AN: So sorry about the long delay, it wasn't meant to be this long. Anyway, this is the penultimate chapter. One more then there may be a one-shot sequel if I can keep my laptop working long enough to write it. Anyway, this is for everyone that has reviewed, followed, liked and even just read this story. I can't express my thanks enough.
Harry landed with a thud and bruised heel in a stone welcoming hall. He turned to glare at the person who'd brought him to this place, but before he could open his mouth a booming voice sounded from the top of the stone staircase to his right. He looked up.
At the top of the steps stood another extremely old wizard, at least as old as Dumbledore if not older. But his bearing was regal; he stood straight and tall with long silvery-white hair and modern-ish looking wizard clothes. He had an equally regal-looking woman on his arm, who was peering at him myopically from behind dainty, silver-rimmed glasses perched on her elegant face.
"Roger, what have you done now? He looks fit to be tied and scraggly to boot. You didn't abduct him did you?" Roger emphatically shook his head from side to side, denying that he'd done any misfortune to Harry. Harry glared at him even as his eyes were drawn to the couple coming down the stairs towards them.
"No m'Lord, I found him just where you said he'd be looking just like this. Mebbe I should have warned him a bit better than I did but…" Roger trailed off and slunk behind Harry, giving Harry the uncomfortable feeling like a dog afraid to be kicked by its master. The feeling didn't improve his mood at all. He angrily turned towards the staircase again and opened his mouth to finally speak when he was nearly nose-to chest with the man in question and his mouth snapped shut.
The man had been imposing from a distance, but up close he was remarkable. Though terribly old, he was much larger than Harry had originally thought. Harry only came up to his shoulder at best. His frame was large, his shoulders wide, his chest barrel-shaped. His hands were nearly the size of Harry's whole head. Against his wishes, Harry found himself incredibly nervous and cowed. The expression on the man's face, which was the opposite of kindly and welcoming, did not help matters a all.
In contrast, the regal woman at his side looked happy, calm and loving. She too was taller than average, with Harry only coming up to her nose, but she was dainty. She was narrow all over, with elegant arms and a real smile on her lips. Harry felt drawn to her instantly. When he looked at her face; he felt a shock of recognition. Those features were so very close to his own.
"I'm Alison McDevitt and yes, Harry a thasgaidh, we are certainly related. My very own dear iar-ogha. We must talk, but you look chilled and starving. Come to the hearth-fire and get warmed. We will get Roger here to bring you some food from the kitchen." She placed her arm around his shoulder and pulled him in close, tugging him away from the welcoming hall and the men there.
"You musn't mind Alastair, my dear. My twin is baoghalta, and does things in his own way. Chief of the clan or no, he must learn to listen to us when we tell him things. You must have been scared to be pulled away from what you were doing and by my gòrach cousin Roger of all people. I'll never know what my brother is thinking some times." She steered him into a hearth room and all but shoved him into a comfy chair in front of the fire after taking his coat away. She bustled off leaving Harry bewildered but soothed into a doze by the fire in front of him. He drifted to sleep.
He was awoken by the sound of china being set down next to his head. Blinking sleepily, he straightened in the chair to see the same woman from before his impromptu nap with a tray of tea cups, pot, sugar, creamer and what smelled like homemade soup. He licked suddenly dry lips and forced his posture fully upright.
"Harry, I'm so glad that you're here. Please have some food and tell me about yourself." She smiled warmly at him and he cleared his throat, finally realizing that he'd not spoken a word since he'd seen Severus early that morning. The thought of Severus and home gave him a pang of hurt and it must have sown on his face.
'"Och, Dear. How would you like it if I started with the talking?" He smiled and nodded, picking up the bowl of soup and silver spoon that had been left by it on the tray. She sat back in her chair across from him.
"Well, Alastair is my brother, Chief of the clan McDevitt and Lord of our home. We were born twins to a loving mother and father here in this very castle. Alastair married but his wife was incapable of having children and they were so sad for so long. I was betrothed to a neighboring clan chief and we married and had my darling Moira, your Grand-mother. My beloved died and Moira, though she was being raised as a lady who was going to the head of the clan, she went through a rebellious faze. She stayed out late, spent time with the wrong kinds of people….I'm sure that a smart, well learned boy like you can understand what I don't want to say. Anyway, she went and fell in love with a Gille Dubh when she was barely 16. She got pregnant, as all who mate with the Dubh do. We hid the babe from my brother, he'd not been able to handle Moira's more outlandish feats, and gave her away to a lovely couple. That babe was your mother." Harry bit the inside of his lip, trying to come up with something to say but before he could speak, Alison started up again.
"I just hate giving you such an abbreviated family history. There's so much to learn about your clan Harry. I want you to learn it; to become comfortable here. We've not had children here in such a long time not since...well Moira was my dear girl, but she was never one to stay at home, though she knew it would break my heart. She left, a long time ago. But you mustn't hold it against her. Please, tell me that you don't! That your mother wouldn't have." Harry looked into Alison's watery eyes and felt his heart melting.
