Chapter 14

*Warning: Probably contains typos and an unhealthy amount of ...s*

TLA

Lucius couldn't jump out of the muggle car fast enough. He nearly fell over his robes which he probably shouldn't have been wearing, but he preferred them in his home and really he was in too much of a hurry to care. Where was his son?

"Lucius, try to calm down," Severus replied, hurriedly getting out of the car and joining his friend. "You're just assuming the worst. It's not healthy."

Lucius didn't listen. He looked around frantically. "Where the hell do we look?" He couldn't even control his language now. His son was never going to forgive him!

"Help! Help!"

Both Severus and Lucius turned to the loud voices yelling. They both knew what had happened; they didn't need to be told. The incredulous faces of the boys, their massive size... They were wolfshifters like Jacob, probably sent for help because thier was a fight... Harry and Draco had met.

"You! Boys!" Severus called to the running young men. "Where are they?"

Embry and Quil looked at the odd couple and stopped. Well... that had been easy.

"This way!"

"Follow us!"

Lucius and Severus nodded and followed as the boys jogged off.

TLA

The tension between Jacob and Paul was so thick that the onlookers swore they could feel it. Neither of the shifters could tear their eyes from the other.

It took a long moment, but Jacob decided that right now wasn't the time to start a fight with Paul. He could tell that Paul wasn't exactly very happy about this himself, and he should be happy because he'd finally imprinted! But... He and Jacob may fight all of the time but they were brothers in the same pack. Paul wanted Jacob to defend his mate but now he had to protect his own mate.

Fate is one cruel-hearted bitch.

"Get him away from me Paul," Jacob growled out, "I don't want to hurt you."

The grey wolf didn't miss the word choice, and he bristled a bit at the threat to his mate. However, he nodded his head and turned to the boy with glasses. "Let's go," he said, grabbing the boy and pulling him away. He decided to walk to the woods which would be the best place to be in case a fight did finally break out. He didn't say anything as he lead the boy away.

"Hey! Hey, where are we going? Who are you? Let me go!"

Paul didn't stop until they were hidden amongst the trees. He released his captive and offered a smile. "I'm sorry about that," he said, "My name is Paul."

Harry looked at the much larger guy for moment before he decided that this definitely wouldn't be the weirdest thing that had ever happened to him. "Nice to meet you, Paul," he replied. He was stared at expectantly. "Oh!" he exclaimed, blushing, "I'm Harry Potter." He laughed a little to hide his embarassment; it wasn't very often that someone didn't know who he was. It was actually quite a nice difference.

"Albino told us all about you," Paul replied with a laugh of his own.

"None of it good probably," Harry replied. "Wait. 'Albino'?"

"Oh... Um... Draco."

Harry could barely stand after that, he was laughing so hard. "Albino! That's a good one! He is really pale after all; how could I never think to call him that? I like you Paul; the best I could ever come up with is 'slimy snake bastard'."

Paul's heart throbbed in his chest at those words. 'I like you Paul'? Woah; he didn't know imprinting would turn him into such a total sap. He took a deep breath to clear his head, and he noticed two things.

One: now that the smell of Draco's blood wasn't so prominent, he could smell a much sweeter and richer blood.

Two: beneath the blood was the awful stench of... cold ones...

He didn't know what he should worry about more: his mate's bleeding or his mate's awful stench.

TLA

Jacob could only control his shivering when he could no longer see the boy with glasses. Dammit! Of course something would stop him from tearing out the boy's throat, it only made sense with the way his life was going, but for his obstacle to be Paul? What kind of cruel twist was that! He was fucking pissed!

"Jacob calm down," he heard a pained voice say, "You're not the one bleeding right?"

Exactly! And that's the damn problem! Grr! He turned back to the blonde. "Embry and Quil will bring someone back." He said it more to ease himself than anyone else. Draco looked awful, and it absolutely killed him that he wasn't a doctor or something like that. "Should you be talking?"

Draco couldn't stand it when he looked so damn pitiful. He could feel it; his breaking point was coming. It wasn't even that he felt like one move would literally break him in half, but he wasn't sure how much more he could stand. Seeing Harry was really the icing on the massive cake of hell he'd been baked into. And the fact that he couldn't defend himself against the damn Gryffindor like he normally did, and the fact that he was crying like a damn woman, and the fact that he'd been beaten again, and the fact that he was in a wheelchair, his Dark Mark was back, he was the soulmate of another bloke, he could get pregnant, he was in muggle America, he-

He totally lost it.

Everything that he'd been hit with recently came back to attack him full force. It was like everything he'd been trying to just run with was finally catching up to him. He really just wanted to yell and to scream until everything made sense to him again.

His magic went haywire, sand was flying everywhere. His eyes watered so bad that he couldn't see. He'd been raised not to cry, but that went out the window. It felt like everything he'd ever feared, everything that had ever bothered him, was finally getting the reaction it always should have gotten out of him.

