Disclaimer and Warnings in the first chapter.

I did warn you updates were going to be irregular, right? Anyway, four updates in five days- not going to happen again! I've been sick, along with school stress, so, yeah…

Let's see what else do I have to say?

Chapter Warnings: Sex! And minor angst.

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Chapter Five: Knowing

Charlie sat beside Harry in their new rooms. After Harry passed out, which Madam Pomfrey assured them was perfectly normal, they had all moved to Hogwarts. The Headmaster had set up a suite of rooms for them, five bedrooms with three shared bathrooms and a communal common room. Harry had been laid down on one of the couches in the common room, his head in Remus' room this time. Charlie had pulled a chair over by Harry's bed and held his hands. Malfoy sat in an armchair and tapped his feet against the ground. Snape paced angrily.

Charlie carefully considered Harry. The new mage tossed and turned, occasionally reaching out towards the others, who looked at him, shook their heads, and went back to ignoring him. Charlie and Remus had liberally used cleaning charms, so Harry was now clean. His black hair hung in his face which was sometimes pained, sometimes happy and sometimes peaceful. Dark lashes lay against pink cheeks, and Harry's lips were slightly parted. He was gorgeous, and really, if you had to spend the rest of your life pleasing one person to keep them alive…well.

Charlie was still having a difficult time accepting the bond as reality. The most difficult part of the whole situation was the fact that he had to spend the rest of his life with the son of a death eater and a mostly reformed death eater, both of whom were complete and utter bastards in Charlie's experience. Remus was an easy person to be around, and Charlie had always liked Harry, but the two Slytherins, well that was going to be a problem.

"Harry?" Remus' soft question drew Charlie out of his thoughts.

Harry's eyes blinked open. They were dazed and confused for a moment, until they softened, looking almost loving.

Charlie blinked. Before Harry had passed out he had looked at them, if he had looked at them at all, with confusion or embarrassment. Harry smiled brilliantly at them for a moment, before blinking.

* * * * *

Holy fuck. They didn't know!

"You don't know." He said blankly. They didn't know anything about the bond. Nothing. Nothing at all. Holy fucking shit. Merlin's balls. Why had no one told them? Some one had to know…right? Madam Pomfrey at least must have known the details of the bond… they were going to fucking murder him.

"Shit." He swore aloud.

"What don't we know, Potter?!" Snape roared. Forget Voldemort. Forget death by imbalanced magic. Snape was going to murder him, and then resurrect him and then murder him again.

Harry pushed himself up, and gulped as the full impact of Snape's anger roiled down the bond. Severus hated not knowing things, Harry knew that now. Severus valued knowledge above all else- to not have it… Harry quickly got off Remus; he was making the man uncomfortable. Slowly he got up from the couch. He did not bother looking around at the room. There wasn't time.

"Please, everyone calm down, and I'll explain. Then we can all go murder Dumbledore together." Charlie and Draco sat back down, while Remus arranged himself more properly. Snape glared at him.

"Please Se- Professor Snape." Harry cut himself off just in time. Respect- he had to remember. "I can't explain everything unless you sit down."

Snape threw him one more violent glare before pointedly sitting down as far away from Harry as possible. Harry winced- the bond did not like his man acting like this. Harry closed his eyes and breathed in and out, restricting the bond.

"The vows weren't symbolic." He started out. "They're actually pretty literal."

"We gave um," Charlie said, "Well blood and…yeah."

"We gave of our mind, our heart and our magic, imbecile." Draco said coldly. Charlie and Harry flinched precisely at the same time.

Harry reached out and stroked his fingers through Charlie's ringlets. The red head blushed.

"What do they mean, Harry?" Remus asked.

"Well, uhm…"

"Potter!" Snape snarled.

Harry sighed and looked down. He was still wearing the too big t-shirt and pajama pants. His feet were bare.

"Well, your mind gives me access to your memories."

"What?" Snape said in a low dark tone Harry had never heard before. Pure loathing and fear pelted down the bond.

"All of them?" Draco asked in a quiet voice. Harry nodded. Horror, embarrassment, fear, shyness…Harry closed his eyes and tried to relax. The emotions pouring in from all sides were overwhelming. It would take some getting used to.

"Have you all ready seen them?" Remus asked, crippling shyness evident in every word. Harry understood where it came from now. Harry removed his hand from Charlie's hair and strode farther away from his bondmates, tugging at his hair. He nodded again.

The silence was horrible-painful, even.

"It's just a part of the bond…" Harry tried to explain.

"The others?" Snape snarled. Harry breathed and tried to remind himself that he understood the anger now- and it was more anger at the man himself, than Harry.

"Heart- I can feel your emotions." The reaction to this was not as bad- Harry had not thought it would be. Still, they were all vastly uncomfortable around him and he had to cement the bond. Soon.

