Chapter 4 – Getting to know you, Day 1

Harry snuggled into the warm pillow beneath him, feeling content. When the pillow moved, he complained wordlessly and tried to snuggle deeper. He jumped in surprise when his pillow chuckled softly. Harry flushed in embarrassment when he looked into the grey eyes of his mate.

Draco smiled. "Did you sleep well?"

Harry hid his face and nodded.

"That's good. I also had a lovely sleep – though my back might ache a little due to us falling asleep on the floor."

Remus appeared in the doorway, a smile on his face. "Are you ready for breakfast Kit? I made your favourite."

Harry smiled sweetly. "Is Rinie awake yet?"

Instead of answering, Remus pointed to the armchairs, laughter dancing in his eyes. Draco smiled when his mate jumped up, ran to a chair and leaped – turning into his kitten form. Draco and Remus laughed when Blaise yelped and fell on the floor while the smug-looking kitten jumped onto the lounge with a giggling Hermione curled up on it.

"That was naughty of you, Sweetie. What did Blaise do to you to deserve that?"

Harry changed back and snuggled into Hermione. "He's your mate – that's what he's done to me. I wake you up in the morning, so he has to get used to it," he answered with a mischievous glint in his eye, "and since you accepted my mate, the least I can do is accept yours into our family."

Blaise and Draco blinked as Hermione threw her arms around Harry. Remus just smiled and cleared his throat.

Harry looked up with a big grin. "Rinie! Remy made breakfast! Can we go eat now? Pleeeeease! He made my favourite!"

Hermione laughed. "So he made your favourite did he? Do you know if our mates like your favourite breakfast?"

Harry's ears flicked back slightly. "No, I don't. Can I ask them?"

Harry jumped and hissed when Sirius' barking laughter sounded. Draco, Remus, Blaise and Hermione laughed softly when Sirius whined at the glare Harry sent him.

"Why don't you ask them if they like what we are having for breakfast?" Remus asked when he'd calmed down a few seconds later.

Harry beamed and ran into Draco's arms before looking up at him with innocent emerald eyes that seemed too large for his face. "Do you like spiced scrambled eggs, ham, Greek yoghurt pancakes all with maple syrup, strawberries, banana, grapes and cherries?"

Draco – who was lost in the eyes before him – just nodded. He didn't care what it was that he was about to eat, as long as those eyes stayed the way they were.

Blaise looked at Hermione, Remus and Sirius in disbelief. "He can eat that much?"

Hermione chuckled. "He has one egg, one pancake, two small pieces of ham and a cup of mixed berries and maple syrup. He has a high metabolism but he prefers to eat small meals frequently – and he has one hell of a strange set of tastebuds."

Harry purred in agreement as his stomach growled. Draco struggled to keep himself from melting at the hopeful and slightly embarrassed face of his mate as he was lead to the dining table. He could tell that he had failed by the looks he was getting from a smug Blaise and an ecstatic Hermione. Shrugging at them with a small half-smile, he turned his attention back to the black-hair teen that was bouncing in front of him.

FTLOAGEK

Blaise watched Draco closely as Harry finished his breakfast. He had noticed that the Vampire's eyes had glazed over halfway through the meal. He had almost laughed out loud when his friend's jaw had dropped as he watched his mate's tongue flick over his lips when he saw the plate of food. He HAD laughed when his eyes had glazed over while he watched his mate eat. If Blaise had his way, Draco would never live it down.

FTLOAGEK

Harry licked the last bit of sweetness from his lips with a small hum of pleasure. When he looked up, he found everyone looking at him in amusement and – in one case – lust. "Um … Hi?"

Hermione laughed. "Hi Sweetie, did you enjoy your breakfast?"

Harry nodded with a smile. "Yes Rinie. Can I make my own lunch? I feel like something that I don't think anyone else would be interested in."

Hermione sighed. "You don't need to ask me, Harry. Just do it. We have different rules here. I no longer need to be your dominant figure, you have Draco now."

"But I don't know Draco very well Rinie," Harry whispered.

