disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter

warning: none for this chapter

Hello everyone! I'm excited to announce that I am releasing a new chapter of CYPM, even though I've been lacking on my other stories, but I have so many ideas for this one. For those of you that were unhappy with the last chapter, I will be fixing the situation in the next chapter and it has been planned for awhile without the influence of my lovely readers. Because as much as I value your input, most of my ideas are my own and have been in place since the beginning. So don't fret! Also, I know many have been asking for more interactions between the couple, but I enjoy adding information and background interactions into my stories. Never fear, the next chapter will have mostly interactions between our main three boys. Enjoy!

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Harry couldn't believe what was happening around him. After breakfast, Harry made his way to the Hall of Portraits; which had been an adventure in of itself because of the twisting turns of the corridors. It had taken the best part of an hour to reach the double doors. Took longer still as he wasn't sure what to do once he had made it. The night before Sirius had already been inside. After much consideration on how to proceed, Harry simply pushed open the doors. And was met by a cacophony of voices. There was a mashup of shouting, people wanting to be heard over the others, some were even singing. He didn't know who to talk to or where to begin, there was just so many people and so much noise.

"Who are you? What are you doing here?" a gruff voice to Harry's left cut through the noise. He turned to see an aged man with a long grey beard staring from intense eyes. Those eyes made him want to back away, which seemed ridiculous since this man was obviously part of his family. Harry could imagine that this painting was one of the first that had come to this hall because the clothing was nothing like today's robes, but resembled more to what he remembered in the history texts from primary school about ancient times.

"Hello, I'm Harry," he said cautiously. It was obvious this man already did not like him, but he hoped it was only for the brief intrusion and allowing all of the paintings to be awake. Harry looked around to see all of the other paintings still engaged with one another. Turning back to the painting that spoke to him, Harry saw that the person was expecting him to say something, although what he had no clue. "I'm sorry?"

"I asked what you are doing here, boy? Are you deaf as well as lost?" Harry narrowed his eyes in response to the old man, who narrowed his own. It was the derisive way the man had said 'boy' that set him on edge. He never took it well when some older person called him a boy in such a way that he felt ashamed, the result of so many years with the Dursleys. This was one of those times. Taking a close look, Harry wondered how was he related to this man. His eyes were dark, face was narrow with unremarkable features, and was missing the unruly hair he and his father were known for; even his grandfather had the messy hair. But this man didn't seem to have any features that Harry knew to be a Potter trait, well except the short temper it would seem.

"I'm not deaf, nor am I lost," Harry quipped. He almost smirked at the thought of what this man would do once he found out who Harry really was. "I've come to learn more about my inheritance, and seeing as I'm the Potter heir, this was a good place to start." Oh yes, Harry thought as the painting pressed his lips tight and his eyes widened. It was what he was looking for, and he knew just how to finish the man. "Unless there is nothing you can share with? You are a rather old painting, maybe the charms are starting to wear off."

"You are obviously one of those," the man sneered. It reminded him of how Severus used to be around him in his early Hogwarts years. "Go bother someone else." In an instant the painting froze with the subject's eyes closed. Harry, most definitely letting his more childish side show, stuck his tongue out.

"Oh ignore him deary, he's always like that," a feminine voice from behind Harry said. He turned to see a woman covered in all shades of purple in a background of cream smiling at him. She beckoned Harry over to her painting and waited to speak again until he was standing in front of her. "That was Ignatius, one of the oldest in the Potter line, he's gotten a bit tetchy about the last few generations. What he should be doing is taking pride in that the Potter's still have young heirs and wish to learn about their past, but alas he remains stubborn and bigoted some days." She stopped for a moment to glance past Harry at the now identified Ignatius Potter before settling her gaze back to Harry. He noticed the similarities and knew she was closely related to the old man somehow, with her dark eyes, straight flat hair, and her narrow face. "Now then, let's get a good look at you, deary. Turn for me please." As Harry did as he was told, he became nervous as he heard the 'hm's' and 'ah's'. "A bit short, truly messy hair, which I'm assuming you try to control. Oh look at those silver streaks and those sharp angles of your face. Yes, I see what my father saw. You're a mer, are you not?"

"That's right." Harry replied, with wide eyes. He couldn't believe this woman, who had casually complained about the old man was was so friendly towards him, was the daughter of the elder Potter, Ignatius. He figured it was a good place to start with her since she was one of the oldest Potters, but also knew of his mer lineage. "Have there been many mer in the Potter family?"

"Oh quite a bit," she assured him. "We have other creatures that married into the family, but none of those couples were able to have children; only the mers." She looked sad for a moment, and Harry wondered if she was one of those childless couples. "Most pureblood families are interlocked with a type of creature because the magics of both are compatible and as it turned out, Potters happened to be mers. Let me think, I believe the Malfoys have Veela, wonderful family in my time, but I've heard some nasty things lately. The Longbottoms have either Elf or Fae, I can't remember. Oh an interesting one were the Princes, they have some type of Veela, but they all had darker features."

"Dark Veela," Harry supplied with a smile on his lips as he thought of his own Dark Veela, knowing how the man addressed himself in his youth as Prince. Thinking of Severus made him want to seek out his mate, to just be in the man's presence.

