A/N: Sorry for the delay, but my GCSE's kept getting in the way of my writing. I apologise profusely, but it will likely happen again.

Old Secrets and New Confrontations

Whilst everyone was getting on just fine in the Veela's quarters, an argument was brewing in the Gryffindor Common Room. Ron was once again attempting to rally helpers to join him and try to 'retrieve Harry from Malfoy's clutches.'

'What is wrong with you lot? Harry is supposed to be your friend. Why are you all so completely unfazed and perfectly content to sit on your arses and not help me get him back?' Ron yelled at his house mates.

'Maybe, just maybe, it's because Harry has been dating Malfoy for quite a while now, keeping it a secret from you, because he knew how you would react. Malfoy makes him happy!' Neville yelled back.

THUD!

Again, Ron was on the floor, only this time, he had leapt onto Neville and was pulling him down as well. Ron had pulled his fist back, ready to punch Neville, when he felt someone grab his elbow.

'Get the hell off me!' Ron screamed, his face turning the exact same shade as his hair.

'Not until you calm down Ronniekins.' came an all too familiar voice.

'Yeah, ickle Ronnie, get off of Neville and then we will let go of you.' came a second similar voice.

Ron climbed off of Neville and then turned to glare at his brothers. 'What are you doing here?! Shouldn't you be off, running your little shop?'

'Well, we were, until we got a letter from our delightful little sister, telling us about you treating Harry badly. What are you doing that for? He's like family to us!' Fred looked calm all the while he was saying this, but Ron knew that it was merely a front and that the twins were livid.

'He's not my family! Not now that he's shacked up and happy with Malfoy! He's left us, choosing that Slytherin over us.' Ron paused at this point to draw breath, which Neville took as a good time to interrupt.

'Ron, if you really think that, then why are you claiming that you want us to help you rescue him.' At this, murmurs went around the common room. Clearly, Neville wasn't the only one who was confused.

'Of course I want to rescue him. I want to rescue him so I can beat the crap out of him for deserting us for those Slytherins!'

'Ronald Bilius Weasley! How can you say that about Harry? After everything he's done for you! Are you really going to ditch your best friend, just because Malfoy makes him happy?' At this point, all those in the common room started to back away. Hermione's dressing downs of Ron after one of his rants were almost as famous as the rants themselves. They were nigh on legendary, but only for as long as you weren't on the receiving end of her temper.

Meanwhile, back in the Veela quarters, Draco and Harry were debating whether or not they should get a portrait to act as a door guard over their room. After a while, they decided to ask Lucius when he returned. The room fell into a companionable silence, with Draco lying on the couch with Harry's head in his lap. Both boys were just dozing off, when Dumbledore entered the room.

'Ah! Boys, I was hoping to find you here. I've come to ask whether you've decided to make any changes to your class schedules? Or are you willing to have some of your classes separately?'

The boys looked to each other for confirmation f their thoughts, leaving only a small pause before Draco spoke for both of them.

'Well Professor, as far as I am aware, all of our subjects are the same except Harry was taking Care of Magical Creatures, whilst I was enrolled in Potions. However, after some bargaining, I managed to get Professor Snape to agree to teach Harry as well, providing that he completes all the summer assignments.'

'How on earth did you get Severus to agree? I tried everything I could think of, including blackmail and he still refused me.'

'Well professor, If I told you, it wouldn't be nearly as effective or impressive next time I use it, would it?'

'I suppose you are right there, dear boy. Well, I must be off. After all, this school doesn't run itself.'

And with that remark, he strode purposefully out of the rooms, only to narrowly avoid colliding with Lucius Malfoy, who was coming in the opposite direction. The men merely nodded in recognition of the other and continued on their separate ways. As Lucius rounded the corner to his son's room, he noted that they had no-one guarding their door. Thinking this rather odd, he entered the room, only to wish that he had knocked beforehand. On the sofa, sprawled in the middle of the room, were his son and his son's mate, lips locked, hands roaming all over each others bodies.

