A/N: I'm glad you guys liked the last chapter. I hope this one is just as good!

Chapter Fourteen-- First Meetings?

Dumbledore was furious. The anger seethed and warped beneath his kindly persona and threatened to spill out into the outside world. He couldn't allow it to happen, but he was running out of excuses for his short temper and snappish voice. He had claimed that the stress of trying to assimilate sixty-three foreign students into three years and four Houses was taxing; the almost deadly altercations between Hogwarts and Durmstrang continued regardless of anything he tried. In fact, they had escalated in the past few days, and he claimed no ignorance of the reason for that.

He glared at the thick tome before him. The Hogwarts Headmasters Guide had a self updating list of where each and every student had been in the morning and the evening of each day. Harry Evans had yet to leave the Hufflepuff dormitories for the third day running. More than one Slytherin Sorted Durmstrang student had spent the night there and Pomona Sprout, the Head of Hufflepuff House, had shown no qualms about that matter. In fact, she was actively supporting it, loudly informing the other Professors that at least her House could put aside their differences and open their doors to the new students.

The most annoying fact was that he now knew that Durmstrang really did have a Healer amongst the students, and that they were a Hufflepuff. He suspected that this accepting attitude the Hufflepuff's had adopted was due to her presence. It also answered the question of how they were recovering from the impromptu duels without once visiting Madame Pomfrey. Just the other day the medi-witch had been attempting to heal a rather nasty skin burning hex when none other than Marci Szina had stuck her head inside the Hospital Wing and informed the nurse that a simple Skin Stitch potion would fix it right up, but that she might want to give him a Pain Relieving one first.

So he had the identity of the Healer, but he couldn't exploit that fact. The Healers Guild had sent a lengthy letter informing him that if any harm should befall the young witch than he would be answering to them directly. It was signed by the Guild Mistress herself. He wasn't willing to antagonise the Healers, since they were so closely linked with the Mages Guild. He would need the Healers and Mages when the war finally spilled out. Voldemort would not be holding back for much longer. Obviously the wizard was biding his time, sending the Wizarding world crazy with the anxious, nervous wait they were enduring.

He was fairly sure that the young Healer was the one that the Council had sent to check on him. He mused that it was probably foolish of him to have doubted that the Durmstrang students coming to Hogwarts was purely caused by the war. No doubt the parents would have rather home schooled the children, instead of sending them into the beginning of a war zone. The Council certainly did have a lot influence within Europe. He would need to tred carefully around young Marci, and this was the only reason why he had not stormed the Hufflepuff dorms and forcibly removed Harry.

He wondered whether the boy's core was still frozen and whether or not Marci had managed to remove the silver from his system. It had been a truly ingenious idea to accidentally leave information on Harry's creature types and their weaknesses out in the open on his desk, and then call Ron Weasley to his office. He had only left the wizard for five minutes, but the parchments had been shifted slightly. The attack only proved that all had gone to plan. His only question was, how far did the Weasley boy go and how much did he enjoy it?

Those questions could only be answered in time, and he had very little patience these days.

Those spells, while being Ancient, were not complicated and took very little, if any, power to cast. They had been created that way, ensuring the safety of wizards against a foe who was devastatingly powerful. Never mind the fact that the Hecatamae had no defence against the spells. With no access to external magic, they would be forced to access the heavily shielded, and unpredictable, magic within their Cores. It was dangerous for them, rather than for the wizard. The only problem in that was that Hecatamae, and Hecatamus' in particular, would send a blast of magic to 'mark' their attackers. He vaguely remembered Ron and three other boys walking around, oblivious to the small black smudge on the side of their necks.

As he sat back and sipped his tea, he wondered whom Harry was bonded to. It was obviously a magically powerful individual; a Hecatamus would not mate with someone of average power, they sought the strongest and the one who could easily suit their own lives. Harry seemed to lead a fairly boring, politically driven life. His ability with magic aside, the one thing he seemed intent on was ensuring equality for those with creature blood.

"Ah, the foolishness of youth." He chuckled and felt some of his tension slide away.

Musing over the mate issue, he suddenly realised that there was a simple, easy way to get the boy out of his hair and to force his core walls to crumbled and break, hopefully resulting in Harry's death. If he could find the boy's mate, then he could break the bond and shatter any power the pair held. He only had to narrow the field down.

With a brand new plan in mind, the ageing wizard bustled about, never once realising exactly what he was doing.

