1st August

The next afternoon, Harry flooed from his parent's house, with much fanfare- his youngest siblings had thrown a fit, his older ones looking like kicked puppies, and his parents blubbering dramatically- to Slytherin Manor. There to greet him in the floo room- and how big must the Manor be to have a whole room dedicated for the multiple floos?- were his four mates sat on the sofas, staring in his direction. Draco was the first to react to his arrival, standing up smoothly, but he wasn't the first to reach Harry.

"Harry!" Elian laughed as he wrapped his arms around him, smiling down at him with shining golden eyes, only to be gone the next second as Draco yanked him back.

"Harry." The Boread engulfed him in his own hug, pressing his face in his hair. To his other side, Blaise also joined in with the hug, a bright grin on his face as he started talking excitedly.

"You won't believe the size of this place, it's bigger than even Malfoy Manor and my estate, and I swear it can compete even with Hogwarts!"

Thomas, who had hung back, smiled at Blaise's exclamation. "Not quite, although I dare say the lands it is built on can. Harry, welcome to Slytherin Manor. How are you?"

Absentmindedly, busy observing the decorated ceiling now, Harry answered. "I'm fine."

"Perfect." Somehow, Thomas managed to fish him out from between the pair and settled him on a sofa with a slight push on his shoulders. He looked up at the Vampire questioningly, who returned his look with a slight smile, a fang poking out from under his top lip. "I thought that we should all sit down so that we may have a serious conversation, now that we are all here." At his unasked request, the other three sat. "I believe that we need to set the ground rules for this mateship, as soon as possible, to lessen the conflicts we may face in the future. Unless, of course, you'd rather postpone this conversation until you were settled in? I apologise if this came across as too hasty." Harry shook his head, seeing the merit of getting this over and done with as soon as they could.

Draco sat forward slightly, a steely glint in his silver eyes. "What sorts of rules?"

"Boundaries and such, and not only rules but aspirations we have, opinions we feel may come into conflict with one another- I want us to get some of it out of the way. Ask anything you wish, but the other is open to not sharing if they do not wish to. Now, Harry, I have a personal question for you that you may not wish to answer, but it is an important one."

"What is it?"

"Your heat cycle started on the 31st of July, on your seventeenth birthday, so you are twenty-two days along now, correct?"

Harry was already blushing at the topic. "Yeah."

"Have you noticed any changes in your diet yet? When you begin to crave high-energy foods, it means that you are more than halfway through your cycle, and we will need to begin preparing for when it will occur." The way he spoke about such an awkward topic, with the detachedness of a doctor but the softness of a mate, made Harry slightly more willing to speak up despite his embarrassment.

"No-no, I don't think so. I mean, apart from the fact that I've grown wings, and my features have changed slightly, I don't feel any different after my inheritance."

"Okay, that's fine, it gives us more time to set down our opinions and get to know one another."

Elian raised his hand slightly, drawing their attention. "Can we write this all down? I feel like I might forget it otherwise."

"Of course." Seemingly, from nowhere, Thomas pulled out a large notebook, and placed it on the table, writing down the date at the top. He wrote Harry's name on the first line, followed by the number '22', and an X. Harry's blush deepened. "I was thinking that we should start with boundaries, things that we don't wish to talk about, actions we won't tolerate from others towards us and the like."

"I don't want any talk about my step-fathers, past or present. I'd rather forget about their existence."

He nodded and wrote that down next to Blaise's name, which was highlighted in purple. "I would also rather not talk about certain members of my family, such as my paternal side, and my mother." Thomas wrote his own down highlighted in red.

"Thomas, I have a question for you."

He looked up. "Yes, Harry?"

"Can we call you Tom," His face scrunched, lips twitching downwards in a physical show of revulsion. "unless that's-"

"You may, I suppose. Being called Thomas by my own mates does sound rather formal. It is like me calling you Harrison," Harry's nose scrunched. "or Draco as Draconis," Draco's lip curled in disgust. "which are your legal names."

" Never , call me Draconis. I hate that stupid name."

Elian smiled, reaching over to give his head a pat, which Draco avoided with a swift movement. "I think it's rather sweet, to look at a baby and think of such a fearsome name, although it seems a bit out of place with you being a Boread and not a Dragonborn. Do you have Dragonborn ancestors?"