Hermione smiled. "I have an idea. Why don't you spend this morning in the kitchen while I get to know both our mates slightly? After you have finished making those wonderful dishes you make for picnics you, me and our mates will go on a picnic and spend this afternoon getting to know each other with no other distractions. Do you like that idea?"

Harry beamed and ran into the kitchen.

Remus groaned. "You do realise that I am not going to be allowed in there 'til he's out now, don't you?"

Hermione smiled sweetly. "That was the idea. I need you boys to guide me to a study I can use so I can have a private discussion with our mates. If you would like I can also aid you both in marking the younger years reports – even though Defence isn't my strong point."

Sirius brightened. "How about we give you Mooney's office and I'll bring my reports for you to do and I'll join Remus at the table to do my upper years while Remus does his at the opposite end. That way we will all be somewhere easily accessed by Harry."

Hermione nodded in satisfaction and rose to her fee, stretching. "Well, there's no time like the present. If you want to go collect the reports Sirius, Remus can show us to his office."

Sirius nodded and left.

"Professor Lupin? Would you like me to mark your younger student's reports?" Blaise asked as Remus led them from the room. Remus beamed his acceptance. Even though he only had the holiday assignments back, there were a lot there – but that's what you got for requesting two assignments per year group.

FTLOAGEK

Harry looked around the kitchen in excitement. He knew that if he wanted something all he had to do was call for the house elf that was assigned to Remus or Sirius. Clasping his hands before him with a smile, he looked around his work area.

'It's small, but neat,' he thought with a small grin, 'just like Remus.'

Humming softly, Harry walked around the room, committing where everything belonged to memory. Once that was done, he looked in the pantry to see what he needed. Nodding in determination, he called for both house-elves and got to work.

FTLOAGEK

Draco watched the two at the desk with a shudder. Never had he seen anyone take so much joy in doing something so … so … so Boring! He shook his head slightly in astonishment. Once they had been alone, Hermione had started talking. She had given them a run down on her and Harry's life in the orphanage and had relived some of their time there. She had also threatened – not his life, but his manhood – if he thought to harm Harry. He had made a vow to never knowingly hurt the black-haired teen and then both Hermione and Blaise had started their marking. That had been 1 hour and 20 minutes ago and Draco was still as bored as he was when they'd first started.

A knock on the door made all three of them jump. Hermione smiled.

"Come in, Harry. You know you don't need to knock."

Draco's eyes lit up when he saw his mate, his black head covered in flour. His eyes hardened when he noticed the tears in the green eyes.

"Oh Sweetie. What happened?"

"I yelled at Paddy."

"Why did you yell at Padfoot, Harry?" Hermione's voice sounded slightly amused.

"Because he came into the kitchen and tried to help. He got flour over EVERYTHING!" Hermione, Blaise and Draco all tried to suppress their laughter at this.

"I can see that, Sweetie," Hermione continued when she had control of herself. "What did you do?"

Harry looked up shyly. "I yelled at him. I said he was more trouble than he's worth, that I'd prefer to have the help of a two-year-old because they are better behaved and for his punishment he had to clean the mess he made, he was banned from the kitchen while I was in it and he has to eat in the Great Hall with the other teachers for a week."

Hermione lost her control and laughed hard. "You told him that he was banned from your cooking for a week? That's brilliant!"

Harry smiled shyly. "You think so Rinie? You don't think I was too harsh on him?"

Hermione, Blaise and Draco chuckled.

"Let me put it this way, Sweetie; if we had still been at the orphanage and one of the children had done what Sirius just did, what would you have done?"

Harry scowled. "It depends on how old they were. If they were old enough to be in senior school, they would have been cooking for themselves and any others that had misbehaved. If they were junior school age, they would be cleaning up the mess and spending the rest of the day sitting at the table writing out recipe cards. If they were younger than that, they would get their fingers and bottom smacked and banned from the kitchen and me for the rest of the day."

Hermione smiled. "So, do you think you were too harsh on him?"