HPLVHPLVHPLVHPLVHPLVHPLVHPLVHPLVHPLVHPLVHPLVHPLVHPLV

Daniel Potter had never liked the overly loud and boisterous atmosphere that overtook Gryffindor tower at night. Despite that, he always made sure to engage the others in loud conversations, sneaking in derogatory comments on the brand new students. More than once he had wanted to take Laura Darcian aside and explain to the fifth year that he meant none of it, that all he wanted to do was say those things to his own classmates.

He watched as Laura continued her heated argument with Darren Yealo. Over what, he had no idea, but it was obviously distressing the witch. Darren's eyes were flashing from a bright gold to a deep brown and it was unnerving to see, despite the fact that he had had over a week and a half to get used to seeing it. He had been vaguely curious over how it was possible, until he noticed that the seventh year wasn't the only one with those odd eyes. A small group of Durmstrang students shared that common trait, the switching of normal eye colour to that of gold.

Even his twin had it. Although, if he allowed himself to, he could remember Harry doing that when they were little. He had hated it then, hated the fact that his brother was so much more special than him.

With a sigh, Daniel turned to his friend, Ron. "I'm gonna go out for a bit of a fly."

The red head grinned and elbowed him, hard. "Bit of practise, eh? I hear the Durmstrang side has your twin as a Seeker. Probably crap at it. Cheaters, the lot of 'em."

The word 'twin' was said with such disdain that Daniel had to stop himself from flinching back. In the strongest, steadiest voice he could muster, he replied, "Of course. Death Eaters like them could never win a match against us! Honestly don't see why they even proposed the match. I'm sure Ginny will catch the snitch a minute in, give Evans a run for his money while he struggles to stay on the broom! No wonder so many of them ended up in Slytherin."

The surrounding boys guffawed, except for Neville Longbottom who was intently glaring at him. Waving, he collected his Firebolt and left the tower. The blessed silence of the castle soothed his frayed nerves. Lately, Gryffindor had gotten worse and he was glad that his status as Head Boy allowed him to move about freely during the night. He had been going out to fly at odd times while the tower slept, though he was sure the newest additions knew when he left and when he returned.

As he stepped out of the castle, the cold winter wind stroked along his skin and bit into his body. He hadn't bothered to put a cloak on, and he took his wand out and cast a warming charm over himself. Swinging a leg over the broom he took off into the sky.

Half an hour later, his body tired and his limbs frozen, his heart was lighter and his soul far happier. He hovered in the air and closed his eyes, letting the night swallow him up. Out here, in this darkness, he was anonymous. He was not the Boy Who Lived, Chosen One, Saviour of the Wizarding World and all that crap. He was just Daniel Potter, a good flier and Keeper, nobody special at all.

"What are you doing out here?"

The voice startled him and he slid off the broom, eyes widening as the thought of hitting the ground this high up froze his mind. But then strong arms grabbed a hold of him just as he fell past a disused tower and pulled him over the edge. He clutched at his saviour, gasping and shaking in utter terror.

"Gee, if this is you falling, I'd hate to see what you're like against the Dark Lord."

The voice was laced with both sarcasm and amusement, but the use of Voldemort's title had been tensing and biting out, "Only his mindless minions call him that."

"Or perhaps those who don't particularly care?"

He looked up and his hazel eyes latched onto the glowing emeralds of his twin. "Harry?"

Harry raised an eyebrow. "What happened to Evans?"

Daniel pushed himself up, hands on the cold stones beside his brother's body. Harry was watching him as he drank in the sight of his twin. He hadn't been able to really look at his brother in the time he'd been here, and he found that there were several things that raised questions in his mind. Leaning his weight on one hand he reached up and traced a thin silver scar that marred the tanned neck. "What's this?"

"I'll tell you when you get off."

Blushing, he scrambled backwards until his back rested against the stones behind him. "Sorry."

Harry peered at him. "Are you blushing? My god, the great Boy Who Lived blushes!" He grinned. "Or, wait. Does the Chosen One like boys?"

Daniel glared at him. "Fuck off. And don't call me that! I'm sick of the Prophet and everyone else blaring out my supposed destiny."

Silence reigned a moment. "You don't want to fight, do you?"

"No. And why are being nice to me?"

"Momentary lapse of sanity. Good for one night."

Daniel snorted. "Now you sound like some sort of harlot." He ran a hand through his hair, messing up the fiery strands. "Although, according to Ron you are."

