Chapter 27 – Harry's hidden side

It didn't surprise Narcissa that everyone was gathered in Remus and Sirius' room when she arrived the following morning.

"Morning," Sirius greeted her.

She nodded her head in greeting and settled onto the seat beside her cousin with a sigh of contentment. She smiled thankfully at her son when he handed her a cup of tea prepared the way she liked it. She hummed in pleasure at the taste of the bittersweet liquid.

"Are you looking forward to seeing Mother?" Blaise asked.

"I am," Narcissa smiled. "I feel horrible knowing I haven't been to see her in so long, even when I knew she was having a hard time with the pregnancy."

"Don't worry about it," Blaise stated with a small chuckle. "She was too sick to even see me, Carla and Laynee some days while her original Healer did what he was doing. Since Harry took over, she and the twins are doing really well."

"I'm glad to hear it," the blonde said with a smile. "I sent her a note last night saying I was going to be visiting with you all today. She seemed excited to have some adult female company, the poor Dear."

Blaise laughed.

"I don't doubt that she is looking forward to it," he said. "Father does his best but he isn't exactly a female and though I admit that he does a good job, he just isn't mentally equipped for 'girl-time'."

Narcissa laughed her agreement as Harry and Hermione walked into the room, followed by Remus and Severus. All four of them were carrying a tray that held either food or another tea pot.

"Morning Narcissa," Hermione smiled, "You look lovely today."

"Thank you Hermione, you are also looking wonderful today."

Hermione laughed in delight and Harry gave the blonde woman a hug in welcome after he deposited the tray he had been carrying.

"I'm glad you decided to come today. Willa is getting a little lonely and … I have a feeling that something is going to go wrong," he whispered. "If I'm right, I need you to watch and protect Willa, Carla and Laynee with Nicholas and leave everything else to me, Blaise and Hermione."

Narcissa opened her mouth to protest and Harry covered her mouth with a finger.

"You and Nicholas need to keep her and the girls as calm as possible if it does happen," he told her firmly, "Any, and I mean ANY, stress or fear that she feels will weaken the things I just started to fix. If that happens, she WILL lose the boys," he said firmly. "As her Healer, it is my job to oversee everything that can harm the health of her or her boys. I'm hoping that the trouble will be something that can be soothed away, but if not, I can't focus on getting rid of the problem and keeping my patient calm at the same time."

Narcissa blinked and heaved a sigh of acceptance. Harry smiled at her in gratitude and bounced off to tackle her son in a hug.

"Don't worry," Hermione said with a small smile as she handed the older woman a plate of food as Blaise just blinked in shock after the small teen, "he knows what he is doing. He may be a submissive, but he is a DEMON submissive."

"What does that have to do with anything?" Narcissa asked.

Hermione just smirked, her eyes twinkling, as she popped a tiny pikelet into her mouth.

~~~ihateheadcolds~~~

Narcissa watched in shock as both girls ignored her and glomped a laughing Harry the second the group of four appeared in the entrance way.

"Papa wants to see you before you see Mama," Carla said seriously after she calmed down. "He and Mama got a letter at breakfast and they went pale after reading it."

Narcissa, Blaise and Hermione exchanged troubled looks as Harry lowered himself to the same level as the girls.

"Did your Mama do anything other than go pale?" he asked seriously. "Like curl up around the babies, start breathing really fast or get sick?"

"No thee didn't," Laynee replied before Carla could. "Carla and I made them calm down, but we got put in the corner."

"We didn't mean to put oatmeal all over the ceiling," Carla added with a completely innocent look on her face, "We were aiming at each other."

"And it got Mama and Papa out of their bad things, so it was worf it," Laynee finished.

"You are both wonderful girls," Harry said as he ran a hand through their hair, "but when I asked you to keep an eye on your Mama, I didn't mean for you to get into trouble for what you did."

"It wath all we could fink off," Laynee admitted while lowering her head.

"That's fine sweetie," Harry cooed, pulling the girl into his arms and standing, nuzzling her happily. "Now, let's go find your Papa!"

The three of them left the room, leaving behind a giggling Hermione, bemused Blaise and speechless Narcissa. Not once since either girl had been born had they ignored her presence when she was in the room, nor had they failed to greet Blaise. Narcissa followed the mated pair from the room deep in thought and her heart aching at being replaced.

~~~willsomeonetellthetrollplayingthebongoesinmyheadthatitistimetogohome?~~~

Everyone in the room was silent until the door clicked after the girls left to go back to their mother.

"The kittens told me you got a troubling letter this morning," Harry said, looking intently at the still pale man. "Before you tell me about it, I need to know if either you or Willa need healing."

Nicholas opened his mouth to argue, but Harry silenced him by raising a hand.

"Nothing in that letter is more important than the health of your family. I told all of you that but the only people who seem to have taken that to heart are the girls – who I am going to kidnap after today's appointment and take out for ice-cream as a reward for doing what I asked of them. Now, I will ask once again: Do either you or Willa need healing?"