"Yes, but our blood no longer carries it. Same with our Veela ancestors, and many others from my mother's side. The only creature blood the Malfoy line still carries is Boread, which we didn't know about until I inherited as one. What blood do you carry?"

"Only Fae, as far as we can trace back, and I only carry Fae blood. What about the rest of you?"

"The Slytherin line only carries Vampire blood now."

Blaise smiled. "My line has quite a mix; Dragonborn, Veela and Vampire."

"You carry them all?"

"Yeah, Veela from my Veela father, Dragonborn from my mother, and Vampire from my maternal side as well. It accumulated within me, and despite me being a Dragonborn, I'm still a carrier for the other two. How about you, Harry?"

"Only the Fae blood has been passed on, from my mother's side."

Elian perked up, staring at his wings. "You are related to the Sermoira family, right?"

"Yeah, that's what I've been told. Ah, Elian, what's your last name? I forgot to ask." The man shrunk into himself and bit his lip. "Is that...a sensitive subject? I'm sorry for asking-"

"No, no, it's fine! I'm just feeling a bit stupid for having forgotten to tell you sooner. It's Luwynn."

Both Tom and Blaise sat up straighter, staring at Elian in disbelief. "Luwynn? As in, the Luwynn Royal Family, leaders of the Fair Folk?" Blaise blurted out, gaping.

"Mhm."

"How are you related to the leaders?" Tom asked, one sharp eyebrow raised.

"They're my parents, I mean, the King and the Consort are my biological ones, and the Queens are non-biological."

Harry gaped at him as well. "You're a Prince!"

"Tom is a Prince too! His many times' great-grandfather is the King of Vampire kind!"

"Wait, you're both Princes!?"

"I am a Lord, Harry. My Grandfather doesn't believe in giving out titles such as Prince unless that person is the assured successor. Elian, however, is a Prince, since all children and grandchildren of the rulers are entitled to the title. You must be their youngest child, then."

He shrugged, looking up through his eyelashes. "Yeah, by a while. Sorry for not telling you all sooner, I just prefer not to have my name known by the Submissive at the meetings in case that influences their decision, and I had forgotten to tell you it afterwards. Sorry."

"It's fine, it's not that big of a deal, none of us have really sat down to have a proper talk with each other yet, it's good that Tom said that we should do it now, otherwise I doubt that would have come up until we met your parents."

Elian chuckled. "And my ton of siblings, I haven't opened the letters they've sent me yet since I told them about me being chosen."

"How many do you have?"

"Letters, or siblings? For letters, It's somewhere around fifty of them, I'm sure they're not all from just my siblings, but most of them are. As for how many siblings I have, I think it's... twenty-seven? I might be wrong."

"Twenty-seven?! That's so many!"

"Those are only my siblings that are still alive, a lot of them died before I was born- wizards and witches, unfortunately, don't share our lifespan."

Harry bit his lip. What Elian said hit him hard and was, unfortunately, right. Fae could live for over ten millennia, and the oldest Wix had only made it to seven hundred and something. That meant, gut-wrenching to think about, he would most likely outlive all of his human relatives by a long shot, including his parents, and younger siblings if they also didn't have a creature inheritance. It made his mood drop, and he no longer felt any enthusiasm to continue with the conversation at hand, which had continued whilst he was in the midst of his thoughts.

"Um, can we think more on this tomorrow, I feel kind of tired now."

"Don't you want to eat some dinner first? It'll be served in an hour."

"No thanks, I'd rather sleep right now. Um..." Harry hesitated for a moment. "Can we... have separate rooms?" The surprised look on their faces made him backtrack. "Just for tonight or so, not forever!"

"Do you not feel comfortable enough with me yet, Harry?" Tom asked, expression blank but eyes understanding, and Harry opened his mouth to answer. "You may have your own room if you wish."

"I just-"

"It's fine, Harry. I am old enough not to worry about such things. I am a Vampire, in political opposition to your father, and not someone you know or open enough for that not to matter. Now, would you all like to come and choose which room you would like to stay in for the night?"