"Yes, that's right!" the woman interrupted his thoughts, forcing him to focus on his task of learning about himself and his family. "So you want to learn more about yourself? Well then you should speak with Marius, he was the first mer to be introduced to the family line. He's about five generations down on the right, one of the bigger paintings."

"Thank you so much for your help, I'll come back to speak with you," Harry promised. He stayed until the woman nodded her head and her painting went to sleep. Since he didn't know how many children were part of each generation, Harry ended up asked each painting if they were Marius. With each disgruntled no, taking offense at being called Marius. Harry was beginning to think the woman had lied to him.

He just wanted to learn about his family and newfound creature side. Harry was to know what to expect as he got close to his mates, or how he was going to react around others at school, or how he would react to being threatened by Dumbledore. Thinking about Dumbledore made him realize that he only had about two weeks until he was to go back to Hogwarts, and as far as Harry knew Dumbledore was still the headmaster. How was he to love under the same roof as the man? The amazing feeling he had since coming to Potter Manor disappeared as the same oppressive feeling Harry felt while Voldemort was at large, was back at the realization he once again had a crazed wizard after him. Could he no longer find any peace? After defeating Voldemort, Harry knew he only had to last one more summer with the Dursley's and he could finally relax and be a normal teenager.

But apparently that was not to be. As he was dwelling on his bad luck, Harry made a note to himself that he was not alone when defeating Voldemort; and he wasn't alone this time either. He had Sirius, a long history of family he could speak to, his friends, and now his wonderful mates who swore to protect him. So rather than allowing what life has dealt him, Harry squared his shoulders and continued down the paintings asking each one of they were the mysterious mer.

"Are you Marius?" Harry asked once again, hoping that if this painting would be the mer. Or at least tell him that he was close. But as Harry watched the painted figure looks towards him, the person shook their head and turned away from him. Harry briefly thought that if he was the next Potter heir, the paintings would be more helpful to him, like the woman who pointed him down this way.

"I'm Marius!" a melodic voice called out to him from two paintings away. Harry was quick to reach the painting, with a happy grin at finally finding his creature ancestor. However, it was not what Harry had been expecting. For starters, this Marius had not been painted in his mer form. So he had no idea what the man looked like, no smooth scales, no wispy tail, golden eyes, short and stocky in stature. The only resemblance Harry could see was the short, wild black hair, and the sharp angles of their faces. Even the streaks in Marius' hair were different than his own, a dark mossy green.

"Hello," Harry began once he got over the shock of seeing Marius. "I was told to find you because I've recently come into my inheritance and I don't know much about being a Potter, forget about me knowing anything regarding a mer."

"Oh, you're a mer! That is fantastic. I don't think there's been a recent mer in the line for a few generations. I'm thankful the gene still lingers." Marius stopped talking to look down and study Harry. As his ancestor kept staring, he shuffled his feet and rubbed a hand at the back of his neck. His cheeks also heated as Marius narrowed his golden eyes, highlighting the scales under his skin. "Ha! There are those protective scales. Hm, grey I think. That's not a usual color in our line, but not completely unheard of. Now, tell me what you do know about us."

"Well, I've seen and swam in my other form. I know the Potter line really only has mer creatures in the line and that you are the first. I know mer are similar to sirens." Harry tried to think about anything else, but that really was all he knew about his new self. There was only one other thing he knew about himself. "Oh, and I have two mates."

"Two?" Marius whistled low, as if he was impressed by Harry having more than one mate. "Well good for you for finding your mates so quickly. But your knowledge is lacking, so I want you to go to the library to pick up a few books and bring them here."

So Marius told him how to work the library and what books to get before sending Harry on his way. Remembering what happened after breakfast, Harry called for an elf before attempting to the find the library on his own. Thankfully, the library was on the same floor because Marius gave him quite a few titles to find and warned him some of the books would be thick. The library itself was magnificent, larger than the Black's family library. Harry's skin began to hum as he entered and after asking his house-elf as to why, he was elated to know that the magic within the manor was recognizing him. Harry stepped up to the podium and began calling for the books, and watched as each book floated by.

"Harry?" He turned at hearing his name and saw Remus coming up one of the aisles with a book in his hand.

"Hi Remus," Harry greeted before turning back to the podium to gather the pile of books.

"What are you up to?" Remus asked. He wanted to reach out and hold his mate, but denied himself from carrying out the urge. He understood Harry's need and request to a day to himself and he didn't want to get in Harry's bad side. However, Remus did step closer and got a look at some of the titles Harry was gathering.

"Marius wanted me to grab these books so he can go over the family history and my inheritance." Once the last book landed on the pile, Harry hefted them in his arms before heading to the door. But was stopped by Remus' hand on his shoulder.

"Who is Marius?" Remus questioned as politely as he could. It proved to be difficult because his instincts, his wolf, wanted to find who had captured Harry's attention and make sure the male would leave his mate alone. Though his logic was trying to tell him it wouldn't matter because Harry would be loyal, just like he is towards his friends.

"An ancestor of mine, Remus," Harry responded. He was shocked to notice Remus' voice had dropped and on the verge of growling. Maybe some time apart was a good idea, thought Harry. It seemed to him that Remus was almost jealous of a painting. He hoped Remus would calm down by tomorrow and moved out of Remus' grasp. "I'll see you tomorrow for lunch." And Harry left.

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A/N: I hope you all enjoy this chapter, and remember to R&R- Love Echo Harmony