"She had a good life, from what I've heard. Her parents loved her a lot and she had a lot of friends. She was strong and smart and really pretty…in the pictures I've seen anyway. She would have forgiven you and forgiven Moira, I'm certain of it." He tried to put as much certainty into his voice as he could, and from what he could tell it worked. Alison leaned forward out of her chair and put her arms around him as she cried into his shoulder.
Alison lifted her head and gave a watery smile and chuckle. He smiled in response and lifted his hand to brush the tears off her cheeks. They talked for hours. Until long after the tea had been consumed and the left over soup was cold. They talked about everything and nothing. Harry had never felt such a sense of family before, except perhaps with the four men waiting for him back at Grimmauld place. He grew sad thinking about them and Alison made him tell her about them all.
"Draco is…everything. He's my mate and he is perfect for me. Severus is his Godfather and was our teacher at Hogwarts. Sirius and Remus are my godfathers, they were best friends with Lily and my dad at school. They are my family and I love them all, even Severus…we, uh, didn't really get along while I was his student." Alison smiled at him indulgently and swept his fringe off his face.
"So Draco is your true mate and the others are your heat mates?" He blinked in confusion. He'd not heard that term before and said so.
"Och, well, I grew up around the Gille Dubh, and spent a lot of time with them while my Moira was with child. They each have a true mate…and then heat-mates, though they can choose to not have them around. Draco is the one that you need to have with you at all times, but the others are the ones that you need when you go into heat. Only about every seven years or so." Harry blanched at her proclamation. He hadn't thought about the after effects of the night before.
"Harry, as wonderful as this has been, I think I've kept you from your mates for far too long. You must return home to them. But you must swear to come back to me and visit. Bring them all with you! I simply must meet them all." He nodded dumbly, still stuck on the 'heat mates' thing. He collected his things with many hugs, kisses and promises of visits. The next thing that he knew, Roger was taking his hand and apparating them back to the bench where they'd met.
"Harry, I am sorry if I scared you earlier. Alastair…he gets what he wants when he wants it. Always has and always will. But you've been keyed into the wards now and I've put the apparition coordinates in your pack there. You come visit anytime; it was nice to see Lady Alison so happy." And Roger was gone, without waiting for a reply. Harry shouldered his bag and stared in a general southward direction.
He had some thinking to do, so for now, he'd walk a bit.
Back at Grimmauld Place, things were not going as smoothly as they had for Harry. Draco was finally dozing on the couch and Sirius couldn't move from under the poor boy without him waking up. He sent his patronus to Remus and Severus to tell them to join him in the living room, hoping that their talk could be quiet enough not to wake the exhausted blonde sleeping in his lap.
The two men took one look at the scene on the couch and knew, without being told, they they needed to be quiet. They settled together on the loveseat by Sirius and waited patiently. Sirius wanted to talk, so he could start.
"I dunno how to start here. Last night was…even without Harry it was amazing. Do we want to try for a triumvirate?" Remus let out a long breath; Sirius never was one to beat around the bush. He said nothing, though his whole being was screaming out a 'yes'. He politely and calmly turned towards Severus, it was his decision after all.
Severus, for his part, was wholly unprepared for the question he'd just been posed. It had been a long time since he'd had any kind of relationship, in fact the last relationship that he'd been in was with Remus 20 years before. He opened his mouth and closed it again, trying to find some words. He hated that he'd been caught so wrong-footed.
"C'mon Sev… we aren't kids anymore. Lets just be honest here. You want us and we want you. It'll be hard, I know but I think it'll be worth it." Severus' jaw dropped and his eyes went wide at the bold-faced sense spewing from Sirius' mouth.
"I agree with Sirius." Remus said softly, so close to Severus' ear that his breath moved his hair. Severus turned his head to look at him. They were so close that he could easily see the flecks of gold, brown and green in Remus' eyes. He could also see the desire and the honesty.
"Yes. I agree, let us try. But I'll not sit by idly by and let myself be overrun since the two of you have been together for so long. I will have an equal third of this relationship and mmph-" Remus cut him off with his lips and Sirius smiled at them from the couch.
Draco stirred in Sirius' arms, blinking his eyes open sleepily to see Remus and Severus kissing. He smiled slowly. He shifted up so that Sirius could go over to them and it felt so right when he saw Sirius greet them both with kisses. However, it made to remind him what he was missing. Before he allowed himself to collaspe into tears again, he forced himself to think.
The bond with Harry, he could feel it somehow. The bond wasn't cold, nor was it strained or in danger or any other cliched terms. Somehow it felt healthy and whole; desired and just right in his soul. When he realized that, he decided that he couldn't be angry with Harry anymore. It had been a day of anger and sadness but looking across the couch at the new trio in their happiness, made Draco want to throw all anger and sadness away. Harry would come home, Draco would let him find a way to apologize and that would be that.
Draco wanted more than anything to just be happy. He didn't know what to do with his life anymore than Harry did, but he knew they'd be together and that was a good start. No more drama. Voldemort was gone; his parents were gone and life should be good from now on. With that thought firmly in mind, he left he happy trio to their wandering hands (okay, maybe he stayed and watched for a few minutes because it was extremely hot) and bundled himself upstairs and into bed. He fell asleep with a smile on his face.