"Magic's a little more complicated. Your magic is tied to mine to stabilize mine. It also allows for sharing of magical strength, to a degree." Harry shrugged. "I can't really explain it. You'll understand it later. It's nothing bad."

"You obviously thought the others were nothing bad since you didn't think to tell us!" Draco snapped, scared, shy, embarrassed.

"I wasn't in the best state to remember details." Harry returned angrily.

Draco pinked and ducked his head. He would always be the most sensitive to Harry's anger, being the youngest.

"I'm sorry, Draco." Harry said softly, pressing down the part of him that now insisted the blond apologize. He understood these men better than he understood anyone else in the whole world. He could make them happy- he wouldn't be the normal bondmaster. He wouldn't insist obedience. He knew what it was like to live under someone like that and he would not allow it for anyone, let alone any of these men. "I shouldn't have snapped. I know this is hard-"

"How can you know?" Charlie asked, anger evident in his voice. The red head had a soft, snapping temper. It built and then snapped and was sometimes gone and sometimes not, depending on how long it had to grow within the man. Unlike his family members, Charlie was slow to anger.

"I feel your emotions." Harry reminded gently. Charlie hated being made to feel an idiot. "And I know your pasts. I do understand."

"What about the other part of the bond?" Remus asked, trying to move the conversation away from anger. Harry knew Remus disliked fights or confrontations- he avoided them at all costs.

"We swear to stand by you, follow you, and stabilize you. We swear to grant you loyalty above all else. All that we have to give, we shall give. Thus magic decrees it shall be for all our lasting days. This we freely give. We give this in return for all you deem us worthy to receive." Harry repeated softly.

"It's a slave bond." Severus snarled- dark anger sliding through him like ice. The man stood up and snarled. "You've enslaved us."

"NO!" Harry roared. "No." He said again more quietly as the others, even Severus flinched away.

"It's not a slave bond. I swear. Look- I am the 'bondmaster'. But it's a Dom, sub, thing. Not a Master, Servant thing."

"Can you order us around?" Draco asked.

"Not…really." Harry hedged.

"Not really?" Snape said in a quiet, deadly voice.

"I'm not explaining this right. You'll want to obey me, but you can fight it. You're all stubborn enough." Harry said that with affection. Draco and Severus flinched at his warm tone. "I could make you obey through my magic and yours. But I won't. I'm not going to let this be like the bonds normally are. I'm going to treat you right." The vehemence in his voice seemed to convince them; even Severus did not voice his doubt. Of course, he did doubt, but Harry would show his man that he meant what he said.

A moment of silence passed.

"So," Charlie asked in a partly cheerful but mostly bemused voice, "What now?"

Harry swallowed, blushed and looked back at the floor. "Um, I need to confirm the bond."

"Oh."

Embarrassment flooded him from all sides. The bond flared up. What did he have to be embarrassed of? He'd help his bondmates- show them there was no need to be discomfited by sex…only one problem. Harry's only experience of sex was second hand through the bonds.

"Who…" Came Remus' trembling voice. It certainly could not be the werewolf.

"Charlie, I thought…" Harry said, even as the bond screamed at him. It was supposed to be Severus!!! Eldest! Eldest! It screamed. Harry pushed it away. A little twisting of the bond would not hurt, right? Right.

* * * * *

Charlie followed Harry into the bedroom marked with the black-haired teen's name.

A very large bed stood in the middle of the room. Charlie flushed. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched Harry. Ever since Harry had woken up he had shown little to no self-consciousness. He seemed perfectly at ease with most of the situation- even the Slytherins, even sleeping with people who were basically strangers.

"So, any special way we have to do this?" Harry looked at him with those green eyes. They seemed to pierce him to the depths of his being- in fact they probably did. Harry could feel how nervous Charlie was, how uncomfortable.

"I'm not really a minor." Harry said, hitting one of Charlie's worries away. "Don't worry about that. Come here, please?"

Harry sat at the foot of the bead and motioned for Charlie to join him. Charlie sucked his lip and moved closer, sitting beside the teen.

Harry lay down and moved backwards until he was all the way on the bed.

"You're going have to teach me." He grinned. "This is my first time."

"Oh." Charlie moved, grinning back. "Should I top…or, what?"

"No," Harry said, grabbing Charlie's hand and pulling him closer, "I need to top."

Charlie nodded and set to work. He and Harry were about the same size and height…. Charlie sat himself on Harry's hips and grinned wickedly when the black haired boy oofed.

Slowly, Charlie leaned down and kissed the pink, pouting lips.

"Mmm…" He murmured. This felt so much better than any kiss he's had before….was that the bond, or Harry, or…it didn't matter, oh.