Harry tensed and his emerald eyes flashed gold. When the magic began to whip around them, Daniel leaned forward and shook his brother's shoulder. "Harry!"

He watched as his brother sagged and a sort of half-sob made its way passed tightly closed lips. He frowned and, hesitantly so, wrapped and arm around the boy. "It's okay. Everything'll be fine." He rocked them a little once he'd settled beside him. "S'okay, Harry."

Harry shook and trembled, but no tears fell, and every now and then a sob would make its way out. Daniel didn't know what was wrong, and he thought it odd that Harry could be crying without the actual tears. His heart bled for his older twin, and he ached to make better whatever pain he suffered from. In the back of his mind, something whispered that he shouldn't be doing this, he was meant to hate Harry, despise him and make his life hell.

"Daniel?"

"Yeah?"

"Why are you caring?"

Daniel frowned. Harry sat up a little straighter and looked at him with clear emerald eyes. His dark locks brushing over his eyes and swaying in the wind. "Shouldn't I?"

"To be honest? No. This last week or so has shown that you're just like the rest of Gryffindor: idiots, and weak-minded individuals. Personally, we think you lot resembled mindless sheep following the closest fluffy thing."

He gave a small laugh. "Like Dumbledore."

"Dumbi Dumbi, Dumbles, Bumbledore, Bambidore, take your pick."

"Where did all those come from?"

"Familiars."

"Which are illegal here."

Harry waved a hand in the air. "Exempt. One of the many perks of being a foreigner."

Daniel blinked. "But, you were born here…"

Harry cocked his head to the side. "Didn't father tell you?"

"Tell me what? And don't say it that way."

"I'll say it whichever way I want to, freedom of speech. James Potter wrote to the Ministry and Gringott's informing them of his intention of disowning me. Mum had already informed them of the divorce and the Ministry told him that he couldn't disown someone who wanted nothing to do with the Potter name."

"But Gringott's sent dad a letter saying that you had decided to claim the title of Heir Apparent."

"Yup." Emerald eyes danced with laughter. "Decided that it would benefit me and annoy the shit out of him. I just refuse to wear the ring they sent. Horrible crest. Really, it is."

Daniel let out a small laugh. He wondered why it was so easy to get along… "Harry?" His brother looked over to him. "How come we're getting along so easily?"

Harry frowned, a thoughtful look flitting over his face. With a sigh, he responded, "Do you ever wonder, what life would have been like if James could have accepted what I am?" He closed his eyes. "I did. For years I wondered." He shrugged. "And then I stopped caring."

Daniel frowned. He knew Harry was right, but… "Why did you and mum leave?" His voice was soft, whisper quiet in the night air. "Why?"

Harry looked as his brother and gave a small half-smile. "Mum made the decision, and it was hard for her, trust me on that. For weeks I would catch her crying at night. She tried to convince me she wasn't sad about leaving, but I could sense it, in the air. Her aura would change, shifting to mirror her sadness." He cocked his head to the side. "She was leaving one of her children, a hard decision for any mother I presume."

"Not for father's."

"Mhmm. But you had Sirius, right?"

Daniel shook his head. "Not really. Dumbledore decided that Padfoot's prankster attitude was a bad influence for me growing up. To be honest, dad's desperate attempts at turning me into an impeccable pureblood were the worst things."

"Ah, the whole half-blood with biased pureblood views. I've heard about that."

"From who?"

Harry laughed at the annoyed expression; the nose wrinkled and the brows drew into a frown, while the hazel eyes focused intently on the stone wall across from them. "If I say everyone would that be a bad thing?"

"Gah. Everyone thinks I'm horrible!"

Laughter rang out in the night, and a cooing noise soon drifted over to them. Harry smiled and hissed, "I was wondering when you'd get here."

Daniel jerked away from Harry and stared at him. "Who are you talking to?"

A silver shape barrelled into Harry and a long pink tongue lapped at his face. Snickering, Harry pulled Phanta back and held her small body out for Daniel to see. "This is Phanta, my familiar. She's a Faerie Dragon, of the Moon Element." He frowned slightly. "Can you understand me?"

"Of course I can you blithering idiot!"

Phanta climbed into Harry's lap and curled her tail around his thigh, her head resting on a folded wing, the large onyx eyes watching Daniel like he was a piece of delicious food. "Your brother is a Parselmouth as well. And he smells like pudding. Your smell is better, Master. Baaccoonn…"

Daniel blinked at the dragon. "I'm a what? And stop looking at me like that!"

