See first chapter for disclaimers/warnings/summaries.

RECAP: Harry meets a few of Megan's friends, the twins Amelia and Leonard, and some fellow 'Puffs when he joins them on a picnic outside by the Lake. Afterward, things change just a little bit until Megan arranges for Harry and Terius to clear the air between them. Terius is not happy and says as much, asking Harry whether he believes himself to be worthy of an apology.

For one long moment, Harry seemed too small, too thin and too everything else. Then his hands fell to his sides, clenching the jerky tight as his green eyes flashed and flickered with emotion. "I would refuse, sir." He said, stiffly. "I don't want your apology."

Millicent's eyes grew wide and she looked from the professor to Harry, then to Megan who merely folded her arms and waited, a knowing look on her face.

"Good. Because having said that, I will not apologize for having said the truth." The scowl melted away and Terius surveyed him critically for a moment. "You don't even appear to have reconciled yourself to the fact that you are a creature now. Not just a wizard, but a wizard-born creature. There are consequences for ignorance and there is no excuse for that."

Harry met his gaze, steadily and stood tall, unmoving. "We're all entitled to our own opinions," he said, at last. "I didn't know and it wasn't my fault."

A moment of silence passed.

Terius' blue-grey eyes seemed to darken to an almost black. The stare intensified up to the point that Harry had to look away.

A confused warble bubbled up out of his throat and the impulse to bare his throat became almost overwhelming. He fought it—on principle—before his eyes caught sight of Megan and he realized that she was hovering close by, ready to help him, if something was wrong. His mind sifted through the logic of it, understanding that there was nothing wrong—yet, and therefore no need for her interference.

He bit his lip and with a supreme effort of will, slowly tilted his head back, throat bared, body rigid.

It seemed to be a sign though. The moment the he did so, the tension in the room dropped to a tolerable level, the magical aura wrapped around Terius dimmed to soft, whispery magic that reached out to him, twining comfortingly around Harry. When Terius drew near, his considerable height allowed him to look down at Harry, his blue-grey eyes holding an indescribable look. Terius reached out with his hands, one on each side of Harry's head and held it steady, bending down to press his fangs to the bared neck. He didn't bite, but he did leave a mark, before he straightened and touched their foreheads together.

For a moment, Harry didn't dare breathe—then relief spread through him like fiendfyre. He slumped forward, surprised to find himself caught up in a warm hug—the proper kind that squeezed the breath from his lungs and made him feel as if the person hugging him, actually cared. He huffed, softly. The hollow emptiness he'd felt since the incident in the hospital wing, was suddenly half-filled. His head swirled with questions, answers and things he couldn't figure out, but somehow, he clung to the figure that still held him, drinking up every ounce of warmth and safety that fairly oozed from the older Dragel.

Terius chirred, an instinctive sound. "Very well done," he said, quietly. He gave Harry one last squeeze and gently pulled away, one hand ruffling Harry's messy hair before falling back to his side. He hesitated. "That was a formal apology—a very basic one and the dragel etiquette that went with it. It wasn't perfect, by any means, but I'm sure your Alpha can explain anything else you need to know. You apologized and I accepted. It seems your instincts are well and truly what they ought to be in spite of your mentor's absence. I apologize for my harshness from earlier but I did not know your circumstances and I should not have judged you as I did."

Instinctively, Harry reached up to wrap his arms around the man's neck and tugged him down to touch their foreheads together. It happened before he could react and when his arms fell slack to his side, there was a mixture of horror and confusion on his face. He opened his mouth to ask what had just happened when his stomach growled loudly.

"Thank you." Terius said simply, his eyes had lightened almost to their natural shade and they now flickered to Megan, who watched them with a small smile on her face. "I suggest you take your Harry to lunch, Megan. I believe he is hungry."

Harry turned at the mention of Megan, feeling his face warm as he realized that he had an audience of two—Megan and Millicent.

Megan smiled, her grey eyes glowing merrily as if she'd known the outcome beforehand. "So it would seem," she said, lightly. "Come on, Harry."

"Oh and Megan?" Terius cleared his throat.

She paused in the doorway, turning back to Terius, a question on her face. "Sir?"