Jacob was so lost he didn't know what to do. Draco looked so upset! What do I do? What do I do!

"Draco!"

Jacob never thought he would be so glad to see Mr. Malfoy. "Mr. Malfoy!" he called frantically. "He's hurt! What do we do? Should we call an ambulance?"

Lucius and Severus joined the wolfshifter by Draco's side. The other shifters stood to the side.

"Calm down Mr. Black," Severus scolded lightly, "He'll be okay; there's no need to bring your muggle doctors into this."

Muggle?

Lucius patted the wolfshifter's shoulder. "Listen to Severus, boy." He offered a slight smile. "He's been through worse."

Should that make me feel better?

"Lucius," Severus said quietly, speaking only to his blonde friend, "It seems that his magic is really upset." He wasn't even concerned with the fact that he was speaking so openly about their magic; the wolves had to at least know something was going on if they witnessed a duel. Plus, Draco was more important at the moment than such matters.

"I noticed," the blonde replied, looking at the sand swirling around them. "And I'm sure it was meeting Potter that tossed him over the edge." He pulled his wand out. "Go to sleep Draco," he said, waving his wand over his son. The stormy sand stopped and all was still again.

"Is he okay? Will he be okay?" Jacob asked worriedly. He glared in the direction that Paul and the other guy had gone.

"He'll be fine," Severus replied, examining the vicious bruises on his godson and the bleeding burn mark. "Looks like it's just a couple of broken bones, and that burn isn't as bad as it looks." He pulled his wand out; he couldn't fully heal Draco but he could ease the pain for now.

"Wait. Just a couple of broken bones? His hip looks awful! You make this sound normal, and what was that shit about him being through worse?" Jacob shot out. He felt completely worthless and it pissed him off. He had failed as a mate and as a fucking man! His beautiful mate was lying on the ground with 'just a couple broken bones', and all he could do was watch and snap at the only two people who could actually seem to help Draco.

Mr. Malfoy suddenly let out a horrified gasp.

"Severus, look," Lucius grimaced, gently grabbing his son's arm and showing his friend the ugly Dark Mark. He traced it with his finger and felt the powerful magic pulse beneath his skin.

"When did that happen?" Severus questioned.

"It happened yesterday," Jacob answered. "We were on the beach when he just started complaining about his arm hurting. When it passed he had to explain because we all saw that tattoo suddenly appear on his arm. We know everything," he finished, gesturing to his friends.

The Potions master turned his dark gaze to the large wolfshifter, "Since you know everything, I need your help."

Jacob went straight to attention. He could help? With what? He looked at the dark man expectantly. "I'll do whatever you need."

Severus bit off a small smile; that was the kind of answer he wanted to hear when pertaining to his precious godson. "Good," he replied; he turned to the group of spectating shifters. "I don't need any of you so go find that idiot Potter and bring him here." None of the large boys looked like they wanted to listen to a stranger, but as soon as he slipped into Professor Snape mode they all scurried off. "That's what I thought," he smirked, turning back to the only shifter left. "I can only heal him so much with my magic. If you want him healed then you need to do it yourself." He held out his wand to the boy, something he would only ever do for Draco.

"What!" Jacob exclaimed, looking at the man like he were insane. "I don't know how to use a wand! I don't know how to use magic! What if I hurt him more or something?"

Severus rolled his eyes. This was why he hated students that were just beginning to learn of the magical world. He despised those dumber than himself which was in fact a lot of people and coincidentally all students. He couldn't exactly be upset with Jacob though; it wasn't his fault that he was less than stupid when it came to his actual magical being. He took a calming breath and began to explain himself. "You'll hurt Draco just as soon as I sprout dragon wings and fly. You are soulmates, and you are soulmates with a very strong bond at that. Don't you think it's weird how easy it was to become close to each other? How quickly you two got together? The stronger the bond, the quicker it happens. Since your bond is so strong, there is actually no way at all that you could hurt him, not intentionally. Plus, you're a wolfshifter. You have magic, and even if you wanted to hurt him you couldn't. Your magic nor you bond would allow that to happen." It wasn't as textbook as it could have been but he figured that Jacob wouldn't be able to follow all of the magical terms anyway.

Jacob didn't really care about the explanation; he was willing to try anything to help his mate. Wait. "We really have that strong of a bond?" he questioned with a smile.

Lucius popped him on the back of the head. "Stop your silly questions and heal my damn son," he growled.

TLA

Paul had convinced the boy to let him look at the cut on his arm, and as he did he tried to think of a way to ask about the bloodsuckers without calling them some demeaning name like bloodsuckers. It was quiet between them until Harry spoke up.

"So... you're good at this," he said, gesturing to the makeshift bandage that Paul was wrapping around his arm. It was made from some weird leaves.

Paul glowed at the compliment, but he tried to be cool and not show it. "After you've been in so many fights you learn a few tricks, and being surrounded by forrest inspires you to use natural healing aids."

