Chapter 32 – Attempted Interference
Harry was woken by a familiar hand running through his hair, making him purr in contentment. After several moments, Harry opened his eyes and smiled at the man beside him.
"Hi Tom," he whispered, remember when Draco had told him of the letter he had sent to the older demon with a warm glow that settled in his chest.
"Good morning Kitten," he whispered back, his eyes glistening softly. "I'm so sorry for putting you through this mess. I should have researched more thoroughly than I did and I should have been here as a witness."
"Yes, you should have, on both accounts," Harry said, allowing a little bit of his disappointment at his Father figure show in his voice. He may love the man in a familial sense, but that didn't mean he couldn't be angry at him for what he had done.
Tom flinched back and someone gasped softly form the doorway. Harry ignored both.
"You could have been responsible for the Death of the only heir to the Malfoy family – a family high up in the Vampire ranks – and the spiritual death of myself. It could still end up that way," he continued without care for how his words were affecting the snake-demon. "I should tell you to leave and never even think of coming back or getting into contact with me again for your actions … but I can't. At this point in time, I cannot forgive you for your actions, yet I also cannot exclude you from my life entirely."
Tom looked at Harry, ignoring the tears that had escaped his control; wanting to interrupt the harsh words but being unable to move.
"I hope you enjoy your travels with Nagini," he continued, "But maybe you shouldn't write me for a while. I honestly have no idea if I could read anything from you at the moment."
"Harry!" Draco snapped out, appearing between the two of them. "You will apologise right now for saying that."
"No."
Draco growled at him. Harry looked away and crossed his arms stubbornly across his chest.
"Can't make me."
Lucius, reading the signs in Draco's posture, quickly pulled the crying, unresponsive snake-demon out of the room. Just as he left, Draco pushed Harry against the wall, a hand wrapped protectively around the back of his mate's head.
"Stop it now Harry!" he hissed, eyes glaring down at his mate. "You aren't doing yourself any favours by doing this. All you are doing is cutting yourself off from your emotions and those around you."
"He …"
"No!" Draco growled, making Harry bare his throat in submission. "He has already paid for his mistake Harry. You are now just being vindictive for no reason."
Harry whimpered in distress and Draco's voice softened though his presence was still firm, keeping Harry in the now, rather than buried in his insecurities.
"You were so happy when I told you he was going to be here this morning to see you and Hermione and your joy when you woke to see him flooded my senses. What happened to change that?"
Tom, who had been snapped out of his thoughts by Hermione, watched and listened with an almost obsessive amount of attention.
Harry whined something that made Draco sigh. He pulled the two of them away from the wall and sat on Harry's bed, pulling Harry onto his lap and wrapping his arms tightly around him. Quickly he bit into Harry's shoulder before lapping at the slight wound. Harry instantly relaxed into his dominant's hold.
"Now tell me Beloved," Draco said, licking and nuzzling at Harry's neck while his grip tightened a little.
"I don't know," Harry whispered, almost in tears. "I was so happy to see him, but something in me doesn't think he deserves forgiveness and it came out."
Draco nipped at the back of Harry's neck and lapped at it. Harry purred in comfort.
"It felt like he was trying to push his way into the Alpha spot," Harry murmured sleepily. "He can't be Alpha; You are Alpha. Only Alpha can have me – Can give me strong kittens."
Tom's head fell forward with a solid THUNK as it hit the edge of the doorway. He flicked his tongue out to taste the air and hit his head on the doorway yet again as what was happening actually hit him.
"Tom?" Sirius asked for everyone, including a confused Draco wo had just placed a sleeping Harry back into his bed.
"When he wakes I will have to apologies again, this time with Draco in the room. I suggest any dominants you know that aren't mated only be with Harry if Draco is with him – or he classifies you as not a danger. I am an unmated dominant who isn't courting a mate and how he was just acting was his inner cat's way of telling me I was unworthy of mating with him," he snorted softly in amusement. "He thought I was trying to take him from Draco so he said the most hurtful thing he could."
There was silence for several minutes before Hermione, Sirius and Remus copied Tom's actions.