Stunned, Nicholas shook his head. "We took one of the potions you told us to take to remain calm after the girls had their food fight …" He blinked and looked at Harry incredulously. "You told them to do it?"

"I told them that if your behaviour changed to include anything on the bad behaviour list to get you both out of it any way they could. If it didn't work, then they were to call me on the rings that I gave them when I first took over from your original healer to protect them and your wife."

"I'll go check over Lady Zabini Harry," Hermione stated, "as well as the girls, just to make sure."

Harry through a quick grin at his sister and returned his attention back to Nicholas.

"Now, first, you will allow me to check you over then we will discuss the letter AFTER I check Willa and the twins – Yes, with the girls in the room because it concerns them as well."

Nicholas opened his mouth to argue then closed it with a sigh. "Alright, alright, you win. Let's go back to the main room and get this over with."

Harry smiled happily and pat Nicholas' shoulder as the defeated man walked past him. "Good boy, you know the most important lesson anyone can learn."

"And what is that?" Nicholas asked tiredly.

"Never argue with your Healer when it concerns the health of you or your family. Now you just need to learn to investigate your Healer before accepting their word as law – not that you will need to do it with me. Always insist on getting their FULL name, qualifications, who trained them, where they trained and an oath stating they will do everything in their power to protect the health of you and your family – everything I did the first day I met you and saved the twins."

Nicholas nodded and silently led the group to where Willa and the girls were.

~~~ifanyofyouarethinkingaboutseeingMoana, !~~~

Everyone in the room was enthralled by the sight of the twins on the projection above Willa's stomach. Carla and Laynee had squealed excitedly when they noticed Narcissa and were now seated on her lap as they watched their baby brothers. Everyone pouted when Harry cancelled the spell and sat beside the pregnant woman so he could keep her calm through the next conversation.

"Tell me about the letter you got this morning," he said gently.

Willa and Nicholas exchanged looks and sighed.

"The Elven Council heard that we replaced the other Healer without consulting them," Nicholas stated with a scowl. "Apparently it is now the law that all people with elven heritage need to have an Elven Healer and they are now planning on taking over the job of watching over the pregnancy; even going so far as to threaten kidnapping her and keeping me and the girls from ever seeing her or the boys ever again since I am human and the girls take after me."

"They indicated that a representative of the Council would be here at lunch with a Healer to take me away should we resist," Willa stated calmly since Harry had put a hand on her chest the second her heartrate had begun to rise.

"Over my dead and decaying body," Harry hissed as his eyes began glowing. "We have an hour and a half to prepare, so let's go."

Harry turned to the shocked Narcissa and her two leeches. "I want you to stay as close to Willa as possible. 'Cissa, you are in charge of protecting her if they turn up before we get back. Laynee, Sweetheart, you are going to be my alarm. The second that the strangers step foot on this property, you push the middle of your ring. The second they move towards you, your sister, your Mama or your Papa, you press it again and I will be here. Do you understand?"

"Yeth," Laynee said, completely serious as she removed herself from Narcissa's arms and stood before Harry, her sister following her. "Ith it Thafe for me to thit on Mama'th lap?"

"Not this time youngling," Harry told her softly.

Laynee nodded her understanding and remained where she was as Harry turned to Carla

"I want you to go upstairs and collect all of the potions we made for your Mama and put them into a special bag that Rinie will give you. Do you remember the potion that your Mama and Papa had this morning?"

Carla nodded, paying close attention to what was being said.

"I want you to put all of those same potions into this bag."

He handed over a small pink bag that looked like a kid's play bag.

"You will keep this bag with you at all times and give the other bag to either your Aunt Cissa or to your Papa. Do you understand?"

"Yes. Can Laynee help me get the potions?"

"She certainly can, but make it quick. Also grab your favourite toy, one each," Harry then knelt down and kissed both girls on the forehead. "I know I can count on you to do this girls. Now scat."

Both girls grinned up at him, hugged him tightly and vanished.

Harry then turned to Nicholas.

"Do you have control over the wards or does Willa have sole control?"

"We have joint control over them," Willa said when it became evident her husband wasn't going to answer.

Harry sighed and planted a hand in the middle of the man's chest and snapped his mind back to the present by adding a small, sharp burst of magic.

"Are you with us now?" the teen asked with a slight scowl, making the man flush slightly in embarrassment as he nodded.

"Good," Harry stated, "I want you to raise the ward that will warn you whenever someone appears on your property and who they are. As soon as the Elves get here, you are to tell Laynee to push the button on her ring if I am not here. This is important so do you understand?"

Nicholas stayed silent and Harry growled, making everyone pale when he vanished from his place and appeared with his hand around the man's throat.

"Do you have any idea what is at stake here?" he hissed lowly at the now terrified man. "Every time you blank out the world and ignore me is one more chance that you WILL lose both your wife and your boys. If you are too fucking gutless to respond to a threat then hand over control of the wards to Blaise and go hide in the basement until the threat is taken care of. These arrogant toerags are threatening your family – your UNBORN KITTENS and here you are just planning on lying on the floor and allowing them to walk over you to get to them. You disgust me."

Nicholas glared at Harry as he raised the wards. "I love every member of this family," he ground out between his teeth, "How dare you say I am willing to allow anyone to take them from me."

Harry nodded and smirked, "Then prove it to them that you aren't going to bend over and be their bitch. Remind me to schedule an appointment with you to discover why you keep blanking out like that."

He let the older man go and tapped him on the cheek before spinning and facing Blaise.

"I need you to go to your family library and search for the book of Elven Laws. I've worked with an Elven Healer before and she mentioned that every family had one and it was self-updating. If you find it then tell Rinie and she'll tell me. It is a point in our favour if you don't have one, so make sure you search thoroughly."

Blaise nodded his agreement and turned to leave the room just as the girls walked through the door.

"I'll help him," Nicholas said. "There are rooms that have books that he won't be able to get into without me or Willa being there with him. Willa can tell Laynee when someone we don't know comes in so they won't be caught unprepared."

Harry nodded and the man left the room, closely followed by Blaise before they separated; Blaise to go to the library and Nicholas to search his and Willa's room and offices.

"Rinie, you know what I want you to do," he said.

Hermione nodded.

"I am to get all of our Healer credentials and our Healer bags. What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to go see Yanize [pronounced Yah-Knee-S], Trendan and Emelaine for one thing I was hoping I would have time to obtain," he grimaced.

"What's that Sweetie?"

"Apprenticeship papers," he growled before vanishing in a swirl of shadow leaving a gobsmacked Hermione behind.

