Chapter 20 – Resolution

That night was the first time in anyone's memory that Harry refused to acknowledge Hermione, Sirius or Remus. From the very moment he stepped through the door, Harry greeted Severus and Blaise yet refused to look in the direction of his family. After nearly an hour of watching his mate interacting happily with all of his family without shying away and discretely watching Remus, Sirius and Hermione mope, Draco stepped in.

"I'm going to get some more drinks," he said as he stood, "Who wants what?"

A chorus of 'Tea please' with one 'Coffee" responded to him and he chuckled.

"Think you can come help me Kitten?" he asked Harry with a smile.

"Of course!" Harry beamed, excusing himself to Lucius and Narcissa and laughing softly at Bellatrix – who was playfully trying to lick Severus' cheek while he was holding a conversation with Remus and Hermione.

Once in the kitchen, Draco pulled Harry into his arms, tucking the demon's head under his chin.

"Draco?" Harry asked, confused.

"Why aren't you talking to them?" Draco asked softly, knowing that his Father, Remus, Blaise and Hermione at least would be able to hear their conversation. "Is it punishment?"

Harry pulled back as fast as he could. "No!" he answered, face full of alarm. "It's not polite to air dirty laundry before guests. When everyone goes, I'll talk to them and get it all sorted out. I don't want to be rude and leave the room to deal with a personal problem."

"It's not just that," Draco stated, putting a gentle hand on Harry's cheek. "Tell me, Love. I can't help if I don't know."

Harry nuzzled into the hand on his cheek slightly before turning and starting on making the drinks for everyone in the other room.

"Remi and Siri have known me since I was born," Harry said softly as he waited for the water to heat up, choosing to do it manually rather than with magic. "Rinie has known me since I was two." He went silent again.

Draco waited patiently as he got the milk jug and sugar container ready, knowing that his mate needed time to sort out his thoughts and emotions.

"They've known me for so long and they still thought that of me," Harry said, his voice full of how much he was hurting. "Have they always thought that I would abandon them the minute I had a mate? Have they always thought so low of me? Have they been waiting for it to happen so they could hurt me before I hurt them? If they thought it of me, why did they stay? Was it for the memory of a man that lives in their hearts but means not much to me?"

Harry turned to face Draco and was pulled tight to his chest.

"I love mum and dad," Harry whispered, 'they are my parents but … I don't remember them. It was Mama Figg and Rinie who looked after me when I was sick or scared. Mama Figg taught me to cook and how to take care of myself. It was Tom who taught me to read and write. Mama Figg and Tom are the only parents I remember. I'm terrified that Sirius and Remus have only stayed with me due to their relationship with my Father and not because they love me."

"And Hermione?" Draco asked, hugging Harry tighter, knowing deep down that this wasn't a new fear for his mate.

"Rinie and I are bound by the ritual we did, so I know she loves me," Harry began.

"But," Draco urge softly after several minutes of silence.

"So why did she believe Sirius and Remus right away without using our mental bond like she usually does? I know I shut my side of it down, but we always keep it closed when at least one of us is asleep."

"Does the connection open on its own or do you need to open it?" Draco asked.

"It opens itself half an hour after we are both awake. It's how I knew to take Rinie's tea to her." A tear fell down. Harry's cheek as he looked up at Draco. "She didn't even pay attention to what my thoughts were because the only time I thought of you was a part of my 'to do' list of the morning and the rest of it was focused on what we could talk about."

Draco leaned down and gently licked the tears from Harry's cheeks. "Hush Kitten, it's alright. We'll fix this. First we will have ourselves a cup of tea with everyone and once everyone is gone we'll set up a talk between you, Hermione, Sirus and Remus. How's that sound?"

"Would … Can you stay? Please?" Harry whispered, biting his lip.

"I will stay to mediate Kitten, if that is what you wish, but you need to be the one to talk to them. It will be hard, but it will be worth it – You'll see."

"Promise?"

Draco placed a soft kiss to the bridge of Harry's nose. "I promise. After this, your relationship with all three of them will get stronger. Misunderstandings are a big part of family life – one that you and Hermione don't seem to have had before due to your upbringing and your natures. While they do hurt more than betrayal, Misunderstandings lead to growth for both the individuals and to the relationships between the individuals. I can promise you that you and I will have a few of them over the years as well as arguments, debates, fights and territorial disputes – but it never means that we don't love each other anymore, nor does it mean that we never did love each other. It just means that we are two people with differing opinions who are trying to live side-by-side the best we can."