Harry looked at Hermione thoughtfully. "No I don't. He needs to learn that the kitchen is MY domain and that if he is going to act like a child while in it, then I will treat him like one."

Laughter from the doorway made all of them turn around. Standing just outside the room was a pouting Sirius and a laughing Remus.

"I can't believe you just said that, Kitten," Sirius pouted. "Are you really going to make me eat in the Great Hall?"

Harry glared at the canine animagus. "Yes I am. Just be happy that I'm not going to make you cook for yourself for the week."

Both Sirius and Remus paled. "You wouldn't do that would you?" Remus whispered, "Last time he cooked he was in the hospital wing for a week!"

Harry just gave them a blank-faced look. "Then he'd better not do what he did again, isn't that right?"

Remus stopped laughing and looked at Sirius. "What did you do?"

Sirius blushed and mumbled something.

"I can't hear you, Sirius," Remus stated, even though he had heard him perfectly.

"I said I tried to make it more interesting, but instead of him enjoying what I did, he yelled at me, made me clean the kitchen, banned me from said kitchen and told me I'm not allowed to eat with you for a week." He pouted.

"You also forgot me telling you a 2-year-old was more mature and less trouble than you."

Sirius whined sadly and Remus shook his head.

"You're just going to have to suffer through your punishment. You know what he's like."

"But Moony! That means seven days – Seven Days – of not eating our kitten's cooking."

Remus chuckled and turned away. "You've been living without Harry's cooking for most of your life. I'm sure that one more week won't harm you."

Sirius pouted, following the other man.

Draco and Blaise grinned at each other. They had always agreed with their head of house in the belief that Remus and Sirius – though bachelors – acted like an old married couple. The whole school had many hours of fun watching the two men.

"How much longer will you be, Rinie?" Harry asked softly.

"I'm just under three quarters of the way through the first year. I should be finished the full year in another forty five minutes at the most."

Harry nodded. "That's good. I have a few things in the oven that will take half an hour. That will give them long enough to cool and for me to pack it. I think there may be enough for tonight as well. Do we have somewhere we can go to eat it?"

Draco and Blaise exchanged smirks. "We've got the perfect spot," they announced.

Harry beamed at them and snuggled into Draco's side, causing the vampire to almost purr in ecstasy.

Hermione resumed her marking with a smile. Draco had been starting to annoy her with his constant fidgeting. With Harry next to him and purring his head off, she assumed that he would be happy to sit still.

Draco smiled down at the top of his mate's head and softly caressed one of his ears. He smiled slightly when the younger teen went boneless and began purring. Slowly, Draco started to relax. By the time Remus looked in twenty minutes later, both Harry and Draco were in the middle of a catnap.

"Do you think we should wake them?" Blaise whispered

"No. Harry will wake up soon and if Draco doesn't wake up when he moves, we can wake him up."

Blaise nodded and turned to Remus. "I'm almost finished the first year's pop quiz. Can I ask why you gave them a pop quiz on the first day?"

Remus made himself comfortable. "Both Sirius and myself give all the years quizzes in their first lesson so we can 1) see what they remember from previous years – or in case of the first years – to see if they learnt anything from listening to the adults and older siblings around them, and 2) to see whether or not they had done any reading of the text book. We don't expect the whole text book to be read, but we do expect it to have been opened over the summer."

Blaise nodded thoughtfully. "And after that you have a practical revision for years 2-7, don't you?"

Remus smiled. "Yes we do. We find that it aids us in helping those who need help in a specific area."

Blaise nodded. "That makes sense."

Remus opened his mouth to reply, but was interrupted by a crack.

"Sorry," Harry mumbled sleepily, stretching. "I've got to go back to the kitchen now."

Hermione laughed as he left the room, rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand. She looked at Blaise with a mischievous glint in her eye and a slight smirk on her lips. "Now we can wake him up."

Remus was instantly on his feet and as far away from Hermione as he could get without actually leaving the room.

