AN: okay this chapter is super long compared to the others. I just wanted to get their first real meeting to happen before the students arrived. I hope it's alright. Please review and let me know!

Again, I don't own Harry Potter or any of the characters but that doesn't stop me from wishing I did.

Matters of the Heart

Chapter 6

It's dark. The smell of dirt and moss permeates the air, creating the perfect hunting atmosphere. Harry stalks slowly and stealthily through the forest hunched close to the ground. He can smell what he wants hidden in front of him so he takes it slow not wanting to scare it or any of the other creatures hiding from him. He knows they're there; some big, some small but he's honed in on the perfect prey. Harry's reflexes are quick and his fangs quicker, before anything can react Harry has sunk his teeth into the large brown hare.

The animal doesn't move or make a sound. It's the allure working. Harry is using it to relax the hare to make this venture quick and painless. He takes three heaping gulps before closing the wound. Holding the animal in the crook of his arm he pets the ears back a couple of times. "I'm sorry, little fella, just needed a little of your blood. I hope I didn't scare or hurt you too much, it's ok."

He strokes it's head a few more times before placing it gently on the forest floor. At first, the hare doesn't move making Harry smile at it. "Go on, fella. I'm not going to hurt you. Go." And it does. Harry watches it pounce off under the foliage before turning back towards the school.

We would feel so much better if you took from our mate, dude. Really, he's just inside.

"Not yet."

"Not yet." His Vampire mocks. "Are we at least going to see him tonight?"

"Man, would you stop talking to me like that! I mean...I've got to stop talking to myself like this. Yup, I'm definitely going crazy."

Harry sighs, he's not going to see Severus tonight. He was supposed to meet with the man yesterday before lunch to go over his planner, but the man was called away; something to do with St. Mungo's. He was only there for the day, but Harry decided to wait for the man to come to him. You know, not wanting to seem needy or anything.

"Not tonight. I'll see him tomorrow at breakfast." He says out loud. I have got to stop talking to myself...out loud. He thinks to himself. I'm not going to allow myself to go crazy.

Harry's been thinking about his Vampire a lot lately. Mostly because it has never acted this way before, like it's its own person. It's, quite frankly, freaking him out.

By the time he enters his rooms, he's already decided to write a letter to Mikkel. He's closer in age with Harry and has also just found his Other. Maybe he can shed some light on what's going on with him or he'll confirm Harry's worst fear.

He slides out of his shoes before quickly going to his office for parchment. As he passes the fireplace in the living room, he waves his hand and the fire flares to life. Another wave and a tea set is sitting on the table. Sitting in a chair by the fireplace, he takes his quill and ink from the pouch on his belt places them next to the tea set.

He makes a cup of tea with milk and sugar and then sits back and watches the flames. He marvels in how he's feeling since getting his little boost from the hare. He purposely chose an animal that wouldn't be harmed too much from his taking. His inner Vampire is right though, it would be better to take from his Other but right now that's just not possible. Speaking of his Vampire, Harry grabs up the parchment and quill and starts to write a letter to Mikkel.

Mikkel,

Hello friend, I hope this letter finds you and Katrina well. I have settled in quite well here at the school. The Headmistress, my old Head of House, has made it a point to make me feel welcome. Not many questions or demands about where I've been the last five years, so that's a plus, for now. I know that eventually I will have to answer for it, but right now I'm going to concentrate on my end game.

Speaking of end game - I have some questions I desperately need answers to. The most pressing question has to do with the Vampire in me. I don't want to sound crazy or want you to think I can't handle myself but my Vampire has taken on a role of its own. It's asserting itself more and talking to me as an individual and not my psyche. That's all I'm going to say on that subject, but I need to know if that's normal and if so, why wasn't I told what to expect?

Another thing I'm curious about is my appetite. Since spending time with my Other, even though it wasn't a lot of time, I've noticed my urge to feed increase. I normally can go months before having to indulge in the Red. I made sure to feed before I left the Homestead to ensure I wouldn't have to feed right away here. However, I've only been here less than two weeks and already I've had the urge to feed. So much so that I did just that this morning. Don't worry, I didn't do anything drastic and I didn't let out my secret. I was careful and only took what I needed to sustain myself for awhile. Just to answer your question - no, I didn't take from my Other.

I know this is going to be a hard journey for me, to get him to like me then maybe to want me and hopefully to love me. We've had a few interactions already, so you know how my body has been reacting, but I'm not going to rush him...not going to rush this. I know you told me to claim him as mine as is my right but I just can't do that. I need him to want to be with me so I'm gonna take things slow and get to know him. Wish me luck.