Having recovered from the shock of walking in on the scene, Lucius cleared his throat. Immediately, the boys sprang apart. Harry blushed, turning an extraordinary shade of Crimson, before burying his face in Draco's shoulder. Draco however, acknowledged his father's presence.

'Father, is there a reason why you interrupted us, or was it merely that you felt the need to exert your parental right to be annoying?'

'I came to check up on the two of you and make sure that everything was okay. On my way here though, I did notice that you don't have a portrait door guard here. Do you have a particular portrait in mind that you would like?'

'I know the perfect picture!' exclaimed Harry. 'Come on, follow me and I'll introduce you to him.'

With that, Harry took off, running down corridors and secret passageways that neither of the Malfoy's were aware had existed. After a while, Harry stopped next to what appeared to be a disused classroom in Ravenclaw Tower. Harry paused, waiting for his companions to reach where he stood, before opening the door.

'This, is the Founders Room.' harry explained, seeing the puzzled looks on the Malfoys' faces. 'This is where the portraits are . Before you ask, it was put in Ravenclaw Tower because they believed the Ravenclaw's would be far too busy studying to go out searching for hidden rooms. I found it when I was hiding from Filch in the third year. Not even Dumbledore knows about this room, and I intend for it to stay that way, okay?'

Both Malfoy's readily agreed, eager to see the long lost portraits.

'Well, aren't you going to introduce us to your companions, Harry?' came a croaky voice from in the shadows.

'All in good time Zar! At least give them a chance to have a look around first.'

After a few minutes, Harry took his mates hand and led him over to the first of the four majestic portraits that lined the walls.

'This, Draco, is Salazar Slytherin. Zar, this is Draco my mate. He's one of yours!'

'One of his? What on earth does Harry mean?' Draco wondered, as he bowed low to the portrait.

'Now, now. There's no need for all this ceremony, especially if you are from my house. As Harry said, I'm Salazar Slytherin, but, you can call me Zar. Everybody does these days.'

'You always did talk a lot, didn't you Zar. Come over here child, I wish to see you clearly.'

Draco followed the voice and soon saw that the portrait that had spoken was that of Rowena Ravenclaw. After a short conversation with each of the portraits, Draco turned back to Harry and asked the one question that had been bugging him for quite a while.

'Harry, it's been great seeing the founders portraits, but why did you bring us here?'

'Ooh!' Exclaimed Harry. 'I'd completely forgotten. Zar, seeing as Draco is my mate, we were assigned our own quarters and I was wondering whether you would consider being our door guard.'

'I will do it for you Harry, on one... no two conditions.'

'And what might they be?'

'One, you let me speak freely and plainly to all who seek entrance to your rooms. Two, you put my fellow founders portraits up in your suite.'

Draco looked to Harry at this moment, and nodded so subtly that, if you blinked, you would have missed it.

'It looks like you've got yourself a deal there, Zar!'

it took several hours to get the paintings off the wall in the founders room and back down to their quarters. There was a ridiculous number of charms holding the portraits n place and it took the combined magic of the three of them to remove all four portraits. All the while, questions were overflowing in Draco's mind. He knew that his mate wasn't completely human. He definitely had some creature blood in him. Why was he so against revealing it? There were some very strong glamours that Harry had put up around himself. But that just left more questions. How strong was Harry? How in control of his magic was he? What was he gifted with during Transition? Draco knew that his mate was at least as powerful as himself and Draco had been gifted during transition so his mate definitely had a gift of some sort. Even Neville Longbottom had been gifted, proving that he was much more powerful than had been previously been believed.

When the final portrait had been charmed into place on the wall, Lucius realised that they were going to need to tell Salazar who could automatically gain access to the rooms at any time and who was going to require permission.

'So boys, who are we going to allow in here? Obviously, it will be the three of us, but who else?'

'Professor Snape will need access.' Harry added hesitantly

'Snape!' exclaimed the Malfoys' 'Why?'

