"Fionn, I'm sorry." The Fae continued buttoning his white silk shirt, though he darted a quick glance at Harry from under his fall of hair as he did so. "I know I haven't been approaching this Courting thing the way I should. But honestly, I didn't..." He stopped and shook his head, then started over. "I don't have any real experience with dating. I mean, I tried it twice, with girls, and it was... worse than bad. I don't know what I'm doing, I don't know if I like guys. I mean, the kiss was better than with the girls, but does that mean anything besides that you're good at it?" He had almost said kisses, and wouldn't that have gotten him and Fred both in trouble!

Fionn finally looked at him, more than just a quick glance. He seemed to be considering something. "You think I'm a good kisser?"

"I-yes?" Harry blushed brightly and tried to look away, but the golden gaze wouldn't allow it.

"If this is going to work, you'll have to try. You don't have to...accept me... at the end, but you have to give it a chance to work." Fionn's voice was slightly pained, and softer than usual when he said 'accept me', but he continued on. "Will you do that? Will you try?"

Harry nodded silently, but Fionn didn't move or speak. "I can do that. I'll try." He had the feeling that he was going to have to prove his words at some point, and it was better to do it now, while they were still alone, than in front of the twins or Ash. He reached deep inside himself for some of the Gryffindor courage he was supposed to have, and then he approached the Fae. It was still weird, doing this kind of stuff with a guy, but he'd promised. Slowly he reached out and cupped Fionn's face in his hands, then he tilted his face up and kissed the Fae. Fionn's eyes widened in surprise, and then they slowly fluttered closed. One hand steadied himself by resting on Harry's left shoulder, and he returned the kiss. It was just as gentle as the last one, but so much better now that he was actively participating instead of just standing there like an idiot.

When they finally broke apart, Fionn smiled shyly and looked away, though he took one of Harry's hands in his own. Harry for his part, was thinking that this might actually work. Had Fionn been a girl, he wouldn't have the issues he had been having, so if he just ignored the fact that the Fae was a boy... Did it really matter what gender someone was, if they were perfect for you in all other ways?

A red message light flew through his closed door and came to hover in front of Harry. He sighed, why was it that something always had to interrupt when he was discovering something important? Couldn't he get a lazy day with no distractions, just once? Holding out his hand palm up, he allowed the message to play.

"Great. I've been called to see Healer Tristan. Says he has some people who are experts in Soul Magic, and want to examine the brand. And they want to do it today, as soon as possible."

"Then we had better go tell Ash."

The room they were shown into, was larger than the usual room Harry met Healer Tristan in. He supposed that was most likely due to the fact that Fred and George had insisted on coming with them. Five people, plus however many Healer Tristan was bringing, would hardly fit in the usual room. This room looked just like the other, only it was at least three times the size, with five chairs along the wall instead of one. Ash took the one closest to the door, and pointedly looked at Fred and George, then the chairs next to her. They got the message and sat instead of checking out the cabinets and drawers as Harry was sure they wanted to.

Harry sat on the edge of the exam table, and Fionn stood beside him, holding his left hand. The Fae hadn't let go of him for long at all since Harry had kissed him. It made Harry feel a little bad, had Fionn been that worried that he was going to break the Courtship?

When the door opened, Harry looked up expecting to see Healer Tristan. His eyes widened in surprise at what he saw instead. A very tall man, well over 6' tall, probably closer to 6'6", walked into the room. He had long, straight black hair that fell to his mid-back, and glowing red eyes. His skin was a dark grey-black, not a human color, and the aura he gave off made Harry shiver. It was dark, almost scarily so, but it didn't have the evil feel that Voldemort's did. He was wearing black from head to toe. Was this a Djinn?

Following him, was a comparatively shorter man, around 5'9". His skin was a light caramel color, and his hair was blood red, falling to mid-thigh. He wore his hair in thousands of tiny braids, each one ending in what looked like an amber bead. His hair made a soft shushing sound as he moved, and the beads clicked quietly together. His eyes were a dark red, and had golden lines in the skin around them. Harry didn't know for sure, but they looked kind of like some of the markings he had seen in Hermione's Ancient Rune homework. This new Fae wore a sleeveless gold silk shirt, with a v-neck, and tight black leather pants and boots. He was also smirking, and Harry suddenly realized he had been staring.

Healer Tristan hurried in the room after the other two and smiled. "Ah good, everyone's here. Harry, this is Djuran, he is the Djinn I spoke to you about that specializes in Soul Magics. And this is Rialyn, he's a Healer, though not for any of the Hospitals."

"Independent contractor you might say. Thanks Tristan, we'll be taking it from here." Rialyn flashed a smile and waved the other Healer off towards the door without really looking at Tristan or the door. Tristan sputtered for a moment, but finally left when neither Rialyn nor Djuran paid him the slightest bit of attention. Indeed, it looked as though they had totally forgotten Tristan existed, the moment he was done introducing them.