~~~roundandroundandroundandroundandround~~~

With how viciously his magic was swirling around him, Harry wasn't surprised to find the three people he was looking for in the Hallway on their way to meet him.

"What is wrong Young One?" Yanize asked in concern when they reached him.

"Someone is trying to interfere with one of MY patients," Harry hissed, eyes flashing dangerously. "Some jumped up, self-important politician has threatened to not only remove my client from my care, but threatened to remove her from her family and not allow them to ever see her or the boys again. To make it worse, they are hiding behind some trumped up law that I don't even think is real to make them submit: So here I am, coming to get paperwork to take on an apprentice when I SHOULD be focusing on my growing bond with my mate, his family, my sister, her mate and his family!"

All three of them winced before frowning.

"Tell us everything from the beginning," Trendan ordered as they turned and headed towards their office. "We will do our best to help you and your patient through this as legally as possible."

"Thank you Healer Trendan, I apologise for my continual interruption of your day. If I may ask, can you also contact Healer Evangeline of the Elves for me please?" I may need her knowledge."

"There is no need Young One," a soft voice heavy with age stated. "I am already here. Now, how can I help?"

Harry instantly relaxed as he turned and bowed to the beautiful woman who had spoken.

"Mistress," he said as the others with him murmured a soft 'My Lady."

Lady Evangeline nodded to the three older Healers before turning to the young demon.

"I haven't been your Mistress for many years young one," she said with a soft smile.

Harry straightened slowly to meet her solid white eyes with a soft smile of his own.

"That may be true Mistress," he said, "but you will always be my Mistress. You trained me after all."

As the older woman laughed, Harry allowed himself to look over her with a Healer's eye. Her skin was slightly pale and her hair more of a dull brown rather than the rich chestnut colour he remembered it being; but other than that, the only proof of her aging was the aura she had surrounding her. All in all, she didn't look a day over thirty-five even though she had just celebrated her third century in the medical field. What made it even more incredible was that she had been blind for over three-quarters of it.

"I'm glad to see you in good health Mistress," he finally said as they finally reached their destination. "We will need to arrange a meeting to catch up after everything calms down."

"I agree Young One," Lady Evangeline replied. "I will be awaiting your message."

"I apologise for interrupting," Yanize said, 'but we are ready."

Harry sighed and closed his eyes to concentrate. After a few moments, he began to talk, telling his superiors about everything that had happened in the past two weeks. When he finished, silence ruled.

"We really need to catch up Young One," Lady Evangeline mused. "I have not heard of this new law that you mentioned and I should have if it is a real law since I am the oldest of us still living so they can do nothing from that direction," she assured her latest apprentice.

"You said that the patient in question swears fealty to your mate's family?" Mind Healer Yanize asked.

"Yes," Harry stated. "They have for the past several generations, but only those on her Grandfather's side of the family – of whom she is the last remaining."

Lady Evangeline and Trendan grinned predatorily, making the two older men to gulp and Harry to be filled, once again, with determination. The two women and Harry leant in and began planning, ignoring the now terrified men.