Harry nodded, looking even more alarmed than before.

Draco sighed and shook his head. "For example," he said, making Harry look at him, "would you say Willa and Nicholas loved each other?"

"Of course," Harry replied with a smile at the thought of the elven woman and her husband. "They adore each other, that much is obvious."

"Would you believe that sometimes the two of them fight so much that Blaise gets the girls and brings them to my place?"

Harry looked startled. "Really?"

Draco nodded, completely serious. "Sometimes they fight over the kids and sometimes fight because they are both really tense and they just snap at each other. The biggest fight the two of them had was seven years ago when Blaise got his letter for school. Nicholas wanted him to go to the school Willa had gone to in Italy because they have a better range of subjects to choose from comparted to Hogwarts, but Willa wanted Blaise to come to Hogwarts because he was going to be closer to her and he would have a friend with him. Mother, Father and I had Blaise and Carla at Malfoy Manor or nearly a full week before the two of them appeared one day and apologised to us all for their behaviour and to thank Mother and Father for looking after Blaise and Carla before seating the two of them down so they could talk to Blaise about what he wanted."

Draco placed a gently kiss on the tip of his mate's nose with a smile. "So you see, every relationship has it's rocky patches, but in the end everything works out if both parties want it to."

Harry smiled shyly up at Draco before nuzzling into Draco's chest and walking away to put the finishing touches on the tea.

Draco sighed in relief that he had managed to calm his mate down without putting his foot into it too badly.

~~~bouncykittyissleepy~~~

Blaise hugged Hermione goodbye as everyone else slowly trickled out the door. "I'll see you tomorrow for breakfast," he said with a small smile. "I have a full day of classes to go to so I might have to give lunch a miss."

Hermione pouted up at him. "Why can't you stay?"

"It isn't my place to stay," Blaise answered, putting both hands on Hermione's cheeks. "When Sirius did something that hurt Harry by accident, did you allow Harry to face him alone?"

Hermione scowled, "No! Of course not!"

"And did you allow Tom or Mir Figg or Remus to be in the same room when Sirus was apologising to Harry?"

Hermione sighed and slumped. "If Remus wasn't there at the time it happened, then no, I didn't. I'm not used to being the one that hurts him Blaise." Hermione looked up at her mate with watering eyes. "Everything seems to be falling apart since Tom left."

"Tom left because he had to 'Mione," Blaise stated. "If he hadn't gone when he did, neither you nor Harry would be forming bonds with me and Draco. A mentor bond that is formed between non-family members needs to be broken for the mate bond to form. Tom's part in your lives had finished. If the circumstances were any different, you and Harry would never hear from Tom again. Somehow you, Harry and Tom created a much deeper bond than the usual non-familial mentor/student one."

"Tom was desperate for a family," a soft voice said from the side making the two jump. "He wanted to adopt us but due to ancient law the only being that could adopt us were family members or members of our own sub-species of demon. Because of this rule, we may have, quite possibly, forced the bond to mutate somehow."

Blaise blinked in surprise when he looked at Harry who had a small half-smile on his lips.

"You are welcome to stay if you like Blaise," Harry offered, looking at the space above his head, "this affected you as well; not just as Rinie's mate, but as Draco's vassal."

Blaise smiled crookedly, "I don't have to stay if it makes you uneasy Harry. I'm sure Draco will tell me how it went."

"I don't mind you being here Blaise. You and Rinie may not be progressing as fast as Draco and I are but your lives are entwined together just like Draco's and mine are. I wouldn't dream of keeping something like this from you."

Blaise smiled and lead Hermione into the dining room as Harry vanished into the kitchen with Draco following him with his eyes.

~~~CongratulationsWerebunny87~~~

After fifteen minutes of complete silence bar the sound of china being picked up and placed down, Harry sighed.

"Why?" he asked, looking up at the two men and Hermione who all seemed to shrink under his gaze. "Why did you change our go to plan when something changed? I knew that I would have a personality change when I was mated and I know that Rinie knew because she was in that class with me when Tom gave it to me. Mama Figg also covered it with us every year until we took over the sex talks with the younger children."

"I'm sorry Harry," Hermione said, looking away in shame. "I wasn't expecting it to happen so fast and so soon after Tom broke our bond to him. I felt like I was being left alone; forgotten. It has always been me who has lead the way in everything in our lives to this point, but I can't help you in this because I don't know what is happening."