"You'd like my friend Neville," Harry said, and then he started blabbering. Which was weird because he only babbled incoherently when he was nervous, and he didn't get nervous too often. There was just something about this Paul guy. He couldn't figure out if it was good or bad though. Paul certainly acted like a good guy and seemed pretty nice, but there was a feral, wild look in his dark eyes. Was that the wolf inside of him?

He was a wolfshifter. Was it safe to be alone with him? Draco said they couldn't control themselves when they were angry; what if Harry said the wrong thing? Would he hit some weird angry wolf switch and get attacked?

Paul listened to every word that Harry said as he finished dressing the cut. He didn't really care about some weird kid who liked plants, but his mate was talking to him so he would listen. However, he could sense a change in the boy with such pretty eyes; he went from feeling comfortable to being scared. Paul could tell.

Had he done something wrong?

He couldn't think anymore on it though because Embry, Quil, and Seth suddenly appeared before them.

"Paul!" Embry exclaimed, "Draco's dad is here and so is some other guy. We were told to bring Potter to them."

Lucius Malfoy and some other guy? Harry could only assume that the other guy was Professor Snape; he and Lucius were good friends. "What do they want with me?" Harry questioned the newcomers.

He recieved three angry glares, but the smallest of the group spoke up. "Well you hurt Draco pretty bad; they're probably going to throw you a tea party."

Harry stood up angrily and got toe to toe with the guy. "I don't appreciate your sarcasm," he said. "I don't know what you've seen of these people but I can guarantee you that they're not saints. I bet they've hurt people in ways that what I've done to Draco can't even compare. So excuse me if I question their intentions."

They glared at each other before Paul finally shoved Seth away. He then looked at Harry. "Let's just go see what they want. They won't hurt you." He would make sure of that.

Harry nodded but pulled his wand out. "Let's go."

TLA

Jacob was looking at Draco worriedly. "It's not working," he said. "Did I do it wrong?" Am I even more worthless that I thought?

Severus rolled his eyes. "If you ask that question one more time I will make sure you have trouble eating by yourself. You're a novice; give your spell some time to work."

Jacob nodded before Lucius and Severus could see him stiffen. They looked around; the other shifters were back with Potter.

"Causing more trouble as always, Mr. Potter?" Severus questioned with a sneer.

Harry glared. "Professor Snape," he simply greeted. He looked at the other man, Mr. Malfoy. He was stunned as always when he saw him; how could someone so pretty be so damn black-hearted? He looked different though, slimmer, not so stern. He looked more normal now than evil. It was weird. He wasn't sure what to think.

Lucius looked at the boy with glasses sternly. "Why did you attack my son?"

Jacob shot up. "Yeah! I was there; he didn't do anything. You just started casting spells!" He took a couple of angry steps before Paul got in his way.

Severus raised a black eyebrow at that. Interesting...

Harry glared at the elder Malfoy. "I'm sorry that I saw a Death Eater and attacked before thinking. I mean, you've only been trying to kill me for how long?"

Lucius had always wanted to slap that insolent mouth on that irritating boy, but he was a Malfoy and would refrain. "Is it a habit for you to attack people in wheelchairs?" The boy had the decency to look a little guilty.

"I tried to apologize to your git of a son. I already admitted to attacking without thinking, okay? I guess he's such a cocky prick that I can't imagine him in a wheelchair. What happened to him?"

"That's none of your damn business," Jacob growled. As far as he was concerned, Mr. Malfoy didn't owe that little shit any kind of explanation. Paul pushed him. "Don't push me Paul; I'm only barely keeping my cool."

Lucius patted the large boy's shoulder gently. "Calm down boy, you too," he directed at Paul. He looked back to Harry. "I know that Dumbledore sent you here, Potter, to hide you away from the Dark Lord. It would appear that we're here for the same reason."

There was a small gasp from behind him; Draco was awake.

"It worked!" Jacob exclaimed, forgetting Paul and Harry in favor of Draco.

"Of course it worked," Severus replied. "I told you as much did I not?" The bruises were gone and the burn was healed; whatever had been broken should be healed. "How do you feel, Draco?" he questioned, placing a hand on his godson's forehead.

Draco groaned. "How the hell should I feel?"

Lucius laughed from his relief. "That's not the language of a gentleman, Son," he said lightly.

"Draco?" Jacob questioned, crouching next to his mate. "Do you feel better now? I was so worried!" He's awake again! I actually helped!

The blonde looked at the larger boy in confusion. "Who are you?"

TLA

Oh. My. Goodness!

That JUST happened!

I'm sorry about this! But this seemed like the perfect place to stop!

Please review A LOT if you want a speedy update!

p.s. I'm super sorry that I haven't updated sooner! I had a lot of this written but as I read over the last few chapters and then what I had of this one, I realized that I had some things that didn't work! So I had to fix it! And it took longer than it should have! Please forgive me!

I should update quicker though since this bump is out of the way now!