"There's more, isn't there?" Lucius asked, catching their attention once again.
"Yes," Tom sighed looking at Draco. "I hope you have good control over yourself. Since the magic in this Declaration is aiming to make you fail, it has apparently decided to put him through a fake heat – meaning he will have all the symptoms of a real heat but he is infertile. If I miss my guess, he had one in the first test as well, but this may be stronger or longer."
"Then it is a good thing I started bonding with him then," Draco replied, seemingly unaffected. "I'm assuming there will be one test from you a month until our bonding, correct?"
"Yes," Tom admitted, "Most of them will be things that revolve around Harry. Stuff like spending the day with him, Hermione, Blaise and an adult of my choice doing shopping, spending a weekend watching over the children of the Orphanage alone and cooking a meal – an edible one – for him without supervision. Others will be tests of your own power; Things such as your intelligence, logic, confidence and your control over bloodlust."
Draco nodded his understanding, even though he was still a little pale at the thought of a full day shopping with Harry and Hermione.
"All I ask is that the test you have for us next month not have a set day or time," Draco responded after he regained some of his colour. "Willa's boys are due sometime next month and they have asked Harry to be the one to deliver them."
"Then it is a good thing I have scheduled you to do a page of logic puzzles a day next month," Tom said with a smirk. "It will be interesting to see how you will do on them while still holding your spot in your year."
Draco moaned softly and allowed his head to smack onto the back of the seat he had chosen to sit on. "Why do I suddenly have the feeling that after this year running a business or five will be easy?"
Remus and Sirius laughed while Lucius chuckled. Tom raised a questioning eyebrow at them.
"On top of his schoolwork Draco has his N.E. this year," Severus explained, just as amused as everyone else in the room at Draco's predicament. "He has also got to court Harry, find time to spend with him, build – or supervise the building of – the house he designed for Harry, keep up his marks in ALL his classes, put in his best effort at Quidditch, take control of one of the smaller businesses his Father is in charge of and now, he has to run this gauntlet as well."
Tom whipped his head around to gap at Draco.
"What?" Draco snapped without lifting his head.
"If you can make it to Yule without snapping under the pressure, you are a better man than I and deserve Harry as your mate," Tom answered, awe filling his voice.
"Good," Draco replied, still looking at the ceiling, "I don't have classes until just before lunch and I want to spend at least a bit of that time in my mate's presence so I can tell him about our meeting at Gringotts this coming Saturday to review the 4D model they will have made of the house."
"You finished it already?" Blaise asked, blinking, "buy you only started it last month!"
Draco raised his head and started at Blaise in confusion.
"Didn't I tell you I had completed it?" he asked after several long seconds.
"No, you didn't," Blaise growled.
More silence followed.
"Oh," Draco stated without much emotion. "Blaise, I finished the house design. It was accepted by the goblins last weekend with the almost guarantee that there will be more business between us in the future if their additional designs meet mine and Harry's approval."
Blaise gaped at the blonde who he seriously thought has lost his mind. "Last … Last weekend!" the elf shrieked, "and you didn't tell me why?"
"Let's see," Draco continued to deadpan, "it couldn't have anything to do with it being the first major courting gift to Harry, therefor the only person who can see it before him is the team that are building it, nor could it be that every spare minute I've had has been spent in the library so I can get the information I need for my assignments. Also couldn't be due to me spending most of my time this month trying to keep Harry from making himself sick with worry over what his idiot of a father figure did, nor the fact that Harry, Hermione and yourself have been spending more time with your parents as the twins are preparing to be born, nor that I have had a grand total of five hours sleep in the last eight days, TOTAL. So why don't you tell me why I didn't tell you I had finished it and shown you the finished product?"
Blaise flushed and looked away, murmuring an apology, knowing he had crossed the line once the first world left Draco's mouth.
"Come on Draco," Remus said as he stood from his seat, "let's get you into bed with Harry so both of you can get a half-decent rest."
Tom made an odd sound in protest and Sirius glared him into submission while Remus half carried the stumbling form up the stairs.