They followed the man up to the next floor by the great marble staircases that led up from the front hall, and into the first floor's main hallway, as he gave an overview of the rooms within the manor, which was quite the list, and he probably didn't even mention all of them. "On this floor, there's the master bedroom, and thirteen other bedrooms of various sizes, as well as two unofficial nurseries connecting to the master bedroom, three studies, a children's library, a play area with a closed-off side for younger children, a room for older children, as well as four bathrooms, not including en-suite's. On the ground floor, which I will give you a tour of tomorrow morning, Harry, there is the entrance hall, a family dining room, a family living room, a trophy room, a room for the floos, a family room, a music room, a small nursery, the kitchen and utility room, as well as the pantry, a ballroom, a bathroom, my study, a potions room and astronomy tower, the main library, a duelling room and a patio that leads out to the garden. On the second floor, it only contains bedrooms and a study space. The top floor is a loft with another study, which Elian has already claimed for himself."

"Where did you all sleep last night?"

"Within the Master bedroom, although there wasn't much sleeping happening."

Harry went bright red, and next to him, Elian burst out into cackles.

Tom huffed, a slight smile quirking his lip. "Not like that, no, it was instead Draco's incessant pacing that kept us awake. And then Elian made it worse by deciding he'd rather sleep in the tree outside the window, leaving the window open and inviting in mosquitoes." He opened the last door at the end of the straight hallway, pushing it open to reveal an empty room. "Through that door," He pointed to the door on the right wall. "Is another hallway. Taking the door right in front of you will lead you into the master bedroom, and entering the one at the far end leads you into a study, which I believe you will like. At the moment, this room is simply an empty spare, although in the future I'm anticipating that it will perhaps be a second nursery, as it was intended." With a swish of his hand, a bed appeared against the far wall, a nightstand with a few books next to it. "Is there anything else you need?"

"I don't think so. Thanks, for, you know..." He gestured to the room.

"No thanks are needed, Harry." He turned his head to the other three, meeting each of their eyes. "If you need us, me, Draco and Blaise will be down in the dining hall, which you enter from in between the staircases. Elian will be in the other room, otherwise." With a last smile, he exited the room, Draco throwing Harry a worried looked, Blaise mirroring it, before following after him.

Elian gave him a pat on the head, smiling when he swatted his hand away. "Like Tom said, I'll just be through those doors if you need anything. See you in the morning, Harry."

"Goodnight."

After his final mate left the room, Harry collapsed onto the bed with a sniff. Merlin, he'd only been here for half an hour, and he'd already ruined the mood and shut himself away from them, he was so stupid. The first few days were crucial, but he let himself grow overemotional over something that would, hopefully, not happen for a while yet.

With a sigh, his eyes fell closed, and he drifted off into a fitful sleep, despite it not even being evening yet.

22nd August

As promised, the next day, after a filling breakfast, Tom began his tour of the Manor. It was only them, Elian having been called back to the Fae realm by his parents for an important discussion, and Draco and Blaise had said they were going to hole themself up in the library to get their summer assignments done by the end of the day so that the rest of the holidays would be free. It reminded Harry that he still hadn't started on a single piece of his own, but he had always been the last-minute sort of person when it came to any sort of homework.

They started with the ground floor, in the front hall, which was a grand thing he hadn't been properly able to look at yesterday due to his mood. The ceiling was twice as high, connecting up with the first floors, and was beautiful with paintings of events long past etched onto it. The staircases themselves were a work of art, white marble with dark wooden bannisters decorated with vines and leaves, leading all the way up to the balcony looking over the entrance hall.

Tom decided to show him the dining room first after that, which wasn't as large as he had been expecting, as he had many tortuous dinners in the Malfoy's 'family dining room' before to know how over-the-top pureblood families tended to be. The room itself was quite big, the same width as the front hall and half as long, but the dark oak table only seemed big enough to fit eight people. Despite the size of the room, it looked cosy, the dim and comforting light attributed to the chandelier hanging in the centre of the room, lit with what looked like hundreds of candles, and the flickering fire at the far end, surrounded by sofa's, armchairs and bookshelves.

The next room they entered was the 'small' living room, which was only slightly smaller than the previous room. "It's...very green."

Tom huffed by his side. "Most of the furniture in this house is hundreds of years old, and hasn't been touched since the last Creature Slytherin descendant lived here, I don't dare to touch them with a colour-changing charm, no matter how much I want to."