Blaise felt a small shiver of what could have been fear slide down his spine. What could his mate do to cause a man who willingly lived with Sirius Black – a prankster from birth - for years to back away? Before he could open his mouth to protest, Hermione had performed a running leap and landed on the blonde vampire in her fox form with what looked to be flames surrounding her body.

Remus collapsed into laughter as Draco opened his eyes and shouted out in shock. Hermione jumped off the blonde and ran to Remus, a foxes grin on her muzzle. Blaise couldn't help but chuckle at his best friend's sleepy glare.

"We only have a little time before we have to go. I didn't want to have to get Harry to wake you so I did it," Hermione said innocently.

"I think I'd prefer Harry to wake me up," Draco mumbled.

Both Remus and Hermione shuddered. "Believe us when we say 'No, you wouldn't'."

Draco yelped as something hit him in the back, pushing him to the floor.

"Everything's ready for our picnic. Are you ready yet?

Hermione and Remus laughed at the faces of the two Slytherins.

"That is why you wouldn't prefer it. I have control over fire he uses shadow. He has been able to wake up even the deepest of sleepers by appearing in the shadows above them and dropping on them in his kitten form. Yes Harry, we are ready. We just have to wait for your mate to wake up properly."

Harry beamed and turned to the blonde vampire – who had suddenly been surrounded by shadows. "Ok, he's ready. Can we go now?" He asked as the shadows left the subject of their attention, causing the other four beings in the room to blink at him in shock. Harry tilted his head to the left like a curious puppy. "What?"

Hermione hid a grin as she saw Draco try to wipe the drool from his face without being noticed.

FTLOAGEK

"You've had coffee, sugar or chocolate, haven't you kit?" Remus asked, eyes shining with withheld mirth.

Harry nodded his head vigorously. "I made a cake. Choc-banana with mocha icing, the icing was nummy!"

Remus laughed till tears rolled down his cheeks. "Good luck!' he called to a horror-stricken Draco as he was pulled out of the room by a hyperactive and impatient Kitty-Demon. Hermione and Blaise followed them, laughing at the dark-haired boy's antics.

FTLOAGEK

Harry and Hermione looked at each other in confusion. Their mates had escorted them to this area for their picnic, but they didn't know why. When a door appeared, both of them tilted their head to the left, causing the two boys to chuckle.

"This is the Room of Requirement," Blaise explained, covering Hermione's eyes. "This room changes to suit what you need it to be."

"Trust me," Draco whispered as he nuzzled into Harry's neck, relishing the slight whimper that escaped the younger male.

The two dominants guided their mates into the room before removing their hands from their eyes with a slight flourish.

The two new comers – who were also carrying a picnic basket each – stood there with wide eyes; before them lay a paradise.

The ground beneath their feet was like a thick carpet. The air was slightly chilled and fresh. The two Demons looked around. The large are they were in was identical to the botanical gardens they had been to while they were at the orphanage – up to and including the small waterfall that Harry had used to wash the younglings when they had finished eating their ice-lollies or fruit they had bought with them.

Harry looked around the green grounds with tears in his eyes. "How?"

Draco let a soft smile cover his features as he heard the break in Harry's voice. "Last year Remus told us that you had talked non-stop about this place you had been to. He said that it had stuck in his mind because it had been the first time he could remember you acting carefree. Sev said that he had been there once when he was younger and enjoyed it, so we took him there for his birthday over the summer."

Harry smiled up at his mate with large liquid emerald eyes. "Thank you. You have no idea at how much this means to me."

"I wish that I could take you for real, but I can't – at least, not yet."

Harry smiled. "This is lovely, Draco. Do you want to choose where we'll sit for lunch?"

Draco beamed and took the basket from the black-haired teen before offering his free arm to him. Harry blushed and accepted the arm. Hermione and Blaise exchanged smiles before Blaise copied Draco's example and they followed the couple.

FTLOAGEK

Blaise and Draco watched slack-jawed as their mates started to unpack the food in a practiced dance. Neither of them could believe the amount of food the younger male had made. There were sandwiches of all types, fruit, cold roast meats, salads, cheese, wines, fruit juice, water, ice-lollies, jellies, dips with homemade bread sticks, tortilla chips and vegetables sticks and that was not to mention the large cake that filled the centre of the blanket.