"In Vampire terms, they are married," Sirius stated when he could no longer see the two of them. "They have a semi-completed vampiric bond that circumvents parts of the bonding contract, but they are still following the contract EXCEPT for the part where they cannot be in a room together without supervision. Remus, Lucius and I were the ones to convince them to drop it, even though they only allow it in the privacy of our rooms."
"They get better quality sleep when they are in physical contact with the other," Lucius stated. "No nightmares, no whining and, for the first time in years Draco hasn't destroyed his bed in his sleep."
"We used to wake before him just so we could watch him try to untangle himself from his sheets," Narcissa giggled.
"It wasn't – well, isn't – odd to find yourself with a piece of Draco's bedding on you when you wake in the dorm," Blaise admitted solemnly, "Poor Theo once woke up with Draco's mattress on top of him. That same day, I was being smothered by his blanket, Gregory was cuddling Draco's pillow, Vincent had one of Draco's sheets hanging off his left foot and Draco's head had been completely wrapped in the other with it tied in a knot around his neck. It took us over an hour to convince him it was lunch time and longer still to untangle his sheet from his person."
"So you can see, safer to let them sleep together every now and then," Sirius stated.
Tom just nodded, completely lost.
~~~Havingahousemadeofaluminiumandglassisn'tgoodforheatretension~~~
Harry walked into Willa's sitting room full of trepidation. He was to attend his first lesson with Willa's friend, but instead of it just being him and one of his sons being there, he had also bought his daughter and his son's dominant. That normally wouldn't be a problem for the teen, but Willa had mentioned that the girl was an unmated dominant and was a spoilt brat.
The only reason he was still here was because Willa, Nicholas and the girls would be in the room with them at all times.
"Hello my Hawwy," Laynee said as she opened the door to one of the rooms he had never been in before. "Mama said to come in hewe fow the lessons. She is talking to Mither Weathly now wiv Cawla."
"Hello my Kitty," Harry replied with a soft smile. "How about I have a look at your teeth to see how they are going while we wait?"
"My big teeph or little teeph?"
"Both," Harry replied with a soft tap to her nose, making her giggle. She nodded her agreement and opened her mouth. With another smile, Harry placed the tip of his finger into the gap left behind from when her baby teeth had fallen out and allowed his magic to seep into and along her gums. After several seconds, he pulled his finger back and closed her mouth.
"Looks like you will be getting a new pair of teeth in two days," he told her happily as he cleaned his hands with a potion of his own design. He laughed when the excited five year old started to pull him into a happy spin.
"Oh he's cute," an unknown female voice said from the doorway, making Harry freeze. "I'm going to take him home with me this afternoon to introduce him to mum."
Harry spun around, ensuring to keep Laynee behind him and away from the owner of that voice.
"You will do no such thing," Harry hissed, glaring at the red-headed female who was smirking at him. "You have no right to say that about anyone since you lost your own mate due to your own unfaithfulness."
The red-head scowled at him. "You are a submissive, your place is on your back with your legs spread!"
Before anyone could react, Harry had leapt at the girl with a growl, scraping his claws down her face, leaving a slightly green liquid in the wounds before they closed as if she had never been touched by him.
"Good luck finding a bed-mate you don't need to pay for," Harry stated, his eyes still glowing in his anger, looking down his nose at the fuming female. "Dominants will always watch you carefully when there are submissives present and submissive's will react as if you are a threat and respond accordingly. I suggest you stay away from the Malfoy family thought if you don't want to die."
"And why should a reputable family like the Malfoy family care about what you did to me?" she snarled.
"Ginevra! Enough!"
It was, to everyone's surprise but the two red-heads, the sandy-brown haired dominant who put the female into her place rather than her father. "If you had listened to Lady Zabini when she was explaining to your father who it was he was here to teach, you would have known you just announced your intent to force yourself onto a claimed and courting submissive."
"Not only that," Nicholas said, staring the stupid girl down, "but you did so in the Zabini house and against the Contracted Submissive to the heir of our Liege Lord."