"Then how will they cope when, maybe, we have children?" Harry raised an eyebrow seriously, despite his mid-sentence stutter.

"Then we'll have to see about moving them into storage and replacing them with more sturdier alternatives. For the time being, I simply like to admire my ancestors' choices of style. Now, this area is the smaller of the two living rooms, more for us than others, which is what the larger one I will show you later is for. It's the central room of the house, where the keystone for the wards is held, behind that picture." He pointed towards a nondescript but pretty painting of a flowery scene. "Please don't touch it unless it's an emergency, it is unfortunately off limits to all who aren't of direct Slytherin blood, and will administer a nasty shock- and that's with you being recognised as my mate."

"Alright. Any reason why it's in a living room and not somewhere more secure?"

"This room is incredibly secure, you are only in here because you are my mate, the wards would have harmed you otherwise. That's what is meant by it is a space only for us. Now, should I show you the ballroom or the trophy room next?"

The tour took up the majority of the day, and halfway through, Draco joined them, soon followed by Blaise, having finished up their homework. It was only at dinner when Elian finally arrived back from his meeting with his parents, a happy expression on his face, carrying a box.

"Sorry I'm so late, there was a lot to talk about, such as our mateship among other things. Anyway, my parents asked me to give you this, Harry." He placed the box in front of him, and Harry pushed his plate aside to receive it, having hardly touched the food yet.

"No, finish your food first, the gift can wait. You didn't have any food for dinner last night."

"It'll only take a few minutes, Tom." But before he could reach for the box, it was snatched off the table by the person who had put it there.

"He's right, Harry. Food first, sorry, I got a bit excited." He placed the box on the floor at his feet and settled next to Blaise on the opposite side of the table.

Harry gaped a little, feeling emotions swelling within him suddenly, a strange feeling. "If I want to open it now, why can't I? Am I not an adult?"

Tom sighed as if he had been expecting his retort, making Harry bristle further. "Of course you are, but we are eating at the moment. You can open the present after, which will also only be in a few minutes if you start eating now."

He deflated slightly, feeling like a petulant child being told off as he dragged the plate closer. "I guess."

By his side, Draco could no longer hold in his snickers and earned himself a slap to the back of his head by a now embarrassed Harry.

23rd August

The present had turned out to be a big boxful of books about the creature world, and Tom had promptly directed him to his study- the one right next to the master bedroom they had all shared the night before- to put the books on the empty shelves. They had decided whose study was whose the night before; Tom kept the one he had on the ground floor, Draco and Blaise took the two next to each other near the children's library, Elian obviously had the one up in the attic, and Harry had chosen the one next to the Master bedroom since it had a semi-circular window seat, a brilliant view out into a pond full of pretty fish and a large tree that brushed up against the house. That was the one Elian had spent his first night in.

It was nice to have his own space, not that he didn't have one when he lived with his parents, but it was often invaded by his younger siblings. Here, the wards to the room were keyed to his magic, and only those who he invited in could enter, creating a safe place for Harry to escape to when reality crashed too hard on him.

He sat on the comfy, burgundy-red rug by the bookshelves, filling them with all the books he had acquired throughout the years and gifted recently. The very bottom shelves were for his textbooks from years one to six, since he doubted he'd want to look at them anytime soon- not until his dreaded NEWTS exams at the end of the year. Then, the next was taken up by some of his nicer-looking books, and the ones he had yet to read for easy access. The top shelves were for the oldest books, namely those from the Potter's library and Black library that he didn't want to get damaged. He only managed to fill half of one set of shelves, using bookends to stop them from toppling over, but there were still well over a hundred books on it.

Finally finished, Harry flopped onto the plush chair situated behind his desk and sighed contentedly.

This situation wasn't something he'd been planning on, but it was beginning to grow on him as time passed and he grew closer to his mates.

The five of them congregated in the bigger living room later in the evening, with cups of tea and slices of cake and biscuits stacked neatly on a tower, brought in by a pair of house elves.

Harry and the others had been introduced to Tom's personal house elves, a congregation of six, at dinner time. There was Sooty, the oldest who had been serving the Slytherin line for centuries and did a variety of jobs around the house, Link and Trix, a bonded pair that mainly worked within the kitchens, their two children Linx and Tink, who themselves were over a century old and worked within the grounds of the manor, and the youngest, Deeny, who had been gifted to Tom when he first became Lord Slytherin, taking care of sorting paperwork and odd chores.