"If you could find the time to join myself and my Circle for dinner this week—perhaps this weekend? I will let you know what I have found out by then and Severus should also be involved."

"Naturally," Megan agreed, nodding. "Thank you." She looped her arm through Harry's and they hurried down the hall, the classroom door swinging shut behind them.

"What about me?" Millicent pouted from her perch atop the desk, seemingly forgotten in the sudden drama that had played out before them. "I'm hungry too!"

"What was that all about?" Harry demanded as Megan practically blew through the hallways, heading to the Great Hall for lunch. Harry brushed dust from his robes and winced a few times when Megan moved a little faster than he could hurry. "I mean, I heard his explanation, but what was all of that about? I didn't even do anything to him-!"

"It's a great insult to someone of his position and age to refuse to acknowledge him." Megan explained, slowing her steps for Harry to keep up. From the glimmer in her grey eyes, it appeared that she'd been subconsciously pulling on her Air element. "You didn't do it on purpose, Harry-love—I kind of figured that out, when it seemed like you didn't really realize it, but you pretty much gave him the equivalent of-" Megan hesitated, then flashed a rude sign with one hand and shrugged. "You're lucky he accepted your apology—you're lucky he even apologized. I didn't expect that. He didn't have to."

Harry snorted. He didn't think that it had needed to be such a big deal.

"Harry," Megan said, firmly. "He didn't have to. I respect him for doing it all the more. He was returning the favor in good faith, after you apologized. There's a difference. There's quite a few things in Dragel society that I haven't had the chance to explain to you—and that fault is upon my head. You'll want to be aware of certain things, but the easiest thing for you to do right now, is to remember your instincts. They are there, just a bit buried. Once you give into it, you'll always know what you should do and you'll have the opportunity to decide if you want to do it or ignore it." She frowned in thought, " I suppose I ought to give you my Encyclopedia. It doesn't have much in it, but at least if you read it, you'll understand the basics and that might spare us a few obvious social faux pas. A mentor would have covered basic etiquette within the first few hours of your meeting each other. Respect is something you cannot withhold—not in dragel society."

"Respect should be earned." Harry shot back, still slightly ruffled.

"True. But, Harry, there does not always need to be a reason for it." Megan said, quietly. "Terius isn't even an Elder. You'll meet others, I'm sure, and they will be centuries over you. Respect is demanded for them. They've spent centuries earning it and they do not abuse it, but they do require some respect from us. It isn't always that black and white and sometimes, the reactions you'll find, such as Terius—he's more than earned the right to ignore you for your—mistake on the first day, according to Theodore Nott."

"But-! What? When did you-"

"Harry. He's in a mated circle and holds a reasonable position in Dragel society. He's also past his first century!"

Harry shut his mouth. That did skew the picture in his head, somewhat. Terius didn't look as if he were anywhere, but his early thirties, if not late twenties. There was no way a century could've passed through him.

"Don't think about it." Megan advised, catching the look of confusion on Harry's face. "I didn't believe him the first time he said it either, but you do not simply repeatedly tromp all over certain sets of rules. Theodore Nott, happens to be an Alpha that is also occasionally in the same classes you are, because of the Slytherin-Gryffindor pairing system. I asked him to keep an eye out for you and he mentioned that when Terius called his weekly meetings that you never acknowledged him, even when his gaze was deliberately fixed on you?"

Harry shook his head at that. He'd been trying too hard to be invisible.

"You didn't know, so it's not your fault. You were right about that. But all you had to do was accept—if you'd looked him in eye, you would've felt the pull. Theodore said he all but offered you a few times to join them. Since you didn't acknowledge him, he could not offer you anything else, because it would not be his place. Social ranks are different and important." Megan drew to a halt and reached into her robes to pull out a shrunken encyclopedia. "This will help. Follow the index and read every page that you can. We can talk about it whenever you're ready." She hesitated, as Harry's hands ghosted reverently over the ancient tome, finally able to touch it. "And Harry? I'd like to ask you to read away from prying eyes. It is no one's privilege but yours to read and no one else needs to know what's inside these covers. Please be careful with it."