Harry blinked and carefully schooled his amused expression into a serious one. "A Parselmouth. You can speak to, and understand, snakes." He frowned slightly. "But how could you have gotten it?"

Because I was an idiot and attempted to kill him. Why are you even near that boy?

He's not hurting me, and look, his aura is calm, just a little nervous. It was true; Daniel's aura was a calm blue, mixed in with a creamy white along with a few tendrils of black. Why are you talking to me, Tom?

Why are you blocking me?

Because I don't want to talk to you! Harry pushed against the link, using a small amount of magic to seal it, tighter than before. His heart beated frantically in his chest and he told himself there was nothing to fear, he was safe. For now.

Daniel bit his lip. "I don't know. I didn't even know about it." He brought his knees up and wrapped his arms around them, resting his cheek on a knee and facing his brother. "And the only person I can ask is you."

"Because it's classified as a talent of Dark wizards? Stupid, you know. Sal isn't even that Dark, just endlessly annoyed by Godric."

Hazel eyes blinked. "What?"

Phanta raised her head. "The Founders. Salazar Slytherin and Godric Gryffindor. Master enjoys talking to their portraits."

"Oh." He nodded, clearly a little unsure. "So, you have this ability? And how are you talking to the Founders portraits? I thought Dumbledore had the only ones?"

Harry snorted. "That man is an idiot. The Founders are gone from those portraits anyway. And yeah, I'm a Parselmouth too."

Daniel turned his face up to the night sky, watching the stars wink as the half full moon bathed them in soft silver light. Talking to Harry was refreshing, he hadn't dared approach the other but was glad for his presence.

"He respects her, master."

Harry smiled and stroked Phanta's head as her wings opened slightly, the scales on her body glowing in the shadows.

"Respects who?"

Daniel was looking at them curiously, though his eyes rested mainly on the dragon. "The Moon. Phanta is a big fan."

"Nasty master." Phanta hissed and leaped out of his arms to perch on the stone wall, looking up at the moon. "She is beautiful, like smooth silver, unblemished and powerful." She turned dark eyes to Daniel. "Do you see her?"

"I don't understand. The moon is used for potions, plants, spells…" He glanced at Harry. "And Were's."

Phanta hissed, her tail lashing in annoyance. "No! Look past that. Look at her, she is not some planet useful for your silly little potions and spells! She is powerful, an entity in her own right. Look at her, as if she were a person you wanted to know."

Daniel huffed but gazed up at the moon all the same. He blinked and a small tendril of silver magic seemed to stretch down and curl around Harry, who smiled and held his hand out, the magic stroking over his skin.

"See? This is pure Moon Magic. It's rare to see it, and it can't be harnessed by a wizard."

"Hecatamae. I remember reading that some were linked to the Moon or the Sun. I'm guessing yours is the Moon?"

Harry laughed. "No. That's wrong. Wizards think they have us figured out, but in truth we change as often as magic, twisting for the situation." He flicked his fingers and the silver magic soared over to Phanta, who cooed in pleasure as it wrapped around her. "We just attract magic of any sort. You'd be surprised at how many times a spell destined for someone else finds its way over to me."

Daniel smiled. "Talking to you is nice. I don't know why dad forbids it. And you don't seem Dark at all, unless Dumbledore can see something I can't."

"I can't be Light, not being what I am. And I'll always be Dark to Dumbledore. But I'm neither, I don't think I could stand being on one side or the other."

He cocked his head to the side and gazed at his twin curiously. "You're Grey?"

Harry snorted and Phanta looked over at them, stilling in the swaying she had taken to. His brother cleared his throat. "Yeah, I'm neutral, and Grey in more ways than one." The last bit was said in more of a whisper than anything else.

Daniel was a little confused by that, but chose to say nothing. He had already learned more about his own twin than he had ever counted on. A little over a half hour passed before Harry stood, holding his hand out to pull Daniel up.

"We'd better head back, I doubt your dorm mates will react favourably when they find you gone. And knowing Darren, he'll curse you first and then ask me where I was." Harry flicked his hand and Daniel's broom was suddenly floating beside him. "Here. Wouldn't want to loose that before the match."

Daniel grinned. "You know we're going to beat you?"

Harry laughed and shook his head. "Not gonna happen. We played with Viktor Krum, and I was his training partner. I'm sure I can beat your own Seeker."

"Ginny's too good for that!"