Tom had informed them that, out of the six, only Deeny was truly his, and that the others were formally his grandfather's house elves, and only listened to him since he was the current Lord Slytherin and resided within the Manor. They would also listen to them, although only because they were his mates.

Harry munched thoughtfully on a slice of victoria sponge as he remembered how finely the house elves were dressed, King Slytherin having obviously found a loophole to dress them in such clothes, putting even the ones his father had managed to procure for - to shame.

To his side, Blaise looked at him with a partly-amused, partly-disgusted expression. "Enjoying that, are you?"

"Hmm." He hummed, taking an even larger bite, relishing in the horrified look it drew.

Across from him, Draco cleared his throat, looking slightly abashed under their collective, intense attention. "I have something that's been on my mind for a little while now, ever since Tom became Harr- our final mate. I know that the rest of you are definitely feeling it by now, the instinctive need to fight each other for Dominance. Therefore," He drew in a breath. "I wanted to tell you that you can count me out, I'm willing to take the place of the lowest Dominant."

Tom set his tea down on the table with a thud, expression serious as he steepled his fingers, and Harry, confused, listened in. "Are you sure, Draco?"

"Yes, I know I'm more of a protector than a fighter, and my instinct is telling me that I'd be better off not fighting for a position when Harry will love me either way." His eyes flickered to meet Harry's briefly, a small smile gracing his lips.

Elian slung an arm around Draco's shoulders, drawing himself closer to his ear. "You don't want to have a little bit of a tussle then, eh?"

He raised one sleek, blonde eyebrow. "A... tussle? Absolutely not."

"C'mon, don't be such a wimp. Don't you want the satisfaction of knowing that you can beat any one of us in a fight, yet you personally chose to be the lowest ranking? Ranking in Mateships, although it doesn't seem like it means much, does mean something in Creature society, Draco. It goes Submissive," He points to Harry. "Top Dominant, Secondary Dominant if there is one, and then so on for however many mates there are. Are you really going to subject yourself to not being the one with attention, just because of your rank?" He played on Draco's need for attention and superiority complex with innocently wide eyes, smiling sharkishly when the Boread went stiff at his side.

Draco grit his teeth. "Elian, I said that I. Don't. Care. So what if I'm not spoken to first by a bunch of old farts?"

Harry, who had been watching the scene from his spot on the sofa, burst into laughter. "Bunch of old-" He wheezed, bringing up a hand to muffle the noise.

"Oh, for- I want to have a fight with you! I don't care what the result is, I just wanted to rile you up because I've never had a fight with a Boread before, or even seen one apart from you!"

"Then just say that!" Draco tutted, before lunging forward, wrapping an arm around Elian's neck. Elian, surprised at the unexpected action, allowed him to pull him backwards for a moment, before snapping into action.

The fight was merely a blur to Harry's eyes and was over in a matter of seconds, but if Tom's impressed whistle was anything to go by, it must have been something. Elian was sat above Draco, who was pinned face-first into the ground with a hand at his nape, looking unruffled in comparison.

"That's-" Draco panted. "Exactly why...I didn't want to do that."

"But it's better to have a go than to give up straight away, especially when no actual harm will come to you from the situation." The Fae chirped in response, looking gleefully fond. He reached forward with his other hand to ruffle Draco's white locks, taking advantage of his lack of struggle.

"I don't know, his pride must be feeling it quite harshly." Blaise cackled, staring down at the pair in amusement, purple eyes flashing.

Elian drew back, and Draco slowly lifted himself up off of the floor, a tinge of red spread across his cheeks as he avoided eye contact with Harry, who was now crouched at his side. Obviously, the results of the 'fight' affected him much more than he would like to admit to them.

On impulse, Harry reached forward and grabbed the man's face, pulling him forward into a brief kiss, eyes closed with his own embarrassment. The room went silent, and when he finally drew back and opened up his eyes, Draco was staring back at him with an even deeper blush, but a wide smile that made his silver eyes sparkle.

"Ah, what! Where's my kiss?! I was the winner!"