Harry opened his mouth to protest and then shut it, realizing that the only person he would have shown, would have been Hermione and he didn't actually care whether she was allowed to read the book or not. He wanted to read it to find out more about himself and he didn't really feel compelled to show or share his true nature with the others. Hermione was too preoccupied lately to try to get her hands on it or at least to guess what he was reading, should she see it, but he could also sense that Megan was serious. He'd be serious too then. "I'll be careful." He took the book and hefted it in his hands. It should've been heavy, but it was light. A charm was probably cast on it. His brow wrinkled as he thought further along that strand of reasoning. "Doesn't it have charms on it?"

"It does and it is blood-figured, as we are bonded to each other, it will allow you to read, carry and summon it. However, my concern is more for the protections that are on it. They are very old and very…vicious. I do not say this lightly. They will not be kind to someone whose curiosity decides to investigate. Do not read it until after tonight."

Harry nodded and tucked the shrunken book carefully away, understanding all that was not said. "What's happening tonight?"

"Something that I didn't have time for earlier," Megan said, lightly. She reached for his hand and he gave it, their fingers twining together by habit.

They neared the Great Hall and Harry found his steps slowing again, wishing he didn't have to sit by himself at the Gryffindor table. He wanted to sit next to Megan take comfort in the warmth and magic that seemed to roll off her.

As sensing his wistful train of thought, Megan turned and backed him right up against the stone wall, with a quick look up and down the hallway, before bending her head to kiss him quite thoroughly. Harry willingly gave into the kiss, parting his lips to allow better access to the warmth of his mouth. When Megan finally drew back to allow him a breath, she finished with a light kiss to the center of Harry's forehead. He grinned up at her and leaned forward to kiss the tip of her nose, feeling rather pleased with himself, when she smiled beautifully for him, before she glided off towards the door.

Harry stared longingly after her, feeling the happy bubble beginning to spring up inside him as Megan disappeared behind the doors to the Great Hall.

"That was lovely," Millicent said, sauntering up, a smirk on her face. "You've got it bad."

Harry didn't have the heart to snap at her. He was still replaying the moment in his head and enjoying every second of it.

He was going to skip dinner.

There was no way he was going to go through this again—mind-blowing kisses or not, Harry thought, grimly. He didn't understand what was going on with Ron, Ginny and Hermione. He'd thought there was something off there, but now, it seemed to have gone so far off that he couldn't keep track of it.

Ginny had wanted to sit next to him, but the twins had interrupted—both sets of them, the Patils and the Weasleys. Harry was too frustrated to try and figure out why Padma was spending so much time with her sister, when Hermione tried to quiz him again, and Ron interrupted.

Everything seemed to be oddly out of place.

He wished he knew when things had changed from wanting friends to wishing that he didn't have any. Every single subtle inquiry into his personal life had his hackles up and raised, fighting the ridiculous urge to hiss and spit, which really wouldn't have solved anything at all.

The Patil twins hadn't said a word to him—but he'd found himself sandwiched between them and his plate filled to nearly overflowing. He'd eaten sparingly, unable to make himself stomach the food. He'd also avoided the worried gaze that Megan sent him from across the room. There had been so many things happening today that all he wanted to was to just go to bed and deal with it later.

He slipped into Potions class a little earlier than usual, just wanting to get everything over with and knowing that if he were to skip a class—it couldn't be Snape's. The Potions Master would probably hunt him down and skin him.

Harry blinked.

He didn't know where that thought had come from.

"You're thinking too hard." Millicent said, cheerfully. She took up her usual position beside Harry and grinned. "Something the matter?"

Harry shook his head, carefully. He didn't know yet. The faint spark of his own magic flared briefly inside of him and he felt it as a burning sensation in his stomach and a tingly feeling in his teeth. Madam Pomfrey… the idea trailed through his head. She hadn't been able to do anything the last time he'd seen her, but surely there was something that could be done?

A/N: And there we go for the Terius and Harry apology. This was trickier to work out than I originally expected. The next update will probably feature their bonding, I haven't decided yet-but since I'm juggling some new characters and dynamics, it's quite likely. Thanks for reading and your continued support on this version of TBDH!

-Scion