AN: For LovelessZim, as always. Thanks for the praise and the ideas! I own nothing. THis chapter is a little choppy, but I do hope it's not too hard to read. Things are heating up here dear readers, the next chapter is NOT FOR KIDS/NOT WORK SAFE. Please keep that in mind, it is coming up. Still haven't decided if I'm going to post here or only on AO3, but I will let you know. Having said all that, and bored you to tears, here's the chapter. Read on!

Two days were spent searching in the library for information on either Harry's clan or the Gille Dubh, with little results. They found a small passage in a hand-written diary of some wizard none of them had ever heard of that alluded to "a Scottish tree-loving creature with amazing powers" and another mention of the McDevitt clan being "most prolific." Those could mean so many things that the four of them gave up the search and resolved to simply watch Harry closely.

Severus showed up for his meeting with Harry, and it was genial, everyone in the house behaving like true adults and not picking any fights. Insults were thrown and threats offered, but all in good fun. He left, leaving another batch of pheromone suppressants and a demand for a notification from everyone if anything should happen to Harry.

Harry retreated to his bedroom to lay down and try to relieve the pressure in his head from the headache he'd had all day. Draco left him alone for a while, but when it had been 5 hours with no Harry, he went to investigate. He found Harry on top of the bed, burning with fever and clutching at his head.

"Sirius come up here, Remus call Severus NOW!" He shouted out the opened bedroom door as he mentally flailed for something to help Harry. He grabbed a washcloth from the bathroom and crouched on the bed, pulled Harry's head gently into his lap. He brushed the cool cloth over Harry's head and neck as Harry winced and moaned.

Sirius appeared seconds later with Severus and Remus right behind him. Draco looked up and his eyes zeroed in on his Godfather.

"You have to help him. He was fine this morning, you saw him the morning! He came up here with a headache 5 hours ago and now this!" Draco screeched frantically and Harry covered his ears wincing in pain. Draco leaned forward of Harry's head and lowered his voice to a soothing whisper.

"I'm so sorry Harry, I'm sorry, I won't do it again. You're gonna let Severus look at you right? He's right here and he won't talk at all. None of them will, I swear." He looked up and glared at the room's other occupants as he spoke and all of them pressed their lips together.

Severus approached the bed wearily; none of Harry's symptoms were possible side-effects from the potions he'd given him. He'd already tentatively tagged this as the start of Harry's inheritance and heat, but only time and a longer list of symptoms would tell. He cast a diagnostic spell over Harry's prone body, changing the wording slightly so that the results would be written in the air rather than spoken. He held his breath waiting for the results.

Elevated blood pressure of 142/91

Body temperature of 38.2 c

Pulse of 101 beats per minute

Severus slashed his wand across the words, dissipating them. He frowned, and then looked up to catch Draco's attention. He nodded.

"His pulse, blood pressure and body temperature are elevated, not dangerously so, but certainly enough to cause a headache and aversion to light and sounds. He's about to go through his inheritance and therefore his heat. There is nothing we can do for him, in fact, us simply being here," he gestured to himself Sirius and Remus, "is a danger. We are not his mates and therefore should not be in the room when he changes. We shall be downstairs. Keep in mind Draco, there is not much that you can do for him. Just stay with him through this." He gestured for Sirius and Remus to precede him out of the room.

"Severus, you can't leave me alone here, I don't know what to do!" Draco looked frantic, but Severus merely looked back at him from the doorway, knowing that he must keep a safe distance from both the boys on the bed.

"I told you Draco, there is not much that you can do. Let him know that you are here for him. Keep up with the cool cloths. It is dangerous for anyone other than a bonded mate to be in the room with a creature undergoing their inheritance. We will be downstairs, but you mustn't call us unless it is really necessary. You will do just fine." With that, he shut the door firmly and made his way downstairs.

At the bottom step, he bumped into Sirius, who was looking up the stairs with a longing look on his face and a bottle on firewhiskey in his hand. He held the bottle out to Severus, who took it with a curious look on his face.

"Well, we're gonna be family. Drink up; I have a feeling that we are gonna need it to get through this. I just hope there aren't any little Dracos or Harrys after the heat is over." Severus lifted the bottle to his lips and took a long swallow.