24th August

On the morning of the 24th, Harry was awoken rudely by a loud crash nearby, his eyes snapping open. Sitting upright with a gasp, his wide eyes took in the sight of Blaise being pressed harshly into the broken mess of the bedroom's bookcase, receiving an intense kiss from none other than Elian, who looked like the embodiment of a Fae prince with his golden wings on full display.

"What the fuck are you two doing?! It's..." He cast a Tempus. "It's five in the bloody morning!"

"They had a fight for dominance, with Blaise losing, although I doubt he'll count that as a loss." Tom gestured to where the two were still locked in their own world.

Harry turned his head stiffly to face the man, taking in his relaxed form with bloodshot eyes. "And why at five in the morning?"

"Elian accidentally kicked him in his sleep, and he saw that as an issue challenge and threw him on the floor. From what I saw, Blaise is quite strong for his age, but of course, experience wins out in the end."

Finally, Elian pulled back, a mischievous grin on his face, eyes sparkling as he stared down at Blaise. "Want to have a go at Tom next? I think I'd enjoy watching that." He whispered, eyes snapping to lock onto Tom's form.

Blaise sent a glance to where they were both sitting up in bed, Draco having miraculously slept through the whole thing, and seemed to freeze. "No thanks, I'll admit defeat."

"Aww, then how about me and you have a fight, then?" Elian directed towards Tom, who looked to Harry, before swinging out of the bed.

"I suppose it's best if we get this out of the way now. This'll be the fight for top Dominance, yes?"

"Yeah." Elian lowered himself into a crouch, warily eyeing Tom as he simply stood there. Then, they were both a blur in the next moment, the sound of their clashing finally rousing Draco from his deep sleep.

"Whas'happenin'?"

"Elian and Tom are fighting for top Dominance."

That got his full attention, and he was upright with an interested expression only a moment later. "You lost to them both?" He directed this at Blaise, who had joined them on the bed to spectate the two blurs.

"Only to Elian, I don't think I have the guts or the skills to stand up to someone like Tom. I didn't have the skills to stand up to Elian either, but at least he's not inherently terrifying."

The clash carried on for several more minutes, Harry only managing to catch glimpses of it near the end when his eyes adjusted, until, finally, it stopped. Both had laboured breathing, although Elian's was slightly more so with the hand wrapped tightly around his neck restricting airflow as he dangled in the air.

Harry lurched forward, eyes wide, but each of his shoulders was grabbed by Draco and Blaise, who pulled him backwards. "Harry, leave them!"

"But he's hurting him! Tom-"

"No, he's not. Elian can stop this at any time, he's just being stubborn."

Harry looked at the pair closer and noticed the determined glare Elian was sending Tom, who was simply looking back at him with a small smile on his face, teasing.

Elian tutted, reaching a hand up to tap at the one around his throat. "I give. Off." They stared at each other for a few more moments, before Tom loosened his fingers, and Elian dropped to the floor, rubbing at his throat which now sported a hand-shaped red mark.

Making a noise in the back of his throat, Harry shrugged off the hands on his shoulders and clambered off of the bed to sit at Elian's side, getting a small smile when he gently rubbed over the reddened area. "It's fine, Harry. I doubt it'll even bruise. I was just being stubborn even when I knew I'd lost already."

Feeling soft in the face of his earnest gaze, Harry leaned forward and softly pecked the man's cheek, brushing their cheeks together in an intimate, instinctive gesture that had Elian freezing in his arms. Drawing back, he clambered back into the bed feeling slightly flushed and all too tired to continue feeling such things. "Now, sleep! It's five in the morning! We have stuff to get done tomorrow."

26th August

"You gave both Elian and Draco a kiss, do I get one for fighting too?"

Harry snorted, looking up over the lip of his book at Blaise, who was leaning on the doorframe of his study. He closed it, opening up his arms to invite him closer.

Blaise, with a smile, collapsed onto the sofa with him, the breath leaving Harry both with his gorgeous smile and the way he lunged into his arms, crushing him with his weight.

"Can't-breathe!"

Blaise lifted himself up slightly, releasing him of the pressure, still grinning. "Kiss?"

"Hm, I suppose." Harry tilted his head to the side, smiling teasingly. He drew closer to the man above him, whose breathing had grown heavier, allowing their lips to brush for a mere moment, before swerving to the side and pressing a kiss to his cheek. "There you go!"