The oldest red-head paled drastically and moved in an attempt to stop his daughter from talking. He got there too late.
"And what does that have to do with me? If the idiot can't keep his submissive safe from other dominants, then he doesn't deserve one."
Harry snorted from his spot in front of the girls, who were clinging to each other for comfort.
"You aren't a dominant," he said scornfully, "A dominant loves and protects their submissive. They respect the person who will carry – or support – their children and the one who gave them life. You smell of disrespect and lust for a submissive that isn't yours. No, you aren't a dominant, you are a sexual predator. Nothing more, nothing less."
The red-faced girl opened her mouth but Harry just raised his voice a little and startled her into silence.
"I wouldn't say anything Dearie," he stated, eyes glowing brighter the longer to started her down, "I'm a shadow-cat demon; I can smell and see every dark and deranged thing you have done in your life and I have no compunctions in spilling each and every one of them for the world to hear."
"Just who do you think you are?" she snarled, thrusting out a hand with the hope to get him across the eyes with her nails. Harry moved his head back and grabbed her wrist, noticing that Nicholas was trying to find a way to get to the enraged female without leaving Willa and the girls as targets and the other dominant had his hands full with trying to calm his panicking mate. Her father, however, just stood and watched while twisting his fingers together.
"I am Harry," he eventually answered with enough scorn in his vice that she stopped trying to escape from his grasp. "Master Healer, Shadow-cat demon, submissive mate to Heir Draco Abraxas Malfoy of the Vampire line and personal Healer to the Zabini family."
He pushed his hand away, letting the wide-eyed female's wrist go so she was pushed away from him. He ignored the flustered man who was supposed to teach him and face Willa and Nicholas.
"I thank you for your attempt at helping me during this confusing time," he said to them with a shallow bow, "but I am going to have to refuse the kind offer as I do not feel comfortable in the presence of someone who will allow a dominant child of theirs to attack a submissive, whether they are claimed or not. The fact that said dominant is poaching someone else's property and disregards her duty as a Dom – going so far as to disrespect the being that is responsible for her life – proves that Mr Weasley is not fit to be a tutor any longer until such a time a mind healer says he is fit for the job."
"Isn't that a bit harsh?" Willa asked, exchanging looks with Nicholas. "Arthur has always been extremely submissive."
"Then he isn't the right person to teach other submissives," Harry stated. "What would have happened had I been just as submissive as he is – Hell, what would have happened if I had met Miss Ginevra Weasley before I had been marked as Draco's? He isn't strong enough to prevent a forced claiming; In fact, he probably would assist if she ordered him to. It wouldn't surprise me if that is what she had planned from the beginning since there is no other reason for her to be here when it is a SUBMISSIVE lesson."
"What about Neville?" the soft voice of the younger red-head male asked.
Harry smiled at the pale older male.
"I'm assuming Neville is the protective young man behind you," Harry said, getting a shy nod in return.
"He has a legitimate reason to be here," Harry said softly. "No good Dom would allow their sub to go to an unknown place without some form of protection. The only reason Draco, Blaise or Rinie aren't here with me is because we were assured only submissives would be in attendance with the possibility of a courting Dom following for protection."
"Meaning?" the male now known as Neville asked.
"If any of us suspected THAT," Harry spat the words as a poisonous glare was sent at the stunned female red-head, "was going to be here, Draco wouldn't have allowed me out of his sight unless I had Remus, Lucius and Severus by my side."
Everyone blinked at Ginevra, trying to remember just when the girl had been cursed.
"That sounds a little extreme for a courting Dominant," the younger red-haired male said.
Harry smiled softly and ran a finger lovingly along the front of his invisible collar, revealing the claiming mark Draco had given him the night he had bound them together in the vampire way. Everyones eyes widened at the rarely seen gesture as not even the Zabini's had known that Draco had taken it so far so fast.
Neville's eyes narrowed slightly and after a moment of deep thought, he nodded decisively.