"Ah, the little red head that Laura seems taken with. Hmm. Well, we'll see won't we?"

Daniel glanced up at the moon before they moved through a door and descended the stairs. "The full moon is almost here. What are you going to do?"

Harry gave him a pointed look. "I don't have to go through the transformation, remember?"

The red head blushed, ducking his head. "Oh, yeah. But what about your pack? Ron mentioned you had one."

Again, Harry's body tensed and his eyes flashed gold. Phanta flew through the door and landed on his head, digging her claws into his hair and tugging. The gold vanished and Harry heaved a great sigh, mentally thanking the little dragon. "Not even Dumbledore knows that there is a pack here, so can I trust you?"

Daniel looked in surprise at his brother. "I'm Dumbledore's Golden Boy, why would you want to trust me?"

Harry gave a small smile, and opened his palm. A small ball of purple light hit him in the face, the warm tingle of magic seeping through his skin. "Because of that."

"What was that?"

"A spell designed similar to the Fidelius Charm. It can be changed in accordance to the casters wishes. You won't be able to tell, or talk, about me and my pack whether you want to or not."

"Oh."

"So, in answer to your question, we haven't come up with a way to go through the transformation without Dumbledore knowing how many of us there are. If we suddenly vanish for a day or so, he'll get suspicious and it wouldn't take long for him to realise what's going on."

Daniel frowned as they paused at the bottom of the stairs. "Well, none of you have ever been to the Hospital Wing, right?"

Harry nodded. "Correct. We can't let this Madame Pomfrey know what we are."

"Okay, so why don't we use that to your advantage?"

Harry blinked. "You mean get cursed on purpose, then let our own Healer 'keep' us for a few days…" He grinned and clapped Daniel on the shoulder. "Good god, the Boy Who Lived's a genius!"

Daniel smiled, comfortable in the presence of his brother even as they walked through a disused part of the castle. Dust clouds rose as they stepped and Phanta cooed as she flew on before them. There were no portraits here, but paintings of dragons, griffins, eagles and badgers swept over the stones, rippling as they followed.

"Harry?"

"Hmm?"

"These…paintings, they're following us."

Harry stopped and watched as the gold griffin paused and spread its red tinged wings. He smiled. "It's Hogwarts."

"What?"

"The castle." He motioned around them with a hand. "She's sentient, the amount of magic that hums in the air keeps her alive in a way. Since this part of the castle is deserted, I suppose she's allowed the essences of the Founder's magic to play as they will."

Daniel looked back at the wall. The emerald dragon watch him with silver eyes, the eagle perched on one of its wings. The badger had taken up residence beneath the belly of the griffin, comfortably lying on its back. "Cool."

By the time they reached the Fat Lady, Daniel was more than comfortable with his twin, he felt safe and protected for the first time in a long time. He noticed Harry stiffen beside him. "What's wrong?"

Emerald eyes closed a moment, before the teen shook his head. "It's nothing. I'll see you in the morning."

Confused, Daniel watched his twin walk down the corridor a little ways before he called out, "Where are you going?"

"Hufflepuff." Harry cocked his head to the side and paused. "Why?"

"But you're in Gryffindor…wait. That's where you've been the past few days!"

Harry narrowed his eyes. "If you think I'm going to sleep in the same room as Weasley, then you're delusional."

Daniel blinked. "What did Ron do? He's been going on about how he got you back for all the curses you guys have been throwing around, but he never mentions what he did."

Harry shook his head. "Never mind, Daniel. Good night."

"Hey, Harry?"

Harry sighed, turning slightly. "Yeah?"

"Could you call me Dan?"

"What?"

Daniel ducked his head, a faint blush colouring his cheeks. "You used to call me that, when we were kids."

Harry could only blink in shock. "Okay…one, you hated it, and two…we don't really know each other, we're not all brotherly, nor friends. We're closer to enemies."

"I know." His voice was so full of sadness and regret that it called out to Harry. "But, I want to be friends. I don't think the whole brother thing would work out so well right now."

Harry sighed. "Fine. I'll call you Dan. But don't be cursing my peers any more, we don't deserve it."

Daniel nodded. "I never liked it in the first place. Night, Harry."

As Harry turned a smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. So that Hecatama, who he strongly believed was either Fate or Balance, had been right. His brother was nothing like what he thought he was. Would it be too far fetched to blame his arrogant, spoilt little fame-seeking attitude on James Potter and Albus Dumbledore?