"That's not a kiss!"

"That's what I gave Elian, you said that I have given both Draco and Elian a kiss."

The man groaned, collapsing back onto the far side of the sofa. "But you did that thing with Elian. You know, the-" He made a frustrated noise in the back of his throat, unable to articulate what he went, instead making odd waving motions.

"He nuzzled him, it's an intimate gesture in Fair and Feline Creatures." Tom's voice startled them, turning to where he stood in the doorway. "Usually, it's only initiated between Fae, in Harry and Elian's case, but can occur between mates of Fae and their children, although less often. Perhaps, instead, you can teach him what Dragonborn do?"

Blaise's cheeks tinted slightly. "That's- would you let me?" He turned to Harry with searching eyes.

"If I knew what 'that' was."

"Well-" He groaned. "It's-" He stopped again.

"He'd bite you. Well, it's more like a nip, biting is for Vampires." Tom flashed his sharp teeth teasingly.

"You want to bite me?"

"It's not a bite! It's a nip!"

Harry huffed, pondering for a few moments. "If it won't hurt, I guess so."

Under Tom's dark, watchful stare, Blaise grew closer, face disappearing from his vision as his lips brushed against his neck. Without warning, a tongue lathered the spot, and Harry shivered, opening his mouth to question him.

"What are you-" He cut himself off with a squeak, the spot Blaise was biting- That was not a nip!- almost burning before it tapered off into a pleasant buzzing feeling.

The man drew back a few moments later. "Was that ok?" He asked, eyebrows drawn together in concern. Behind him, Tom was leaning against the doorframe, a pleased expression on his face.

It took Harry a few seconds to regain control over his body, staring at Blaise with accusing eyes. "What the fuck... was that!"

Later on in the day, Harry cornered Tom, his top dominant being the only one to have not received a kiss yet- and it was still strange to refer to him as that.

Tom looked timid for once, eyes darting away from his face as he closed in. "Don't you want to kiss me?"

"I...I'm not quite sure how I'll react." He cleared his throat, still not meeting his eyes.

"You won't hurt me, right?" He shook his head vigorously. "Good, then there's nothing to worry about." He didn't let the man say anything else, before he surged forward, gathering all his new-found confidence, and pressed their lips together.

Neither of them moved for a few moments, Harry's confidence waning, about to draw back, before Tom seemed to melt, pressing forward into the kiss with enthusiasm he gladly reciprocated.

Harry felt a rumble growing within the other man's chest and paused. "Are you..." He was cut off as his lips were captured once more, and the rumble grew even louder. Every time he drew away to speak, or even breathe, he never got far.

A while later, he was finally released, gasping as he drew back into the sofa's push cushions. He stared at Tom as he panted, an eyebrow raising. "Vampires can purr?"

A blush grew lightly on his cheeks, and he leaned backwards, his head falling off the back of the sofa. "Mhm."

"You're embarrassed?" He grunted again, this time swinging an arm up to cover his eyes. "I quite liked it, it's sweet."

Tilting his head, Tom allowed one sharp, red eye to peek out. "I'm surprised it even happened, but I suppose...we are mates, after all."

Harry felt giddy hearing those words. "Yeah, we are."

29th August

On the twenty-ninth, mere days before Hogwarts began once more, it was only Elian and Harry left in the house during the morning. Draco had been called away by his father for another politics lesson, Blaise went to see his mother for a few hours, and Tom had been called in for a Wizengamot meeting that he was sure his dad and uncle Sirius were attending as well.

So, it was just the two of them left to lounge about the house, which inspired all sorts of random thoughts.

"Do you want to learn how to use those?" Elian asked suddenly, pointing at Harry's wings which were still on show, their iridescence sparkling in the summer sunshine. He had yet to properly learn how to hide them, but there was progress, and he didn't feel the need to keep them tucked away whilst he was in private anyway.

He raised an eyebrow, looking sceptically down at the paper-thin, butterfly-like appendages. "They're usable? I thought that they wouldn't be able to hold my weight, they're quite flimsy looking."

"Of course, we're magical creatures, they're stronger than they look." He flashed him an excited smile. "Come on, it might be better to learn indoors where the wind can't affect you."