Harry had stuck his tongue into Charlie mouth without much technique and started probing around. Charlie swept his tongue across Harry's and the younger boy moaned. Charlie ran his hands up Harry's sides, while Harry reached up and untucked Charlie's shirt, rubbing his hands along Charlie's bare stomach. Charlie pushed Harry' t-shirt up and Harry helped him tug it off. They explored each other's naked chests, kissing, sucking, touching. Unexpectedly Harry flipped Charlie over. Charlie pouted, and Harry grinned unrepentantly.

Charlie's erection was straining against the cloth of his pants. Harry's answering hardness only served to further excite him. Harry wiggled down Charlie's body with one sensuous movement and Charlie groaned. He let out another loud moan as Harry nuzzled his groin, fingers deftly undoing his button and zipper.

"Thought—you hadn't done, oh, Merlin, Harry, done, ah, this before." Charlie gasped as Harry kissed around Charlie's belly button, dipping his tongue in and out.

Harry hummed agreeably, before pulling down Charlie's boxers. Charlie worked his hands down Harry's back and under Harry's pants, cupping his bum. Harry groaned. A moment later they were both completely naked.

"Lube?" Charlie asked as Harry ran his hands up and down Charlie's thick thighs, ignoring his leaking member. Harry was now perched over Charlie's knees, lifted slightly in the air so Charlie could see the line of the bow's cheeks from between his legs. Harry held out a hand and a jar appeared. Charlie gasped- partly from the show of magic, partly from the things Harry was doing to his hips. Harry's hands left hi and Charlie let out a whimper, he wanted those hands back, wanted them to touch him, be in him…

Harry dipped his fingers into the lube, and swirled them around. He grinned at Charlie mischievously and said,

"Wanna do my cock?" Charlie nodded eagerly and dipped his fingers into the honey-scented oil. He reached to Harry's leaking member and smeared the lube generously over it. Charlie smirked at the black-haired teen as he cried out.

"Fuck, Charlie."

"That was the plan."

Harry sent him a look and ruthlessly plunged a finger into Charlie's entrance.

Charlie let out a muffled shout, partly in surprise, partly in pain. Harry scooted closer, moving his finger in and out of the moaning redhead. A second finger joined the first and started scissoring.

"Merlin...Harry!" The green-eyed monster above him had added a third finger and was moving them luxuriously in Charlie's body. "Hurry up!"

"Impatient are we?" Harry teased, slipping his fingers out. He settled himself between Charlie's legs. Leaning up to kiss Charlie's lips, Harry pushed at his entrance. Charlie groaned at the pressure, Harry slipped his tongue into the redhead's mouth, and twined their tongue's together. As he grew accustomed to the feeling, Charlie gave a nod, and Harry pushed into him. They set into a rhythm- it was neither slow nor fast, brutal nor sweet. It was breathtaking. They kissed, they fucked, and then Harry hit Charlie's prostate.

"Harry!" Charlie screamed. Harry moaned, and turned his hands, which had been sweeping up and down Charlie's chest to the man's cock. The combination of the pounding of the bundle of nerves inside him and Harry's hands on his cock sent Charlie over the edge. Harry followed not a moment later, moaning Charlie's name.

They collapsed onto the bed in a mess of sweaty limbs and spunk. Charlie wrapped his arms around Harry, who was still on top of him, and whispered, "That was am'zin', Harry. Sure you haven't done this befo'?"

Harry gave a tired chuckle and nodded. He pushed Charlie away and rearranged them so that Harry was spooning Charlie.

"Sleep." Harry said softly. Charlie felt something grab his mind, but was to tired to think about it and they drifted off to dreamland together.

* * * * *

Severus paced his new room like a caged tiger. He was angry. Very, very angry. Mostly he was angry at himself, for not thinking, for not asking, for being such a blithering idiot! Now here he was, bonded to Potter for life, and bound to do anything the brat wanted of him. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. And he knew nothing about the bond, and there was nothing in the school library and Albus had nothing in his library, and Pomfrey had nothing in her library, and fucking hell. And god damn Potter for not telling them, and god damn Albus for not knowing.

Severus took a deep breath and turned his anger cold, pushed it into the recesses of his mind, and considered other things. The room, at least, was nice. It was decorated in deep greens and grays, and already his books had been moved up, or at least some of them. That only served to make him angrier though, that Potter assumed he would be staying with the brat! Well, not Potter, but Albus, well whoever had assumed he was staying here was wrong! He would not stay here with Lupin and Weasley- the stupidest Weasley too. Draco, at least, was a Slytherin, but he was still a spoilt brat and Severus did not want to spend more time than necessary with the boy. Damn Potter and his magical resonances.

Damn Potter.

Damn Potter.

"Damn Potter!"

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So what did you think? There will be more explanations next chapter and maybe smex. No promises. The next sex scene is one I am looking forward to (It's HarryX…actually, no not telling!) so that's only good for you.