"Your argument against Mr Weasley's suitability to tutor you through this time was well stated and I agree with you in your assessment of his daughter's reason for being here," he stated formally. "If further action is taken in the future, I will be willing to stand in your favour as a witness against Ginevra's personality. As for a replacement tutor, I can recommend my father. He is neither Submissive nor dominant, however he taught my mate and will soon begin my little sister's lessons."
"Xenophilous is a good instructor," the red-headed young man said, ignoring the hurt look on his father's face. "He is patient and doesn't mind answering any type of question."
Harry's head snapped up and he looked intently at the slightly older male.
"Xenophilous Lovegood?" he asked. "Lulu's daddy?"
The unnamed submissive nodded in confusion. Harry's eyes snapped to Neville's and narrowed dangerously. "Luna has never mentioned a brother."
Neville's eyes widened at those words before softening just slightly.
"I am what is commonly referred to as a Foundling. In this case, however, I know who my parents are but I was abandoned because I didn't get either of the family magics. My father found me later that night as he and mother were dancing tribute to the gods by the light of the full moon. It was they who discovered I had my own form of magic and with their influence it grew in strength and variety."
Neville hugged his mate closer to him and took a few steadying breaths.
"Luna was told by father not to talk about me while at school. Now that I am making a name for myself as a powerful and talented green mage, my abandoners wish for me back but they don't know where I am. We are scared that they will target Luna to get me if they knew she was my sister and that is something none of us want to test until she can either take care of herself or she finds her mate."
"Understandable and very admirable," Harry stated. I would be honoured if you could ask your father f he would mind having another student when he begins Luna's lessons."
"I will ask him," Neville said with a smile and a gentle kiss to his mate's head. "Though I am sure he will be thrilled at the opportunity. Come on Georgie, let's go have lunch with Father and ask him about it."
The two left with a soft goodbye to the older red-headed male and a polite bow of thanks and apology to the Zabini couple. It didn't take the mated pair long to shoo Harry and the girls out of the room so they could deal with Arthur and his daughter.
~~~Idon'tthinkitisagoodthingtonotbeabletofeelyourfingers~~~
When Harry walked into the room just after lunch started, the first thing he did was sit himself on Draco's lap, curl into him and relax for the first time since he had left that morning.
"How'd it go?" Draco asked him softly, well aware that those who had advanced hearing abilities were listening in.
"It didn't," Harry answered just as soft, voice muffled in his mate's shirt. "He bought along two dominants without warning Willa and Nicholas until it was almost time for my lesson."
Draco growled deeply while Blaise, Lucius and Hermione gaped incredulously and Remus told Sirius and Severus what was going on.
"I understand why one Dom was there," Harry continued. "He is in the last stages of courting his own mate and he didn't want said mate to go into an unknown territory without some form of protection. Willa said the first thing he did when he entered their house, after the usual greeting ritual, was apologise for his presence since the person he had arranged to come with his mate had been called into work early that morning due to an emergency. He also ensured that his mate and either Willa or Nicholas was between us at all times we interacted as well as kept his arms around his mate's waist at all times."
Draco's growling calmed slightly at that information and he nuzzled Harry behind the ear.
"What about the other one?"
Everyone in the room starred at Harry in shock when he made an odd hiss-growl sound that came from his chest and the fur on his ears and tail fluffed up.
"The other one was his unmated daughter," he hissed, "unmated due to her true mate passing due to her taking someone other than them willingly into her bed. She wanted to take me home with her to introduce me to her mother. She intended to force an unwanted claim on me; going so far as to say that if my contracted and courting dominant was stupid enough to not protect me from other dominants then he – meaning you – didn't deserve a submissive."
"She WHAT?" Draco growled, his eyes turning red.
Almost immediately Harry tilted his head to the side and mewled submissively, trying this best to calm his mate's rage. Draco spent the next five minutes sniffing his mate to see if this other dominant had managed to somehow scent mark him without him being aware. He went dangerously still when he caught an unfamiliar scent mixed with blood coming from his mate's hand.
"What happened?" he demanded as he lifted the limb in question and sniffed it more, trying to ingrain the faint smell into his brain before he started to clean the blood from under his mate's claws with his tongue, knowing he would remember the smell and taste better that way.
