

"Your turn."

Cara looked down at the coppery wrapping paper and ripped the sides slowly. He found a small black velvet box and he looked up at Harry who merely smiled at him, urging in to continue.

He opened it and gasped inaudibly.

"Harry..."

Nestled in the soft padding sat a white-gold ring. Two hands held onto a jade heart that had a crown resting on top of it. The light filtering through the made the piece of jewellery twinkle in different shades of gold and silver.

Cara looked up at his boyfriend lost for words. Harry leant forward again and using the hand with the bracelet on he extracted the ring.

"It's an Irish Claddagh ring. See the belief is if you wear it on your right hand with the crown turned inwards if your heart is unoccupied, if you wear it with the crown outwards then you are considering love...but if you wear it on your left hand with the crown turned outwards it means your heart is spoken for."

He held the ring out nervously for a moment watching Cara. Then the blonde werewolf held up his hand...his left. "I'd like the crown pointing outwards p-please." He whispered as Harry grinned tremendously.

He slipped it on and kissed the hand gently. Cara looked at it then his boyfriend as he leant in for a sweet kiss.

They were just about to pull apart when they heard a synchronised sigh. Pulling apart they looked over at the large audience they'd acquired.

Nearly everyone had blissful looks on their faces making Cara blush as he hid his face in Harry's chest, making everyone laugh.

Remus had watched with a sad smile on his face as the two had exchanged gifts. Looking down at his own hand he gazed longingly at the Gold Celtic band that Sirius had given him when they were 16. Clenching his hand closed he looked back up as Mrs Weasley begged for them to let her take a picture and he laughed along with the rest of them as Cara blushed once more.

~*~

The bustle in the kitchen proved a little much sometimes so Cara carried his lemon tea outside just outside the door.

He had thought everyone was inside and so didn't notice when Percy Weasley frowned at the intrusion of space.

"What are you doing out here?" He said sharply making the blonde jump.

"O-oh I'm sorry, I didn't k-know anyone was out here." He apologised and was about to smile but something in the way the other man looked at him stopped him.

"I would've thought you'd be attached to your protector's arm." Cara blinked as he felt his old defences starting up again.

"H-harry isn't m-my protector, H-he's my boyf..."

"Says you." Percy cut him off, "And what's up with your voice, you keep stuttering. It's very annoying."

All instincts told him to run but the bravery Harry had woken in him made him stand his ground.

"What d-do you mean 'says me'? I L-love him."

"Well it's quite obvious really. Harry's the hero of the war and you're a violent animal that the public avoids. Harry's your best bet at remaining safe from the mobs of civilised society." The red head sniffed.

The young werewolf's mouth moved soundlessly at first until he inhaled deeply and looked at the man unwavering.

"Y-you're wrong. I don't c-care what 'civilised society' want nor d-do I care what you think of me. I love Harry." He said in a clear voice that threw the other boy off slightly.

"Werewolf's are incapable of love. Your breed is in a textbook that children learn about in Care for Magical Creatures. That's like saying a kelpie can form a steady relationship!"

"SHUT UP!" Percy looked shocked at the outburst from the trembling blonde.

"You have n-no right to tell me who I Love and d-do not love. It's people like you who b-burnt innocent women during the medieval times, It's people l-like you who tried to bring Harry d-down when all he wanted to do w-was warn the world of Voldermort's return," Percy flinched at the name of the Dark Lord and Cara smiled bitterly, "See, people l-like you are cowards, you flinch at the n-name of a man who is dead...Well VOLDERMORT!"

The red head jumped at the name once again.

"I can not t-take the word of a man who jumps a-at a name to heart!" Turning on his heel Cara marched back through the door, past the curious looks from everyone seated at the table and ran up the stairs till he reached the pallet of covers on Ginny's floor.

He shook as he repressed any tears wanting to fall. Despite his strong defence the words that Percy had said had hurt him.

The door creaked open slowly then clicked shut again. He didn't bother to lift his head from his knees as he felt someone kneel next to him and pull him into a one arm embrace.

Finally looking up he found Remus smiling kindly at him...he smiled back as the tears finally slipped down his face.

"You were brilliant, he's sat down there numb from shock."

They both laughed as Cara wiped his eyes with the sleeve of the shirt Harry gave him the other day.

"I j-just couldn't stand it. I love Harry with everything I-I have inside me so when some...some..."

"Toff?"

"That's too g-gentle a word but ok...well w-when someone like him tells me who I can a-and cannot love it...!" He began trembling again and Remus squeezed him lightly.

"Well I think you've made Harry proud. You stood up for yourself and the things you said, oh you should've seen his face. I've never seen such emotion." He chuckled.

"Where is Harry?" Cara asked kindly through a smile.

"Being restrained by Dumbledore not to kill Percy I believe. He'll be up in a minute when he realises that he can do it later."

Sure enough a knock sounded at the door a few moments later and Harry poked his head round.

"Cara, are you ok?" He asked as he walked in closing the door behind him. Cara and Remus stood up slowly, Remus's knee clicking as he did so and Cara walked into Harry's open arms.

"Don't believe anything that...That..."

"Toff?" Cara said suggestively and Remus cough laughed into his hand.

"Yeah him, don't believe a word he says. I love you."

"I love you too." He kissed him chastely.

"Well I'll leave you two alone then." Remus said as he smiled but Cara stopped him.

"Thank you...you're a good friend." He said with a smile.

"And you two are perfect." The older werewolf winked then left the room with an audible click.