"I'll second that, mutt." And he took another long swallow before the bottle was rudely yanked from his fingers. Sirius made a face, but without wiping the bottle mouth, took a swig of the alcohol and made a face at the taste.

"C'mon Sev…we're gonna get drunk in the library and wait it all out." Sirius wrapped his unoccupied hand around Severus' elbow and tugged him around the corner and into the library. Remus was lounging on one of the couches with another bottle in his hands.

"Well, this won't be fun, but at least none of us has to be alone." Severus felt himself pushed down into a chair while Sirius threw himself down on top of Remus rudely. Remus choked on his mouthful of whiskey and shoved Sirius onto the floor. Severus guffawed with laughter and took another cautious sip. He'd not consumed any alcohol in a long time and he'd been a light weight at best when he had.

"Sirius you buffoon. Get yourself up off the floor this instant." Remus scolded. Both the seated men thought Sirius looked far too cute when he pouted like that and took mirror image drinks as the thought crossed their minds.

Remus and Severus knew each other a lot better than anyone knew. At Hogwarts, when Sirius was busy whoring himself out to everyone who would have him, both Remus and Severus had been in love with him. Though their friend had forced them to publicly berate each other, the two had a tentative friendship going when Remus went through his first mini-heat. They'd slept together a lot in their 6th year at school and neither one of them would forget it even if they could. Remus drunkenly eyed up his former lover and felt a flush cover his cheeks when he saw the look returned. Sirius coughed from the floor and groaned as he tried to get himself up and it broke their eye line.

"Sirius you are utterly ridiculous. Stop chugging the whiskey or I'll leave you to rot wherever you manage to fall." All three men in the room knew it was an empty threat Remus had voiced, but he felt that he had to voice his concern for his mate's drinking none the less.

"Moony….Moooooony…heh, you've got a funny name Moony. I'm getting drunk because my Godson is upstairs in pain and I can't help him. I'm sitting down here like a lump with two…trusted friends, who I know are just as torn up about what is going on upstairs as I am. So, nyah!" He stuck out his tongue at Remus who reached up and pinched the tip of it with his fingers before Sirius could put it back into his mouth.

"Blasted mutt, as much as I am loathe to agree with Remus on any subject, he is completely correct when he says that you are ridiculous." Severus had a small lisp in his speaking, which tuned the other two men in to the fact that he was no longer as sober as he appeared. AS they watched he reached up and undid his top three buttons and pulled his collar way from his flushed neck.

Remus panted openly while Sirius tried to pant quietly, but due to the amount of alcohol in his bloodstream, failed spectacularly. Severus flushed further from the attention. Sirius hopped up from the chair he'd finally occupied and leaned down far too far into Severus personal space. He leaned in until they were nose to nose and breathing the same air.

"Something interesting is gonna happen here." Sirius breathed into Severus' face before pulling away and flopping back into his chair with an unrepentant grin on his face. Severus cut his eyes to Remus, who was red as a beet and not breathing. Severus allowed himself a small, indulgent smile.

Upstairs, Draco was noticing that Harry's body temperature was increasing along with his heart rate. He pressed the cool cloth in his hand over Harry's forehead and down his neck onto his collarbones, and Harry sighed with temporary relief. Draco repeated the motions mindlessly, over and over again.

"I don't understand you Potter. Inheritances should happen at midnight on a birthday, an important birthday, not the middle of the day on any day of the year. I just, why can't you do anything like a normal wizard for once." In his worry, he slipped back into the mindset from younger years at school; where Harry was the enemy. He never thought that Harry would hear him and keep those words in the back of his mind.

Then, as his brain caught up with his words, he did the math and nearly slapped himself in the head. Harry was normal; the date was July 31st, Harry's 18th birthday. He hing his head, but refrained from speaking aloud, lest he make Harry's head hurt worse again. He'd just have to get him gift when this was all over.

The other thing that he couldn't know, that none of them knew, was that the pheromone suppressing potions that Harry had been downing like water for 3 days, were not only not suppressing his pheromone output, but seeding up the inheritance process to the point that, instead of taking place over a few months, his changes were happening in a few hours. His pheromones were flooding out of his body, permeating the house, unbeknownst to all inhabitants.

They would know very soon, however.