'Well,he is Draco's godfather and a very good friend of your Lucius. So, naturally, I assumed that the three of you would want to spend some time together. I guess I'll just have to try and get on with him. He's actually been quite civil to me since I turned to him for help during the war.'

'Okay, so Snape gets access' input Draco. 'What about Dumbledore? He may be irritating but he is the headmaster.'

'Absolutely not! He is far too nosy and interfering for his own good. As these are the quarters of a Veela couple, he has no jurisdiction here. Your word is law here, Draco.' replied Lucius.

'So, are we all agreed on just the four of us having constant access?' harry asked.

After seeing nods of assent from both the Malfoys, Harry left the room to relay the outcome of the conversation to Salazar. Meanwhile, Draco was wondering whether his father knew anything more about the strength of his mate.

'Father, do you know how powerful Harry is? I know he was powerful enough to kill You Know Who, but just how powerful does that make him?'

'He is the most powerful wizard ever known. He is powerful enough to defeat anyone in a duel, even Dumbledore.'

'Really?! He could beat Dumbledore? Now that I would pay to see. Do you reckon we could convince the two of them to duel.?'

'Even if Harry and Dumbledore agreed, Harry would still need a lot of training. He may be more powerful than Dumbledore, but he doesn't know nearly enough spells, offensive or defensive, to stand a chance in a duel.'

'But, surely you and Sev could train him. You must know loads of spells. I know you don't exactly like Dumbledore, so you can get your revenge on him now, for how he treated you during the war. Please say you'll do it!'

'Don't get ahead of yourself there, Draco. You haven't even asked Harry if he will agree to the duel yet or not.'

'Ask Harry if he'll agree to what yet?' Harry asked, re-entering the room.

'Well, Dad said that you are stronger than even Dumbledore and that with some training, you could beat him in a duel. So, I was wondering whether you would consider duelling him?'

'Well, maybe we could arrange it for the end of the year. That way, I have the whole year to train for it so that I definitely can beat him. My wandless magic isn't particularly strong at the moment, but, if I keep working at it, I'm sure it will be a lot stronger by the end of the year.'

'You can do wandless?' Draco asked awestruck

'Oh, yeah. It was the only way that I could find to get around the problem of the brother wands. It's quite simple once you know how to tap into your magical core. Once you get that control, it's not too difficult to manipulate it into recognisable spells. I guess I have Snape to thank for that. I discovered my ability to perform wandless magic at the same time as I learnt and mastered Occulemency and Legillimency.'

'Well, in that case, if you are able to do wandless magic, then you will easily be able to defeat Dumbledore, presuming that he is unaware of your ability. He will expect you to merely cast spells that require your wand. I imagine one of the first things he will try to do is disarm you.' Lucius remarked.

'While we are revealing old secrets, do you fancy telling me what creature you are? Or what gift you received during your Transition? I know that you aren't human, because your scent was different to anyone else's. Also, you re ridiculously powerful, so you must have been gifted.' Draco asked.

'Well, I don't really want to tell anyone but, I wrote a riddle, and if you are clever enough to work it out, I'll tell you everything. As for my power, that will be revealed along with my heritage, because they are interlinked. The riddle is as follows:

My main was studied by the Lady Helga

Another, the look of a Scandinavian gives

My final, hunted and staked,

but never by the light of the sun.'

Are you implying that you are not actually human at all, but are in fact made up of three magical creatures?'

'Well, that is what you have to try and figure it our for yourselves. Speaking of revealing secrets, Lucius, I wish to help you to become bound to your true mate. But, how am I going to be able to help you if I am unaware of your mates identity?' Harry answered, hoping that the Malfoy's wouldn't notice the change of tack.

'I am likewise unwilling to reveal things, especially something such as his identity.' Replied Lucius, inadvertently revealing details about his mate. 'You have met him many times though, I don't think that you particularly like him, but you don't hate him either.'

At this, the room fell silent, with the Malfoys' attempting to solve the riddle, while Harry was attempting to guess the identity of Lucius' mate.

Next Time:

Two Wars, and a Dance

Please review, and let me know, If you think you know the answer to the riddle.