"I took offence at her attempt at claiming me and scolded her," he admitted without shame. "She entered the room I was in with Laynee, announced her intent on forcing a claim and then said – in front of her father, brother, the girls, Willa, Nicholas and her brother's dominant that I was a submissive and my place in the world was on my back with my legs spread."
Draco's growls got deeper and more numerous.
"So I attacked her," Harry finished causing Draco's growls to stop and everyone to stare at him.
"You what?" Sirius asked incredulously.
"I attacked her," Harry stated again. "No submissive will ever feel safe around her and no dominant will trust her."
"You …" Hermione started before he eyes glazed over as Harry drew her into his mind to watch the memory. Several minutes passed in silence before Hermione started laughing so hard she chocked on her own breath. "You did! Your marked her as a predator! Oh gods, brother Mine, if only I was there to see it!"
"What does she mean Harry?" Lucius asked as Hermione continued to laugh herself into hiccoughs – which only made her laugh more.
"Submissives of all species have one major defence against unwelcome Dominants," a familiar smooth voice said from the doorway. "I apologise for just entering, but no one answered when I knocked."
"That is alright Xeno," Remus stated with a smile. "Harry has claimed Luna as his best friend, which means you are now family."
"My thanks," Xenophilous said with a smile. "I'm glad to hear my Luna has made a friend here. Due to our heritage, many find her odd."
"Point me to them if they cause trouble for her and we'll sort it out," Remus stated with a frown. He was the only one of the Marauders who had been against bullying Severus and was, in turn, ignored when he tried to stop them.
As though he knew where his best friend's thought were, Sirius looked away from the group in shame. He yelped when Severus' flattened hand connected to the back of his head.
"You have apologised and made up for all the trouble you caused me," Severus said as softly as he could. "There is no need for your misguided guilt."
Draco coughed softly, interrupting the conversations that had popped up around the table.
"I apologise for interrupting," he said as politely as he could with the last vestiges of his rage in his blood. "You were saying something about a protection?"
"No need for an apology young Mr. Malfoy; It is I who should apologise to you for getting distracted," Xenophilous stated. "All submissives have an instinctual defence signal when they are around a dominant they feel threatened by. It differs for each species but the result is the same – a sour/bitter scent that surrounds the Dominant and a soft, almost sickly-looking glow that is visible only to submissives."
"And Harry used it against someone?" Sirius asked, impressed.
"Oh yes," Xeno said with a smile. "My son said he got her right across the face with his claws then proceeded to call her a sexual predator, refused to see her as a dominant and refused her father as a tutor before requestion said tutor be removed from duty until a mind healer clears him. When Willa stated the tutor was naturally very submissive, he then stated he shouldn't be a tutor then and proceeded to bring up several good points. That is why I am here alone. Neville has headed to the people who handle that type of thing and George is at home sleeping off his stress. Poor kid doesn't like confrontation and the thought of what could have happened terrifies him."
Xeno turned serious.
"I want you to be careful from now on Harry," he said, eyes full of worry. "You did the right thing, doing what you did – but Ginevra Weasley is a vicious beast when she doesn't get her own way and her mother is no better, depraved woman that she is."
"It doesn't help that the Weasley family has started a one-sided conflict with the Malfoy family over some imagined slight," Lucius sighed. "Do not worry Mr Lovegood, Harry will be well protected, even if I need to employ a vampiric guard for him."
"Wonderful!" Xenophilous cheered, standing from his seat. "Luna is starting her lessons next month," he continued, smiling at the almost boneless teen on Draco's lap. "I will see you both then. Obviously, you will have prior engagements what with Willa being so near her due date, but if they interfere with lessons Luna will fill you in on what you missed and you can always owl me any questions you have."
"Thank you Mr. Lovegood," Harry stated in an almost doze.
Xenophilius chuckled softly and ran his hand gently through the teen's hair as he aided Draco in standing. The younger blonde nodded his thanks and left to put Harry in his bed.