She sniffed and wrapped her arms around her waist. "I knew intellectually that you would change – becoming more confident and independent from others except your mate – but I wasn't expecting it to happen so soon or so fast or for the amount my heart would hurt due to you not needing me anymore."

Harry walked over and pulled Hermione into a hug, nuzzling her softly and making her giggle wetly by putting his nose into her ear. She responded by gently tweaking one of his ears, making their mates smile at each other in relief.

"I'm always going to need you Rinie," Harry said as he rubbed his jaw along hers. "I might not need you to guide and protect me anymore, but I do need you to love me. To talk to me as a friend and older sister and to help Draco to convince me that I'm not fat when I'm waddling rather than walking when I'm full of my own kittens. I'm going to need you to be there holding my hand when Draco faints or is kicked out of the delivery room for freaking out. My kittens need to know their Auntie Rinie."

With a soft sob, Hermione vanished, followed closely by Harry. Draco raised the table cloth and smiled at the sight that met his eyes. Curled up together under Hermione's chair was a small fox kit curled up with an even smaller black kitten alternating between licking the foxes face and pouncing on the tip of the busy tail that was attempting to cover the foxes muzzle from view.

"We'll let them reconnect before continuing," Draco said as he sat back up with a fond smile, "More tea?"

~~~TheworldisendingIranoutoftea~~~

Thirty minutes later, Harry changed back, face flushed with happiness. He vanished under the table for a moment and returned with an arm full of sleeping fox. "I believe three quarters of this is yours," Harry giggled as he placed the sleeping animal on a bemused Blaise's lap.

"Only three quarters?" Blaise asked with a raised eyebrow. "And who may I ask, does the other quarter belong to?"

"Family of course," Harry teased, making Blaise laugh. When Harry returned to his seat, all traces of playfulness vanished

"Do you only talk to me because you were friends with my Father?" he asked Remus and Sirius bluntly, making everyone who was awake in the room flinch, "Because most of the time that is how it feels."

"Of course not!" Sirus said, voice revealing his shock. "How long have you been thing that?" WHY would you think that?"

Harry put his head down and muttered something that made Remus flinch.

"I'm sorry Kit, unlike you Hermione and Remus, I don't have super hearing so you are going to have to speak up."

"You treat me as thought I am him at times and when Hermione, Mama Figg, Tom or I say so you treat me differently. Both of you stumble between calling me Harry and James at times. You either hug me as though you are terrified I will vanish from you or you hug me like Lucius hugs Severus – one armed and awkward. You tell me stories about mum and dad and you start acting like you did in them then are disappointed that I don't want to do things that dad would do with you. Don't get me started on how often you have needed to be reminded that I am not James Potter because we will be here until next year."

Harry stopped, gasping for breath,. Sirus opened his mouth then closed it with an audible snap when Harry held up a hand.

"Then there are the times that you respond to something without getting all the facts, believing that you are RIGHT when you aren't. You don't know enough about me that you can deduce what I am going to do next – And yes, while this is mostly Sirius, Remus does it as well – he is just better at hiding it. It feels like you don't want to know who I am and would rather me be a clone of James. I can't take it anymore."

"It hasn't got that bad … has it?" Sirius asked, shocked.

"It must have done for Harry to mention it," Remus replied, his hand over his mouth. "Mooney has been alluding to something like this happening for the last few months, but I ignored him as part of trying to suppress him. Gods I am such an idiot!"

"No arguments here," Draco drawled.

Sirius and Remus scowled at the blonde who just raised an eyebrow.

"We promise to try change Harry," Sirus said, turning to look at the teen, "but we will need help from you to do so."

"Tell us when we start bothering you," Remus stated.

"Tell us when we start treating you as James," Sirius contributed.

"And be patient with us," Remus said as he got up and knelt in front of Harry. "We will stuff up from time to time. It doesn't mean we don't care, if just means we are focusing on other things."

"We don't mean to hurt you," Sirus added, copying Remus. "We have loved you since Lily announced she was pregnant and we will continue to love you and Hermione as well as any and all Kits the two of you bring into this world because you are family and that is what family does."

Draco and Blaise left the rooms as quietly as they could as Harry sobbed and threw himself at the two men. Both of them felt lighter than they had that morning and they could almost feel the familial bonds that bound the odd family together grow stronger.