"You really out did yourself this time, Harry," Hermione smiled, taking in the food on display. Harry blushed slightly as he handed everyone a plate, indicating for them to help themselves. The four teens spent the next ten minutes eating in silence.

"What has it been like going to school here?" Hermione asked after her stomach had enough food in it to stop it eating itself.

"It's been … alright, I guess," Blaise answered. "It was strange sharing a room with other at first, but we ended up getting used to it."

"The classes are very interesting – well, most of them are," Draco continued after swallowing. "DADA has been a joke from the very beginning. Our instructors have been ridiculous!"

Blaise snorted. "Well, they were till Remus took over last year. First year we had a stuttering fool who was scared of his shadow, us and the subject. Second year was a blasted peacock hidden in the body of a human being."

"Third year was a wizard who believed himself above the law and he tried teaching us all dark arts instead of Defence against the dark arts. He lost his job the week the week after the Christmas holidays when he cast the Cruciatus Curse on a muggleborn. Forth year was more along the lines of a madhouse with a Professor who thought that a Sniget was the wizarding world's most dangerous beast."

"Fifth year was worse with a member of the ministry as a Professor. She wouldn't allow any of us take a wand into her classroom and she spent most of her time trying to get everyone to agree that those with creature blood were inferior to those without. She didn't last long when the Minister and Board of Governors found out. It may have taken nearly a year to get rid of her, but it was worth it."

"Who is this Tom you were talking about last night?" Blaise asked after a few more mouthfuls.

"Tom is our teacher. He's a snake demon. He's great!" Harry chirped, happily munching on a finger lime. "He's been teaching us the snake language! It's fun!"

Hermione smiled. "Both of us adore Tom. He told us that if it were allowed, he would have adopted us himself. He said that we are to rest for a while and when we have settled in he'll come and talk to us about our lessons."

"We officially completed our education a few weeks ago, but Tom wants to teach us some things that we should have been aware of from birth."

"We think he's just trying to stay friends with us. He seems lonely."

Harry picked up a piece of celery and started to nibble on it. "He's the only member of his family left. He is trying to find more snake demons, but he hasn't yet."

Blaise looked at Harry in confusion. "Is that how he came to by your teacher? He was looking for other of his kind and he found you?"

Harry shook his head. "When a new demon is ready to learn their magic seeks out another demon or demon that it feels comfortable with and who can teach its wielder the best. Rinie and I were unique in that our magic is very similar and we both sort out Tom when we were five. We think that it is because of this that we managed to successfully complete the sibling bond."

Hermione laughed. "Until he arrived he thought the only had one student. He loved it when he discovered that he had two kits to teach. I believe that both of you will love him – even if it is just because he picks on Sirius."

Blaise smirked as he noticed Draco's tongue tip flick over his bottom lip as Harry licked his lips clean of celery juice.

"What are your families like?" Harry asked, eyes blinking innocently at the blonde.

Seeing that his friend was distracted by his mate eating another piece of fruit, Blaise started. "My mother is a lovely woman. She's the one I gained my Dark Elvan heritage from. My biological father was a wood elf. He left mum when he discovered she was pregnant. He's now married to an elf-veela hybrid female who can't give him an heir. He's tried to claim me several times over the years as his heir, but when he left he denied that I was his and when he said that his magic made it so he could say I was his son, but he had no right to claim me.

"Since then she has married a lovely man and I have two younger sisters. One is seven and the other is four. Mum also is expecting twins in three months. We don't know what they are yet, we want it to be a surprise."

Both Harry and Hermione beamed.

"When you next write her, give her our congratulations," Hermione said.

"If she needs help with anything health wise, I may be able to help her," Harry offered shyly. "That is if she doesn't already have a healer."

Blaise looked at Harry incredulously. "You can heal?"

Harry blushed and nodded.