They headed towards the duelling room, which he had only glimpsed into during the tour with Tom, and entered the cavernous hall, feeling a slight ping to their magic as they crossed the strong wards.

Walking to the centre, Elian crossed his arms. "First, I'll have to go through the theory with you, and since we have different wing shapes, yours being rounded as is typical for a Sermoira's, I won't be able to accurately show you how to fly. Different shapes mean different styles."

"Ah, that reminds me, can you tell me more about the Sermoiras?"

"Of course, I happen to know them quite well. The Sermoira family are quite an affluent family in our realm, having the status of a Noble family. They are notable for their iridescent, butterfly-like wings, and bright green eyes, as well as their white hair. It's honestly quite startling to see a Sermoira with such dark colouring, it really makes your eyes stand out. Their eldest member has a seat on the Council of Ancients, and they are very interactive with our Realms political system. Do you perhaps know exactly which Fae are your ancestors? The Sermoira family has a main branch, and then some side branches, and further information often depends on which branch you are related to."

"No, my mum isn't too keen to broach that subject yet. My dad is working on it, so hopefully, we'll know sometime in the future, but at the moment, he doesn't want to push it."

"I can make a guess if you'd like? I'd need you to stretch out your wings first though."

Harry did as he was asked, allowing his wings to unfurl, twitching when Elian ran his fingertips gently over their surface. He circled him, eyeing his wings with fascination as they shifted in the light. He paid intense attention to the roots of his wings- visible through the cuts in his shirt- and the tips of them, as well as observing the pointed shape of his ears and teeth.

"I have a slight inclination to which other line you may descend from, which narrows down which Sermoira and branch you're related to by a lot, however, there is also the fact that those characteristics may come from further down the line instead of recently. But, I can tell you that you are probably related to the Hui family, also affluent, but more involved in academics than politics. They are known for having pointier ears and teeth than most Fae, darker wing roots- yours are black-, and having a more opaque edge to the tips of their wings. Also, commonly, they have red hair, although some are known to hedge more towards blonde."

"My mum has-"

"The characteristic red hair, yep, although a bit closer to ginger."

"And my aunt, cousin and younger brother all have blonde hair too."

"Right, then you being related to the Hui's should make this lesson easier, they're known for being natural-born flyers, after all. Now, tuck your wings in slightly- not all the way, just slightly. Then, tilt them forward like I am, so that they're facing the ground at an angle. Perfect. Flap them a little, get a feel of how dense the air is, and what the wind feels like, and adjust appropriately until you are feeling comfortable. Now, this might sound a little scary, but try and lift off, I'll be here to help you if anything goes wrong."

Harry followed his instructions, flapping his wings at a steadily increasing pace, until he felt his feet slightly come off the floor, the gap between them and land growing bigger with every movement."

"Wow, natural-born flyers indeed, I can't believe you've succeeded first try!"

He wobbled slightly in the air, the feeling of being suspended from his back unnatural compared to sitting on a broomstick, but at the same time, it felt better, as if he was in more control.

"Now, try landing without falling over, and then that'll be that done. I can't believe it's taken you less than five minutes to learn how to fly!"

Harry chuckled, concentrating fiercely on not tilting too far forward and therefore making a fool of himself by faceplanting after Elian had praised him on his flying skills. He felt himself wobble dangerously as he grew nearer to the floor, losing his stability as his wings decided to suddenly furl in, dropping the last half a metre to the ground only to be steadied by his mate.

"That was so good! You really are a natural! Now, let's work on your stability in the air before we move onto any sort of forward movement."

Later on in the evening, when they were all sitting comfortingly in the living room, Tom turned to him with a knowing look.

"Have you finished all of your homework yet, Harry?"

He snorted, continuing to flick through his magazine. "I haven't even touched the textbooks."

Draco turned towards him sharply. "You haven't done your homework yet?!"

"There's still time, I'm just enjoying the holidays whilst I can! Besides, classes don't start until the 2nd, and even then, I might not have a lesson that day."

"Harry, we are doing your homework."

"There's a 'we' in this-" His magazine was yanked from his hands, and despite his spluttering, chucked away as he was hauled off the sofa and bodily dragged towards the library. "Draco, this isn't needed-"

"Yes. It. Is."