"We'll need to see the brand Harry, and he-" Djuran pointed at Fionn, "will need to move elsewhere. His magic will interfere with our readings." Djuran's voice was low, and surprisingly warm for how dark his aura was.

Harry squeezed Fionn's hand and then released him as he got off the exam table. Fionn went to sit by George, and Harry dropped his shirt on the table and turned his back to everyone. Wings spread and out of the way, he waited for the usual inspection. Really, this was getting old, he just wanted to know what it did already, and then get rid of it!

"Mmm... He does have a nice ass." The voice was closer behind him than Harry had expected, and it fairly oozed with ...something.

Harry lost his thought as he suddenly heard a loud thump, as though someone had been forcefully shoved back into a chair. He started to turn to see what was happening, when a hand landed on his shoulder and held him in place.

"Ri! Now is not the time. We have a job to do, remember?" Djuran sounded slightly exasperated, but not as if this was unusual behavior for the Fae. "Please hold still, we haven't started yet." This last obviously being directed at Harry.

A moment later, the hand was removed from his shoulder, but now he could feel two hands touching the brand. One set of fingers were slightly cool, as though they had been holding a cold drink or something recently, the other was much warmer. And then the brand started to burn. Much more than the tingle he usually felt when someone tried to read the magics. He gasped softly and his wings twitched as he forced them to stay extended and out of the way. The burning continued to intensify, to the point that he was going to beg them to stop, and then he felt the fingers draw away. One set trailed lower briefly and pinched him on the ass, he didn't even try to stop the instinctual response. His right wing snapped back and smacked into something solid, there was a yelp, and then he was facing everyone again.

Rialyn was rubbing his arm, obviously he was the one Harry had smacked, and Djuran was looking every bit as exasperated as his voice had sounded earlier. Fionn looked angry, Harry had never thought to see the Fae that angry, and all of it was currently directed at Rialyn. He had a twin on each side of him now, and they were holding his arms to the chair so he couldn't get up.

"Ri, what have I said about purposely annoying mateships? You're not even really interested, go stand over there where you can't do more harm." Djuran pointed to a corner, as far from Harry and the others as it was possible to get.

"But it's such fun, and he does have a nice ass. I simply couldn't help myself! And I might be interested. Anything is possible." He lounged in his corner, looking pleased with himself.

Harry frowned, looking between his friends and the new people a moment, and then decided to go sit down. He wanted answers, and if that meant he had to bite his tongue for now, he'd do it. But Rialyn was going to get a piece of his mind before he left. Fionn was still looking angry, and George looked at Harry like he wanted him to help keep the Fae from trying to kill. So Harry did the only thing that came to mind, and slid into Fionn's chair, pulling the Fae partially onto his lap and wrapping both arms around him. Fionn's body was stiff in his arms, but he gradually relaxed against him.

"Tristan was right to call us in. It is Soul Magic. Specifically, it is meant to swap your soul for the soul of the one who placed the brand on you. It holds your Demon magic in check, so it cannot be accessed beyond the bare minimum. When you die, the brand will be triggered, and pull the Demon part of you out, and put the soul of this other into you instead. It also will retain your Wizard magics in your body, so the usurper has full access to your power." Djuran looked Harry in the eyes as he spoke. "I can remove it, with Rialyn's aid. But we need the person who put the brand on you in order to do so."

Harry had gone pale during the explanation, it was one thing to be told that something might be the case, but to be told that he really did have something on him that was meant to put someone else's soul into his body... And Djuran had said he had to die for it to happen, so did that mean Voldemort wanted his body? That would make sense, Voldemort's body was disgusting, and he certainly wouldn't want it, but... how would Voldemort have managed to brand him?

"There are trackers already searching for the one who did this, they went out a few mortal realm days ago." Ash spoke when it was apparent that Harry was in no shape to do so.

"So they should be back soon then. That's good. We'll be in the area, when the time comes, we'll be ready."

Ash gathered everyone, it was apparent that Harry was in too much shock to ask anything more right now. But as Harry finally stood, prodded by Fred, he remembered he hadn't yet given Rialyn a piece of his mind. Still holding onto Fionn, he wheeled around and narrowed his eyes at the red-haired Fae.

"If you ever touch me without my permission again, you will regret it. I may not have use of my Demon magics, but my Wizarding magic works just fine."

Rialyn tilted his head to the side and smirked as he licked his lips. "I'll have to keep that in mind... Harry..." He nearly purred the name, and Fred and George dragged Harry and Fionn out of the room before anything else could be said.

AN:

Thought I should put in a pronunciation guide, as I've added two new strange names. *laughs* Fionn: Pronounced Fee-on. Nickname is Fi, which is pronounced Fee.
Djuran: Pronounced D'jur (as in the first part of Jury)-an.
Rialyn: Pronounced Ree-al-in. Nickname is Ri, pronounced Ree.

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