Say hi to everyone for me. I miss you guys like mad. This is going to be a long year, but hopefully all will work out and we'll be back there before next years start of term.

Oh! Can you let Elder Batausch know that Fillius Flitwick is still a Professor here. It's a small world after all!

Love y'all and write soon!

Harry

Rolling up the letter and tying it with a violet ribbon before setting it aside, Harry ponders writing another letter. One he knows he needs to write before word of his return gets out. How will they react to him writing them? He just left them five years ago and didn't leave a note, didn't write any letters, or sent any word to let anyone know where he was or that he was okay. Would they welcome him back? Do they even want to hear from him after all this time?

Sighing, Harry pulls another parchment and dips his quill in the ink.

Ron and Hermione,

I'm hesitant to write this letter to the both of you. I know how much I've hurt you and disappointed you with my taking off the way I did.

I have a reason, a good one I think, but I don't know if you would consider it the right reason to leave you two the way I did. I can only ask for your forgiveness and that someday you would see it in your hearts to forgive me.

I'm teaching at Hogwarts this year. I've been here for almost two weeks now and I've just gotten up the courage to write to you. If you can forgive me, I would love to see the two of you again.

Please write back if you feel so inclined.

Harry

P. S. Congratulations on your wedding! I'm so happy for the two of you.

When he's done, he rolls up the parchment up and ties it with his signature violet ribbon. Picking up the first letter he walks to the kitchen and places them on the counter by the window. He cracks the window enough to allow a nice breeze to enter the kitchen. He closes his eyes and draws in a deep breath before he lets out a deep caw sound followed by a lower drawn out cacaw.

In the distance, Harry can see the bird coming toward him. His bird. Once upon a time he had Hedwig, a snowy white owl, and he loved her with all his heart. But now he has Hercules, his Egyptian Vulture. When he first received Hercules as an egg, he thought the Elders had lost their minds.

They explained that this particular egg has been in their hatchery for the better part of seventeen years, just sitting in its nest and never hatching. They considered removing it but the female birds wouldn't allow any humans near it. It wasn't an egg laid by any of their birds, it was sent to them with a note stating when it turns blue from a human touch it will hatch. No one knows where the egg came from or who sent it but when Harry picked it up after hearing its story it turned blue.

Hercules grew very large. His wing span being 190cm, his coloring is white mostly with black outlining his wings coming to the sides of the torso and down to the tail. He is a very beautiful bird for being a vulture. He's also totally loyal to Harry, almost to the point of obsessive. Harry smiles at the bird as he lands on the window sill.

"Hey there, Hercules. Been finding plenty to eat around here have you?" Hercules stands tall, nips at Harry's fingers and caws enthusiastically.

"Well I need you to stop eating long enough to deliver these for me. One to Mikkel and the other to Ron and Hermione Weasley. Please take care." He ties the letters to each leg as he names the recipients and scratches Hercules belly before standing away to allow the bird room to fly out the window. It's strange having a vulture as a familiar, but hey, when has he ever done anything normal.

XxxX

Harry is the first teacher to breakfast the next day. He pours himself a cup of coffee and grabs a croissant with butter and jam.

Severus is the next teacher to show up. He walks with a purpose to the head table. "Harry." Sitting next to said man. He also pours himself a cup of coffee and adds lots of sugar and a splash of milk.

"Severus. How did things go at St. Mungo's?"

"Oh that. They have completely incompetent potioneers there and I was called in to brew an antidote for a potion that doesn't exist!" He takes a sip of his coffee and closes his eyes in relief. "Seems someone there was trying to brew a Skele Gro potion that also would include a pain reliever. They didn't account for the interaction of the different ingredients and instead of growing bones painlessly it turned the skin burnt black and the eyes white." He chuckled lowly, "They thought it to be an allergic reaction at first but when several people came down with the same symptoms they realized the potion was bad."

He forked some eggs and a piece of toast onto his plate, took another sip of coffee then looked to Harry. "It took me all of six hours to brew an antidote. Everyone is fine now...yada yada yada."

Harry laughs at Severus' brush off and his use of such a muggle saying. Touch him. Just the arm. Pleease. He blushes, but more because his Vampire is embarrassing him! Thank Merlin no one else can hear it.

He clears his throat to talk, but Severus speaks first. "I will be in my office this morning if you would like to come by after breakfast." He's all business but Harry doesn't care. He wants to spend any time with him. Get to know the man not the professor.

Yess! You going to tell him about us? Hmm? Please tell him. We need him and I want to taste him!