"Harry is a natural healer. Tom taught him all he could before he contacted a healer friend of his. She agreed to help and so she taught Harry once a week. He now has his healer's certificate."

Harry blushed deeper and lowered his head.

"So Draco," Hermione smiled getting the attention off her kitten. "What is your family like? I know we will be meeting them all soon, but I want to hear what you think of them."

Draco smiled. "Well, you already know Remus and Sirius. Remus is kind of like an honorary Uncle and Sirius is my mother's cousin, so he's legitimately my family. Then there is Sev. He and dad were best friends while they were at Hogwarts – even though dad was older by four years. When he had trouble, Sev would go to dad and so they became close. Because of that, dad made him my godfather so I've known him all my life. I think you both would get along with him and I think he'd enjoy your company – after all, there's only so much intelligent conversation you can have with Sirius."

Harry smiled shyly at Draco's attempt at cheering him up.

"My mother,' Draco continued dryly, "is not normally as stupid as she was last night. She isn't of creature inheritance and normally she leaves me to my own devices. When I was younger she was more … motherly, but when I was old enough for dad's lessons, she just stopped. I think it was her way of protecting herself if I decided she wasn't good enough to be her mother.

"Then we have Bella. She is my mother's oldest sister and she is insane! Don't be surprised if she tries mothering you. When Sirius gets over-bearing, threaten him with Bella and he calms down. Mum does have another sister who is better her and Bella in age, but they haven't spoken in nearly twenty three years so I've never met her.

"This brings us to my father. He has to be the most important person in my life so far – followed closely by Severus. Father was always there – no matter how busy he was he always had time to do things with me and mum. Nearly every memory I have of my childhood involves him in one way or another. He showed me that nothing is more important than family – and I want to be as good a father to my children as he was to me."

At this, Harry blushed deeply. "I'm sure that you will be a good father," he smiled shyly.

Draco, Blaise and Hermione smirked. It seemed that Harry's proximity to his dominant was both making him a slight more bolder and less immune to his mate's natural charm.

The next few hours saw the four teens joke around and talk as if nothing could harm them.

FTLOAGEK

Remus chuckled softly as he and a pouting Sirius sat between the Headmaster and the Potions Professor.

"I thought that the two of you would be with our guests," the Headmaster said with a twinkle in his eye.

"What's wrong with the mutt?" Severus murmured at the same time.

Remus chuckled. "Harry and Hermione have gone on a picnic with Draco and Blaise," he answered the Headmaster. He turned to Severus. "Sirius is sulking because he earned himself his first punishment from our Kitten because he made a mess of the kitchen."

Severus' face brightened slightly. "What is his punishment?"

"He's been banned from the kitchen while Harry is in it and he's not allowed to eat with us – or anything Harry cooks – for a week. And if I know Harry, he will be making most of Sirius' favourites to make the punishment worse."

The students in the hall all looked up at the head table in shock as the Potions Master laughed until tears rolled down his face.

FTLOAGEK

The four teens stood in front of the door leading to Remus' rooms.

"We should go back to the Slytherin Common room tonight," Blaise said with a sad smile.

"We will be back first thing in the morning," Draco continued. "With the stuff that is left over from today – bring it with us because we will be going on a tour of Hogwarts – both grounds and castle."

Hermione beamed. "That sounds wonderful! But we might make something new for lunch tomorrow – or we could eat in the Great Hall."

Blaise nodded. "That sounds like a good idea. We will pick you up at seven." He lent forwards and kissed Hermione softly on the cheek.

Harry smiled as he snuggled into Draco's chest. "I'll have breakfast ready and waiting," he said, and with a quick press of his lips to Draco's cheek, he walked into the rooms before them, followed closely by a slightly giggling Hermione.

"See you tomorrow," the two Demons whispered before shutting the door.

Draco and Blaise stood before the closed door with sappy smiles on their faces.

"We'd best go and get some sleep, Draco," Blaise said eventually.

Yes. The sooner we get to sleep, the sooner we can see our mates." The two students made their way back to their common room, smiling dreamily while they remembered their first day with their mates and best friend.