Harry shakes his head to clear the voice before answering. "Yes. That would be great. I'll just run to my rooms and get my planner and I'll meet you in your office." Taking one last sip of his coffee, he smiles at Severus before taking his leave passing Professor Flitwick on the way out. "Good morning, Fillius."

"Good morning, Harry." The small man says as they pass each other.

His Vampire is jumping up and down with joy at the prospect of spending time with their Other. If he knew how to dance he might be swinging his hips but he can't and he's not.

XxxX

Harry is nervous and his Vampire is excited. The tingles started as soon as he descended into the dungeons. They're becoming normal for him and sometimes he doesn't even notice them unless the sensations are different. Like today. It's like his whole body is alight. "This has to be your doing, Vampire mine." He mumbles before stopping in front of the potion master's door.

"Naturally." Feeling smug.

He smooths out the non existing wrinkles in his robes before gathering his courage to knock.

"Enter."

He takes one last deep breath and enters. "Thank you for looking this over." He says as he walks towards the desk.

Severus is sitting at his desk writing. He doesn't look up right away which allows Harry the opportunity to sit and look around. The office looks the same which brings up memories of his disastrous occlumency lessons. Don't go there, man. Nothing good will come of it. Pushing those thoughts away, he places his planner on the desk and waits.

Look at him though. He emits confidence and power and he's not even trying! We're so lucky he's our Other. I'm sorry that we couldn't have known this before our inheritance, maybe then our pasts would be different...better even. This last part is whispered reverently and Harry can only agree mentally with his Vampire.

"How far have you gotten in your planning?" the older man asks as he finally looks up to Harry.

Harry's green eyes shine back at him, "Wow, he's so sexy! I can look into those eyes all day!" His Vampire swoons. The comment causes Harry to stammer in his response. "Uhm...thr...three months. Is that enough or should I have gone to the Christmas Holidays?"

Severus is surprised. "No actually, if anything you might have gone too far. Usually we do only a couple weeks in advance. This way if the students require an extra lesson to understand what's being taught it won't throw your planning out of whack. Let me take a look and see what you've done so far." Taking the planner and reading through it, he bobs his head in approval every couple of pages. Harry gets nervous all over again.

"This is good, Harry. I can see you put a great deal of thought into your lessons."

"Uh...Thank you, Sir." He stammers.

Severus lifts an eyebrow at the reply.

"I mean, Severus." He laughs, "I'm sorry."

"Harry, don't apologize. I realize this…" waving a hand between them, "...is unusual for us but I think, I hope actually, that we can put the past behind us and start anew." Sitting back in his chair and watching for Harry's reaction.

"Yes! Yes! Yes! Oh Severus we love you! Muah! muah! muah!"

Harry really wants to roll his eyes or scream 'shut up!' at his Vampire but Severus is watching him...intently.

"I'd like that too. But before we go any further with this, I just want to say I'm sorry for the pensieve incident…no let me finish, please. I also want you to know that I'm very thankful to you for all you've done for me over the course of my school days. You never asked for recognition or praise but, Sir, you are the bravest man I know." And the sexiest! Harry smiles at Severus because he wants to laugh out loud but can't.

Severus tries to interrupt Harry, but the man will not allow it, so he listens to what he has to say. Honestly, he's impressed with Harry and how well he's communicating with him. Then Harry smiles at him...wow...beautiful. What!? Oh hell no! Don't think of him like that, he won't think of you in that way. Severus tells himself and tries to focus on what Harry is saying.

"I'm going to say 'thank you for that', Harry, and leave it there, okay? But I wonder if you would answer some questions I have?"

Harry relaxes back into his chair while his Vampire is drooling at the mouth. "I think I can manage a few questions if you're willing to do the same." His allure came out for just a second but he's able to pull it back. He doesn't want to use that on his Other for obvious reasons but sometimes it gets away from him. Especially when he's relaxed and happy

Severus smirks at the younger professor, that's very slytherin Harry. "Agreed. I would love to start this adventure today, however I'm needed elsewhere. Let's say we meet for drinks in my rooms after the Welcoming Feast?"

Trying not to piss himself, Harry answers, "That sounds great. Around 7?"

"Yes, that'll be fine." Severus says as he stands, walks around his desk to stand in front of Harry.

Harry stands as well "Okay, thank you for looking at my planner." Taking the planner off the desk, he starts for the door but Severus stops him before he leaves.

"Harry? I'm sorry too, for...well...and I'm glad we have this opportunity ..." Then he turns around and leaves through the other door.

Harry stands shocked until his Vampire spoke.

"Aww. that was sweet. See, he does cares about us!"

Harry left feeling the happiest he's felt in a long time…if ever.

XxxX

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